Star Trek: Picard Catch-All [Spoilers]

Rat Boy wrote:
PaladinTom wrote:
beanman101283 wrote:

Have we seen those specific paintings in TNG or the movies before?

Not that I can recall.

Considering how the actor who plays Dhaj/Soji just turned 20 last week and that the only TNG work released in her life time to this point was Nemesis, that would have been a lot foresight on somebody's part.

She also seems to have a strong resemblance to Lal.

I can't wait for the DVD release (because I just won't subscribe to another service) That is how I saw Discovery and while waiting was annoying it was ok.

I am so happy that it is on Amazon Prime in Germany, although it is weird that this is on Amazon whereas Discovery is on Netflix over here. It is kinda the first time I am happy that we don’t have as much choice as you over in North America...

The first episode was over way too fast and really not all that much happens in the first episode, so I can’t say yet whether I like it or not. But I can say I hate employing dreams and visions as devices to move a story along... which happens twice throughout the 45 minutes, so...

Brainsmith wrote:

The first episode was over way too fast and really not all that much happens in the first episode, so I can’t say yet whether I like it or not. But I can say I hate employing dreams and visions as devices to move a story along... which happens twice throughout the 45 minutes, so...

Yeah, that was probably the most weaksauce thing about the premiere. Even as dream sequences go, these were particularly self-indulgent and took a long time to say very little. It felt more like a way to shoehorn Data in without giving up and saying, "Yes, Obvious Foreshadowing Is Obvious and he managed to come back in B4's body sometime offscreen," which they totally could have done if they'd wanted and I don't think anyone would have minded too much because killing him off was always a stupid decision that's better off ignored.

hbi2k wrote:
Brainsmith wrote:

The first episode was over way too fast and really not all that much happens in the first episode, so I can’t say yet whether I like it or not. But I can say I hate employing dreams and visions as devices to move a story along... which happens twice throughout the 45 minutes, so...

Yeah, that was probably the most weaksauce thing about the premiere. Even as dream sequences go, these were particularly self-indulgent and took a long time to say very little. It felt more like a way to shoehorn Data in without giving up and saying, "Yes, Obvious Foreshadowing Is Obvious and he managed to come back in B4's body sometime offscreen," which they totally could have done if they'd wanted and I don't think anyone would have minded too much because killing him off was always a stupid decision that's better off ignored.

It’s been decided. I’m on the campaign trail until we get a Tasha Yarr dream sequence.

Rat Boy wrote:
Yes, and apparently Data sent him more than a letter on how his day went.

I must have missed something. I just assumed Maddox got Data's "DNA" from B4.

No, it had to be straight from Data. The dr said that the download to B4 did not really work. She said you would need his essence which would be actual positronic stuff from Data.

I really enjoyed it. It was informative and did a great job of giving us some cool story hooks. Looking forward to the next episode.

karmajay wrote:

No, it had to be straight from Data. The dr said that the download to B4 did not really work. She said you would need his essence which would be actual positronic stuff from Data.

And if Dr. Jurati was right, the only place Maddox could have gotten that was from what was left of Data after he blew up the Scimitar. And if The Rise of Skywalker taught me anything it's that blowing up planet-killing spaceships doesn't completely destroy everything on the planet-killing spaceship.

Rat Boy wrote:
karmajay wrote:

No, it had to be straight from Data. The dr said that the download to B4 did not really work. She said you would need his essence which would be actual positronic stuff from Data.

And if Dr. Jurati was right, the only place Maddox could have gotten that was from what was left of Data after he blew up the Scimitar. And if The Rise of Skywalker taught me anything it's that blowing up planet-killing spaceships doesn't completely destroy everything on the planet-killing spaceship.

Oohh, good call! With the Romulans involved that makes a lot sense.

Or Data could have worked with him before he blew up. He was working with this institute before in regards to the betas as well. It seems Data was very interested in having a hand in the work to create more of his kind.

I enjoyed it, but I wish it was a 30 minutes longer as a pilot. I really hope they develop the backstory because it truly doesn't fit much with the values of Starfleet that I remember in TNG at least.

One thing that I didn't catch - why was the science/tech of creating an android like Data lost?

