The kid would not have been completely human; maybe Betazoids have more silicon in their biochemistry. Being carbon based does not mean there can't be silicon involved at all.
That aside, I am enjoying Picard. The darker tone doesn't bother me. Utopias don't just happen, they have to be worked at; and sometimes the ball gets dropped. We've seen it before in Trek, this time it is just the focus of the show rather than one episode. I'm OK with that. They are doing a better job of it than they did with Insurrection anyways; not that that is saying much really.
"You might be right about the dependents, apparently they did have a very small number of dependents onboard, though not the Rikers' son (only their daughter, Natasha) so he must have been born on another ship or a deepspace station. It seems weird that they would carry any dependents on an RSV since they are not large ships but the Federation does do some really weird things."
ok, say it with me, the novels are not canon Their daughter Natasha... doesn't exist. the Rikers have two children, Thad and Kestral.
That is not exactly a given anymore with the way they are apparently using novels to explain the plot holes in the shows like Disney does, so mistakes like that happen. The references seemed to be to that novel series (or parts of it anyway), so it is hard to tell sometimes what they are canonizing and what they are just stealing and altering slightly.
If they are not canonizing parts of the novel series then the Titan may not even be a Luna-class at all (the idea that it was is from the novels and not the Nemesis movie, the movie only gives the name of the ship not its class), it might be a Galaxy which is a class known to carry dependents in peacetime and could be the source of the "born in space" thing.
When I heard the name Titan, I was envisioning some massive explorer, a ship even bigger and more magnfcigent then the enterprise. A ship so awe inspiring even Riker couldn't pass it up.
So I looked up Titan on memory alpha to see if I could find a quote specific to what the movie said about the ship, and they actually noted a pretty nice bit of continality re the titan.
the fake future in Future Imperfect lists his first command as a USS Titan
that said the Titan being a Luna class seems to be one of the most offical bits of beta canon, it's a shame they couldn't have snuck a model into the Riker household in the last episode of Picard
"You might be right about the dependents, apparently they did have a very small number of dependents onboard, though not the Rikers' son (only their daughter, Natasha) so he must have been born on another ship or a deepspace station. It seems weird that they would carry any dependents on an RSV since they are not large ships but the Federation does do some really weird things."
ok, say it with me, the novels are not canon Their daughter Natasha... doesn't exist. the Rikers have two children, Thad and Kestral.
That is not exactly a given anymore with the way they are apparently using novels to explain the plot holes in the shows like Disney does, so mistakes like that happen. The references seemed to be to that novel series (or parts of it anyway), so it is hard to tell sometimes what they are canonizing and what they are just stealing and altering slightly.
If they are not canonizing parts of the novel series then the Titan may not even be a Luna-class at all (the idea that it was is from the novels and not the Nemesis movie, the movie only gives the name of the ship not its class), it might be a Galaxy which is a class known to carry dependents in peacetime and could be the source of the "born in space" thing.
When I heard the name Titan, I was envisioning some massive explorer, a ship even bigger and more magnfcigent then the enterprise. A ship so awe inspiring even Riker couldn't pass it up.
So I looked up Titan on memory alpha to see if I could find a quote specific to what the movie said about the ship, and they actually noted a pretty nice bit of continality re the titan.
the fake future in Future Imperfect lists his first command as a USS Titan
that said the Titan being a Luna class seems to be one of the most offical bits of beta canon, it's a shame they couldn't have snuck a model into the Riker household in the last episode of Picard
True, the Luna is a nice looking ship class and actually canonizing it would have been good, but they have the problem of not owning the design and they may not have wanted put something they do not have control over into the canon.
The death of Riker's child is so utterly unbelievable, it is just contrived. A silicon virus kills carbon life forms with only trace amounts of silicon in their bodies, and didn't affect the parents?
You left out step 1: how does a silicon based virus affect a humanoid at all? This isn't the first time in Star Trek the idea has been used but it was dumb the first time. How can a silicon based organism replicate in an environment devoid of silicon(IE the inside of a person)? Human biochemistry doesn't include silicon at all.
This was definitely a big plot hole, but at least it's not as bad as humans devolving into salamanders like in Threshold 🤣
A lot of the time people accuse Star Trek writers (particularly of new series) of not respecting canon or ignoring canon or not knowing their canon... But sometimes, it are the Star Trek writers that actually reference obscure things that some fans don't know about, or don't care about, suggesting that sometimes, Star Trek writers actually respect canon more than some fans.
