A question about "All Good Things"....

[the_wildcard]

Well I just watched this episode, marking the end of my re-watching of TNG these past couple of months.

I had a quick question regarding 2nd half of the ep. In the end, Picard thanks Q for helping him (btw, thanks to all of you who mentioned that the syndication run cut out this and other scenes).

Q replies "I'm the one who got you into it. It was a directive from the contiunum"

I am a little confused. Into what? Is he referring to the trial or is he referring to the anamoly?

 

[Khan]

He is referring to the whole situation of time travel/temporal anomaly. The continuum picked on Picard to see if a human could cope with the problem they set out.

 

[Bin]

Even though I didn't particularly like the way they ended that series, I do think it was good that the writers finished up that trial, and remembered that it hadn't ended, that started in the first episode.

I'm willing to overlook the absense of the anomoly when the Pasture arrived at the same location and initiated its tachyon beam... and the fact that there was mention to "three Enterprises in three different times" or something like that when it was only two Enterprises and the Pasture.

Anyway, good episode. Nice wrap up.

And I agree with what Khan said about what Q is referring to.

 

[the_wildcard]

Khan said:
He is referring to the whole situation of time travel/temporal anomaly. The continuum picked on Picard to see if a human could cope with the problem they set out.

So the continuum created this anamoly?

 

[Chindogu]

the_wildcard said:

Khan said:
He is referring to the whole situation of time travel/temporal anomaly. The continuum picked on Picard to see if a human could cope with the problem they set out.

So the continuum created this anamoly?

No, Picard's actions created it. The Continuum just put Picard in the position to create it.

 

[Photoman15]

But this "continuum" can't have that high a standard. I mean if I figured out the problem pretty early on during the first half, what does that say about Picard (and humanity) taking as long as Picard did to figure out what's going on.

As far as there not being an anomoly when the Pasteur arrived, that's expected. Until the Pasteur commits its' beam to the mix, it doesn't exist. If you then were viewing a ship that's a micro-second behind, you'd see the anomoly.

Another example is the Quantum Leap episode when Sam & Al are switched. Sam (in the locked down imaging chamber) comes up with the idea to mail a letter to PQL to arrive in the future. Most people would think that the door should open then. No, millions of possible futures exist, from Al losing the letter, to being killed, etc... It was only when the letter was "commited" to the USPS that the door opens (that also assumes the USPS would be reliable WITH THAT LETTER until PQL needed to receive it.)

 

[Bin]

Photoman15 said:I mean if I figured out the problem pretty early on during the first half, what does that say about Picard (and humanity) taking as long as Picard did to figure out what's going on.

Of course you, as a viewer, figured it out before Picard did. If Picard had figured it out as soon as you did, and probably the rest of us, then the episode would have only been a one-parter and not been as good or dramatic. It was just written that way for suspence and such.

Photoman15 said:As far as there not being an anomoly when the Pasteur arrived, that's expected. Until the Pasteur commits its' beam to the mix, it doesn't exist. If you then were viewing a ship that's a micro-second behind, you'd see the anomoly.

That just doesn't seem right. The anomaly was growing in Anti-Time, meaning it was getting bigger as it progressed further into the past. When the Enterprise arrived back at that position in the future, they saw the anomoly growing. It shouldn't have been there. It should have been visible in the past when the Pasture arrived or not been seen at all when the Enterprise arrived.

Even if it were to show up after the Pasture initiated its beam, they would have seen something before they left. But then again, that would be causing the anomoly to be growing in regular time and not in anti-time.

Which raises the question: Was the anomoly growing in both regular time and anti-time, and if so, would it have eventually destroyed all life in the galaxy?

Perhaps that's best posted in another thread...

 

[Photoman15]

I understand that (figuring it out). But the "mystery" the Continum presented should have been a lot harder, something maybe from theoretical physics, that the average person wouldn't understand (until explained in lay terms at the end), maybe something about the Big Crunch. There you could have your anti-time . I don't know, if a 20th Century guy can figure it out, what does it say about Picard (et al) when it took him so long. All I'm saying is that the mystery presented was too easy.

