[Petrarch]

Depends what they're counting, my first guess would be the Free State, the Zhat Vash themselves and the remnant Empire.

[Arno12]

correction, not 3, a number of successor states, still, kinda explains why they have so many ships. Kinda wonder if spocks group managed to form their own little state.

[Reggie]

I really enjoyed this episode... I really wanna see Seven go full queen though.

[Arno12]

A thought just occurred to me, what if these ancient synths save the XB's instead of the actual synths since the XB's are pretty much a union of organic and synthetic life.

[Morris]

I really didn't like this episode. On the whole, I think that Star Trek: Picard is not very good, with only glimpses of Star Trek hidden under too much contrived, and unearned, supposedly emotional situations, just for the sake of drama. I know that I'm in the minority here. I cannot decide if that's because I'm older (51) and am just suffering from grumpy old man syndrome, or if I grew up in an era where the writers couldn't rely on awesome special effects to carry their shows. I feel like it's the later, but I am also older than most of you...I may have rose colored glasses regarding what I grew up with.

There are bad episodes in every series, but those series that I remember fondly...TOS, TNG, DS9, Stargate, Battlestar Galactica, and very recently The Expanse...were all thoughtfully written shows. I remember the bad episodes, because they were so few and far between. With ST:P, I remember the one episode that I didn't entirely hate...episode 7. I've been trying to convince myself to enjoy these shows, ST:P and ST:D, but they try to elicit emotional connections and responses from us, the audience, without doing the work in the quality of the writing, or the pacing of the show. They waste so much time trying to manufacture dramatic situations, then don't have enough time to properly move the plot along. So, the writers have to come up with deus ex machina over deus ex machina, again and again, just to get us to the end of the series. When important pieces of the plot are dealt with by waiving the writer's magic wand, so they can get back to manufacturing more contrived drama, you're dealing with a soap opera...not a serious sci-fi series, let alone a Star Trek series. The story doesn't feel important to the writers...the drama and supposedly emotional moments are seemingly what the writers are aiming for.

Regarding this episode:

The space orchid planetary defense system: In a way, it felt kind of Star Trekky to me...if it was a naturally occuring lifeform. As a manufactured planetary defense system, it seems like a vanity project...see what I can do...versus an actually effective defensive system. With the amount of effort and resources put into the orchids, I'm certain that they could of come up with a far more effective and wide ranging defensive system for the planet. Also, as portrayed, the orchids de-powered the ships, then pulled them into the atmosphere fast enough to burn up the flowers. Without power, the ships all crash into the planet, but somehow everyone survives! I'm guessing that the planet's surface is made out of sponge, or memory foam...something that can absorb the impact of a Borg Cube without catastrophic effect to the planet, or at least the surrounding area!

Altan Indigo Soong...A.I. Soong...uh huh...Another important person, like Michael Burnham as Spock's adopted sister, never mentioned in Star Trek canon to this point, added into canon by lazy writers, thinking themselves clever by doing so. Noonian and Juliana Soong never had any biological children. So, who was A.I.'s mother? Why did Noonian Soong never share knowledge of his existence with Data? Those Soongs sure have strong genes! All of the males look the same, differentiated only by age.

Sutra the Synth, being capable of performing a Vulcan Mind Meld, on the surface seems very wrong, but I'm actually ok with it. Currently, the U.S. military is experimenting with pilot training. They scan the brains of exceptional pilots with what looks like a hairnet, while they perform on flight simulators. They record their brain patterns, then broadcast those patterns into the brains of inexperienced pilots wearing the same hairnet looking device, while they train on the simulator. By doing this, the trainee's brain learns the piloting skills much faster than without the brain scan info. That's just an example that I'm aware of. The point is, today, we are learning how to read and write to the human mind through machines. This will only become more effective in the future. I have no problem with one of the most advanced pieces of machinery in 2399 being able to read the mind of a human through physical contact.

