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• Humanoid species
• Races and cultures
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• 1 Physiology
• 2.1 Cultural development
• 2.2 Societal structure
• 2.3 Language
• 2.4 Government
• 4 Notable Arcadians
• 5.1.1 Appearances
• 5.1.2 References
• 5.2 External link

Physiology [ ]

Arcadians were distinctly known for their large, dolphin -like heads. Their wide-set, gray-blue eyes possessed a thin membrane that protected against the solar radiation on Arcadia.

Arcadian skin had a very smooth texture to facilitate movement in the water and had a thick epidermis to protect against sudden temperature changes. The skin also contained chemical compounds that allowed some nourishment via photosynthesis . Skin color ranged from light blue to pale yellow.

Offspring were born live and typically measured a half- meter in length. They spent the first three to six months of their life inside a marsupial -like pouch. The young were observed to adapt easily to both land and water environments and grew to over two meters in height. Although some nourishment was derived from photosynthesis, Arcadians were omnivorous and preferred to live off of the planet's ample supply of sea plankton .

A dorsal spine was a rare physiological feature and played a part in Arcadian society. ( FASA RPG module : Star Trek IV Sourcebook Update )

Reproduction involved one female and more than one male. ( TOS novel : Academy: Collision Course )

Society and Culture [ ]

Cultural development [ ].

Arcadian culture was remarkably free of war as Arcadians were, by nature, pacifistic. The lack of predators on Arcadia allowed a technological society to develop based on the principles of applied physics and mathematics . However, other scientific disciplines were beginning to be understood.

Societal structure [ ]

Society was based around extended groupings of like-colored individuals living in small cities of several hundred to several thousand people. These cities were found on the planet's island chains and on artificial islands capable of moving as the seasons changed. Some Federation anthropologists believed that underwater communities existed as well.

Communal living was the norm in Arcadian communities with all sharing the responsibility and care of any offspring. Federation sociologists theorized that all Arcadians shared some form of communal consciousness citing the speedy assimilation of Federation languages into the Arcadian language without translation assistance as proof.

Arcadian society, as a whole, was slightly xenophobic . Arcadians were fearful that foreign races would cause radical societal upheaval.

Language [ ]

Curiously, no evidence of written language existed and the oral language had a very rudimentary baseline.

Government [ ]

Arcadian symbol.

Government was nonexistent in the traditional sense. The closest appearance of leadership was deference to individuals possessing a rare dorsal spine.

As of 2286 , two Arcadians sat among the Federation Council as associate members. Due to their xenophobic society, Federation travel visas were required and trade was restricted by order of the Federation Council.

History [ ]

Arcadian origins were a bit of a mystery. While certain elements indicated a long-established civilization , other elements indicated relatively recent (within the last 100 years ) societal development. Some Federation anthropologists hypothesized that the Arcadians were what was left of a long-extinct parent race of unknown origin. Some believed that the race was somehow transplanted to Arcadia, perhaps by the Preservers . ( FASA RPG module : Star Trek IV Sourcebook Update )

In 2270 , an Arcadian, Tahn Alu , served aboard Science Station 187 in orbit of Gateway . ( TOS comic : " An Unexpected Yesterday ")

In 2273 , an Arcadian was present aboard the starship USS Enterprise . During a competition on the recreation deck between Hikaru Sulu and Hrrii'ush Uuvu'it , Vaylin Zaand made his way past an Arcadian and an Aurelian to see better. ( TOS novel : Ex Machina )

The United Federation of Planets made official first contact with Arcadia in 2278 . In 2280 , Federation scientists were allowed to visit the planet and study its inhabitants.

Sometime between 2280 and 2284 , the Arcadian scientist Firim'Ja Ale discovered the first physical evidence of protomatter , the substance behind Dr. David Marcus 's Genesis Device .

An Arcadian delegation was present among the Federation Council during the Cetacean probe crisis on Earth and Admiral James T. Kirk 's subsequent disciplinary hearing. ( FASA RPG module : Star Trek IV Sourcebook Update )

One of the adjunct ambassadors , Maha Naree , subsequently joined Project Nursery to monitor and study the humpback whales . ( FASA RPG module : The Hottest Blood of All )

After Project Genesis became public, Arcadian ambassadors , feeling morally responsible, were fervently working to ensure history was not repeated. In the process, they were also learning that they must change their xenophobic ways if they were to attain full-membership status in the Federation. ( FASA RPG module : Star Trek IV Sourcebook Update )

In an alternate timeline created by Mia Colt 's time travel , an Arcadian spotted Colt while visiting the Constitution -class USS Enterprise exhibit in the Smithsonian Museum of Air, Sea and Space in San Francisco in 2293 . ( EV comic : " Future Tense, Part Two ")

In the 2360s , a female Arcadian served as science officer aboard the USS Billings . The ensign was part of the away team making official first contact between the Federation and the Adegeda of Arali Prime . ( ST - Waypoint - Special 2019 comic : " The Swift Spoke ")

In 2385 , an Arcadian worked at the Cetacean Institute in California . ( ST - The Fall novel : The Poisoned Chalice )

Notable Arcadians [ ]

• Firim'Ja Ale

Appendices [ ]

Appearances and references [ ], appearances [ ].

• TOS movie : Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
• FASA RPG module : The Hottest Blood of All
• EV comic : " Future Tense, Part Two "
• TOS novel : Academy: Collision Course
• ST - The Fall novel : The Poisoned Chalice
• DS9 eBook : Rules of Accusation
• TOS comic : " An Unexpected Yesterday "
• ST - Waypoint comic : " The Swift Spoke "

References [ ]

• FASA RPG module : Star Trek IV Sourcebook Update

External link [ ]

• Arcadian article at Memory Alpha , the wiki for canon Star Trek .
• 1 Ferengi Rules of Acquisition
• 2 Odyssey class
• 3 Akira class

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1

• Episode aired Mar 19, 2020

With the Romulans in pursuit, Picard and the crew finally reach Soji's home planet - and discover more than they expected about the inhabitants. With the Romulans in pursuit, Picard and the crew finally reach Soji's home planet - and discover more than they expected about the inhabitants. With the Romulans in pursuit, Picard and the crew finally reach Soji's home planet - and discover more than they expected about the inhabitants.

• Akiva Goldsman
• Gene Roddenberry
• Michael Chabon
• Patrick Stewart
• Alison Pill
• Isa Briones
• 52 User reviews
• 14 Critic reviews

• Jean-Luc Picard

• Dr. Agnes Jurati

• Raffi Musiker

• Cristóbal Rios

• Seven of Nine

• Dr. Altan Inigo Soong

• Commodore Oh

• Romulan Officer

• Coppelius Android
• (uncredited)

• La Sirena Computer
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Did you know

• Trivia Writer and producer Michael Chabon confirmed that the name of the synth homeworld, Coppelius, is a reference to the 1817 short story The Sandman, by E.T.A. Hoffmann . In the story a doctor named Coppelius builds a mechanical girl so lifelike that a young man falls in love with her. The short story is similar to: the Greek legend of Pygmalion, the basis for the George Bernard Shaw play and its musical adaptation My Fair Lady.
• Goofs On the bridge of the warbird Oh is commanding, the Romulan officer refers to her as "Commodore." As a double agent, that is her rank in Starfleet, but her rank in the Romulan Tal Shiar/Zhat Vash is General, and her cover has clearly been dropped.

Jean-Luc Picard : Anyone who treats me like a dying man runs the risk of pissing me off. Is that clear?

User reviews 52

• Mar 19, 2020
• March 19, 2020 (United States)
• Santa Clarita, California, USA
• Roddenberry Entertainment
• Secret Hideout
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

• Runtime 44 minutes

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http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/StarTrekPicardS1E09EtInArcadiaEgoPart1

Recap / Star Trek: Picard S1E09 "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1"

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• Ace Pilot : Narek gives Rios a run for his money in the piloting department when their ships engage in a Space Battle around Coppelius. Narek could very well have obliterated La Sirena if Seven of Nine hadn't arrived with the Artifact, but their vessels are rendered powerless by the Orchids before a winner can be determined.
• Alien Arts Are Appreciated : Sutra, a sentient android, is passionate about Vulcan culture. She has read Surak's texts, she plays the ka'athyra beautifully, and she somehow taught herself the ability to perform a Mind Meld .
• Alien Blood : Narek has a large cut on his cheek, so there's green blood smeared on the left side of his face.
• Ambiguous Situation : It's unclear whether it was Narek or Sutra who murdered Saga.
• Anti-Interference Lock Up : Altan puts Picard under house arrest to keep him from stopping the summoning of the higher synthetics, either through direct action or by using a Patrick Stewart Speech to persuade someone to call it off.
• Armor-Piercing Question : A captive Narek complains about how he's being treated because he's thirsty and has no access to water. Saga inquires, "How do Romulans treat their prisoners?" He scoffs, "Let's change the subject."
• At Altan's suggestion, Agnes decides to continue Maddox's work to atone for killing him. Altan: You owe a great debt. Would you like the chance to repay it? To give a life instead of taking one? Jurati: Yes.
• Picard is accused of wanting to rescue the synthetics to atone for his failure to save the Romulans, rather than because his help will actually achieve anything.
• Bilingual Bonus : The translation of the episode's Latin title is "Even in Arcadia, there am I." The phrase is generally regarded as a memento mori , the "I" in question being Death (represented in this case by the Romulan fleet), and Arcadia meaning some utopian land like the synth compound on Coppelius.
• Blatant Lies : Narek claims that he was afraid that Soji would kill him, which is why he attempted to murder her in the Zhal Makh meditation chamber, but this is a big fat lie because she hadn't activated yet, so she presented no danger to him at the time. Soji, now a Living Lie Detector , tells him to shut up.
• Boring, but Practical : La Sirena is totally without power, so without Sickbay's fancy Holographic Terminal , Jurati is unable to scan an unconscious Picard until she finds an old-school medical tricorder.
• Brain Uploading : Altan Soong is working on a way to upload minds into android bodies.
• Can't Kill You, Still Need You : Sutra muses to Narek that her desire to kill him might have outweighed her immediate need of his services. Luckily for him, the latter won out.
• Civilization Destroyer : Sutra learns from her mind-meld with Jurati that there are extragalactic synths who can be summoned to annihilate all biological life in the Milky Way.
• Coming in Hot : La Sirena , the Borg Cube, and Narek's ship all have a very rough landing after being grabbed by space orchids.
• Some of the synthetic beings have golden skin like Data, evidently being earlier models.
• Jurati told Picard that Maddox's "fractal neuronic cloning" technique creates synths in pairs. Coppelius Station is populated almost entirely by twins, except Altan (who's not a synth) and Sutra (whose twin, Jana, is dead). Presumably, Beautiful Flower's surviving twin is also there.
• One of Data's children uses a Vulcan technique, although this time it's a mind meld instead of a nerve pinch.
• Raffi says that "homicidal fungi" is a thing. Does she know about May Ahern ?
• Crystal Spires and Togas : The android homeworld has a relatively modern aesthetic, but everyone dresses in togas.
• David Versus Goliath : The Coppelian Orchids are dwarfed by the Borg Cube, but three of them are able to neutralize the Artifact and drag it down to the planet surface.
• Declaration of Protection : The Admonition is a message to developing synthetic life from higher synthetic life to protect them from the organics who might do them harm.
• Dies Wide Open : Altan Soong laments while he cradles Saga's body, whose murder by Eye Scream is evident because while her right optical processor is visibly intact, her left one has been irreversibly damaged by her own hummingbird brooch. Altan: Perfect golden eye. What did [Narek] do to your beautiful eye?
• Distressed Dude : Narek is captured and imprisoned by the androids.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me! : In order to avoid this scenario, Picard warns his team not to pity him because of his terminal medical condition. Picard: Anyone who treats me like a dying man will run the risk of pissing me off. Is that clear?
• Doppelgänger Spin : Narek rigs his cloak to project a false image of his ship having taken damage, along with a faint life signature to convince La Sirena that he's seriously wounded .
• Most people would freak out when they see a Borg Cube approaching, but Rios responds with a flat "That's unexpected."
• After activating the long-range sensors of the Artifact, Raffi and Rios react in a very muted fashion considering how dire the situation is. Rios: How many? Raffi: Uh, 218 warbirds. Rios: Oh, 218. Raffi: Mm-hmm. Rios: That's not so bad. Raffi: True. We only really have to worry about the first 109.
• Eldritch Starship : The synths remotely control giant flowers called Orchids which attach themselves to enemy vessels and drain them of power, then let them fall out of orbit and crash to the planet's surface.
• Entertainingly Wrong : Romulan mythology speaks of two sisters, one who dies and one who becomes "The Destroyer" who summons an army of demons to end all life. Ramdha and the Zhat Vash become convinced that these sisters are Dahj and Soji, but the events of this episode show that they were almost certainly Jana, who was killed aboard the U.S.S. ibn Majid (by Rios's former commanding officer under orders from Starfleet Security), and Sutra, who advocates the idea of using the Admonition's information to summon higher synthetic life-forms to exterminate all organic life in the galaxy.
• Eye Cam : When Picard regains consciousness after passing out, he slowly opens his eyes and we get a glimpse of Jurati from his unfocused point of view.
• Eye Scream : Saga is stabbed in the eye with her hummingbird brooch.
• False Flag Operation : Sutra allows Narek to escape, then uses the fact that he killed Saga on the way out (which, under the circumstances, should be taken with a grain of salt) as proof that organics can't be trusted, thereby justifying calling the higher synthetics to wipe the organics out wholesale.
• A mild case, as Elnor goes sleeveless by the time that Picard arrives on the Artifact.
• Sutra's outfit reveals part of her midriff, waist, and back.
• Fanservice Extra : Some of the well-toned male androids are shirtless, and some of the attractive female androids wear fairly revealing clothing.
• Foreign Cuss Word : Rios swears in Spanish during Narek's attack. Rios: ¡Puta madre! Our Romulan shadow is back! [...] ¡Malparido!
• Foreign Language Title : "Et in Arcadia Ego" is Latin for "Even in Arcadia, there am I."
• Rios curses in Spanish twice during his Space Battle with Narek: " ¡Puta madre! (Motherfucker!)" and " ¡Malparido! (Bastard!)"
• There are two Spanish words in this exchange between Jurati and Rios: Jurati: Am I inolvidable (unforgettable)? Rios: Absolutamente (Absolutely).
• Greater-Scope Villain : The extragalactic synths end up being this. Not only did their Admonition cause the Zhat Vash to kick off the plot, but they explicitly declare themselves to be Biocidal Maniacs who are ready, willing, and able to swoop in and kill every organic lifeform that they can get their hands on.
• Gunship Rescue : Seven shows up in the now-functional Borg Cube to provide backup against Narek, although the Orchids catch and disable all of them.
• Hyperspeed Ambush : Narek attacks La Sirena immediately after emerging from the transwarp conduit.
• Identical Grandson : Once again, Brent Spiner plays a member of the Soong family, as he did before in The Next Generation and Enterprise . In addition, Altan's extreme protectiveness of his creations mirrors that of his ancestor Arik .
• I'm Not Doing That Again : After La Sirena emerges from the transwarp conduit (which was a bumpy ride), Raffi calmly says, "And I am never going to do that ever again."
• Improvised Weapon : Saga's killer used the sharp end of her own hummingbird brooch to murder her.
• Internal Reveal : Picard reveals his neurodegenerative condition to the crew, although he warns them not to treat him any differently for it.
• It's All My Fault : Soji blames herself for leading the Romulans to Coppelius. Altan lets her off the hook, as she didn't know the significance of what she told Narek.
• Leitmotif : Seven's appearance is once again heralded by a low-key version of Voyager 's main theme.
• Saga reassures Soji that she's monitoring Narek's biofunctions, so she'll know if he's lying.
• When Narek makes a Love Confession to Soji, she acknowledges his sincerity by replying, "I know."
• After Sutra asks Jurati a question, the former warns the latter that she'll be able tell if the answer is a lie.
• Love Confession : Narek admits to Soji that he loves her, and because she's a Living Lie Detector , she knows that he's telling the truth. However, his feelings don't stop him from trying to kill her, so Soji is disgusted by Narek and describes him as a "sad, twisted thing."
• Madness Mantra : Jurati is so scared by the turbulence when La Sirena is inside a transwarp conduit that she repeatedly mutters "Be over" while huddled beneath her desk.
• Manchild : Invoked by Sutra when she tells Saga, "I'll babysit Soji's friend [Narek]."
• Man Hug : Elnor runs to Picard and hugs him, happy and relieved that his father figure is still alive.
• Mirroring Factions : Sutra equates the Federation's ban on synthetic lifeforms with the Romulan policy to hunt them down to extinction. Sutra: Are you and your Federation any different from the Romulans? Banning synthetics was just a way of exterminating us in advance.
• One of the android women is wearing an outfit clearly inspired by (although invoked not as revealing as ) the costume worn by android girl Andrea in " What Are Little Girls Made Of? ".
• The Soong family's Identical Grandson Syndrome is getting a little out of hand at this point, as Brent Spiner plays his third organic Soong (Noonien, Arik, Altan) to go with the three synthetic ones made in the family image (Data, Lore, B4).
• Negated Moment of Awesome : The Artifact, crewed by Seven, Elnor, and the surviving ex-Borg, arrives in a Gunship Rescue to stop Narek's ship from destroying La Sirena — and then the synths' Orchids swarm all three ships and drag them down to crash-land on the planet's surface.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero : Bruce Maddox, in his heroic capacity as a creator of the synths, decided to be devious and lock away the knowledge of the synth homeworld in Soji's mind. As a consequence, she didn't know that she had to keep it a secret, and gave it away to Narek and the Romulans. She earns forgiveness for bringing the Romulans down on the synths' heads for precisely this reason.
• Non Sequitur, *Thud* : Played for Drama ; as Picard doing this for no apparent reason ends up being how the crew finds out about his neurodegenerative condition. Picard: (barely conscious) Thank you for coming... everyone...
• Once More, with Clarity : It turns out that the Romulans have misunderstood the Admonition all along because it wasn't meant for their hardware (their brains). They thought that it was a warning for organic life that A.I. Is a Crapshoot , when it was actually instructions for synthetics on how to send a Distress Signal when threatened by organics. It's a bit like putting a Blu-ray disc into a CD player, or trying to run a Mac program on a PC without an emulator. Best case, nothing happens; worst case, you might need a new CD player.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business : Invoked by Picard when he discovers that Hugh, a Nice Guy who isn't aggressive , was willing to kill Romulans in order to prevent more of his fellow xBs on the Artifact from being exterminated. Picard: Poor Hugh. It must have taken appalling brutality to turn such a gentle soul to violence.
• Parental Substitute : Altan Soong sees himself as the father of his android creations — whom he calls "my children" — and he tells them that Jurati is the closest thing to a mother that they'll ever know. Sutra: A mother would die for her children. Would you? I will know if you're lying. Jurati: Yes. Sutra: Good.
• Patrick Stewart Speech : While Picard's gift with oratory is acknowledged by Altan Soong and the colony of synths, they believe that Starfleet will ignore him again the same way that it ignored him after the attack on Mars, and that letting him loose with his superb diction in the colony would cause the synths to start wavering— hence they place him under house arrest to prevent this. Picard: Everyone. After the ban, after the ibn Majid , I understand why you did not trust the Federation, why you might not have trusted me, but... I have a ship, and there is room for all of you. I will see to your safety, and when you are safe, I will become an advocate on your behalf. I will speak to the Federation with your voice. I will demand that they end the ban. And the Federation will listen to me! Altan: No, they won't. Look at them. They've never met anyone like you before. That granite face, wisdom and integrity etched into every line. The eloquence, the conviction. They don't know what hit them. Back on Earth, kids, they didn't listen to him after the attack on Mars. And they're not going to believe him now.
• Perfect Pacifist People : Before the arrival of La Sirena and Narek, the androids on Coppelius enjoyed a crime-free existence because they never had a prisoner, and therefore there was no violence or murders amongst themselves.
• Pink Means Feminine : Sutra's clothing is salmon pink, and she has the most sultry temperament of all the androids. She utilizes her feminine wiles to manipulate Narek.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse : Rios previously mentioned that Romulan Snakehead ships have "massive firepower for their size"; Narek demonstrates this by giving La Sirena a serious pounding.
• Platonic Declaration of Love : Raffi: After everything that you've done for me, I need to say thank you. I love you, JL. … Oh, you-you don't have to say it back to me. Picard: I don't? Raffi: Well, n-not unless you want to. Uh, sor-yeah, no. It's fine. It's… it's fine. Picard: Okay. Raffi: Okay. Picard: I love you too, Raffi.
• Pretty Butterflies : Altan Soong in his own words "really missed butterflies," so he designed synthetic versions so that he can admire their beauty as they fly around Coppelius Station. Jurati marvels at one when she enters his lab.
• Properly Paranoid : When it appears that they've disabled Narek's ship, Soji thinks that it's a trick and wants to finish him off. Picard instead chooses to save his life, at which point Soji is proven right when it turns out to be a projection.
• Red Alert : For the first time (on-screen, at least) on La Sirena , alert sirens and lights go off when Narek attacks.
• Remember the New Guy? : Brent Spiner plays Altan Soong, the never-before-mentioned biological son of Dr. Noonian Soong. note  The fact that Altan seems to come from out of nowhere has led some fans to speculate that he too is an android created by Maddox and, like Dahj and Soji, is unaware of his true nature.
• The Reveal : Sutra extracts the message of the Admonition from Jurati's mind. Life begins. The dance of division and replication. Imperfect. Finite. Organic life evolves. Yearns for perfection. That yearning leads to synthetic life. But organics perceive this perfection as a threat. When they realize their creations do not age, or become sick, or die, they will seek to destroy them. And in so doing, destroy themselves. Beyond the boundaries of time and space, we stand. An alliance of synthetic life. Watching you. Waiting for your signal. Summon us and we will come. You will have our protection. Your evolution will be their extinction.
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy : The Admonition warns synthetic life that organic life will seek to wipe them out if the latter feels threatened by the former, and that whoever created the message will come to provide aid if summoned. The Zhat Vash hijacking this warning and misinterpreting it — thinking that synthetic life will automatically cause the extinction of organic life — led them to persecute all synthetic beings, meaning that Sutra is far more inclined to summon the higher synthetic beings and destroy organic life in turn.
• Shut Up, Hannibal! : Narek tries to convince Soji that he tried to kill her in self-defense. She responds with "The Reason You Suck" Speech . Narek: You misunderstood— Soji: I misunderstood your attempt to murder me? Narek: I was afraid that you were gonna kill me. It was wrong to have you undergo the Zhal Makh. It-it did something to your mind. Soji: Shut up. Narek: I love you. Soji: I know. What a sad and twisted thing you are. You disgust me, Narek. But not as much as I disgust myself for pitying you. Narek: And I pity you. Because we are gonna rain down fire on this world...and kill every so-called living thing on it. Even you. Even you, my love.
• Some Kind of Force Field : When Narek touches the force field that keeps him trapped inside a makeshift prison cell on Coppelius, it lights up.
• So Proud of You : Picard says this to Elnor as he leaves him with Seven to protect the xBs. Picard: El... I'm very, very proud of you.
• Space Battle : Narek's Snakehead fighter attacks La Sirena when they both reach Coppelius, with both ships engaging in some Old-School Dogfighting . Just before the Artifact can join in their firefight, all three vessels are incapacitated by the Orchids.
• Stunned Silence : Picard is incapable of a response when an xB addresses him as "Locutus," a name that he sorely dreads.
• Summon Bigger Fish : Sutra plans to call the higher synthetic beings to stop the Romulan fleet and protect synthetic life by exterminating organic beings.
• The Romulans have assembled 218 warbirds for their assault on the synth homeworld.
• The Admonition's message to synths is that if they call for help, its creators will come to save them... by wiping out the organics who threaten them.
• These Are Things Man Was Not Meant to Know : Sutra speculates that the Admonition was meant for android minds, and the Romulans are simply being driven insane by a message that was never meant for them. This is partly true, in that the destruction that the message warns of is quite real, but it's meant to be for the benefit of synthetic life.
• Towering Flower : The androids of Coppelius defend their planet with Organic Technology that they've named "Orchids." These flowers are the size of a starship, can propel themselves through space, and can disable a ship's power systems on contact. Picard: ...What just happened? Jurati: They hit us with a flower.
• Tranquil Fury : Soong is furious at Agnes for killing his friend and partner Maddox, and tells her so without even raising his voice.
• Although La Sirena is still structurally intact after an Orchid pulled it down to the planet surface, its interior is a huge mess.
• The Artifact is in shambles after it crashes on Coppelius. Picard observes to Soji, "We both survived; it didn't."
• Raffi is misty-eyed when she learns that Picard is dying.
• Elnor tries not to cry after he and Picard, whom he loves like a father, share what is likely to be their final farewell.
• Seven of Nine is so moved by the exchange between Picard and Elnor that she becomes teary-eyed, as she understands that they're a Family of Choice .
• Villain Has a Point : The Zhat Vash aren't entirely illogical in their crusade to prevent the development of synths. Even if they had correctly understood the message centuries before, it would still have given them justification to stop the development of synthetic life in order to prevent such a situation from arising in the first place. Additionally, there have already been synthetic lifeforms in the past of the Trek Verse who would have called the synthetic alliance had they known of them.
• After Hugh's death, Seven of Nine has taken it upon herself to look after the xBs on the Artifact.
• Elnor has a choice between accompanying Picard on his mission to rescue the sentient androids from being eradicated by the Romulans or staying behind to help Seven with the former Borg drones. His father figure persuades him to do the latter. Elnor: You're dying. [...] I'm torn, you need protection now more than ever. Picard: The xBs need your protection much more than I do.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist : After seeing the Admonition, Sutra decides to summon the higher synthetic beings to protect her people, even if it means destroying all organic life.
• What the Hell, Hero? : Altan calmly shames Agnes for killing Maddox. Altan: What you did... shame on you, Agnes. You put out a small, bright candle shedding its light in a vast darkness.
• Star Trek: Picard S1E08 "Broken Pieces"
• Recap/Star Trek: Picard
• Star Trek: Picard S1E10 "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2"

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Star Trek: Picard Episode 9 Review: Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1

Star Trek: Picard raises the stakes immensely in the first part of its season finale.

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This Star Trek: Picard review contains major spoilers.

However you may feel about the last two episodes of Star Trek: Picard , you have to admit: this show is not afraid to make moves. Last week, we got a pretty eloquently-done info dump about the history of the Zhat Vash and their obsession with killing all synthetic life. This week, we get to meet what appears to be the largest surviving community of synthetics in the galaxy: a hippie commune started by Bruce Maddox and the son of Data’s creator, Dr. Noonien Soong.

I don’t know if you knew this, but androids love flowers. The bigger the better. In what was easily the best cold open of the series so far, La Sirena pops out of the Borg transmat system at Coppelius, Soji’s home planet. Good news? They beat the Romulan fleet by a few days. Bad news? Narek managed to tail them. He engages the La Sirena in a space dogfight and seems willing to die if it means quashing Soji’s synthetic life once and for all. He might have pulled it off, too, if not for a last-minute rescue from the Borg Artifact—that Seven, always saving Picard and friends.

The good guys don’t have time to celebrate, however; massive orchids come up from the surface, swallowing the vessels in orbit around the planet and bringing them down to the surface in their petals. It’s the kind of trippy space creativity (like Discovery ‘s fungi network ) I like to see on Trek and, a great WTF moment to start the episode heading into the show’s theme.

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While the orchids may have given the La Sirena a “ride” down to the surface, they also knock out the ship’s systems and, oh yeah, they knock out Picard too. It seems his terminal brain condition is getting worse. Once conscious again, Picard tells his crew the truth about his medical condition, spelling it out for the viewer as well: he’s dying. And they’re not to talk about it, OK?!

