ST Picard - Starships and Technology Season One SPOILER Discusssion

[NCC-73515]

I modified several images into links, because we don't allow hotlinking here. For future reference, please upload such images onto a free hosting service like Imgur and post them that way. Thanks.

I've been struggling with that as well. I'm totally unfamiliar with Imgur et al. What is the simplest service that you'd recommend where you don't have to sign up and it's as quick and easy as it gets?

 

[Nightfall to-Ennien]

So it may be that what those seemingly transparent slabs "actually" do is project images directly to the eyes of any users the system identifies as looking at the things - and for all other people, the slabs are merely blank and transparent and don't clutter the field of view at all, which is superior to having conventional display screens.

This is actually a technology that we have right now, it’s just still in it’s infancy. Most commonly it’s referred to as retinal projection, and it uses lasers and optics to “paint” raster images directly on the retinas of a user. The problem up to now has been creating a light source both bright enough and focused enough to have sufficient resolution and contrast against a daylight background to be coherent. It also has the bonus of being, by nature, stereoscopic as the image is projected into each eye. Add in eye-tracking, which we already do well enough that we use it to see how well webpage designs work, and use a distributed array of lasers, and the slab of glass, or the camshaft-looking thing that Raffi used in the most recent episode, could simply be user interface props.

Of course, not all displays in DSC work like that, and some appear to be done on stage rather than in post.

Those are actually practical effects, there was an interview where someone said they’d already broken a couple of them.
The display:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1478392-REG/lg_55ew5f_a_55_transparent_oled_commercial.html

 

[DEWLine]

Yep. Those see-through screens on DSC actually work.There are pix of actors and production staff taken between takes where those monitors are lit up and running visuals.

 

[Unicron]

I've been struggling with that as well. I'm totally unfamiliar with Imgur et al. What is the simplest service that you'd recommend where you don't have to sign up and it's as quick and easy as it gets?

I use Imgur myself, and it would be my first recommendation. It's been pretty reliable for me and it's free and user friendly.

 

[fireproof78]

I've been struggling with that as well. I'm totally unfamiliar with Imgur et al. What is the simplest service that you'd recommend where you don't have to sign up and it's as quick and easy as it gets?

Imgur is as simple as it gets. If you have a Google login then you can log in with that. It pretty much becomes a photo library from then on.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

Observations on Episode 3. I recognize that there's a "starships only" thread in the dedicated Picard forum, but this thread seems to be okay with the wider look at technology in general, so I'm gonna keep covering both.

- The Starfleet HQ building is altogether different than where Picard met Clancy last week. At least they put a holo-logo on the building this time, although the insignia is the one used in 2399, not 2385 as mentioned here. Perhaps thy were just starting to phase it in? Also, given how often Starfleet changes logos, it almost makes sense to keep the big signage in holographic form so they don't ahve to go re-engraving huge buildings every time there's a fleet-wide rebrand.

- Beta Antares and Eridani A are real stars, established here as places where Starfleet keeps mothballed starships. This means that they were not pressing everything that can move into service, perhaps shooting down the theory that they were pulling DSC-era ships out of mothballs for the Romulan exodus. So, it was apparently meant to be a purpose-built fleet of ferries, such that Starfleet could maintain its other programs to a reasonable extent.

- So as much as PADD technology has evolved, they're STILL significantly thicker than the average Apple or Samsung tablet. Just as shiny though.

- Now that we've seen Lt. Cmdr Musiker in the flashback, it's worth noting that she was Picard's XO on the USS Verity in the prequel comic. This makes it the first time since the Defiant which had a non-red officer in that position.

- Raffi lives at the Vasquez rocks, which is a great nod to the actual filming location. Her though, it's a cab ride AND a decent hike to her not-RV trailer at the base of the rocks. The REAL location has a parking lot just a few feet away, and people's houses lie within a few minutes' walk. I'm guessing the intervening centuries has made the place much more remote than the sub-hour's drive it really is from downtown LA.

- Raffi's place seems to have "[Something] Home Trailers" branding on the side. I guess the lack of apparent wheels means this home trailer can hover to where it needs to be.

