Star Trek

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Sparky Prime
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Re: Star Trek

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Prodigy episode 17
Spoiler
With the Protostar's engines repaired, the kids decide to use the holodeck to plot out how to avoid Admiral Janeway when they leave the Neutral Zone. After 87 failures however, they give up and contemplate avoiding the Federation for now. They begin to notice some strange things around the ship and realize they're still on the holodeck. They decide to play along with the programs in order to access the exit, but eventually Zero realizes they're being kept distracted and that they shouldn't play along with the program. Escaping, they realize that Holo-Janeway as the one that trapped them in the holodeck, although she has no memory of it. It seems the computer is being manipulated by the Living Construct weapon to force them to go to the Federation. And sure enough, they find themselves in front of the Dauntless...
More or less a classic trapped on the holodeck episode, but with a bit of a different twist to it. Despite enjoying this episode, it was essentially just filler.
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Re: Star Trek

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Prodigy episode 18
Spoiler
The Dauntless hails the Protostar, which the kids know they cannot respond to. The ship then jumps to warp, under the control of the living construct... It can pilot the ship and control the hologram of Janeway, but it cannot open a comm channel? And the Dauntless does absolutely nothing to stop them from jumping to warp? The Diviner and Vindicator stash Admiral Janeway in a closet of her quarters to deal with her later. The Dauntless merges their warp bubbles and starts firing on the Protostar to collapse their shields in order to board the ship. The kids decide they have to find another way to communicate and ask is Zero could contact them telepathically. Zero says it's too far on their own, but Dal's genes includes telepathic species, and suggests they might be able to bridge the gap working together. When a phaser shot hits the Protostar however, Dal and Admiral Janeway inadvertently switch bodies.

The kids fill in Admiral Janeway about who they really are and how they came across the Protostar, while Dal poorly attempts to fool the crew of the Dauntless he's Janeway, but gets them to stop firing at least until they drop out of warp. Janeway ends up talking to her holographic counterpart while the kids try to figure out how to switch them back, and unlocks some of the hologram's memories. She remembers the first crew, but still doesn't know what has become of Chakotay. The kids figure out Janeway and Dal need a physical conduit to switch back, which apparently the phaser fire provided earlier. So playing a game of charades, they let Dal in Janeway's body know that they need to go for a space walk.

Just as they're about to touch, the Dauntless uses their tractor beam to bring back Dal, forcing Janeway to shoot her body with a phaser to bridge the gap. Dal wakes up back in his body on the Protostar, just as the ship drops out of warp but is confronted by a whole fleet of Starfleet ships in the heart of Federation space. Janeway wakes up, happy to be back in her own body, but finds herself in the brig...
This was a fun episode. Kate Mulgrew seemed to have a lot of fun with this episode in-particular, getting to play around outside the norms. Not much plot progression, but we do get a big set up for the next episode...
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Re: Star Trek

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Prodigy episode 19
Spoiler
Admiral Jellico orders the fleet to board the Protostar, so they begin to fire on them to deplete their shields. With the Proto-drive still offline, the kids attempt evasive maneuvers. Meanwhile, Admiral Janeway attempt to explain the situation to the brig's security personnel. Turns out she's one of the Brenari refugees that Voyager helped cross Devore space in the episode "Counterpoint". Not sure how she's ended up in the Alpha Quadrant to become a Starfleet officer... But she lets Janeway out of the brig.

The Protostar's shields fail, allowing the Diviner, Vindicator and her Drednok robot beam over. The kids attempt to fight them but they're able to open a hail to the Federation fleet. The Living Construct weapon immediately infects their computers causing them to attack each other as well as disables their universal translators. Gwen fights Vindicator, and when her father attempts to help her, Vindicator kills him (he actually dies this time, with his body vanishing for some reason). Vindicator escapes thanks to her Drednok. The kids call for help, and several Federation allies arrive to block weapons fire between Starfleet ships and evacuate personnel. But more Starfleet starships arrive, responding to an automated s.o.s Federation starships apparently send out when in a dire situation. Starfleet and ally ships alike begin to get destroyed, with more ships on the way responding to the sos, making it the perfect trap to bring down Starfleet... To Be Continued...
This episode is part 1, it ends off on a cliffhanger.
Spoiler
I'm surprised they killed off the Diviner. It kinda comes out of no where, since the Vindicator gave no indications she was going to betray him at any point until now. She suddenly declares that he was always weak... Wasn't he the one that formed this group to take down the Federation in the first place? And not sure why the writers had Admiral Janeway save him several episodes ago, just to kill him off (again). His presence since then hasn't added anything to the story. He does ask Gwen to come up with a way to save their people that he hadn't thought of at the end though, so I guess there's that.

