Star Trek Picard SPOILERS thread

[Mallus]

As for the Picard S01E02 itself, the things that stood out for me were, oddly enough, the worldbuilding. We saw two completely new things: the Federation having to make an actually economic decision and radical changes to the Romulan Empire presented in a fairly subtle way.

I believe for the first time, we got a sense of what could tax the Fedration's mostly post-scarcity economy. A fleet of 10,000 warp-capable ships could be had with some badgering from a storied and self-righteous admiral. But 10,000 more? Not outside the Federation's capability, but beyond their political will (with good reason for the decision, too).

Then we got a picture of the successor state of the Romulan Star Empire via Borg Cube U. ("Go Drones! Resistance is Futile"). The famously secretive & paranoid culture inviting researchers --seemingly young, mostly -- from around the galaxy to 'join in' studying Borg artifacts (which the Romulans keep). Sure, it's a university full of armed soldiers and spies, but it's still an interesting form of glasnost that's congruent with the devastating loss of the Romulans home system. Gives them an almost post-Soviet vibe; esp.with the hit squads operating with impunity in the West, err, on Earth.

(I also liked CSI: Tal Shiar and the amazing scene of the admiral spitting venom at Jean-Luc, but honestly it was the nerdy setting stuff I keep thinking about).

 

[Truth Seeker]

Does anyone know where this '25% Star Trek' thing comes from? I'm seeing it a lot online lately and, frankly, it sounds like pure Internet BS. How would you go about determining what percentage 'Star Trek' a show is? Can you use a tricorder?

"Captain, sensors indicate the new series masses .25 militreks on the Daystrom-Desilu scale, just within legal tolerance limits".

Contacts, licensing agreements, they would cover specific IP ("You can use the Klingons, but not the Romulans", "You can refenence material from he first 6 films, but the TNG-era films"), wouldn't they? Not some random percentage that sounds impossible to quantify, let alone enforce.

In two episodes of Picard, we've got direct references to events in Nemesis, Star Trek (2009), and multiples TNG episodes. On Discovery we have Pike and Spock as characters in the 2nd season, as well as an episode that serves as part 2 of the unaired pilot. This cover a broad swath of the ST universe.

So...25% of what??

When BR got the license for Trek, the word was that Paramount or CBS insist on a differences on the look of Trek. CBS on their part, was trying to get Main Vendors to go with the changes, several didn't, besides the video game and a few merchandise products that surface. This supports the earlier mentioned of JJA wanted CBS to drop all the Prime Trek merch for their Kelvin and alt look for their Trek. CBS never allowed that request.

References was made by some product staff to the TV series about the changes to the Enterprise. Then such airings were scrubbed off the internet by the direction of CBS, reason...they did not want any future vendors to be aware of such changes had occurred. That is a bit of a red herring, cause of screen captures or word of mouth, some folks know the full truth.

Soooo, the quieting was successful to a point, but the visual evidence from the movies after 2009 and tv series, shows otherwise.

The Picard series is the closest thing to Prime Trek, but there is still variant styles shown in the show. One example of this, at Starfleet Headquarters, the holographic display of the 'TOS' Enterprise was from the Discovery series, not from the original TOS representation. Second example, was the showing of Picard's Room of Memorabilia...the showing of the Stargazer, the captain's Yacht, and the Enterprise D were given at least maybe around 4 to 8 seconds viewings, on the left side of the room, on a shelf, was the Sovereign class, port side viewing of it, from the back half of the Saucer section to the lower body to the nacelle and to the aft end..that viewing was under at best 1.5 to 2 seconds.

The only way to see the entire length of that ship, you have freeze frame that corner when it comes into view. Why was the other ships giving a longer viewing time than the Sov? It is the small things that linger like this...brings the questions. So yeah...you are not going to find the discussions of the 25% variant unless you go to YouTube or wherever else that keeps that issue alive. But it was heard earlier in the beginnings and then was quieted when CBS wanted a go with the series for their Streaming services, as a company who wants to make profit, yes...they will do what is necessary to quiet any discussion on what changes had occurred.

UPDATE--Just saw a vid blogger piece on the possible happenings that Seth McFarlane wants to buy Trek from CBS for NBC. Supposedly a two hour meeting, ended in a half an hour. CBS wanted too much for it, but there was a general agreement on both sides to what licenses will go to him, if the deal had gone through.

The only exception was--- Bad Robot/Secret Hideout, their unique license stays with them.

Here is the link of that article. Stated as Rumor.

 

[Truth Seeker]

As for the Picard S01E02 itself, the things that stood out for me were, oddly enough, the worldbuilding. We saw two completely new things: the Federation having to make an actually economic decision and radical changes to the Romulan Empire presented in a fairly subtle way.

