Hooyah. But these days it takes a scandal and not simply bad decisions or lack of talent. And scandals don't even work anymore.
Spoilers How do you like it that Picard is an android now?
- Thread starter Char Kais
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It takes failure from financial standpoint like it always has. Return on investment.
Loss leader.
I kinda-sorta jumped around reading this thread, but has anybody mentioned the TOS episode "What Are Little Girls Made Of?"
Seems that Dr. Korby figured long before Data was even imagined, how to transfer peoples consciousness completely into android bodies.
(granted using alien tech)
Seems that Dr. Korby figured long before Data was even imagined, how to transfer peoples consciousness completely into android bodies.
(granted using alien tech)
They got five shows in production.
Someday that will be well understood. That no matter what people might think CBS is not in the habit of setting large sums of money on fire to prove a point with a show.
Except that the takeaway in that case was that android Korby wasn't the same as the original.
Yeah, it seems he lost the human trait of compassion in the transfer.
I still wonder if he really had much before hand though, he did leave Christine hanging for his work.
And if Kirk hadn't fouled up the works during the process, his duplicate might have actually gotten away with it.
I figured that tech was imperfect, as indicated by Ruk's limitations, and Korby's struggles. But, other tech would make it possible. Even Sargon's world indicated such:
SPOCK: Our bodies, Sargon, for what purpose?
KIRK: To build. To build humanoid robots. We must borrow your bodies long enough to have the use of your hands, your fingers.
SPOCK: Then you intend to construct mechanical bodies, move your minds into them, and then return our bodies to us.
MULHALL: We have engineers, technicians. Why can't they build your robots for you?
KIRK: No. Our methods, our skills are far beyond your abilities. It is time.
I really couldn't care less. I have nothing against Jean Luc, but the captain is never my favorite character in any series. I'd much rather learn what the hell happened to Seven between now and "Voyager. "
Rios' line about Picard being in an organic android body when ranting to the ICE guard was funny.
Also a character note: Rios does not understand cybernetics - and doesn't really seem to want to understand cybernetics. Which was probably another stumbling block in the relationship with Agnes, who pretty much lives and breathes nothing but cybernetics.
Picard's becoming an android seems like an empty story development for it's own sake without any stakes or bearing on the character's overall development. It seemed to just be a means to have it both ways - Picard gets to make a sacrifice, we watch everyone get sad and emotional only to have him brought back for the next season in a rather cheap way.
About the way I felt that Old Spock was a Genesis device clone with a recording of Original Spock's consciousness decanted from McCoy's brain popped into his skull by a Vulcan mystic.
IOW, weird and annoying but in the big scheme a difference which made no difference.
IOW, weird and annoying but in the big scheme a difference which made no difference.
I would say the only difference was that they at least set up higher stakes at the beginning in that Spock had seemingly lost a significant part of himself, his memories, consciousness or whatever. Part of the development of the character would potentially be relearning what it meant to be himself and what if any changes might manifest.
Unfortunately though they didn't keep it going and by ST:V it was for all intents and purposes dropped. I get it though, from the perspective of films you only have two hours and making a ST film about the philosophical implications of consciousness transfer will not have mass appeal.
However a tv series is a different story - Picard season 2 has 10 hours to work with - so one would think they'd be able to touch on some of these points as interesting character beats. Instead almost all the character beats are based on trauma. Jean-Luc has trauma about his mother, Seven has trauma, Rafi has Trauma, Rios has trauma, Jurati has trauma, Rene Picard has depression, Soong has trauma. It can all get rather tiresome IMO - not everyone in the world has trauma, for goodness sake! Adding trauma to a character in and of itself does not automatically make a story more adult or have gravitas that it otherwise wouldn't.
Or it's a science-fictional plot device to have Picard come to a place of accepting his own mortality, accepting the death of his ersatz son Data, and embracing life again.
Could be that.
Rios actually seems to have moved past his trauma and be in a much healthier place than in S1, which is refreshing to see, none of his character beats this season have been about trauma (apart from the physical trauma of being dropped in mid-air). Seven is also much lighter this season, with very little focus on what it means for her to be without her implants. And I wouldn't chalk Soong's issues up to trauma, either.
Yes, I agree with you point about Rios. Seven I'm not so sure about - she hasn't really been given alot of in depth treatment so far IMO. I was half kidding about Soong - playing a bit off the backstory for the character that Spiner came up with himself.
And that's the takeaway.
Nor does dwelling on a plot device about which the less is said, the better. And that's all Picard's "android" state is - a plot device to bring him back to life.
I'm not loving the Borg time travel story, but I'm more interested than I would be in ruminations about a difference that makes no difference.
Seriously, who cares?
Get back to me when you find those eight episodes of TOS where they addressed the fact that Uhura had been stripped of her identity and memory and had to relearn and reconstruct her personality from infancy onward. Bet they were gripping stuff.
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