So Sutra is a Lore type of figure...ok. She's going to call the Super-Synths to come and save them and destroy all organic life...ok. Sounds like Control's master plan from the last season of ST:D. For once, I'd really appreciate some original writing. There are so many homages, references, call backs, whatever you want to call them, to other sci-fi franchises, games, and occasionally even past Star Trek. I'm tired of having nostalgia thrown at me, to try and pull at my fanboy heartstrings. It would be more meaningful if it weren't the writer's only play to try and engage past fans. How about spending more time developing the characters and the plot. How about telling a better, more original story.

I appreciate that most of you reading this are fans of ST:P and ST:D. That's fine. I'm happy for you! I read the other reviews in this thread, and I struggle to understand how so many of you are watching the same show as me, but come away with such a different opinion of it. I write this in the hope that some of you can explain to me what about these shows has you so engaged with them. I am not disparaging you, or your opinions...only sharing my opinion. I hope beyond hope that future series will somehow develop better written, more original content that we can all enjoy!

I look forward to your responses!

Cheers!!!

[Reggie]

What if the ancient synths are ... The Borg?

[DeWolfe]

I really didn't like this episode. On the whole, I think that Star Trek: Picard is not very good, with only glimpses of Star Trek hidden under too much contrived, and unearned, supposedly emotional situations, just for the sake of drama. I know that I'm in the minority here. I cannot decide if that's because I'm older (51) and am just suffering from grumpy old man syndrome, or if I grew up in an era where the writers couldn't rely on awesome special effects to carry their shows. I feel like it's the later, but I am also older than most of you...I may have rose colored glasses regarding what I grew up with.

There are bad episodes in every series, but those series that I remember fondly...TOS, TNG, DS9, Stargate, Battlestar Galactica, and very recently The Expanse...were all thoughtfully written shows. I remember the bad episodes, because they were so few and far between. With ST, I remember the one episode that I didn't entirely hate...episode 7. I've been trying to convince myself to enjoy these shows, ST and ST, but they try to elicit emotional connections and responses from us, the audience, without doing the work in the quality of the writing, or the pacing of the show. They waste so much time trying to manufacture dramatic situations, then don't have enough time to properly move the plot along. So, the writers have to come up with deus ex machina over deus ex machina, again and again, just to get us to the end of the series. When important pieces of the plot are dealt with by waiving the writer's magic wand, so they can get back to manufacturing more contrived drama, you're dealing with a soap opera...not a serious sci-fi series, let alone a Star Trek series. The story doesn't feel important to the writers...the drama and supposedly emotional moments are seemingly what the writers are aiming for.

Regarding this episode:

The space orchid planetary defense system: In a way, it felt kind of Star Trekky to me...if it was a naturally occuring lifeform. As a manufactured planetary defense system, it seems like a vanity project...see what I can do...versus an actually effective defensive system. With the amount of effort and resources put into the orchids, I'm certain that they could of come up with a far more effective and wide ranging defensive system for the planet. Also, as portrayed, the orchids de-powered the ships, then pulled them into the atmosphere fast enough to burn up the flowers. Without power, the ships all crash into the planet, but somehow everyone survives! I'm guessing that the planet's surface is made out of sponge, or memory foam...something that can absorb the impact of a Borg Cube without catastrophic effect to the planet, or at least the surrounding area!

Altan Indigo Soong...A.I. Soong...uh huh...Another important person, like Michael Burnham as Spock's adopted sister, never mentioned in Star Trek canon to this point, added into canon by lazy writers, thinking themselves clever by doing so. Noonian and Juliana Soong never had any biological children. So, who was A.I.'s mother? Why did Noonian Soong never share knowledge of his existence with Data? Those Soongs sure have strong genes! All of the males look the same, differentiated only by age.

Sutra the Synth, being capable of performing a Vulcan Mind Meld, on the surface seems very wrong, but I'm actually ok with it. Currently, the U.S. military is experimenting with pilot training. They scan the brains of exceptional pilots with what looks like a hairnet, while they perform on flight simulators. They record their brain patterns, then broadcast those patterns into the brains of inexperienced pilots wearing the same hairnet looking device, while they train on the simulator. By doing this, the trainee's brain learns the piloting skills much faster than without the brain scan info. That's just an example that I'm aware of. The point is, today, we are learning how to read and write to the human mind through machines. This will only become more effective in the future. I have no problem with one of the most advanced pieces of machinery in 2399 being able to read the mind of a human through physical contact.