- We hopefully have a lot more Hugh to come. I am surprised though that his de-assimilation look is more along the lines of the rush-job ex-Borg we saw in VOY "Survival Instinct", than Seven's... smoother look, or those of the ex-Borg kids in Voyager's flock.

- So was the uniformity of Romulan hairstyles in basically every other appearance prior to this one a cultural thing imposed on the population? In three episodes so far we've seen the same variety of hairstyles as any other human population.

- Clearly you can tell if a Starfleet officer is really a Romulan plant, their rank isignia will not be properly fitted. Here, Commodore Oh's pin is askew, and last week Lt. Rizzo's pips were perpendicular to where they should have been.

- Is this the first real look at earphones in Trek, aside from the funky comm pieces we have from TOS/ENT et al?

- Raffi's computer has a cool hand-held wand mode, and could be stood up on a desk to a sort of desktop config. At one point as she's working, the computer code cutely reads an if/then code line with "GNDN" in it, which is a callback to the "Goes Nowhere, Does Nothing" tags on assorted set greeblies over the decades.

- So when Rios is alone on La Sirena, is the ship literally full of himself?

- Both the medkit and the bottle of booze are replicated into existence with the same effect as the replicators / quantum archives seen so far, albeit this time simply on the ship's console and not a dedicated pad of some kind.

- An argument for having DNA safety locks on weapons in the future is made here. Picard's study has TWO pistols concealed under things, perfectly within rugrat grabbing distance! The weapons aren't Starfleet issue, nor are they the types used by the assassins. What IS the state of civilian weapons manufacture in this era? The instance that comes to mind is the Starfleet-ish pistol used by Kevin in TNG "The Survivors", although the rifle that farmer guy shot Klang with in ENT "Broken Bow" would be another weapon, and on earth no less.

The one assassin demonstrates the "suicide tooth" again, again using it as a weapon. It seems pretty clear this time that the last guy meant to spit not on Dahj but to set off the rifle she was holding; making her melt was a byproduct. THIS guy completely disintegrates, but oddly the chair he's on and the floor underneath does not. I guess it's meant to work best on living organic matter?

- The first time Picard boards La Sirena it's on the transporter pad at the back of the cargo section. At the end of the episode he and Adnes appear in the cockpit area instead.

- So what are the crew stations for on La Sirena? Rios seems to be operating the helm from the CO chair; on the Enteprise-D we know that there are backup Conn and Ops panels built in, so Rios' apparent penchant for Starfleet spec make a little bit of sense here. It was probably meant for a regular crew of at least three though, and Rios wasn't aboout to let Raffi or Agnes drive...

Mark

 

[fireproof78]

So was the uniformity of Romulan hairstyles in basically every other appearance prior to this one a cultural thing imposed on the population? In three episodes so far we've seen the same variety of hairstyles as any other human population.

A totalitarian state with a secret police that everyone fears having imposed standards? Yeah, I'd say probably so.

 

[Timo]

Beta Antares and Eridani A are real stars

To nitpick, Antares isn't currently known to have a Beta component, nor would it be systematically called Beta Antares if it did exist, but Antares B. Perhaps there exists a constellation named Antares in the future (split off Scorpius), with Beta the second-brightest star in that constellation?

established here as places where Starfleet keeps mothballed starships.

...Although with the visual evidence from Mars, perhaps every Starfleet dockyard keeps those?

This means that they were not pressing everything that can move into service, perhaps shooting down the theory that they were pulling DSC-era ships out of mothballs for the Romulan exodus. So, it was apparently meant to be a purpose-built fleet of ferries, such that Starfleet could maintain its other programs to a reasonable extent.

That said, showing tugs (even if old ones) at dockyards makes sense. Perhaps those helped build the ferries?

So as much as PADD technology has evolved, they're STILL significantly thicker than the average Apple or Samsung tablet. Just as shiny though.

Might be more comfortable to hold. The props obviously are lighter than real tablets, so the "real" deals might be, too.

