Spoilers Star Trek: Picard General Discussion Thread

So. Much. Yawn.

(Really should have an emoji for yawning)

 

Only a few episodes in and I already find the characters of ST: Picard to be more interesting and developed, more likeable and less annoying than the Discovery characters. It also helps that watching it there isn't the sense the whole universe revolves around Picard as there was with Michael Burnham.

There's a better balance between the mystery of Soji and the Borg artefact and Picard and the crew going on a quest and visiting different planets when compared to Discovery's plodding, Burnham focused storytelling.

 

The first season of Discovery did not catch my interest... whereas Picard did, and has been able to hold it thus far.
My wife and I have very few shows that are "appointment" Streamvision.
Picard and The Mandalorian are the only two, so far.

 

shameless self promotion, but you can skip red letter media and read my snarky, typo-y, easter egg recaps on whatcuture.com:
Star Trek Picard: Every Easter Egg & Hidden Reference From 'Maps And Legends'
Star Trek Picard: Every Easter Egg & Hidden Reference From 'The End Is The Beginning'
Star Trek Picard: Every Easter Egg & Hidden Reference From 'Absolute Candor'

 

Except it does have one. Ds9 made this clear. It might not have a planetary shield but it does have orbital defenses and ground implacements.

 

I’ve seen one or two of these videos. They are fun.

 

What episodes and movies? Are we sure it doesn't have one? And besides, perhaps this sort of shield is pretty new tech.

 

No it doesn't.

 

If Earth has a defense fleet, where was it during the Mars attack? Clearly, it should have been moments away at warp.

 

Yeah. I don't think defence fleets dedicated to specific planets are a thing. We never see one when it would be handy.

 

Closest we’ve seen, that I recall, is the Mars Defense Perimeter.

 

Yep. And I think the fighters the synths hacked were exactly this sort of defence craft.

 

In Las Vegas, singing It's Not Unusual

 

I mean, even if there was one, the attack came from inside mars and turned its own defence network against it, so there would be no way to stop most of the damage.

 

Why not? It looked to be orbital bombardment. Starships should’ve easily been able to shoot the attacking ships and defense satellites down.

 

Think of U.S. national defense. We don't have brigades or divisions of troops at our borders creating the impression of an armed camp unwelcome to outsiders. We don't track and intercept every airplane that overflies our territory with a military aircraft. We have a network of early warning radar to maintain a silent vigil and keep warships offshore to patrol our territorial waters.

The Federation isn't a militarized police state so we're likely never going to see a network of heavily armed drones around Earth even if historical tragedies like the Xindi probe attack of 2153 killed millions. It's not the Federation philosophy to transform worlds they see as virtual paradises into fortresses bristling with visible weaponry ready to open fire at any moment. I'm sure there are more than enough assets close by to respond if another threat approaches Earth.

 

Because all the weapons would have been fired before the first ships even arrive, and I assume they used some anti-matter weapons based on the explosions on the planet's surface.

There would probably be a minute before the first alerts get to the fleet, and then a couple minutes for the ships to forum up, lay in a course and go to warp.

By the time the first response arrives, most of the damage would have been done.

 

But it is something we’ve never seen. Anytime Earth is in danger, Starfleet is never around. Or there is one ship...

 

Or in the case of TVH all the nearby space stations and starships are conveniently immobilized and left drifting dead in space.

 

What does Utopia need with a spaceship?