Again, just because something has happened before does not negate it from still being bad now. This is a terrible defense "Haha you can't possibly criticize this show for this thing because look! I found the same thing in another show! That means this show is imuuuuune to criticism!"
No, I have to disagree. This is made-up science. We're not talking about stuff like": This character's behavior is completely illogical," or whatever. We're just talking about made-up science. How can you say with your quite limited knowledge of 24th century interstellar biochemistry that there is absolutely no possible way whatsoever that a silicon based virus cannot possibly in any way affect the biology of a carbon-based life form, and then turn around and say something like "But nanites could do it!". Why could nanites do it? They are just as arbitrary made up? Did they ever claim that Nanites are carbon-based? IIRC, they were eating part of the Enterprise's circuitry once - are isolinear chips based on carbon, or silicon, or some metals? How could they do anything in your body if the are not carbon-based, because according to you that's impossible then. But of course that is nonsense, of course non-carbon based stuff can interact wtih carbon-based stuff in various ways - mechanically, chemically. It is just not traditional organic chemistry. But how can we know that in a universe where we have nadions and subspace and tachyons and tetryons and chronitons and Dilithium that there can't be stuff that enables interactions between silicon-based pseudo-viruses and carbon-based lifeforms? How could you really tell? Why do you insist that this is the one thing that cannot possibly be, but a self-replicating mine-field can exist?
They decided to pick up this silicon virus or pseudo-virus thing as some of the more exotic things that could afflict a space-faring kid that could be affected by a ban on positronics. They could have made up anything, like that he had a rare form of epilepsy that could only be fixed with positronic brain parts or that he needed some medicine whose compound could only be mined by positronic workers because other types of machines (or people) break down in the environment and you could have picked holes in such a scenarios as well.
But you could also decide to just accept that the technobabble said on screen is quite simply true in the show and move on. It doesn't actually matter. The problem with technobabble isn't when might be questionable or whatever, the only problem is when the whole plot revolves around technobabble things that we don't relate to anyway. But we certainly relate to a ban on certain research could stand in the way of finding cures for some exotic disease, and that your child dying from such a disease sucks. And we can perhaps also relate to the idea that there is still a possibility for a happy future, even when faced with tragedy.
And we are currently questioning whether dark matter even exists because we still haven't found any, but baryonic matter is pretty well understood. So if a show goes wild with dark matter, I can give it a pass.
Funny that you bring up baryonic matter - remember when they were sending the Enterprise through a baryonic cleaning process that was supposed to remove baryons from the ship? Oh wait, but that's one of those bad canonical science stuffs that don't count. But it lead to Die Hard with Captain Picard.
Kinda like the Voyager Episode where Janeway was playing Die Hard against macroviruses.
Sometimes it's not really important how TRIBBLE the science in Star Trek is, because the resulting story is entertaining.
You are literally doing the same thing I just said was a terrible defense again. "I found this similar case of something stupid in something else therefore you are not allowed to criticize this show I like because of it"
THat's not how this works. It was bad then, it was bad now. Its not "Okay" just because someone else did it. THat's stupid. And again you're selecting stuff from Enterprise and Voyager! Which are two shows disliked by many star trek fans and are heavily criticized for nonsensical plot and science.
Your defense is basically, that oh two other Somewhat poorly rated shows did a thing, so we aren't allowed to criticize this new show you like
actually "they've been doing it forever" IS a valid defence, statue of limitations exists for reason. because if something's been going on for over thirty years you can't just suddenly NOW decide it's bad. and that very VERY much applies to some of the criticisms of Picard. complaining it's not hard science fiction is a dumb complaint because trek has NEVER been hard sci-fi. you literally can't grab a throw away line from Picard, say "THIS IS AWEFUL BECAUSE IT'S NOT GOOD SCIENCE!" and then casually accept the rest of the franchise which has even worse cases as "great" The fact of the matter is according to your standards Star trek of any series is not good TV
actually "they've been doing it forever" IS a valid defence, statue of limitations exists for reason. because if something's been going on for over thirty years you can't just suddenly NOW decide it's bad. and that very VERY much applies to some of the criticisms of Picard. complaining it's not hard science fiction is a dumb complaint because trek has NEVER been hard sci-fi. you literally can't grab a throw away line from Picard, say "THIS IS AWEFUL BECAUSE IT'S NOT GOOD SCIENCE!" and then casually accept the rest of the franchise which has even worse cases as "great" The fact of the matter is according to your standards Star trek of any series is not good TV
No, what I'm saying is IT WAS ALWAYS AWFUL. These things you're saying they've been doing forever are also things that were bad then. its not an IT WAS OKAY BACK THEN WHY IS IT A PROBLEM NOW.
