Would have been difficult to steal Picards body if he had still been in it at the time.
Spoilers Star Trek: Picard 3x09 - "Võx"
- Thread starter Commander Richard
- Start date
Would have been difficult to steal Picards body if he had still been in it at the time.
I think it’s more they ‘stayed out of history’s way’ until that point, where they already knew they were supposed to be.
He’s had a few decades to work on it.
You realize it was established way back in TNG that the Enterprise D could be run by a single person right?
And then it was established multiple times in VOY that modern Starfleet ships could even be taken into combat with a single person at the controls?
Well, holy shit, the darkest hour to end all darkest hours. With the entire fleet (as tiny as it appears) being assimilated and the original Enterprise-D crew being forced to bring the old lady out of the mothballs to save the day, it certainly seems like we'll be going to see the crisis being resolved on a more personal scale than with an outright space battle, probably with a final showdown between Picard and the Borg Queen. Jack, being who he is, would've never just agree with Picard and hide himself away. He has inherited from Picard what he himself describes later as his worst: his stubbornness and his conviction that only he could see what's going on and only he could ever do anything the right way. Picard has already learned this lesson in Season 1, but Jack hasn't. His entire life being shattered into pieces, it's no wonder he set out in search for answers to the only place he could think of. And that doomed us all. No wonder Data sees no way out either.
The build-up to the reveal of the Borg was executed quite well, with multiple signs foreshadowing it before we finally saw the Cube through Deanna's eyes: the close-up shot of Jack's eye mirroring Picard's nightmare from First Contact (when his eye is pierced), Jack describing the vines as connecting the flowers under the soil, almost invisible, like a hive mind, and him finally stating it to be purposeful and PERFECT, with that emphasis. The sense of dread and inevitability kept slowly building up until we finally saw what Deanna witnessed on the other side, and we didn't even get a moment of respite as the crew finished their analysis of the Shrike data and figured out how the Changelings sicced the Borg on the Federation so that they could have their revenge. The insidiousness of it all reminded me of Palpatine engineering the downfall of the Republic for decades (with a special emphasis on Order 66) and Skynet quietly taking over all military infrastructure through the internet, which is probably another reason why things feel so bleak now.
In contrast with all the 10 scores, I couldn't rate this episode as perfect, having two main gripes with it, one on the narrative level and another one on the messaging one, but that might just be my gut feelings being scrambled due to this cold I have. The narrative problem for me was how unceremoniously Shaw was killed off after barely having done anything for the past few episodes, quickly followed by Seven refusing to leaving his side, then Raffi deciding to stay at hers, and that's the last we see of them. It almost felt like the story just wanted to shove these three aside as quickly as possible because their presence on the Enterprise-D bridge would've ruined the nostalgia. Oh, how I would've loved some witty quips about the old ship from them, but alas. Shelby's cameo also felt almost pointless, with her being reduced to a Star Trek standard issue clueless, head-in-the-sand Admiral, unceremoniously and wordlessly executed by her own crew, and we don't even see her body fall down before the feed is cut.
As for the messaging bit... while I understand that they needed an explanation for why the old crew is unaffected while everyone else gets assimilated, it still left a bad taste in my mouth. Even though I'm a millennial with a fully formed prefrontal cortex, I often move in Gen-Z circles, and my political and cultural views (in general as well as in Trek) often get me lumped together with them. And I just found it weird that we have a plotline about everyone under 25 being assimilated by the Borg in a franchise whose fandom is notorious for having a vile, loud and unpleasable part that is walking in lock-step with the far-right anti-woke crowd in their incessant whining about how progressive leftist young adults ruin everything we hold dear from our favorite childhood franchises to traditions, family, and society itself, often outright describing them as an evil hive mind (or even better, the "woke mind virus"). I'm certain this wasn't what Matalas intended, but I couldn't help but think about this all the time.
Oh, but enough of the complaining. I was fangirling hard throughout. I mean, Elizabeth Dennehy as Fleet Admiral Shelby, ceremonially commanding the Enterprise-F, if briefly? Alice Krige as the voice of the Borg Queen, making a showdown between her and Picard the next week all but certain? The Enterprise-D bridge reconstructed in meticulous detail, AND its computer voiced by archived recordings of Majel Barrett? Holy shit indeed.
