Podcasts about enterprise e

Perplexity zeigt konkret, wie KI-Startups das Thema E-Commerce angehen werden. Jochen Krisch und Marcel Weiß sprechen in den Exchanges über KI als nächste Eskalationsstufe im Kontrollverlust im Onlinehandel, die Positionen von Shoptech und Payment und warum Perplexity Shopping erst der Anfang ist. Werbepartner: SCAYLE ist eine der am schnellsten wachsenden Enterprise E-commerce-Plattformen der Welt und macht Enterprise Commerce einfach: unter anderem für Europas größten Schuhhändler, Deichmann, für einen der größten Optiker Europas, Fielmann oder auch für DEN Traditions Department Store aus London, Harrods. SCAYLE bietet spezielle Ecommerce Lösungen für große, komplexe Unternehmen und die richtige Shop-Architektur, um für die Anforderungen der Zukunft gewappnet zu sein. Lade dir jetzt das White Paper: “Fashion Trends 2025 – Strategies to Lead in a Trillion Dollar Market ” runter und erfahre mehr darüber, wie du dein Fashion E-commerce Business optimal aufstellen kannst: https://fcld.ly/fashion-industry-guide

Was macht Unternehmen krisen- bzw. erschütterungsresistent? Wie müssen krisenfest(er)e Zukunftslösungen angegangen werden? Jochen Krisch und Marcel Weiß sprechen in den neuesten Exchanges über eine zunehmend unsichere Welt und wie wir uns darauf einstellen könnten. Werbepartner: SCAYLE ist eine der am schnellsten wachsenden Enterprise E-commerce-Plattformen der Welt und macht Enterprise Commerce einfach: unter anderem für Europas größten Schuhhändler, Deichmann, für einen der größten Optiker Europas, Fielmann oder auch für DEN Traditions Department Store aus London, Harrods. SCAYLE bietet spezielle Ecommerce Lösungen für große, komplexe Unternehmen und die richtige Shop-Architektur, um für die Anforderungen der Zukunft gewappnet zu sein. Lade dir jetzt das White Paper: “Fashion Trends 2025 – Strategies to Lead in a Trillion Dollar Market ” runter und erfahre mehr darüber, wie du dein Fashion E-commerce Business optimal aufstellen kannst: https://fcld.ly/fashion-industry-guide

Ever wanted to see TNG turn into a mindless action franchise? Yeah, neither did we, but here we are anyway. It's “Star Trek: Nemesis” on this very special episode of ST:TNGeez, Not Another Star Trek Podcast, and it's coming at you right about . . . NOW!The final frontier is reached at last as we enjoy this final “Next Generation” motion picture extravaganza! In an unexpected maneuver, the newly ascended praetor of the Romulan Empire requests a visit from the Enterprise E! Picard hightails it to the Romulan homeworld without the common courtesy of dropping off the newlywed Troi and Riker. What could be so pressing as to lead our classy captain to commit such a faux pas?  How about a coup that places the mysterious Shinzon in the role of predator of the empire backed by his equally mysterious Reman “brothers”? (Are there any female Remans? If so, where are they?) The command crew beams down to Shinzon's goth palace for a chat, and as a welcome gift, Shinzon offers some of his blood. Sounds gross until Bev analyzes the blood to discover that Shinzon is a clone of Jean-Luc! (Which is still gross, but at least there's a point to it, kinda.)Meanwhile, the Enterprise just happens to stumble onto yet another Soong-type android scattered across a desert planet. Picard drags Worf and Data on a dune buggy ride to retrieve the bits and reassemble them into an android that looks just like Data. They deduce it's a prototype that just happens to be named . . . B-4. Seriously. That's its name. It has the brain of a Pakled and a jumpsuit to match. Seems they don't make clones the way they used to. But things kick into gear when Shinzon begins to implement his master plan involving the deadly Thalaron radiation! How is B-4 linked to Shinzon and his master plan? What is his master plan anyway? Why does he need Picard's blood so badly? Why is his suit so tight? (that has to chafe!)  Do they not have dentists on Romulus? Found out in this all new episode of ST:TNGeez, Not Another Star Trek Podcast!Even more available at: https://tngeez.com

Wie sieht der digitale Alltag in China aus und was können wir davon für uns als Inspirationsquelle nutzen und was nicht? Jochen Krisch berichtet in den neuesten Exchanges von der einwöchigen K5-Exkursion nach China, welche unter anderem Einblicke in die lokale Logistik, die App-Welt und eine professionalisierte Liveshoppingwelt geboten hat. Werbepartner: SCAYLE ist eine der am schnellsten wachsenden Enterprise E-commerce-Plattformen der Welt und macht Enterprise Commerce einfach: unter anderem für Europas größten Schuhhändler, Deichmann, für einen der größten Optiker Europas, Fielmann oder auch für DEN Traditions Department Store aus London, Harrods. SCAYLE bietet spezielle Ecommerce Lösungen für große, komplexe Unternehmen und die richtige Shop-Architektur, um für die Anforderungen der Zukunft gewappnet zu sein. Lade dir jetzt das White Paper: “Fashion Trends 2025 – Strategies to Lead in a Trillion Dollar Market ” runter und erfahre mehr darüber, wie du dein Fashion E-commerce Business optimal aufstellen kannst: https://fcld.ly/fashion-industry-guide

This week Fatheree and Dave welcome Joel aboard the starship Texs to take another trip back to the 90s for some STAR TREK/X-MEN crossover fun. This time it is Picard and the TNG crew aboard the Enterprise-E meeting Wolverine, Kitty Pryde, and more mutants. Join us as we recap and discuss the 1998 comic story “SECOND CONTACT”. As always, available in both video and audio-only formats. Watch on YouTube: https://youtube.com/live/YcVfbb-1AUk Listen to podcast: https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/uN4iC0KdCLb Download this podcast episode: https://d3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net/staging/2024-6-29/383969654-44100-2-d3ca8ea6a6362.m4a Get RSS feed: https://anchor.fm/s/f37edb0c/podcast/rss Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tex-trek/id1495605753?uo=4 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6mdZ030Klldxwn7SSc5PKp?si=3BOqsbQER9Ssfppqk7lofQ&fbclid=IwAR1M1uH_xBE1lYWcwQocoDzjoVSsLmCgBt08TCEYAltwIH3MPC0S60bMCsE Join our Discord server: https://discord.gg/YXPeRyQh7y Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/txtrek http://www.facebook.com/textrek https://www.instagram.com/txtrek/ http://twitter.com/TxTrek https://www.tiktok.com/@txtrek Email: fathereeactual@tex-trek.com

Fire Caves After Dark: First Contact. Perry and David Finally get to talk about Star Trek: First Contact, the new Enterprise E, and the return of the Borg and the Sadistic Queen. What to expect from episode 123: Fire Caves After Dark: First Contact? Briefin…

Hosts Cam Smith and Tyler Orton watch T'Pol peel carrots while recalling Trek's most notable sidequel stories and pitching a few of their own. From the Enterprise-E's Dominion War missions, to a Parallels Riker adventure and an attempt to salvage These Are the Voyages..., the duo strive to create new stories worthy of matching the greats. Join our Facebook page for exclusive content such as videos and bonus episodes. And you can also visit our blog, or follow us on Twitter and YouTube! Send any other questions, topic ideas or feedback to subspacetransmissionspod@gmail.com! Related Podcast Episodes: DS9's "Trials and Tribble-ations" - Trek's Best Fan Service Ever? DS9: "Emissary" ENT: "Demons," "Terra Prime" and "These Are the Voyages..." Short Treks: "Ephraim and Dot"                     Star Trek's Best & Worst Crossovers The Star Trek Spin-off Showcase Spectacular Join us next week as we welcome back Strange New Worlds!

Ever wanted to see Academy Award Winner F. Murray Abraham with a bunch of shit on his face? We'll you're in luck as . . . Data is out of control! Stationed on an unnamed planet on an observation mission, Data blows cover by raging through the small village, shooting his phaser and beating the crap out of his colleagues. He takes his colleagues hostage and fires on ships attempting to approach the planet. When Starfleet Admiral Dougherty informs Picard of Data's actions, the captain and crew blow off their other missions to fly to the rescue. After capturing Data with show tunes and a tricorder, Picard and company beam down to the planet to assess the situation and find a dull and placid settlement of white people in rustic clothing living in a converted outlet mall. But all is not as it seems as the Ba'ku are far from simple proto-Vulan rubes. They are in fact an advanced society that has chosen to retire from the galaxy and live on a planet that keeps them perpetually young. The rings around their planet emit radiation that prevents and even reverses the damage that comes with age, and now the Federation has teamed with a sketchy race of thugs called the Son'A to harvest that energy. There's just one small problem: doing so will make the planet uninhabitable! When Picard finds out what's going on, he decides to defy Dougherty's orders and defend the Ba'ku and the planet from the Son'A with some of the crew while Riker and Geordi take the Enterprise E to alert Starfleet that hijinks are afoot. Will Picard save the planet and its people? Will Data ever redeem himself after going amok? Will Riker shave more than his beard off? Will Troi and Crusher have anything to do at all in the movie? Find out in this exciting episode of ST:TNGeez, Not Another Star Trek Podcast!Even more available at: https://tngeez.com

This week we review Star Trek: Picard S03E09 V õx and Mandalorain S03E09.Star Wars Celebration 2023: All the big reveals | EW.comMarvel Studios' The Marvels | Teaser TrailerThe Marvels' First Trailer Sticks Carol, Monica, and Kamala Into a Superhero SwitcherooDeadpool 3 to Bring Back Colossus and Morena BaccarinNew Game of Thrones and Conjuring Series, a Penguin Update, and More From HBO's Rebranded MaxJ.K. Rowling will executive produce Warner Bros. Harry Potter TV show | EW.comStranger Things animated series at Netflix in the works | EW.comAl Jaffee, Inventive Cartoonist at Mad Magazine, Dies at 102 - The New York TimesRachel Pollack, trans activist and comic book writer, dies aged 77Star Trek: Picard two-part finale to be shown in select IMAX theaters - TREKNEWS.NETStar Trek: Picard: What Happened to the Enterprise-E?Barry Season 4 | Official Trailer | HBOThe Matrix Resurrections – Official Trailer 2Sexy Cakes - Saturday Night LiveSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/spockcast-a-star-trek-discovery-picard-and-lower-decks-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

“Võx“ At long last, we learn what Jack is (although not without further delay) and, well, resistance is futlie. But fireworks in space are cool, right? In this episode of The Artificial Tango, hosts C Bryan Jones and Matthew Rushing continue our week-by-week examination of Star Trek: Picard Season 3 with Part 9, “Võx.” We ignore the weird tilda to discuss the impending resolution of the story and look beyond the superficial fan complaints to embrace the real message of the story in true Star Trek fashion. We also recognize that the Enterprise-E's fate was not Worf's fault. Hosts C Bryan Jones and Matthew Rushing Production C Bryan Jones (Editor and Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Cornelia Reutner (Associate Producer)

“Võx“ At long last, we learn what Jack is (although not without further delay) and, well, resistance is futlie. But fireworks in space are cool, right? In this episode of The Artificial Tango, hosts C Bryan Jones and Matthew Rushing continue our week-by-week examination of Star Trek: Picard Season 3 with Part 9, “Võx.” We ignore the weird tilda to discuss the impending resolution of the story and look beyond the superficial fan complaints to embrace the real message of the story in true Star Trek fashion. We also recognize that the Enterprise-E's fate was not Worf's fault. Hosts C Bryan Jones and Matthew Rushing Production C Bryan Jones (Editor and Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Cornelia Reutner (Associate Producer)

The (Movie) TNG Goodbye: Star Trek: NemesisAs we look forward to "Star Trek: Picard" season three, with the final (?) journey of the TNG crew, the trio looks back to the original goodbye for that crew. There's conflicting stories about whether the fourth Next Gen film was meant to be a cinematic farewell - but considering Data's sacrifice, Riker's promotion and marraige to Troi, and deleted scenes that had other characters move on from the U.S.S. Enterprise-E, it seems it was "A Generation's Final Journey" (as the movie posters stated). How does this film work as a final goodbye? Were the themes introduced with the characters Shinzon and B-4 helpful? How were all the characters used? Does the movie still hold up? Join us as a we revisit this final (?) TNG film.

The "Gaps" in Star TrekThe Trek franchise continues to expand, and with more and more series and movies, fans learn more about this fantastic universe. But even after all this time, there are still stories that feel like they are "missing." The real-world reasons are obvious: Writers don't want to get into how Spock spent his time from post-Star Trek VI to the events of "Unification" (TNG) because they don't want to disrupt any future stories. Or else they just never got to telling the events of the Romulan War because "Enterprise" got cancelled. The trio takes this opportunity to explore the "untold" stories of the Trek franchise that deserve further investigation. From the voyages of the Enterprise-B to the Enterprise-E's missions during the Dominion War, from the history of the many lives of the Dax symbiont to the origin of the Borg, join us as we ask, "hey ... what happened?"

Picard Season Three Preview: Beverly CrusherDr. Crusher served as the chief medical officer of the Enterprise-D (most of the time...) and the Enterprise-E, creating relationships with her fellow officers and moving forward various stories. We will soon revisit the character once she arrives in the next season of "Star Trek: Picard," but what exactly do we know about her? From her role as doctor, mother, "friend", and more, she will bring a lot of history to her reunion with her Next Gen cast. What are your favorite Beverly moments? What are you hoping will happen with her in season three? Join the trio for all things Dr. Crusher!

Picard Season Three Preview: Beverly Crusher Dr. Crusher served as the chief medical officer of the Enterprise-D (most of the time...) and the Enterprise-E, creating relationships with her fellow officers and moving forward various stories. We will soon revisit the character once she arrives in the next season of "Star Trek: Picard," but what exactly do we know about her? From her role as doctor, mother, "friend", and more, she will bring a lot of history to her reunion with her Next Gen cast. What are your favorite Beverly moments? What are you hoping will happen with her in season three? Join the trio for all things Dr. Crusher!