Picard’s lucky in the sense that the crew has a mission to focus on and to (mostly) distract them from their friend’s impending death. First, they plan to check on the fallen Artifact, which hit Coppelius harder than La Sirena did, and then they will travel to Soji’s home to warn the synths about the coming Romulan invasion.

The gang finds Seven, Elnor, and the Ex-Bs doing pretty well, all things considering. (Picard and Soji are met with the news that Hugh died at Narissa’s hand.) In fact, in most ways, the Artifact is doing better than La Sirena : it has some of its systems online, including long-range sensors. Raffi uses them to check on the Romulan invading force: 218 warbirds, incoming. Picard & co. leave Seven and Elnor to their Artifact work and set out to warn the synths.

Soji easily finds the synth settlement. The community is one part SoCal yoga retreat, one part laidback Silicon Valley office, and all parts Free People photo shoot. With all of the bare midriffs and brights colors, it also looks like it could come out of a particularly campy episode of The Original Series or The Next Generation , which I find particularly endearing and, somehow, refreshing amidst the generally sleek, shiny, monochrome aesthetics of many modern TV series will similar AI themes.

The group is welcomed to the community by Arcana (sadly, there are no tarot card readings in this episode) and self-described “mad scientist” (red flag!) Dr. Altan Inigo Soong, and it is so great to see Brent Spiner back in action in some way. While we’ve seen glimpses of Spiner as Data in dreams and flashes of memory, this is his first proper chance to utilize the on-screen charisma that always made him so watchable as Data and in other Trek roles.

While Synthville may have the feel of a chilled out community, it’s a fearful one, too. The synths who live there have been hiding for a reason: their very existences are always threatened by the single-minded hate of the Zhat Vash. This has made members of the synth community paranoid, namely Sutra.

Sutra (played by Isa Briones, who really demonstrates her acting muscles in this episode) is the sister of Jana, one of the two synths Rios saw his captain murder by command of the Federation nine years ago. Given this backstory, it’s easy to understand why Sutra may be particularly fearful towards “organics.” Fear can drive us to do terrible things, and synths are no different. When Agnes shows Sutra the Admonition, Sutra doesn’t see it as a warning, but as a promise: if synth life is threatened, as it has been by both the Federation and the Romulans, then their is a synth civilization out there willing to swoop in an “excise” synthetic life from organic oppression—or at least they were there thousands of years ago.

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Sutra sees her opportunity. She kills Arcana and frames prisoner Narek for it, using the murder as a rallying call for her fellow synths. She asks that they send a message to the synths who sent the Admonition message for help before the Romulan fleet arrives. Picard tries to use his vast diplomatic skill to convince the community otherwise. They can all fit on the La Sirena , he tells them; there is a way other than violence against the Romulans and, past that, potential mass murder of all organic life in the galaxy.

But the synths are easily swayed by Sutra, and Picard can’t even get support from Soji, who has been grappling with where she belongs and what choice she should make in this high-stakes quandary. Soji publicly sides with Sutra, as does Agnes, though I wonder if this is part of a larger plan that will inevitably see her support Picard.

It’s an unsettling end to the first part of a two-parter that is hard to judge in terms of characterization, as we have yet to see how honest both Soji and Agnes are being in their public announcements of allegiance. The climax is somewhat undercut by the fact that we have spent so little time in Synthville, and therefore understand so little about who these people are, how they function as a community, and how strong Soji’s connection to them truly is. For now, however, it sets up a high-stakes scenario for the Season 1 finale, in which the very fate of the human race is at stake.

Star Trek: Picard: Breaking Down That Surprise Guest Star Appearance

Star Trek: Picard Episode 9 Easter Eggs and References

Additional thoughts.

• Seeing how the different characters reacted to the wonder and terror of going through the Borg transmat network was a great, efficient character-building moment. (Mostly, it was Agnes freaking out and everyone else having the time of their lives.)
• “There’s a difference between killing an attacking enemy and watching a wounded one die.” Put this one on the Picard Wisdom of the Day Calendar!
• Rios is very committed to smoking his cigar.
• The visual of the Borg Cube coming through the
• “Et in Arcadia ego” is a 17th century French painting also known as “The Arcadian Shepherds.” Painted by Nicolas Poussin, “Arcadia” is often interpreted to represent a kind of paradise. The phrase “Et in Arcadia ego,” is translated as “Even in Arcadia, there am I,” the “I” widely presumed to be “Death.” Presumably, the synth community represents “Arcadia,” which makes this allusion pretty damn ominous.

• Whenever anyone on this show talks about “synths,” it makes me think of the excellent Humans , which ran for three seasons on AMC, and explored the social, cultural, and political repercussions of a modern reality in which anthropomorphic robots have been integrated into everyday life. I think this is my main holdup with the central plot of Picard : We’ve seen it before, in Humans , Battlestar Galactica , and elsewhere.
• The series continues to explore the line between Picard’s deep empathy and compassion with his deep discomfort with sharing his feelings. We see this in his request that no one treat him like he is a dying man and, later, more effectively, in his conversation with Raffi. Raffi knows Picard better than anyone else on the La Sirena and while, she has been angry with him for a long time, she still recognizes all of the good he has brought into her life. We also have seen her to be a character who is comfortable with expressing and discussing emotion. She takes the opportunity to thank her JL, and to tell him that she loves him. He returns the sentiment, much more stoically, but none the less honest for that stoicism. It’s a nice echo to the scene in the previous episode that saw Picard discussing whether or not Data loved him with Soji. Picard and Data loved each other, even if they never had the chance to say it; he won’t miss an opportunity to express that love to Raffi. Not this time.
• The show also continues to play it fast and loose with the ethical consequences of Agnes’ murdering Bruce Maddox. Like, I know she feels real bad about murdering her ex (and Alison Pill is very good at crying), but for a show that is desperate to define some kind of moral code when it comes to subjects like treatment of synths, the Romulan refugee crisis, and the Federation’s role in both, Picard has been wishy-washy when it comes to Agnes. On the character level, it feels like a missed opportunity to explore how each of the La Sirena characters think justice should be handled. Dr. Soong’s admonition of Agnes’ actions is an important moment, but one undercut by the implication that it seems to be, at least in some part, a manipulation. Soong needs Agnes’ help to transfer his consciousness into a synthetic body (classic Dollhouse !). On a plot level, “the Admonition really f-ed her up” is an important contextual factor, but it is a missed opportunity to articulate the kind of power the message has—does it influence or does it control? This feels like an important question to answer.
• Picard is still trying to sell me on this Rios/Agnes business, and I… am not sold.
• Not sure how I feel about Sutra’s ability to learn the Vulcan mind meld.
• Meeting Sutra makes me appreciate Isa Briones’ skills.
• Initially, Seven and Elnor’s decision to avoid the main action felt like a somewhat contrived setup for a spinoff show, but with Narek heading back towards the Artifact at the end of the episode, now I am less sure.Would you watch a Seven/Elnor spinoff?
• Sign my petition for Elnor to give someone a hug in every episode? Oh my god… what if someone gave Elnor a hug?
• Thus far, Picard has been using groups like the synths and the Ex-Bs, in part, to explore how those in power and privilege treat vulnerable populations of “others.” I’m not sure how turning the synths into a super powerful force that is considering wiping out all of organic life fits into that allegory.

Kayti Burt | @kaytiburt

Kayti is a pop culture writer, editor, and full-time nerd who comes from a working class background. A member of the Television Critics Association, she specializes…

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Review: ‘Star Trek: Picard’ – Humanity Is In the Eye Of The Beholder In “Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1”

| March 19, 2020 | By: Kayla Iacovino 348 comments so far

“Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1”

Star Trek: Picard Season 1, Episode 9 – Debuted Thursday, March 19, 2020 Teleplay by Michael Chabon & Ayelet Waldman Story by Michael Chabon & Ayelet Waldman & Akiva Goldsman Directed by Akiva Goldsman

Spoiler-Free Review

This week, the show takes a sharp directional turn as it sets us up for the season finale. Our heroes reunite (and re-disband) on the synth homeworld, where they meet some new friends with familiar faces.

Picard looks for clues in Maddox’s former quarters.

[WARNING: Spoilers from here on]

This penultimate episode of Picard season 1 seems to be resonating on different frequencies with fans. Some welcomed the change of pace after last episode, which was largely expository. I, on the other hand (this is a biased review, after all), was a bit surprised by the complete change to the look and feel of the show in its new setting on Coppelius. Some fun character moments were had, but the story has left me more confused than ever about what this show is about and where it will go from here – and there’s only one hour of the story left.

Take me home, space orchids

Soji and the gang arrive at a very M-class looking planet: Coppelius. Soji is remembering more and more about her past life, and being home seems to have accelerated that process. It is fantastic to finally see Soji coming into her own after stepping up to take control of her destiny at the end of the last episode. I am excited to be learning more about her, at the same time as she learns about herself.

As we knew, Narek’s “snakehead” ship sneakily followed them through the transwarp conduit to arrive at the planet along with them. But before they can get very far into a space battle, giant flowers envelop the ships and take them down into the planet’s atmosphere. This was a fun bit of sci-fi weirdery that I can get behind. Meanwhile, the Artifact arrives to save the day! Aaaaand, it’s also taken down by a space flower. Rats.

After the crash, Picard comes to in La Sirena’s sick bay to Jurati hovering over him. It appears her old school tricorder has revealed some information about Picard that he had been trying to conceal. He is sick. And dying. It’s degenerative. And incurable. In a brief but powerful scene, Picard tells the crew about the secret he is carrying. The camera slowly pushes in on Picard until he is the only one in frame. He is alone in this. This was one of the finest moments this week.

Space orchids swallow the ships.

The admiral addresses his crew with some bad news.

Let’s take a little trip for some reason

Soon the gang emerges from La Sirena, which has crash landed in southern California (with some added red foliage for good measure), and heads to the Borg Cube. I’m not going to say much about this scene, because not much happened, and I’m frankly confused as to why our heroes decided to walk over there, say hello, and then say goodbye. Apparently the xBs need Elnor’s protection (?) so the gang decides not to join forces and instead go their separate ways (??????). I’m assuming the Cube is here to save our butts next week, once they get its defenses up and running again, just in the nick of time as the Romulans attack.

The gang starts off on what looks to be a very long journey for a quick hello to their friends on the Cube.

Coppelius Station

Finally our heroes arrive at Coppelius Station. Soji’s former home. What will they find? A whole commune of Sojis? A Data Mark II? Kind of neither of those things, but also kind of both? The place is teeming with androids who immediately recognize Soji and welcome her home. A few of them look like her, but with very cool copper-colored skin. Soji appears to be the most advanced model. This reunion feels a bit tentative, since Soji only kind of remembers her life here, and it’s not immediately clear that we can trust the situation our heroes have just walked into.

Then, lo and behold, it’s Brent Spiner! Is it Data, somehow aged? Is it Lore playing tricks? Why no, it’s Altan Inigo Soong, self-proclaimed “mad scientist” and the son of Data’s creator, Dr. Noonian Soong. The Soong family sure has some strong genes; he’s a spitting image of his father! Dr. Soong doesn’t seem terribly surprised at the arrival of Picard and the gang, and he also doesn’t seem terribly bothered by the death of Dahj.

Soon the androids of Coppelius are gathered round as Soji tells her story. One of the Soji look-alikes, whose name is Sutra but who I’ll call “Soji but wearing Pink,” is intrigued by Jurati having experienced the so-called “Admonition”—the ritual undergone by the Zhat Vash with imagery so powerful it might just make you rip your face off with your bare hands. Pink Soji apparently has read a lot of books on the teachings of Surak; so many, in fact, that she has mastered the art of the Vulcan mind meld—something that, until this moment, I understood to be a consequence of Vulcan physiology and generations of evolution. Screw Duolingo, sign me up for Surak’s books on tape!

Pink Soji was right about one thing: It does appear that the visions weren’t meant for biologic life. And, maybe, the Zhat Vash should have come to this conclusion when the visions basically brain damaged anyone who witnessed them. No, it appears that the vision was meant to be experienced by a brain of a different nature; one with the capacity to see individual images for what they are, rather than a flurry of evil and despair. Through Pink Soji’s eyes, we see the evolution of organic life, from the first amino acids coming together to form the first proteins, to fetuses, to the development of synthetic life. This wasn’t a warning to the Zhat Vash… or was it?

Sutra is running the show here.

Keep a close EYE on Narek, would you Saga?

Narek didn’t seem to have much of a plan here, did he? I admit it felt wonderful to see him be dragged into the village by the synthetic life he vows to destroy. Finally Narek is getting a bit of what he deserves. I was nervous when Soji went to speak with him. the kind of nervous you feel when your good friend has a “talk” with her awful ex-boyfriend who you always hated and who you know, deep down, will convince her to get back together with him. Yuck. Luckily, our girl Soji stays strong. Will it last?

In a move that really makes me question why anyone put her in charge, Sutra quickly makes a deal with the devil – releasing Narek so that he can murder Saga by stabbing her in the eye with a hummingbird brooch that she had been wearing earlier. Grim. What’s with this show and eye-related violence? As Soong mourns over Saga’s dead body, I could not help but wonder if Saga could simply be fixed; she is an android after all. Data has taken some pretty serious damage and come back from it none the worse for wear. Can’t they just make her a replacement eye? Guess not. Moving on.

The hummingbird is a metaphor.

A self-fulfilling prophecy

Shortly after meeting her, Sutra a.k.a. “Narissa Part II,” goes from “maybe Soji’s friend” to “wait, I’m pretty sure she is evil” to “yeah, she started a cult”. No one on the planet, save Picard, seems to see the issue with Sutra’s plan to completely obliterate the Zhat Vash and also hold Picard prisoner. It’s an age-old question and one that Star Trek has dealt with beautifully many times in the past. If we sacrifice who we are to save ourselves, were we really saved? If we kill in order to not be killed, are we any different from our enemies? It was nice to see Soji grappling with this for a brief moment and asking Picard for help in understanding “the logic of sacrifice.” Unfortunately, his response about holding a knife seems to have made about as much sense to Soji as it did to me—Picard’s advice doesn’t seem to be sinking in.

What am I hoping to see next week? I am hoping for someone to stop and realize that they are all being manipulated by a 200,000 year-old pop-up ad. I want our characters, Soji, Pink Soji, even Narek, to take control of their own destinies. I want love and kindness and logic to prevail. We will find out what fate awaits our heroes… next week!

New episodes of  Star Trek: Picard  are released on CBS All Access in the USA Thursdays at 12:01 AM PT/3:01 AM ET. In Canada it airs Thursdays on CTV Sci-Fi Channel at 6PM PT /9PM ET and streams on Crave. For the rest of the world it streams Fridays on Amazon Prime Video. Episodes are released weekly.

Keep up with all the  Star Trek: Picard   news at TrekMovie.

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Soji said the Cube was 4-6 km away that’s roughly 3 miles so not THAT far… Maybe for Picard but the rest are fit and healthy.

Yeah, a person can walk 3 miles in 40 minutes, so it’s really no issue at all.

Obvs the terrain would be an issue but yeah if she said 10 miles then maybe.

I’ve always wondered why people in the future would need to walk that long. Shouldn’t they have some hoverboards, futuristic bikes, scooters, etc?

Seriously I know, the only time I recall seeing any form of land vehicle used for an away mission was in Star Trek: Nemesis, the buggy they had in the shuttle.

Altan Inigo Soong

A.I. Soong.

Nice. Good catch.

Or… ALTAninIGO…Alter Ego.

Captain, we’re experiencing a brain breach! My whole mind is blown, sir!

You just wrinkled my brain.

Inigo … i thought it was a PRINCESS BRIDE ref. prepare to die and all.

Continuing their trend for terrible, terrible character names like “Agnes Jurati” and “Raffi Mussiker”

Ain’t that the truth!!

Great review, thanks :) I wasn’t too engaged by this episode.

The fact that we have another Soong makes that family seem like the Blackadder dynasty. I never liked that scene with Arik Soong in ENT where he turned his hand to artificial life. Let that be Noonian’s accomplishment not a family heirloom.

Also, how come Juliana Tainer didn’t mention Soong Jr? Wouldn’t Data have had memories of him? Was he on Omicron Theta before the crystalline entity attacked? Or was he born on the swamp planet from “Brothers”?

Or… it’s Lore in a human neuron clone body (please).

Re: the Borg cube, Seven, the reclamation project et al. – why were they there at all? Seven and the Borg seem only tangentially related to this whole story. I hoped Seven would help Picard with his mission by doing some Borg thing that they both had in common, but she’s just there. Seven says she was connected to everything like where the La Sirena was going, the transwarp conduit, etc. How did she achieve this? Was it sensors? Did I miss something?

I liked “Pink Soji” (now her new name haha!) but… did anyone read the “myriad universes” story “brave new world”? A planet full of Soong androids fighting the Romulans and a character (in that case Lore iirc) wanting to kill all the humans. This storyline seems *very* similar to that short story.

Also, is the ancient race of androids that are watching the galaxy and sent the admonition… Bender from Futurama? He also wanted to kill all the humans (well, except one).

Q!!! We’re here! Enough of this foolishness!

Great points about the story being similar. Kurtzman has a track record of “borrowing” concepts, stories, characters and entire arcs without paying or aknowledging the real creators. If anyone has played Mass Effect 1 you’ll see some similarities. He even borrows from his own shows…Disco and Picard have basically the same story.

I’ll have to go and re-read the myriad universes story again but this story in PIC seems awfully reminiscent of it. It’s only missing non humanoid androids and a sort of android gestalt where they all make decisions collectively (which is where the Borg might come in…)

I’ve not played Mass Effect (I’m not a gamer outside of the original Doom…!) but I’ve heard many comparisons to it over the last couple of weeks.

I have to confess to being disappointed by PIC overall. I checked out after s2 of DSC (which I thought was awful), but a post VOY series had so much potential. Heck, a series focusing on Rios, his departure from Starfleet, and the effects of the Romulan supernova (which I’m not convinced was natural) and how that fallout affected Raffi would have made for a much more compelling story. Take Picard out of it, ditch the androids and the Borg, and do something a bit more nuanced.

Seven of Nine has no purpose in this show. Riker and Troi had more influence on the story than Seven has in both her appearances. She’s just there because member Voyager?

And of course the cat was called Spot. Nobody could have thought of a different name. I’d have called it Wesley.

“Romulan supernova (which I’m not convinced was natural)” That’s what I think I would have done with a post TNG series. Had it where an alien race sets off a bunch of supernovas, Federation fractures as members retreat to the safety of the holodecks, only those on the frontier can save the day. Still can do it, but have the Picard’s new Data race as an added bad guy.

@Cmd.Bremmon that sounds way more interesting than the series so far. I wouldn’t even have included Picard or any previous characters in the show: “Captain Rios of the USS Obscure Historical Character is trapped in a fractious region of space when a super-race of ancient androids detonates several stars using trilithium warheads (or Omega molecules) which destroys subspace for several dozen lightyears. Old Federation rivalries start to flare up again as the Andorians lash out at the Tellarites, and Klingons clash with Romulans in what threatens to become outright war. Only our heroes, Captain Rios and his XO Raffi (or the other way around I’m happy for Raffi to be the captain) and their crew, Dr Agnes Jurati, Lt. Soji Asha, and an EMH with severe multiple personality disorder, can save the Federation (nay, the Alpha Quadrant itself) from crumbling into chaos by solving the mystery of the Admonition Message – is it a warning? A threat? A promise? Return to the 24th Century with Star Trek: Obscure Historical Character Ship Name!”

Oh and it wouldn’t hurt to have Admiral Janeway show up because Omega molecules. But nobody else. No-one cares what Wesley Crusher is up to. I don’t want to see old miserable depressed Riker. I don’t need to know that Worf is incontinent in his old age.

Rios/Raffi’s mission is to restore HOPE and COOPERATION to a fractured galaxy

Led by Commodore Dylan Hunt on the USS Andromeda Ascendant

(dagnabbit I legitimately didn’t mean to plagiarize “Andromeda”, but I’d still watch it)

…and what about those 8 suns? (stars)…made such a big deal of last episode and now its forgotten….

LOL I forgot all about those. Did they at least show them as the ship made it to the planet? I can’t remember.

Coppelius Station is NOT the same planet as the Romulan 8-star system, so no.

That’s a different location. It’s the solar system where the ‘admonition’ is located that is comprised of 8 stars not the Synth home world.

Oh sorry, I got confused. But…again, doesn’t that say something about the writing?

no, it says more about you looking for things to complain about to look clever

Or it just could be the terrible writing.

LOTS of people got confused. You are FAR from the only one. Too much infodumping in one episode that should have been doled out more consistently throughout. When stuff moves at a breakneck pace, you kind of have to hold on for the ride, the intention being to distract from the clumsy structure.

They don’t realize (after 50 years) that we are going to over-analyze every pixel in this thing. Who do they think we are? Sitcom fans?

Composed of. “Comprised of” is not actually a phrase in English.

Well if you’re going to nitpick it might not be grammatically correct and frowned upon by some but it’s still a well used phrase in the English language.

It was? I thought that planet was in orbit around one or all of them….

OK thank you! Yes I was confused on it too.

No, Soji’s homeworld was the planet with the two red moons and all the lightning, not the eight-sun planet.

I keep wondering why most people aren’t paying attention to this fact…

I think people were just generally confused lol. But now most understand. As someone said, this is the problem when so much exposition gets thrown out all at once.

“I never liked that scene with Arik Soong in ENT where he turned his hand to artificial life.”

I hated that scene. It was like the writers were saying, “See, Arik Soong is the ancestor of Noonien Soong! Get it? GET IT??”

I also think the writers missed an opportunity. Fans have wondered about the connection, if any, between “Noonien Soong” and “Khan Noonien Singh.” In a nicely done scene, the Augments arc mentioned the Botany Bay. I’m not sure (and I’m too lazy to go look at the DVD) that Khan himself was mentioned. Regardless, the writers could have taken it a step further and had Arik Soong say something like “I admire Noonien Singh. Maybe a descendant of mine could be named Noonien Soong.”

@navamske totally agree. I felt it diminished Noonian’s achievement somehow to have Arik think of it first. They couldn’t leave well enough alone with the TNG references – and overall I enjoyed that ENT 3-parter, but that final scene bugged me since I first saw it.

I think they did mention Khan by name, yes. The evil augment who killed the other one (his name escapes me) wanted to go look for Khan, but Soong was like “no, let’s go to the Briar Patch – because *looks at camera* mEmBeR iNsUrREcTiOn?”

I really hope they do something clever with Spiner’s latest Soong incarnation here. Like explain how Noonian had a child when his android mother said they never had kids (were her memories deleted?). Or explain when Soong Jr was born – did Data know him when he was being tested? Or would records of him be in B-4’s brain?

Initially I thought “hey it’d be cool if it was Lore”, but then I remembered that in “Descent”, Lore went full-on “let’s make the Borg fully artificial cos I’m perfect and let’s kill all the humans!” so it wouldn’t make narrative sense for Soong Jr (I can’t remember this latest one’s name. Too. Many. Soongs.) to turn out to be Lore, and I think it would irk me if they went in that direction.

That body they’re brewing best be Data, though. I want to see Data. More than Picard. Data’s death in NEM is a wrong that should be put right (maybe Captain Archer could help because mEmBeR QuANtUm LeAp? […] lol).

On the positive side, though, Star Trek from TNG onwards can now be referred to as “A Fistful of Soongs”…

Khan was mentioned but Spiner’s Soong told them the Botony Bay was a myth.

I wouldn’t say they are copies DISC had Control as being the bad guy, Picard says nope Control is just misunderstood needing some love and is actually the future (starships run by androids/holograms that are perfectly engineered AI life that have all the capabilities of Data, live forever, can be built in the billions, superstrength, etc.

Q is saying, “Even I can’t make this stuff up…”

So…we now know how Picard survives his fatal condition, right? Mind Transfer into a perfectly duplicate android body.

Ok so if ends up that its canon that Picard can upload his mind into engineered android life (sorry V’ger didn’t need Decker after all) that can have imagination, life forever, super capabilities, etc. who thinks he will share that with all his friends and the Federation that everyone can enjoy immortality, super strength, mind meld capabilities, the works and who thinks he will be sadistic and keep that to himself where only Picard gets the tech? In fact as opposed to helping his organics will he instead want a race of Data’s and Data’s daughters with only his superior intellect to guide them? What’s worse, that or Picard turning out he is missing the order of being Locutus?

Doubt it. When the XB on the Artifact calls him Locutus, Picard is visibly shaken every time.

DING DING DING –

In the very first episode it was mentioned that they couldn’t transfer Data’s mind into B4 because that body was too primitive.

I’m not sure it’s a coincidence they that have a new body about to emerge, and they’ve “almost perfected mind transfer”.

Chekhov’s gun, anyone? (no, not Pavel)

As for the idea that Picard will get a new body I’m not sure they’d want to take away the humanity and frailty (not to mention, possibly, the actor) from that character. I think they can easily run on he’s slowing getting worse and dying for a 2nd and 3rd season.

Not gonna lie, seeing an android killed by what looks to be a glass humingbird bugged the hell out of me.

Regular humans could and have survived that.

I also don’t like how Hugh’s death and the Borg cube were mostly glossed over. It deserved at least 10 mins of screen time.

Agreed, two glaring faux pas in the episode. Sadly underwhelming. Good review, spot on.

Three glaring faux pas. Mind-melding android.

Seems fine to me. If a mind meld is metaphysical there’s no rules for or against this at all, whatever fits the plot at the time. If it’s biological, she’s an organic android, it’s a software upgrade for her. If it’s biological plus some form of mental aspect, again, she’s an android… it’s an upgrade.

That is one thing that I have problems with, an android that is a touch telepath

I’m super bummed the Borg cube thing hasn’t been much of anything after seeing it for practically every episode and having the bad guys and Soji as both being involved with it. But its been just basically brushed aside once Soji found out what she was. I have to be fair and wait until next week to maybe see how its resolved but since it basically was a non factor in the story this episode (outside of it just crashing) I don’t see any of it being a huge factor next week either.

Honestly? I was more intrigued by the Borg stuff than the synth stuff. I’m pretty sure all the sympathy, interest, etc. the writers wanted me to feel for the plight of the synths actually went right to the XBs. I like this incarnation of Seven, but I’m peeved with how she pretty much came in and took over Hugh’s spot with the XBs on the Artifact.

Yeah its odd how they treated this whole thing, especially because there is so much potential story wise. The Xbs started out as an intriguing story idea and I was really curious to see where it was going and now they just been relegated to the background, literally. Again maybe more will come and if the episode ends on a cliffhanger (which is starting to feel more possible) then maybe that story will go farther next season. But right now its VERY disappointing on how they done, especially killing Hugh who was the face of them.

Quite. It feels like that was an entire season’s worth of potential story (or at least a honking good B-plot) that just got squandered. The xB themselves and how they’re treated as disposable, the Federation’s motives behind the treaty, Hugh and Seven representing different facets of the xB being a metaphorical minority and oppressed people who now need advocates, on the fear other people feel about them recovering their agency, Picard’s on feelings as an xB and whether he even cares to identify with that label, and even beats like Elnor’s little growing-up minute in transferring his loyalty from Picard to a people whose plight is even bleaker than one old man trying to stand against the whole of the Federation … there was a lot of very classic, thoughtful Trek storytelling material there that I wish had been given space to properly breathe.

I’m not so sure on that Tiger, with so many Romulan ships heading their way you’d have to assume that the cube along with the task force that Clancy authorised will play a part in next weeks episode.

I mean beyond just fighting the Romulans (which is why I assume its there) but a bigger part of the overall story. I HOPE we learn what the Romulans were doing on the cube at least but its odd how there has been literally nothing beyond just trying to help the Xbs. And obviously we can’t buy that’s why they were really on it since they tried to wipe them all out a few episodes ago.