Miscellanea:
The build-up to the reveal of the Borg was executed quite well, with multiple signs foreshadowing it before we finally saw the Cube through Deanna's eyes: the close-up shot of Jack's eye mirroring Picard's nightmare from First Contact (when his eye is pierced), Jack describing the vines as connecting the flowers under the soil, almost invisible, like a hive mind, and him finally stating it to be purposeful and PERFECT, with that emphasis. The sense of dread and inevitability kept slowly building up until we finally saw what Deanna witnessed on the other side, and we didn't even get a moment of respite as the crew finished their analysis of the Shrike data and figured out how the Changelings sicced the Borg on the Federation so that they could have their revenge. The insidiousness of it all reminded me of Palpatine engineering the downfall of the Republic for decades (with a special emphasis on Order 66) and Skynet quietly taking over all military infrastructure through the internet, which is probably another reason why things feel so bleak now.
In contrast with all the 10 scores, I couldn't rate this episode as perfect, having two main gripes with it, one on the narrative level and another one on the messaging one, but that might just be my gut feelings being scrambled due to this cold I have. The narrative problem for me was how unceremoniously Shaw was killed off after barely having done anything for the past few episodes, quickly followed by Seven refusing to leaving his side, then Raffi deciding to stay at hers, and that's the last we see of them. It almost felt like the story just wanted to shove these three aside as quickly as possible because their presence on the Enterprise-D bridge would've ruined the nostalgia. Oh, how I would've loved some witty quips about the old ship from them, but alas. Shelby's cameo also felt almost pointless, with her being reduced to a Star Trek standard issue clueless, head-in-the-sand Admiral, unceremoniously and wordlessly executed by her own crew, and we don't even see her body fall down before the feed is cut.
As for the messaging bit... while I understand that they needed an explanation for why the old crew is unaffected while everyone else gets assimilated, it still left a bad taste in my mouth. Even though I'm a millennial with a fully formed prefrontal cortex, I often move in Gen-Z circles, and my political and cultural views (in general as well as in Trek) often get me lumped together with them. And I just found it weird that we have a plotline about everyone under 25 being assimilated by the Borg in a franchise whose fandom is notorious for having a vile, loud and unpleasable part that is walking in lock-step with the far-right anti-woke crowd in their incessant whining about how progressive leftist young adults ruin everything we hold dear from our favorite childhood franchises to traditions, family, and society itself, often outright describing them as an evil hive mind (or even better, the "woke mind virus"). I'm certain this wasn't what Matalas intended, but I couldn't help but think about this all the time.
Oh, but enough of the complaining. I was fangirling hard throughout. I mean, Elizabeth Dennehy as Fleet Admiral Shelby, ceremonially commanding the Enterprise-F, if briefly? Alice Krige as the voice of the Borg Queen, making a showdown between her and Picard the next week all but certain? The Enterprise-D bridge reconstructed in meticulous detail, AND its computer voiced by archived recordings of Majel Barrett? Holy shit indeed.
Miscellanea:
- I liked the confirmation that the Enterprise-D saucer was extracted from Veridian III in accordance with the Prime Directive.
- So what exactly happened to the Enterprise-E? Whatever it was, it wasn't Worf's fault.
- Worf politely describing the Enterprise as "perfect" after Deanna snaps at him had definite "good tea, nice house" energy.
- I liked the semantics of Vox coming from Locutus. The Queen has always had a flair for the dramatic.
- The fleet, despite being described as being there in its entirety, seemed rather small to me, more on the scale of the battlegroups we've seen during the Dominion War at a first glance (although I have to admit, the dialogue also described thousands of ships in DS9, of which we've never really seen more than a few dozens at once). Obviously, I've only seen projections by fans, but some posited that the military of a state on the scale of the Federation would have personnel numbering in the billions.