The virus causing the Starfleet ships to turn on one another feels too simple. I think I mentioned this before, but I don't think Starfleet computers could be corrupted so easily and simply. And we've never seen ships send out an automated distress call when they're in trouble before. It's clear the writers just wanted a simple way to create a big threat to the Federation. It works well enough I suppose, but it's just a little too easy.

The Defiant and Enterprise-E are part of the fleet in this episode. It's a little hard to spot with how fast things move, but their registry numbers are clearly visible. I'm not sure if this is an Easter egg or not... I noticed they reused the USS Sovereign, as one (or more) is already in the fleet, while another arrives at the end. For the most part the ships looked amazing, but there were few errors with the Sovereign class models, such as the impulse engines and windows above the shuttlebay being just being solid gray. Also odd how when the virus takes over, all the lights, including defector dishs and warp engines turn red.

I assume with some things they've hinted at, time travel will be used as some point to alter/undo these events.
Overall, I was a little disappointed by this episode, but we'll see what they do in part 2.
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Re: Star Trek

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Prodigy episode 20 - Season Finale
Spoiler
With the Federation fleet destroying itself and no way to stop the Living Construct, the kids decide their only choice is to destroy the Protostar. But because of the protodrive, the explosion would be the equivalent of a supernova. Rok-Tahk reasons if they jump the ship to protowarp they can minimize the destruction of the blast by equally distributing it over lightyears instead. Dal volunteers to stay behind since the autopilot system is fried, but Holo-Janeway volunteers instead, since she can just download a copy of her program onto an isolinear chip.

Quickly replicating a shuttle, the kids escape and the Protostar is successfully destroyed, which also puts an end to the Starfleet vessels firing on each other. I feel like the series should have been clearer on how the Living Construct worked... Earlier they presented it as a computer virus it downloaded to other ships, not something that was actively in control of those ships itself. Anyway, the kids plug in the chip but fine Holo-Janeway has only left them a message. She explains her program had grown so large during her time with them, her program wouldn't fit on the isolinear chip and bids them farewell, happy to have been part of their crew and who they've all become.

A month later at Starfleet Command, a Vulcan scientist explains to Admiral Janeway the the Holo-Janeway was able to use the destruction of the Protostar to open a wormhole into the future, and they've detected a distress call from Captain Chakotay. They're considering sending a ship, and Janeway says she intends on being on that ship. The kids arrive at Earth crashing into the San Francisco bay (glossing over how the kids apparently survived a month in a stripped down shuttle, not to mention Earth's defenses), and Janeway goes to bat for them when Starfleet holds a hearing. Starfleet decides not to press charges against them, but doesn't think it'd be fair to make them Starfleet cadets ahead of others that have applied... Instead they're made warrant officers-in-training (with new uniforms and a new robot body for Zero) directly under Admiral Janeway. Gwyn chooses to return to her people however, hoping to unify the Vau N'Akat and prevent the civil war that destroys their world.

As Gwyn leaves, Janeway unveils a new Protostar-class vessel to the kids, explaining the ship they knew was a prototype, Starfleet has approved the class for regular service. They ask if it's their new ship, but Janeway says she has bigger plans...
Overall, not a bad season finale, although I think the pacing between part 1 and 2 could have been a little better to flesh out some story elements. This series also remains the strongest of the nuTrek series.
Spoiler
I have to say, I'm surprised that the show didn't use time travel to undo the destruction of the Federation fleet. And I'm disappointed they gloss over those losses. I mean, the amount of destroyed ships is comparable to the battle with the Borg at Wolf 359. It should be a big deal as the biggest lost of Starships following the Dominion War. I have to wonder if this will be the canon reason for the Enterprise E being gone, with the Enterprise F coming to the 3rd season of Picard. Actually, this could help explain a few oddities with Starfleet in Picard...

I'm surprised by the loss of Holo-Janeway, but since the real Janeway became part of the show, it has felt a bit redundant having them both.