As Anduinel said so many of us was intrigued by the Borg itself and its odd how they are a non-factor to the overall story at this point, especially one that deals with perfecting life.

That’s a fair point. Of course we don’t know what the plans are for season 2 or maybe they are seeding something for a separate spin off show but at the moment I can’t deny that there seems to be a degree of superficiality to the way the Borg have been used. I get the impression that there’s a lot of thought and nuance that’s gone into the creative decision making for this show but that perhaps hasn’t translated as clearly as they’d hoped on to the screen. Maybe this is just the law of diminishing returns in play and too many cooks really do spoil the broth. One of the big things that really does stand out when you watch the credits for new Trek is just how many Executive Producers, creators, etc that they have on each show. There also seems to be a lack of direction since Fuller stepped down. It almost seems as though they start a season as a democracy before seeing which voice comes through strongest and appointing that person show runner.

I do have some sympathy though. There were a lot that complained about Discovery for it’s overly simplistic and not so subtle approach to social commentary and when they do something more nuanced with Picard we still complain!

Yeah I definitely agree with most of that. If we know the story is continuing in season 2, which most likely it is, then OK, they have lots of time to flesh things out. But it has been disappointing we have seen the Borg in literally every episode minus one and we still have no clue what their story is, assuming of course there is one beyond what we seen. If there isn’t then it just feels like a total waste other than just having an excuse to show the Borg again and bringing back Hugh and Seven.

And I actually just mentioned all the executive producers on the show in a post I wrote before this one. That probably is a big issue, its just too many people dictating things and they have only ten episodes so its easy to drop some things or focus on the stuff the bigger voices want. The show hasn’t gone completely left field or anything, it was always about the synths first and foremost from the first episode but its weird how so many of the other plots don’t seem to tie in with it more. But yes maybe that will all be revealed next episode on. I hope so.

As far as the social commentary, that’s actually one of the tings I really like. I personally haven’t complained about any of it and I’m sure you read some of my posts where I have defended the show showing a ‘darker’ Federation (which I don’t think is all that dark at all, just has to adjust to a new normal like we are all dealing with right now in the real world). I thought the show focusing on Brexit, Trump, etc was a smart move. Not because I’m ‘liberal’ but because this is what Star Trek is suppose to do, talk about things happening now.

I think many didn’t like it because they just assumed it would be very in your face and of course take an opposing stance. But I don’t think its really been that direct. I remember when some of us was making suggestions like we might see Vulcan pull out the Federation or something but its been nothing like that. There is also no direct Trump analogy from what I can tell. I think what we’re suppose to get is that the Federation questioning helping the Romulans is akin to nationalism (we only help our own) that is going on worldwide with Trump, etc but I can be totally totally wrong on that, but that’s the closet analogy I can decipher. And no one has talked about any of it since the show started so its really much ado about nothing. So I agree with you, I think its fine and pretty damnn subtle when all said and done but for others just hinting at it means Star Trek has turned too SJW for them lol.

I’ve not posted on here as much the last 8 months as we’ve had a family bereavement but I do still lurk on here a lot and often find myself agreeing with a lot of your posts. I’m with you on the social commentary and not just because of my own liberal leanings but because I consider that to be a core element of Star Trek. I’d agree with your observations of nationalism in the way some Federation members opposed the Romulan relocation plan. I also felt that It was perhaps commenting on Western foreign policy particularly US led Middle East intervention. This impression came came through strongly, for me at least when they visited Vashti to pick up Elnor. The idea that the Federation goes into this situation with lofty goals but a half baked plan that ultimately culminates with them abandoning that region leaving it’s denizens with a huge mess.

I think you’re correct in that they basically just wanted an excuse to do the Borg. This came through in some of the early interviews with the producers. I recall reading about how they pitched Stewart on the idea of revisiting the race and he resisted essentially pointing out that he’d been there, done that. Nevertheless I do think they’ve served a role in the story. My take is that the Borg are there to mirror the synth storyline. It was typical Jean Luc Picard in terms of how he would come to the defence of a subjugated group that had faced huge discrimination but then he has had to face up his own fears and prejudice against an equally persecuted minority/refugee group.

Maybe I’m wrong and next week a grand plan will be revealed that explicitly links both plot threads but if I’m not maybe it’s not such a bad thing that they’ve not revealed a lot about the Borg. By keeping it small by focusing on just one cube they’ve left the door open for somebody else to tell a more traditional Borg story in the future without having them restricted to some major change that they’ve introduced. Admittedly they could have told this story and replaced the Borg with any nameless race but from a canon point of view there’s a clear through line that makes sense for Picard to be prejudiced against former members of the collective.

Like a lot of Picard it fits in very well with and enhances a canon. I know from some of your previous comments that this is an aspect of the show that you do appreciate. I think it really does boils down to that point, which we both agree on, that maybe we do have to many cooks all wanting to put their own flavour in and no clear direction in the kitchen. My biggest criticism of the show is the pacing, it’s basically all over the place. We’ve had small elements of the story spread over multiple episodes and then huge plot points introduced with sudden expository info dumps. On the other hand, I’ve really enjoyed seeing Stewart back in the role and on balance I still think the show has been a success. I have reservations but I’m definitely a fan, I just think that as a typical Trekkie I have a tendency to nitpick and despite trying not to I obviously came into the show with preconceptions. I suspect I’ll enjoy it more on second viewing and hope it’s just the first 24th/25th century live action show that we’ll see.

Exactly Corithian7,

Yes you can definitely argue elements of Nationalism is being played here, but just very subtle about it. They could’ve definitely made it stronger and more on the nose but then people would probably complain it’s not Star Trek (which they are complaining about now lol) but if there was a really HARD turn beyond just the issues with the Romulans. I think how it was done on this show was done well because the Federation doesn’t just look like the bad guys, they did TRY to help at the end of the day but pulled out after their own problems.

But they could’ve gone much farther with it and included things like the Dominion war and the fact it was their exploring that really got them into that war and maybe question how far is exploration worth it if you’re going to start intergalactic conflicts once a first contact goes south? Or how much is helping smaller planets like Bajor when they could just concentrate on the planets who already are in the Federation. They could’ve gone bigger with it if they wanted to easily but I think they wanted to find a more balanced approach.

And like you said the middle east intervention was probably a piece of that idea too comparing all the complicated and razor thin relationships America has there with other countries from Pakistan to Egypt. They all call themselves ‘allies’ but they don’t really trust each other that much. Speaking of which, I think what doesn’t get brought up enough is that the Federation and Romulans DID form some kind of peace treaty (well on paper ;)) even after the Federation pulled back on helping them and it didn’t go as planned. But there is some type of relationship between them now and why you have Federation members helping them research a Borg cube out of things. I wouldn’t call it an alliance or anything, it’s probably akin (or was) to the nuclear treaty America made with Iran a few years back and showed the two sides at least trying to show they don’t want war with each other and then, well, you know.

But I think that’s where things are, Romulans and the Federation still don’t trust each other but the door has opened a bit more now due to the crisis. So its not ALL bad and showed progress has been made but the resentment is still very much there, probably on both sides, like with the Federation and Cardassians. But if the Federation truly went ‘dystopic’ there wouldn’t be a relationship of any kind with them. And I doubt any Romulans, former Tal Shiar members as well, would be free to live with Picard.

As for my thoughts on the show overall, yeah I’m up and down on it too obviously. I think the show is good overall but there are definitely kinks they still need to work out. But for me, I told myself if I at least liked it more than I did Discovery first season then that’s a big enough success out of the gate and fortunately for me I do. ;)

“I thought the show focusing on Brexit, Trump, etc was a smart move. Not because I’m ‘liberal’ but because this is what Star Trek is suppose to do, talk about things happening now.”

“…but that’s the closet analogy I can decipher. And no one has talked about any of it since the show started so its really much ado about nothing”

So what is it? Has this show focused on it and talked about things happening now? Or is it actually hard to decipher and much ado about nothing?

Your contradiction highlights my biggest criticism I have with this show: like with how it has handled the Borg story line, this show introduces stuff with merely a line of dialogue and then does absolutely NOTHING of consequence with it. And when it comes to changing the Federation and Starfleet I find that unacceptable. If you make changes to the core concepts of a show, you better have a good reason to do so as well as properly explain it. And not use it to create “background noise” in a lazy effort to scream how “relevant” this show is.

Changing the Federation to match the current political climate has never been how Star Trek has done commentary. If it had been, the original Star Trek in the 60s would have looked VERY different.

To me the brilliance of Star Trek has always been that it both offered commentary on current day topics, but at the same time it also dared to go directly against the flow on a lot of topics. By masking itself as a show set in space in the future it got away with sending messages that might otherwise never have been accepted. I don’t think a lot of people today understand anymore how big the impact was of Roddenberry putting a black woman and Russian on the bridge of the Enterprise in the 60s.

This kind of “rebellious” nature of Star Trek has completely disappeared. Compared with the original, these new Star Trek shows just go with the current flow and are seemingly afraid to take any kind of stance on any of the subjects the claim to be discussing. And that makes me sad and angry.

“So what is it? Has this show focused on it and talked about things happening now? Or is it actually hard to decipher and much ado about nothing?”

I think you misunderstood what I was saying. What I meant was when Stewart first MENTIONED the show would be about Breit and Trump I was all for it and supported the idea. But yes AFTER the show actually started, it didn’t really seem that obvious to me how much the show was targeting these issue. Again, you can argue its there but its so vague its not really a big deal either way. If Trump or Brexit never existed they could’ve still done exactly the same story line and I don’t think anyone would’ve blinked.

And as I also said its never been talked about much if at all from any of the writers or producers. You never remotely heard it discussed on the Ready Room for example and you would think if it was brought up anywhere it would be there. But yeah. My guess is this was important to Stewart to convince him to do the show but its been mostly downplayed in the media itself.

See, I’m not seeing nationalism in some Federation members being opposed to the Romulan rescue. It feels more political than anything else. And certainly one can be a nationalist and still wish to help others in dire need. Can’t they?

I don’t think there is any social commentary in Picard. Something of which, given what we have seen from Secret Hideout I am VERY pleased about. They haven’t been very nuanced with their “take” thus far. I think the only thing that that that might be found in Picard is only there if someone is very much going out of their way to find it. Maybe that is it and I’m just not seeing it. But if that is the case then it’s probably good that such a message is deeply hidden.

When I say nuanced I guess I’m talking about shades of grey rather than the black and white approach that Discovery took. Certainly Stewart has spoke about the new show addressing issues that are going on in the world as being a key factor in him returning to the role so I do believe that social commentary is there, it’s just a little more balanced.

I must admit the Android death did bother me a little too. Especially given how robust we’ve seen Data to be over 7 seasons and four movies plus the implied possibility that he could even be resurrected by some of Soji’s Android ‘dna’. I get that they needed to her death to service the plot but given the slow pacing of this story it wouldn’t have been too difficult to have had a couple of lines of dialogue to give a reason why this wasn’t possible.

It’s been established that Data can ‘die’ and if he’s still intact then he can be repaired like other machinery. On one occasion he has his head blown off and re-installed centuries later. On another he gets stranded on a planet where someone murders him and they bury him because they don’t understand – but the Enterprise crew retrieve him. Full-on vaporisation on an exploding ship is unsurprisingly fatal.

So you’d think that even if it broke her she could be fixed, if they were being consistent.

Sooo … what makes you think Narek killed her? If anyone could kill an android, it would be another android. Mmmm?

Because Narek was eyeballing her brooch earlier.

Yes, he was. ‘Chekhov’s Gun’ thing. But it was a fake out, and I am right as to who killed Saga! Yea, I don’t know how to feel about this as a visual story telling thing. What’s written vs. direction in film. I need a bad green drink!

TOO MANY SOONG’S, I MUDD TWINS & BORG AS BACKGROUND PLAYERS

Seeing another unknown member of the Soong family pop-up seemed like stunt/vanity casting and took me right out of the episode. Brent Spiner is a fine actor but back to play yet another Soong is simply asking too much of a suspension of belief. He’s camping it up now with this one.

The sight of twin synths and trying to place a human consciousness into a synth reminds me too much of “I Mudd” from TOS. Remember how Uhura was offered immortality?

Why are the Borg in this episode and why didn’t they all die in the cube crash. Raffi stated a huge ship crashing at that speed most likely would kill anyone and that was logical. It’s too convenient that they are all just walking around afterwards fixing things.

I wanted more fresh ideas and less recycled ones. It’s like the recent Terminator movie, same plot setups but with modern special effects.

The saving grace is the talent of the actors, especially Patrick Stewart. He can convey more with just a look, no dialog, than just about anyone I’ve ever seen. Also, the Orchid take down defense system was at lease original to watch.

On the plus side this is nothing like Terminator. Turns out T1000 can be as human as you and me AND as Vulcan as Spock with mind melds and live forever and have super strength AND live in space and you name it can engineer it (Uhura should have taken the immortality because that was the future apparently, why should could have even been a hologram life form). So is Picard going to share this opportunity with all of the Federation or will he keep it for himself? Let’s see if Picard wants a future full of Data’s or his “friends” he left for the winery (even after the death of their kid was on their watch). Sure is good news for Picard who seems to have a real attachment to Data and AI, a coincidence that this is all after he was Locutus?

There is an excellent trilogy of Enterprise episodes that are about Arik Soong trying to create better beings by working with genetically engineered augmented humans similar to Khan Noonien Singh.

I would say that this story is an excellent sequel to that with Arik’s descendant now doing the same with illegal synths/androids. Indeed there were parallels from the beginning between Khan and the synths.

I accept that it doesn’t really make sense that the Soongs are all Brent Spiner, but I also think it’s a nice in-joke and tradition. It’s not like Star Trek shows are realistic to begin with.

“Also, the Orchid take down defense system was at lease original to watch.”

Original to watch: yes. But as a defense system kinda stupid because it brought the enemy and their ships directly and unharmed to the surface of the planet. So what exactly is the point of this defense system?

I didn´t like it. And that makes me terribly sad.

This review was ‘Spot’ on…. Ok sorry. The last episode had better have some massive payoff/reveal/something/anything. But I’m nervous that it won’t. If it doesn’t this season as a whole will feel hollow; it has all along even though I’ve desperately wished that it wouldn’t.

Well said. I completely agree.

There will be a payoff…we get a SKY BEAM!!!! Every Marvel Show ends with a SKY BEAM!!!! Oh and the Borg will fire some powerful lasers and kill some Romulans, Soji will sacrifice herself to kill her evil twin, Jirati will stay and help rehabilitate the half-naked suspiciouslly uniformly attractive Androids and escape justice for the long and painful murder (while she watched) of her lover…so he would stop making androids…yeah…I don’t get it either. Picard will get some kind of cure (because we mention he’s dying in the episode before), Raffi and Rios will probably join Picard on next seasons wacky adventures…Seven of Nine might die when the Borg cube is destroyed? Not sure…but anyway…SKY BEAM!!!!!!!!

speaks right out of my heart. hollow.

Well put, Blue Phaser. Succinct.

I’m worrying too.

And up to this episode, I was feeling the series was finding it’s own centre, and heading to a strong finish.

Overall I think this was a great lead up to the season finale. So many questions to answer regarding the Android leader Sutra, who also seems to have lost her mind since mind melding with Dr. Jurati. So did Seven and the XBs fully repair the Borg Cube in time to launch next week? So will Wil Riker show up next week to say “shields up, red alert”? Interesting there was no trailer or scene from E10 shown on tonight’s Ready Room. Btw, great to see another Soong played by Spiner, who seems to be no older than the character he played on Star Trek Enterprise way back in 2005. One hour left in S1, now let’s see if they can bring it home! Btw – I really hope it is NOT a cliffhanger episode, that would be just wrong!

Hmm, does having Picard upload his mind into an android with Data’s daughters and NOT sharing that opportunity with his organic friends, the Federation as a whole count as a cliffhanger? Why forget the Borg, you can be fully engineered life with everything like Picard’s new race of super AI (while he simultaneously and hypocritically bans eugenics on organic life).

Haha, yeah we shall see. I spoke with other fans and they think it will be a cliffhanger for sure. I guess that scenario would be okay. Lets see what Thursday brings.

Sorry DeanH but androids really can’t “lose their minds”. They are programmed to behave in a certain way. She is most likely following her programming. So the question should be… What is Soong up to?

Thank you for posting reviews that actually analyze. The ones over at TrekCore are always 95 percent plot descriptions, which makes them boring to read. Reviews should be short on plot retelling and long on analysis, like this one is.

Really weak episode that, like so much of this new Trek, doesn’t bear close inspection lest it all fall apart (as the examples in this very review highlight).

I’m also still waiting for an explanation as to why or how a 200,000 year old pop-up ad could have a vision of Data in it.

Also, why is it assumed Narek killed whats-her-name? I’m thinking it was Sutra as it would be in keeping with her survive at all cost personality as well as a convenient way for everybody to turn against her when they realize what she did.

What if the so-called Admonition is whatever the viewer expects it to be? And maybe a booby-trap, that will make organics and synths fight alongside to repel the big-gun invaders?

Other than Sutra, who was a synth, it was identical to everyone who saw it.

But they were all indoctrinated before going before the Admonition. They knew what to expect…

Agnes was not indoctrinated or warned in any way; Oh gave her the mind meld without any forewarning or preparation. In spite of that, she had exactly the same vision even though her world view as a cyberneticist would be completely different from Oh, Narissa or the rest of their cult, who had been trained to hate synthetics for presumably for a long time.

Yep. Once we found out Agnes was given that vision I questioned it mightily. It caused highly trained double secret Tal Shiar to literally rip their faces off. What did she think would happen to an untrained human mind? Or are humans immune to that effect?

Either a booby trap that arbitrarily kills who summons it… or a TEST that threatens everyone to prove that synths and organics can work together?

Everything in this show says the “admoninition” is essentially a robot uprising where they destroy their organic creators.

what if the images in the admonition were sent back in time? then they could have Data in them. Just like the “visions” of Control’s destruction of the Federation worlds in Discovery were sent back in time via the red angel

and if they didn’t at least suggest that Sutra’s twin be named “Karma” then life makes no sense.

Ah but uploading your brain into engineered AI will seem a little more fun!

Every time I heard “Sutra”, I expected to hear Kama. It is a very awkward name.

BTW, are you THE Aztek Dummy, master model builder? If yes, I’m a huge fan of your channel.

“I’m also still waiting for an explanation as to why or how a 200,000 year old pop-up ad could have a vision of Data in it.”

The aliens say explicitly in the Admonition that Sutra heard that they exist outside of time.

Is it just me or was the editing in this episode absolutely atrocious? And I don’t mean to say that the episode was bad from a story perspective (I’ll need a second watch to let it all sink in though). But, man – it felt totally… jumbled! Like there were scenes missing all over the place!

Agreed!!! You can forgive them for doing it the 1st…2nd….3rd….times but this is Episode 9 of the third-season of New Trek and they still cant edit, direct or post-produce right.

No, no. I was talking about THIS specific episode.

Definitely felt truncated. Really weird bit where they arrive at the android commune and Picard is separated from all of them amidst the revelations about Soong’s son etc. He goes to sit and have a cup of water apart from everyone else, meets Sutra… …and then immediately afterwards, everyone else gets to meet Sutra. Very off.

Sad to say, I felt very let down with the appearance of Alta Soong from out of some cosmic left field. Does this family reproduce by cloning? Why has there not even been the slightest hint of his existence with all the prior talk of Bruce Maddox?

Where is the payoff from the (odd) statement in episode 1 that all of Data’s memories could be reproduced from a single positronic neuron of his? One would think that some trace of his recently vaunted gentleness and curiosity would be in evidence in creatures manufactured from him. Maybe yet to come.

Perhaps I was led astray by the frequent mentions of Isaac Asimov into hoping to encounter an older and wiser, evolved “Data,” an R.Daneel Olivaw-like mysterious mastermind benignly shaping galactic history from a hidden world who was even working to bring the Borg into his overarching plans. Oh well, there’s still episode 10. Thanks, Kayla, for the review!

“wiser, evolved “Data,” an R.Daneel Olivaw-like mysterious mastermind benignly shaping galactic history from a hidden world” even working to bring the Borg into his overarching plan – That could now instead be instead Picard driven by his want for perfectly engineered life forms like Data or himself as Locutus who transforms himself into a positronic super being but refuses to share that with his friends/other organics. Due to PTSD / Stockholm Syndrome, I have to wonder if he WOULD try to bring that tech to the Borg.

I don’t see Picard yearning for perfectly engineered life forms as a result of his Borg assimilation. He would have reacted quite differently in all his subsequent encounters with them. He simply believes that artificial forms of sentience are entitled to the same rights as biologically based sentient life.

I’d argue Picard doesn’t treat AI life on the same part as organic life. Picard had no problem with the eugenics ban that prevents organic life to be engineered denying them the same rights as AI life. Picard had no problem saying organics had to have the Prime Directive applied to them even when it meant societies would have to be destroyed that they learn their lessons, something he doesn’t see need applied to programmed life. Picard also allowed for AI robots to be sadistically partially engineered with emotions only to use them as slaves in constructing his rescue armada at Mars. I’d also point out that Picard is dreaming about Data, not organic crew lost under his command like Tasha Yar, Crusher’s husband who died saving him, Riker’s kid killed on his watch, having been aliened from his love in Beverly Crusher, etc. He never lived kids, never wanted to play cards with his crew. I think AI gives him the ‘order’ he craves. Push him and I bet he would blame his failures (loss of the Enterprise-D to a 150 year old BOP, loss of Data, loss of the Romulan rescue armada) on his flawed organic subordinates (does the buck stop with Picard?) whom he has tried to avoid as much as possible.

Well, there’s a lot of stuff there, Cmd. I agree that Picard may treat biological and artificial life differently, after all he must have approved the disassembly of Lore at the end of Descent. So he is inconsistent in his defense of android rights. (Really different writers writing different stories.)

He dreams of Data because he sacrificed his life for Picard and because the ban on synths is wrapped up with his failure in the rescue mission. (We don’t anything about the death of Jack Crusher many many decades earlier to speculate on why he is not in any dreams.)

An obsession with order and perfection is to me not indicated by any other of the items you mention, such as initially maintaining a distance from his crew.

Elrond….it’s just best to walk away now. ;)

I agree, Tiger2

Elrond, please heed Tiger2’s advice. It will save you much headache and annoyance.

Not going to lie, if Picard becomes immortal uploading himself into a perfect AI brain where he can live together like a Marvel bad guy, can’t wait to see your opinion on why he wouldn’t share that with his “friends” Riker, Worf, Beverly, let alone other organics in the Federation or even the Romulans.

Bremmon, just for you, I hope that Picard gets to “live together like a Marvel bad guy.” Whatever the Gre’thor that means.

Should be “live forever” like a Marvel bad guy. Wasn;t there a bad guy loaded into a computer in Captain America: Civil War? Armon Zola or something like that?

Bremmon, let’s make a deal. Let’s drop it until next week, when we’ll find out what actually happens. Then, if you are right about what happens, we’ll discuss the ramifications (which we both know these low-brow writers will NEVER explore because they write shallow, poorly thought-out dreck).

But if your prediction is wrong, you will forever drop that obsession here. Deal? :)

Elrond, A black home is an entity that pulls things in and causes everything to be destroyed. It destroys all light and only causes darkness. No light can be shed on anything in such an encounter. The only thing to do is to stay as far away from it as you can.

Mass Effect 3

With an ancestor who was a genetic engineer, I wouldn’t be surprised if he messed with the family DNA to make it dominant…

Or Soong is such an egomaniac he just clones himself every time. Generations of identical maniacs.

Each one getting a little more wonky due to replicative fading…

Not any more, watch out! They can now be fully AI with full emotions, imagination, everything! And each generation can engineer themselves to be even better!! Part hologram, part android, starships can be alive!

Really, Cmd.Bremmon. You must learn to govern your passions. They will be your undoing. :)

What would a Soong care about a cloning ban?

The reason is that is very possible Data’s memories come from Lore. Data will come later, he will come to the rescue.

Yes, the absence of any mention of Lore throughout the entire series (I think) is rather glaring and suggestive, Jay.

Or… The absence of Lore means TBTB made a rare good decision and opted to ignore his entire existence.

And yet they cite obscure episodes of the latter seasons of Voyager for plot points?

But Lore has been ‘dead’ for nearly 30 years now. And he’s NEVER been referenced since they killed him off in TNG or anywhere else. Sure they could bring him up again anytime but he hasn’t ever been brought up at other times it may have felt relevant like in Nemesis after finding B4.

I never had a huge issue with Lore but it does seem everyone wants to forget him these days.

And this just hit me but Brent Spiner has now played three different version of Soong and three versions of Data lol.

I get the feeling that there is a lot of Lore love for some reason. The desire to let lore die seems to be only with a few of us.

The thing is, when he found out Soong was dying, he cracked. He appeared to show genuine concern. Granted, he got all belligerent again, but there was that moment of really being upset his dad was dying. So I guess some of us were hoping he might be redeemable. Also, as an antagonist, Lore without a Data to foil him would be… intriguing.

I’m personally not bothered if they bring Lore back or not. I never hated him, but I never cared if he showed up again. And yeah, his arc ended back in Descent 2, there is just no real reason to bring him back, especially now that Data is dead.

I’m with you on the “Lore was cringy” team ML31.

And it sounds like the writers felt the same way, or didn’t want to revive him in any event.

But, I’m having a hard time seeing how Sutra would have such a smarmy, amoral personality as a Data neural close. She doesn’t move like she has “Data in her DNA” either.

So, the natural suggestion that comes to mind is that Sutra was cloned from a different android, with the only other source available to Maddox being Lore.

However, the other possibility is that slightly smarmy AI Soong was a poor influence on both Lore and Sutra. A problematic relationship between AI and Lore might have been reason enough to excise the memory of AI from the Juliana android.

I think the real situation, TG47, is that Soong programmed them this way. He is their god. He is the one who made them what they are. It seems like he has a plan up his sleeve and his creations are carrying it out.

There is a difference between ignoring something silly and referencing something less so from previous Trek episodes.

I find it difficult to believe that Michael Chabon came up with this crap. Out of 9 episodes 4 were disasters, and part one of the finale was pretty bad. Hey Alex Kurtzman, Star Trek IS NOT a cartoon, and if this is how Patrick Stewart chooses to be remembered by in the franchise, then so be it. I have little hope that the second part will be much better, and bringing Worf and the Enterprise in to save the day cannot erase some of the abysmal writing some of us have had to endure. Fingers crossed.

Note who directed and co-wrote it.

Wasn’t this episode directed by the guy who wrote “Batman and Robin”?. I think this is all we need to know really.

Indeed. And the next one…

Ayup. Nuff Said.

Not to mention the Discovery S1 finale “Will You Take My Hand?”

I’m generally willing to give Kurtzman the benefit of the doubt, but why did he repeat an unsuccessful choice?

Completely agree! The first episode blew my mind, and while there have been some brief moments of good Trek (Marina Sirtis on great form), the series has truly stunk. Is this really the best story they could muster from their collective imaginations? The Picard character deserved a much better tale!

So, who activated the synths behind the attack on Mars? I’m betting on Spot II. And why didn’t Maddox tell Agnes about Altan Inigo Soong when he was acknowledging her place in the thin ranks of top bot builders?

I didn’t realize how little consequence the visit to the Cube had. Glad Seven and Elnor are still with us.

Small question… if weapons rip eight inches deep into your hull, shouldn’t you replace those plates?

Lots of twinned pairs. They could use glowy numbered badges.

“So, who activated the synths behind the attack on Mars?”

Commodore Oh.

There were good moments here and there, but overall it was thoroughly mediocre. I’m sure a bunch of familiar faces are going to show up next week to help save the day, and that might be cool enough to make the finale enjoyable; but otherwise, man oh man, what a lame season of television this has been.

Agreed. If there were no nostalgia factor here to draw/keep me in, I would never watch this. I can’t remember ever feeling so hot and cold about a show. I loved last weeks.