It feels like you're grasping at straws because you can't stand the idea that there might be problems with the show you like.
No I get that there are problems. the thing is, they're the same problems trek has always had. that said.. I tend to ignore science that's silly in trek because it's always been silly. TBH what annoys me is when they insult me by trying to "Explain it" by throwing out a ton of treknobabble. "it's not suddenly realistic because of something something quantum"
The death of Riker's child is so utterly unbelievable, it is just contrived. A silicon virus kills carbon life forms with only trace amounts of silicon in their bodies, and didn't affect the parents?
You left out step 1: how does a silicon based virus affect a humanoid at all? This isn't the first time in Star Trek the idea has been used but it was dumb the first time. How can a silicon based organism replicate in an environment devoid of silicon(IE the inside of a person)? Human biochemistry doesn't include silicon at all.
This was definitely a big plot hole, but at least it's not as bad as humans devolving into salamanders like in Threshold 🤣
A lot of the time people accuse Star Trek writers (particularly of new series) of not respecting canon or ignoring canon or not knowing their canon... But sometimes, it are the Star Trek writers that actually reference obscure things that some fans don't know about, or don't care about, suggesting that sometimes, Star Trek writers actually respect canon more than some fans.
Again, just because something has happened before does not negate it from still being bad now. This is a terrible defense "Haha you can't possibly criticize this show for this thing because look! I found the same thing in another show! That means this show is imuuuuune to criticism!"
No, I have to disagree. This is made-up science. We're not talking about stuff like": This character's behavior is completely illogical," or whatever. We're just talking about made-up science. How can you say with your quite limited knowledge of 24th century interstellar biochemistry that there is absolutely no possible way whatsoever that a silicon based virus cannot possibly in any way affect the biology of a carbon-based life form, and then turn around and say something like "But nanites could do it!". Why could nanites do it? They are just as arbitrary made up? Did they ever claim that Nanites are carbon-based? IIRC, they were eating part of the Enterprise's circuitry once - are isolinear chips based on carbon, or silicon, or some metals? How could they do anything in your body if the are not carbon-based, because according to you that's impossible then. But of course that is nonsense, of course non-carbon based stuff can interact wtih carbon-based stuff in various ways - mechanically, chemically. It is just not traditional organic chemistry. But how can we know that in a universe where we have nadions and subspace and tachyons and tetryons and chronitons and Dilithium that there can't be stuff that enables interactions between silicon-based pseudo-viruses and carbon-based lifeforms? How could you really tell? Why do you insist that this is the one thing that cannot possibly be, but a self-replicating mine-field can exist?
They decided to pick up this silicon virus or pseudo-virus thing as some of the more exotic things that could afflict a space-faring kid that could be affected by a ban on positronics. They could have made up anything, like that he had a rare form of epilepsy that could only be fixed with positronic brain parts or that he needed some medicine whose compound could only be mined by positronic workers because other types of machines (or people) break down in the environment and you could have picked holes in such a scenarios as well.
But you could also decide to just accept that the technobabble said on screen is quite simply true in the show and move on. It doesn't actually matter. The problem with technobabble isn't when might be questionable or whatever, the only problem is when the whole plot revolves around technobabble things that we don't relate to anyway. But we certainly relate to a ban on certain research could stand in the way of finding cures for some exotic disease, and that your child dying from such a disease sucks. And we can perhaps also relate to the idea that there is still a possibility for a happy future, even when faced with tragedy.
And we are currently questioning whether dark matter even exists because we still haven't found any, but baryonic matter is pretty well understood. So if a show goes wild with dark matter, I can give it a pass.
Funny that you bring up baryonic matter - remember when they were sending the Enterprise through a baryonic cleaning process that was supposed to remove baryons from the ship? Oh wait, but that's one of those bad canonical science stuffs that don't count. But it lead to Die Hard with Captain Picard.
Kinda like the Voyager Episode where Janeway was playing Die Hard against macroviruses.
Sometimes it's not really important how TRIBBLE the science in Star Trek is, because the resulting story is entertaining.
I don't remember that episode, but chances are I was rolling my eyes at it or trying to figure out wtf they were thinking when I last saw it. No its not okay because it was on a better Star Trek show.
I think the point is getting lost, though. It doesn't take a lot to fix the bad science writing, it just needs some actual effort, to go through the script and point out dumb things that can be changed. The fact is every time I catch some weird and wildly dumb science, it takes me out of the episode and makes me wonder how little effort the writers put into their craft. I mean if you're going to look up the word baryon to use it in a sentence, why wouldn't you read about what it means?