Janeway makes the argument that, despite his genetic modifications, Dal isn't enhanced. I mean, I get what she's saying but I think she could have phrased it better. Dal apparently isn't meant to be a super human, but we don't actually know the purpose his DNA was spliced with so many other species. Or who created him. A plot thread left open for next season.

Glad they haven't forgotten about Chakotay, leaving another plot thread for next season. Interesting that they've essentially changed up the entire status quo for the series moving to the next season.

One of the shuttles that assists the kids when they arrive at Earth has the registry number NCC-74656-A on it. Unfortunately, we do not see the Voyager-A herself, but I have to wonder if that's the "bigger" ship Admiral Janeway was referring to at the end. Either way, I wish they'd ended the episode by actually showing us that ship.
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Re: Star Trek

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New trailer for season 3 of Picard is online.
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Re: Star Trek

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Picard season 3 episode 1
"The Next Generation"

Spoiler
Beverly Crusher's ship, Eleos, comes under attack by some masked assailants (for some reason the computer doesn't alert them to their ships approaching, it only warns them after one of the ships has attached itself and they begin breaking in). Locking her crewmate in another room, and charging the warp engines (since when does the warp engines need time to charge?) she's able to fight off and kill the two intruders (apparently phaser rifles now work like shotguns? She kept cocking it after every shot, and it ran out of power after like 6 shots), but is badly injured. She sends a distress call to Picard, telling him no Starfleet and not to trust anyone and the Eleos jumps to warp (with the enemy ship that'd docked with them just falling off the moment the engines engage). Back on Earth, Picard and Laris are busy packing up the Chateau ahead of a trip to Chaltok IV, where Laris is going to help set up security (they make it sound like it's just a few days, why are they packing everything up like they aren't coming back for years?). Picard, with nothing to do there, muses he'll think about writing his memoir. Sometime later, Picard hears the familiar chirp on an Enterprise D comm badge with the message from Beverly. Not sure how/why this comm badge specifically received the distress call. I don't recall ever seeing a personal comm badge receive a recording like this. And considering it'd been packed away, Beverly is lucky Picard heard it at all. He discusses it with Laris. Both are clearly hurt by this development, but Laris tells him he has to go, she'll save a chair for him at a bar on Chaltok IV when he's able to join her.

Picard meets with Riker at the 10 Forward bar in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, Guinan isn't here. Picard tells Riker about the message, but he doesn't understand what she means by "Hellbird". Riker explains when Picard was assimilated by the Borg, the Enterprise D had been infected by a computer virus called Hellbird that added 3 to all of their navigational coordinates. When Riker plugs in this information, it reveals the true location of the Eleos is the Ryton system, outside Federation space. I have a couple problems with this... If Beverly is sending a distress call to Picard specifically, why would she choose something he wouldn't have any knowledge of? And why would the writers choose to have the Enterprise D infected with a computer virus in an episode where there was no indication of it having a virus? A reference to the episode "Cause and Effect", with the number 3 being the solution to getting out of the time loop, would have made much more sense. At any rate, Riker asks why Beverly cut off contact from everyone. None of the Enterprise D/E crew has heard from her in nearly 20 years, but Picard doesn't know either. Picard doesn't want Riker to go, but Riker is itching for a road trip, and tells him Troi and his daughter could probably use the time away from him anyway, which he doesn't elaborate on. Beverly's instructions for no Starfleet complicates things, but Riker says he may have a workaround. Someone is shown to have been watching them when they leave the bar (who appears to be a member of the Titan crew).

Seven of Nine, Annika Hansen, is the commander on the USS Titan-A, giving Riker an in with the ship. It is a brand-new, yet 5 year old refit of Riker's Titan... Even though Riker's Titan was a Luna-class and this ship is a Neo Constitution-class? Why would Starfleet refit a ship into a completely different class of ship? Kinda felt like the writers got a little lost with the background of the ship. They did the same thing with the Stargazer in the last season. Anyway, Riker and Picard go with a pretense of conducting an inspection prior to an upcoming Frontier Day celebration (and we are introduced to one of Geordi La Forge's daughters, who is the helmsman on the Titan). The Captain, Liam Shaw, is frankly a jerk. Notably absent from the bridge when they left space dock, he's unwilling to change course when they meet him for dinner. He also displays clear hostilities towards Seven. He refers to derogatorily as a former Borg, and is forcing her to go by her human name. Seven unsurprisingly disobeys her captain. After asking Picard and Riker what their true intentions are, she reveals they've arrived at the Ryton system.

