Spoilers Star Trek: Picard 1x03 - "The End is the Beginning"

[Gonzo]

Judging from the reactions on here the response to episode three is that its ok with no real surprises or reveals just more setup until the bit at the end which is not surprising.

Jurati doesnt count as she was suspicious and too good to be true from the start, that whole line about technology being 1000 years away sounded like bullshit, she may believe it or be programmed to believe it.

If there is one set of twins we know about that means there will be at least one other set we dont know about and she is the prime candidate right now, I have been wondering about Rixxo and Narek as well even though they are not identical.

Looks like a shadow war between synths and the Zhat Vash, I think the synths want to know what happened so long ago to make the Romulans hate them so much and the Zhat Vash really dont want that information to be found.

The Zhat Vash may fear the truth coming out more than they do the synths.

P.S Glad to hear Laris and Zhaban survive the attack, whether that means its staged or they are able to fight their way out its all good, I do think they will have a bigger part to play than it appears.

Will see it tomorrow.

 

[Timo]

Think the only other time the words "heavy cruiser" were used in Trek onscreen was in "Conspiracy" to refer to an Ambassador class ship. Not saying he was therefore referring to the Ambassador in this case though...

Also, we never got the impression that "heavy cruiser" would be the biggest and baddest thing out there. Picard's heroes probably didn't fly one, say. And while Kirk apparently did (incidental onscreen graphics quote the designation for his ship), he in turn wasn't necessarily in command of the biggest and baddest ship in the fleet.

These things get mentioned every now and then, without much rhyme or reason. It doesn't much matter that Data was originally discovered by a "cruiser", say. Although it might be relevant that a "light cruiser" went missing at Minos, so perhaps the heroes' bigger ship will offer them some protection? The mention in this ep falls in the former category, though.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[bookworm8571]

I enjoy the tidbits about Romulan culture. The front door is always a false door and you go around back to enter the house. Soji approaches Ramdha from the back. Romulans whisper secrets in each other’s ears, whether it’s a plot or a confession of forbidden love. Romulan pixmit — the fortune telling or tarot cards or mandala, depict a cultural story about two sisters, one who lives and one who dies. There’s probably more time travel coming, since Ramdha met one or both sisters “tomorrow” and she recognizes Soji as Seb Cheneb, “the destroyer,” who is probably a Romulan god or devil and also Vulcan. There is an article about Vulcans at the wiki Memory Beta that talks about the polytheistic ancient Vulcan religion. One of the Vulcan gods is named as Ket Cheleb, “the destroyer.” This description was taken from a role playing game called “The Way of Kolinahr: The Vulcans.” My takeaway from the conversation is that Romulan religion/philosophy is just “the news,” something that is real to them, not as grand or made up as mythology or legend. It is a weather forecast or something just there in the background that still informs their choices. I wonder if the Romulan story about Seb Cheneb was adapted out of some actual tragedy at the beginning of Romulan history, maybe when they fled Vulcan, that involved a synthetic being that destroyed a ship or a world. The synthetic being could have been identified as the personification of their devil.

There are also interesting cultural differences and probably physical differences among Romulans alluded to by Laris. The prisoner, who has forehead ridges like her husband Zhaban, is a “stubborn Northerner like Zhaban.”

 

[1987SpaceGuy]

What I liked about Picard 1.03:
Rios and his Holo EMH
Vasquez Rocks as actual Vasquez Rocks
Picards Romulan Caretakers

Other than that: terrible episode.
Not liking where the plot lines are seemingly going.

 

[The Rock]

I noticed that the EMH name-dropped the Q Continuum in this episode. I wonder if that's something of a hint that Q himself will appear in the show at some point.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Is it too early to start the "dump Section 31 series for a Laris series" campaign?

 

[Gonzo]

In the past Star Trek reserved the term Heavy Cruiser for the biggest ships they could field, not only does it denote the superior tonnage of the vessel it also indicates its greater firepower, speed and marks it as a ship of the line ready for battle.

Many of the earlier Enterprise ships are Heavy Cruisers whereas they called the Klingons heaviest ships Battle Cruisers but the terms are roughly equivalent.

The term battleship have never been used by Starfleet or the Klingons but the Dominion did field them in DS9, the Vengeance would qualify as a Battleship and a Dreadnought.

It seems there is a preference amongst Starfleet to call the latest super heavy ships Dreadnoughts, I must admit the Enterprise D and E dont have the look or feel of a Heavy Cruiser to me, they arent battleships either though so Dreadnought is as good a term as any, the Odyssey class would definitely qualify as a Dreadnought though.