Now that we've seen Lt. Cmdr Musiker in the flashback, it's worth noting that she was Picard's XO on the USS Verity in the prequel comic. This makes it the first time since the Defiant which had a non-red officer in that position.

Only in the comics, though. Musiker onscreen appears to have intel-related skills. Perhaps her uniform color goes well with that?

Raffi lives at the Vasquez rocks, which is a great nod to the actual filming location. Her though, it's a cab ride AND a decent hike to her not-RV trailer at the base of the rocks. The REAL location has a parking lot just a few feet away, and people's houses lie within a few minutes' walk.

Interesting!

I'm guessing the intervening centuries has made the place much more remote than the sub-hour's drive it really is from downtown LA.

Does Los Angeles even exist past the big earthquakes mentioned? Was it perhaps one of the cities small enough not to warrant a strategic defense against WWIII, but large enough to be targeted?

So was the uniformity of Romulan hairstyles in basically every other appearance prior to this one a cultural thing imposed on the population? In three episodes so far we've seen the same variety of hairstyles as any other human population.

Might have been the Government Look. The only glimpse we got into the civilian side of life, in "Unification", was at the capital planet, in a district of the capital city from the sound of it. Perhaps the families of government workers had to follow the party line in quite a few respects?

Clearly you can tell if a Starfleet officer is really a Romulan plant, their rank insignia will not be properly fitted. Here, Commodore Oh's pin is askew, and last week Lt. Rizzo's pips were perpendicular to where they should have been.

I noticed that, too. Then again, this stuff was much more difficult to spot back in the era of round pips...

Is this the first real look at earphones in Trek, aside from the funky comm pieces we have from TOS/ENT et al?

I guess so.

So when Rios is alone on La Sirena, is the ship literally full of himself?

...Especially if Rios himself is a hologram, dependent on the ship. We'll see.

An argument for having DNA safety locks on weapons in the future is made here. Picard's study has TWO pistols concealed under things, perfectly within rugrat grabbing distance! The weapons aren't Starfleet issue, nor are they the types used by the assassins. What IS the state of civilian weapons manufacture in this era? The instance that comes to mind is the Starfleet-ish pistol used by Kevin in TNG "The Survivors", although the rifle that farmer guy shot Klang with in ENT "Broken Bow" would be another weapon, and on earth no less.

We never got an argument for the average civilian being unarmed. Access never appeared to be an issue when there was demand. But perhaps guns in civilized locations can be limited to stun, which ought to suffice for most self-protection and even hunting needs.

The one assassin demonstrates the "suicide tooth" again, again using it as a weapon. It seems pretty clear this time that the last guy meant to spit not on Dahj but to set off the rifle she was holding; making her melt was a byproduct. THIS guy completely disintegrates, but oddly the chair he's on and the floor underneath does not. I guess it's meant to work best on living organic matter?

Might be more than a mere chemical - a cloud of ferocious nanites, perhaps? Optimized for carnage, not gonna bother with hurting innocent chairs.

So what are the crew stations for on La Sirena? Rios seems to be operating the helm from the CO chair; on the Enteprise-D we know that there are backup Conn and Ops panels built in, so Rios' apparent penchant for Starfleet spec make a little bit of sense here. It was probably meant for a regular crew of at least three though, and Rios wasn't about to let Raffi or Agnes drive...

Yup. OTOH, Ops would be redundant if it really is about resources allocation, especially crew resources. Might be one of the three is the driver and commander, one is the gunner, and one is the engineer?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[valkyrie013]

Well, the replicators, home models are probably locked out of producing anything harmfull, including weapons. maybe a Stun only weapon for certain parts of the world maybe. maybe some antique Slug Throwers exist in some cabinets..

 

[Racefuel]

Well, the replicators, home models are probably locked out of producing anything harmfull, including weapons. maybe a Stun only weapon for certain parts of the world maybe. maybe some antique Slug Throwers exist in some cabinets..

Well we know Kirk has a small collection in his apt in the 2280's

 

[Ronald Held]

Eridani A means 40 Eridani A, the star Vulcan orbits?

 

[Henoch]

Eridani A means 40 Eridani A, the star Vulcan orbits?