Taking a shuttle to the Eleos (while Seven is berated by Captain Shaw for not following orders), Picard and Riker discover the signs of the fight at the start of the episode, noting it's not Beverly's style to kill anyone without mercy like this. They find Beverly in a stasis pod and are taken by surprise by the ships other crewmember, which the two veterans quickly turn the tables on. He explains he is Beverly's son (he looks a little old to be Beverly's son if he was born when she cut everyone off 20 years ago. The actor is 34. He also has an accent that Beverly doesn't have for some reason. I dunno, there is clearly more we need to learn about him), but before he can tell them anything more, the computer warns them of a ship approaching, which... uh, Crusher Jr. (he doesn't tell them his name) blames them for leading straight to them... It's the people that attacked the Eleos at the start of the episode, but this time it's their mother ship rather than the three smaller vessels.

The B-storyline follows Raffi, who apparently is working undercover for Starfleet Intelligence, although even she isn't sure whom she is taking orders from (they communicate with her via text only. Whoever it is calls her a "warrior", so my guess is that it's Worf). Apparently someone stole an experimental weapon involving quantum tunneling technology, from the Daystom Institute. But her only clue is the "Red Lady". Spending hours trying to figure out what that means, she eventually comes across the dedication of a statue of Rachel Garrett (the captain of the Enterprise-C) for Frontier Day. Arriving at the Starfleet recruitment center where the statue is located, Raffi arrives in time to see the entire building sink into a portal that opens under it, and is dumped back to the ground from a portal that opens in the sky, much to Raffi's horror.

Few other tidbits... Geordi is established to be in charge of a Starfleet ship museum. A graphic in the end credits indicates that Voyager (guess they didn't keep her at Starfleet headquarters in this timeline), the Enterprise-A and the Excelsior are all docked there. Another graphic in the episode shows a Pathfinder-class Starship from Star Trek Online which is labeled "Voyager-B". Lots of familiar music in this episode, notably from Wrath of Khan, Search for Spock and First Contact
I've got mixed feeling about this premier. Overall, this was one of the best episodes of Picard, which isn't saying much unfortunately, since I think it's only really had 1 or 2 good episodes out of 20 in the first 2 seasons. Terry Matalas clearly has a better handle on Star Trek than Michael Chabon and Akiva Goldsman. But for all that he gets right, there's still issues that just don't mesh with what has already been established.

I'm just hopeful the rest of this season doesn't go downhill like the last season did. We'll see where they go with it...
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Re: Star Trek

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I mostly enjoyed Picard's first season, but while the second had some good moments, I thought the whole story didn't make a lot of sense and it just wasn't as good, for a lot of reasons. That's one problem with serialized storytelling over episodic, if the whole season is a single story, it all really rises or falls together. A good episode or two can't really save it. So I hope season three turns out to be a good one, because I'd like the TNG reunion to be a good one, not a wasted opportunity.

Edit: I liked that first episode a lot. It makes a big difference to have Picard with old familiar friends like Riker, who is very good in this episode. Stewart and Frakes do a great job bringing out the best in each other, and it's great to see them spend so much time together. Nice to see Seven again, nice to hear Janeway get a mention. They could have left Raffi out of this, and I wish they would have, she's my least favorite of the season 1-2 crew. I love all the fanservice, they're not even trying to be subtle about it. This was far and away the best episode of Picard, and it makes me wish they'd gone this route from day one. Bring back the characters we care about, surround Picard with friends, and tell a decent Star Trek story. I hope the rest of the episodes can maintain what they started here.

Some of the fun nods: the opening "In the 25th Century" mimicking the opening of the Wrath of Khan, the return of the Crillee Italic font for the closing credits, music from First Contact and the TNG theme, the flute from "Inner Light".... all sorts of little things pop up through the episode.
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Re: Star Trek

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Picard season 3 episode 2
"Disengage"

