Star Trek Picard season 2 (spoilers maybe unmarked)

[Mort]

Am I the only one who thinks (depowered) Q is actually trying to fix the timeline, if only to get his powers back?

I hope it's something like that!

IMO, Q (even a depowered Q) works much better as a plot device than an adversary.

It's not really all that fun having a nearly omniscient/omnipotent adversary because then the plot twists etc. required for the protagonists to prevail - just have so much less meaning.

 

[Omand]

This one was a hard sell for me - the super security for a NASA party just sounded ridiculous.

All they had to do was have some reclusive Billionaire and his company be handling the space launch - then it sounds eccentric (as in completely unnecessary but why not...). I believe SpaceX handles 2/3rds of NASA's launches IRL - so why not have some eccentric Billionaire doing it?

I agree, perhaps a bit of a stretch.

But remember, this is different from our own time. The Sanctuary Districts that were explored in DS9 are a thing in this 2024. Higher security for a gala event like this might be standard in the Trek 2024 time, even for NASA. We also kind of know that the Colonel Green era is right around the corner (showed up in TOS and some background in Enterprise as well for the 2050s), so it would make sense for increased security and paranoia to be part of the lead up to Green and the Eugenics Wars.

Cheers

 

[MarkB]

This one was a hard sell for me - the super security for a NASA party just sounded ridiculous.

All they had to do was have some reclusive Billionaire and his company be handling the space launch - then it sounds eccentric (as in completely unnecessary but why not...). I believe SpaceX handles 2/3rds of NASA's launches IRL - so why not have some eccentric Billionaire doing it?

It's not exactly the average NASA party. A manned mission to Europa is a much more high-profile event than anything NASA has done in the last several decades, and it seems to be pretty controversial.

Plus it's a meet'n'greet for investors, and for the sort of funding needed for a Europa mission that does mean billionaires.

And is the security really that overwhelming? Security badges with built-in RFID tags are already pretty commonplace in more secure office environments, and while facial recognition software is still a little hit-and-miss these days, given a couple more years of developement there could easily be off-the-shelf solutions as capable as the one seen here, and cheap enough that any prestigious event would use them routinely.

 

[Ryujin]

Remember folks, "The test never ends." Yes, Q could be trying to fix the timeline. Then again he could just be messing around, as is his wont, waiting for Picard to break the future. There's precedent.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

This one was a hard sell for me - the super security for a NASA party just sounded ridiculous.

All they had to do was have some reclusive Billionaire and his company be handling the space launch - then it sounds eccentric (as in completely unnecessary but why not...). I believe SpaceX handles 2/3rds of NASA's launches IRL - so why not have some eccentric Billionaire doing it?

I think the original sin was setting it in 2024 (which I assume they did because they wanted the immigration subplot to be a bolder statement). If they had just had it set in the 2030s then both NASA running a bit differently (and, you know, having a manned mission to Europa) and Dr. Soong's sci-fi patio screen thing would require way less suspension of disbelief.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

A manned mission to Europa is a much more high-profile event than anything NASA has done in the last several decades, and it seems to be pretty controversial.

It's also something NASA definitely won't be doing in 2024. Few things are certain in the universe, but even in the scenario where some sort of major event tomorrow creates the political will to go to Europa, NASA scheduling more than two years lead time from the present to make their most technically demanding mission ever happen is an absolute certainty.

 

[MarkB]

It's also something NASA definitely won't be doing in 2024. Few things are certain in the universe, but even in the scenario where some sort of major event tomorrow creates the political will to go to Europa, NASA scheduling more than two years lead time from the present to make their most technically demanding mission ever happen is an absolute certainty.

Yeah, between that and Adam Soong's hovering forcefield sunshade, this does already seem to be an alternate timeline from our own.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

I do feel obligated to say, given how many nitpicky comments I've made, that I am really enjoying this season on the whole (and my initial reaction when I saw that it was a time travel plot was "haven't we had enough Star Trek time travel plots?"). It just has a lot of details that don't really hold up to scrutiny, and and the "whole season storyline" storytelling form encourages (perhaps demands) more scrutiny than traditional "wrap it all up in 52 minutes" Trek.

 

[Mallus]

This episode turned Star Trek into Cloud Atlas: the same set of souls reincarnated through the ages, playing variations on a theme. A bit jarring at first, but I think I may love it.

