I love this episode. I actually wore out a poorly recorded VHS of it.
Episode; Tapestry
- Thread starter RobertScorpio
- Start date
Without a doubt, one of the best TNG eps ever, let alone one of the best Q eps. It was disconcerting seeing Picard late in the ep, not only in a blue uniform and at such a lower rank, lt. j.g., but as a loser that Riker and Troi treat in such a condescending manner. I always thought a sequel would be for our Picard and that Picard to somehow switch places and live each others' lives, perhaps even as the basis for a novel. -- RR
Well, I know you're being funny, but what if the Data of that universe where Picard is a mere lt., j.g. tests the theory that he is from another universe. As we saw in Parallels, if there is a body switch, the "foreign" person would have a different quantum signature than everyone or everything else in that universe. But if it's some kind of mind switch, you're right! -- RR
Since all of this is merely an illusion created by Q, I don't think there'd be a different quantum signature or something like that.
There's nothing stating unequivocally that the whole thing was just an illusion or Q showing Picard an actual timeline/quantum reality. See, I was going by the theory that with infinite dimensions, everything that can happen, does happen, in different quantum realities. -- RR
Troi and Riker were not being patronising, they were doing their job.
Troi is in charge of crew morale and Rikers in charge of personel they had to tell him the truth.
Troi is in charge of crew morale and Rikers in charge of personel they had to tell him the truth.
I couldn't disagree more. But maybe I feel that way because it was uncomfortable seeing Picard treated like a non-entity. -- RR
Rikers advice was good, that you have to stand out to get ahead, not blend safely into the background.
Troi had clearly looked at his record and saw he had high goals and was doing nothing to get them done, it would be irresponcable of her to say "ahh your great no problems" her job is to help him develop she can't play into his dellusions, it will just keep him in a rut.
Your point is well taken. And it's true they tried to give him an out by saying, let's discuss this at your next evaluation. And he insisted. You are right, it was their responsibility to give him their unvarnished advice. It was jarring because you never heard, up till then, Riker or Troi be so critical of a fellow crew member. But I still think there was some patronizing going on, when Riker calls him by his first name.
On a separate note, anyone here think Picard looked good in blue? I think that shade of blue was rather becoming. I ask because awhile back, I had posted a topic where I asked folks to recast the characters in different roles, and I thought Picard would've made a good ship's doctor, similar to Boyce from The Cage, or even a seasoned counselor.
Red Ranger
I don't think that LtJG Picard likes Commander Riker that much... and I don't think that Commander Riker likes Picard... I think he sees him as an underling that is suited to doing one task... (which is what he is)
As for calling him Jean Luc, it's not uncommon for superiors to call subordinates by their name...
Now, as for Picard in blue... No, Jean Luc should have been in GOLD!
As for calling him Jean Luc, it's not uncommon for superiors to call subordinates by their name...
Now, as for Picard in blue... No, Jean Luc should have been in GOLD!
I agree with you that the Picard and Riker in that universe probably didn't like each other. To Riker, the underachieving Picard would probably seem like an embarassment to him, as he's an ambitious officer. He probably reviewed that Picard's service jacket and couldn't understand how an officer with such a good start could wind up at such a low rank and position.
You do know that an early screen test with both Patrick Stewart and Jonathan Frakes had them in the more familiar gold uniforms, but apparently they didn't look as good in them as they did in their red uniforms. At the time, too, red was a dominant color in the uniform jacket of the TOS movie uniform, so it wasn't much of a stretch to put them in that color in TNG.
Red Ranger
And an embarrassment to him... As XO, officers like Picard would be his responsibility. I have no doubt that Riker and Troi had likely "helped him" more than once during his time aboard Captain Tommy's Enterprise
I thought the huge objection was Data looked horrible in the blue science unis, so they had to switch them around
Yeah, I heard that about Data, too. Maybe it was only Data, but I could have sworn they also didn't like how Picard and Riker looked in gold. A fortunate situation, as I prefer red as the command color anyway. -- RR
kind of an odd message this episode has though, huh?
It seems to equate getting into fights and being immature with having ambition and taking career risks. I understand what the episode was saying, but Picard was RIGHT to try to avoid the fight. They were outnumbered and facing physically stronger opponents.
Picard paid for it by getting stabbed.
I don't buy that the decision to prudently avoid a fight equates to not believing in yourself and not being willing to stand out in a crowd.
Still an entertaining episode, I'm just sayin'...
It seems to equate getting into fights and being immature with having ambition and taking career risks. I understand what the episode was saying, but Picard was RIGHT to try to avoid the fight. They were outnumbered and facing physically stronger opponents.
Picard paid for it by getting stabbed.
I don't buy that the decision to prudently avoid a fight equates to not believing in yourself and not being willing to stand out in a crowd.
Still an entertaining episode, I'm just sayin'...
I do believe it. I firmly believe that we are who we are because of the things that happen in your life...
If you have to suffer because of lack of food, you will be much harder pressed to deny people food later in your life
If you suffer financially, and earn your way to the top, you will be less likely to throw money away.
Getting stabbed changed who he was at his very core
If you have to suffer because of lack of food, you will be much harder pressed to deny people food later in your life
If you suffer financially, and earn your way to the top, you will be less likely to throw money away.
Getting stabbed changed who he was at his very core
It wasn't the fight itself, it was the near-death experience and brush with his own mortality that was important.
The message wasn't really that you should always get agro even when your outnumberd, it was that it's easy to have regrets in life and say you'd change something your ashamed of, this went back and explored what would happen if you did that.
"when I pulled on one of those threads it unraveled the tapistry of my life", the point was one decision can have a domino effect on everything else, for better or worse.
The fact that he got into that fight, and paid the price for being so foolish, thought him a lesson, made him more mature, and stopped him from being a complete looser later in life who fell well short of his poitnential
RobertScorpio
Pariah
In this PC world of ours it is easy to confuse ambition (agressive traits that leader types have) with being un-evolved cavemen. What do I expect from this post-Phil Donohue
Robert
Scorpio
Excellent ep. Definitely in the top 10.
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