Also, this issue is separate from the myriad other issues this show has, but it fits easily in a pattern of other bad writing.
except bad science isn't bad writing. look, star trek is set 400 years in the future, by then who knowshow much of our science is obselete? remember just a little over 400 years ago the periodic table didn't exist. and if you talked about elements people would say "earth, fire water, air"
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch." "We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
Passion and Serenity are one.
I gain power by understanding both.
In the chaos of their battle, I bring order.
I am a shadow, darkness born from light.
The Force is united within me.
If you aren't happy with Picard or Discovery, then please, write a t.v. screen play for us to watch.
If you aren't happy with seeing people unhappy with Picard or Discovery, then please create a new forum. No, not really. But that just illustrates how ridiculous that kind of statement is.
Totally getting the Mass Effect vibe here. The flashbacks to "thousands of centuries ago." The flashbacks visuals. 100% Mass Effect.
Getting a Reaper vibe when Picard's crew was comparing the synthetic evolution to the warp drive. Someone shows up when warp drive is developed and somebody really bad with synthetic evolution.
200,000 - 300,000 years ago a mysterious all powerful race created a solar system with 8 suns and a single planet in the centre.
This planet held a warning from this race about how they created Synthetic Life which 'did not go well'
This planet was discovered by the Jad Vash who spent centuries working in secret to prevent the creation of Synthetic Life.
This has lead to Romulans never developing Synthetic Life.
Simply 'hearing' this warning causes the victims to go mad. They instantly commit suicide, scratch their eyes out or wail like babies.
The ones that remain sane become "SUPER" Jad Vash.
A Borg Cube randomly bumped into a Romulan Ship that had one of these mad Jad Vash. Assimilating this woman caused the entire cube to get cut off from the collective and left for dead.
This 'warning' was so compelling the Jad Vash infiltrated Starfleet with a half Romulan Vulcan because of Data. When - Unknown, could have been 20 - 40 years. ( Potentially before the Dominion War and during TNG )
Remember - The Jad Vash are seeking to kill ALL Synthetics with extreme prejudice because =
If Synthetics reach a 'Threshold' = SOMETHING will happen which would be "VERY BAD" and cause "SOMETHING" to come which will 'end all life in the galaxy'.
Cue = Warning has lots of scenes of death, destruction and planets exploding.
I can see a bunch of EA Lawyers sharpening some knives if ST:Picard keeps going down a certain direction.
Fun Notes:
The entire population of a Borg cube can be flushed out into space. Its not like in First Contact we literally see Borg able to walk around on the hull of the E-E without protection so those drones MUST be all 'gone'... right ?
Borg drones can kill evil henchmen with a single neck snap in a second... then proceed to sloooowly zombie grapple and mob pin the actual villain to the ground rather than just kill / assimilate like we JUST saw them do to the last guy.
Elrond - The epic ninja assassin gets dumped by Picard and Co. and proceeds to jump to every nearby character he can find. Proceeds to do nothing useful and cower in a corner so Seven of Nine has to save him. Then stands in a corner again while Seven does all the work.
Jad Vash - They knew where the ninja was but decided to send people to... grapple with him while he has a sword. I guess beaming him into space, gasing him or throwing a grenade is too complex for the 'super police'
Starfleet Captains are now completely capable and willing of murdering unarmed passengers on their ship because Starfleet will threaten to destroy their ship if they do not comply. This 'threat' was taken as being completely credible by the captain so they literally committed murder to prevent the murder of their entire ship... by another Federation ship.
Apparantly, DS9 Paradise Lost has become an actual reality.
Just wait for the 'mysterious race' to be the Iconians... or the Q.
except bad science isn't bad writing. look, star trek is set 400 years in the future, by then who knowshow much of our science is obselete? remember just a little over 400 years ago the periodic table didn't exist. and if you talked about elements people would say "earth, fire water, air"
remember Clark's third law.
They have not established any changes to the periodic table or other basic science in Star Trek, and frankly there is way too much science behind the periodic table to envision throwing it out, unlike the stuff that people believed before the scientific method. So yes, bad science is bad writing. If you want to make stuff up, great, this is fiction, go for it, but you better explain it to your audience who is using their modern understanding of things to fill in the gaps.
Starfleet Captains: THIS I really take issue with. You summarised it nicely and I have nothing to add here, other than being disgusted at how far they've gone to show us just how far Starfleet has fallen.
