Spoilers Star Trek: Picard 3x09 - "Võx"

[NCC-73515]

When the D crashed, I was really sad. It felt a little like I lost a friend. The E was great, and quickly grabbed the empty spot, but it took a while to get over never seeing the D again, and her lying on a random planet like a pile of trash, rotting away. Now little me is alright again

 

[gweeps]

Im not so sure about that now. Might as well bring him in. We’ve got everything else here.

We also still need to see O'Brien again.

 

[Scionz]

By the way, did anyone else feel in the final pass of the Enterprise-D, that the VFX team had the ship do that little twist to show the back of the saucer on purpose? Specifically to say "hey look, the saucer impulse engines aren't lit. Everyone's got this wrong since 1995 but we get it right!"

Because I certainly did.

 

[Sci]

How are they going to wrap this up in one episode?

The same way they always defeat the Borg -- some deus ex machina will appear that will improbably result in the simultaneous defeat of the entire Borg Collective once again. Q transporting the ship back to the Alpha Quadrant in "Q Who?," Data putting them all to sleep and then them self-destructing in "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II," the Queen's death killing all the drones in First Contact, the magic virus in "Endgame, Part II" -- it's always just a variation on the same basic plot device.

Jack helped cause this, so he’s probably going to be the one to fix it. Beverly and Picard will appeal to his humanity. But they will need to get to him first.

Yeah, probably it'll be something like the love of a family overcoming the Borg programming and then Jack connecting all the young people together to fight against the Queen once he's reasserted himself or some such. Maybe we'll get a "Han Solo coming back to save Luke" moment and Soji, Jurati, and Elnor will turn up to rescue Raffi and Seven and retake the Titan.

More importantly, where is Laris?

Conveniently away so that Jean-Luc doesn't have to dump her onscreen.

We also get another look at the NX-01 refit

Man, I really don't like that they did the refit version. It never appeared in the actual Star Trek: Enterprise series, and it feels disrespectful to the actual text of the show.

 

[BBC 2 6pm]

By the way, did anyone else feel in the final pass of the Enterprise-D, that the VFX team had the ship do that little twist to show the back of the saucer on purpose? Specifically to say "hey look, the saucer impulse engines aren't lit. Everyone's got this wrong since 1995 but we get it right!"

Because I certainly did.

I'd have to go back and check, but didn't the D also look more 'modern'/metallic in Picard's dream with Data in season 1? Looks like they've reverted to the softer carpeted look.

 

[NCC-73515]

The bridge was a new set. They got the parts from the LA museum restoration team, but then found them too heavy and made their own.

 

[BBC 2 6pm]

Yeah, probably it'll be something like the love of a family overcoming the Borg programming and then Jack connecting all the young people together to fight against the Queen once he's reasserted himself or some such. Maybe we'll get a "Han Solo coming back to save Luke" moment and Soji, Jurati, and Elnor will turn up to rescue Raffi and Seven and retake the Titan.

I really hope they don't do this. Part of what made the Borg (and especially Picard's assimilation) work is that despite how strong he was, he was completely powerless against the mind rape. "He wasn't strong enough". If Jack is strong enough, that completely undermines the message - all those other assimilated people didn't want their freedom hard enough.

 

[gweeps]

Conveniently away so that Jean-Luc doesn't have to dump her onscreen.



Man, I really don't like that they did the refit version. It never appeared in the actual Star Trek: Enterprise series, and it feels disrespectful to the actual text of the show.

1)

2) Seems to me, Enterprise has always gotten short shift since it went off the air.

 

[Sci]

I'd have to go back and check, but didn't the D also look more 'modern'/metallic in Picard's dream with Data in season 1? Looks like they've reverted to the softer carpeted look.

No, Picard's dream in "Remembrance" was only of Ten Forward, and it was a faithful re-creation of the original set. But the lighting was more stark, so that gave it a colder feeling -- which was fine, since it was supposed to be an unsettling dream.

Am I mistaken, or is the Enterprise-D bridge just a bit off? The side panels look like they did after S1 (no wood paneling), but the helm and ops consoles looked a bit S1-ish to me.