At the same time it turned into a heist movie were they send the roboticist in first, instead of the ex-spy.

While also featuring a NASA prom that’s totally the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance, except Elon Musk is probably there.

Not quite as contemplative as the first season, but a lot of fun. I bet it was even fun to write.

 

[Mallus]

So how/why does Renee Picard join NASA? Why the AMERICAN space agency?

“How does somebody move to another country and get a job?” isn’t as difficult a question to answer as you’re making it out to be.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Yeah, between that and Adam Soong's hovering forcefield sunshade, this does already seem to be an alternate timeline from our own.

That might be a major McGuffin. Soong invents a technological sunshade which is used to counter global warming. Which means humanity doesn't need to get it's sh*t together.

If Soong's daughter is cured he no longer needs to continue development on his sunshade.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

In "All Good Things", Q helped Picard wipe out humanity with some weird anti-time anomaly, where Picard's attempt to figure things out were actually the reason the time anomaly started. Maybe it's simlar this time around.

It is weird that a mission destined for Europa would fine traces of alien life on Io, I think. It's not that they aren't close by Star Trek space travel standards, but even for somewhat advanced 21st century tech, it seems strange that a mission headed for one moon would have the time and resources to capture probes from a different moon.

 

[MarkB]

In "All Good Things", Q helped Picard wipe out humanity with some weird anti-time anomaly, where Picard's attempt to figure things out were actually the reason the time anomaly started. Maybe it's simlar this time around.

It is weird that a mission destined for Europa would fine traces of alien life on Io, I think. It's not that they aren't close by Star Trek space travel standards, but even for somewhat advanced 21st century tech, it seems strange that a mission headed for one moon would have the time and resources to capture probes from a different moon.

They're about as close as moons get - they both orbit Jupiter. If you've got a ship that can get out there in the first place, going from one to the other is an insignificant hop.

Interesting that the life would be found on Io, though - Europa is considered one of the solar system's best prospects for finding conditions suitable for evolution of life-roughly-as-we-know-it, whereas there are few places more inhospitable than Io.

 

[Ryujin]

In "All Good Things", Q helped Picard wipe out humanity with some weird anti-time anomaly, where Picard's attempt to figure things out were actually the reason the time anomaly started. Maybe it's simlar this time around.

That's what I was getting at with my post about "the test never ends", above.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

They're about as close as moons get - they both orbit Jupiter. If you've got a ship that can get out there in the first place, going from one to the other is an insignificant hop.

Interesting that the life would be found on Io, though - Europa is considered one of the solar system's best prospects for finding conditions suitable for evolution of life-roughly-as-we-know-it, whereas there are few places more inhospitable than Io.

Using current tech, you probably couldn't spare the fuel to send humans even that short distance, but you would certainly send unmanned probes to anything in the vicinity. But you would be talking about a round trip of something like ten years.

 

[bloodtide]

Well, not that the writers or makers of Picard know or care, but in the "offical" Star Trek timeline is about 100 more advanced then our Real timeline.

Of course, Star Trek has the Eugenic Wars and World War III to kill off some folks. And the future tech from the time ship.
Star Trek had space ships in the '90's

 

[MarkB]

Well, not that the writers or makers of Picard know or care, but in the "offical" Star Trek timeline is about 100 more advanced then our Real timeline.

Of course, Star Trek has the Eugenic Wars and World War III to kill off some folks. And the future tech from the time ship.

There isn't really any one official Star Trek timeline at this point. Anytime they reference the present-day or near future in a series they make tweaks and allowances for real-world history.

Star Trek had space ships in the '90's

We had space ships in the '60s.

 

[Ryujin]

There isn't really any one official Star Trek timeline at this point. Anytime they reference the present-day or near future in a series they make tweaks and allowances for real-world history.

We had space ships in the '60s.

But in the Star Trek universe there was no warp drive until 2063. There's a bit of a difference between a "space ship" and a "ballistic missile with live cargo."

 

[Ixal]

Slightly OT, there is already a teaser for season 3 and the list of the cast.

Spoiler

 

[MarkB]

Slightly OT, there is already a teaser for season 3 and the list of the cast.

Spoiler

Picard s3 = TNG s8, it seems.