This bothered the hell out of me as well. It makes Starfleet Security sound like the NKVD.
The Borg drones blown into space - there wasn't really anything for them to latch onto; I have little doubt Seven would've utilised them if there was any way of doing so. Furthermore, once she disconnected herself from the 'mini-collective' she formed she rendered those drones useless anyway.
But no defense for the useless Zombie grapple thing.
Seven made a big deal about wanting to save those drones which led her to become the mini-queen. She then sent remaining drones on a kill mission against the Romulans. Seven appears to have control of the cube and is even sending into a regeneration cycle.
It seems really bizzare for Seven to just disconnect and consider those drones 'lost' when they can quite likley be salvaged. The drones will be fine, Borg cubes have transporters and bringing back an army of drones is kinda going to be helpful when your trying to retake a Borg cube.
This would have played a lot better if the Romulans had used their ships to start shooting the spaced drones.
That said, the Romulans had an entire fleet sitting outside the cube that appear to be doing nothing while Seven of Nine is actively taking over the cube.
The Romulan 'Jad Vash' Sister states she wants to kill the Borg so... you have a fleet outside. Blow it up.
Elnor: I can kinda forgive this. He is an excellent 'ninja' but what he lacks is resources. He has no ship and carries no tech and was on a Borg cube full of angry Romulans who wanted him dead.
Jad Vash: This WAS confusing since they DID throw a grenade(?) of some sort initally.
The Ninja is unforgivable and stupid.
Picard dumped him almost immediately and he has had little purpose beyond waving around a sword in a setting which has technology that would render him impotent.
The guy was literally cowering in a corner of Hugh's office. That seems like the worst place to hide in a cube full of people looking for you that just killed Hugh.
It is funny enough the entire situation could have been avoided if Elnor had just left with Picard. He had no reason to stay and by doing so actually made the situation worse. Hugh would have been fine on his own due to the protection and even if they are going to kill Hugh. Elnor has no ability to stop it.
One Ninja versus the entire Romulan Empire stationed on a Cube... this guy is an idiot and the writing abysmal.
Even the scenarion you refer to in 'Paradise Lost' wasn't as bad as what Starfleet seems to have become because in that case it was clear that not everyone (Captains Sisko and Benteen) agreed with Admiral Leyton whereas, so far as we can tell, no-one really objects to the deplorable lengths Starfleet will take to enforce its anti-synth law.
Its sad really - when they arrived at the Synth homeworld I did initially think "wow - hope Picard called Starfleet and tells them to divert those ships. But then realised that the Starfleet of this era would probably just glass the planet.
Just watch... the Federation Admiral will send the fleet and it turns out they have orders to kill all the Synths.
I.E X-Men when the Americans decide to bomb the beach
I am also calling that Seven is going to die.
"Anika" still has "Something" to do... foreshadowing plus an obvious setup for a confronation with the Jad Vash agent.
So...
7 Takes control of the cube, does NOT prevent (though she could) the place being vacumed (pun intended), nor fails to get the drones back?
Drones survive in open space (as seen before), cubes can transport 500 drones at any given moment, have I missed something here?
Thoughts?
Klingons don't get drunk.
They just get less sober.
I'm guessing the borg queen kept them alive or their implants gave them temp ability to survive within space more a specialty borg thing then a common borg thing. My guess specialized implants. The borg on the cube were dormant or in a regenerative state they were also disconnected borg that Seven tried to form into a mini collective. Seven of Nine isn't a Borg Queen. The Romulans seemed to have come up with adequate security measures to make sure the Borg couldn't retake the cube. By Spacing them they eliminate a lot of the threat. I'm guessing without an actual borg queen the borg can't just run in the vastness of space without some type of life support. Since these borg had no actual collective pretty much it most likely killed them. So I think this would be the best way to explain it.
Five words: Get rid of Alex Kurtzman. He is a relic of when someone who knows nothing and cares less for Star Trek was in charge of it.
In my opinion, Cryptic's writers have written stories more coherent and true to the spirit of Star Trek than anything on CBS All Access. I honestly hope they don't try to integrate this dumpster fire called Piccard into STO more than they "have to".
I do think you’re right about Seven too. This show is about Picard, and they’ve already shown they’ll happily kill off important characters (Hugh) so I wouldn’t be surprised if Seven doesn’t meet her end before the season is up, though it’ll be a shame if she does indeed die.
Also, regarding this Federation fleet, when and where ever it does show up; I hope it’s a mixture of known and new vessels, the odd Galaxy, an Akira, maybe even a Luna or Vesta Class.