I can buy it. 40 Eridani is a triple star about 17 light years from Earth. Wiki gives the following speculation about a potential planet Vulcan:

The habitable zone of 40 Eridani A, where a planet could exist with liquid water, is near 0.68 AU from A. At this distance a planet would complete a revolution in 223 Earth days (according to the third of Kepler's laws) and 40 Eridani A would appear nearly 20%[note 3] wider than the Sun does on Earth. An observer on a planet in the 40 Eridani A system would see the B/C pair as unusually bright (magnitudes -8 and -6) white and reddish-orange stars in the night sky.

It is unlikely that habitable planets exist around 40 Eridani B because they would have been sterilized by its evolution into a white dwarf. As for 40 Eridani C, it is prone to flares, which cause large momentary increases in the emission of X-rays as well as visible light. This would be lethal to Earth-type life on planets near the flare star.

So far, only one large exoplanet has been found orbiting close in to 40 Eridani A...so, there's still hope to discover Vulcan in the near future.

 

[DEWLine]

As for "Beta Antares", I smell an explanation similar to that for "Rigel vs Beta Rigel" coming up: a star similarly, coincidentally named by some other species' astronomers somewhere. And the second star of that ilk is likely far closer to the UFP core sectors than the human-named Antares.

It probably already has a GAIA DR-whatever catalogue number.

 

[Dukhat]

Spoiler

So in this week’s episode there is a flashback to 2385 when still-in-Starfleet Admiral Picard visits Elnor’s colony planet. While he’s not in uniform he still has his 2380’s commbadge (perhaps the colonists don’t like seeing uniforms). According to the non-canon comic, Picard should be in command of the Verity at this point. While I highly doubt we’ll see the ship or even get a name-drop, I’m hoping that at least we’ll see some sort of Starfleet transport or long-range warp shuttle/runabout as Picard’s ride.

 

[Timo]

...Although more probably we will only see the transporter effect. I wonder if it's gonna be different for 2385 and 2399?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Dukhat]

...Although more probably we will only see the transporter effect. I wonder if it's gonna be different for 2385 and 2399?

That’s Berman-era Trek, when they didn’t have the budget for new physical models. There’s nothing stopping them from creating something CGI even for a scene lasting only a few seconds.

 

[Tosk]

CGI ships still cost money.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

As do transporter effects... And ALL of the ones seen in this show so far are the same one, from the Romulan assassins to the SFHQ transporter booths to La Sirena's site-to-site editions. Same goes for the replicator effects, though with minor variations.

Ooh, on a more recent rewatch Hugh says that all the Romulans "ever assimilated" as far as he knows are part of the so-called "Disordered" subset. The dialogue MAY be referring to this subset only, but a notable omission is Orum, the Romulan xB (I'm assuming this is indeed "Ex-Borg") that Voayger encountered with a colony of xBs in VOY "Unity". We thought at the time that Orum was assimilated during the supposed Borg rampage through the Beta quadrant in the first season of TNG, which may be thrown into question now.

OTOH, we don't know exactly WHEN the cube in this reclamation site was captured. For all we know, this could be that exact ship from 2364, which has languished unknown to Starfleet for years before the Romulan collapse led to a more open exchange of information. But either way, would Hugh have known about other Romulan-Borg incidents? I'm hoping we'll be able to get enough tidbits to fill in the gaps.

Mark

 

[Dukhat]

CGI ships still cost money.

But it takes a fraction of the time to build them.

 

[Timo]

And even less to do the transporter effect. But if they are all the same... In-universe, the technology no doubt is approaching the finger-snapping perfection where all we get is a flash of white light if that, so the time for colorful sparkles is drawing to an end. Out-universe, it would be fun for 'em to put some dollars in for diversity in this respect, too.

A smallish, private'ish transport might make sense for the past visit. Would the CGI asset have utility elsewhere in the show, though? If doing stuff really were affordable now, all the hovercars and shuttletaxis on Earth wouldn't be identical, and the designers would go crazy with turning Earth into Coruscant.

Timo Saloniemi