Same for the Klingons with the Vorcha class being an excellent example of a modern Battle Cruiser but the Negh'Var class being too heavy for such a designation.

A classic example of a Heavy Cruiser would be the Excelsior class but as larger ships were developed its designation dropped down to Cruiser.

Once the ships started to get really really big it must have become clear that the term Heavy Cruiser really wasnt applicable any more with the Heavy Cruiser term now used for modern mid sized battle ready ships instead.

Personally I quite liked how the term Destroyer was used in B5 to denote the largest ships Earth could field, even though in real world terms Destroyers are relatively small.

I can understand why an organisation like Starfleet doesnt want to use terms like Destroyer and Battleship but I am surprised the Klingon havent done so, perhaps its a case of keeping up with Starfleet, as for the Romulans they go straight in with the Dreadnought D'Deridex class warbirds as there is no way they could be mistaken for any type of Cruiser.

 

[Discofan]

So the Romulans impeded the effort to save them... Talk about shooting yourself in the foot!

 

[Gonzo]

Is it too early to start the "dump Section 31 series for a Laris series" campaign?

You do realise that you just royally jinxed yourself.

Laris and Zhaban will now be shown to be S31 operatives hired after they left the Tal Shiar.

They are ideal candidates and I would hire them in a heartbeat, not that I am in any way affiliated with S31 of course, as that organisation does not exist.

 

[The Old Mixer]

The Ent-D was classified as an Explorer...which I imagine is just Starfleet's "we're not military" equivalent of "Battleship".

 

[Gonzo]

So the Romulans impeded the effort to save them... Talk about shooting yourself in the foot!

The question is why, it must have been something really unpleasant or explosive for them to go so far.

 

[sttngfan1701d]

Is it too early to start the "dump Section 31 series for a Laris series" campaign?

At least give them some Short Treks? I watched that one with the guy who accidentally made a load of Tribbles and his annoying millennial-acting Captain, and I cringed so hard I couldn't finish it.

 

[The Rock]

At least give them some Short Treks? I watched that one with the guy who accidentally made a load of Tribbles and his annoying millennial-acting Captain, and I cringed so hard I couldn't finish it.

OK boomer.

The question is why, it must have been something really unpleasant or explosive for them to go so far.

Maybe they just really, really hated the idea of forming any kind of alliance with the Federation, similar to the plot of Star Trek 6.

 

[IMC Headquarters]

I just love how there are phasers under every bit of furniture in Picard's chateau.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

The scenes between Picard and Raffi reminded me a lot of Picard's scenes with Sisko. I don't think it was intentional, but I think it does show an understanding of Picard's steadfastness and ability to manage people who are not necessarily on the same page as him.

 

[Gonzo]

The Ent-D was classified as an Explorer...which I imagine is just Starfleet's "we're not military" equivalent of "Battleship".

Yeah definitely a possibility, odd that the Klingons havent used it at all, the Negh'Var would definitely qualify as a Battleship.

I do think the Enterprise E veers very close to actual Battleship territory though as the removal of families and just the style of the ship looks far more militaristic than its predecessor even if the overall tonnage dropped somewhat.

Yet the STO Enterprise F could be considered a return to the true Explorer designation, assuming we ever actually see it on screen and if not it doesnt matter.

 

[Discofan]

The question is why, it must have been something really unpleasant or explosive for them to go so far.

I wonder if they'll ever mention the disappearance of Spock and/or of Nero and his nasty looking ship.

 

[sttngfan1701d]

OK boomer.

As a Millennial that hates most other Millennials and thinks that Generation Z collectively doesn't possess anything resembling a brain or life skills of any kind, thank you for this compliment.

 

[eschaton]

I believed her when she said she's a bad liar, and I further believe that she didn't tell Oh she was joining Picard's mission...because Oh told her to do that. The whole attack on the chateau was staged to get Agnes in.

That kinda makes sense - but I have a hard time believing that the Romulan hit squad would have volunteered to all die just to get Agnes in. Particularly the last one.

"Okay, kill me by shooting me in the back, and we're in the clear."

Of course, they could be mooks being duped by Oh, but still, it doesn't quite add up.

 

[The Rock]

Yeah definitely a possibility, odd that the Klingons havent used it at all, the Negh'Var would definitely qualify as a Battleship.

I do think the Enterprise E veers very close to actual Battleship territory though as the removal of families and just the style of the ship looks far more militaristic than its predecessor even if the overall tonnage dropped somewhat.

Yet the STO Enterprise F could be considered a return to the true Explorer designation, assuming we ever actually see it on screen and if not it doesnt matter.

I wonder if STO is canon. I love that game btw. Play it every day.