I’d quite happily not want to see a Miranda or Excelsior in the mix though - those things should be in the scrap yard by now!
Speaking of a corrupt Starfleet too; hasn’t this always been the case in some form of another? We’ve had Section 31 operable in three shows already, and they answer to Starfleet.
Every government is, to some degree, most likely corrupt, it just varies on the extensively of that corruption. The Federation for all its good, shouldn’t be any different.
So...
7 Takes control of the cube, does NOT prevent (though she could) the place being vacumed (pun intended), nor fails to get the drones back?
Drones survive in open space (as seen before), cubes can transport 500 drones at any given moment, have I missed something here?
Thoughts?
This isn't a Borg Cube operating at standard Borg levels. It was damaged, the drones were inactive, and the Romulans have spend one or two decades already on it and making it "safe" for them.
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
except bad science isn't bad writing. look, star trek is set 400 years in the future, by then who knowshow much of our science is obselete? remember just a little over 400 years ago the periodic table didn't exist. and if you talked about elements people would say "earth, fire water, air"
remember Clark's third law.
They have not established any changes to the periodic table or other basic science in Star Trek, and frankly there is way too much science behind the periodic table to envision throwing it out, unlike the stuff that people believed before the scientific method. So yes, bad science is bad writing. If you want to make stuff up, great, this is fiction, go for it, but you better explain it to your audience who is using their modern understanding of things to fill in the gaps.
So.. with the newest episode... anyone else get a SERIOUS mass effect vibe from it?
What do you mean by this? Please explain for those of us with no interest/experience in Mass Effect games.
Well, our current scientific understanding cannot explain what the point of Dilithium would be. Lithium is a regular element of the periodic table. Dilithium would suggest a molecule of two Lithium atoms. What special property would that have that wouldn't just respond to antimatter with an annihilation that destroys the antimatter and the Dilithium? How could that form a crystal that acts as a kind of catalyst in a matter/antimatter reaction?
ENT had an episode where they speak of an alien using elements in their engines that they haven't even put on their periodic table yet. Which is odd, because our current theories on higher mass nuclei might predict some potential future "stable" regions of artificially creatable matter, but nothing that would be stable enough to build something from it. It would at best just be a reaction process.
So yes, Star Trek definitely has mucked about with the periodic table and even given established elements new features that we have not observed so far.
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
Well, our current scientific understanding cannot explain what the point of Dilithium would be. Lithium is a regular element of the periodic table. Dilithium would suggest a molecule of two Lithium atoms. What special property would that have that wouldn't just respond to antimatter with an annihilation that destroys the antimatter and the Dilithium? How could that form a crystal that acts as a kind of catalyst in a matter/antimatter reaction?
There was a mention in Voyager and several mentions in books that the Federation has discovered a large number of transuranic elements which are both stable and often have unique properties. IIRC there was discussion of "dilithium" being one of these that is in the same group as lithium but in a new row of the periodic table and allegedly (according to the Next Generation Technical Manual) it has magnetic properties that allow the antimatter to be channeled through its crystalline lattice without coming into contact with it so it is useful for aiming the antimatter stream at the matter stream.
Comments
That aside, I am enjoying Picard. The darker tone doesn't bother me. Utopias don't just happen, they have to be worked at; and sometimes the ball gets dropped. We've seen it before in Trek, this time it is just the focus of the show rather than one episode. I'm OK with that. They are doing a better job of it than they did with Insurrection anyways; not that that is saying much really.
When I heard the name Titan, I was envisioning some massive explorer, a ship even bigger and more magnfcigent then the enterprise. A ship so awe inspiring even Riker couldn't pass it up.
So I looked up Titan on memory alpha to see if I could find a quote specific to what the movie said about the ship, and they actually noted a pretty nice bit of continality re the titan.
the fake future in Future Imperfect lists his first command as a USS Titan
that said the Titan being a Luna class seems to be one of the most offical bits of beta canon, it's a shame they couldn't have snuck a model into the Riker household in the last episode of Picard
True, the Luna is a nice looking ship class and actually canonizing it would have been good, but they have the problem of not owning the design and they may not have wanted put something they do not have control over into the canon.
You are literally doing the same thing I just said was a terrible defense again. "I found this similar case of something stupid in something else therefore you are not allowed to criticize this show I like because of it"
THat's not how this works. It was bad then, it was bad now. Its not "Okay" just because someone else did it. THat's stupid. And again you're selecting stuff from Enterprise and Voyager! Which are two shows disliked by many star trek fans and are heavily criticized for nonsensical plot and science.