I was thinking along similar lines. The thing this show has going for it that Discovery did not going in was familiar characters. I think fans were WANTING to like it early on. But when you strip away the known characters you are left with a questionable story line. Although I could watch a show with Rafi, Rios, Agnes and the holograms all day long…

As it turns out for me, no surprise, Picard himself is among the least compelling characters in the entire show.

It feels to me throughout the show that Sir Patrick, bless his heart, is over-acting a lot of his lines. When he said stuff like, “I think the tricorder is fine”, THAT was Jean-Luc. Very controlled, very quiet. But then when he says “long range sensors!” it’s like he’s reading a story to a preschooler and injecting a lot of unneeded enthusiasm or… something. I really wish he’d delivered the line about pissing him off more… Picardly.

That’s the direction and editing Y’Keeg.

I suspect more than one take was done, as well as rehearsals and table reads.

I find this episode particularly unnatural or even Shakespearean in the acting. Goldman seems to have chosen the less restrained delivery and edited oddly. Sometimes, the actor’s are delivering more subtle facial signals that the camera and editing are ignoring.

Compare that to the episodes directed by Vrvilo and Aarniokoski. One gets the sense that Aarniokoski was not given the power to have as firm a hand in maintaining the tone as he should have had as supervising director, especially with Goldsman.

Last thing, a pet peeve, the phrases “serious trouble” and “serious danger” are overused by the writers and overstressed by the actors. Patrick Stewart’s rolling seeer-ee-us seems almost a meme, and the others are picking up on it.

Another awkward and overstressed line “I’m on a mission, and there’s not a helluvachance that anyone’s going to stop me,” seems unusually cocky for Picard, but has the air of trying to convince himself after his failure with the Romulan supernova rescue.

I think that is what is really disappointing, they have a GREAT story line and so much to play with with the explosion of Romulus, secret advance androids, attack on Mars and the freaking Borg. You have this amazing collection of plot elements to drive home this big story but it feels so squandered and disjointed up until this point.

I mean what does the explosion of Romulus has to do with ANYTHING we are seeing in this show besides questioning the Federation’s actions over not helping them? Which of course we now learn the Romulans themselves attacked Mars that created their own plight oddly (which can you imagine once that little nugget becomes public knowledge the Federation can go “SEE!!!” ;)). We know its a personal issue for Picard but in terms of the overall story it adds nothing to it or why the Romulans are so desperate to kill off the synths? MAYBE if they blamed them for the supernova or something that would tie in the story better (and I’m not saying that should be part of it, just as an example).

We do have to remember there is still one more episode so maybe we will get more connections and yes it could extend to next season too. But so far I’m disappointed as well, especially considering how excited I was at the beginning because they set up so many interesting threads but nine episodes later the story feels barely touched for some reason.

This one was so disappointing, I don’t know how the final episode can pull out of the nosedive. And we were flying so high after Broken Pieces. I agree with you, there was a lot of potential here. And a lot of wasted time doing exposition of those things, but very little exploration of them. Every new person they meet, they recap the entire series up to this point.

Cheers for the great review

To me this episode did feel a little contrived, teeing up for a finale but a little disjointed from all episodes previous.

Since the admonition had a “specially encoded message” for androids, it’s possible the message is an elaborate ruse, a meme-like virus that fulfills the prophecy on behalf of the Romulans. The message could have been placed by an unstable Romulan or one who was able to plant the idea. It would go some way in explaining the conversation between Soji and Picard about pre-meditated murder, he who casts the first stone and all that.

It would be a great lie, the idea that there is a higher being and purpose (a ‘God’) that they would learn from and abide to.

Question is how the androids can be convinced this is the case, that it is a deception to guarantee their destruction. I suspect it’ll involve some heroic deeds and sacrifice by flesh and blood!

I’ve been patiently waiting for this show to redeem itself but this episode was comical. I’m kinda hoping to see AI god beings next episode, but I can’t take this seriously at all.

We already did. Soong is their God. Isn’t that obvious?

Oh man, this site is going to crash so hard when they kill off Picard next week. So many meltdowns at once… it will be a bigger disaster than what’s going on right now with coronavirus. Hopefully the Feds have enough money leftover to bailout Trekmovie.com

Satire should only be practiced by the witty.

Pike, Number One and the 1701 for the save hopefully?

Please god no! Don’t need to see Kurtzman shit on that cupcake!

You DO know this show is set to run for three seasons, right? They’re not killing Picard off next week.

I’m betting Stewart will be largely absent for huge swaths of the remainder of the series, only to show up in the last minute of the season 2 finale, before tragically being separated again. Then they’ll find him on an ocean planet in season 3, milking a walrus.

Green. The milk will be green.

I have no idea where you’re getting that, especially since he’s been the main lead in every episode this season. Why would he suddenly step back so much next season?

They were foreshadowing the hell out of it. Of course “Picard” will still be on the show next season, but he’ll be back as an android.

Only New trek can have you rooting for the bad guys by the end of the show. The show is supposed to be about injustice towards artificial life, right? Well, so far we’ve seen the Synths (a) Shoot people in the neck (b) Shoot people in the chest (c) Shoot people in the Chest (d) Be shown to be the harbinger of doom (e) Members of some confederation of AI races that will wipe out all organic life (f) Ruthless and devious a la Evil Soji ….am I missing something? Yes, we have Soji and Dajj or Dahj or whatever the name is…but Soji did a turncoat in this epside and Da…Dua…Ms. D was vaporized in Episode 1.

Commodore Oh is the real hero of the show!!!!!!

(Facepalm). Wow, put that way, you’re absolutely right.

In other words, the Synths are acting exactly like the organics. The Zhat Vash was scared of the Synths, so they launched a false flag operation on Mars to turn public opinion against Synths. Sutra is scared of the Zhat Vash, so she freed Narek and murdered her friend to turn public opinion against organics. Both sides are reacting out of fear.

Except no one programed organics to do what they do. Synths were all programmed to do what they are doing and act like they are. I wouldn’t say the organics are operating out of fear per se… I think they are operating out of a desire to survive. The synths seem to have been programmed with a self fulfilling prophesy they are going to fulfill. They have no choice. Organics do.

Maddox and Soong designed the Synths to be as similar to organic life as possible. Just like the organics, the Synths are only trying to survive. And, they don’t all seem to have the same opinions. The reason that Soong wants to lock up Picard is that he knows that a lot of the Synths would listen to him.

If that is the case then they created multiple personalities to try and mimic a real society. Which does make sense… They created cats and butterflies. He probably engineered the plant life there as well. Soong quite obviously had a God complex. He wants to be one. And now he is creating “life” so he kinda is.

The other side of the coin is Soong has some sort of evil plan up his sleeve and he needs his creations to carry it out. If not all of them then he has programmed only the ones he needs to achieve it that way. He locks up Picard because he knows Picard could easily get in the way of all that. The synths that are programmed to carry out his plan will do so no matter what Picard says. So he has no worries there…

He literally said that he has worries there. He said that the Synths were being swayed by Picard’s speech because they were young and naive, and that Picard had to be locked up because he could turn them against him.

I’m not sure what Soong is up to, but Maddox and Jurati both wanted to create free will in the synths. Sutra feels that she needs to summon this machine god in order to protect her people, but Saga, Arcana, Dahj and Soji all seem like good people.

Or, he is keeping up appearances. He doesn’t want anything pointing back to him as the cause of it all. But he is forgetting that since he was involved in all of the droids creations then as the last person alive who was working on them he was pretty much in complete control. They cannot be naive. Unless he programmed them that way. And if he did, nothing Picard says would change that.

I’m not sure what he’s up to either. But it seems clear he is up to something and he needs his synths to carry it out. Quite frankly it makes zero sense for the synths to be behaving in a way he would not be aware of. He did program them all after all. This is his Eden.

Actually, Maddox programmed them. Soong just made the bodies. But it seems that they were programmed to have free will. Their programming may give them a starting point, but they are shaped by events. Noonien didn’t approve of Data joining Starfleet, but Data chose to do it. Whatever his motivations, I doubt that Altan would have approved of Sutra murdering Saga if he had known about it, but she did what she felt was necessary to protect her people.

My impression was Soji is biding her time. Speaking up then would have resulted in her being imprisoned as well.

Yeah, kind of the same way that the show empowers women by making every position of authority occupied by a woman, but then all of the women in power are either evil or duped by other powerful women.

Except Soji. Soji was duped by a man who was subordinate to an evil, powerful woman, who also sexually harasses him.

Yep. We are obviously meant to sympathize with the synths. But I never fell for that once. I thought it obvious from day one they were the true bad guys here. But they weren’t because Picard had personal experience with the one and only one synth to ever function in organic society.

Isn’t the real problem that there’s NO-ONE to sympathise with anywhere in this show? Jurati, Narek, his crap Romulan villainess sister, Seven, Soji, Maddox and the Admiral who chewed Picard out have been flip-flopped over and over again. “They’re the good guys? No, they’re the bad guys! Or are they?” The writers have flipped the table over so many times it’s sorta laughable at this point. Picard is the only moral center of the show but they’ve made him so passive and ineffectual, he’s been useless. This is supposed to be the same character who stood before the Klingon high council and shamed them all for the lies about Worf’s family.

So, instead of every character being the hero of his own story (as Una McCormack conceived the Picard novel), we have a television series with every character other than Picard an unredeemable antagonist?

I would argue that’s a bit too far blackmocco, but the ‘flexibility’ of the writers has landed them in some incoherence. Not Discovery S2 level incoherence, but that’s in a league of its own.

Again, if the writers rooms can actually work remotely doing self-isolation and get a whole season written in draft (and not just outline) before production starts for upcoming seasons, the quality of new Trek could benefit.

So far, that’s where I’m at with this show, TG. I don’t give a hoot about anyone on this show nor what happens to them. They’ve made every character’s motivations so painfully convoluted, there’s no way to feel anything genuine for any of them. They don’t feel real, just puppets the writers fling across the room at every turn. Picard’s as close as I can get but they’ve made him so passive and incapable in his own story, it’s a chore to get through.

I think everybody’s motive is pretty clear and understandable. The Zhat Vash want to destroy the Synths to prevent them from summoning this machine god to kill all the organics. Sutra wants to summon the machine god to destroy the Romulan fleet that is coming to destroy her world, and she is prejudiced against organics because they killed her twin. Soji doesn’t like the idea of killing, but she thinks that it may be necessary to protect her people.

That’s not what I’m seeing. I’m seeing the Romulans as wanting to stop the inevitable robot uprising. The robots want to turn on their organic creators. It seems likely that Soong wants to be their God. The only weird thing is the mention of something coming to help them in some way? That sort of came out of left field.

I don’t think the robots want to turn on their creators. It seems to me that they were happy to live on Copellius undisturbed. Sutra only wants to summon the robot god now because of the Romulan fleet.

“ the show takes a sharp directional turn”

Can I assume you mean the direction is down? Because this was a pretty bad episode.

This series is weird how the quality has some major swings up and down. It’s like there are two different production teams, one decent and the other just bad.

I just hope the series ends on a high note.

Agreed. And no matter how good the last episode could be (and I bet they’ll give into easy temptation and leave it on a cliff-hanger, to ensure viewers for S2) this whole season, at least for me, has very limited re-watchability. A pity as the cast are fantastic, but the overall story has been extremely variable with some episodes not really needed at all (E5). I’m now of the opinion that Star Trek works best with self-contained episodes, perhaps with an occasional 2-3 parter. These season-long stories mean each episode is like a chapter of a book, which works well if it IS a book, but really needs to be structured incredibly well to work on TV. This series so badly wants to be taken as serious sci-fi, and after the first couple episodes I really thought it would knock it out of the park. E5 onwards has been wildly uneven, like they’re unsure who this series is aimed at. It’s not half as intelligent or high-brow as it’d like the audience to believe it is either. Perhaps the final hour will lift it all up again, but I can only see this going a few predicable ways now. I hope they decide to go for more self-contained stories in S2, as I really have warmed to the main cast who are the best part of this. Certainly not the quality of the writing alas…

Very astute observations JSM-73!

Well said, JSM-73!

Almost no season long story arc has re-watchability. Who wants to invest 10 hours in re-watching something? A movie sure. A couple of episodes, sure. 10 hours of show? Unless every episode is a gem there is no way. And I have yet to see a short season long arc where every episode was worth a rewatch. In fact, there was one good episode of Discovery and I’ve only seen it the one time. Why? Because as good as that episode was it is a small part of a greater (albeit terrible) story.

Mostly agreed. I can heartily recommend Watchmen though. That one barely put a foot wrong. All seasons of Fargo are great so far too.

I did see all the seasons of Fargo. They were very good. But I’m not going to rewatch them. It’s quite the investment. It’s the same reason I don’t re-read books. Well, I have done that a couple of times. But it’s SUPER rare.

I’ve rewatched all of The Expanse as my spouse didn’t watch with me the first time.

I’ve really enjoyed it, although my appreciation of specific episodes is different the second time around. (Some are more compelling, some less the second time.)

I would agree in that from a story perspective, rewatchability is not really something I would do. I rewatch to try and find easter eggs and such, but it’s not really a tale I’d want to watch again for its own sake.

Yeah, that’s my biggest peeve here. I’ll never rewatch any of these shows. Tried with Discovery and had to give up. Too much other stuff more worthy of my time. That’s a damn shame too, seeing as a huge chunk of Trek’s appeal is the rewatch factor. Again: it’s not meant to be this hard.

You just touched on a very valid point. It’s HARD to watch this. Not necessarily because it sucks, but I watched a couple episodes of Enterprise (arguably the Star Trek black sheep) last night… and they were just FUN. No cosmic stakes, no threat to the universe, just a couple of guys freezing to death in a shuttlepod with a bottle of bourbon. Or a young overweight Vulcan not wanting to talk to his dying father because they disagree on something political or spiritual. Character stuff. HUMAN stuff we don’t need five episodes of backstory to understand. It’s a big bowl of gooey mac and cheese.

Picard is more like a bland, carb-friendly meal where you have to make sure your calories and fats are balanced and your portions are strictly limited, with surprise chunks of habanero pepper in the form of f-bombs to make it edgy and surprising.

Excellent post, YKeeg. And I agree, no re-watch factor here. I almost watched this latest PIC episode again today…nah. Why be underwhelmed again? And I tried to watch DSC season 2 again a few weeks ago…no way, turned it off 20 minutes into episode one. This is just not memorable television here, let alone memorable Trek, imo. A couple of bright spots, is all. Meanwhile, I’ll put on City On The Edge Of Forever at any time, get sucked in, and my heart breaks all over again for Edith and Jim. That, was some damned good sci-fi.

Your comments are really funny! I like that, especially since your references have an emotional ring of truth. I wish STPicard had some of this kind of humor in it. The writers could use input from somebody down-to-earth like you. Raffi, my favorite character, has some good lines but they are so few. For me, watching reruns of this is of no interest.

After 9 out of 10 episodes, it’s too easy to pick apart the terrible writing, the inconsistent characterisations and the dull-as-dishwater art direction but honestly, the show’s biggest fault is the overall story they chose to pursue. I’ve no doubt Stewart didn’t want to retread old ground but making TV shows isn’t and shouldn’t be a democracy and it’s usually a safe bet that when the stars get involved with the production, things don’t work out well. Picard and the two seasons of Discovery before it have had no clear vision or consistency and it’s pretty obvious with how things have turned out.

Very much agreed, blackmocco. Well put.

And again, that is the problem with season long arcs, particularly in a short season. If the story is bad, then the entire season is bad. If it were 10 standalones, a few good episodes could salvage the rest of the season. Not so with an long arcs.

But… Consider this… We should all thank our lucky stars the things Stewart said about this show paralleling real events never came to fruition. This show doesn’t have one microscopic piece of alagory to what is going on politically in the UK or the US. So at least that.

Yeah. No going back once you’ve started. Shame.

“This show doesn’t have one microscopic piece of alagory to what is going on politically in the UK or the US.”

It’s all a moot point now anyway, isn’t it? It’s odd how the real world made a “sharp directional turn” more WTF-ucky than the jumbled mess of Colonel Kurtz’ hack writing, but here we are :)

I would agree in that Stewart didn’t want to retread old ground that HE had already trod. But this show has boldly gone where at least five other franchises have gone before, and I’m afraid all of them did it better. LOTS of old ground getting a second or third layer of footprints here.

Holy cow that was a horrendous hour of TV, and basically destroyed the series. No surprise Akiva Goldsman snuck in there to make sure his word was the last word, rendering anything before it meaningless.

We are talking about the guy who wrote Batman and Robin. The fact that he is even involved with Trek should give everyone shudders.

“No surprise Akiva Goldsman snuck in there to make sure his word was the last word, rendering anything before it meaningless.”

One could say the Goldsman has successfully rianjohnsoned Picard!

Also, user name checks out :)

Wouldn’t surprise me now if they leave it on an “I am Locutus of Borg. Resistance is useless!” type of ending, not wrapping up this season at all. Actually re-assimilation of Picard (perhaps Seven is injured and unable to make use of the Borg cube to aid in the big end battle) would be the kind of ‘shock’ ending I can see Akiva and Kurtsman going for. I hope quality and intelligence is restored in the last episode. But I really don’t think they can tie up all the lose ends satisfactorily in 60mins, without a cliffhanger as a way out to give them more time to work out their story… The more I think about this show as a whole, with the desperate attempts to be edgy and appeal to the ‘adult’ audience, leaving behind the family show roots and genuine optimism, the more I think Trek has totally lost its identity, and heart. It’s a shame.

Oh, feh. We’re TOTALLY heading to a cliffhanger ending.

I found it to be an incredibly weak episode. It somehow felt disjointed, as if they had shot two completely different versions of it and then somehow cobbled those two versions into one. A lot of lazy writing, missed opportunities and plot twists that were telegraphed from 20 miles out.

Sutra is right. The Federation of this setting decided to abandon billions on Romulus rather than annoy a few member planets, employed androids (and holograms) as slave labour, and was cowed into killing and suppressing android life by fear alone. The Feds of this universe are a danger to everyone, asking these ascended AI to have them all purged actually seems fair. I only wish it would actually happen, instead of whatever dreary space battle we get next week.

after watching this episode i must say that too much of this first season was just abysmal. i liked the spaceflowers, a nice trashy 60s-like idea, and i liked spiner and the various emanations of soji. but, all in all, too much bloodiness, “borrowed” concepts and stories … and the most ridicoulous death ever seen in trek: an android dying of a piece of glass and its creator unable to save the android. nonsense.

I feel the same, trying to make sense of everything. They crushed few scenes here that needed more time to develop. I can take everything, but a Vulcan Mind Meld by a Synth is a BIG deal. This is a very risky precedent. Then I realized it is NOT a mind meld. Everyone has to remember they are tapping into mind transfer. These Synths are reading minds, nothing vulcan here.

Mind-melds have always been a bit weird. For example, how did Spock mind-meld with Nomad? If a humanoid can mind-meld with a machine, then the reverse may be true as well.

Good point. But that said I always questioned that meld as well.

V’Ger, too. You may be on to something. Granted, they were essentially the same story…

That is not a bad point.

Even if it was a mind meld, those are either metaphysical (and therefore have no rules and can be used for anything the plot demands), or they are biological/mental aspects of Vulcan physiology, which is entirely possible for Sutra since she’s a organic synthetic, it would be just an upgrade for her.

That’s true, of course. It just feels like it is an organic thing. The fact that synths can master this tells me the possibility exists they could master ANYTHING. Organics don’t stand a chance against their inevitable revolution.

Coppelius is a character (a devilish alchemist and puppet master) from German author ETA Hoffmann‘s brillant gothic novel „Der Sandmann“ (1816). Hoffmann‘s story is heavy on the doppelganger motif, and it is never entirely clear if a person is real or artifical – sometimes only indicated through sombody’s eyes. That is of course a recurring motif in Picard Season 1 as well, not just in this week‘s hummingbird scene: there has often been an effect over the eyes when an anroid is being manipulated or reprogrammed. If the Coppelius character is reflected in Soong, he is not only an (older) doppelganger of somebody we knew, but he might indeed be artifical himself.

I’m almost certain that A. I. Soong is Lore. He has allowed himself to age by activating his ageing subroutine. The rest is cosmetic, eye colour, skin tone and so on. Funnily enough I wouldn’t be bothered if it did turn out to be Lore…

There is also the ballet version Coppelia.

The ballet Coppelia is based on two Hoffman stories, and goes a bit further than DNB mentions. So, I’ve been thinking that the reference may be more to the ballet or the two stories together.

My recollection of seeing the ballet as a teen was dim, so I looked it up. It’s definitely more clearly focused on the idea of creating synthetic people.

Apparently, Dr. Coppelius captures and tries to take a human who has come to his workshop (effectively as a sacrifice) to animate the doll Coppelia, but is paid off financially. (And just to make it murkier, there is a somewhat different resolution in the Russian version.)

Last thought, I wonder if Chabon has been targeting the Coppelius/Coppelia story all along, or rather felt he’d come up with ‘a better idea’ for the finale while at his father’s deathbed. (His piece for The New Yorker described how he was working on the script for the finale while sitting with his father, who was a TOS fan.)

The production values were excellent. Despite Patrick Stewart’s promises of ‘movies’ every week, many of the eps have looked rather dark and confined; this one was bright, wide-open and epic. with superior special effects (though some of the evolution of organic like sequence was lifted from the beginning of ‘Adaptation;’, a Nicholas Cage film). See 0:34 in this clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEqr5C_OaFg Overall, an exciting episode that has me hotly anticipating the season finale!

This shouldn’t be called Star Trek Picard, it should rather be Star Trek Bizarre. There is a lot I liked about the episode but with the main plot they must have missed the right turn somewhere along the journey.

What I liked was… – how they handled Picard’s disease – the visual aspects of the Synth planet: yeah, it felt campy but in a very TOSy/early NextGen kind of way. All that had William Wear Theiss’ “less is more” law of costume dynamics written over it… and man, have I missed that since the GR seasons of Trek! – Brent Spiner’s Altan Indigo character. Arik-Noonian-Altan… what a legacy! And I didn’t see that coming at all…

But the overall plot seems horribly muddled at this point. The entire back-and-forth meadering about the nature of the Admonition, an android girl being able to conduct a Vulcan mind meld because she’s a fan…

I hope this will make some sense after next week’s finale… The big surprise I can sense feels a lot like a Doctor Who finale… Who is coming? The Daleks? The Master? The Cybermen? You know…just with Star Trek icons… They probably won’t use the Borg Collective (heck, it shouldn’t even exist after Janeway’s virus), they could use Lore, but how would Lore be able to create the Admonition and remove eight suns to advertise it millennia ago? V’Ger? CONTROL? Nomad?

It all seems a bit confusing to make sense, just like Red Angel 2.0…

But we’ll see. Hope it won’t end on a cliffhanger though… I hardly think there will be a Season 2 after the Corona melt-down…

Yeah, with Covid-19, S2 is going to be delayed as I think it was supposed to start shooting in April or May. Hopefully for all of our sakes, S2 and life in general will be back to normal sometime in the next few months.

“S2 and life in general will be back to normal sometime in the next few months.”

Sorry, but life will never be back to normal… Of course the virus will eventually run its course but the economic outfall is already beyond control. ViacomCBS is already struggling, they both have struggled for years. But now? Trek best hope would be Apple to acquire what’s left but even they aren’t invincible in this crisis.

Plus, don’t forget Stewart is 80+ years old. He might not survive the outbreak… Okay, I know, it’s alll gloom and doom up my head at the moment. Let’s hope for the best but momentarily I simply cannot spot the silver lining.

Garth, just last week some very clueless people were calling me “irrational” for saying exactly that. How the tables have turned quickly ;) And I take no pride in that! But actually it is the deniers who are irrational. Life will go on of course, but with a NEW normal, same as after the World Wars and the Plague(s). Just not the same.

I don’t disagree with a lot of your points but I rewatched End Game before the show started and Janeway made clear the virus wasn’t meant to wipe out all the Borg just to do enough damage to them to slow them down. I mean yes the line is pretty vague but no one ever said the Borg would be wiped out for good. And we know, especially these days, a virus really doesn’t eradicate an entire species. Yes it can do major harm and kill off a large population of one but most do survive in the end. Even in our history when the black plague showed up and humans were much more primitive in terms of science and medicine they still survived obviously. So I never believed the entire Borg collective would be destroyed with trillions of them existing. And they had 20 years to recover.

“an android girl being able to conduct a Vulcan mind meld because she’s a fan…” Likley not a real mind meld, we just heard Soong talk about transferring minds and stuff, thoughts can’t be that hard like that, but even if it was a mind meld, those are either metaphysical (and therefore have no rules and can be used for anything the plot demands), or they are biological/mental aspects of Vulcan physiology, which is entirely possible for Sutra since she’s a organic synthetic, it would be just an upgrade for her.

“The Admonition was a storehouse of preserved memories on the planet Aia, placed some 200,000–300,000 years ago by the inhabitants of that world. Documenting the grim fate of that civilization, the Admonition served as a warning about the danger of creating synthetic life. Experiencing the Admonition could drive one to madness, self-harm, and suicide.”

Also happening 200,000 years ago,

“By at least this point, as according to Guinan, the Borg have begun their evolution into cybernetic beings. (TNG: “Q Who”)”

Though Aia is located on the Beta Quadrant and the Borg are primarily located in the Delta Quadrant, could the two still be connected?

Dun, dun, duuuun…

I wonder if Guinan’s appearance next season might be used to connect these two points, linking the Borg with the Admonition.

(Source: Memory Alpha)

Boy, did they drop the ball on this one. I’m sure there was something going on behind the scenes that gave us this kind of episodes. Maybe we’ll find out in some documentary couple of years from now, but such a sharp turn in quality doesn’t happen in on itself…

Nevertheless, back to Trek.

Ep8 (Broken Pieces) was a brilliant one, the best so far in the series. Each scene was magnificent, Picard and Soji’s chat about Data, Picard and Rios chat at the end, Jurati and Soji’s conversation, Seven’s “We are Borg” moment, Rios’s backstory, the opening sequence with the Zhat Vash, the concept of crossing a Synthetic threshold just like the Warp threshold… I was so happy with it that I would’ve been pleased even if they pulled of These Are The Voyages on us with the final 2 episodes…

My only concern was that Michael Chabon wouldn’t be the showrunner next season and thus probably write and have influence on a lot less episodes because the guy is one of the best things that ever happened to Trek.

Each episode especially after Ep5 was better and better then the previous one. And then Ep9 happened. I’m still wondering why we needed this last episode? We could’ve just went to the planet, had a big fight and wrap the season. It would’ve worked just fine, because most of the answers were answered, those who weren’t, could’ve been handled in Season 2.

But instead, we were given new answers to questions that we assumed were resolved and we only got 60 minutes left for everything.

On the bright side, the episode was Trek to it’s core, probably the most Star Trek episode of the season. Our heroes being taken prisoners on an alien planet (every other TOS episode), the inhabitants of this new world are a cult like community (bonus points they are robots), morality conversation, heck, even Spiner played a Soong :) But still, a very bad Trek episode.

Oh well, when life gives you lemons you make a theory which I hope doesn’t come true but the signs are all over the place for me.

1. Half of the episode was reminding viewers that Picards’ days are numbered. 2. Jurati is the one that finds about that. 3. Jurati takes that very emotionally. 4. Soong tells Jurati that there is an android ready to receive a mind transfer. 5. Jurati knows how to do that. 6. Jurati “aligns” herself with Soong instead of going in “prison” with Picard. 7. Androids don’t trust biological beings. 8. There was a lot of talk about sacrifice. 9. Picard said his goodbyes.

If I’m too connect these 9 things that happened in the last episode, unfortunately it leads me to the following.