 

[BolianAuthor]

Well, Q was the one who got him into the whole anomally thing... but I think the directive from the Continuum was everything, from the first trial at "Encounter at Farpoint", up to "All Good Things"... Q himself stated that the Continuum wanted to see if the humans had the capacity to expand their minds and their horizons, and Picard did that, when he realized the paradox. But I think Q was also hinting when he said that the trial never ends, that the Q had always been and always will be watching us. He once also stated that perhaps in the far distant future, we may evolve into something beyond the Q, which indicated that we DO have potential, and the Q evidently know this. Like us with the Mintakans, the Q are studying us.

 

[Kathy]

I concur. The Q figured that humans have potential, that's why he got Picard into all those situations: to prove not only other the Q what he thinks about humans, but also prove us, humans, our true destiny.

 

[Cyke101]

Photoman15 said:
I understand that (figuring it out). But the "mystery" the Continum presented should have been a lot harder, something maybe from theoretical physics, that the average person wouldn't understand (until explained in lay terms at the end), maybe something about the Big Crunch. There you could have your anti-time . I don't know, if a 20th Century guy can figure it out, what does it say about Picard (et al) when it took him so long. All I'm saying is that the mystery presented was too easy.

The thing is, one part of the solution had Picard quoting Future Data to the only one who could understand that: Present Data. And Data tends to operate on an intelligence level higher than the rest of mankind. But, that further underlines one of the themes that, in order to solve the great puzzle, Picard had to rely on his senior crew/friends' help (Even O'Brien! God, I love how O'Brien was written in this ep), as he could never do it alone -- just like how humanity must band together to achieve higher states of awareness.

The other part of the solution required so much technobabble that nobody from the 20th century could ever solve it unless they knew the plot reasons for it

 

[DizzyMan]

Slightly off-topic, but…

I just thought: wouldn't it be cool if, three years' time (2010), all the actors got together and re-filmed their scenes in the future? That way, they would all be excatly 16 years older than the events in All Good Things.

(Actually… was it only 16 years? 16 sticks out in my memory, but Picard seemed to be much older than that!)

 

[Anwar]

It was 25 years in the future.

 

[DizzyMan]

Oh. I guess I must have been thinking about 'Future Imperfect' then. That was 16 years, I think.

 

[A beaker full of death]

Bin said:
the Pasture arrived at the same location

Naturally. Pastures do not move.

 

[cueballb]

Bin said:
Even though I didn't particularly like the way they ended that series, I do think it was good that the writers finished up that trial, and remembered that it hadn't ended, that started in the first episode.

I'm willing to overlook the absense of the anomoly when the Pasture arrived at the same location and initiated its tachyon beam... and the fact that there was mention to "three Enterprises in three different times" or something like that when it was only two Enterprises and the Pasture.

There were three enterprises. Picard returned with admiral Riker and the refitted Enterprise.

 

[Bin]

cueballb said:

Bin said:
Even though I didn't particularly like the way they ended that series, I do think it was good that the writers finished up that trial, and remembered that it hadn't ended, that started in the first episode.

I'm willing to overlook the absense of the anomoly when the Pasture arrived at the same location and initiated its tachyon beam... and the fact that there was mention to "three Enterprises in three different times" or something like that when it was only two Enterprises and the Pasture.

There were three enterprises. Picard returned with admiral Riker and the refitted Enterprise.

True, but they were talking about three Enterprises in three time periods initiating the tachyon beams. The Enterprise in the future never used fired a tachyon beam.

 

[Photoman15]

Right, the Pasteur did, BUT, the beam was initiated by Data on all three ships and as such had the same properties enough so that it could be mistaken as all coming from the same ship.

 

[AviTrek]

Although at one point Picard says 3 tachyon beams from 3 Enterprises, and he should have known better.

 

[backstept]

didn't they start the beam up again in the refit D?
I don't remember actually . . .