Because in science fiction, all scientific breakthroughs are performed by lone reclusive geniuses who dedicate their lives single-mindedly to the pursuit of technological advancement, but apparently can't be arsed to take notes so their work inevitably dies with them.

Everyone seems to be assuming that the source for the Dahj/Soji neurons was Data, but like, we have another, practically identical, Soong-type android sitting in storage somewhere that everyone's forgetting about...

hbi2k wrote:

My God, you're right.

She was meant to age and die naturally, if I recall, so she might have already passed.

Veloxi wrote:
hbi2k wrote:

My God, you're right.

She was meant to age and die naturally, if I recall, so she might have already passed.

Not only that, but the only people who knew about Tainer were the senior staff of the Ent-D. Data never told her, nor anyone else. Unless she was discovered by someone else, this is still a secret.

NSMike wrote:

Everyone seems to be assuming that the source for the Dahj/Soji neurons was Data, but like, we have another, practically identical, Soong-type android sitting in storage somewhere that everyone's forgetting about...

My first thought, too, but Dahj didn't seem to want to kill all humans after she awakened.

The twist in Episode Nine will be that she was only driven to seek out Picard because in his archives is a fragment of the Crystalline Entity....

NSMike wrote:
Veloxi wrote:
hbi2k wrote:

My God, you're right.

She was meant to age and die naturally, if I recall, so she might have already passed.

Not only that, but the only people who knew about Tainer were the senior staff of the Ent-D. Data never told her, nor anyone else. Unless she was discovered by someone else, this is still a secret.

Yeah, and she's not even aware of her own nature. I don't think she's the source.

It's all speculation, but I'm guessing Maddox disappeared after the ban on synthetics, and went to work with a group of Romulans (or Remans?) in the reclamation operation with the goal of finding Data's remains. They work together for a while to create Dahj/Soji, but one or both of them have some ulterior motives that they're not sharing. Once Maddox is successful, either the Romulans kill him or he flees. But just beforehand, he splits them up and hides them both, one in plain sight, a la Luke and Leia.

I'm dying for them to get the actor who played Maddox back. I'd literally squee.

Veloxi wrote:

I'm dying for them to get the actor who played Maddox back. I'd literally squee.

According to his page on Memory Alpha, he's presently teaches theater at Cal Tech, so not only is he still in the business, but he's also local. I wonder if his students are going to be peppering him with questions this week.

Rat Boy wrote:

he's presently teaches theater at Cal Tech

Holy crap, my father-and-sister-in-laws are both alums. I wonder if they could look him up.

Spoiler:

Those are all interesting theories, but the memories Dahj apparently have seen very specifically Data to me. I don't see how Trainer nor Lore would have the same trust for Picard to pass on.

Other then Dr. Tainer, Starfleet should have the remains of Lore and Lal.

Oh, shoot, within the first few minutes of The Offspring, Data exactly confirms that he transferred from his neural net to Lal's. Even though Lal was a failure, some part of Data could've been extracted from her. That would also dovetail quite nicely with the daughter theme.

I wasn't as thrilled with episode 2 as I was with the first. All the exposition felt like it bogged things down.

Yeah, it felt like a lot of table-setting, and didn't really even establish much that wasn't known or couldn't have been guessed at based on the last episode.

Hey, remember those two attractive characters who were flirting super hard and looked like they were about 10 minutes from boning down? Well, turns out they boned down.

Also, the one that seemed super sketch and evil? Turns out, super sketch and evil.

Those mysterious Romulan commandos who killed an android for some reason? Turns out, they're part of this mysterious group of Romulan commandos who REALLY hate androids for some reason.

But don't forget the scene where Irish-accented Romulan Secret Agent Housekeeper does Super Secret Romulan Forensic Hackings to figure out something that the audience already knows, which is that Ersatz River Tam Twin is off-world somewhere.

And you would have only known Laris and Zhaban were ex-Tal Shiar in advance if you read the comic book.

Yeah, the whole beginning really dragged for me. It picked up though, and then seemed to end really quick.

PaladinTom wrote:

Yeah, the whole beginning really dragged for me. It picked up though, and then seemed to end really quick.

I honestly thought my stream glitched at the end.