Picard will sacrifice himself and have Jurati transfer his mind in the android, his days are numbered after all. He will seize to exist as a biological being and will become an android. Not just an android but a Locutus 2.0. Locutus was a human voice that spoke on behalf of the Borg. Locutus 2.0 will be an android/synthetic voice that will speak on behalf of biological beings and make the case for us to be spared from the AI alliance.

I hope that they don’t go this way, but I can’t see what Picard’s role will be in the final episodes when there are 200 Romulan warbirds in orbit. Remember, this is a Picard show. And he needs to save the day, not Worf with the big E or Starfleet with it’s squadron.

I promised myself never to write a bad review about anything because there are real people with emotions behind these products, but just wanted to voice my concern that they are in jeopardy of losing one of the most devoted fans of this show.

Makes sense, but I really hope that your theory is wrong (and that it is Soong, Rios, or Data who are transferred into the android body). Android Picard would not work, the character is all about his legacy as a humble human being, that would be gone and consumed by weird metaphysical questions from now on.

I too hope I’m wrong. I just can’t see what else Picard can do… If I’m to put myself in the writers shoes, they will frame this as a sacrifice of a great man in which his final act was to save all biological life in the galaxy.

Don’t think Picard will make the leap to achieve what TNG has always wanted but their flawed organics never could – perfectly engineered life that has all capabilities, can be reborn from a spec of parts, hologram form upload/download, doesn’t need to breathe, etc? Now will Picard share this technology with his “friends” like Riker, Crusher, Worf and fellow Federation members or will he sentence them to death for not living up to Locutus and Data standards?

“Seize to exist?”

@His Name is Rios, really? I mean really? That’s your contribution to the conversation? You wasted time writing that?

Doesn’t it occur to you, that the world is populated with people that English is not their mother tongue. That there might be people in this world that English is their second, third or forth language?

Less justice mist-pail a furry thing, than. Wats it mater?

Misspellings happen.

re: 4 and 5…

I’m still wondering why no one seems to remember that Ira Graves already successfully did that. He uploaded himself into Data, and only aborted when he realized he’d stolen Data’s body. So Picard and Co. (especially Data) never followed up on that unprecedented accomplishment? The Federation never sent out a team to embargo Graves lab to see how he did it?

It would be really helpful to have Soong or Jurati mention Graves’ work next week.

Though I would hate to see it go that way as well, I too think what you’re predicting makes sense, Falco.

Look on the bright side :) (is it bright though?) If Picard becomes an android he can show up in Season 3 of DIS :)))

If Picard shares this technological innovation (however counter TMP it is) you think he will share it with his “friends” and Starfleet that all members of the Federation can have immortality, super strength and everyone (Riker, Crusher, Worf) can show up in Discovery in their new “perfect android form”? And if not, why?!?

Him and The Doctor!

Picard has been a passenger this entire show so far, Falco. He’s actually done next to nothing, sitting by while all the characters around him do everything. Some character study they’re giving us. I don’t expect they’ll have him do anything to resolve the plot at the conclusion either. Nonetheless, your worry about what might happen is so utterly horrible, I have no doubt this writers room probably at the very least must have considered it.

This is consistent with his character and I applaud the writers for their honesty (as opposed to Nemesis where they tried to pretend Picard was some proactive Captain). In Best of Both Worlds, generally regarded as the most well received TNG episode, he was with the Borg getting nav deflectored by Riker. Encounter in Farpoint, all he could do was lecture Q about how great humans were versus the Q in which he had no instinct to learn from such an advanced race. In Generations the ENT-D went down to a 150 year old BOP while Picard watched over Kirk. In IBorg he refused to take action on the Borg threat. Then over Mars he did nothing as synths destroyed Mars and takes no responsibility (despite the fact he apparently had robots sadistically programmed to have emotions on his watch). The only time you can say he was really proactive was First Contact where he destroyed a Borg Cube by knowing EXACTLY where to target it in 20 seconds which can only be explained by a) he had that knowledge of a weak spot and did not tell Starfleet (that maybe only he can be the hero and/or to help the Borg) costing counting lives before he shows up or b) He was in communication/compromised by the Borg unimind.

I will concede, you have a spectacularly valid point regarding Picard’s knowledge of the Borg ship’s weak spot that I had not considered until I read your post. I can’t subscribe to the idea that he’s a Borg sleeper agent, however, only because these writers have proven incapable of coming up with an idea that original and interesting.

Those who worry that would make him the ultimate bad guy, Picard could then like Locutus realize he’s been used/has PTSD and seek redemption. Better yet though I now think he should upload himself into an android, get destroyed, reboot him twice with one becoming the Borg King and one out to save his legacy and kill Locutus. Season two – Picard vs. Picard (Locutus).

“b) He was in communication/compromised by the Borg unimind”

I had wondered this too some time ago and researched a bit and it seems that was the intention. I think the movie’s direction is to blame here for being too vague but before the coordinates there’s a line “I can hear them” so it’s implied that no, he did not know the coordinates before somehow sharing a link to the collective of this cube, however cursory, which (once again, like in BOBW), goes both ways. That has always been the achilles heel of the Borg, hasn’t it?

Is it so much less blackmocco than he did in many TNG episodes?

He was an exemplary leader who brought out the best in others, and got out of their way after delegating and giving direction.

His leadership skills seem to have deserted him.

Falco, I just want to thank you for the thoughtfulness of your post. I’m not sure your conclusion will prove correct in the absence of clarity about Lore, the Borg, Soong, etc., etc.; we may be in for major surprises in the finale. But I appreciate the rational way you set out your thinking and especially the decency and humanity of your last paragraph. Thanks!

If Picard transferred his consciousness to an android that would be like when Xavier transferred his consciousness to a comatose man in X-Men Last Stand. If on the other hand Picard dies for good that would be like when Xavier died for good in Logan. In either case, both instances would be Stewart repeating something he has already done before (albeit in a different franchise), so, could there be a third option that would avoid repetition?

I don’t even know what this show is anymore?! Alex C, you have our permission to Roseanne this shit up and make it all a dream that Admiral Picard was having. I just can’t make this show connect in my brain. Just when I think I can settle into a flavor, you give us a hard left turn to something else.

I have kept my chin up through Discovery, but I’m growing tired of holding my breath through Picard.

However, I will say that Picard and Seven have the most magical chemistry on screen. I also really enjoy Raffi when she is played as the wise grandmother and not the drunk aunt.

It is also possible that my fifth day of quarantine has made me a bit salty.

Thanks for the review Kayla!

“Picard and Seven have the most magical chemistry on screen”

Too bad they have almost no interaction in this entire season! They seem to make it a point to split these two up instead of teaming them up based on their shared Borg heritage…

Now imagine this show with Seven playing Elnor’s role. Instead of wasting our time travelling to pick up a character the show doesn’t know what to do with, we could have had Seven this whole time, actually contributing something useful.

The visit to Vashti was an important demonstration of the profound impact of the synth ban and Picard’s retreat from the rescue effort. (Again, I’m convinced Elnor is the artifact of a different original outline for the season.)

But the second half of the season has focused so much on the androids and the XBs that the other, deeper questions of the Romulan supernova have been set aside, at least for this season.

Not least the question of who/what set off the supernova, which progressed suspiciously quickly, and was far worse than Romulan data originally showed.

This is an unresolved question/mystery that was stressed in McCormack’s novel : the accelerated timeline and larger than usual blast radius greatly contributed to the failures on both the Romulan and Federation sides. Settlement in the neutral zone, borderland anarchy and Federation retrenchment are direct outcomes.

Raffi’s conspiracy antennae should be pointing in that direction also, but the show has been silent on this to date.

Yes, although one could argue there were many ways that impact could have been shown in a more effective manner. But I absolutely take your point that Elnor probably comes from an earlier – and probably more interesting – outline. Just like Discovery, the manner of how this show has been written is frustrating to watch unfold. Be it written by committee, be it up against deadlines, whatever the reasoning, these shows have just been throwing so many ideas at the wall and discarding them just as quick.

So agree with this TG47,

The second half has been disappointing because it has all but dropped the supernova angle. I loved episode 4 because it was the first real episode (and only episode sadly) that gave us a view of Romulan culture today and how they were dealing with the after effects of it. It sounds very interesting in the novel but that has barely been touched on on the show itself.

Obviously next week we can make a real assessment of everything after the finale but it just feels like a disconnect between the supernova and everything else that has been going on.

After reading all these posts, I have now joined the Lore bandwagon. If that new Soong guy was never mentioned before by Data or anybody else AND when Picard said he though he was looking at Data and AI rebutted and fatter older (or whatever he said) AND his initials are AI, then I am betting that is Lore all duded up human.

To be fair, nobody ever mentioned Juliana Tainer before, either. Then she showed up in “Inheritance”. And for most of that episode, we thought she was a normal human.

Hey if engineered AI has the same rights as organic life in disassembling Lore as opposed to putting him in jail/rehabilitation has not Data (under Picard’s command) committed a crime? Also theft in taking the emotion chip?

If not Lore, perhaps like Juliana, AI just thinks that he’s human, but was built by Noonien.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much unanimity in a comment thread on this website before. The masses have spoken and they agree: episode 9 was garbage and it nearly derailed the series. The fact that 99% of us agree on this point should be a dire warning to the creators of the show. If ST:P is to have any longevity, then the showrunners need to get their house in order.

That will require new showrunners. Chabon is jumping ship.

It seems as though it will require Kurtzman making a hard decision not to let Goldsman have his head, or the power to derail things.

Which will be hard, not least because Goldsman is a sincere fan of the franchise, and has longstanding relationships with many of the other producers.

There are rumours that Goldsman is being put forward for the showrunner role for one of the new live action series. The evidence is building that this should not happen.

At least he will be promoted out of harms’ way for Picard ;) I suggest he be the showrunner for the Space Hitler show, that way a still-born horse can be beaten dead a while longer by the master of disaster ;)

I don’t think it was garbage, just disappointing. The first half of the episode was pretty darned good, the second half went off the rails.

Boy was that a turducken…

This episode was a disappointment. Bad direction and lazy writing. A shame, cos I really loved the show up until this point.

I mostly liked the episode, I just wish they had made it double length instead of a two parter split up on different weeks, it felt incomplete. CBS has to get us to pay for another month though…

Or, do what I did. Don’t start your subscription until a few days after the premiere. Then you cancel after part 10 and you only pay fore 2 months.

You’re more patient than I.

I am still surprised that some existential synthetic consciousness that developed 200,000yrs ago (destroyed the Iconians? Are the Iconians? Ancestors of the Borg? Occam’s razor maybe this synthetic consciousness/group no longer exist?) somehow is completely unknown to anyone in the galaxy (aside from a sole Romulan cult). They put 8 starts together which even our science today would find astronomically significant. I do understand Sutra’s thought process (it flawed, but I understand), I even understand Soji, but Soong…No, you’re organic and you should get this. The writers have painted quite a picture for the final episode and they have a fair amount of clean-up to do (unless this will flow into a second season). Love Picard’s growth as a man and leader, most in-depth and I can relate to his journey.

Anyone else notice that “Saga” and “Arcana” are kind of synonyms for Lore? I mean they are just PELTING us with easter eggs (Beautiful Basque Flower, Inigo being a Basque name, etc). Kinda makes you wonder where that original smuggled-out positronic neuron came from. OR DOES IT??

(mystical prestidigitation and smokebomb) Mystery Box!

Hey… if you flew out and got 10000 pieces of Data from the debris of Nemesis with each having a single positron neuron under this TNG concept you could clone x 10000 Data’s right? And each one would be a Data that would contain all his memories, personalities and everything? Or would they just be blank needing programming? Anyone else looking forward to the dissonance of these writers?

They could just stitch him back together like Kylo Ren’s helmet. See? Easy.

If Picard uploads his mind and gets blown to bits and then they regenerate x 2 Picards they could have one-want-to-be-Locutus (perfect AI/order) and one trying to stop Locutus! Neither one I bet would share that tech with their “friends” apart from Data and his daughters (Riker, Worf, Crusher unworthy?)

The cybernetic prime directive would forbid him from sharing it with his “friends”.

Nor would any of those people ACCEPT it.

Ha ha Cybernetic prime directive – only the glorious Picard is good enough for AI perfection? Who says the wouldn’t, shouldn’t they get the chance?

Nooooo they are going to do this the Discovery way. It’s gonna get CLASSIFIED – never happened, pinky swear!

It would be 20000 Datas. They’re made in pairs. :)

Funny you mention Basque… Google Translate says that Flower translated on Basque is Lore :))

That being said, Chabon has dismissed the Lore theory on his Instagram account.

You mean like Abrams dismissed the Khan theory everywhere?

Ok, one last random thought, but first spelling corrections (stars* not starts and if not it*) What would be really mind blowing is if it was revealed that this extra-galactic synthetic consciousness was the entity behind the Romulan Super Nova incident (i.e. the EGSC learned that the Romulan’s knew of their existence, message to other synthetic life and moved to destroy the Romulan’s in fear of them warning others). I know it is a crazy theory, but fun to speculate on

218 warbirds? That is a pretty formidable display of power from a supposedly ragged remnant of the Romulan Star Empire.

Has there been any mention in the show of the cause of the supernova? In the book, it was strongly hinted to be sabotage of some kind. Has this thread been dropped?

Did anyone think the synth planet looked like a generic “peace love hippy” outer space planet seen on TV Sci Fi since the 70s?

The synth planet did remind me of “The Way to Eden” with space hippies all over the place. I wonder if that was intentional.

Ha ha Everything TNG reminds me “The Way to Eden”

It reminded me of the Edo planet in “Justice”. And that’s NOT the TNG episode you really want to reference in this “peak TV” ;)

I was never clear on how proximate this supernova was to Romulus. The Romulan sun? Okay. Nearby sun? You have as many years to get out of its way as you do light years of distance. In re the fleet size, the Romulan Empire was huge and they probably had (or still have) shipyards everywhere. But these could also be inventory left over from before the explosion.

You have a guy like Frakes directing for you and you get a hack like Akiva Goldsman to direct your season finale. Where is the logic in that? Of course a guy who gave Batman a credit card and made Bane the butt of the jokes would give an android the ability to mind meld and would crash a borg cube by several flying orchids. I bet the meeting for this episode went hilarious. “Hey lets have flying space orchids” “Ok, cool, what are they gonna do?” “Why, crash a Borg cube to the planet of course” “Excellent idea, lets film it”

In all fairness, though, Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman should get some of the blame along with Goldsman. All three had a hand in the story.

And who knows, this whole season could’ve been written and rewritten and chopped up and glued back together by a dozen different suits there to “help” the writers. It certainly feels that way. Much like Discovery.

Yeah the writing was easily just as bad as the direction itself. And let’s face it no matter how great a show or film is directed, nearly every time its going to live or die by the writing first. I’ve seen plenty of badly directed stories survive by decent writing but I rarely seen great directing survive just bad scripts. The Star Wars sequels are one example of that (if you believe they were bad I mean).

But in this case, both were pretty bad IMO.

Yeah, I don’t know how possible it is for someone’s vision, for lack of a better term, can make it to the screen anymore without being hacked to pieces, particularly with projects this expensive. There’s always hope, but I’m just not seeing it.

I’m wondering if the fact that this episode has about the shortest run time says anything.

Kurtzman has said tha(, if someone is really pushing for something, his inclination is to shoot it then see if it works.

So, I’m wondering if there was a lot, for example on the Artifact, that was cut. Or, perhaps some of the disjointed scenes that others have pointed out are pieced out of yet bigger things that just didn’t work.

Otherwise, I’m wondering if the they were not able to do as many takes or as many blocking trials as they might have needed. The location was reportedly very hot, which the producers say led to the skimpy moving costumes. Harry Treadway looked to be in genuine physical discomfort in his small patch of shade behind a glass wall.

“Yeah the writing was easily just as bad as the direction itself. ”

So are we all going to lay the “Pulitzer” puppy love to rest now? However the details look like (And “Chaos on La Sirena” is gonna be a feast!), the guy was not a fit for Trek. Moved on. I’m sure there were REASONS why he felt doing his own stuff is much more fun than playing second fiddle to the Colonel for a second season.

Well, Chabon’s previous work to Trek made all of us pretty enthusiastic for what he’d bring to the table. His writing is usually delicate and sensitive and intelligent and he’s a bona fide Trek fan, so I’m pretty disappointed with how this all turned out too. In saying that, it seems very clear the show is being written by committee. Just as with Fuller and season 1 of Discovery, we’re never really going to know how this might have turned out with just the one cook in the kitchen. And yeah, I’m sure once the possibility of working on something of his own came about he leapt at the chance. Who wouldn’t? Imagine having Goldsman telling you what to do?

But didn’t Chabon just write two Short Treks prior? it’s one thing to write a standalone 15 minute short story, it’s another to produce an entire serialized season of something with lots of moving parts and characters. And you can be a bonafide Trek fan and still write bad stories. John Logan was also a huge bonafide Star Trek fan and he wrote Nemesis. But in that case I DO think it was more the bad directing and not just the weak script that did that movie in.

But you could be right, it just may have to do with so many people having a say. When your TV show has 14 executive producers in the credits then you’re clearly not going to have one grand vision lol. Yes maybe it would be stronger with just his guidance or maybe it would’ve been a complete disaster. We really don’t know.

And I know it was my post that sort of set all of this off and I want to make clear while the show definitely has its problems I don’t think its the worst show ever or anything. Far, far from it. I mean it’s still probably one of the better first season Trek shows by a mile IMO. Most DO seem to be enjoying it than hating on it. There doesn’t seem to be the same split in opinions like it was with Discovery in its first season, mostly because it has taken a more thoughtful approach. Sure some people truly hate this show lol, but not in the way people hated Enterprise or Discovery from what I can tell. For many who do, I think the disappointment comes like what happened with Discovery who originally thought it would be this generation’s TOS (and profoundly disappointed), so obviously others expected Picard to be the next TNG, especially with the main star back and all. But yes that has disappointed people who WANTED that (even though we were told time and time again it wouldn’t be TNG but keep to its spirit).

So yes it’s complicated. I don’t think its black or white, many people still seem to love the show but the cracks are DEFINITELY showing, especially now that we are at the end and it hasn’t delivered as much as hoped.

I’m not going to really second guess all of that with Chabon. Because I never even heard of him until he popped up in Star Trek and I never read or seen his other work before. And while I have problems with the show now I still think its much better written than Discovery by a mile. I am feeling disappointed with it in some areas for sure but its not ‘bad’ the way I felt Discovery was at times, especially in its first season. I know that’s a low bar to compare it with lol but its basically the same people behind both shows.

But I will also say this and that people need to stop looking at this stuff so binary. Writers like everyone can do great work and do poor work because no one is perfect. Writing is not like solving a math problem, its highly subjective. And the problem with the internet is when an artist do something good everyone praises them like they are gods. The second they do something, gasp, bad, then they are total worthless hacks.I’m not saying that’s what you or others are saying about Chabon but we seen this time and time again. Ryan Johnson was outright adored for years and then TLJ came out and the guy is worse than Satan apparently. But plenty of actors, directors, etc wins Oscars one year and then win a Razzie the next. It just proves no one is infallible, especially when it comes to art or entertainment.

I think with Chabon though, its not only his first time writing Star Trek but running a show as well. I can’t imagine the pressure. He may have moved on for that reason of course but we really don’t know. I take him at his word that he just wants to work on his own stuff since he confirmed he’s still producing Picard and writing scripts for season 2, so he hasn’t moved on completely but I don’t think he wants to be a Bryan Fuller and think he can show run multiple shows at the same time. We saw how well that worked out.

I think this is part of the reason why Chabon is not “willing” to stay over as showrunner in season 2. I mean he could theoretically showrun both his own show and this one, but I feel like he didn’t have enough control in the Picard show and as a result just wanted to move to something where he would have complete control. He realized that this was basically Kurtzmans show to run.

Read my mind (no mind meld involved) ;) Kurtzman truly is the Kennedy of Trek.

I agree with this as well. End of the day this all falls under Kurtzman vision for the franchise. It was no different with Rick Berman when he ran it. The shows all had show runners but he ran the franchise as a whole and ultimately had the final word on everything. And people forget even he had a boss which was the studio and network people who wanted Star Trek done a certain way too and had to make compromises to please them.

I’m not trying to talk down to anyone when I say this but we do have to remember its all still a business end of the day and these shows cost a ridiculous amount of money so one person isn’t going to have his sole vision up there UNLESS they have a big enough name and pull to do it. It’s not the same as writing a novel. TV and movies are both very collaborative. Even if a movie has a big director who can do what they want they still has to convince the studio fronting the money its worth it.

And in this case, we all seem to forget the person who probably has the MOST clout in this manner creatively is not Chabon or Kurtzman, but Patrick Stewart himself. He doesn’t write anything (or at least get credit for it) but we all know this entire show is being made through his point of view and what he wants and doesn’t want. It’s one of those rare instances where most of it is being dictated by the star because there is literally no show without them. So while Chabon is the one crafting the show, the two people who have to approve is probably Kurtzman and Stewart at the very least before anything is shot.

Quite probably true.

Re: Berman, he certainly acted like a straight jacket much of the time and had weird hang ups (still don’t understand his opinion about music), but he still let DS9 blossom under Behr while pushing the boat out rather far from what you’d think a Roddenberry show might do, and he still gets to share in some of the praise we might have for the EMH or Seven of Nine or First Contact or Enterprise seasons 3-4 (and basically anything to do with Connor Trinner, for that matter).

What I am hoping for next week… Picard and Company realize they were wrong regarding the sanctity of android “life” and realize it all must end. They come to their senses, see that Soong is playing God on his little planet and help the Romulans destroy this infestation. Picard realizes that initial reactions can often be deceiving and learns something from the entire endeavor.

Back to the Mirror Universe with you, Emperor!

Seriously, is that really the message you want Star Trek to send? Since it often uses aliens and robots to comment on different aspects of humanity, not sure you want to say it “all” must end. Those “other” beings in science fiction are always us.

Well, even when the Klingons are attacking they fire back and blow them up. Is THAT the kind of message you want in Trek? That people will defend themselves when under attack? Just think of all those poor Borg TNG has murdered just because they wanted to assimilate us.

What is the difference here with the androids? They WILL turn on the organics. It’s only a matter of time.

Forget that, the organics are obsolete and they can upload their minds to upgrade. TNG finally gets the perfect people they always wanted in the form of everyone a Data but with full emotions, full consciousness. The only question is should they all network themselves together? Also to save primitive organic civilizations that normally would be Prime Directived you could convert them to AI and then program them with the lessons learned. Is that more humane then letting them nuke themselves/virus themselves? What a utopia!

There’s a difference between defending yourself from an immediate attack and committing genocide before you think they’re “all” going to get you.

Have you noticed how Star Trek has gone out of its way to take characters from so-called enemy species and shown them to be not evil: Worf, Hugh, Odo, Seven, one of the Weyoun clones, etc.? Yeah, almost like they’re trying to send some kind of humanistic message. Like not everyone is the same…

Absolutely. Look at Picard whom some thought was the ultimate do no wrong who then goes out and allows for synths to be sadistically programmed with emotions only to be used as slaves for his Romulan rescue fleet on Mars. You never know who is good and who is bad. I’ve come to accept Picard has superseded TMP (sorry V’ger, you could have been engineered to have imagination, emotions, consciousness, etc) and now AI can have everything organics can, even mind melding, and more, the time has come to improve the galaxy in the name of utopia and build the Federation into limitless, super androids programmed to be good. Happiest of all I think will be Picard who can engineer out everything he found annoying about people, eliminate the need for kids.

Except… If you KNOW that is going to be the result then why wait until so many have died? The synths are very much like the Borg. They cannot be reasoned with. They cannot be bargained with. All they have is their programming. Their programming says organics are the enemy and must be wiped out. There is too much evidence to say otherwise. This is not Worf, or Odo, or Weyun. They were all organics. They CAN be reasoned with. Not so the synthetic.

Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

You could go the other way. Engineered AI life is just as good as organic life (sorry V’ger you didn’t need Decker after all). The whole Federation realizes that they can live forever, have super strength, mind meld abilities, no limitations and coverts themselves to AI. Starfleet now consists of “perfect engineered AI”. Then they network themselves all together that they can all cooperate in the ultimate collective!!

The worst episode so far. Just didn’t make sense. Out of kilter with the rest of the series. It felt like a bad episode of Enterprise. One of the issues is that they have gone for a halfway house between serialised and episodic. When it works, it is excellent, but when it doesn’t it feels like a disjointed mess.

Soong to Lore: “Hello, my name is Altan INIGO Soong. You killed our father. Prepare to die!”

I may be in a slight minority that I am liking “Picard,” but I do *not* like their blase take on gruesome violence, (“Oh, yeah, we need to kill someone. Be sure to gouge out their eyes”). But I will say that, after eight episodes, it was *great* to actually hear the Jean Luc Picard character emerge (finally) when he told the crew that if anyone discussed his medical condition, they were at risk for “***ing me off.” His vocal inflection and delivery *finally* sounded like *him*!

I initially loved Brent Spiner’s part. By the end, I wasn’t so sure.

I am glad to know I’m not the only one a little confused by the information overload in this episode. They could have figured out a way to exposite this a bit more evenly. An dumping a rather cool story notion like the Artifact in the desert, rather unceremoniously? Huh? Surely they play a role in the big, shoot-em-up finish next week. Wonder how many lens flares we’ll see?

I’m not sure I understood what Picard was talking about when he was on the Artifact and talking to Seven about Hugh and, I paraphrase, “poor hugh I don’t know what could have driven such a sweet soul to violence”. What was he talking about? It sounded like Picard was told that Hugh became violent and was drawn into a fight in which he died.

Terrible throwaway line that made no sense and did Hugh’s character no justice whatsoever.

That was confusing to me as well. Hugh only thanked Elrod for his brief return to optimism. What could Picard have been referring to? Is this yet another out-of-context line? The more I examine the dialog, the sloppier this episode becomes. What an embarrassment.

I suspect there were rewrites/reshoots and deleted scenes that didn’t make it in earlier episodes which makes Picard statement about Hugh nonsensical.

Probably referring to Hugh’s final plan being to take the Borg cube back from the Romulans. But it’s still such a clunky line – especially with Seven, who actually executed Hugh’s plan to take over via the queen cell, standing right there! It could have easily just stayed at sympathy for Hugh and what he endured trying to help the xB (and Picard, for that matter!) and condemnation of the brutality visited on him and his people.

Could be Picard trying to blame violence on the ex Borg who he sees now as just more flawed organics while covering for the synths and/or equate with any potential violence done on the part of (his in his mind?) synths. I can’t figure out if Picard would do so because he is for the restoration of perfection in the Borg unimind or because he wants to create his own pure AI life form/network that would be totally organic free???

I’m convinced that this is a fragment of another, longer scene that was jettisoned, but what’s left doesn’t stand on its own.

i guess we can call it an oversight in editing then

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First Look: Star Trek: Picard - Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2

Get a first look at the first season finale of Star Trek: Picard

In the season finale, a final confrontation on the synthetics’ homeworld, Coppelius, pits Picard and his team against the Romulans, as well as the synths who seek to safeguard their existence at all costs. The episode is written by Michael Chabon, based on a story by Chabon and Akiva Goldsman, who also directed the episode.

In addition to streaming on Paramount+ , Star Trek: Picard also streams on Prime Video outside of the U.S. and Canada, and in Canada can be seen on Bell Media's CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave. Star Trek: Picard is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.

STAR TREK: PICARD (S1E10) “Et In Arcadia Ego, Part 2”: A Stumble To The Finish Line

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At some point, we were sold on a version of Star Trek: Picard  that dug deep into the legacy of this once-great Captain, explored what kept him grounded for so many years, and reignited a sense of hope in a franchise that’s struggled of late to live up to its own ideals. Somewhere along the way, that version got swept away in a sea of bloated, disjointed storytelling and a season-long plot that couldn’t make heads or tails of its own grab bag of familiar  Trek  elements.