So Sutra is a Lore type of figure...ok. She's going to call the Super-Synths to come and save them and destroy all organic life...ok. Sounds like Control's master plan from the last season of ST. For once, I'd really appreciate some original writing. There are so many homages, references, call backs, whatever you want to call them, to other sci-fi franchises, games, and occasionally even past Star Trek. I'm tired of having nostalgia thrown at me, to try and pull at my fanboy heartstrings. It would be more meaningful if it weren't the writer's only play to try and engage past fans. How about spending more time developing the characters and the plot. How about telling a better, more original story.

I appreciate that most of you reading this are fans of ST and ST. That's fine. I'm happy for you! I read the other reviews in this thread, and I struggle to understand how so many of you are watching the same show as me, but come away with such a different opinion of it. I write this in the hope that some of you can explain to me what about these shows has you so engaged with them. I am not disparaging you, or your opinions...only sharing my opinion. I hope beyond hope that future series will somehow develop better written, more original content that we can all enjoy!

I look forward to your responses!

Cheers!!!

100% Agree.
Also want to note how nobody cares that the Synths used these orchids. Making them and committing them to death.

I refuse to believe Picard would accept this. Or any of the so called, good guys.

[Sul-Matuul]

Did they make the orchids? Or are they a native plant on that planet that simply takes a long time to grow so they are very valuable? Its not explained in the episode other than they only have a few left.


FWIW I think the "Synth Federation" is not going to be what Sutra thinks. I think it is a trap laid by someone very powerful and activation of the signal indicates that the galaxy is ripe for attacking//harvesting etc.
I don't think this is linked to Control itself other than there being an artificial entity involved in the process (the synths).

[Bridger]

Did they make the orchids? Or are they a native plant on that planet that simply takes a long time to grow so they are very valuable? Its not explained in the episode other than they only have a few left.

They said they build them and can build a few more until the Romulans arrive.

[Curzon Peers]

What if the ancient synths are ... The Borg?

Or maybe they could try involving V'Ger. That was said to have been found by a machine race (and common fan theory is that it was the borg, but I never thought that made sense, since the borg are cybernetics focused, not AI focused)

Also I tend to agree with Morris on principle, though my bullet points are different.
The Picard writers seem to be motivated more by bringing peak drama than a compelling plot. I have been finding these later episodes more enjoyable than the earlier ones, but, on the season on the whole: meh.

As to the mind meld thing, it doesn't bother me that robots designed to be almost impossible to tell apart from living beings can be designed to be telepathic. I'm more confused why she was designed with that capacity, or are they suggested telepathy is a learned skill any anyone can do it if they're smart enough.

[JByb04]

The show isn't perfect.

Short of getting Rick Berman, Brannon Braga, Ron Moore, and a host of TNG / DS9 writers back together. We're not going to see the same Star Trek that we grew up with. This show is probably the best of both worlds as it has Patrick Stewart's input and is a continuation of the "prime" timeline. Production values have obviously increased since the late 80's and through the 90's. So its going to look different. Although truth be told, I wish that they would dial it back a bit with the console interfaces. That's a minor detail though that I've learned to live with.

I'm able to enjoy the show because it has allowed me to take one final journey with the Captain who has impacted my life the most. Is it perfect? No it's not. Just as TNG wasn't perfect during its first two seasons. However I think the show is hitting a good stride and I'm sure that momentum will carry over into season two.

Whenever that will be thanks to Covid-19.

[Petrarch]

Rick Berman

He is not held in high regard these days, hasn't been for some time.

Ron Moore on the other hand, he's cool

[JByb04]

I think Rick Berman gets a bit of a bad rap.

Yeah him and Braga didn't help Enterprise but Rick Berman was a large part of TNG coming into it's own after S2.

[SRelar]

It was okay, but Rich Evans pointed out it's exactly the same story as Mass Effect and now I can't stop thinking about that.

[Petrarch]

It was okay, but Rich Evans pointed out it's exactly the same story as Mass Effect and now I can't stop thinking about that.