PJ, Mat and Eliot join the Enterprise crew as they encounter another Enterprise from the future, that is somehow also from the past. It's a whole thing. A really weird thing. Theme tune by Eliot Red Artwork by Mat Troy Follow the podcast on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter If you enjoy the podcast, and would like to support it, you can buy us a coffee on ko-fi.com Check out Eliot's music on Soundcloud and YouTube Follow Mat on Instagram Follow PJ on Twitter and Instagram This episode was recorded remotely in October 2022

The Borg have set their cyborg sights on Earth and it's up to the crew of the Enterprise-E to travel through time to stop them. We're presenting our live panel about Star Trek: First Contact, recorded at the CONvergence convention in 2022, with featured guests Mikanhana, Mark McPherson, Rachel Traynham, and Blaze Ward!On this episode, we talk about one of the Trek franchise's most beloved films and how it earned that esteem. Plus, we discuss moistened Borg, the "olden days", "pulp speed", Scorsese Trek, getting actors of gravitas, taking your ship's neck away, the pleasures of the (grafted) flesh, developing a sense of drama, doing Donahue, how the Borg *aren't* bees, and ice floeing yourself!Assimilate this!Do yourself a favor and check out the works of our fabulous guests!Mikanhana - http://www.twitter.com/noob_sailorMark McPherson - http://www.twitter.com/madness_markRachel Traynham - http://www.twitter.com/sship_suburbiaBlaze Ward - http://www.blazeward.comFollow Just Enough Trope and Sailor Moon on Twitter and give them a listen!https://twitter.com/justenoughtropehttps://twitter.com/noob_sailorLearn the story behind your favorite Trek episodes with BackTrekking!http://www.twitter.com/backtrekkingOoby dooby with us on Facebook and Twitter and the Just Enough Trope Discord!http://www.facebook.com/eistpodhttp://www.twitter.com/eistpodhttps://discord.gg/WVvCHVWqzfBuy us the good stuff on Patreon and Ko-Fi!http://www.patreon.com/eistpodhttps://ko-fi.com/E1E01M2UASubscribe to the show on iTunes!https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/enterprising-individuals/id1113165661?mt=2

   This week two films about master negotiators.      Small time con, Eddie, can sell anything to anyone. He dreams of one day opening his own store and sees it as his way out from under the ever more controlling grip of local crime boss, John Power. Unfortunately, right when it seems things might go Eddie's way for once, things take a turn toward the horrible as Power's nephew (and Eddie's partner) absconds with Power's young bride and a lockbox full of cash. Is there a light at the end of this tunnel or is there only death waiting Trojan Eddie?     The tenth film overall in the franchise. The fourth and final film with the Next Gen crew. The Enterprise-E is forced to deal with a coup within the Romulan Star Empire when a coup leaves Shinzon, an imperfect clone of the Enterprise's own captain Jean-Luc Picard, as Praetor. A box office disappointment, it led Paramount to declare "franchise fatigue" and put the franchise in a box on a low shelf for a few years. Fantastic ship effects and the always wonderful Patrick Stewart just weren't enough to save Star Trek: Nemesis.    Join us, won't you?Episode 268- Seamy Reman

"Now hear this. Now hear this. On this week's episode of Kirking Off, Starfleet - in their infinite wisdom - has decided to keep Captain Picard and his brand spanking new Enterprise-E on the sidelines, because they are concerned with Picard's scary dreams. Well, despite Starfleet's wishes, Picard ignores his orders to babysit the Neutral Zone, and he hurtles through time to stop the Borg from interrupting the launch of the Phoenix and first contact with the Vulcans. As with most time travel movies, First Contact unravels almost entirely if you stop to think about it. For example: why not got further back in time if you're the Borg? Why not beam half-a-dozen Borg down to the launch site and annihilate Cochrane and the rest of the drunks? How is it the Vulcans won't detect the Enterprise in orbit of Earth thus completely altering the timeline? Doesn't the sexy Borg queen undermine the entire idea of ... well, you get the idea. But hats off to Jonathan Frakes who manages to direct a movie that is still beloved by many Star Trek fans. We present to you, Star Trek: First Contact." Site Links Become a member! - https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbVYzaDhLd212cVk0TVZucVVqWUV6VGdtUkpjQXxBQ3Jtc0tsM3puaEJTSmZXM21NdmJDdGxvc3A4dW9ZRk1lVFFwMkpEVS1BcFJfWlYya1NTVTN6TU9OdzhTaU82VklfVUp2SEExMTZJaklwUTUweElybGxzTTRCV0JGR2puVXkyX0xTWTNnSWhOeFQ3Uk92LUhxZw&q=https%3A%2F%2Flibertystreetgeek.net%2Fjoin (https://libertystreetgeek.net/join) Discord - https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbG8tVGV1dnRlc01nbnRyQ3M5ckZqbFlaYWdQZ3xBQ3Jtc0trazBobGN2TVZfUXM0NEFzY1Q2RVZWN3RHcDRWOENQMGhQc1ZuY2Z6MU9hYkhrbzBLa2t4U1AxN25RZjVTdm1LalgxNTE0aVI4WmlHWWsycHhpSVRQOU5na1BGQ3F5SnJuNDZxZWd2SHFxMnpPU0xiTQ&q=https%3A%2F%2Flibertystreetgeek.net%2Fdiscord (https://libertystreetgeek.net/discord) YouTube - https://libertystreetgeek.net/youtube (https://libertystreetgeek.net/youtube) Current Shows The Lost Drive-In - https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbjhpcjlQTk12VEg2RjlPLTk1SDJJTko5aGxFQXxBQ3Jtc0tsUkxOeFF3TWZOWmN6d2x1TlB1Nmp4U3Y5TkFmR1RIaks2S1MzVnpxbWJCTHJ0QVg2d0F6STRBQm9Uak51cUkzUFBJLVlhVlpDRGxvMEg0TEdVQUhCd0RrdHFDMGMxd1lCbTlRSGR2eVoxZUNfMUVyQQ&q=https%3A%2F%2Fldi.captivate.fm%2Flisten (https://ldi.captivate.fm/listen) Kirking Off: A Warped Star Trek Shakedown - https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqa1QwZkE4WjlEWjFpQm5hSmhya1YydklHTzJfd3xBQ3Jtc0tueU5OczBDNlRxS0U4YTZOelgzTENVdFpGS09kMHhkeHRqM1FTUFgyTEtVWUczVW1HQUR4SnQ1UU1jb3ZvX0hRcFA3OHFvczFjRURnVkRrZFU0VWdQQ29LcXdJQ2IwaS1TWGpWMzFNWF9JRy1FbUM3NA&q=https%3A%2F%2Fkirkingoff.captivate.fm%2Flisten (https://kirkingoff.captivate.fm/listen) Mindkiller: A Dune Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbm9QS195QVpiSmpodVFGRVJLanhqVnhLV3kzd3xBQ3Jtc0ttc2xGQnlBYVVqUm9PSk9ZTGt6MmpJU2lSdXhfLUltT010SjBjZEo1SzZqQWcwNGc1VV84aTctLTJTemx5Mm9jN19yZUl0aTNYR0VZQTRSUjJPcU8wLVZVbzM5aGE2QldXMWdHanU2U0lvLTZtZWhGcw&q=https%3A%2F%2Fmindkiller.captivate.fm%2Flisten (https://mindkiller.captivate.fm/listen) The X-Files Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbS1xM1FWQm43bFU4ajVaNTBxamh5TXZBS0FZd3xBQ3Jtc0tuMWJ4U1BkRWJPdDhldzJFNklCVmlxcWJBMUppa293bEVzMmM3OV9uQXA0dVpfbE55LXdfOHdTNVR6dkhvaDRxa0pPZHIySmpvZ3NsOW16SnY0WFh4T1FQSXoyV1AyYi1YaDRtNVg2OWE5LXY4cGdRRQ&q=https%3A%2F%2Fthe-x-files-podcast.captivate (https://the-x-files-podcast.captivate)

(T.I.A Ep 43). Abdulla, founder and CEO of PMaspire, provides an enthralling conversation about his journey into the PMO world and software development; the crux of Enterprise e-Learning & Simulator software; setting up PMOs; and Agile PM training. Abdulla also expresses the importance of the functionality and capabilities of the eLearning and PMO modules within PMaspire; the process to onboard customers; technical support; Exam Simulator as a Service (e-SaaS); and integrating PMaspire with 3rd party apps. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6P-lUH-U9c Abdulla: Website: https://pmaspire.com; LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abdullapmp/; Email: pmo@pmaspire.com; abdulla@pmaspire.com; partner@pmaspire.com Sponsored by The Lewis Institute: Website - https://lewisinstituteinc.com/; Project Leader Courses (60% discount) - https://lewisinstitute.kartra.com/page/Wif255 Business Agility Institute: Emergence Journal - https://businessagility.institute/emergence; promo code "analyst" (for 10% discount on annual subscription)

In this episode Mark talks about the tenth film in the "Star Trek" film franchise: the 2002 American science fiction film "Star Trek: Nemesis". The fourth film, as well as the final film, to feature the cast of "Star Trek: The Next Generation", sees Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the crew of the USS Enterprise-E be sent on a mission of peace to the planet Romulus - the homeworld of the Romulan Star Empire, a longstanding enemy of the United Federation of Planets - after the Romulan senate is overthrown by a clone of Captain Picard, called Shinzon (played by Tom Hardy), who is the leader of the Remans - a slave race from the neighbouring planet Remus - and who along with some Romulan senators plotted to engineer a coup d'etat to seize power. However, Shinzon - whose body is slowly degeneating - urgently requires a blood transfusion from Captain Jean-Luc Picard in order to stay alive, which leads him to conspire to draw the Enterprise-E to Romulus so that he can capture Captain Picard and use his genetic material, and then wage war against the United Federation of Planets aboard an advanced warship, known as the Scimitar, equipped with a deadly biological weapon capable of exterminating the humanoid crew of a ship or the population of a entire planet. And the film also bids a sad farewell to a beloved character - who choses to sacrifice themselves instead of watching their captain, their crew, their friends perish. The film also stars Jonathan Frakes, Michael Dorn, Levar Burton, Brent Spiner, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, and Ron Perlman. And the soundtrack of the film was composed by the late great Jerry Goldsmith. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/markthepoet/message

In this episode Mark talks about the ninth film in the "Star Trek" film franchise: the 1998 science fiction film "Star Trek: Insurrection" directed by Jonathan Frakes. Featuring the entire cast of the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" TV series - including Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard, as well as Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, Levar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis - the film also stars F. Murray Abraham, Donna Murphy, and Anthony Zerbe. The story of the film revolves around the crew of the USS Enterprise-E risking everything to come to the aid of the population of a defenseless and peaceful alien race, called the Ba'ku, who are being threatened with force relocation by another alien species, called the Son'a, who wish to the take advantage of and benefit from the rejuvenating properties of the Ba'ku's planet and the surrounding area of space. As Captain Picard and his crew investigate the situation further they uncover a conspiracy between a corrupt Starfleet Admiral and the Son'a to move the Ba'ku from their planet through any means necessary - unless the Enterprise-E can stop the conspirators in their tracks and forcibly defend the right of the Ba'ku to live wherever they wish, as well as inform Starfleet Command and the United Federation of Planets Council of what is due to take place. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/markthepoet/message

In this episode Mark talks about one of his favourite films and one of the best films of the "Star Trek" film franchise: the 1996 film "Star Trek: First Contact" directed by Jonathan Frakes. Set in the 24th Century, Captain Jean-Luc Picard (played by Patrick Stewart) is having nightmares about his experience six years before of being assimilated and transformed by a cybernetic alien race known as the Borg - during which he was given the identity "Locutus of Borg" and subsequently was forced to lead the Borg in an attack against his own Starfleet of starships with a mandate to eventually assimilate the entire population of Earth. Now, the Borg are threatening to assimilate the population of Earth once again - and after the Borg cube threatening Earth are eventually defeated by a Starfleet armada, with the assistance of Captain Jean-Luc Picard in command of the Federation starship USS Enterprise-E, the Borg launch a smaller vessel that travels into the past with the intention of assimilating the population of Earth in the 21st Century. Captain Picard and the Enterprise follow the Borg to the 21st Century and they discover that the Borg wish to stop the first official "First Contact" of humanity and an alien species - which, if successful, will usher in a profound new era of rejuvenation for the nuclear war stricken planet Earth and its human population, as well as inform them that they are not alone in the universe. Though thought to have been defeated, the Borg proceed to attempt to assimilate the Enterprise-E and its crew - which leads Captain Picard to engage the Borg in a face to face effort to defeat them before they can carry out the apparent goal of assimilating all of humanity; however, while on the surface of Earth, other members of the Enterprise-E crew assist Dr. Zefram Cochrane (played by James Cromwell) - the inventor of the first human spacecraft with a warp drive capable of travelling faster than light - in the launch of his ship "The Pheonix", which if successful will attract the attention of a nearby alien spacecraft and propel 21st Century humanity into the next generation of their evolution as a people and as a result secure the prospect of a future of prosperity that will spread throughout the galaxy. The incredible score of the film was composed by the late great Jerry Goldsmith. The film also stars Alice Krige, Alfre Woodard, Levar Burton, Brent Spiner, Gates McFadden, Michael Dorn, Marina Sirtis, Robert Picardo, Dwight Shultz, and Neal McDonough. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/markthepoet/message

Hey Trekkies! Welcome back to another episode  of Yelling About Star Trek! In this weeks episode to celebrate First Contact Week, I talk about everything I love about the Enterprise E and explain why I think it is my favorite ship.  Oh and I may or may not compare the E to my Subaru Impreza. Enjoy! 

What if? ... DS9 Joins "Star Trek: First Contact" It is no secret that the trio loves "Star Trek: First Contact." But what if ... Captain Sisko had commanded the U.S.S. Defiant during the Borg invasion? In this re-imagining of the second TNG film, Sisko, Chief O'Brien, and Lt. Cmdr. Worf all join the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise-E to fight the Borg, save Zephram Cochrane, and help Lily. What does Ben think about facing the Borg who killed his wife ... and what happens when he comes face-to-face with revived Locutus of Borg? Can Miles and Lily save First Contact? Let us know what you think of this cross-over re-written film blending TNG and DS9.

What if? ... DS9 Joins "Star Trek: First Contact"It is no secret that the trio loves "Star Trek: First Contact." But what if ... Captain Sisko had commanded the U.S.S. Defiant during the Borg invasion? In this re-imagining of the second TNG film, Sisko, Chief O'Brien, and Lt. Cmdr. Worf all join the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise-E to fight the Borg, save Zephram Cochrane, and help Lily. What does Ben think about facing the Borg who killed his wife ... and what happens when he comes face-to-face with revived Locutus of Borg? Can Miles and Lily save First Contact? Let us know what you think of this cross-over re-written film blending TNG and DS9.

Intevity CEO Ben Elmore is joined by Big Commerce Chief Sales Officer Mark Ostryniec and Vice President of Enterprise Sales, Ali Afzalirad to discuss e-commerce in the enterprise space; sharing their insights on digital strategy and accelerating your business digitally.

In questa puntata abbiamo come gradito ospite Gaetano La Rosa che è un esperto di Open Source perché lavora in questo campo da più di venti anni essendo un istruttore della formazione ufficiale Red Hat ed ha al suo attivo anche un canale YouTube (EXTRAORDY) ed un podcast (GEEK TALK) in cui si trattano argomenti di interesse generale sull'open source. Vi lascio il link al suo canale Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/c/extraordy/featured). Andate a visionarlo, e Buon Ascolto!