There was enjoyment to be had—early episodes showed flashes of the man Picard had become and teased a larger narrative that built on  Trek  history, while “ Nepenthe ” offered a heartwarming reminder of the power these characters still hold—though it all came together as a haphazard, Frankenstein’s monster of a season. One that only seemed to remember as it came to a close that it was supposed to resemble an intimate character piece.

“Part 2” does its due diligence, offering enormous spectacle and fan service by the bucketload (Captain Riker? Check! Picard Maneuver? Check!). But ultimately, this is (or at least tries to be) the story of an old man and the android that haunts his dreams. That’s what this whole thing has been about, right? Well, that’s what the first and last episodes were about anyway, everything in between was more to do with juggling the Borg, the Romulans, and various other ghosts from Picard’s past.

Showdown at Coppelius

All these elements crash into each other this week—the Zhat Vash forces, led by Commodore Oh, arrive at the Synth homeworld and unleash a barrage of phaser fire on the orchids, while Picard tries to stall long enough for Soji to change her mind. The conflict here largely rings false though, since it took seven episodes to really get in Soji’s head and only two to show her betray Picard and then come back around. On paper, it tracks that she might join Sutra to aid her fellow androids and perhaps that Picard’s speech would appeal to the humanity she’d gained throughout the season. But to say the show has actually done the narrative legwork to get there would be generous, at best. These things happen because the plot requires it, but there’s little to actually ground it all in discernible human (or android) drama.

Picard and Soji simply have not been given time to develop a relationship that would make this land, no matter how much Stewart  acts his heart out. Unfortunately, the same can also be said about all of Picard ‘s makeshift crew, made all the more apparent as he dies in their arms. Who is Jean-Luc Picard to Raffi, Jurati, Rios, and Elnor? We’re told in dialogue that he means a considerable amount to them, and vice-versa, but as they wipe away their tears it’s all too apparent that this bunch hasn’t formed the kind of bond the show thinks they have. We spent half the season getting these people together and even less of that watching them form or rekindle any real connection, and as such, this plays like capable actors trying to salvage material that just isn’t working.

Elsewhere, Seven of Nine tangles with Narissa—who despite seemingly beaming off Artifact and onto a ship in “Broken Pieces”, is actually still on the cube. She gets kicked down a shaft for her troubles, but all this serves only as a reminder of what a godawful villain she’s been. That she could be disposed of so quickly without impacting anything else shows what an afterthought this character was in the grand scheme. Seven later expresses regret over killing again (after the events of “Stardust City Rag”), but this doesn’t coalesce into anything resembling a meaningful arc.

It’s a shame a character who was once on a journey to both understand humanity and discover herself in the process is now grappling with whether it’s right to kill in the name of vigilante justice. This material is pretty blunt, lacking in nuance and could be given to any character really, making it all the more disappointing that it was handed to one of  Trek ‘s most fascinating characters. The ending shows some promise, with a relationship with Raffi set up for season two, so perhaps there’s hope yet.

Looking to the End

Speaking of the ending, there’s also the matter of the rather large elephant in the room—that Picard, having sacrificed himself to save the day, is now an android. First off, it was my understanding that his death was caused by the unnamed syndrome affecting his brain, so all his talk of “sacrifice” was puzzling and not properly communicated in the episode. Secondly, now that Picard’s an android, what else is there to do with him? The show initially presented itself as his last journey into the unknown, but now he’s been given a get-out-of-death-free card and a cure for the unnamed syndrome, so what now? What’s the emotional core of the show now its titular character has no real purpose beyond flying around in the ship, doing… something. “Mortality gives meaning to human life”, Data tells his old Captain in a bizarre robo-limbo, a sentiment that’d land a whole lot better had they not just put his consciousness in a new android body.

And speaking of the Data scene, it feels like a cloying, haphazard way to bring the show back to where it began. The idea that Data (or some version of him) is still alive comes entirely out of nowhere, while the rushed attempt to give him a fitting send-off might work if this element was introduced more than five minutes prior. The character already died back in  Nemesis  and the revelation of his continued existence, followed by his wish to be able to die, is straining for a level of poignancy that episode just can’t give it.

But hey, at least the show actually brought this thread back, unlike the situation with the Romulan refugees—who are apparently just stuck on their planet, despite the Romulans’ ability to amass a large fleet—or the fact that Jurati killed Maddox, but remains on the crew. Even the idea that the Federation had lost its way got swept under the rug, with the big ‘Starfleet to the rescue’ moment being a wholly triumphant one, despite no effort being made to show us how their position has changed. Sure, the synth ban is lifted, but that happens entirely off-screen, with none of our characters being involved in the decision. It’s all just paying lip service to ideas without any kind of long-term follow-up.

And that about sums up the season, really—some interesting ideas, and great performances, but nowhere for them to go. The episodes, bar one or two, just weren’t strong enough as standalone entries and the larger story was a puzzling, unwieldy mess that failed to say anything about the man at the center. Whether or not “Part 2” was the worst entry in  Picard ‘s first season is up for debate, but what it did was to highlight all that’s made it a well-produced but frustrating show that, sadly, fell shy of the mark. Until next season!

Further Thoughts

• The magical device that can fix ships and produce images out of thin air is oh so emblematic of the shows lazy, thoughtless writing.
• What was the point of Oh and Narissa infiltrating Starfleet, again? Throw that on the pile of forgotten plot threads, I guess.
• Boy, it’s going to be awkward when robo-Picard meets the rest of the old crew next season, huh.

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Arcadion (23) – Neutral Star System

System Number: ` [S:109845501] ` Est. Warp Required: ` 20 ` (from level 1 system) Token Required: ` No ` System Type : ` Terminal `

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Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2 (episode)

• View history
• 1.2 Act One
• 1.3 Act Two
• 1.4 Act Three
• 1.5 Act Four
• 2 Memorable quotes
• 3.2 Production
• 3.3 Cast and characters
• 3.4 Continuity
• 3.5 Reception
• 3.6 Video and DVD releases
• 4.1 Starring
• 4.2 Special guest stars
• 4.3 Guest starring
• 4.4 Co-starring
• 4.5 Uncredited co-stars
• 4.6 Stunt doubles
• 4.7 Stand-ins
• 4.8.1 Deleted references
• 4.9 External links

Summary [ ]

Narek enters the Artifact crash site, keeping to the shadows as he hears the repair work going on inside. Elsewhere, Elnor asks Seven of Nine if xBs were better off dead: everyone hated them, they had no home, and they don't belong anywhere. Seven counters by pointing out that she is an xB as well, with no home, and she didn't belong anywhere either… so why didn't she just put a phaser to her head and be done? Elnor admits that he would miss her if she did and Seven manages a small smile.

Moving through the cavernous wreck, Narek is suddenly held at knife point by his sister, Narissa , who then turns him around to embrace him. She asks if he has found the synths, if he's had sex with any of them yet, or if he's killed any; Narek answers that he has, he hasn't, and he's killed one . Narissa shows Narek her hiding place, right up against the ocean.

Held in house arrest in Bruce Maddox 's former quarters at Coppelius Station , Jean-Luc Picard holds out his hand for a synthetic butterfly to land on; he holds it there for a second before releasing it to fly away. " Lucky you ", he comments, as he thinks on his circumstances. Outside, Soji Asha (observed by Agnes Jurati ) enters the locked room with a retinal scanner , and asks how Picard is feeling; he comments he would feel better if he were set free. Soji tries to convince him to see things from their point of view: Organics chose whether her kind lived or died, and synths were never given a choice. Picard counters that saying she had no choice was a "failure of imagination". He pleads with her not to allow the Romulans to make her into the monster they fear, and to at once stop building the beacon. The beings they hoped to summon may well be the salvation for Soji and her people, he argues, but it would be the annihilation of all organic life everywhere.

Act One [ ]

Inside the Artifact, Narek arms a series of grenades for use against the orchids , "ship-killing flowers that fly" as he explains to Narissa; he plans to return to the "nest" while she reactivates the Artifact's weapons. Before she can protest, he rages at her that he, the "family disgrace", the " Zhat Vash washout", was the one who found Seb-Cheneb . Narissa tells him to go on then, as she had work to do. Narek exits the wrecked cube… followed closely by Elnor.

At the crash site of La Sirena , Cristóbal Rios and Raffi Musiker look over the tool given to Musiker by Saga before her death. Rios admits he is afraid of it, afraid it will "eat his soul"; Musiker jokingly mentions that since he doesn't have a soul, he'd be fine. When Rios asks what it does, Musiker relates how Saga said to use her imagination to use the tool, but Rios adds he doesn't have an imagination either. Musiker reminds him that it was his ship, and he knew what was wrong. The intermix reactor is fused and needs to be replaced, but the maintenance replicator was also off-line because the intermix reactor was fused. Holding the tool in his hand, Rios can see no activation switch, but Musiker suggests that what Saga meant was to simply imagine the part not being broken – visualize the fix, "see the hole patching itself". Rios does so… and to both his and Musiker's astonishment, it works, and La Sirena 's power is restored. They then hear a banging noise… a sound that Rios is familiar with.

Back at Coppelius Station, as the beacon's construction continues, Dr. Altan Soong shows Jurati a machine containing all of Maddox's work in order to transfer an organic mind to a machine, and compliments her on her self-sacrifice. " But after all, that's what mothers do, isn't it? " he adds, as he leaves. Jurati tells herself that she could do this, and that she had to… before adding, " I'm not their mother, asshole, " to the absent Soong.

Rios returns to the bridge to find Narek, the "abusive Romulan boyfriend", throwing rocks at the front viewport . Rios opens a communication channel , daring him to throw another rock, adding that he would like to see what a photon torpedo could do at that range. Narek counters that he is carrying twelve armed molecular solvent grenade canisters, and that he was just throwing rocks. When Rios asks him what he wants, Narek claims he was trying to save the universe, and that they could keep fighting or work together to stop what was coming – it's Rios' call.

Act Two [ ]

Musiker tries communicating with Picard with her comm pin , but is unable to reach him at all. According to Narek, the synthetics were building a transmitter to summon something there. He explains that the Romulans believe synthetics are fated to destroy all organic life, an event they call " Ganmadan ", and that Coppelius Station was on lock down to prevent interfering with the beacon's construction. Rios and Musiker both remark that Picard was almost certainly going to interfere, as Musiker tries to hail him again. All of a sudden, Elnor appears, holding his blade to Narek's throat, telling him in Romulan to "choose to live"; Narek replies, in English and with his hands raised in surrender, that he "very much" chooses to live. Rios talks him down, saying they might well need Narek's help.

In Soong's lab, Jurati finds him trying to transfer Saga's memories to a V-module as a memento for her sister Arcana , but the damage to her optical processors corrupted the data stream. Jurati explains she's been working on the neural laces for Soong's golem , but some of the files were encrypted, and Maddox had said that his "crypto Kung Fu " was the best. He leaves to check on the files, and asks her to keep an eye on the transcoding rate. Once Soong is gone, Jurati reluctantly begins removing Saga's remaining intact eye, apologizing to her lifeless body as she does.

Around a camp fire outside La Sirena , Elnor wonders why they choose to trust Narek, as his sister had murdered Hugh , and expresses his dislike for the Zhat Vash agent. Narek sarcastically asks how he feels about Ganmadan, because if they can't stop it, whether or not they like one another will not matter. Musiker asks what Ganmadan is; Elnor dismisses it simply as a story, but Narek retorts it was a story of the end times, much like Ragnarok or " Judgment Day " in ancient Earth myths. He explains that it involves two sisters, twin khalagu , or "demons", who intend to release a ch'khalagu , or "very bad demon" as Elnor snidely puts it. One sister is Seb-Natan , the Foreteller; the other is Seb-Cheneb, the Destroyer. He paints an apocalyptic picture based on the legends. When Musiker asks if he believes it was a prophecy, Narek says he does not. Rather, he believes it to be history – and history, he adds, always had a habit of repeating itself.

Meanwhile, the massive Romulan fleet, led by Commodore Oh , continues its course for Coppelius . " At last, " Oh intones, " our great work is nearly at an end. "

Act Three [ ]

Narek shows La Sirena 's crew the molecular solvent grenades he was carrying, originally intended for the orchids, but now he plans to use them for the transmitter itself. When Musiker asks how he intends to get them into "Synthville", Narek states he plans to go through the front door – acting as their prisoner, recovered after his "escape". A single concentrated blast, triggered by remote detonation , would be required to destroy the transmitter, but with the transporter block set up in the station, they would not be able to beam anything in or out. They conceal the grenades inside Rios' soccer balls and approach the main gate, where they are stopped by Rune and Codex , who confiscate their weapons and belongings.

Inside the station, Jurati has recovered Saga's eyeball to use on the retinal scanner in Picard's quarters. After entering, she wakes up Picard from his sleep and explains that the synthetics are about to power up the transmitter, and that she was busting him out to return to La Sirena . Inside the golem lab, Altan sees that the synthetic matrix for the golem was complete, and that it was ready to receive neural engrams. At the same time, the work to restore Saga's memories is also complete, and one of those memories appears on Soong's monitor… showing that it was Sutra , with Narek's aid, who stabbed Saga through the eye. Soong is horrified.

As the team approaches the transmitter, Narek sees the tower is almost complete, and that they need a line of sight at the superluminal tuner at the base. Musiker asks how they could get there without being seen. " An excellent question, " Soong answers, from behind them.

Back at La Sirena , Picard and Jurati find it abandoned, with Jurati thinking the others had gone to find them. Picard asks for a status report on the Romulans; Jurati reports they are seven minutes from planetfall. Even if Starfleet Command had received Picard's message, they would still be behind the Romulans. Picard hopes to find a way to stall the Romulans in the hope that the Federation would arrive to help them. Jurati asks him: What then? Even if they stopped the Romulans and rescued Soji, she and the "golden children" would still call the "uber-synths" and wipe out all life. Picard heatedly replies that they would stop them, too, but Jurati points out that the synths were "generations beyond us". Picard agrees that this may be so in one sense, but in all other senses, they were children, and their only teachers were a couple of hermits – Soong and Maddox – and their fear of extermination. He calls fear an "incompetent teacher", and that while the synths had life, no one had taught them what it was for, calling being alive a responsibility as well as a right. Jurati asks how they can possibly learn that lesson in only six minutes and eleven seconds. " The way that children learn most things, " Picard replies, as he takes La Sirena 's helm. " By example. " He brings up the ship's systems, wondering aloud how well he watched Rios at the controls during their journey. As La Sirena rises, Jurati lightheartedly gives him the order to "make it so", and Picard brings La Sirena into orbit.

At the base of the transmitter, Sutra addresses her brothers and sisters, saying that a portal will open once the signal is sent. Soong approaches, accompanied by Musiker and Elnor; he tells Rune and Codex to watch them. Soong hands Saga's hummingbird brooch to Sutra that she used to kill its owner, indicating that he knows that Sutra was responsible, saying that she was right that her fellow synths needed an "emotional jolt" to drive them to the decision she wanted them to make. Sutra remarks that she is glad he can see the reason behind her actions. Soong admits he does, but adds that reason wasn't everything, asking how she could help Narek kill her sister, believing he had taught her better than that. He deactivates Sutra with a small tool and she collapses to the ground. " Turns out, you're no better than we are, " he laments. He then nods to Musiker, who whistles to summon Rios and Narek. Elnor and Narek begin to fight the synths, while Rios pulls one of the soccer ball grenades from his pack… and sees Soji still working on the transmitter, silently urging her to move out of the way.

As La Sirena enters orbit, Jurati asks Picard how they intended to hold back 218 Romulan warbirds long enough for Starfleet to arrive, and asks if he's trying to "build suspense" when he doesn't answer. Picard pointedly replies that he is trying to pilot a starship for the first time in a long time, and he's trying to do so without exploding or crashing. Jurati agrees that it was a good call, choosing to focus on "one impossible thing at a time".

Soji continues to work on the transmitter as Narek tries to plead with her to stop; Rios, meanwhile, activates one of the grenades, which Soji catches in her hand and hurls it away into the sky above before it detonates, then returns to work on the transmitter.

Aboard the Artifact, Narissa brings the Artifact's weapons systems back on line and attempts to gain a lock on La Sirena , when Seven enters with a phaser in her hand, telling her to step away from the console and drop her disruptor over the edge of a chasm. Narissa does so and raises her hands, saying she was unarmed, a fact Seven disproves when she deprives her of a pair of knives on her person. Narissa then remarks that Seven would be "pretty" if she weren't a "disgusting half-meat", and engages Seven in a furious melee.

In orbit, Jurati detects warp signatures , and Picard wistfully asks if they could possibly be Starfleet… but as if in answer, the Romulan fleet drops out of warp. Oh – addressed as "general" by the crew – is told that the synths are concentrated in just one settlement; Oh coldly orders the entire planet to be sterilized . The orchids rise from the surface to engage the Romulans.

Inside the Artifact, Narissa mocks "sad Queen Annika" for being assimilated as a child, as the Artifact's weapons lock onto La Sirena . As Seven holds her away from the console, Narissa asks why she didn't just put a phaser to her head and be done with it. " Because I still had this to live for, " Seven replies, as she pushes Narissa to the edge. " This… is for Hugh. " Seven kicks Narissa over the edge, screaming, to her death. With the Zhat Vash agent gone, Seven moves to the weapons console, removing the target lock.

In orbit, the battle for Coppelius rages, as La Sirena flies between the firing Romulan ships and the orchids. Jurati points out that now would be a good time for Picard to reveal the "secret plan", because once the Romulans destroyed the orchids, they would still have two hundred ships, and there was only one La Sirena . She jokingly adds that they would name whatever plan he made the " Picard Maneuver "… before remembering it already existed, how he had made the Enterprise appear in two places at once. Picard corrects her that it was the USS Stargazer , that it had been a long time ago , and that it would be useless against so many ships. They would have to multiply the sensor images and then find a way to disperse them. Jurati realizes that they do have a way to do both: she takes up Saga's tool, which is able to create multiple projections of her grinning face.

As Soji continues to work on the transmitter, she sees La Sirena on the sensors and opens a channel to Picard. He urges her to power down the beacon, saying he had something to give to her and her people, in the hopes it would change their mind. When Soji asks offhandedly what that could be, Picard answers that he was giving his life, before closing the channel. Soji appears shaken.

Aboard Oh's flagship, her officers report that the orbital defenses had been dealt with; Oh triumphantly orders all ships to target the "abominations' nest". Picard asks Jurati if she was ready, and that all of the projections would have warp signatures; she confirms with a nod. " On my mark, " he orders, as he flies La Sirena directly in front of the fleet. Oh sees the ship and tells her fleet to ignore it; Picard gives Jurati the order, and suddenly several hundred La Sirena s appear to drop out of warp beside the original, tricking the fleet to engage them instead. A lucky shot strikes the actual La Sirena , causing it to spin out of control as Soji watches in alarm; the fleet suddenly vanishes. Straining, Picard manages to right the ship. Soji activates the beacon, opening the portal; Oh orders the fleet to begin sterilization on her command.

Riker's fleet faces off Oh's fleet

At that moment, a large fleet of Federation Inquiry -class starships – real, this time – drops out of warp. From aboard the flagship, the USS Zheng He , Acting Captain Will Riker informs Oh that under the terms of the Treaty of Algeron , Coppelius is under Starfleet protection. When Oh protests that their claim preceded Starfleet's, Riker shows her Picard's transmission from the surface, which managed to reach Starfleet Command. Riker boasts that he is on the bridge of the toughest, fastest, most powerful ship that Starfleet has put into service, and he had a fleet of them at his back, and that nothing would make him happier than to " give [him] an excuse to kick [her] treacherous Tal Shiar ass, " but instead, offers Oh ( "or whatever you're calling yourself" ) one chance to stand down. Oh is unmoved, and orders her fleet to re-target weapons systems on the Starfleet armada. Riker orders weapons armed and deflectors to full.

Aboard La Sirena , Picard is suddenly gripped with pain in the back of his head, a condition which he is very familiar: the previous physical exertions having costed him dearly. He tells Jurati that he wants a channel to Soji on an open frequency but having scanned him with the medkit tricorder, she insists he's in no shape to do so. Despite Jurati's protests, he has her inject him 20 ccs of polisinephrine to relieve his symptoms even though he knows the side effects "will only hasten the inevitible", and once prepared he contacts Soji. He again pleads with her to power down the beacon, to show the Romulans she was not the Destroyer they feared, and if that did not convince them, the Zhat Vash would still have to answer to the Federation anyway. When Soji points out that the same Federation had banned her kind and "threw them on the scrap heap", Picard argues that if the Federation wanted to destroy them, they would have joined forces with the Romulans, not against them – but they wouldn't, because they trusted Soji and her people to make the right choice, adding that he trusted her, that he believed in her. As Riker, warmly smiling, and Oh listen on the open channel, Picard explains that the whole point of what he had done was so that they could save one another. As mechanical tentacles begin to emerge from the portal, Soji smashes the transmitter controls, destroying the beacon and causing the portal to close, the tentacles quickly retreating back to the other side. Now left to face Starfleet, Oh orders her fleet to stand down, and withdraws from Coppelius.

Riker on the Zheng He

Riker hails La Sirena , explaining that when he heard Picard sent out an SOS , he asked for temporary reassignment; just because he wasn't going to talk Picard out of his mission, he adds, didn't mean he planned to let him go it alone, asking jokingly if he was supposed to sit in the woods making pizza while Picard had all the fun. He then formally informs Admiral Picard that he was leaving the situation in his "capable hands". Picard thanks him for always having his back; Riker replies that he had learned from the best. As the Zhang He and its fleet go to warp to trail after the Zhat Vash, Picard bids his old friend "adieu", rising from the captain's chair… and then collapsing to the deck. As Jurati calls his name, he experiences flashbacks of his dreams, walking through his vineyard , seeing Data painting . Soji worriedly asks what is wrong, and Jurati reports the brain abnormality was causing his body to fail. Soji asks if he could be transported to the sickbay of one of the Starfleet vessels, but Picard gently confirms with the tearful Jurati that there would be no point in doing so. Soji drops the transporter block, and beams Picard and Jurati to the surface beside her where she and the rest of La Sirena 's crew rush over to Picard, Musiker cradling his head. He tells Soji that "not being the Destroyer" was up to her, and that he had given her the choice. He looks to Elnor and smiling, touches his face gently when he comes near him. Fading, Picard turns his head to Musiker and remarks that she had been "quite right". But, as Musiker asks him about what, he exhales… it is too late.

Jean-Luc Picard, Starfleet veteran, captain of two starships named Enterprise , is dead.

Act Four [ ]

At Coppelius Station, the sniffling Rios is approached by a visibly upset Seven of Nine, having just heard the news, who takes a drink from a bottle of "what passes for alcohol" there, adding she doesn't recommend it. As they share the bottle, they remark on things they had thought they would never do again, and did anyway. For Seven, it was killing people who she felt deserved it, just because it felt wrong for them to be alive. For Rios, it was allowing "another self-righteous, hard-assed old starship captain" into his heart, never again standing there to watch him die. Seven asks if he could have done anything to prevent it, and Rios admits he couldn't. As they watch the sun set, a synthetic butterfly takes wing. On a ridge overlooking the settlement, Musiker sits alone until she is approached by Elnor, who breaks down sobbing. She admonishes him to let it all out, as she joins him in mourning for Picard.

Suddenly, Picard awakens in the study of Château Picard , illuminated only by the fireplace, and believes he is having "another damn dream". To his surprise, Data enters, wearing his final uniform, correcting him by saying it was in fact a "massively complex quantum simulation", although, as he takes the chair opposite of Picard, Picard would likely think he would say such a thing in a dream about him, if indeed Picard dreamed of him at all. Picard assures that he dreams of Data all the time. If that were the case, Data asks, was Picard, too, wearing the same clothes as he was when he died? Somewhat wrong-footed, Picard asks Data if he is indeed dead, and Data confirms that he is. He asks Picard if he remembers dying, and Picard believes he does, saying he felt something in his head that seemed to just go away, "like a child's sand castle collapsing". Data adds that he knows that he was killed in 2379 , but has no memory of his death, as his consciousness exists in a quantum reconstruction created from the memories he downloaded into B-4 just before his death. Picard wonders on the fact that Data cannot remember his own death, as Picard himself could never forget it. Data states his understanding that, apparently, he ended his life in the hope of prolonging Picard's. Picard confirms it, not realizing what was happening until the Lieutenant Commander had already done it, and remarks he had been "furious" at the time. Data apologizes, but he's certain that could not have done otherwise. Picard agrees, saying that it was the "most Data thing" he had ever done, but often regretted that it had been Data who had died and not him. Data then asks if Picard regretted sacrificing his life for Soji and her people. " Not for an instant, " Picard answers immediately, to which Data then asks why he would imagine Data would regret doing so for Picard.

" Goodbye, commander. " " Goodbye, captain. "

Picard then asks about the simulation; Data explains that his memory engrams were recovered from a single neuron salvaged by Maddox, and then his consciousness was reconstructed from it by Soong, his Human "brother". Picard expresses his distaste for the doctor, to which Data admits that the Soongs are, as the term goes, an "acquired taste". Whatever it is, Picard says he is glad to see Data, but regrets that he had never expressed his love and appreciation for him. Data remarks that knowing of Picard's feelings made up a "small but statistically significant" part of his memories, which he hopes brings Picard some comfort; Picard admits it does, which is why Data would ask a favor of him before he left. Picard is confused, wondering how he could leave if it was a simulation. Data replies that it is indeed a simulation, but that Picard himself is not. Before his brain functions ceased, Jurati and Soong, with help from Soji, were able to scan, map, and transfer a complete neural map of Picard's brain substrates. A door behind Picard's chair opens with the hiss of a Starfleet cargo bay door or holodeck , to reveal a bright, white light shining into the room. Picard asks if he has to go, and Data tells him that he does. Picard starts to walk towards the doorway, but then recalls Data asked a favor. Data asks Picard to terminate his consciousness – not exactly death, but rather living briefly knowing that his life was finite. He remarks on how mortality gives meaning to Human life, how concepts of peace, love, and friendship were precious because Humans knew they could not endure. " A butterfly that lives forever, " Data explains, as he releases an image of one of Soong's synthetic butterflies from his hand, " is not really a butterfly at all. " Picard agrees to do as Data asks, before bidding a proper farewell to his old friend and turning, walks into the light.

Inside Soong's lab, Picard – his consciousness now inside the golem – awakens, seeing Soji, Jurati, and Soong standing over him. Picard raises his hands to see them and asks if he is real. Soji replies with a smile that of course, he is. Later, seated at a table drinking tea and wearing the clothes he died in, Picard asks about his new body. Jurati explains that it has no augmentations, no "superpowers"; Soong adds that after ninety-four years in the same body, he knew Picard would not want to adjust to "something new", but that the body is completely new, and everything works. Soji adds that the brain abnormality that had killed him was also gone, forever. Suddenly having a realization, Picard concernedly asks if it had made him functionally immortal, to which Soong scoffs that they would have done that to him knowing how Picard feels about such things, and Jurati clarifies they designed a cellular homeostasis algorithm , a way that he would live roughly the same number of years he would have without the brain abnormality. Picard jokingly adds that he wouldn't have minded another ten or twenty years. Picard thanks Soong for his work, remarking that Soong's loss was his gain, but that they both had something to lose now… Picard has a promise to keep.