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In that case, the main fix is really repairing the damage to the Saucer from its landing. And we see that the hull is still marred by sliding on the surface of Veridian III
I agree, I'm not sure what purpose the fleet synchronization served other than getting our heroes into the D, which they could have still explained as being the closest empty operational ship near Earth.
Putting the Borg aside, allowing all your ships to be remotely controlled with no way to override it just seems like a terrible idea with little upside.
Yeah. I'd just assume he used his informal clout to get around whatever official regs might normally preclude the ship's defense systems being fully activated.
What I mean is that his character has been written as though they're going to be fine. He had his emotional moment for Sydney last episode (absolutely beautifully done). It's because he's not emotional enough that mens they're fine.
I was really hoping for a spin off.
They implied earlier in the season that the networking thing is fairly short range — any time Titan got close enough to another ship they would have its position, even after they removed its beacon. Might only work in a system, rather than Galaxy wide over subspace.
Now witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational museum piece! You may fire at will, Captain Worf.
Yep but my point is I think the season plot would work better without the networking thing at all. Having all under 25s borgified instantly would be effective enough.
I think keeping the old Starbase stocked “just in case” was probably something he pushed for, and wasn’t seen as a problem by the baddies. It makes sense —even the Tower Of London is still technically active, and has armed guards.
The tower is still (sort of) part of government. This would be more like the tanks in the imperial war museum being ready to fight. (And rebuilt tanks at that, ones recovered from a battle or other crash.)
I could be wrong, but I'm 90% certain we're gonna get a few scenes of Seven and Raffi playing cat and mouse with the assimilated youngins on the Titan, trying to take back control...and hopefully dealing with their relationship shit finally as well.
Yeah, it's not a continuity problem, but it certainly feels implausible that they could operate a ship that normally had a crew of 1,000 in the heat of battle.
Yeah, the build-up to that reveal was well-done. It was the scariest the Borg have probably been since 1996.
100% agreed. Like I said -- the text is now literally, "Young people are all brainwashed by evil foreigners using scary new computer networks and it's up to the Boomers to fight young people to save the day." It's a very regressive idea, even if it's not intentionally so.
Yeah, I mean, DIS S2 established that the entire Starfleet consists of over 7,000 ships, and we definitely didn't see that. But I suppose it's possible that there are other pods of about 200-300 ships scattered at various points over Earth orbit -- they wouldn't necessarily be visible even if they're just a few thousand kilometers away.
And literally can requisition components for "restorations" basically without question.
"Yes I need a Mk (number) photon launcher for a museum display"
*done*
*installs in Enterprise-D for reasons*
Not complaining at all, but if Geordi was restoring the Enterprise, then wouldn't that have been at its last incarnation? Like the Bridge we saw in Generations. I actually really like this version.
It's a good bet this was discussed heavily amongst the producers and writers, and they decided to go with the iconic television version. And I can understand why. Not complaining at all here. Just an observation.
At this point, I’m pleasantly surprised when Star Trek remembers that they made movies at all. As nostalgia-driven as it’s been recently, it’s weighted heavily towards volume and not incumbency. For instance, the Enterprise-E was the current Enterprise for the last 27 years, but its six hours of streamable content is no match for 150 hours of TNG you can watch over and over again.
Here’s an interesting thought; would we have seen the Borg Queen in PIC if she’d only appeared in one movie and hadn’t been a recurring presence on VGR?
I would’ve loved if they used the GEN bridge (and maybe those extra stations could’ve let them have a couple more people make it to the ship), but it would’ve gone against one of PIC’s (and LDS’s) prime motivations of making it 1994 again by science or magic.
The launchers can be used for probes or demonstrations. I’ve been on historical ships, firing the cannon is a major attraction, people fucking love it (granted, with blanks; the Coast Guard gets really uptight about a boat having a cannon, and gunpowder, and shells, you have to pick two). The kids on tour groups would go out of their minds seeing the thing where the ship seems to fire one torpedo and then it splits apart into ten torpedoes.
As for where they got live munitions, Space Dock probably has a fully functional defense grid.
I'm also 90% certain they will be pinned down and be rescused by Admiral Janeway.