There's another ship coming in... Adam Clery presents 10 Secrets Of The USS Enterprise-E You Need To Know...ENJOY!Follow us on Twitter:@AdamClery@TrekCultureFor more awesome content, check out: whatculture.com/topic/star-trek See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Star Trek Generations had a lot of hype to live up to. Not only was it the first time we would see the next generation cast on the big screen, but it would also have the long-anticipated meeting of Captain Kirk and Captain Picard. But, it was also going to be one of those infamous odd-numbered Star Trek movies. So, could it hold up to the hype? Let's dig back into this movie and see how it holds up. ----more----Transcript Welcome to Nerd Heaven I’m Adam David Collings The author of Jewel of the Stars And I am a nerd.   This is episode 23 of the podcast. Today we’re talking about Star Trek Generations.   Generations had a lot of hype to live up to. Not only was it the first appearance of the next generation crew on the big screen, it features the long-anticipated meeting between captains Picard and Kirk. But, it was going to be one of the infamous odd numbered Star Trek movies. So could it live up to the hype?   What did you think of this movie when it first came out? My overall experience with it was a positive one, and yet, I found myself re-writing it in my head, coming up with alternative stories.   Let's see how it stands up.   The description on Memory Alpha reads "Two captains. One destiny." In the late 23rd century, the USS Enterprise-B is on her maiden voyage, and Kirk is no longer in the captain's chair. The ship must rescue El-Aurian refugees from a mysterious energy ribbon, but the rescue seemingly costs Kirk his life. Seventy-eight years later, one of the El-Aurian survivors leads the crew of the Enterprise-D into a deadly confrontation with the Duras sisters as he plots to re-enter the paradise of the ribbon that nearly destroyed him years prior.   The Screenplay was written by Ronald D. Moore & Brannon Braga The Story was by Rick Berman & Ronald D. Moore & Brannon Braga It was Directed by David Carson   And it first appeared in cinemas on the 18th of November 1994.   Make it so. The opening credits were reasonably effective for this movie. I quite like the musical score that Dennis McCarthy created for Generations. Not as memorable as Goldsmith’s score for First Contact, but better than what he did on the TV show. I remember watching the names go by. I knew Kirk was going to be in this movie, but I didn’t know if anyone else from TOS would appear, so I was very excited when James Doohan and Walter Keonig’s names appeared. The bottle of champagne floating through space makes you think of the chateau Picard wine, suggesting that we’re starting in the 24th century. So the reveal of the Enterprise 1701-B was a shock. I nearly wet myself when I saw those original series Wrath of Khan uniforms.   I love how this movie starts in the 24rd century. It feels like it picks up straight after Star Trek 6. And that’s what I really wanted. To start in familiar TOS movie era and then transition to The Next Generation.   It’s not surprising that they got the TOS movie aesthetic spot on, because a lot of the same people who worked on TNG worked on the later TOS movies.   The presence of the news reporters was kinda cool. We’d never seen anything like that in the star trek universe, but it made sense to me that by this point in time, the name Enterprise was famous enough that the media would be present at the launch of a new ship with the name. And the TV style reporters felt like that fit in better in the 23rd century than they did in the 24th. Still, I cheered when Kirk told the reporter to “turn that damn thing off”   John Harriman gets a lot of flack for being a pathetic captain, but I’ve always maintained that most of the problems were because he was completely un-equipped. Starfleet sent him out without half his crew, and half his equipment non-functional. I don’t blame Harriman for that. The ship was doing a publicity flight. They weren’t even supposed to leave the solar system. And yes, he’s a little green, and sometimes hesitates, but he doesn’t have the decades of experience that Kirk has. And what I really like about him, when the moment comes, he swallows his pride and asks for Kirk’s assistance. He doesn’t have many resources, so of course he should use the one resource he does have. Kirk’s experience. In my head canon, I’d like to think that Harriman went on to be a great captain, worthy of the legacy of Kirk and Pike.    And I LOVE that they use the TOS movie warp effect and viewscreen sound. Those are the little details that a non fan wouldn’t even notice, but they mean so much to me.   It’s noticeable that these scenes are being written by TNG writers. The dialog is particularly TNG sounding, specifically in relation to the use of technobabble.   The CGI effects for the nexus ribbon look awesome. Even today it stands up as a really cool looking effect.   The use of el aurian refugees fleeing the borg was a pretty cool idea. And the brief appearance of both Soran and Guinan on screen during this part of the movie is important, because it ties it in to the main 24th century section.   I assume that most people listening would be aware that the script was originally written for Spock and McCoy, not Scotty and Checkov, which is why Checkov is suddenly running sickbay. This kinda works for me because I can believe that as a former security chief and first officer, he’d have had some medical training.  But his line “You and you, you just became nurses,” sounds very much like a McCoy line.   When Harriman gives Kirk the bridge, I like how he hesitates just for a minute, savouring the chance to sit in the captain’s chair, before realising  that’s not his place. It also makes sense that Harriman was going to go. He feels pretty useless on the bridge of his ship right now, especially with Kirk there. But Kirk sees potential, maybe even some familiarity in the young man, telling him that his place is on the bridge of HIS ship.   And then the ribbon hits, blowing kirk out into space. And just like prophesied in Star Trek 5, he died alone. Ok, maybe prophesied is too strong a word. I knew this couldn’t be the last we’d see of Kirk. I knew he shared screen time with Picard in the trailer. Still, as Scotty and Checkov race to deck fifteen, I held my breath. No. It couldn’t be. They couldn’t let Kirk die! I still felt that loss.   OF course, we have a continuity problem here, because when Scotty beamed aboard the Enterprise D in the episode relics, he said “I bet Captain Kirk has come out of retirement.” It’s hard to know how to fix that.   And then we jump forward 78 years into the future. And this is a little jarring because it starts off on a sailing ship on the holodeck. If you weren’t familiar with the Next Generation you’d be really confused by this.  Worf is definitely due toe promotion having served on the Enterprise D for 7 years, over 6 as security chief. And I like that they would celebrate an event like this on the holodeck. This is the kind of sequence we’d never have had on the TV show. And it looks great in it’s widescreen high definition glory.   I found the attitudes of the crew quite hypocritical in this scene. When Riker removes the plank, plunging Work into the cold water, everyone laughs. Crusher says it’s all in good fun. But when Data pushes Crusher in, everyone is horrified. And Crusher, who advised him to live in the moment and have some fun is angry at him. WHAT?   Maybe I’m too much an android myself, but I don’t see the difference.   We don’t know what’s in the message Picard gets, but Patrick Stewart sells it very well with his acting. We know something terrible has happened.   This movie has a very different visual look to it than the TV show. They’re very close to a star, so there’s an orange tint to everything, including the exterior shots of the enterprise, and the inside of the ship, that orange light coming through the windows. And I REALLY like this. IT looks fantastic, and reminds us that this isn’t a TV show anymore. It gave the whole thing a more cinematic look that I really appreciated.   Also, I love the new com badges. Keeping the old uniforms helped give us something familiar to hold onto, but changing the com badges showed that we have moved into a new era.   Picard is already showing clear signs of some kind of emotional trauma. Troi is sending it, not that she really needs empathic abilities for that! But I love the look on her face. Nice non-verbal acting from Marina Sirtis.   The transporter beam has been changed for the movie. Similar enough that it’s not too jarring, but different enough that it feels more ….. movie-ish.   And as we see Soran’s face peeking through the rubble, we see our first connection between these otherwise very disparate stories.   They do a great job with the dead romulan, of making it realistically gory but with green blood instead of red. Green blood is something that could easily come across as cheesy. But it doesn’t.   So given his failure to understand humour, and Crusher’s reaction to his attempt (Which I don’t blame him for, because I don’t understand it either), Data has decided to install the emotion chip that Doctor Soong created for him, which he got from Lore at the end of Descent.   The chip suddenly looks a lot bigger than last we saw it. In Descent, Data didn’t install the chip because he was worried that emotion might lead him to harm others. His friendship with Geordi was too important to him. In this movie, his reason for not having used it until now is a fear that it might overload his neural net. I understand the need to not ask too much of the audience in a movie. They want to sell as many tickets as possible. They don’t want to rely on people having seen every episode of the TV show. I make this work in my head by saying that there were two reasons Data didn’t use the chip. Geordi mentions the technological one because he is an engineer, responsible for Data’s maintenance, and because honestly, he had more faith in Data’s humanity than even Data does.   So this is one of the controversial elements of the movie. Some people didn’t like the addition of emotions to Data. Some just found his behaviour after installation to be extremely annoying. Michael Piller lamented the chip when he came to write Insurrection. He liked the pinocchio aspect of Data’s character and thought it a shame that movie audiences never got to see that side of Data. To me, personally, I’m a fan of character development. I hate it when writers chain themselves to the status quo. I like the worlds in my stories to change, and the people that inhabit those worlds to change even moreso. So, in my opinion, this was a good time for Data to install the chip, to take his character to the next level.   Picard’s ready room and ten forward both look awesome with the new lighting. I love it!   So Data tries a drink offered to him by Guinan. This is the first example of his odd behaviour with the chip. I will admit that Data does get a little annoying in this movie, especially when he’s cracking jokes and laughing maniacally on the station, but this works for me. Data is new to emotions. He has no idea how to deal with them. Can you imagine suddenly, a lifetime of emotions, related to all of your memories, suddenly flooding into your system. I don’t think I’d handle them any better than Data does. Imagine experiencing fear for the very first time. It would be crippling. Yeah, in my opinion, this stuff is all very nicely done. Data’s jokes here are not supposed to amuse us. They certainly don’t amuse Geordi. We’re seeing the whole thing through Geordi’s eyes.   So we apparently El Aurians have some mild telepathic abilities. Soran is able to see Picard’s pain. He senses it is related to fire and burning. He understands that Picard is struggling with issues of regret and things not done. This makes it very easy for him to manipulate Picard into allowing him onto the station. I can buy that El Aurians have these kinds of senses. It’s probably what gives them the reputation for being such good listeners.   You’ll notice that over the course of this movie, the crew slowly transitions from the traditional TNG uniforms to the newer DS9/Voyager uniforms. This makes sense to me because this IS a time of uniform transition.I wonder if there are any rules or guidelines regarding when they should wear particular uniforms.   Now we come to one of the most powerful scenes in the movie. Picard is looking through his family photo albums and Troi comes to see him. This is a wonderful character scene for both of them. I love this scene because it gives Troi the chance to actually matter. Something that didn’t really happen in any of the other TNG movies. Troi actually gets to be a counsellor. We learn that Picard’s brother Robert and his nephew Rene have tragically burned to death in a fire. This is heart-breaking to hear. Doubly so because we met these characters back in the fourth season episode family. Patrick Stewart’s acting in this scene is absolutely phenomenal. This scene is the thematic and emotional heart of the movie.   I’ve heard it said that the theme this movie is trying to explain is essentially a copy of the aging theme in Star Trek II. But I see a lot of difference between the two. In Star Trek II, Kirk was basically having a mid-life crisis. Filled with the regret of the loss of the glory days. Feeling like he could never get those days back again.   Picard’s experience is very different. Picard never lost his glory days. He’s living the dream right now. He’s captain of the Enterprise. Picard’s issue is all about legacy. Yes, Picard is aware that he is aging, that there are “fewer days ahead than there are behind,” as he puts it. But that doesn’t bother him so much. He takes comfort in his family legacy. The family will go on. And Rene is very much like Jean-Luc. He is the closest thing he has to a child of his own, and to Jean-Luc, that is quite enough. He’s content with that. But now that legacy has been stolen from him. I’m sure there are other members of the Picard family alive. Cousins, second cousins. Extended family. But the line of Maurice Picard, of Robert and Jean-Luc, that is gone. And there is no longer any hope that this can be changed. Time has been cruel to Picard. It has taken away his hopes for the future. I love that this film, with everything else that’s packed into it, still takes the time to explore some weighty emotional issues with it’s characters. Well done, I say. Well done.   And I love the transition from Picard talking, to the sudden implosion seen through the window. Having spoken with Troi, Picard is able to switch his professionalism back on.   So, a nice touch, Soran is working with the Duras Sisters, rogue Klingons. This is cool because it allows the movie to have a familiar traditional bad guy, the klingons, that fans of the original series and movies would be familiar with, even though in this time, the klingons are our allies. To fans of TNG, these are familiar popular characters. To other viewers, they’re just Klingons who are clearly meant to be villains. It works on both levels.   The actors that portray Lursa and B’etor do a great job of portraying their characters.   I like the little moment when Soran waves his hand in front of his face, suggesting the Klingons don’t smell so good. Just a little bit of visual story-telling.   Crusher identifies Soran’s past and figures out Guinan likely knows him, since she was on the lakul with him back when Kirk rescued them.  Why is crusher doing biographical research on him?   Anyway, this is handy because Guinan is able to give Picard more information on his enemy. I like Guinan’s quarters. They look kind of exotic. Lots of candles. I’ve always liked the character of Guinanan, and in this movie, Whoopi Goldburg shows us a rarely seen vulnerable side of the character.   Strangely, Goldbuerg is not credited in this movie. I wonder why.   The Enterprise D model that flies by is, I believe, the same model used for the TV show. And yet, in this shot, it seems weightier. It feels like a big heavy ship. Is it the camera used to shoot it? The widescreen aspect ratio? I’m not sure.   The new stellar cartography set is really cool, with those massive screens that encircle them. I remember feeling quite impressed by it when I first saw this movie.   This scene pulls double duty. It is an exposition scene where they find out what Soran’s plan is. But at the same time, it does some really nice character stuff with Data and Picard. Both of them are struggling with their emotions. Picard just has a little more experience to draw on than data does. It’s good stuff.   Speaking of Soran’s plan, it’s a bit dumb. But we’ll come to that a bit later.   I understand why the Duras sisters are willing to exchange Geordi for Picard, even if Picard is beamed down to Soran’s location. They want to use his visor to spy on the ship so they can destroy it. But why doesn’t Picard suspect their surprising agreement?   Veridian III looks amazing. This was all shot at the Valley of Fire State Park, and man it looks awesome. Especially shot with the cinema cameras and rendered in high def on blu-ray. Such rugged beauty, so exotic and alien looking. I can’t say enough good about this location. It’s fantastic.   So Soran is willing to destroy two stars, and at least one entire planet populated by people. Just to divert the nexus ribbon to a place he can enter it. When Picard asks why he doesn’t just fly into it with a ship, Data’s excuse is that any ship that has approached the ribbon has been destroyed or damaged. Soran says his plan is the only way. But we know this isn’t true. Yes, Soran’s ship might be destroyed, but….he’ll still end up in the Nexus. We'll shortly have proof of that when we see Kirk in the Nexus. He was blown out into space and sucked into the nexus by the ribbon. Pleasantly, that means all those lakul survivors that Scotty couldn’t save also ended up in the nexus. That’s nice. The whole thing comes across as a bit convoluted. I understand the writers of this movie were under extreme time pressure, so I can understand why this is what they came up with, but I do acknowledge that it doesn’t really work for me.   But what does work is the character stuff between Picard and Soran. I like how Picard calls back to the borg. Soran’s perspective is almost convincing. We’re all going to die sometime anyway, so is it really so bad that I make it happen a little earlier for a few people so I can experience an eternity of joy?   The Duras sister’s plan is kind of clever and works for me. They’ve modified Geordi’s visor to transmit what he sees, and they see the shield nutation frequency on a panel.  That allows them to get through the enterprise shields and actually inflict damage. But this leads into what I consider to be the first really big negative in this movie. This battle between the Enterprise and the bird of prey is pretty weak, and honestly, not a great way for our beloved ship to go down.   It always struck me as silly that the Enterprise takes shot after shot, through its shields, yet they get one single torpedo hit on their ship and the whole thing blows up. The whole sequence feels very weak and pathetic. The biggest issue, as others have pointed out before me, is that it’s all solved with technobabble. If you want to go into more detail on this, just listen to the youTube Lorerunner rant about this scene.   And do you notice that the shot of the bird of prey exploding is a recycled shot from Star Trek VI? I did, even back in the day. The budget must have been really tight for them to have done that. Although, in the director’s commentary, David Carson talks about watching them shoot the destruction of the Klingon Ship, so….I’m not sure what to make of that.   And so, the writers decide to do what had only been done once before, They’re going to destroy a much-loved Starship Enterprise. It made sense to do this. Firstly, it added bigger, more intense stakes to the movie. They’d never have done this in the show. But more importantly, it allowed them to make a new Enterprise for subsequent movies. Remember, these sets were created back in the 80s for a standard definition TV show. They did some good stuff in this movie to make the Enterprise D look good on the big screen, but the Enterprise E was made for the big screen, and as I said in my First Contact video, it looked fantastic.   Sadly, the destruction of the Enterprise D was done very badly. It lacks the thematic and emotional resonance that the destruction of the original Enterprise had in Star Trek III. It is lost because of a battle they should have won with a silly little old bird of prey. However, after the loss of the stardrive section, the whole battle thing is redeemed, in my opinion by a truly amazing sequence as the saucer section crashes onto Veridian III.   First off, let me say that Data’s swear word got a lot of audible laughter from the theatre when I first watched it, and yes, I laughed too.   The crash landing looks amazing. Seriously, I could just watch this sequence all day long. IT’s spectacular. The Enterprise has never felt so big. So weighty. The way it cuts through the trees and scoops up dirt from the surface of the planet. Man, I can’t say enough good things about it. I Love it. It blew me away in the cinema, and it still blows me away now. This may just be the best visual sequence out of any Star Trek movie.   And then, after all the firstworks, we have that silent moment as Troi tells Data he’s ok. And the sad music starts to swell, as we come to fully realise that the Enterprise, our Enterprise, is gone.   So Picard tries to stop Soran, but he fails. The probe is launched. The star is destroyed. While it doesn’t make sense for the sky to dim so immediately, it IS a beautiful visual image of the ribbon travelling through a near sun-set sky.   And then when the shockwave hits Veridian III, we get another cool visual - the destruction of Veridian III, which honestly, rivals the destruction of Vulcan in Star Trek 2009.   This next bit is a little disorienting, but it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that Picard is in the Nexus, and he is living out his greatest fantasy. Picard is married and surrounded by a big bunch of kids.   It’s a shame his wife is a random nobody, rather than Crusher. But I do note that Picard’s wife looks somewhat similar to crusher. This all ties in thematically with Picard’s terrible loss, and the stuff he talked about with Troi. As Picard looks at the Christmas tree, he sees what appears to be an exploding star on one of the Christmas baubles. I always assumed that this was an image of Veridian III exploding, that it was the Nexus’s way of reminding Picard of what it had cost for him to be here in this paradise. Kind of a nasty passive aggressive jab to prick his conscience. This would also imply some intelligence behind the nexus.   While this all seemed super obvious to me, apparently not everybody thought so, as there have been discussions online about what it’s all about. What do you think?   The sudden appearance of Guinan doesn’t entirely make sense. The whole concept of an echo, a part of herself she left behind isn’t well developed and not that well explained.   But it serves as a mechanism for some exposition and introduces us to the fact that Kirk is alive and well, after all this time, in the Nexus himself.   Picard is apparently able to travel from his own fantasy into Kirk’s.   Finally, after all these years, we get to see Kirk and Picard share the screen together. It’s not exactly in the setting we might have hoped it would be, but it was still exciting to see them together.   It’s a shame they invented the woman antonia, instead of using Carol Marcus, who it should have been. We can speculate that this moment in Kirk’s life takes place some time between The Motion Picture and Star Trek II. There’s quite a period of time there where Kirk wasn’t happy with his career. I can imagine he left Starfleet for a time and then decided to return, even if it meant resuming his former position as admiral.   Unlike Picard, Kirk is fully embracing this fantasy. I don’t think the movie has really given us enough background to what he’s dealing with. Picard’s character arc in this movie works. Kirk’s not so much.  At this point in the movie, my feelings are that I liked what we got, but I would have loved something different. Kirk never gets to see the Enterprise D. He never gets to meet any of the rest of the crew. I would have liked to see Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise A come face to face with the crew of the Enterprise D. I would have liked to see those two crews work together. Of course, bringing together that many characters would have been a challenge, and would have given few of them a satisfying role. Generations was put together quickly, and I believe the writers, Ronald D moore and Branon Brage weren’t entirely happy with it themselves. There’s no doubt that with more time for writing, this movie could have been something much greater, but there’s still a lot to like in what we actually got.   So Kirk  quickly realises that nothing in the nexus matters. He gives Picard a speech about never leaving the bridge of his ship and they return to Veridian III just before  Soran destroys the star. IT seems silly that they didn’t give themselves more time. That could have chosen anywhere anytime.   Now that the writers had brought Kirk into the 24th century, they have to decide what to do with him. IT wouldn’t have made sense to send him back and rewrite all that established history. They could have left him alive in this new time period, and at the time, I was in favour of that, but over time I’ve come to agree that it made good sense to kill Kirk in the climax of this film.   But is Kirk’s death fitting? Hmm. Not entirely, but I don’t think it’s as bad as some people make out. First, let’s acknowledge that it was originally much worse. Before they showed this to test audiences, they had Kirk shot in the back by a dying Soran after remarking that the 24th century isn’t so tough. Obviously, that was not just a terrible idea, but an insulting one. They wisely went back and re-shot this sequence with a new death, in which Kirk has to risk his life to get the control pad.  I’ve heard some say they think Kirk should have died aboard the Enterprise. In space. But I don’t know. This seems a very Kirk way to die. Kirk was always beaming down to rocky planets like this and getting into fist fights. It seems fitting that this would be the way he would die. So I’m with it., It was still sad to see Picard bury his predecessor, realising that we’d never again see Kirk.   Kirk’s moment of death is extremely well acted by William Shatner. Possibly his best acting moment.   And the music does it’s job well here too.   So having experienced 261 distinct emotional states Data is beginning to learn how to control his emotions, rather than allow them to control him. Which of course makes perfect sense. The data we’ll see in the next movie will be less annoying and more human. Good character development, until Insurrection and Nemesis mess it all up.   But those tears, ugh. That was silly and didn’t work for me.   As Picard rummages through the ruins of his office, looking for his photo album, he tosses something over his shoulder, showing complete disregard for it. This was terrible. This object had tremendous scientific and archeological significance, not to mention huge emotional significance as it was given to him by his old mentor, professor Galen. That really annoys me.   So, that was Star Trek Generations. Despite its flaws, I really like this movie. And I hope you have enjoyed revisiting it with me.   So, that was Star Trek Generations. You know, there’s actually only one Next Generation movie that we haven’t talked about on the podcast yet. And that, of course, is Insurrection. So I will be doing an episode about that at some point in the reasonably near future.   Now, if you like Star Trek, then don’t forget that my series of books, Jewel of The Stars, is very Star Treky in nature, it’s actually about a cruise ship in space on the run from an alien amarda after Earth has fallen to an invasion. You can actually read the entire first episode, completely for free now, going to wattpad and searching for Jewel of The Stars by Adam David Collings, or you can pick it up in any ebook format from the major retailers for 99 cents. And it is also available in paperback. Well, next episode we’re gonna be doing something a little different. I’ll be talking about the movie Stargate Origins: Catherine, so I’ll see you for that in two weeks time Live long and prosper Make it so.