Your defense is basically, that oh two other Somewhat poorly rated shows did a thing, so we aren't allowed to criticize this new show you like
No, what I'm saying is IT WAS ALWAYS AWFUL. These things you're saying they've been doing forever are also things that were bad then. its not an IT WAS OKAY BACK THEN WHY IS IT A PROBLEM NOW.
It feels like you're grasping at straws because you can't stand the idea that there might be problems with the show you like.
> Utopias don't just happen, they have to be worked at
Best quote of the day. Or as Voltaire would say, “we must cultivate the garden"
I don't remember that episode, but chances are I was rolling my eyes at it or trying to figure out wtf they were thinking when I last saw it. No its not okay because it was on a better Star Trek show.
I think the point is getting lost, though. It doesn't take a lot to fix the bad science writing, it just needs some actual effort, to go through the script and point out dumb things that can be changed. The fact is every time I catch some weird and wildly dumb science, it takes me out of the episode and makes me wonder how little effort the writers put into their craft. I mean if you're going to look up the word baryon to use it in a sentence, why wouldn't you read about what it means?
Also, this issue is separate from the myriad other issues this show has, but it fits easily in a pattern of other bad writing.
remember Clark's third law.
no, but now that you said something kinda.
if I stop posting it doesn't make you right it. just means I don't have enough rum to continue interacting with you.
#LegalizeAwoo
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch."
"We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
If you aren't happy with seeing people unhappy with Picard or Discovery, then please create a new forum. No, not really. But that just illustrates how ridiculous that kind of statement is.
The-Grand-Nagus
Join Date: Sep 2008
Getting a Reaper vibe when Picard's crew was comparing the synthetic evolution to the warp drive. Someone shows up when warp drive is developed and somebody really bad with synthetic evolution.
This planet held a warning from this race about how they created Synthetic Life which 'did not go well'
This planet was discovered by the Jad Vash who spent centuries working in secret to prevent the creation of Synthetic Life.
This has lead to Romulans never developing Synthetic Life.
Simply 'hearing' this warning causes the victims to go mad. They instantly commit suicide, scratch their eyes out or wail like babies.
The ones that remain sane become "SUPER" Jad Vash.
A Borg Cube randomly bumped into a Romulan Ship that had one of these mad Jad Vash. Assimilating this woman caused the entire cube to get cut off from the collective and left for dead.
This 'warning' was so compelling the Jad Vash infiltrated Starfleet with a half Romulan Vulcan because of Data. When - Unknown, could have been 20 - 40 years. ( Potentially before the Dominion War and during TNG )
Remember - The Jad Vash are seeking to kill ALL Synthetics with extreme prejudice because =
If Synthetics reach a 'Threshold' = SOMETHING will happen which would be "VERY BAD" and cause "SOMETHING" to come which will 'end all life in the galaxy'.
Cue = Warning has lots of scenes of death, destruction and planets exploding.
I can see a bunch of EA Lawyers sharpening some knives if ST:Picard keeps going down a certain direction.
Fun Notes:
The entire population of a Borg cube can be flushed out into space. Its not like in First Contact we literally see Borg able to walk around on the hull of the E-E without protection so those drones MUST be all 'gone'... right ?
Borg drones can kill evil henchmen with a single neck snap in a second... then proceed to sloooowly zombie grapple and mob pin the actual villain to the ground rather than just kill / assimilate like we JUST saw them do to the last guy.
Elrond - The epic ninja assassin gets dumped by Picard and Co. and proceeds to jump to every nearby character he can find. Proceeds to do nothing useful and cower in a corner so Seven of Nine has to save him. Then stands in a corner again while Seven does all the work.
Jad Vash - They knew where the ninja was but decided to send people to... grapple with him while he has a sword. I guess beaming him into space, gasing him or throwing a grenade is too complex for the 'super police'
Starfleet Captains are now completely capable and willing of murdering unarmed passengers on their ship because Starfleet will threaten to destroy their ship if they do not comply. This 'threat' was taken as being completely credible by the captain so they literally committed murder to prevent the murder of their entire ship... by another Federation ship.
Apparantly, DS9 Paradise Lost has become an actual reality.
Just wait for the 'mysterious race' to be the Iconians... or the Q.
They have not established any changes to the periodic table or other basic science in Star Trek, and frankly there is way too much science behind the periodic table to envision throwing it out, unlike the stuff that people believed before the scientific method. So yes, bad science is bad writing. If you want to make stuff up, great, this is fiction, go for it, but you better explain it to your audience who is using their modern understanding of things to fill in the gaps.