Spoiler
We find out Beverly's son is named Jack Crusher. Odd that he's named after Beverly's dead husband. He's a bit of a con man but with good intentions, since we see him in a flashback to two days ago delivering medical supplies, but has to break laws to do so. He's wanted by the "Marked woman". This scene didn't really seem necessary. They literally tell us everything this scene shows us anyway, making it feel redundant. Back in the present, Picard, Riker and John find themselves cornered on the Eleos against the enemy ship. Seven convinces Captain Shaw to step in to save them (and Beverly), and we're introduced to Vadic. Vadic says "Good afternoon" and proceeds to say she assumes it's afternoon in the Sol system. I don't know if they writers were just trying to be funny here or what they were going for, because it doesn't really make sense. There'd be dozens of time zones for any given planet/moon, and space stations spread out across the solar system. Somehow, she seems to know everyone, including that Picard has a synthetic body. Her crew are some sort of bounty hunters and demands they hand over Jack, giving them an hour to think it over, and uses the tractor beam to throw the Eleos at the Titan as a show of how powerful her ship is (as well as allowing them to scan her weapons).

Shaw throws Jack in the brig while they figure out who he is. Riker urges Picard to ask the obvious question, implying Jack is his son... I don't understand why running a DNA test is never suggested. Seems like that would quickly answer that question with Beverly recovering in sickbay and Jack being unreliable and uncooperative (if he even knows). It kinda makes the episode drag on unnecessarily. Jack breaks out of the brig because no one apparently checked him for hidden devices and while the crew assumes he'll make a break for the shuttle bay, Seven tracks him down in a transporter room. Picard realizes the only place he could beam to is Vadic's ship, telling us Jack is willing to sacrifice himself to protect the Titan, and Shaw is ready to hand him over. Riker wakes up Beverly and takes her to the bridge. She and Picard share a look, and Picard realizes Jack is David Marcus 2.0, I mean, his son. With this information, Shaw is forced to relent to Picard, the Titan fires on Vadic's ship and they flee into the nearby nebula. Not sure why they can't call for back up or something... Shaw says help is days away, yet from what we saw, they arrived here from Earth within a day.

In the b plot... Raffi doesn't buy the official story that a Romulan rebel named Lurak was responsible, as he never topped anyone's most wanted list. She argues with her Starfleet Intelligence handler that a Ferengi named Sneed probably sold him the technology, but Lurak was probably just a fall guy. I really wish they'd done a better job setting this angle up. Raffi suddenly talking about this Lurak and Sneed felt like it came out of no where. The handler tells her to disengage the mission, concerned she'll end up dead as well. She does anyway, asking her ex-husband to arrange a meeting. She tells Sneed that she works for Lurak. He forces Raffi to take some drugs to prove she was trustworthy but then reveals he tied up that loose end, showing her Lurak's decapitated head. Worf kills Sneed and his guards, telling Raffi he'd told her to disengage, confirming he was her handler.
The pacing of this episode felt a little poor. The big question they could have answered much quicker than they did, and was frankly obvious of an answer, making much of the episode just feel like padding. I also wasn't a fan of how they switched between the a and b plots in this episode. It was just frustrating at a couple points as they were just about to get somewhere only to cut away. Still better than episodes from the first 2 seasons, but not as good as it should be.
Last edited by Sparky Prime on Sun Feb 26, 2023 4:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Star Trek

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If nothing else
Spoiler
(and there was a lot to like about this episode), Worf's entrance was great. I was afraid they'd mess up what made Worf a great character, but he seems like himself, still slicing down the bad guys like it was nothing. I'm not sure how to feel about Picard and Dr. Crusher having a son together, but I suppose we'll have to see how the story progresses. Wesley needs to meet his half-brother though.
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Re: Star Trek

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andersonh1 wrote: Sun Feb 26, 2023 3:54 pm If nothing else
Spoiler
(and there was a lot to like about this episode), Worf's entrance was great. I was afraid they'd mess up what made Worf a great character, but he seems like himself, still slicing down the bad guys like it was nothing. I'm not sure how to feel about Picard and Dr. Crusher having a son together, but I suppose we'll have to see how the story progresses. Wesley needs to meet his half-brother though.
Spoiler
Worf's entrance was great. Although it makes the 'I'm a pacifist now' line from the trailer seem really weird. Don't think pacifists go around cutting off people's heads and whatnot. Guess we'll have to wait and see what that's about. Also hoping they'll explain why Worf returned to Starfleet, since Nemesis didn't.

I'm curious to see if Wesley shows up in this season. It would be really interesting to see what he thinks of having a half-brother via Picard, named after his dad...
BTW, the first episode of season 3 is currently on the Paramount Plus Youtube page.
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