Star Trek Picard's season finale "Et in Arcadia Ego Part 2" has arrived. We finally get to see some turn of the century Starfleet ships, plus a welcome familiar face. So what did I think of the climax? I talk about what worked for me, and what didn't. It's been a wild ride over the last ten weeks. I've enjoyed the journey, and I hope you'll continue to join me on Nerd Heaven now that Star Trek Picard is finished. There's plenty more to come! ----more---- Transcript   Welcome to Nerd Heaven I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars And I am a nerd.   This is episode 20 of the podcast. Today, we’re talking the 10th episode and season finale of Star Trek Picard Et in Arcadia ego Part 2.   And yes, apparently, it’s et, not et. It’s apparently latin. Last week I interpreted it as a mixture of french and english. Which should probably be a little embarrassing.   So we’ve made it all the way through season 1. Be sure to stick around to the end of this podcast, because I’ll be talking about what the future holds for Nerd Heaven now that Picard season 1 is finished. I’m recording this episode on the 28th of March 2020. And right now, basically the entire world are being told to stay in their homes unless absolutely necessary, due to the spread of covid 19. It’s a crazy time. But at least we have new Star Trek to talk about.   The description for this episode on memory alpha reads Picard and his team are pitted against the Romulans and the synthetics of Coppelius in a final confrontation.   The teleplay was by Michael Chabon. The story was by Michael Chabon and Akiva Goldsman It was directed by Akiva Goldsman And it first aired on the 26th of March 2020.   Make it so.   I love that opening shot of the Borg cube crashed on the shore of the ocean. And we see that Narak has arrived. Makes sense this would be the place he’d go. Elnor and Seven are just sitting around in the dark talking about xbs. Why did they stay behind again? One of the downsides of this show seems to be under-utilising certain characters, such as these two. I think this scene epitomises that problem. However, it’s a great scene. Elnor posits that because the xbs have no home, and are hated by everyone, that they might be better off dead. Seven reminds him that she’s also an xb. Does that mean she should just kill herself? The reason he gives that she should not, is that he would miss her. Nice little friendship growing between these two. So in Elnor’s philosophy, being loved by another is a reason to live. And it is. It’s one of the strongest driving forces that keeps us going through hard times. It’s also one of the most soul-destroying things that rob people of their hope, when they feel that nobody loves them.   And then surprise surprise. Rizzo is on the cube. This has me really confused. We saw her being attacked by xbs. At the last second she beamed aboard one of the Romulan ships and left the cube, heading for Coppelius. And then last week, we saw her commanding one of the warbirds, a day away from the planet. Unless that was Oh. We know she’s commanding the fleet now. But it seemed very clear to me, back in Broken Pieces, that she had beamed off the cube. So if we’re supposed to accept that she’s been hiding on the cube all this time, they’ve not done a good job of explaining it. Now she’s on the cube, but the fleet hasn’t arrived yet. I was waiting for her to fade out, as a hologram. Very strange.   We’ll see the robot butterfly flapping about a lot in this episode. It could be symbolic. I’ll talk more about it later. For now, Picard is envious of the freedom the butterfly has, since he is currently imprisoned. Soji comes in to see him.   It seems she wasn’t being a double agent last week, when she agreed with her evil twin Sutra. And she has the nerve to say to Picard “Try to see this from our point of view.” We’re going to kill you, everyone you ever loved, and literally all organic life in the galaxy. But try to see it from our point of view.” She says of his plan to rescue them in his ship,  “You choose if we live. You choose if we die. You choose. We have no choice.” But that’s exactly what she’s doing right now. She’s choosing whether people live or die, and she’s chosen for them to die. The synths have legitimate grievances again organics, but she has become just like her enemy. But she has become worse. Worse than the Federation. Not worse than the Zhat Vash, who want to exterminate all synthetic life. The synths and the Zhat Vash have become mirrors of each other. And both because of the same motivation. Fear. Again, we’ll come back to this.   Picard says “To say you have no choice is a failure of imagination.” Which I think is a great line. And one that we can all apply to our own lives. And as he points out, not only have the synths become the Zhat Vash, they have become the very monsters the Zhat Vash fear.   And so another party separates, leaving one of their number behind on the Borg cube. This time, Rizo remains to bring the weapons online. Not sure what she hopes to accomplish with the weapons of a grounded borg cube, but anyway.   And Elnor notices Narak and follows him.   Rios and Raffi are fixing the ship using the magic repair device. It feels like a technology that would be more at home in Doctor Who than Star Trek, but it’s interesting. I do like the friendship these two have.   Altan Soong is an interesting one. He really is okay with all organic life being annihilated for the sake of his synths. As long as he gets to transfer into a synth body, of course. He really believes Agnus is willing to help him do that, and then die herself. And he’s okay with that as well. The guy is a bit unhinged. Of course, Agnus has no intention of helping him, or of dying.   Narak makes a good point to Rios. He’s trying to save the universe. And he is. While Narak and his sister are really not fantastic villains, this is one aspect of them that I like. They believe they’re the good guys. They’re not just evil for evil’s sake. I do like a villain who is the hero of their own story. Right now, Narak and Rios have a common enemy, and a partially common goal. They need to stop the synths from calling in the supersynths. Of course, Narak wants to do that by eliminating all the synths. So working with him is very risky. But maybe, just maybe, the partially genuine feelings he developed for Soji have softened him just a bit. Maybe he’s hoping to find a way to save the universe without slaughtering the synths. Maybe that’s why he insisted that Rizo stay behind at the cube, because she’s more trigger-happy than he is.   I really like Elnor’s innocence. He just says what’s on his mind like a kid. He looks across the campfire at Narak and says “I don’t like you.” And yet, somehow, Evan Evagora sells it without it sounding silly or on the nose.   So Narak tells the story of  ganmadan. It’s like the Romulan end times. What’s interesting is that he says “some say it dates back from long before our ancestors first arrived on vulcan.”   Now, either this is a mistake in dialog, meant to say “before our ancestors arrived on Romulus from Vulcan”,  or they are implying that Vulcans are not native to their homeworld, that they travelled their from somewhere else. Which is a major game-changing idea to casually just drop into conversation like this. What are we supposed to make of this?    Anyway, Ganmadan is a story that is eerily reminiscent of what is going on, even more eerily reminiscent of what will soon happen later in the episode. Narak doesn’t believe it’s a prophecy, he believes it’s history. A history that will repeat itself.   Okay. So we know the super-nasty-synths from a higher plan have come and annihilated organic life before. But they were called by two sisters? It seems strangely coincidental that all those eons ago, it was synths made in sibling pairs, just like Maddox’s synths, that called the big bads. So I’m left wondering. Is there more to it? There’s no time-travel involved in this show. Will there be there in the future? Or is it supposed to truly be a real prophecy? Something none of the characters around this fireplace actually believe in?   I know it would probably be easier to pull off their plan in daylight, and the campfire scene allows the episode to give us some exposition in a dramatic way, but given the stakes, they seem to have very little sense of urgency. If I were them, I’d be trying to destroy that beacon as soon as possible.   They do that cutting back and force thing again here, and it works well for me here, because it’s kinda reminiscent of a heist movie.   They hide the detonator in a soccer ball, which the synths let him carry into the village. Odd that he’d happen to bring a soccer ball, but whatever. I’ll give them that one.   So agnus breaks Picard out of jail. I love Agnus’s face when she says she thought she’d be a terrible secret agent, but she’s starting to think she may have a gift.   Picard and Agnus are talking about how to stop the synths. Technologically, they’re more advanced, but they’re also like children. Their only teachers have been a couple of hermits. And we already know that one of them, Soong, is a pretty unstable guy. They’ve lived their lives under the threat of extermination. Picard can’t single handedly take down the Romulan Fleet, or destroy the beacon, but he can teach the synths some better lessons. This is what he’s good at. This is the speech-making Picard we’ve known all these years. Who debated passionately with Q. Who pleaded with Soran to call of his genocide of the people in the  Viridian system. Picard is a man who influences and convinces. That’s how he’s going to save the day. “Yes, they have life, but nobody is teaching them what life is for. To be alive is a responsibility as well as a right.” He’s going to teach them this lesson by example. This is a pretty decent Picard speech, and will likely be remembered alongside many from TNG.   “Fear is an incompetent teacher,” he says. Feat has been an important theme throughout this show. Probably the most important. Everybody in this show is allowing their actions to be dictated by fear. The Zhat Vash, Starfleet, the synths. They’ve all succumbed to it. That’s the other thing about fear. None of us are immune to it. You know what would have made this theme even more powerful, is that if Picard himself had struggled with fear a little through this season, but overcame it in time to teach the galaxy this lesson. Picard has had an arc, and he has struggled with things, but fear hasn’t been one of them. Which makes him come off, just a little pompous. But then, I guess that’s also been a bit of an aspect of Picard’s character all these years. He’s the high idea, the one who teaches us all the error of our ways. This show has probably given us the most flawed Picard we’ve ever had. So, I’ll not be too harsh here.   Actually, I’ve gotta say on second viewing, I’m really connecting with this more than the first time. The thing is, at 94 years of age, Picard is no longer an action hero. He’s using what he’s got. His mind. His mind, and his conscience are as keen as the day we first met him coming down the lift in the engine room of the newly commissioned Enterprise D.   And then we finally get our one and only “Make it so” in the season. And it’s spoken, not by Picard, but by Agnes. In a way that feels very much fan-service easter-egg. I talked about this last week. “Make it so” is not something that should be fan service. Make it so is not an easter egg. Make it so is a very natural and regular part of Picard’s vocabulary. I don’t think the writers of this show understand that. It makes little sense for Agnus to say it. First of all, how does she even know it’s a phrase of his. He’s never said it in front of her, at least not on screen. It’s like they’re thinking, “we can’t put in too many easter eggs, and we’ve got to mix them up, so we’ll have Agnus say it.” Totally missing the point there. As I said last week, there have been plenty of opportunities for Picard to say it very naturally. But instead, they give us this. I know it’s a small thing, but we Star Trek fans like to nitpick the small things. And this was a bit frustrating to me. Anyway, moving on.   So Soong learns the truth. Saga was killed not by Narak, but by Sutra, who let Narak go. So he decides to become one of the good guys. He confronts Sutra and de-activates her. But remember, minutes ago, this was the man who was quite okay with all organic life being obliterated. This is a little too much for me. It’s not that the realisation that he’s been played makes him join the good guys, it’s the fact that he went so far the other way first. I’m afraid it’s not quite working for me. Soong realises at this moment that he’s been a bad teacher. His line as she falls is kinda telling, though. “Turns out, you’re no better than we are.” It seems that Soong believed the synths were better than humanity. Superior, not just physically, but morally. Perhaps that’s why he was willing to let all organic life die. This line helps, but his turn is still too jarring, from super-super-evil-moustache-twirler to reasonable man.   And I’m afraid I have to point out that Elnor and Narak punching and kicking synths is ridiculous. All they’d get for their trouble would be broken fingers and ankles. These are androids. Metal and plastic. Super strong. And super fast. Honestly, there’s no way our heroes should succeed here. But of course, they don’t. For a second there, I thought Soji was going to turn good and help them. But no, she throws the detonator into the sky. She’s really still okay with comitting genocide.   I’m ok with the other synths being committed to this plan. As picard says they’re children who’ve not been taught well. But until recently, Soji thought she was human. And she’s begun to develop relationships with humans.   Anyway   Rizo is trying to use the Borg weapons to destroy La Sierena. But Seven shows up to stop her. I always thought Elnor would be the one to kill Rizo, but I’m okay with Seven doing it. In fact, that may be even more satisfying. Especially when she says “this is for hugh.” Rizo’s prejudice against rescued former borg is inconsistent. She doesn’t treat her aunt Ramdha with hate, or call her a half-meat. But it’s probably a mistake to look for logic or consistency in hate.   Have I mentioned before that I quite like the designs of the new Romulan warbirds? Oh orders her people to sterilise the entire planet. I feel like the episode should be over at this point. They should have been able to destroy the settlement before the orchids even made it into orbit. Anyway, those orchids buy us a little time.   I have quite mixed feelings about this next part of the episode. So Agnus and Picard come up with a plan, inspired by the old Picard Maneuver he used on the Stargazer against a Ferengi vessel all those decades ago.   Picard’s plan here is to show Soji a better way. Her specifically. She’s the one he can reach. She’s the one he’s been building a relationship with all this time.   He’s not just trying to stop the synths from unleashing hell. He’s also trying to stop the Romulans from killing the synths. In effect, he’s on both sides of the conflict, or on neither. He wants Soji to know that despite what she’s doing, he still wants to save her people, to find an option that works for all.   Again, Oh orders all ships to target the nest. Then a good 30 seconds before Picard’s fake ships even appear. The nest should now be destroyed. But no, the Romulan ships are just sitting there, their guns glowing. Doing nothing. And Oh is so distracted by the site of La Sirenna. One ship. “What is that?” she asks, like she’s seen something amazing. This is not a new problem. TNG often had the crew of the Enterprise sitting around like stunned mullets when they should have been acting. This time around, it’s the villains. Then Agnus pulls off the trick. Lots of fake La Sierannas. It distracts the Romulans for a moment or two, but it doesn’t actually achieve anything. Except, I guess, it buys them a little more time for Starfleet to get there. But before that can happen, the brecon activates. It opens a whole in space. A portal. Again Oh, is so slow. Does it really take that long to re-target their distruports? “On my command. Now I’ll start into space dramatically for a few seconds beforeI give the command. Oh. too late. Starfleet are here now.”   However, the arrival of Starfleet was a great moment. We’ve been wanting to see some turn-of-the-century Starfleet ships, and finally we get some. This is the moment we’ve been waiting for. We spot some modern upgrades to the nebula class, an excitingly, a couple of sovereign classes! Could one of these be the Enterprise? Has the Enterprise E been retired or destroyed at this point? We don’t actually know. But either way, it’s wonderful to see the sovereign class. I love that ship. And you know, this is the first time we’ve actually seen the sovereign class in a TV show. Back when they were doing the TNG movies, we never saw a sovereign on screen in either DS9 or Voyager. I thought that was a shame, personally.   At a closer look, those other ships are not so reminiscent of the nebula class. They’re kind of a squishy hybrid between the intrepid class and the galaxy class, but skinned with the aesthetic of the sovereign class.   Most of the fleet seems to be made up of this new ship class, and sovereigns, although I think I might have spotted something slightly deficient-esque. But maybe not. Anyway, then, a not-so-big-but-still-welcome-suprise.  