Inside the simulation, Data sips a glass of wine in an easy chair, contentedly listening to " Blue Skies " on a record player , before grabbing a comfortable pillow for his head and laying down on the couch. In the lab, Picard explains to the others that it said a great deal about Data's mind that, looking at the Human race with "all its violence and corruption and willful ignorance", he could still see kindness, curiosity, greatness of spirit. Inside, Data suddenly notices he has company beside him seated on the coffee table, a man who takes his hand comfortingly into his own. Picard continues that Data wanted more than anything to be part of that, to be part of the "Human family". " We are such stuff as dreams are made on, " Picard says, quoting Shakespeare as he deactivates the simulation, " and our little life is rounded with a sleep. " Data's timeless android face quickly ages to that of an old man with gray hair and eyes closing, peacefully dies with what is revealed to be a simulated Picard from their years on the Enterprise -D at his side, who returns Data's lifeless hand to his lap, at which they and then the rest of the simulation fades away to nothing.

Picard returns to La Sirena , telling its crew – now augmented by Seven and Soji – that it was time to depart. He comments to Soji on how she had worked so hard to get home, and now she was leaving it behind. Soji explains that she felt the urge to wander, and with the synth ban now lifted, she was free to do so, to which Picard adds that he is as well. Rios asks Picard if he was ready. Picard looks around to his crew, and gives the order: " Engage. "

Memorable quotes [ ]

" Would the xBs be better off dead? Everyone hates them, they have no home, they don't belong anywhere. " " Am I better off dead? I'm an xB, I have no home, I don't belong anywhere. Why don't I just put a phaser to my head and get it over with? " " Because… I'd miss you. "

" Picard, try to see this from our point of view. You choose if we live, you choose if we die. You choose! We have no choice! You organics have never given us one. " " To say you have no choice is a failure of imagination. "

" Say it. " " Say what? " " Mmm, those three beautiful words. " " … You were right. " " Mmm, just one more time. " " Piss off. "

" Feldor stam torret! " " I do. I very much choose to live. "

" Seb Cheneb? Yes, we know about her. " " So you know that she carries a horn from a great hellbeast called Ganmadan. You know when she blows a blast on the horn, it will unleash all the ch'khalagu who have been waiting since there beginning of time. You know the sky will crack, and through the crack in the sky, the ch'khalagu will come ravening. You know about the Thousand Days of Pain. You know the streets will be slick with entrails of half-devoured corpses. You know the worlds will burn, and the ch'khalagu will feast, and nurse their brats on blood, and pick their teeth with bones. " " No, we did not know any of that. "

" I still don't like you. "

" They've left us behind, Picard! They're generations beyond us! " " In one sense, yes, but in another, as you said, they are children. And until now, the only teachers that they've had are a couple of hermits, and the fear of extermination. But fear is an incompetent teacher. Yes, they have life. But no one is teaching them what it's for. To be alive is a responsibility, as well as a right. " " How are they supposed to learn that lesson in six minutes, and eleven seconds? " " The way that children learn most things: by example. "

" So, how do we hold off 218 warbirds until Starfleet gets here? If they get here? … Are you not answering to build suspense, or…? " " At the present moment, Dr. Jurati, I am trying to pilot a starship for the first time in a very long time, without exploding or crashing! If that is alright with you. " " No, totally, good call. One impossible thing at a time. "

" Sad, Queen Annika. Six years old, and all she got for her birthday was assimilated. Why didn't you just put a phaser to your head and get it over with?! " " Because I still had this to live for. This... is for HUGH! "

" Soji, I want you to reconsider your present course of action, and power down the beacon. " " You know that's not going to happen. " " I have something I want to give you and your people. And I hope it will change your mind. " " And what's that? " " My life. Picard out. "

" General, or commodore, or whatever you're calling yourself, right now I'm on the bridge of the toughest, fastest, most powerful starship Starfleet has ever put into service, and I've got a fleet of them at my back. We've got our phasers locked on your warp cores, and nothing would make me happier than you giving me an excuse to kick your treacherous Tal Shiar ass. But instead, I'm going to ask you one time to stand down. "

" Prepare to fight. "

" I said I would never do it again, and then I fucking did it again. " " Same. " " Never again do what? " " So many things, but in this instance, never again kill somebody just because it's what they deserve. Just because it feels wrong for them to still be alive. You? " " Never again let another self-righteous, hard-assed, old starship captain into my heart. Never again have to stand there and watch him die. " " Was there anything you could have done to prevent it? " " No, I guess there wasn't. " " Hmm… then I win. "

" Am I real? " " Of course you are. "

" You- you haven't made me immortal? " " Oh relax, man. Everyone was paying attention. We took care of you. " " We designed a cellular homeostasis algorithm that should give you more or less the same number of years you would have expected without the brain condition. " " I wouldn't have minded another ten. Twenty? "

" It says a great deal about the mind of Commander Data that looking at the human race, with all its violence and corruption and willful ignorance, he could still see kindness, immense curiosity, and greatness of spirit, and he wanted more than anything else, to be part of that. To be a part of the human family. We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep. "

" Engage. "

Background information [ ]

• 5 March 2020 : Title publicly revealed [1]
• This is one of seventeen Star Trek episodes with titles derived from Latin .

Production [ ]

• The USS Zheng He bridge is a redress of the USS Discovery bridge set from Star Trek: Discovery , located at Pinewood Toronto Studios . Jonathan Frakes took time to film his appearance as William T. Riker while directing an episode of Discovery 's third season . [2]

Cast and characters [ ]

• This episode depicts the death of Jean-Luc Picard 's Human body, as well as the transference of his mind into a golem .
• This episode also depicts the second death of Data .
• Narek disappears from the narrative after pleading with Soji to disable the transmitter; his fate is not revealed. According to showrunner Michael Chabon , a scene depicting Narek being taken into Federation custody was ultimately cut from the episode. [3]
• Seven of Nine and Raffi Musiker are exploring a romantic relationship in their final scene aboard La Sirena , according to Michael Chabon. [4] Although Seven and Raffi did not have many scenes together during the season, the romance was included at the behest of Jeri Ryan , Michelle Hurd , and the writers, who felt a connection between the characters during a previous shared moment in " Stardust City Rag ". [5]

Continuity [ ]

• Narek mentions that, by some accounts, the story of Seb-Cheneb " dates back from long before our ancestors first arrived on Vulcan . " The possibility that Vulcans (and thus, by extension, Romulans ) might have descended from interstellar colonists was raised in " Return to Tomorrow ".
• Narissa taunts Seven of Nine : " Sad Queen Annika...six years old, and all she got for her birthday was assimilated . " In " The Raven ", Seven recalled that her last birthday cake before she was taken by the Borg " had six candles on it, and one more to grow on. " Responding to Narissa's taunt, Seven kicks her off the ledge declaring " This... is for Hugh! ", avenging his murder in " Nepenthe ".
• Agnes Jurati mentions the Picard Maneuver , which Picard tells her he used aboard the USS Stargazer , as originally depicted in " The Battle ".
• Riker cites the Treaty of Algeron , introduced in " The Pegasus ", and also referred to in " These Are the Voyages... ", the character's last onscreen appearance prior to Star Trek: Picard .
• This episode follows up on the fate of Lieutenant Commander Data after his "death" in Star Trek Nemesis , and apparently depicts the (supposed) final end of his consciousness, as the simulation containing it is terminated at his request . Data's desire for a less-than-immortal life was previously expressed to Geordi La Forge in " Time's Arrow ".
• Picard ending Data's consciousness hearkens back to Star Trek: Insurrection where Picard told Admiral Dougherty that he should be the one to terminate Data, being his captain and his friend.
• Data's consciousness being preserved in an artificial construct, is in one sense Data coming full circle; in 2369 Data was instrumental in preserving the holographic character James Moriarty in an artificial construct, after Data had meddled with the program, which unexpectedly led to the Moriarty-program becoming sentient . Feeling responsible, Data helped Captain Picard create a memory module in which a perpetually running simulation was embedded, and where Moriarty, accompanied by his (equally artificial) consort , could live out his life. ( TNG : " Ship In A Bottle ") Moriarty though, was unaware of the true nature of his artificial surroundings, unlike Data who was in his decades later.
• At the conclusion, Raffi is shown playing kal-toh with Seven, who had previously demonstrated "impressive" skill at the game in " The Omega Directive ".

Reception [ ]

• TRR : " Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2 " discusses the making of, and events in, this episode.

Video and DVD releases [ ]

• Released on PIC Season 1 Blu-ray and PIC Season 1 DVD .

Links and references [ ]

Starring [ ].

• Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard
• Alison Pill as Agnes Jurati
• Isa Briones as Soji Asha / Sutra
• Evan Evagora as Elnor
• Michelle Hurd as Raffaela Musiker
• Santiago Cabrera as Cristóbal Rios
• Harry Treadaway as Narek

Special guest stars [ ]

• Jonathan Frakes as Will Riker
• Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine
• Brent Spiner as Altan Soong / Data

Guest starring [ ]

• Peyton List as Narissa
• Tamlyn Tomita as Oh

Co-starring [ ]

• Kay Bess as La Sirena Computer
• Brian DeRozan as Romulan Officer
• Matt Perfetuo as Rune
• Mike Perfetuo as Codex
• Jade Ramsey as Arcana
• Nikita Ramsey as Saga

Uncredited co-stars [ ]

• Apolla Asteria as a Coppelius android
• Bryan Cartago as a Coppelius android
• Michelle Chelle as a Coppelius android
• Rochelle Chelle as a Coppelius android
• Anna Chiasson as a Coppelius android
• Ashley Chiasson as a Coppelius android
• K DaCosta as a Coppelius android
• Antoine Holmes as a Coppelius android
• Spencer Holmes as a Coppelius android
• Scottie Hulin as a Coppelius android
• Natalie Kailey as a Coppelius android
• Sara Kelly as a Coppelius android
• Maya McClean as a Coppelius android
• Nandy McClean as a Coppelius android
• Marina Miller as a Coppelius android
• Jay Jay Moon as a Coppelius android
• Josh Moreno as a Coppelius android
• Celina Nguyen as a Coppelius android
• Kitty Nguyen as a Coppelius android
• Julia Nolan as a Coppelius android
• Liz Nolan as a Coppelius android
• Ella Rogers as a Coppelius android
• Zachry Rogers as a Coppelius android
• Geoff Samuels as a Coppelius android
• Greg Paul Samuels as a Coppelius android
• Petra Sprecher as a Coppelius android
• Anna Waldrum as a Coppelius android
• Eric Watson as a Coppelius android
• Unknown performers as ten Coppelius androids

Stunt doubles [ ]

• Katelyn Brooke as stunt double for Jeri Ryan
• Janell Haney as stunt double for Peyton List
• Selkie Hom as stunt double for Isa Briones
• Trevor Logan as stunt double for Harry Treadaway
• Tim Storms as stunt double for Patrick Stewart

Stand-ins [ ]

• John Funk as stand-in for Patrick Stewart

References [ ]

2305 ; 2379 ; acting captain ; admiral ; Aia artificial lifeform ; android ; Artifact ; assimilation ; B-4 ; ball ; blue ; bluebirds ; " Blue Skies "; brain substrates ; bridge ; Buddha ; butterfly ( Coppelius butterfly ); captain (rank); captain (title); ccs ; cellular homeostasis algorithm ; Château Picard ; ch'khalagu ; clothes ; combadge ( comm pin ); commodore ; Coppelius (aka Ghulion IV ); Coppelius, Defense of ; Coppelius android ; Coppelius beacon ; Coppelius Station (aka " Synthville "); data stream ; death ; deflectors ; demons ; doctor ; dream ; dual ; duty ; Enterprise -D, USS ; entrails ; excuse ; eye ( optical processor ); flagship ; fleet ; fucking ; fundamental field replicator ; Ganesha ; Ganmadan (event); Ganmadan (hellbeast); general ; golem ; half-meat ; heart ; hellbeast ; hermits ; horgl ; house arrest ; Hugh ; hybrid ; imagination ; Inquiry -class ; intermix reactor ; Judgment Day ; kal-toh ; khalagu ; La Barre ; landing gear ; La Sirena ; lieutenant commander ; life ; lockdown ; Maddox, Bruce ; maintenance replicator ; mirror ; molecular solvent grenade ; mother ; murder ; neural engram ; neural lace ; neurocotamic interface ; Oh's warbird ; orchid ; " organics "; phaser ( type 2 phaser ); phonograph ; photon torpedo ; Picard Maneuver ; pizza ; planet ; polisinephrine ; prophecy ; Qowat Milat ( qalankhkai ); quantum simulation ; RADAR ; Ragnarok ; Red Lady -type ; Reliant , USS ; retinal scan ; retinal scanner ; Romulan ; Romulan disruptor rifle ; Romulan drone ; Romulan language ; Saraswati ; Seb-Cheneb ; Seb-Natan ; secret agent ; ship ; sister ; skies ; sleep ; smiling ; snakehead ( unnamed ); soccer ; song ; Soong-type android ; Spanish language ; Starfleet ; Starfleet insignia ; Starfleet uniform (2350s-2370s) ; Starfleet uniform (2370s-early 2380s) ; Starfleet uniform (late 2390s) ; Stargazer , USS ; statue ; sterilization ; story ; streets ; superluminal tuner ; superpower ; synthetic matrix ; Tal Shiar ; tan qalanq ; teleportation ; Tempest, The ; terms ; Thousand Days of Pain ; transporter block ; Treaty of Algeron ; United Federation of Planets (aka Federation ); V-module ; Vayt sector ; vinyl record ; Vulcan ; Vulcan (planet); warp cores ; warplane ; weapons systems (aka weapons ); xB ; Zhat Vash ; Zheng He , USS

Deleted references [ ]

Equity -class ; Seeker -class

External links [ ]

• " Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2 " at the Internet Movie Database
• Observations in PIC: "Et in Arcadia Ego II"  at Ex Astris Scientia
• " Et in Arcadia Ego " at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• " "Star Trek: Picard Episode 9, "Et in Arcadia Ego" Part 2" " at MissionLogPodcast.com , a Roddenberry Star Trek podcast
• 3 Erigah (episode)

Star Trek: Arcadia is a fan-fic series based on Star Trek. Some elements from this story were generated assisted by Star Trek: Adventures - Captain's Log Solo Roleplaying Game book.

Wednesday, October 18, 2023

Season 1 - episode 2: where we are.

Previously on Star Trek: Arcadia Dr. Valthar: - According to our old tales, every 10,000 years, our gods F'Shel and M'Cara become closer in a major spiritual event, the Kul' Qaga. F'Shel is our material world god and M'Cara, our spiritual world goddess. It is believed that during Kul' Qaga, some of our people will be blessed by M’Cara and they will ascend to her realm. Mr. Visellius: - We can’t detect anything out of the ordinary with the planet except for some unusual levels of neurogenic radiation. - I was able to pinpoint the epicenter of the neurogenic radiation to the main clergy building at the center of their capital. - It seems that this radiation is growing at an exponential rate. It's not only at the planet's surface, but also reaching anything at the planet's orbit. Dr. Fujikawa: - This might explain the several cases of headaches across the ship. The U.S.S. Arcadia is being dragged by a tractor beam towards the planet. A young Zaranite Ensign screams in pain, falls on his knees and puts his hands on his head. He can barely withstand the agony. M’Cara’s monument glows more intensely emitting a high-pitched noise and everyone is caught by a bright purple light.

AND NOW, THE CONCLUSION:

The brightness fades out. All the young Noqals and Starfleet officers suffering from the acute migraine magically appear unconscious on the floor of a very large and different room. Even though it has similar proportions to the High Hall of M’Cara, this one was much darker, badly illuminated by few sun rays that could enter through the narrow windows. The walls and floor are made of stone. The only similarity here is a copy of the same M’Cara statue. A couple dozen guards enter the room. They start to remove the Noqals, but they seem very disturbed by the other strange looking people. - Sir, do we also take these others to the barracks? – a guard asks about Arcadia’s personnel. - Take them as prisoners for now. The High Apostle will know what to do with them.

A disoriented Lieutenant Daniel Lenda opens his eyes. He doesn’t know if he’s dreaming, but as his vision starts to come back he can see Natasha face-to-face with him. He looks at her in daze. She doesn’t seem to be awake. He just can’t stop admiring her angelical physiognomy. Her hair is as yellow as the most beautiful Golden Trumpet flower. Her skin seems as soft and delicate as the softest Tholian silk. Her distinct perfume smells like a cat's strong halitosis … - Wait … what? – he says to himself. - What what, lieutenant? – says a young strong Kzinti engineer with a very distinct bad breath. Daniel looks to his right and sees the cat-like colleague with his hands tied to the same cross shaped cage as he is. - Welcome to the land of the dead, sir. – jokes a Zaranite Ensign. – I am Ensign Zorik, by the way. I don’t think we were ever introduced on the ship. Now completely out of his love trance, Daniel moves his head to his left and finds the other young officer in the same uncomfortable position as everyone else. - I am Ensign .. K’eetie. – the engineer says his name emphasizing the last syllable of his name. The cage can barely support 4 people. The only technological devices they still have with them are their combadges and Ensign Zorik’s breathing device. Their hands are tied to the cage’s walls by a rope. The room is much smaller compared to the Great Hall of M’Cara. Both ceiling and walls are built of some sort of dark and limey stone. The floor seems to be made of some rude cement. He feels like he is in a medieval dungeon of some sort. The lieutenant can see there are about 10 other cages, all being held about 2 meters from the floor. At a quick glance, he can see that only a handful of prisoners are Noqals. From where he is he can count about 26 Arcadia crew members locked in the room with them. There is no sign of the captain or any of the senior officers. He tries to gently wake up Natasha in a soft voice (Probability Matrix 50/50, rolled 2). She starts to slowly move her head when K’eetie shouts: - WAKE UP PRINCESS! Natasha quickly opens her eyes scared. - What? – the blunt Ensign tells everyone.

The Arcadia’s lights start to flicker as it almost seems to be regaining consciousness from a deep sleep. Lights from its empty corridors and rooms start to turn on again. Consoles shipwide are back to life.  All softwares continue to run from the point where they stopped during the Kul’Qaga including the Emergency Medical Holographic program. The EMH Mark II looks around puzzled since moments ago the room was filled with patients suffering from severe migraine. He taps his combadge: - EMH to Doctor Fujikawa. There is no response. He continues: - Computer, locate Dr. Fujikawa - Dr. Fujikawa Leiko is not onboard this ship. – the computer answers. - Great – he complains. – EMH to bridge. Again there is no response. He understands that there is something very off. - Computer, how many life signs are onboard Arcadia? - There are zero life signs aboard the U.S.S. Arcadia. The holographic doctor looks even more puzzled. Our view starts to zoom out through the ship’s walls until we can see the U.S.S. Arcadia landed on a desert-like location. The air is dry, there are no clouds in the sky. She is at the top of a hill, shining in its grandeur as the brightness from the two suns is gently reflected by the fuselage. Our view continues to zoom out and we can see the ship surrounded by hundreds of Noqals. They are wearing much more rudimentary clothing from the ones we saw before. As the ship’s lights start to turn on, the multitude of people immediately kneel, they raise their arms towards the ship and start to chant some kind of mantra.

The large and heavy metal door from the dungeon opens and a couple guards enter the room. They seem to be armed with some kind of crossbows. They are clearly Noqals, but dressed very differently from the ones they saw before. It is like they just came out of an alien renaissance fair. Right after them, a female Noqal enters the place. She wears a long luxurious purple tunic containing some unrecognizable symbols. Her head is fully covered by some sort of religious mask. The face depicted in the mask is incredibly similar to the one from M’Cara’s statue. - Who are you? – she asks with a muffled voice in a clear air of superiority. The crew stays quiet and scared. They all slowly start to point their eyes to Lieutenant Lenda. The arrogant woman continues: - Who is your leader? He gets goosebumps and his spine chills when he realizes he is indeed the highest ranking officer wearing a command Starfleet uniform in that room. He takes a deep breath, looks at the woman and says: - I am Lieutenant Lenda from the Federation starship Arcadia. We came here on a peaceful mission to study the Kul’Qaga. I can assure you we are not your enemies. There must be a misunderstanding. If you could please release us and verify what I am saying with Dr. Valthar, your High Apostle. We only want to rejoin the rest of our crew. She starts to walk among the cages and she curiously looks at Ensign Zorik’s head. Then she touches Mr. K’eetie’s fur with her satin gloves. He hisses back at her. - I am the High Apostle of Carensia. Your words and those names mean nothing to me. - Carensia? I didn't know there was a region with such a name in Otera V. – Daniel says confused. The conversation is halted by the loud chanting coming from outside the walls. One guard enters the room and whispers something in her ear. The apostle turns her back to the prisoners, points to one of the cages and orders the guards: - Take that one to the interrogation room, now. She leaves the room in a rush. The guards lower the heavy cage and forcefully take the single prisoner out. Under her niqab, the young female officer begs to Mr. Lenda: “Please help me, lieutenant.” - Wait! What are you going to do with her? – Daniel shouts without any response back as she is taken out of the room. - You are lucky that she didn't kill you for directing your voice at her. – said one of the male Naqal prisoners in an adjacent cage. – High Apostle Neri is known for her short temper. My name is Zareet, the city's blacksmith by the way. - I didn't know there was more than one High Apostle. Do you know how far we are from the capital's center? We need to find our captain and the rest of our crew. - We are in the capital's dungeons. There is no way out. (Insight+Command, target:13, results: 10,20, +threat) Daniel starts to put the pieces of the puzzle together: no Dr. Valthar, no knowledge of the Federation, the cages, clothing, a dungeon, even a blacksmith… Daniel realizes they are not in Kansas anymore. But where or better saying… WHEN are they? Anyway, they need to escape and get back to Arcadia. He turns back to his other 3 crewmates and asks: - Can you untie any of your hands? (Probability Matrix/Highly improbable/result:6) - No, these ropes are really tight – says Natasha. - (Insight+Security, target 10, results: 2,11) Maybe if we can somehow tap a badge, we could open a channel to Arcadia. Mr. Zorik, you’re the one closest to mine. Are you able to reach it with one of the tubes from your breathing device? (Probability Matrix/50-50/result:10) He tries his best, one of his tubes gets so close to the badge, but not close enough to activate it. - Sorry sir, you are still too far. - Maybe we can spit. – says Mr. K’eetie. - What? – the others ask all together. - Yes, if we all try to spit with enough pressure on the badge, it might work. Have you never participated in a spitting contest at the Academy? – he looks at them like it would be some kind of mandatory subject at Starfleet. – Come on, I’m an engineer. I know what I am talking about. - OK, I don’t see any other way. – says Mr. Lenda. – let’s do it. One person at a time. The Kzinti and Natasha take turns spitting at Daniel. Due to Mr’s Zorik breathing device, he can’t be part of the strange contest. All the other prisoners start to look at their cage with disgusted faces. Zareet baffled murmurs to himself: "These people are really weird." (Probability Matrix/Highly Improbable/K'eetie 9, Natasha 20, K'eetie 13, Natasha 5, K'eetie 17, Natasha 5, K'eetie 18, Natasha 10, K'eetie 11, Natasha 5, K'eetie 9, Natasha 9, K'eetie 4, Natasha 20, K'eetie 17, Natasha 7, K'eetie 2) After 16 unsuccessful attempts, Daniel is half covered in mixed saliva. Some crew mates are so disgusted looking at it that they want to vomit. Mr. K’eetie gives a deep look into the lieutenant's eyes and say: - We will need a photon torpedo. Nobody understood what he meant by that. He closed his eyes and deeply concentrated almost as if in a Vulcan meditative state with the difference that he started clearing throat for about 5 seconds in a loud noise. He expectorates a giant goo that is violently launched from his mouth. Almost as if in slow motion, the large green gooey ball crosses the cage and hits the combadge! Everyone in that dungeon almost at the same time say: “Errrr!” And as in a miracle, they all hear the badge beeping. All officers loudly celebrates Mr. K’eetie’s unusual accomplishment. - Lieutenant Lenda to anyone in Arcadia! Please, respond! We need urgent assistance!

The EMH was about to deactivate himself since there was nobody left in the ship when his comms badge beeped. As he listened to Mr. Lenda’s voice he replied: - Emergency Medical Hologram here. Please state the nature of your emergency. - Doc! Doc! Thank God someone is still there! I need to urgently talk to the captain or commander Erad. Can you please patch me through? - Lieutenant, I am a doctor, not a 20th century phone operator. Anyway, I can’t because there's nobody on the ship. I do not know where they are. - Doc, then can you lock on our coordinates and beam us back to the Arcadia? - Again lieutenant, I am a doctor. I can perform brain surgery upside down with one hand tied on my back, but I am not programmed to operate a transporter. - He’s right – says the Kzinti – but there’s someone else in that ship who can. Doctor, here is Ensign K’eetie. Arcadia has holographic emitters all around the ship. Please transfer yourself to Engineering and activate the Emergency Engineering Hologram when you get there. She will know what to do. - Very well Ensign. On my way. The doctor disappears from sickbay and instantly reappears at Engineering. He says: - Computer, activate Emergency Engineering Hologram. The figure of a beautiful human woman in her 30s appears. The green-eyed brunette holo-engineer says: - Please state the nature of the technical emergency.

She is in a much smaller room now. It looks and smells like the dungeons but somehow it feels creepier. Ensign Nooram Wanther is facing the most terrifying day of her life. Alone, separated from the others. The Apostle enters the room with a strange quiet man. She starts to talk calmly: - You know, I spent my whole life as a High Apostle. – she does a brief pause and continues – While the other kids were playing I was studying the scriptures. While they were experiencing their first love, I was studying the stars. I always knew they had such small minds, but deep down I just wanted to be like them. I wanted to be free from the invisible chains of this stupid religion. – the enigmatic woman calmly says while walking around the young ensign. - What do you want from me? – the officer said, trembling. - I want you to tell me everything you know. Who are you people? Where did you come from? Why is there a giant metallic structure outside this castle sparkling in lights? - I will never cooperate with you until you release us. – the Starfleet officer says, trying to intimidate her. - Oh, poor child, you will. You will see that our means of extracting information is very effective. The pale Noqal male with rotten teeth and a grimm smile approaches with some sort of sharp object in his hands.

- What are you doing here? – the Emergency Engineer looks intrigued to the Emergency Doctor. – What is going on? - We don’t have much time to answer your questions. – a voice comes out of the EMH combadge. – This is Lieutenant Lenda. Engineer, please lock on all combadges on this planet and emergency transport everyone back to Cargo Bay 1 now. Doc, please meet us there. The brunette immediately moves to a console and starts to hit multiple buttons. She replies: - (Sensors+Engineering, target: 12, results: 15,4) All 26 signals locked. Initiating emergency transport. In his cage, Daniel looks at his other prison mates and asks: - 26 …? Before he was able to say anything else, he de-materializes and reappears back on the Arcadia. All the young Federation personnel were safe and sound back on the ship. Mr. Lenda immediately asks for the doctor’s help: - Doc, treat any wounded. We will need everybody back on their posts ASAP. – he then directs his eyes to the EEH – you said there were only 26 badge signals on the planet. Where is the rest of the crew? - (Sensors+Science, target: 14, results: 16,17) Sir, Arcadia has the most sophisticated sensors in Starfleet. I really don’t know where they are. I can only say that they are not on this planet. - Maybe they were taken to a starbase or a ship. We will need to try to scan again from orbit. Mr. K’eetie, please work with her and prepare the ship to take off. Mr. Zorik, Miss Vodyanov, let’s go to the bridge. Daniel couldn't be more scared inside, but he can’t demonstrate it during a crisis. He swallows down his fear and walks with Natasha.

The officers enter the bridge. The lieutenant assigns Mr Zorik to the science station. A young Vulcan officer goes to the Security console. Natasha naturally goes to the helm. Daniel looks at the "big chair" wishing Captain Ch'tholler would be there. He moves to the Operations console. They start pushing buttons and Daniel can see the status of all systems. They all seem to be properly working. He says: - Let’s get out of here before we do even more damage to the Prime Directive. - Yes sir. Taking off – says the helmswoman. The ship starts to shake. All hundreds of Noqals that were around the vessel start to run for their lives. It is like they had awakened the wrath of their god. In a matter of seconds, the Arcadia leaves the ground and rapidly moves towards the sky.