What do you mean by this? Please explain for those of us with no interest/experience in Mass Effect games.
This bothered the hell out of me as well. It makes Starfleet Security sound like the NKVD.
"There's No Way Like Poway!"
Real Join Date: October 2010
Seven made a big deal about wanting to save those drones which led her to become the mini-queen. She then sent remaining drones on a kill mission against the Romulans. Seven appears to have control of the cube and is even sending into a regeneration cycle.
It seems really bizzare for Seven to just disconnect and consider those drones 'lost' when they can quite likley be salvaged. The drones will be fine, Borg cubes have transporters and bringing back an army of drones is kinda going to be helpful when your trying to retake a Borg cube.
This would have played a lot better if the Romulans had used their ships to start shooting the spaced drones.
That said, the Romulans had an entire fleet sitting outside the cube that appear to be doing nothing while Seven of Nine is actively taking over the cube.
The Romulan 'Jad Vash' Sister states she wants to kill the Borg so... you have a fleet outside. Blow it up.
The Ninja is unforgivable and stupid.
Picard dumped him almost immediately and he has had little purpose beyond waving around a sword in a setting which has technology that would render him impotent.
The guy was literally cowering in a corner of Hugh's office. That seems like the worst place to hide in a cube full of people looking for you that just killed Hugh.
It is funny enough the entire situation could have been avoided if Elnor had just left with Picard. He had no reason to stay and by doing so actually made the situation worse. Hugh would have been fine on his own due to the protection and even if they are going to kill Hugh. Elnor has no ability to stop it.
One Ninja versus the entire Romulan Empire stationed on a Cube... this guy is an idiot and the writing abysmal.
Just watch... the Federation Admiral will send the fleet and it turns out they have orders to kill all the Synths.
I.E X-Men when the Americans decide to bomb the beach
I am also calling that Seven is going to die.
"Anika" still has "Something" to do... foreshadowing plus an obvious setup for a confronation with the Jad Vash agent.
7 Takes control of the cube, does NOT prevent (though she could) the place being vacumed (pun intended), nor fails to get the drones back?
Drones survive in open space (as seen before), cubes can transport 500 drones at any given moment, have I missed something here?
Thoughts?
They just get less sober.
In my opinion, Cryptic's writers have written stories more coherent and true to the spirit of Star Trek than anything on CBS All Access. I honestly hope they don't try to integrate this dumpster fire called Piccard into STO more than they "have to".
I do think you’re right about Seven too. This show is about Picard, and they’ve already shown they’ll happily kill off important characters (Hugh) so I wouldn’t be surprised if Seven doesn’t meet her end before the season is up, though it’ll be a shame if she does indeed die.
Also, regarding this Federation fleet, when and where ever it does show up; I hope it’s a mixture of known and new vessels, the odd Galaxy, an Akira, maybe even a Luna or Vesta Class.
I’d quite happily not want to see a Miranda or Excelsior in the mix though - those things should be in the scrap yard by now!
Speaking of a corrupt Starfleet too; hasn’t this always been the case in some form of another? We’ve had Section 31 operable in three shows already, and they answer to Starfleet.
Every government is, to some degree, most likely corrupt, it just varies on the extensively of that corruption. The Federation for all its good, shouldn’t be any different.
Well, our current scientific understanding cannot explain what the point of Dilithium would be. Lithium is a regular element of the periodic table. Dilithium would suggest a molecule of two Lithium atoms. What special property would that have that wouldn't just respond to antimatter with an annihilation that destroys the antimatter and the Dilithium? How could that form a crystal that acts as a kind of catalyst in a matter/antimatter reaction?
ENT had an episode where they speak of an alien using elements in their engines that they haven't even put on their periodic table yet. Which is odd, because our current theories on higher mass nuclei might predict some potential future "stable" regions of artificially creatable matter, but nothing that would be stable enough to build something from it. It would at best just be a reaction process.
So yes, Star Trek definitely has mucked about with the periodic table and even given established elements new features that we have not observed so far.
There was a mention in Voyager and several mentions in books that the Federation has discovered a large number of transuranic elements which are both stable and often have unique properties. IIRC there was discussion of "dilithium" being one of these that is in the same group as lithium but in a new row of the periodic table and allegedly (according to the Next Generation Technical Manual) it has magnetic properties that allow the antimatter to be channeled through its crystalline lattice without coming into contact with it so it is useful for aiming the antimatter stream at the matter stream.