This is acting Captain Will Riker in command of the USS Zheng He. I was hoping Riker would put the uniform back on to lead the fleet coming to Picard’s aide. He’s not on board his old ship, the Titan. This, apparently, is Starfleet’s most powerful ship.   The ship is named after chinese explorer Zheng He. Apparently, he was also a mariner, diplomat, fleet admiral, and court eunuch! That’s quite a diverse career. He lived from 1371 to 1433.   We don’t know much about this ship. We don’t even really see the exterior. Memory alpha describes it as a Zheng-he type starship. So it’s a new class, a prototype. We have no registry number. We do see the interior of the bridge, and I quite like what little we see of it. Loving that super wide viewscreen. Apparently, the bridge is a redress of the USS Discovery bridge. All I recognised was the chair, so it must be a pretty significant redress. Anyway, that aesthetic looks a lot more appropriate here at the turn of the 25th century than it ever did in the twenty third. As much as I love this moment, I’m kinda annoyed that they don’t even show us the exterior of this ship. We Star Trek nerds live for this kind of thing.   And all the while everyone is talking, that beacon is still working, and the portal is open. There’s a real timing problem with this confrontation.   While all of this is happening, Picard is having some kind of stroke or something. Obviously related to his brain defect. It seems his syndrome, irumodic or otherwise, is taking his life a heck of a lot quicker than we were expecting. But Picard still has to convince Soji.   He begs Soji to prove to the Romulans that she’s not the destroyer, that they don’t need to fear her. And while all of this is going on, those fleets are still just sitting there. No shot has been fired yet. Even though Oh ordered her ships to target the Federation fleet and attack. For some reason, these romulan weapons take an absolute eternity to re-target, which is preposterous to me.   Picard makes a good point. We’re not trying to destroy you. We’re not joining the Romulans, targeting you. We’re defending you. Because we believe in you.   Then we get a cool but brief look at the super-synths. They’re really creepy. The stuff of nightmares. Crawley tentacled things squirming in red-tinged space.   Soji finally listens to Picard’s words and turns off the beacon. As well she should. Picard, I believe, has successfully made his point.   But it’s at this moment when everybody seems to give up too easily. The super-synths are just gone. Now we have to speculate at this point, that the beacon is more than just a message, saying come help us. It literally opens a portal into our universe. A portal that can’t be opened from the other side? It would seem to me that these super-synths wouldn’t just give up and go home just because the beacon stopped transmitting. I mean, the beacon could have been destroyed by the organics.   The romulans give up too easily. These extremist Zhat Vash who have devoted their lives to wiping out synths leave the scene immediately. And then the entire Federation fleet leaves the system. Escorting the Romulans out of Federation space, apparently, but not one ship remains behind to guard the planet, or to make sure no super-synths return with a portal of their own.   I love that we got to see the Federation fleet, and I love that we got to see Riker in uniform again, the new uniform. Looks good on him. But I wanted more. Starfleet didn’t even fire a shot. I get that this show is more sci-fi drama than sci-fi action. But this felt quite anti-climactic to me. I was expecting an epic space battle here. It could have been one to rival the battle in Deep Space Nine’s Sacrifice of Angels. The two fleets should have battled while Picard was convincing Soji.   Anyway. That was the plot climax for the series. But not the character climax. That’s about to come now.   The little exchange between Picard and Riker actually felt reminiscent of the scene between Kirk and Sulu at the end of Star Trek 6. They may not be stationed on the same ship together, but these characters will always have each other’s backs.   And now that it’s all over, Picard’s brain tears itself apart. Hastened by the dru Agnus administered. I’ll admit, this surprised me. I thought Picard’s slow descent into dementia and eventual death would be an arc that would take us through all seasons of this show.   It’s an emotional moment, but at the same time, it’s kind of hollow. We know this is not the end. We know they’re already working on season 2. The show is called Star Trek Picard. They’re not gonna do it without him. So we know they’re gonna pull some kind of magic reset button like they did back in the days of TNG.   As Picard dies, he tells Rafi she was right. She asks what about, but he never gets any more words out. What do you think he was talking about? I’m guessing he means when she got angry at him for giving up after Starfleet refused to help the Romulans. It’s the one big disagreement they had.   So now we get a couple of character scenes between different people. When Rios says “You heard?” they make it clear that Picard has died. But there’s more they don’t tell you yet. Seven is angry at herself for killing somebody just because it’s what they deserve. Just because it feels wrong for them to still be alive. I love this moment. I agree with Seven. It felt wrong for Rizo to still be alive, given how evil she was. If we were talking about a real person, I’d feel differently, but because she was fictional, I really really wanted her to die. But I love that the show addresses the harsh reality of this. Seven took a life. That’s not a good thing. It’s not something to be celebrated. In so many shows, the good guy kills the bad guy, and feels nothing. This show is acknowledging that Seven did what had to be done, but that doesn’t means she should be okay with it. Taking a life exerts a toll on the killer. I assure you I don’t say that from experience. I’ve never killed anyone, and I desperately hope I never have to.   As for Rios, he’s angry for once again letting a great captain, another father figure, into his heart, only to lose them again. These are the moments that Star Trek Picard excels at. The quiet character moments. And then the butterfly swoops past the camera again. At this moment, my wife said “That butterfly has to be symbolic of something.”   Poor Elnor. The way he puts his fists up to his eyes didn’t feel like a good acting choice. Looked more like a little kid crying of a broken toy, than a young man crying over the death of the only father he ever knew. But apart from the tiny moment, this scene still made me hurt inside. As Elnor sobs and Raffi holds him. Yeah, that got to me, so well done to both actors.   And then we cut to Picard. I think that maybe, the butterfly was symbolic of Data. Although the butterfly has what Data lacks. Freedome. But i’m getting ahead of myself.   Picard wakes up in a room with Data. Data calls it a massively complex quantum simulation. Turns out, Picard’s consciousness has been uploaded into a computer. That computer also contains the consciousness of Data, originally backed-up to B4, and used to clone all the other synths. So..this is efficevely, the real data. Not a dream.   This is wonderful because it gives Picard the chance to actually have a real talk with the real data. Also, I love that Data shows up in my favourite uniform - the TNG movie uniform he last wore before he died. Makes sense. That’s what he was wearing when he backed up his engrams into B4.   I love how Picard says “I was furious” because Data sacrificed himself to save Picard. And Data says to straight “I apologise, Captain. But I am not certain I could have done otherwise.”    Data doesn’t quite look right in this scene, but honestly, that doesn’t bother me in the slightest. Brent Spiner is 71 years old. He was 38 when he first played Data. He’s allowed to look different, even under all that makeup. And this is a beautiful scene.   This really is a great conversation. They talk about their lack of regret for the sacrifices they made for others. This all helps Picard finally come to terms with Data’s death. It’s beautiful. Which makes it all the more heartbreaking when Data makes a request of Picard.   Data asks Picard to terminate his consciousness. What did I say about this show being full of suicide? Here’s another example. I struggled with this. Data says he doesn’t want to die, he wants to live, however briefly, knowing his life is finite. Mortality gives meaning to human life, captain. Data says peace, love and friendship are precious, because we know they cannot endure. I agree with Data that these things are precious, although I’m not sure I agree with his reason. They are precious, but not necessarily because they cannot endure. I’m not even sure I fully agree that they cannot endure.   Anyway, Data has always wanted to be more human, and there is nothing more human than mortality. As Picard said to Soran in generations. It’s our mortality that defines us. It’s part of the truth of our existence.   Picard agrees. And so, heart-breakingly, we have to watch Data die a second time. And it’s worse than the first time. But I’ll get to that.   The thing I like about this show is that, in some way, it redeemed Star Trek Nemesis. Don’t get me wrong, I still think that’s a bad movie, but this gives much greater meaning and depth to it, in much the same way that Avengers Endgame gave more depth to Thor Ragnarok and Guardians of The Galaxy.   So they downloaded Picard’s consciousness into the golem. It looks exactly like Picard’s real body. We still don’t understand if this golem is made of metal or flesh. But given he has normal skin tone, not yellow skin and eyes, I’d suggest it’s probably a flesh body like what Soji has.   Picard seems remarkably okay with this. Personally, I’d find the realisation that I’d died and was now in an artificial body a difficult transition to get used to. I’d be feeling a whole host of emotions.   But this body is not augmented. No super strength or speed.  The brain abnormality is gone. I love when he says, almost panicked, “you haven’t made me immortal.” “No, we were paying attention. You’ll die roughly around the time you would have died otherwise.” And then Picard says “I wouldn't have minded an extra 10 years. Maybe 20.” We still don’t know what the average lifespan of a human in the 24th century is, but it’s clearly longer than current day.   So picard de-activates data. As he listens to Blue Skies he sips a drink and closes his eyes with satisfaction. He lies down, like he’s going to have a nice nap. This is a hard scene for me to watch. Last time, we just saw the ship blow up. This time, we have to watch data’s face rapidly age, into a ray dried husk. And then he whisps away like he’s been Thanossed out of existence. That’s hard. It hurts that they brought him back like this, just to have him die again.   So now that we’ve all crying, let’s take a look at thematically what this is saying. Data’s desire to end here, seems to connect with the common quesion that people often ask, “would eternal life became a form of torture? Would living forever eventually become so painful that you would want to end?” This is a thematic question that Star Trek Voyager once addressed, in the episode Death Wish. The best Q episode they ever did on Voyager, and some would argue, the only good one.   This is an interesting philosophical question. And I understand where people are coming from, when they ask it. And to be honest, I have contemplated the question myself, certainly since I first watched this scene last night.   I personally do believe in an afterlife. But I don’t believe it will end up becoming torturous. I believe it will be a fulfilling existence, and that it will be eternally fulfilling. That’s the biblical perspective.   But Data is not living in the version of eternity that I believe in. Data’s situation is not entirely unpleasant. We metaphorically see it as a room he is in. A comfortable room. In reality, he’s an isolated personality inside a computer simulation. He probably has plenty of literature to access, and we know Data was creative, so he can probably create his own entertainment. But he is alone.  Nobody to interact with. And as much as someone like me might jokingly say “that sounds like introvert heaven” to really truly be alone, with nobody else, for the rest of eternity. That would be hard. That would be painful. Even for an extreme introvert like me. So I can see how he wouldn’t want to remain like that forever.   It’s all very thought-provoking.   So I get why they did this Data. It’s sad that Data, the one who should have endured long after all his shipmates is truly gone. But it’s good to know a part of him will live on in the children Maddix and Soong have created from him. Data will not be the last soong-type android. He is the father of a new race.   But what about Picard? As I said, I thought the arc of his brain abnormality would continue through the rest of the show. The writers said they planned to make this a 3-season show. I feel they jumped the gun a bit here. Picard’s illness played out too quickly. They killed him, only to put him in a synth body, the problem all solved now. Why did they kill him off only to bring him back like that? It all feels kinda pointless to me. It’s like, they’ve just eliminated the most interesting part of his character, for no real reason at all. That reset-button mentality was, in my opinion, one of the weaker aspects of TNG and Voyager. And not something that I am thrilled about them reviving.   And then we get that final scene on the La Sirena. The ban on synths has been lifted. In one sense, this again feels a little too easy. But I can accept that once Starfleet understood that it had all been a conspiracy, that Oh had infiltrated Starfleet and set the whole thing up, to make the synths look bad, they would see their mistake and undo it.   The whole problem is fixed. It seems Elnor and Seven and Soji will all remain on board, as part of Picard’s new crew.   Picard now plans to wander the universe, Doctor Who style. Looking for whatever adventure may find him.   It feels like everything has wrapped up a bit too nearly. I thought this was gonna be a 3 season story, but it seems this story is completed, and season two will be a completely new standalone story. That’s not different to Discovery, really, but, I dunno, this ending just felt a bit too much like a TNG ending. There’s a lot of great nostalgic  stuff from TNG I’ve wanted to revisit, but TNG also had a lot of weaknesses, and this feels like they’re reviving the weaknesses along with the strengths.   I hope I haven’t come across too critical this time around. When I first watched it last night, this finale fell a little flat for me. Upon second viewing, I’ve appreciated the thematic and character stuff a lot more, but the climax still felt a little … well …. Anticlimactic.   Star Trek Picard hasn’t been a perfect show, but I would say on balance it has been a good show. I’ve enjoyed it, and I’m sure I’ll get it on Bluray when the time comes. Certainly this show has been better than both seasons of Discovery so far. So yes, my opinion is overall positive.   I really liked how all the story elements came together, and how the mysteries were paid off.   This has been the first STar Trek show ever, to not focus on Starfleet. I feel that at the end, Picard has a rag-tag group of friends, not a crew as such. It’s almost taken us to a bit of a Farscape-eqsue kinda place. Which is interesting.   A part of me wants more Starfleet, though. I want to see what will become of Starfleet as we move into the 25th century. I wanna know what their new ships can do. I want to see more people in that new uniform.   I think ultimately, I am hoping that this won’t be the only show set in this time. We’ve opened up a whole new era of the Star Trek universe. And I want to keep exploring it. I’d actually love something that connects a bit more with Deep Space Nine.   Anyway, I think I’ll leave any further overall thoughts on the series as a whole for another time, after I’ve let it marinate a bit. But I’m very glad that CBS have given us this show. I’ve had a fantastic time on the ups and downs of this journey.   So now that Picard is done and dusted. What am I doing with the Nerd Heaven Podcast. Well, it certainly isn’t over. I feel we’re just beginning.   I’ll keep talking about sci-fi and fantasy. And Star Trek will always be a big part of that. I’m going to move from a weekly schedule to a fortnightly schedule, now that I’m not talking in real time about a current show on the air. I’ll be back next week, where I’m gonna talk about my own history with the Star Trek franchise. But there’ll be no podcast the week after. And then back the week after that. I’ve got plenty planned for the future. I plan to talk about the two remaining TNG movies, Generations and Insurrection. In fact, I’ve already recorded my thoughts on Generations. I have some Stargate content I want to do, and a Lord of the Rings, Read, Watch and Walk series. And I want to work my way through the DC movies. I’ll probably tackle the Marvel movies at some point as well.   Will I return to the weekly format? Maybe. Perhaps when Discovery season 3 comes out. We’ll see.   But going fortnightly now will give me a bit of a breather, and let me get a small backlog built up, so I don’t feel I have to spend all of my Saturday every week putting this show together as quick as I can. Plus, I’ll have time to give some attention to some of my other creative endeavours.   Anyway, be assured. The party is just getting started.   I’ll see you next on Nerd heaven.   Live Long and Prosper.   Make it so.