I believe for the first time, we got a sense of what could tax the Fedration's mostly post-scarcity economy. A fleet of 10,000 warp-capable ships could be had with some badgering from a storied and self-righteous admiral. But 10,000 more? Not outside the Federation's capability, but beyond their political will (with good reason for the decision, too).

Then we got a picture of the successor state of the Romulan Star Empire via Borg Cube U. ("Go Drones! Resistance is Futile"). The famously secretive & paranoid culture inviting researchers --seemingly young, mostly -- from around the galaxy to 'join in' studying Borg artifacts (which the Romulans keep). Sure, it's a university full of armed soldiers and spies, but it's still an interesting form of glasnost that's congruent with the devastating loss of the Romulans home system. Gives them an almost post-Soviet vibe; esp.with the hit squads operating with impunity in the West, err, on Earth.

(I also liked CSI: Tal Shiar and the amazing scene of the admiral spitting venom at Jean-Luc, but honestly it was the nerdy setting stuff I keep thinking about).

Got a bigger question, given how big the Romulan empire is as remembered. Why didn't the Romulan government did the rescue themselves, they got the ships, they got the worlds, and if as stated from the series, the condition of the sun beforehand, and it sounds like it was. The Romulan government could have taken care of that on their own.

As for Starfleet, it has been pointed out, when things get wonky...they look to get out of it. This behavior was present in all previous Tv series and movies.

 

[Zardnaar]

When I started watching STDvi didn't recognize the Klingon s as Klingons which was a bit silly IMHO.

Casual Trek fan. Seen most if the movies, all if DS9 some of TNG.

Picard's ok so far. Romulon with clipped ears disguise is kinda funny.

 

[Mallus]

Got a bigger question, given how big the Romulan empire is as remembered. Why didn't the Romulan government did the rescue themselves, they got the ships, they got the worlds, and if as stated from the series, the condition of the sun beforehand, and it sounds like it was. The Romulan government could have taken care of that on their own.

How big is the Romulan Empire? All we really know is they can threaten the Federation. Details are scant. Presumably the Romulans did evacuate a portion of their population, but stuffing all 900,000,000 homeworld citizens onto starships sounds... challenging.

Remember too, the Federation’s industrial base is formidable. Way more advanced than the Cardassians, who are also presented as a credible threat. So the Romulans being in need of Federation assistance scans.

And Trek’s always been weird with population density. From what we’ve seen, even the major longtime starfaring races are concentrated in their home systems. A lot of Federation colonies look super-low pop density; more like camping than colonization.

 

[Hussar]

The only way to see the entire length of that ship, you have freeze frame that corner when it comes into view. Why was the other ships giving a longer viewing time than the Sov? It is the small things that linger like this...brings the questions. So yeah...you are not going to find the discussions of the 25% variant unless you go to YouTube or wherever else that keeps that issue alive. But it was heard earlier in the beginnings and then was quieted when CBS wanted a go with the series for their Streaming services, as a company who wants to make profit, yes...they will do what is necessary to quiet any discussion on what changes had occurred.

OH MY GOD.

People need a freaking hobby. If you are watching a show, frame by frame, to prove some conspiricy point about how "authentic" a TV show is, that's about the saddest thing I've ever read.

 

[Truth Seeker]

OH MY GOD.

People need a freaking hobby. If you are watching a show, frame by frame, to prove some conspiricy point about how "authentic" a TV show is, that's about the saddest thing I've ever read.

I forgot to add that I am a photographer with a decade plus experience. If that will help understanding my observation.

 

[Truth Seeker]

How big is the Romulan Empire? All we really know is they can threaten the Federation. Details are scant. Presumably the Romulans did evacuate a portion of their population, but stuffing all 900,000,000 homeworld citizens onto starships sounds... challenging.

Remember too, the Federation’s industrial base is formidable. Way more advanced than the Cardassians, who are also presented as a credible threat. So the Romulans being in need of Federation assistance scans.

And Trek’s always been weird with population density. From what we’ve seen, even the major longtime starfaring races are concentrated in their home systems. A lot of Federation colonies look super-low pop density; more like camping than colonization.

That will be challenging for any advance space faring race to do, but there's a indication (could be wrong), but they knew this was happening in advance.

And yes, the Federation is advance with great diversity of science from it members worlds, but as it was shown also, it looks like that the Romulans were very advanced in the tech themselves and kept a lot of it, hidden.

So...who was greater, the Federation under a two hundred years plus of birth, or a Empire, who was around for a few thousand years?

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I want it to turn out that the Romulans were "fracking" their own star and caused the supernova... because you'd think an advanced space-faring race would have hundreds of years (at least) to plan for their star going supernova...

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I know you want the Twin moment, but if they do go there, it will be massive curve to say the least.

Well, I wouldn't say I necessarily "want" a twin-moment... I just think it's possible that they're suggesting it.

Here's another idea to go with it: Was B4 really originally dumber than Data/Lore, or did his evil twin damage him? Maybe they've always been Cain and Able?