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Spoilers Episode 7 "Nepenthe"

Rate 1x07 Nepenthe

  • 10 - Wild Beard Riker

    Votes: 110 36.9%
  • 9

    Votes: 95 31.9%
  • 8

    Votes: 53 17.8%
  • 7

    Votes: 22 7.4%
  • 6

    Votes: 7 2.3%
  • 5 - Full Beard Riker

    Votes: 2 0.7%
  • 4

    Votes: 4 1.3%
  • 3

    Votes: 1 0.3%
  • 2

    Votes: 1 0.3%
  • 1 - Season 1 Riker

    Votes: 3 1.0%

  • Total voters
    298
So.... Petabytes? We already have machines with hundreds of petabytes on them, so that seems small for a futuristic starship. I always assumed “Quad” was a deliberate attempt to use an fictitious unit that wouldn’t seem ridiculous in ten years.

But Trek uses kiloquads, so we're still at decimal points of that even on our top storage systems.

We might also assume data compression algorithms have advanced by the 24th Century.
 
Gave it a 9.

I kept hearing hints of the First Contact theme tune in this episode - which confused me a little. Surely Insurrection music would have made more sense.

Also, I haven't been able to catch up with the thread, so I might be repeating old stuff here, but...

Does anyone else think the line about Riker still being in active reserve, but "it would take something major to ship out" has a slight "Chekhovs's Gun" vibe to it?
 
Gave it a 9.

I kept hearing hints of the First Contact theme tune in this episode - which confused me a little. Surely Insurrection music would have made more sense.

Also, I haven't been able to catch up with the thread, so I might be repeating old stuff here, but...

Does anyone else think the line about Riker still being in active reserve, but "it would take something major to ship out" has a slight "Chekhovs's Gun" vibe to it?
As does the mention of Captain Crandell and his broken ship.
 
That scene where Picard ogles the bottle of wine and rushes towards it implies he is possibly a little addicted. I mean shit, you live on a vineyard with infinite wine and then your on a ship for a few weeks and all you go is replicated bullshit....

Perhaps just professional curiosity.
 
In the Picard future everyone hates synthehol, especially Raffi. Everyone wants real alcohol to get properly drunk. The Ferengi have to sell their synthehol formula to someone else....
 
In the words of The Critic… it stinks!

Another episode where I liked part of it and despised another part of it. But this time, my dislike outweighs my likes.

First, what I hated about this episode. The entire XB storyline. What was the point? No, that’s a serious question. It didn’t have a point other than having a space fortress which Picard has to rescue Soji. That’s it as far as I can tell.

What was the point of brining back Hugh, only to kill him? If Hugh did as Picard was trying to escape, then the death would have more impact and narrative meaning. Picard’s mission has consequences, and now he must live with Hugh’s death.

As it is, Hugh serves only one thing: Picard needed someone to get on the Borg cube. He had no real part of the story. No real exploration of being former Borg.

Then again, we’re hardly getting the Picard character study we were promised either. Picard is more passive than he was in the first-season of TNG. He isn’t driving the story much since they left Earth. Things fall into place for him because… plot. Picard should’ve been more active in finding Soji’s planet instead of Kestra’s phone-a-friend trick.

The show’s lens is outta whack. It wants us to be invested in Data’s apparent daughter. But the more interesting story, that’s tied to Picard, is the XBs and reclaiming their individuality. Now I want to watch that series, where Picard is fighting xenophobia to integrate the XBs in the Federation.

No Romulan storyline. No conspiracies wrapped in secret organization hidden in a mystery box filled with mysteries for myster's sake.

You could have a stronger refugee and immigration allegory… the one PIC so desperately wants to have but isn’t really interested in exploring.

Now, what I liked. The Riker-Trois. I enjoyed seeing Frakes and Sirtis back in their role. And their daughter was the best part—the actress gave a great, authentic performance.

I didn’t buy the bullshit of Thad's silicon virus and the whole positronic cure. The writers are trying too hard to tie everything to the synth story, which is the least interesting thing.

One last thing, so Raffi’s a functional addict again? No physical and mental repercussions of her relapse? OK, so this show is more interested in cliche, generic TV addiction than really doing something interesting and original with that storyline. Got it.

I’m going to stop wishing my favorite writers write the things I like. JMS’s run on Superman was horrid. And Chabon’s time on Trek is turning into disappointment. Although, I do admire Chabon for weathering fan questions and, perhaps, dealing with a lot of upstairs interference.
 
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As it is, Hugh serves only one thing: Picard needed someone to get on the Borg cube. He had no real part of the story. No real exploration of being former Borg.
Hugh's death was insufferably drawn out for reasons I don't understand. So they're going to kill him. Then they can't kill him. Then they can kill him. And he accomplished what between all these events that they couldn't have just killed him? Why did the Romulans even get into the de-borging business if all they ever wanted was to kill them all and they had the freedom to do so?

You could have a stronger refugee and immigration allegory… the one PIC so desperately wants to have but isn’t really interested in exploring.

There's no refugee allegory at all. They introduced one, seemingly, but it was dropped once they left earth. After all, the Romulans on the Cube aren't refugees. They are in Romulan space.

I didn’t buy the bullshit of Thad's silicon virus and the whole positronic cure. The writers are trying too hard to tie everything to the synth story, which is the least interesting thing.
In a story where all Romulans (except maybe four or five) are irredeemably bad, it's odd that they're trying to teach us the lesson that not all robots are bad. The lesson isn't even muddled. It's nonexistent. Do they want me be nicer to my vacuum cleaner?
 
In a story where all Romulans (except maybe four or five) are irredeemably bad, it's odd that they're trying to teach us the lesson that not all robots are bad. The lesson isn't even muddled. It's nonexistent. Do they want me be nicer to my vacuum cleaner?

This is the show's biggest issue. It doesn't seem to know what story it's telling. It doesn't know what it wants to say about anything they've set up, including their main protagonist.
 
This is the show's biggest issue. It doesn't seem to know what story it's telling. It doesn't know what it wants to say about anything they've set up, including their main protagonist.
Yeah, Picard the character is all over the map. Is he wise? Is he too old to be useful? Is he a dick. Another friend of mine was really annoyed at how awful Picard is to Soji. He also puts the Rikers in danger needlessly because he needs a pick me up while Hugh is undoubtably getting murdered. The whole thing in the Romulan bar was way short of diplomatic. He’s mostly just being a selfish ass.
 
Again? When was she not?

Last week on her bender. Now she's back to Raffi before the bender, just like that. And not much time has passed between episodes. Hell, I even noted in last week's episode, she just gets up like she took a nap and didn't use a thing.

I will say Michelle Hurd does her best with the superficial material she's given to play. Her performance is what carries the character. It's certainly not supported by the writing.

Yeah, Picard the character is all over the map. Is he wise? Is he too old to be useful? Is he a dick. Another friend of mine was really annoyed at how awful Picard is to Soji. He also puts the Rikers in danger needlessly because he needs a pick me up while Hugh is undoubtably getting murdered. The whole thing in the Romulan bar was way short of diplomatic. He’s mostly just being a selfish ass.

I like early TNG Picard when he was a cantankerous but this Picard is what you call it... a selfish ass.
 
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