Everything is coming together in this week's episode of Star Trek Picard "Broken Pieces". We delve deeply into Rios's character, seeing the broken pieces of his life symbolised in his holograms. We also get a much greater understanding of the mythology of the show. And it's exciting me. We're getting the big-scale science fiction coming into view, and we finally add a little more depth to the villains of the show. Let's dive in and geek out over this episode together. ----more---- Transcript Welcome to Nerd Heaven I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of the stars And I am a nerd.   This is episode 18 of the podcast. Today, we’re talking about the 8th episode of Star Trek Picard. Broken Pieces.   The description on Memory alpha reads When devastating truths behind the Mars attack are revealed, Picard realizes just how far many will go to preserve secrets stretching back generations, all while the La Sirena crew grapples with secrets and revelations of their own. Narissa directs her guards to capture Elnor, setting off an unexpected chain of events on the Borg cube.   The episode was written by Michael Chabon It was directed by Maja Vrvilo And it first aired on the 12th of March 2020.   Make it so. This episode is really starting to fill in the new mythology of the show now. That’s seen straight away with this week’s flashback, in which we learn about the origins of the Zhat Vash. The episode begins with some beautiful scenes of a nebula. Just like the first episode. But we don’t see the Enterprise D. Instead, we zoom past 8 suns onto a planet. The on screen label calls this Aia, the great world. It seems a group of Romulans, all female, sent out to study this strange phenomenon. A system of 8 stars, which seemed scientifically unfeasible. There they found, on a planet, the remnants of an ancient civilisation, and a storehouse of memories that explained how their civilisation died. Yes. This is the kind of cool mythology I’ve been wanting from Star Trek. We don’t even know the name of this ancient race, but they were clearly very advanced. I wonder if they knew the Iconians. They also operated in what is now Romulan space in the distant past. The Romulans call this warning message “the admonition.” The first time they heard it, they formed the Zhat Vash. This was hundreds of years ago, so pre-Kirk. And interestingly, Commodore Oh appears to be their leader. So, we’re left wondering again, is she biologically a Romulan or a Vulcan? We’ll come back to this later. We don’t get to see the full extent of the message, but as Oh says, it drives many of them mad. In fact, after seeing it, most of them immediately commit suicide, some of them in quite unpleasent ways. This is super dark. I actually found it pretty disturbing. It seems we’re getting a lot of suicide in this show. Now, I’m really fortunate that I’ve never been touched by suicide in my life, or my family, but even I am fiding this quite disturbing. We’ll talk more about what this message means later, when Picard and crew figure it all out, but for now, let’s just say that the show has fleshed out more about the Zhat Vash, and why they hate synthetic lifeforms. Which is good.Our villains are finally getting some depth to them. And, we learn that Rizzo really is a cold-hearted monster. While the others tear out their hair and do other horrific things to themselves, she stands there, clearly struggling with the images a little, but holding it all together. If she were a Vulcan, I’d call this emotional control. But I think that Rizzo just doesn’t have a heart. She’s an evil…..we’ll...let’s just say I don’t like her. There are two kinds of Villains in fiction. There are some that you love to hate. These are the ones that you want to see more of. You get excited when they appear in an episode. Weyoun, Bester, Morden, Scorpius. And then there are others that you just kinda hope they die soon because you just don’t want to see them. Rizzo is firmly in the second camp for me. I find myself wanting her to die for all she’s done. Man, I promise I’m not so vindictive against real people. Just fictional ones. We get confirmation now that it was the Zhat Vash who organised the synth attack on Mars. So they sabotaged the rescue efforts to help their own people. I’m kind of in a place where I can buy that now. They’re worried about what they consider to be a significantly greater threat than the supernova. And having read the novel, The Last Best Hope, it seems that due to their arrogance and price, half the Romulan leadership didn’t want Starfleet’s help to begin with. We recognise another of these first Vhat Vash. Ramdha, the Romulan who was assimilated and then went crazy, calling Soji the destroyer. She doesn’t handle the admonition as well as Rizzo, but she does survive. This is making sense of a lot of what we’ve seen. It seems to have been the admonition itself that drove the borg cube to shut down after they assimilated Ramdha. Really interesting stuff. Oh and Ramdha is Rizzo’s aunt. She raised Rizzo and Narak. Rizzo says that when Ramdha lost her mind, she did it with panache. I feel like panache is not the kind of word you’d expect to hear from a Romulan.  I know they’re reallying speaking Romulan, and we’re just hearing a translation into english. But panache is a french word, included in our language for historical reasons. I dunno, it just didn’t feel right somehow to me. There’s a nice bit of subtle foreshadowing when Rizzo says “I’d have made a much better borg than you. Resistance is futile.” And let me just say, while I keep going on about hating Rizzo, I found Peyton List’s acting in this episode pretty darn good. I think she’s a lot better when she’s not so busy trying to seduce her brother or being Miss-Super-Evil-Face. Once again, the romulans are choosing to fight Elnor hand to hand instead of shooting him with a disruptor. If they’d shot while he was stunned by that grenade, he’d be dead. This whole tradition of Zhat Vash fighting Qowat Milat by hand seems a plot convenience that exists purely so they can have a kick-butt sword wielding elf on the show. Don’t get me wrong, I love Elnor. He’s awesome. But a fighter who uses a sword just doesn’t work in a sci-fi setting like Star Trek. Anyway, Seven saves him at the last minute and asks “Where is Hugh?” Then there’s a very nice touching moment as Elnor breaks down and Seven has to, rather uncomfortably, console him. She does a good job seeing as though it’s pretty clear this is outside her comfort zone. So apparently Seven knew Hugh off-screen, we just never got to see them together. My guess is that Seven gave Hugh the Fenris Ranger contact card. Elnor was actually in Hugh’s office when he found it. So that kinda makes sense now. I’m still not thrilled about Hugh’s death. It feels like they’ve totally wasted the potential of his character. They made such a fuss about bringing him back, but barely did anything with him. And his death wasn’t satisfying. He didn’t die saving the day. He kinda failed. Yes, there’s a realism to that, because we don’t always die in some big grand moment. That’s kind of why I have somewhat defended Tasha Yar’s death. I dunno. I’m torn between my appreciation for gritty realism, and my desire for Hugh to have been treated with more respect. It’s very clear that something weird is going on with Rios the minute he sees Soji.  There’s a lot going on in this scene. Picard wants to go to Deep Space 12 to get reinforcements from Starfleet. Makes sense. They can’t fight off a whole fleet of Romulan ships by themselves. This understandable makes Soji nervous. She thought they would be heading straight for her homeworld. And then Raffi is suddenly very suspicious of Soji, given the revelations about Agnes. First of all, I like that the crew have figured out that Agnus killed Bruce Maddox. They’re not gonna drag that out and have our characters unnaturally stupid. Good. I can understand Raffi is distrustful because Picard knows nothing about Soji. He’s putting all his faith in that single Neuron. But, this was the mission. Rescuing Soji is the whole reason they came out here. Picard is kinda kidding himself a bit, trying desperately to make up excuses for Agnes, because he doesn’t want her to be a Romulan spy, and a murderer. But he does accept reason, even though he doesn’t want to. There was a nice little scene between Picard and Clancy. And I feel it redeems her as a character a little. She is starting to regain her respect for Picard, now that he’s proven to be right. She even calls him Admiral Picard. I love it when Picard says, “I’m sorry but if you say this is not a job for Starfleet then you are a waste of space.” Anyway, she agrees. She’s sending a squadron to meet Picard at DS12. He’s to wait there for them to arrive. I like how Raffi is getting all giddy with excitement about the whole conspiracy theory, even while knowing she shouldn’t because the whole thing is horrible. She does like her conspiracy theories. It makes no sense that it takes Raffi so long to realise that the Rios she’s talking to is a hologram. I mean, his Irish accent is hard to miss. She must be really preoccupied. The fact that the ENH recognises Soji and calls her Jana is very interesting information. It confirms that Rios has seen a soji-type android before. Which explains his reaction to her. I’m not really a fan of the glowing eyes while thinking thing the holograms do in this episode. First of all, there’s no reason for them to do that. The Doctor never did that on Voyager. Second of all, why take so long to access such a simple piece of data. Computers today could gather that same information, from the internet, in a fraction of the time the hologram’s eyes glow. And this is 24th century computer technology. The whole thing is like programming an artificial progress bar when none is needed. You can maybe explain that they’re downloading this information from memory alpha, in which case, that’s pretty high bandwidth for subspace. But this is information I’d expect them to have locally. But I like that the ENH actually proves useful, when Raffi realises she does have an astrogation question. The Romulans were depicting an octanary system all over the borg cube. A system of 8 stars. Enoch says that septenary systems are extremely rare. The only known account of an octanary is an apocryphal ancient Romulan star chart. Now Raffi begins to realise the conclave of 8 refers to the place where the bad guys met, not 8 people. Now they’re getting somewhere. I like that they at least acknowledge here that the gravitational mechanics would be incredibly complex. Which, of course, is true. Having read the book, The Three Body Problem, I have an inkling of just how complex a trinary system would be. For a planet to actually exist in an octanary system seems pretty unrealistic. But again, we’ll come back to that. I love Elnor’s childlike innocence. That combined with his kick-butt skills as a warrior make him quite an interesting character. Seven’s plan, originally Hugh’s plan, is to regenerate the cube. Re-activate the borg drones. I love the shot of the drone rebuilding the ship. At first, I thought they were nano probes. But then when you realise the scale, they’re a lot bigger. Let’s call them macro probes. It seems a logical aspect of borg technology. She’s playing a bit of a dangerous game. There are huge moral questions about what she’s doing, essentially re-assimilating the XBs, putting them into a localised micro-collective. Controlling their thoughts like a pseudo Borg queen. It’s chilling when she says “I might not want to release them.” There’s a very nice character scene between Picard and Soji and the dinner table. It doesn’t really push the plot forward at all, but it deepens both of their characters, and I really like it. The choice of a scottish accent for the engineering hologram is quite on the nose, as a tribute to Scotty. Especially since Lorca already did that in Discovery. But it doesn’t really bother me. He’s quite different to Scotty. I actually quite like him. The idea that this octanary system was artificially created is very interesting. My sense-of-wonder metre is going off. It’s showing you the power of this ancient race, whoever they were. Showing off isn’t a bad guess at their motivation, but clearly raffi has the better theory. Such an extreme act would call attention to a message you really want people to hear. I’m enjoying Raffi’s little detective work in this episode. I think maybe she’s jumping to the truth more easily than she realistically should, but it’s still enjoyable. There’s some good quiet scenes with Rios in his quarters in this episode. Nice to see his old Starlfleet uniform. Looks like Rios’s old ship, the ibn Majid might have been a sovereign class, like the Enterprise E, which is pretty awesome. I don’t think it’s stated outright, but I get the impression Rios was first officer of the ship. His captain’s name was Alonzo Vandermeer. Not a name we’ve heard before, I believe. The scene with all the Rios holograms together is absurdly fun. I’m quite enjoying the engineer’s overuse of scottish slang. But that tactical hologram. How useless is he? The bloke just wants to sleep and laze around. It seems the holograms don’t just have Rios’s appearance, and aspects of his personality, but his memories as well. But Rios has removed something from their memories. And it’s all about his time on the ibn Majid. We learn that captain Vandermeer killed himself. Yet another suicide in this show. So then we get Picard’s reunion with Agnes. There’s no more self-deception. Picards tells her straight. You will turn yourself over to the authorities for the murder of Bruce Maddox. Agnes said Oh put her hands on her face and poured in poison. Why doesn’t she know that’s called a mind meld? Put her hands on my face seems a very awkward phrasing when she should just say “she mind melded with me.” Weird. So Agnes gushes all over Soji’s human-like attributes. Just like Bashir and Kestra. But Agnes says now that she’s met Soji, she’d never kill her. I’m finding that hard to buy. The admonition Oh showed her was so traumatic it caused her to kill her lover and mentor. But now, having met Soji, she’s a changed woman? I’m afraid I don’t trust Agnes at all at this point. Soji says she’d never give agnes the opportunity to kill her, but she’s giving her an opportunity right now.Why on Earth did Picard leave those two in a room together. That’s crazy. Agnes should be in the brig until they reach DS12. she certainly shouldn’t be roaming the ship and joining them at their makeshift conference table. “I’m done murdering people now, so that’s a good thing.”  “Oh, well in that case Agnes, it’s all good. Take a seat, Mate.” I mean, come on. Raffi refers to Rios’s record player as a walkman. Reminds me of an early Christopher Ecclestone Doctor Who Episode, where they refer to a jukebox as an ipod. Somehow it was funnier in Doctor Who. Rizzo is going around murdering all the xbs. So Seven does what she doesn’t want to do. She takes control of the queen’s systems and re-assimilates the drones. I got a thrill when the drones woke up, and we hear the voice of the collective say “We are borg.” But was kinda disappointed when Rizzo immediately had all of them, every single one, ejected into space. So here’s a rundown of what we know. There was once some kind of sisterhood of Romulans. Not the Qowat Milat. Some other group. They found this planet in the octanary system, with a warning left behind by a long dead race. The impression I get is that once a species reaches a certain threshold of developing synthetic life, a threshold Starfleet is on the verge of, some outside force comes in and destroys that civilisation, rather than just the synthetics themselves taking over. This outside force theory seems much more compelling and creepy to me. So I kinda hope they are leaning that way. Those who survived the horror of this admonition formed the Zhat Vash, dedicated to preventing the return of this outside force, by preventing all synthetic life from being created. In their minds, they’re saving the universe, which to be fair, they might just be. One of them was Oh, a half Vulcan half Romulan. I’m not sure how such a person would come about. Romulans and Vulcans are completely disunited. Until recently, they weren’t even allowed in each other’s space. So how do two of them end up mating and producing a child? I know there’s a non-canon theory that Saviik was also half Romulan / Half Vulcan. I guess Nimbus III, the planet of intergalactic peace, may have been one place where vulcans and Romulans could have mixed. Oh’s mixed heritage explains a lot of things. Her lack of inner eyelids, but her ability to perform a mind meld. Anyway, when Data is created, the Zhat Vash are concerned. So Oh infiltrates Starfleet and works her way up to chief of starfleet security. All with the hopes of preventing the Federation from developing true synthetic life. She engineers the attack on mars, to turn the Federation against synths, and ban their research. It works. Bruce Maddox flees to a distant world and continues his research. Then the ibn Majid encounters a ship from that world, containing two of Maddox’s creations. One of them looks identical to Soji and Dahj. Starfleet treats this like any other first contact situation, but Oh gives orders to captain Vandermeer to kill the synth ambassadors. If he disobeys, the ibn Majid and its crew will all be killed. He’s got to know at this point that Oh is not above board. Does he consider going to someone else in Starfleet, I wonder? I guess he decides the only way to protect his crew is to carry out the order. So he does. Rios goes at him hard for this. Telling him this was the wrong thing to do. Overcome with guilt, Vandermeer kills himself. And now Rios has to live with the guilt that his judgement pushed his captain over the edge. Rios is a broken person, symbolised by the 5 holograms, each a broken piece of him. He covers up the whole thing, so as to protect the ibn Majid. But he goes through post-traumatic stress from the whole experience and is booted out of starfleet. Maddox sends two of his creations, Dahj and Soji, out into the universe, to find out the truth behind the synth ban. One to earth, the other to the Borg Cube. We can see how the borg cube is connected. They assimilated Ramdha, and the knowledge of the admonition caused the borg to all shut down. But how does Maddox know this connection? How does he know to send Soji there? But it backfires. Her presence on the cube allows Narak and Rizzo to find the location of Maddox’s world, and now they’re sending a fleet to destroy it. It’s all coming together, and I’m really liking it. The value of a mystery is all based on the payoff. So far, the mysteries on this show are paying off much better than the Red angle did on Discovery season 2. That, in my opinion, was the biggest weakness of that season. I loved the setup, and I loved the character stuff with Pike. Pike was awesome. But the payoff fell flatter than I’d hoped. This episode only makes my excitement about Star Trek Picard grow. I feel like we’re in the middle of something very important. Something big.  Now that she realises that she has put her people in danger, Soji isn’t willing to wait for Clancy’s squadron.  There’s no time to lose. They have to get home to protect the world from the Zhat Vash. So she takes over the ship. But I love Rios’s lullaby that gives him back control of the ship. Smart. At this point, Picard is willing to let Soji take them straight to her home. “She’s done it Maddox’s way, she done it my way. Let’s let her try her way.” I’m kinda torn on this. The Zhat Vash ships are on their way. We’ll see more of them leave the sub shortly. If we don’t get there before they do, it’s all over. On the other hand, what can one little ship do against that Romulan fleet? Clancy told Picard to wait at DS12 for the squadron. How’s she gonna feel about him now that he’s disobeying that order. Just as they were starting to be able to work together again. But they can at least get there in time to warn the synths of the coming danger. Maybe the synths have some defenses. It’s understandable, and mildly amusing, that Picard doesn’t know how to operate the new holographic controls on this ship. So they head off for a Borg transwarp conduit, which should get them there quicker. While the un-reclaimed drones have all been flushed into space, there are still xbs on board, which Seven appears to be controlling. They swam Rizo. And yes! Finally, She dies! Woohoo. Ah. I’m a terrible terrible person. I’d say it’s more likely they’re assimilating her, rather than tearing her apart, so maybe she’s not fully dead. But assimilation seems a fitting punishment for her crimes. For her hate. I don’t have a problem with her trying to save the universe from this big evil threat, but it’s the way she goes about it. Instead of warning everybody of the threat, she works in secret, because that’s the romulan way, and she doesn’t care who she hurts or kills in the process. That’s what upsets me about her. Actually, on rewatch, what I thought was her assimilation, I think, was her beaming out to safety. Darn it! So Seven achieved nothing. She regained control of the cube, but the Romulans are all gone anyway. We learn that as an ensign, Picard served on a ship called the Reliant. Not the same Relient from the wrath of khan, of course. That one was destroyed. This was probably the Relient A, or maybe the Relient B. There’s a nice little conversation between Picard and Rios. Picard pointed out that the Zhat Vash set the trap, with the attack on Mars, but Starfleet could have side-stepped it. Instead, they gave in to fear. I feel like this theme of fear is even timlier that the writers intended, given the whole covid-19 thing going on right now. There’s certainly a lot of feat in the world right now. Risk points out that there is still a very real danger. Picard believes fear is the great destroyer, not the synthetics, or some outside force from 200,000 years ago. I think they both have interesting points. Picard is right about fear, but I think he’s not giving enough credence to the threat this outside force could represent. Of course, what we need is more information. The truth can sometimes dissipate fear. Of course, the truth can also confirm our fears. It’s all very interesting stuff. It’s all very Star Trek. As the La Sierrena enters the borg conduit, we see that Narak has found them again. Logical. He knows where they’re heading. He follows them in. I really enjoyed this episode, and I’m hungry for more. Bring it on. With my ongoing walk to Mordor, I’ve been captured by Baron Wright. My next milestone is Bree. I’ve been recording my thoughts about Fellowship of the Ring, both the book and movie. After we’re finished with Star Trek Picard, I’ll be sharing my very first Lord of The Rings Read, Watch and Walk episodes. But until next week, I’m Adam David Collings. Live long and prosper. Make it so.