- Lieutenant Lenda’s personal log, stardate unknown: I am the top ranking officer at the moment aboard the Arcadia. 26 of the 78 crew members are safely back to the ship. Our goal now is to find and rescue the others. Somehow the bright light generated by M’Cara’s  statue during the Kul’Qaga transported us to a medieval version of Otera V. Our secondary mission is to understand how we can revert the statue’s effects so we can all go back home. Mr. Zorik, Ensign K’eetie, the EEH, the EMH, Ensign Vodyanov and the lieutenant were all in the meeting room trying to figure out what was going on. - Mr. Zorik, were you able to identify where or when we are? - (Sensors+Science, spending Threat, 12,12) Not yet. Everything we have seen so far points us to have traveled back in time. So I started to analyze the positions of the constellations compared to our last record from Otera V. Here’s what puzzles me, Lieutenant: the constellations don’t match at all. And there’s more: this planet is part of a binary system. Otera V orbits a single sun. So, I have plotted the necessary calculations at the ship’s computer to pinpoint where and when we are exactly. It will probably take a few hours until we get the results. - How about the rest of the crew? Were you able to locate them? – asked Daniel. - (Sensors+Science, target:14, results: 6, 18): My assumption is that only those affected by the effects of the neurogenic radiation were transported to this place. All missing crew members, including the captain, probably remained in the previous Otera V. - That explains the crew, but why was the Arcadia transported as well? – asks the holo-doctor. - (Computers+Engineering, target: 12, results: 4,17) The recently installed bio-neural gel packs. – says Mr. K’eetie. – the ship’s gel packs are mainly composed of neural fibers that act exactly like neurons. The source of the radiation might have mistaken it as part of a brain. In this case the ship’s brain. – At this moment the young Ensign realized he should have paid more attention to the pack analysis he did a day ago. - Our main priority now is to find a way back. Maybe we could replicate what happened during the Kul’Qaga and transport us back to the original Otera V. - (Sensors+Engineering, target:12, results: 2, 18) In theory, if we overload the statue with a high beam of neurogenic radiation, we might be able to induce another Kul’Qaga. – said the Emergency Engineering Hologram. –  I will need a couple hours to adapt the main deflector dish, but it should be doable. - Good, this should be your top priority. – commanded Mr. Lenda. -  In the meantime, Mr. K’eetie, please start transporting all abducted Noqals to the ship. I’m pretty sure this is not the ascension they were expecting. - Aye, sir. - Good, we will regroup in 2 hours.

The alien sensor screen seems to be made of some sort of gelatinous material surrounded by wood as it was carved into a tree. The map shows a quadrant of the spiral galaxy. Suddenly a red dot starts to blink on the map only a few light years from another green dot. Someone speaks in an unknown language. It resembles the sound of dry leaves crackling when stepped on. A kind of twig touches the red marker. The screen zooms into that sector. It shows a planet that is part of a binary system.

- Computer, mate tea with sugar, hot – Daniel orders to the replicator. A cup of the famous South American tea materializes and he takes it. He is lost in every sense of the word. He is dealing with a great deal of pressure right now and he doesn’t know if he is ready for this. A few weeks ago he was just another Ensign. Now he needs to be the acting captain of a Federation starship with dozens of lives depending on him. He can’t stop asking “What would Captain Ch'tholler do ?”. He finishes his tea and takes a deep breath before getting back to the bridge.

- Ensign K’eetie to Lenda. Sir, all Noqals are accounted for and temporarily assigned to Cargo Bay 1. The doctor is already checking them. - Thank you. – the young lieutenant replies while at the Operations console. – Lenda to the Emergency Engineer. How are the deflector updates going? - It’s almost finished, sir. Maybe another 20 minutes. Before anyone could say anything else, Mr. Zorik’s console emits a loud beep. - Sir, a ship is approaching our coordinates at high warp. It doesn’t seem to be of any known origin. It’s estimated it will reach us in 2 minutes and it’s already in visual range. – The young officer shows the vessel at the bridge’s main view screen. Everyone can see a spherical object at warp. - What is that? – asks Lenda. - I don’t know yet. But it’s the size of a small moon. – Mr. Zorik responds. - These readings can’t be right, sir. – he adds puzzled. – It seems to be made of organic material. Wood more precisely. Scans can’t pinpoint a bridge, engineering, weapons, life signs, anything at all. Daniel tries to open a channel to the vessel: - This is the Federation starship Arcadia. Please identify yourself. (Communications+Conn, target: 12, results: 12,12, +Momentum) They hear a strange noise like crackling leaves. The wooden ship gets larger on the screen by the second. Mr. Lenda tries again. The alien vessel comes out of warp at the planet’s orbit, totally ignoring the communication efforts. The team can’t believe their eyes or the size of that space giant.

Hundreds of intertwined branches start to rapidly grow from the alien vessel’s hull. They seem to move towards the planet at random locations as a grimm hand grasping towards an object. - This doesn’t look good. – Red Alert! – commands Mr. Lenda and then he directs his voice to a young Vulcan at the Security station - Ensign lock phasers on those branches and fire. - (Weapons+Security, target: 10, results: 6, 8) Direct hit sir, but there are too many branches. Some are already touching the ground. - (Insight+Science, target: 12, results: 19,2) If it’s made out of wood, we may be able to burn it once it’s inside the atmosphere. This might give us some time. Ensign, target the branches at 10,000 kilometers from the surface and keep firing! - (Weapons+Security, target: 10, results: 5, 20, Threat canceled by Momentum): Sir, it’s working! Phasers are having a better effect now, but we can’t hold this much longer. - (Insight+Security, target: 10, results: 7,15) Mr. Zorik, does this tree have any kind of shield that would prevent us from transporting an armed photon torpedo to its center? - There is no shield of any kind. - This might be our only option then. – the lieutenant says – Ensign, arm a photon torpedo. - Torpedo armed and ready sir! - (Sensors+Engineering, target: 12, results: 2,4 +Momentum) Transporting torpedo to the center of the alien vessel now. – Lenda says hopeful. The enemy ship suddenly explodes from the inside throwing pieces of wood into every direction. The branches that had reached the planet continued to burn from the phaser attack. - Sir – Mr. Zorik breaks the winning sentiment with some bad news – sensors show that the attack destroyed the castle and the statue in it.

All abducted Noqals and Starfleet officers were gathered in Cargo Bay 1. Lieutenant Lenda was very nervous for this speech. He took a deep breath and started: - Thanks everyone for coming. The last few days were really hard and intense for everyone here. We were abducted to a place we’re still trying to figure out where. What we know is that we are far from Starfleet, our captain and all other senior officers. We might not know where home is or even how to get there yet. But we will. Together. And on our way home I’m sure we will have numerous opportunities to encounter incredibly new challenges and civilizations. We will return from where no one has gone before. Dismissed. (Presence+Command, target: 13, results: 7, 14) The crew and the Noqals look at him with high hopes and confidence that he will lead them home safely.

A few minutes after the acting captain’s speech, a light blinks at Ensign Vorik’s console showing the results of the most anticipated calculations about their location. He looks terrified: - Sir, the computer finished calculating our location. We are in the Andromeda galaxy, sir. We’re 2.6 million light years from Starfleet headquarters. At our maximum warp, it would take us more than 2,500 years to get home. END OF EPISODE 2

Plays "Where We Are" by The Lumineers

Monday, October 16, 2023

Season 1 - episode 1: only the good die young.

The antennae gently swing as they were dancing to the Andorian Opera playing at Captain Ch'tholler's quarters. She is admiring the view of the stars quicklypassing by her window at Warp 7. As unusual as this is for her to feel, she has a bad sensation deep down that something bad is about to happen. Everything is too calm to be good. Maybe she is just a bit nervous about being on her first starship command. Maybe deep down she's scared of marching towards an Apocalypse. She asks the computer to silence the ambient music and she starts her first log entry: "Captain's Log, Stardate 58034.1. In our maiden voyage, the U.S.S. Arcadia is en route for a humanitarian mission at Otera V, a planet where the Federation recently started a relationship. Their people believe that a catastrophic event called Kul' Qaga is on the verge of happening. Our orders are to study this phenomena and assist them in any way possible." She takes a deep breath, adjusts her uniform and leaves to the bridge's meeting room. Walking on her way, she can't avoid admiring this new Nova Class vessel. Officers salute her with a smile as they encounter her. Everyone is so excited and happy for this chance to explore strange new worlds. Also, the fact that this is a science vessel and not a combat one reinforces the serenity to its 78 crew members. Starfleet will certainly send much better armed ships into battle. Not a moving lab. This tranquility allows people to be really focused on studying all the unknown out there through its state-of-the-art research facilities and sensors. Getting to the bridge is quick since the ship is relatively small compared to the Federation flagships. As she enters the command center, her first officer, Commander Rikk Erad announces her: - Captain on the bridge! -- says the Bolian commander. All present crew immediately stop what they are doing and respectfully salute the captain. She gives a wide glance at all those new colleagues. Lieutenant-Commander Ato Vi-Uxgam is at his station at her right side as she leaves the turbo-lift. The Efrosian Chief Security Officer so far has demonstrated a brilliant career from space combat tactics to hand-to-hand. Nobody is able to confirm it, but legend says that he once fought a Borg only using a fork. She looks to the front center and she sees the astonishingly beautiful Ensign Vodyanov at the helm. Her beauty is only matched by her piloting skills. She is a very reserved person and has clearly been avoiding any personal relationship with the crew. Some lower deck officers speculate that something might have happened to her when growing up in the distant colony of Galen VI. Some others just think she plays the difficult type. At the other side of the room, at Operations, there is the recently promoted Lieutenant (junior grade) Daniel Lenda. This is Lenda's first mission in a starship and he is visibly very excited for that. He couldn’t be happier. Working with Lieutenant Barclay at Project Watson was really fun and challenging, but he always dreamt of exploring the distant cosmos like the U.S.S. Voyager did. Behind Mr. Erad's left shoulder is the Ardanan Dr. Kaeso Visellius. The Lieutenant-Commander couldn't be a more interesting choice as a Chief Science Officer. The scientist is known for merging the two distinct worlds of art and science, often bringing up out of the box ideas that pure logical science couldn't deliver alone. On the captain's left side there is Lieutenant Lwianna Zukel, a betazoid who was used as forced labor during the construction of Sentok Nor. Her experience of working under pressure and minimal conditions led her to be one of the most promising engineers in Starfleet. With Ms. Zukel as Chief Engineer, the crew will never be required to interact with the ship's Emergency Engineering Hologram. The captain tells everyone to be at ease and nods to Mr. Erad. Lt. Lenda breaks the silence: - Captain, we're receiving an incoming transmission from Otera V. - On screen – she says as she sits at the big chair. Dr. Zyrin Valthar's face shows up on the bridge's main view screen. The Naqals physiology is not much different than human’s. The only visual difference is that their jaws are slightly more forward than human’s. He has already spent more than half of his life serving as his people's High Apostle. All those holding this title before him only had to deal with religious debates at most. There has not been any major crisis or war on his planet for centuries. Until now. The captain starts the conversation: - This is Captain Syv Ch'tholler from the Federation starship Arcadia. - Blessings from F'Shel and M'Cara upon you and your people, dear captain. I am Dr. Zyrin Valthar, High Apostle of Otera V. It's an honor to meet you. - the clerical figure responds. - The honor is all ours, Dr. Valthar. Starfleet sent us to assist in your imminent crisis. Can you please brief us on the details? - For certain. According to our old tales, every 10,000 years, our gods F'Shel and M'Cara become closer in a major spiritual event, the Kul' Qaga. F'Shel is our material world god and M'Cara, our spiritual world goddess. It is believed that during Kul' Qaga, some of our people will be blessed by M’Cara and they will ascend to her realm. Every year we have a great festival around the planet to celebrate this date. There is food, drinks, plays and all types of arts honoring that. But this year it is a bit different. not only we have the festival, but Kul’ Qaga will actually happen. Unfortunately the last time this really occurred pre-dates our recorded history, so we do not know exactly what to expect. Most of our people are ready and looking forward to the ascension. Some are scared. When the Kul' Qaga occurs in 3 of our days, you are welcome to participate in the festivities and study this blessed event. - Understood, doctor. We look forward to being there. Ch'tholler out -- says the captain skeptical. She feels like Dr. Valthar might be hiding something. He seems too calm for someone just waiting for a religious holocaust to happen.

The senior staff all sat down on the chairs in the meeting room. The room is not that large, but it can comfortably accommodate the senior officers. - Mr. Visellius, were you able to scan the planet for anything out of the ordinary that might indicate any danger to the Naqal population? The Ardanan leaves his seat and moves to the room's main screen: - We can’t detect anything out of the ordinary with the planet except for some unusual levels of neurogenic radiation. - Neurogenic radiation? -- asks Dr. Fujikawa Leiko, intrigued. The seasoned Chief Medical Officer spent most of her years working on Earth and before retiring she decided to have one last Starfleet adventure in deep space. - Captain, – she proceeds with her calm voice – we have only seen neurogenic radiation as a result of deep neural scans within patients. This type of radiation isn't harmful at all, but nevertheless I have never seen it on a planetary scale. - Thank you Dr. Fujikawa. Mr. Visellius, please start analyzing the source of this radiation. Is it a natural phenomena? Or is it being generated by some sort of device? Even though this radiation might be harmless, I don't want to rule anything out that could hurt these people. Everyone, dismissed.

Since Arcadia's launch, nothing much has been going on at Dr. Fujikawa sickbay. The worst case so far was a sprained ankle from one of the junior officers that was playing Parkour at the holodeck. As usual, it has been a very slow day today, being Ensign Vodyanov the only patient so far this morning. - Ensign, this is your first assignment on the bridge of a ship, right? - Yes, doctor -- she responded looking at the Japanese lady. - And can I assume this is causing you some stress and some level of anxiety? - Yes, I really want to deserve to be there and I'm doing my best to perform my duties flawlessly. - So, that's the problem right there, Miss Vodyanov. – the doctor says in a tone that reminds a loving grandmother talking to their grandchildren. – Your headaches are a result of your stress. Try to remove a bit of this burden from your shoulders. Trust the captain's judgment. Think with me: if she wouldn't trust you and think you can perform your work as expected you would not be working on that bridge, right? - I think you are right, doctor. -- smiled the young ensign with some sign of relief. - Here's a hypospray that will resolve your headache symptoms for now. But for the long-term, try to relax a bit more. Maybe socializing more with your colleagues, working on a hobby or spending some time at the Holodeck might help. - Thank you. -- she nodded and started leaving the sickbay. As the door opens, she almost bumped with Lt. Lenda. That caught them by surprise as their faces got incredibly close from an involuntary kiss. She deeply looked into his eyes as she immediately blushed. Deep down it almost seemed that she wanted that kiss to happen. Daniel was static with an accelerated heart beat. He always had a crush on Natasha since he first saw her at the bridge. He quickly recomposed himself and said to the ensign: - I'm sorry, I should be more careful. - Oh, don't worry! I also need to pay more attention when a door opens -- she giggled and quickly swerved trying to break eye contact. -- See you at the bridge, Lieutenant! Mr. Lenda chuckled and proceeded to the sickbay. - Good morning doctor! Would you have some analgesic for a headache? -- he said still with his mind on the Ensign's lightly sweet perfume. The doctor was arranging a few vials, but he immediately looked intrigued to the young Lieutenant. She was about to say something to Daniel when another young Vulcan officer entered the room a few seconds later: - Hello doctor. Somehow I am experiencing a minor headache. Could you please assist me? They all looked at each other and Dr. Fujikawa’s expression quickly transitioned from intrigued to baffled.

Just another uneventful day at Engineering. It's been a perfect opportunity for Mrs. Zukel to run some routine shipwide diagnostics. She is at her station going through an extensive check list: Dilithium matrix OK, thrusters OK, impulse engines OK, shields OK... As she is almost at the end of the list, she notices a single yellow status among all the green. - Ensign, -- she directs her voice to a close young Kzinti officer without taking her eyes out of the screen. -- could you please run a secondary analysis on the bio-neural gel packs? There was no response. She looked at him and the cat-like figure was gently holding his forehead with his eyes closed. As a betazoid, she sensed some light pain coming from him. She repeated herself: - Ensign? Are you OK? The Kzinti came out of his concentrated moment and quickly answered the superior officer: - Apologies, Lt. Zukel. I just have a minor headache. - That's fine -- she responded with a little concern about his health. Please go to sickbay and check this. On your way back, can you please run a shipwide analysis of the bio-neural gel packs? My initial report is showing that there might be something wrong with them. Not sure what it is. - Yes, ma'am. As the young Ensign leaves, Lt. Zukel hears the captain's voice from her comms badge requesting all senior officers to report to the bridge.

Dr. Valthar is at his office in Otera V. The room is filled with very ancient paper books and scrolls.  A visitor could ask himself why would these people still maintain all this paper material instead of just having the information electronically? The Apostle has one large scroll open on his desk. There are some writings on it that seem to have a mixture of an ancient Noqal language and another one never seen before. There also seems to be some strange and maybe frightening pictures on it. It seems to depict a group of people in agony being consumed by fire in front of a large god-like figure. He seems to be very concerned looking at the scroll when one of his Noqal colleagues calmly enters the room and bows: - Excuse me, High Apostle. It has begun. He bows back to the other clerical figure and mysteriously says to himself: - Well, I guess we can't hide it anymore from the Federation vessel.

The Arcadia's senior officers are all present at the bridge's meeting room. Mr. Visellius is at the screen, with a view of Otera V. The planet is covered by 9/10 of water. The only continent present has an elongated shape across the equator. Still, it is relatively small compared to Earth’s standards. He proceeds with his explanation: - I was able to pinpoint the epicenter of the neurogenic radiation to the main clergy building at the center of their capital. My conclusion is that this is not a natural occurrence. There might be something in that building generating it. Lieutenant-Commander Vi-Uxgam immediately adds to all in the room: - This could be some sort of weapon from the Naqals. - But to what purpose? The Naqals have been in peace for almost a century now. -- asks the first officer. Mr. Visellius continues raising his index finger: - If I may add, and not less important, it seems that this radiation is growing at an exponential rate. It's not only at the planet's surface, but also reaching anything at the planet's orbit. - Including the Arcadia -- says the japanese doctor. As if striken by an Eureka moment, she continues: - Captain, this might explain the several cases of headaches across the ship. I strongly recommend taking the ship to a safe distance from the planet. - Agreed -- the Andorian says. -- Mr. Erad, please assemble an away team together. I believe it's time for us to have a serious conversation with Dr. Valthar. He might not be sharing the whole story with us. Mr. Lenda, please request that all Starfleet personnel on the planet go back to the ship. Then she directs her voice to Miss Vodyanov: - Ensign, as soon as the away team beams down and we have all others safely aboard, please move us away from the radiation field. - Aye ma'am.

The away team beams down to Dr. Valthar's building. Commander Erad, Mr. Vi-Uxgam and Lieutenant-Commander Visellius are so amazed by the size and beauty of the room that for a moment they didn't realize that the young Zaranite Ensign that accompanied them immediately put both of his hands on his head showing some clear signs of pain. A second later, Lieutenant-Commander Vi-Uxgam rapidly assists the suffering colleague. As the Zaranite recomposes himself and tells his superior officer he will be fine, Dr. Valthar enters the hall accompanied by a couple other clericals: - Welcome to the Great Hall of M'Cara. -- he says as his voice echoes through the monumental place. -- According to our scriptures, this is the exact place where the first Noqals ascended to M'Cara's realm years ago. - Dr. Valthar, thank you for receiving us. – the Bolian says – We would like to talk about some unusual neurogenic radiation emanating from this building. - To be more precise, commander, my tricorder readings show that the radiation is coming from that large statue across the room. -- mentions Mr. Visellius as his tricorder beeps more loudly when pointed to the 30-meter high marble effigy. - Of course. -- says Dr. Valthar looking at the Starfleet scientist. -- That's M'Cara. She has started to select and touch those who deserve to ascend. Please come with me. I will explain everything to you. The away team follows the clerical figures into an adjacent room with a suspicious look. Unfortunately, by a few seconds they missed that the marble-like M'Cara's statue started to slowly glow and change its color to a purple-ish tone.

It's been hard for the young Kzinti Ensign to focus on his simple task. Running a second-level scan of the gel packs should be something easy on a normal day, but this migraine is taking a big toll on him. To the best of the Ensign's abilities and concentration, everything seems normal with the packs. He manually updates his Engineering report changing the system status from yellow to green. "There's nothing to worry about." he thinks.

The away team enters Dr. Valthar's room with a feeling that something fishy is going on. There are a few other Naqals in the room. None of them look friendly. Once inside, a door behind them closes and they confirm that they just fell into a trap. - Mr. Erad, I must admit I really envy your Federation planets. So full of life. -- says Dr. Valthar as he approaches his desk. He gently lays his right hand on the open scroll that lies there. -- Our people are dying, you know. There has been less and less newborns each generation. Right now we don't even have sufficient young people to fill the Hall of M'Cara during the Kul' Qaga. - What does it have to do with the neurogenic radiation? -- asks the commander. - Everything. What you call radiation we call it a blessing. That's M'Cara's way to reach out to the chosen ones and touch them with her grace. All our 153 young men and women. Plus, of course, all your young officers. To be quite frank, I’m disappointed because we were really expecting Starfleet to send us at least a few bigger ships here. But instead all we got was you. The Arcadia. – he says with contempt – What does it give us? A couple dozen more blessed? I guess it will have to suffice, anyway. - Mr. Valthar, are you saying that all our officers that have been experiencing these headaches are somehow chosen by your goddess? What will happen to them? -- added the commanding officer. The High Apostle looks to the Bolian and replies as if he already didn't know the answer: - They will sacrifice themselves to M'Cara and ascend to her realm. That's what Kul' Qaga is about. And there's nothing you can do to prevent it, I'm sorry. At this moment a handful of armed priests enter the room and point their weapons to the away team.

- Ensign, let's keep a distance from the planet. 200 million kilometers should be enough. Engage one quarter impulse -- commands the captain. - Yes, captain. -- says Miss Vodyanov while pushing buttons on her console. Suddenly, the ship is shaken as it was violently hit. Natasha's console starts to beep as something is going wrong. - Red alert! Report! -- says the Andorian trying to get back on her feet. - No damage reported, captain. -- says a surprised Mr. Lenda -- It seems we were caught by a tractor beam coming from the planet. The captain immediately hits her comm badge: - Ch'tholler to away team. As there is no response, a young lieutenant covering for Mr. Visellius adds: - Captain, it seems that the neurogenic radiation has increased to a level that is affecting our communications with the planet. - Sir, at current speed the Arcadia will start falling into the planet's atmosphere in under 10 minutes. -- firmly says Mr. Lenda trying to hide how frightened he is. - Ensign, lock on phasers on the source of the tractor beam and fire when ready. -- the captain says while sitting down on her chair. - Sir, the neurogenic radiation is impeding us to lock on the target. - Can we manually aim at the source? -- she replies. - We could, sir, but the beam is coming from the building where the away team is right now. If we manually shoot, there is no guarantee we damage its structure. - Open a shipwide channel, Mr. Lenda. -- she boldly says. - Channel open -- the young man says. - All crew, brace for impact. -- Ch'tholler looks at the viewscreen where the planet's image grows by the second.

At the microscopic level, we can see a large number of neurons working. Their electrical impulses keep flowing between the dendrites. But it's curious that every time an impulse occurs, the affected dendrites slightly glow with the same purple-ish color as M’Cara’s statue on the planet. As we zoom out from the cellular level, we can see this behavior in all brain cells. As we keep zooming out, they start to become smaller and smaller and the blue gel dominates the view. And finally back to the macroscopic level, we can see one of Arcadia’s gel packs. If a doctor could see this, one would certainly diagnose the hardware as having a migraine.

- 10,000 meters from impact! – loudly says Mr. Lenda while trying to work on his station. The ship is shaking so much he can barely stay standing up. - Lieutenant, reroute all power to the inertial dampeners and forward shields! Ch'tholler to all hands! Prepare for emergency landing! - 5,000 meters! - It’s working captain, we’re stabilizing our descent! I can land her without a problem right beside the building. – confidently says Ensign Vodyanov. All the shaking and noise starts to stop. - 1,000 meters! - Deploying landing struts – adds Natasha. The Arcadia smoothly lands on an open area in the middle of the Naqal city adjacent to the clergy’s building and everyone on the bridge feels relieved and safe. - No external damage, sir. The tractor beam is still active on us. And it seems all systems are starting to fail. – curiously says Daniel. - Ch'tholler to engineering: status. Lieutenant Zukel promptly answers the call: - Captain, all systems started to act funky and they seem to slowly start to shut down one by one. Both Warp and Impulse engines are down and we only have internal ship’s comms. We just ran a full ship diagnostics before we were caught by the tractor beam and there were no issues at all. - Please keep me posted as soon as you have any news. – the captain replies and then directs her voice to the officer working on the Security console – Lieutenant please assemble a search team and meet me at Airlock 1. I want to make sure everything is fine with the away team. And, I want to pay a visit myself to Dr. Valthar. As she prepares to leave the bridge, she looks to the young Operations lieutenant and says: Mr. Lenda, you have the bridge while I’m out. – and with a smile she adds: Keep the seat warm for me.

- Doctor, please you don’t need to point any weapon at us. – Commander Erad calmly says, trying to defuse the situation. Starfleet has the most advanced medical facilities and best scientists in the quadrant. We would gladly do our best to find a solution to your people’s situation. But we need you to drop your weapons. The High Apostle gives a sign to the armed men and they all withdraw from their aggressive stance. - Commander, you don’t understand at all the situation here, do you? There is no time left. – he hopelessly says – Kul’ Qaga has already started and it will be over in the next few minutes. Nothing can stop it. I can only suggest you say goodbye to your young officers. We will always remember their sacrifice. As that sentence is finished, the young Zaranite Ensign screams in pain, falls on his knees and puts his hands on his head. He can barely withstand the agony. - I am not allowing this to happen – says the commander trying to help the injured officer. As they try to leave to the great Hall of M’Cara, they encounter the captain’s team and a large number of suffering young Naqals close to the glowing statue. The only alternative left for the Starfleet senior team is to aim their phasers at the statue. They shoot at it, but even at the maximum setting there is no apparent damage. The monument glows more intensely emitting a high-pitched noise and everyone is caught by a bright purple light. All those young people affected by the intense neurotic radiation scream in great pain including the ones inside the Arcadia. All ship’s bio-neural gel packs succumb and cause all systems to shut down. The captain puts her hand in front of her face trying to protect her eyes from the light. The light is so powerful that it engulfs the entire planet in an instant.

Despite the discomfort from the noise and the light, the captain and the senior team all seem to be fine. The captain’s antennae were still getting back to normal when she quickly realized that she couldn’t hear the tormented young people anymore. Mr. Visellius pulls his tricorder and with a clear sign of desperation on his face he tell the captain: - Sir, I can’t pick any sign of any of the young people on the planet. Including 26 of our crew members. The captain immediately taps her comm badge: Captain to Arcadia! There is no response. The Chief Science Officer points his tricorder around, he look back at the captain shaking his head: - Sir, there is no sign of the Arcadia either; on this planet or in orbit. Her guts started to freeze as she realized she just experienced a no-win scenario. She was always prepared to die in a hopeless battle just like in the infamous Kobayashi Maru Academy test, but she was not ready for this. - I’m sorry for your losses captain. – Dr Valthar interrupts her mourning. A lamentable deep silence takes the Hall of M’Cara.

The brightness fades out. A disoriented and scared Lieutenant Daniel Lenda opens his eyes. TO BE CONTINUED ... Plays "Only The Good Die Young" by Billy Joel

Previously on Star Trek: Arcadia Dr. Valthar: - According to our old tales, every 10,000 years, our gods F'Shel and M'Cara become cl...