I really hope they don't do this. Part of what made the Borg (and especially Picard's assimilation) work is that despite how strong he was, he was completely powerless against the mind rape. "He wasn't strong enough". If Jack is strong enough, that completely undermines the message - all those other assimilated people didn't want their freedom hard enough.

Agreed. But I'm not hoping my breath that they'll find a better solution. Oh well -- if there's one thing PIC S3 has going for it, it's that even when its premises are bad, they're usually well-executed.

 

[thribs]

I was a bit hazy on how that works.

They took parts from the old Titan to build this one basically.

 

[BBC 2 6pm]

No, Picard's dream in "Remembrance" was only of Ten Forward, and it was a faithful re-creation of the original set. But the lighting was more stark, so that gave it a colder feeling -- which was fine, since it was supposed to be an unsettling dream.

Actually I just went and had a look, and you are right! Memory playing tricks on me.

 

[thribs]

The bridge was a new set. They got the parts from the LA museum restoration team, but then found them too heavy and made their own.

They are building one at Ticonderoga but it’s not ready yet.

 

[dinzy]

Okay, so, this whole idea of "Changelings join forces with the Borg to assimilate all of Starfleet" is... a bit over-the-top. Like, it's the kind of premise bad fanfics are built around.

But, this was a very well-executed version of that over-the-top premise.

It was really wonderful to see Elizabeth Dennehy and Alice Krige return.

Shaw's death was excellently-executed. His final words were an appropriate redemption.

The re-creation of the Enterprise-D was great.

The credits say they used Majel Barrett again as the computer voice!

Final note: This whole thing were the text of the story is literally, "All the young people get brainwashed by evil foreigners and only the Boomers can save us" is... not the kind of idea I would want to see people adopt in real life.

Really? They are not getting brainwashed, it is that their brains are still growing when they get the DNA so they can express it and become receivers. It has a reasonable biological basis, but is also kind of funny at a higher level. It is not a generalization to boomers, it is just one old crew of 7 that happened to have been through things like this many times. Of course it is absurd. Now we have 7 old farts who need to save all of Starfleet using a restored 30 year old ship.

Everything can made to be sound stupid when you use 1 sentence to describe it with no meaningful details. It is the details that matter. Calling it like fan fiction, but executed well is illogical. The plot was thought out and while some liberties were taken in service to how it was executed, the details make it enjoyable.

 

[mdtauk]

Would be nice to have a final conversation/confrontation between Janeway, Picard, Seven and Alice Krige's Borg Queen

 

[Campe]

We also still need to see O'Brien again.

O’Brien ex machina?

 

[Sci]

Really? They are not getting brainwashed, it is that their brains are still growing when they get the DNA so they can express it and become receivers.

You are being too literal-minded. "Their brains became receivers" is just a faster sci-fi plot device version of the trope of brainwashing.

It is not a generalization to boomers,

Once again, you are being too literal. I am describing tropes, not in-universe plot devices. The trope here is that of the "wiser old generation saving the day." I reference Boomers because the core TNG cast members are in real life all Baby Boomers.

Calling it like fan fiction, but executed well is illogical. The plot was thought out and while some liberties were taken in service to how it was executed, the details make it enjoyable.

Again, it's well-executed, but I really have to work hard to suspend my disbelief and not snicker at how much "Changelings team up with the Borg" conceptually resembles a nine-year-old's action figure play plots.

 

[StewMc]

Was the Majel computer voice line an existing line from the TNG era shows or synthesized?

The second part of the line was from Chain of Command Part 2, when Picard resumes command from Jellico.

 

[Tuskin38]

The bridge was a new set. They got the parts from the LA museum restoration team, but then found them too heavy and made their own.

Was this in The Ready room or something?

 

[NCC-73515]

RR is very late today, still not out

 

[BBC 2 6pm]

Once again, you are being too literal. I am describing tropes, not in-universe plot devices. The trope here is that of the "wiser old generation saving the day." I reference Boomers because the core TNG cast members are in real life all Baby Boomers.

Stewart isn't a boomer, he's about 5 years too old.