Everything begins to transition in episode 6 of Star Trek Picard. Jean-Luc finally meets up with both Hugh and Soji. What starts as an investigation turns into a daring rescue as Narak finally makes his move against her. Picard also has to confront his haunted past as a former Borg drone. Everything changes after this episode. Join me as we dig in deep to geek out over this one. ----more---- Transcript   Welcome to Nerd Heaven. I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars, and I am a nerd.   This is episode 16 of the podcast.   Today, we’re talking about Star Trek Picard episode 6. The Impossible Box.   Oh, and I guess I should say happy leap day, because I’m recording this on the 29th of February.   The description for this episode on memory alpha reads Picard and the crew track Soji to the Borg cube in Romulan space, resurfacing haunting memories for Picard. Meanwhile, Narek believes he finally found a way to safely exploit Soji for information.   This episode was written by Nick Zayas. That’s a name I haven’t seen associated with the show up until now. It was directed by Maja Vrvilo And first aired on the 27th of February 2020.   Make it so.   I really enjoyed this week’s episode. There was plenty I liked in last week’s episode as well, but it was pretty brutal. This episode allows us to take a little breath. But there’s still a little for us to chew on.   This week’s flashback is not so much a true flashback, as it is a nightmare of Soji’s childhood. Which we know must be implanted data, because she didn’t have a childhood. She creeps through a dark hallway on a stormy night, into a workshop where she sees her father. He yells at her and she wakes up.   And despite his accusations against her two weeks ago, Soji is still in a relationship with Narak. I kinda got the idea she was gonna give him the boot, but then what couple don’t have arguments.   Narak’s perspective that “everyone is hiding something, whether they know it or not” is so very Romulan. But it’s specifically true for Soji. She’s hiding her true nature, a nature she knows nothing about.   Let’s think for a minute just what an incredible job Maddox must have done to create an android that believes she is human. All the little details. It’s not just the emotions. It’s the physical things. She’d have to eat, as Data did, but she’d have to taste. She’d feel sensations on her skin. She’d get hungry. She’d experience tiredness. There’s all the sensations and experiences related to her sexual relationship with Narak. And, if it’s not too delicate to say … She’d have to go to the toilet as well. There are so many little things that could give away her true identity if they were not present. She’d also have to pass scans. I’m reminded that Picard thought that Soji was created out of flesh and blood, not machine parts, but still with an artificial positronic brain. Kind of like the humanoid cylons in Battlestar Galactica. So that goes a long way. But still, it’s a mind boggling achievement, significantly greater than anything Noonian Soong did.   I guess it’s also possible that there is programming within her that actively makes her ignore certain facts that should give away her true nature. Narak talks about this later in the episode.   So Romulans have a true name they only share with the one they give their heart to. That’s very Doctor Who.   Then we cut to the La Sirena and have to deal with the corpse in the room. How is Agnes going to get away with her murder of Bruce Maddox. During that scene in sickbay last week, I thought it very odd that the EMH wasn’t on. He’s their medical officer and they definitely had a medical emergency. Some viewers thought that Maddox was under the medical care of Agnes. And there’s a reason for that. It’s revealed in the Book The Last Best Hope by Una McCormack, but in the show itself, that Agnes was a qualified medical doctor before she met Maddox and began studying under him for her doctorate in robotics So anyway, that makes a bit more sense. I’d forgotten this detail. I thought she was just in the room in the capacity as Maddox’s friend and lover. So that makes a little more sense. That’s why she can now bluff her way out of it all, by telling Picard that Maddox died of his injuries and she was unable to save him. As long as nobody talks to the EMH. I’m finding there’s a lot in this show that wouldn’t make sense if you haven’t read the extended materials. And that’s a bit of a problem.   But I’ve also got a bit of a problem with her backstory. If we assume that Agnes Jurati is the same age as her actor, Alison Pill, then she’s only 34. The synth ban happened 14 years ago. That means she was 20 when the synth ban happened. She met Maddox and began her robotics studies 2 years earlier. So that means, she was a fully qualified doctor, out of medical school as a teenager. She must be some super genius. That just doesn’t seem realistic to me. I guess Agnes must be older than her character (much like Picard is a lot older than Patrick Stewart). But that’s a little hard to swallow as well. I think she already looks younger than her 34 years. I guess, 24th century medical advances and all that. After all, that’s how I explain Picard.   We don’t learn in this episode why Agnes killed him. What her deal is, but her relationship with Maddox gives her a perfect excuse for all the painful emotions she’s struggling with.   And then Elnor comes in and asks what the Artifact is, then realises it’s none of his business and that he should out-but. I missed that little joke on my first viewing. But I like it. This is a particular type of humour that I really enjoy. When people say something not quite right because they’re in a fish out of water situation.   I said in episode 3 that I was really liking Agnes as a character. She was the wide-eyed innocent who was just thrilled to be on board, who balanced out the other world-weary characters. Well, we say how that turned out. She sure isn’t innocent anymore. And her innocence after rmeeting Oh was all an act. But it seems that Elnor is now filling that hole. I’ve heard people say that they don’t really like Elnor. He’s too child-like. But more and more, I think Elnor is playing out the Australian sense of humour. Evagora isn’t writing the lines of course, but there’s something very Aussie about the way he’s delivering those lines. We Aussies have a very self-deprecating sense of humour. And that’s all over his performance as Elnor. And I’m loving it.   Agnes raises a good question. Why would Maddox send Soji to the artifact, of all places, to learn the truth about the synth ban? I’d very much like to know the answer to that.   This episode forces Picard to confront something from his past that still haunts him to this day. We’ve seen this in every Borg story Picard has taken part in. We saw in First Contact, that the emotional pain of his assimilation was as raw and fresh as the day he was taken. Back in I Borg, Picard tried to convince Troi, and himself, that he was all good now. That he was fully recovered. But now, as an older and wiser man, he’s got no pretext. He hasn’t set foot on a Borg Cube since he was assimilated. The borgified Enterprise engine room was a close approximation, but not the same. By going aboard that artifact, Picard is going to have to confront his deepest fear.   I’ll admit I had to look up the word metastasize. It means to spread through the body like a disease, causing damage. That’s a good description of what the Borg do.   Even though Elnor is clueless about the culture around him, he’s got a keen sense of insight into people. He can see that Agnes is haunted by something she wants to forget. And then we get a call back to that joke as he asks if he was in-butting.   Patrick Stewart is really selling Picard’s anxiety about the Borg. It’s absolutely wonderful. And then. Finally, he says it. “Computer.” For the last few episodes, characters have been giving verbal instructions to the ship’s computer, but they never actually begin by saying “computer.” It was very glaring by its absence. So I cheered out loud when he said that. I think my wife may have rolled her eyes at me. But that’s ok. I’m a nerd.   There’s lots of nice visual callbacks in the image search result that Picard runs. He sees Hugh as he first knew him, and as he looks now. They like to do this weird camera shot where you see people through the translucent holographic screens, and their face blends with another. It’s strange But in this case, it’s very effective, as we see the image of Locutus merge with Picard’s face. That’s chilling.   Of course, for the shot to work, the original image has the borg implants on the wrong side of Picard’s face. Which is wrong. As I nit-picking? Actually, it occurs to me now, that image of the borg not have been Locutas at all. It may have been a borg drone. Which makes it work.   There’s a shot in the opening credits that looks like the end of a Dalek eye stalk. I assume it’s meant to be some kind of Borg implant. But every time I see it, all I can think is Dalek.   As the La Sierra heads toward Romulan space, he learns, officially, that the neutral zone no longer exists.   In movies and TV shows, people’s emotional pain somehow morphs into romantic or sexual feelings. Which makes zero sense to me. If I was in the kind of pain Agnes is in, sexy fun times would be the last thing on my mind. But people do sometimes turn to pleasure as a way to comfort themselves when they’re hurting, so I guess I can understand Agnes in this scene. It sure makes a lot more sense than that weird turbolift scene between Spock and Uhura in Star Trek 2009. But what I like here is that Agnes verbally acknowledges that this is a mistake. And that it will not really help her in the long-term. At best, it’ll take her mind off her troubles for an hour or two at most. This is a more grown-up approach to sex than Star Trek is known for.   The Romulan puzzle box not only acts as a symbol to demonstrate the difference in personality and approach between Narak and Rizzo, but also foreshadows Narak’s attempt to kill Soji later in the episode. Finally we have a conversation between these two weird erotic siblings that actually moves their story forward. The last two times we’ve seen them together have been pretty pointless. Just rehashing the same old lines. This time, we get some insight into Narak’s investigation. He is making progress. He is gaining insight into Soji. He has a plan.   So Narak addresses what I was talking about earlier. How can Soji not know she’s a machine? Narak points out that all day, every day, there are probably little hints that she has to ignore. Maybe she’s actively programmed to ignore them. But as he says, “that cognitive dissonance must go somewhere.”  In her dreams, she’s reconciling the sides of herself. This is a vulnerability he can exploit.   He can gain access to the information they want out of her, such as the location of her homeworld, without triggering her self-defense mechanisms, as they did with Dahj.   So Romulan space is still called Romulan space, and it’s still a violation of treaty for a Federation citizen to violate it without authorisation. Raffi calls in an old favour from a friend to get diplomatic authorisations for Picard. Or more specifically, blackmails the old friend. But she got the job done.   There’s a nice character scene between Raffi and Rios, as she tells him about her estranged son, and the granddaughter she’ll never get to know. I can’t imagine the pain of never getting to know your grandchild. I’m not a grandparent, but I’ve seen how special that relationship is to my parents. I’ve always known that relationship is special, from having my own grandparents, but now I’m seeing it from the other side in my parents.   Soji tries talking to her mother, actively trying not to fall asleep. She succeeds briefly.  When she wakes up, she scans all her belongings. They are all 37 months old. Everything in her life is fabricated. She knows this now. Her entire life is a lie. Can you imagine how that must feel?   Picard beams in, and he’s standing there alone, in the dark, on a Borg cube. He sees the regeneration alcoves. He hears the noises of the cube. That would be terrifying. We get to see a lot of rapid flashes, all from First Contact. And sound effects too from that movie. It’s great. They go by pretty quick, but if you’re paying attention you’ll see corridors of the Enterprise E, even the Borg queen herself. And you hear the queen.   And finally Picard gets to meet Hugh again, after all these years. This was a great moment. And I love how happy they both were to see each other. And Hugh is instantly willing to do whatever he can for Picard. That was heart-warming. If there’s one person who can understand how Picard is feeling here, it’s hugh.   The reason the freed borg refer to themselves as XBs is that, as Hugh puts it, a new name can sometimes be the first step to a new identity. That’s a lesson he learned on the Enterprise. Which of course, ties in beautifully to I Borg. Especially that scene when he says to Picard, “No, I am Hugh.”   Seeing these drones is a good reminder of what the borg are underneath. They’re victims, not monsters. Despite what he said earlier, about the Borg collectively, Picard has compassion for the individual drones. They were all people once. But not everybody does. Hugh reminds us that ex borg are still among the most hated people in the galaxy. I’m still not sure I buy that. But whatever.   Narak is going to use a Romulan meditation technique to help unlock the answers in Soji’s unconscious. But this meditation is forbidden for non Romulans, or round-ears as they are called. A slur of sorts. But man, Narak has a lot of sway on this cube. Narak begins to cement more of her trust by telling her his true name. Narak teaches her to take control of the dream. To look in directions other than what she’s always done. They do this with a window as practice, but this will be necessary once she gets into the lab. Soji can’t see her father’s face. I guess because there’s no data to draw on. Her father doesn’t exist any more than her mother does. And then, she sees herself on the work table as a wooden doll. And Narak instructs her to look up at the skylight. She sees two moons. They may have uncovered enough data to locate her home. Wherever it was that she was assembled.   Hugh asks who Soji really is, and Picard says “there’s no time.” presumably so we don’t have to listen to exposition about stuff we already know. But Soji is being hidden from sensors, so they just have to sit around and wait. I assume during this time, Picard would explain the whole story to Hugh. It would certainly make no sense for him not to.   And now that he’s got what he wants from her, Narak is ready to kill her. But he doesn’t just shoot her, he locks her in the chamber and leaves the puzzle box to release a fatal radiation. Why do bad guys always use such elaborate ways to kill people, giving them a chance to find a way to escape? It makes no sense. But we can see, Narak is still fighting his feelings. He’s made the decision to kill her, that’s what he knows he’s supposed to do. And yet, You can see it’s bothering him. He does have some form of feelings for her.   And of course, she uses her android strength to rip the floor open and escape. Which allows Picard and Hugh to detect her. Now it’s a race. Who will get to her first? Narak or Picard and hugh?   And finally, finally, Picard meets Soji. He doesn’t have time to explain everything, but he explains enough to earn Soji’s trust. She doesn’t have many options, so it seems logical to go with this stranger. Hugh has discovered a special emergency escape device obtained after the borg assimilated the sikarians. This is a nice deep cut into Voyager’s history. Voyager encountered the Sikarians during their first year in the delta quadrant. They had extremely long-range transporter technology. Technology that could have helped them get all the way home to the alpha quadrant. That’s really sad that they were assimilated. But not surprising. Every race in the Delta Quadrant is at risk.   Anyway, this technology is used to allow the queen to escape a cube. They’re going to beam themselves to a planet called Nepenthe. And then Elnor arrives to protect them from the Romulan guards. Picard thanks him for disobeying his orders to stay on the ship.   The Romulans guards will just follow them through unless Elnor stays behind to fight them off to give Hugh time to hide the room. But Picard can’t leave Elnor behind again. This is a nice little healing moment in their relationship. But Picard can’t convince him to come.   So Elnor and Hugh remain behind on the cube. I have no doubt we’ll see them again. They’ll both want to find Picard and help him. So the episode closes on that awesome line. “Please, my friends. Choose to live.” I love that about Elnor. I love that he always begs him enemies to choose to live, rather than force him to kill them. He has a respect for life. All life.   We have officially hit the midpoint of the story now. In story structure, the midpoint is an important moment. It’s a transition from ractivness to proactiveness. In the first half of a book, the protagonist is reacting to the events of the first plot point. But in the second half, he or she is trying to be more proactive. To go on the offensive, rather than just being on the back foot the whole time. The rescue of Soji feels like a similar transition. No longer is Picard stumbling around, trying to figure out where Soji is, and why the Zhat Vash are after her.  Now, he has rescued her, and they will be working together, the hunted has become the huntress. Of course, the protagonists attempts to go on the offensive usually fail. After all, there’s still half of the book to go. But there’s a shift of attitude, and a little change of power.   The story is in full force now. We’re gonna start seeing a lot of things happening. Everything changes from here on. And that’s very exciting.   Next week’s episode eis called Nepenthe. So we’ll be seeing what Picard and Soji get up to when they arrive on that planet. Nepenthe sounds kind of Klingon. Similar to Rure Penthe.  That’s logical, given that both the Klingons and Romulans exist in the beta quadrant. So...I wonder … will we be seeing Klingons next week? Everyone was a little nervous about what Klingons might look like in Picard, Would they look like discovery Klingons? And if so, what would that mean for worf? Alex Kurtzman confirmed a while back, that if we ever see Worf, he will look the way he as always looked, explaining that just as there are different looking romulans, there are also different looking Klingons. A lot of people really wanted to see some more variation in the Klingons in Discovery. A few TNG style Klingons in the background, just to show they still exist. Once again, Picard has learned from some of Discovery’s mistakes. We’ve already seen that with the Romulans. Picard has actually added to canon, explaining the disparate appearances of Romulans throughout the history of the franchise. so...I’m included to trust them on this. If we do see Klingons next week, I suspect there’ll be a mix of discovery style and TNG style.   Anyway, this is all just speculation based on a planet name. It’s entirely possible I’m completely wrong about any Klingon connection.   We’ll find out next week.   Now I haven’t been updating you on my progress in my walk to Mordor. I’ve just passed Crickhollow and my next milestone is Old Man Willow. I have 2981.2 km to reach the end of my adventure. And a friend of mine has joined the walk as well. If you want to travel this journey with me, be sure to add me as a friend. You’ll find me as “Adam David Collings”   Don’t forget to subscribe to Nerd Heaven, wherever you listen to Podcasts. And please consider leaving a review. It would certainly help me out.   I’ll see you next week. Live long and Prosper.   Make it so.

