Where did you think the series would go?

[Arpy]

With the recent death of Zhaban, I’m thinking about what might have been. I thought at some point we’d see Picard, Laris, and he on a clandestine mission using their old Tal Shiar skills, perhaps to infiltrate Romulan space.

During the first season, when Starfleet were the baddies, I imagined Clancy maybe sending a ship to apprehend or terminate Picard in order to maintain interstellar peace with the Romulans. Maybe it would even be a surprise end-of-season thing; maybe (if they wanted to have fun with it) it could even be the Enterprise; and maybe (if they really wanted to be operatic about it) it would be temporarily captained by (a la Jellico) mission specialist, and Picard’s ex-wife, Captain Beverly Picard. Captain Beverly Crusher?

What a way to manufacture some drama — his ex-wife, our friend, being sent to kill him. Of course not to actually, but imagine her (like in “All Good Things…” very different from the woman we remember, just like the others we visited were on Nepenthe) on the bridge of the Enterprise-F during a firefight when it’s all gone sideways, sparks flying everywhere, and she raging orders to take him out when, of course, it comes to that. “Oh, the drama!” The Enterpsie-F barreling down like an avenging Fury, phasers taking out everything left and right between it and its target, between it and Picard. Hell, end the season like that, the ship swooping into camera, cut to black, cue BoBW “To Be Continued…” music. I think it would have been cool.

What are some of your might have beens that, at this point, is clear will not have been?

 

[The Old Mixer]

Starfleet were never the baddies last season.

 

[KennyB]

I try to go in with NO expectations......I think that's where a lot of people find themselves disappointed. I just try to go where they take me. I have no desire to really see any of the old cast.......if I do "cool" and if I don't that is fine too. I just want to be entertained and escape for an hour.

 

[Arpy]

Starfleet were never the baddies last season.

Oh come on. Obviously Clancy wasn’t a mustache twirler, but we didn’t know where they’d take her during the season. Frankly, I think they could have gone far darker or at least more complicated her angle, but she was a goodie the moment she sent Picard the squadron. Also, we didn’t know Oh was a Romulan immediately. She could have been an evil Vulcan admiral in Intelligence playing her own games. Also might have been fun.

I try to go in with NO expectations......I think that's where a lot of people find themselves disappointed. I just try to go where they take me. I have no desire to really see any of the old cast.......if I do "cool" and if I don't that is fine too. I just want to be entertained and escape for an hour.

Yeah, I go in completely spoiler free and don’t, for the most part, discuss what’s going on during the season. But it’s perfectly normal think about where things might go. And I’m asking what others might have thought as well. What ideas they might have come up with and avenues of thought they might have gone down. It’s just good alternate universe fun.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Starfleet were never the baddies last season.

 

[Arpy]

Starfleet were never the baddies last season.

They kinda were. “They withdreww.” Some might call them downright “criminal!” They were part of the problem the protagonists had to overcome to ultimately save the day. No they weren't eeevil red lightsaber wielding, black leather clad, gauntlet of whatever seeking baddies, but is that the bar now?

So, say the circumstances called for Picard’s ship to be destroyed. Or say there was an honest difference of opinion on how to proceed where Picard was asking for more than Clancy could afford to give and Crusher had to make the call to take him out before everyone died. No good or evil, just differences of opinion on how best not to get everyone killed.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Starfleet made a bad decision (not the first), based on bad information provided by enemy infiltration. That doesn't make them the "bad guy". The organization was put into what was essentially a Kobayashi Maru situation where there was no answer that was not without significant compromise. A literal no-win scenario. There was no inherent change in Starfleet's overall philosophy or ways of doing things. Starfleet is the same as it ever was.

 

[Arpy]

Oh Christ have I stumbled onto some ongoing caustic argument about Nu Trek vs Correct Trek?

 

[KennyB]

Oh Christ have I stumbled onto some ongoing caustic argument about Nu Trek vs Correct Trek?

You seem to be the only one arguing. You’re the OP.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Oh Christ have I stumbled onto some ongoing caustic argument about Nu Trek vs Correct Trek?

I'm not arguing, I'm simply saying that the basic premise of your argument is flawed.

 

[Arpy]

I'm not arguing, I'm simply saying that the basic premise of your argument is flawed.

An example of a tough situation with no easy solution. Say Picard is trying to get a bit of information to a Romulan warlord and thinks that he can convince him with it to stop the warlord’s war with his neighboring Romulan factions, BUT Starfleet (far from the players on the field) thinks that the warlord will in fact use it as a WMD against worlds on the Federation side of the Neutral Zone. Picard asks for faith with info he gathered and “knows” that he can present it in such a way to end a genocidal civil war that will wipe out the Romulans for good, but Starfleet orders him to keep the info quiet for the threat to millions of Federation citizens on the border. I don’t think anyone is going to be called eeeeeevil for sending Crusher to find and persuade him to come back or, later, do whatever is necessary to stop WMD from falling into Romulan hands. Something like this would allow for the dramatic situation in which she’s blasting Romulan belligerents left and right and trying to stop Picard from doing his thing. No clear villain, but yes a baddie from the perspective of the protagonist (Picard) trying to complete their mission (save the Romulan people from total extinction).

 

[Turtletrekker]

Well, that was certainly a lot of words.

 

[Arpy]

You seem to be the only one arguing. You’re the OP.

I think I’ve just opened a new front for preexisting discussion. The arguments for why Starfleet is or isn’t gasp(!) a baddie seem prepackaged and prepared to me, and ignoring what’s actually written in this thread.

I’ve given one idea I had from last season. What are some other people’s?

 

[KennyB]

Maybe you should try the fan fiction forum. They might welcome your story pitch.

 

[Timofnine]

With the recent death of Zhaban, I’m thinking about what might have been.

Was it ever explained on screen how he actually died? I don’t think it was old age but perhaps it was? I quite warmed to his character, hopefully not killed by pirates? I don’t like loose ends. At least they explained how Hugh and Icheb died/were murdered on screen…

 

[Arpy]

Maybe you should try the fan fiction forum. They might welcome your story pitch.

That’s an interesting approach. I might try it in the future. But again, I want to hear what people thought as they watched the series, not what they could come up with for Fan Fiction.

Was it ever explained on screen how he actually died? I don’t think it was old age but perhaps it was? I quite warmed to his character, hopefully not killed by pirates? I don’t like loose ends. At least they explained how Hugh and Icheb died/were murdered on screen…

I haven’t thought too closely about it in case we find out more this season — maybe a flashback scene — but your probably right; I’m not really seeing that happen this season. Maybe if we had 26 episodes to fill like in the past, but with 10… Maybe a Romulan virus or ailment from his Tal Shiar days caught up with him?

Another little thing from Season 1 I thought would have more significance were those little tags Soji and the Trill doctor were putting on in the staging area. I was sure those would go off at some point in the season. If it were 26 episodes, we would have seen their friendship develop and she would have gotten assimilated. If only to remind us how dangerous these Borg were.