Star Trek Picard has released its first episode - Remembrance. And I'm here to dig deep and talk about it. After giving a brief spoiler-free review, I dig deep and discuss the episode in detail. Remembrance is an emotionally satisfying journey into the later life of Jean-Luc Picard. It maintains a beautiful balance between old and new. There is plenty of nostalgia for die-hard Star Trek fans, but everything is there for a reason. The story being told is new and will feel satisfying to newcomers to the franchise. ----more---- Welcome to Nerd Heaven. I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars. And I am a nerd   Can you believe it? We’re finally here. The first episode of Star Trek Picard has released! It’s out in the wild and we’ve seen it.   I’ll admit I found it kinda hard to concentrate on work yesterday, knowing it was available and just waiting for me to watch it, but I muddled through.   So today, we’re talking about Remembrance, the first episode of Star Trek Picard.   The description on IMDB is At the end of the 24th Century, and 14 years after his retirement from Starfleet, Jean-Luc Picard is living a quiet life on his vineyard, Chateau Picard. When he is sought out by a mysterious young woman, Dahj, in need of his help, he soon realizes she may have personal connections to his own past.   This teleplay was written by Akiva Goldsmith and James Duff Story by Akiva Goldsmith, Michael Chabon, Kirsten Beyer, Alex Kurtzman and James Duff Directed by Hanelle M Culpepper And first aired on the 23rd of January 2020.   Make it so   Before I go deep into this episode, I thought I’d share a few spoiler-free thoughts. I loved this episodes. It was a delight to watch. It was lovingly crafted with exquisite attention to detail. The episode maintained a near perfect balance between the old and the new. There was a lot of nostalgia in this episode, but the story wasn’t chained to it. It wasn’t indulgent. The episode told a fresh and new story with a much-loved character. That’s not to say that the nostalgic elements weren’t integral to the plot. Everything was there for a reason. But I think a non-star trek fan could sit down and watch this, apart from perhaps a little disorientation from a dream sequence, and not just follow the story, but feel like they’ve had a satisfying experience.   The story builds slowly, giving itself time to really focus on character.   So if you’re on the fence about checking this show out, let me wholeheartedly recommend it to you.This is one of the good ones.  I signed up for a new streaming service so I could watch this. I don’t regret that decision.   From here on we’re going full spoilers, so if you haven’t seen this episode, stop listening, and go watch Star Trek Picard.   The episode opens with a dream sequence.  But the very beginning is a couple of beautiful shots of nebulae with the song Blue Skies playing in the background. This provides a beautiful link to the very last time we saw Picard on screen at the end of Star Trek Nemesis, when he was in his ready room, and B4 started to sing the song. It’s also very emotionally evocative of Data, because he sang that song at Riker and Troi’s wedding. But to Picard, that song represents the hope that maybe a part of Data survived in B4. A hope that he desperately wants to be true.   And then we see the Enterprise D. In all her glory. And she looks beautiful.   This dream sequence is all a bit messed up, which is exactly how dreams are.  Picard and Data are on the Enterprise D, but Data is in his Enterprise E uniform. Picard is old and wearing civilian clothing. And then suddenly, they’re not in a nebula, they’re in orbit of Mars. Picard was an admiral, in command of the Verity when Mars was attacked. I’m sure you’ve had dreams like this. I know I have. This is probably the most realistic dream sequence I’ve ever seen in a movie or TV show.   I kinda wish these scenes had not been spoiled in the trailer. I would have wet myself if I hadn’t known they were coming.   I imagine the conversation Picard has with Data about his tell was probably a real conversation they had at some point. Or perhaps, Picard did notice Data’s tell but never spoke about it. We can’t really know. But dreams do pull on real stuff from our lives.   And then we’re in the present, meting Number One, who we’ve all fallen in love with in the trailers. Right? Looking at Picard during the TNG era, I never really saw him as a pet person. But now, living his retirement on Earth, I can see it. His whole life Picard has been surrounded by people that depend on him. Now, he’s alone, with only his two Romulan friends for company. It makes sense to me that he would want a pet. I know the choice of a pit-bull was due to Patrick Stewart’s passion for the breed, but it works for me. And people mellow as they get older.   It’s a thrill to be back here at the Picard vineyard. It brings back memories of the episodes Family and All Good Things.   Then we switch to Boston, which looks pretty cool. Did you notice the big glowing Ferengi symbol on one of the high-rises? I just did as I paused. That’s cool. Of course the Ferengi would have a business presence on Earth.   By the way 99 percent of this episode is set on Earth. It’s rare that we get a really good look at 24th-century earth, and I’m loving it. Yes, I want to get out into space, but I do enjoy seeing beauty of earthin Star Trek’s future. I always have, and we get to see it so rarely.   So we’re introduced to Dahj for the first time. She’s at the highpoint of her life. She’s just been accepted into the daystrom institute, and she’s very much in love with her boyfriend. You know that happiness isn’t gonna hang around for long, right?   By the way, we get a few instances in this episode of 21st century colloquialisms. Dahj actually calls her boyfriend “Dude”. And then he says “that’s pretty cool”. This feels really out of place in the 24th century. But at the same time, it lends a sense of realism. So I think I can accept it, but, maybe “dude” is a step too far for me.   Then the masked figures bean in and kill the boyfriend. This scene feels genuinely dangerous. I’m feeling the same fear that Dahj is feeling. The music, the editing, the acting, it all just feels thrilling. Compare this to action scenes on The Next Generation, and they become laughable. This show is much more  sci-fi drama than sci-fi action, but when the need arises, they do action, and they do it well.   This scene is a little dis-orienting. Dahk is very much the viewpoint character here. She doesn’t know what’s going on, and we experience that through her eyes. And we’re just as shocked as she is when she suddenly goes all terminator and kills the intruders.   The emotional realism when she runs to her boyfriend’s dead body is perfect, and again, much better than what we saw in most of TNG.   Now we have a brand new opening credit sequence to talk about. I’d heard this described as rather “James Bond-ish” which isn’t a bad descriptor, but I’d just say it feels very much like the opening credits of a modern TV show. Very artistic. Lots of images, representing different things. The sky cracks into pieces at the start, and then those pieces fill in a whole in Picard’s face at the end like a jigsaw puzzle. I’m not sure what that is meant to be symbolic of yet, but it does feel very symbolic.   I think a lot of what we’re seeing will make more sense as the season goes on. But it all looks great. They’ve followed the same kind of mould as Star Trek Discovery, in that all the guest star, written by etc credits that you’d traditionally see after the credits, overlaid on the story, are in the title sequence, so there are no words on the story itself. The music is very sedate. Fitting for the show I think. Not very memorable, melodically, which again, is kinda modern. It takes a while to develop an affinity for these modern themes, I feel. It certainly doesn’t move me like, the theme from The Crown, for instance, but it’s nice music. I’ll report back on this as the show goes on.   And just as Discovery gave a nod to the TOS theme at the end, this music gives a nod to the TNG theme at the end. And also, notice rather than the traditional “Based upon Star Trek Created by Gene Roddenberry” it says “Based upon Star Trek The Next Generation created by Gene Roddenberry. Nice touch, showing us that they really are all-in for the particular Star Trek that made me a hard-core fan.   I like the location they used for chateau Picard. It’s not the same as what we’ve seen before, but it’s beautiful, and it works.   And then Picard speaks french to number one in a rather cute scene that show he’s just like our cat. He loves to hunt birds and them them into the house. It’s nice to finally hear Picard speak french. I enjoyed that touch.   So meet Laris and Zhaban. Two Romulans that live and work at Chateau Picard. If you haven’t read the Star Trek Picard Comics, then this might be really confusing to you. We first meet these characters on a Romulan colony world which Admiral Picard has come to help evacuate. They’re former Tal Shiar operatives that worked with Picard and have obviously becomes his friends. I’m still waiting for book 3 to come out so I don’t understand all the backstory of how they came to be here, but I at least know them. This must be a little disorienting for those who haven’t read the comic. The way they’re doing Romulan eyebrows is a little different on this show. I don’t really mind it. Helps distinguish Romulans from Vulcans. Alex Kurtzman has promised that we’ll see some TNG style Romulans in the show, with the v-shpaed forehead ridge. Canonising the fact that some Romulans have them and some don’t. Makes sense to me. Afte their ancestors left Vulcan, they undoubtedly intermarried with some other species. Plus, there are variations among humans, so across a vast star empire, it makes sense there would be variations among Romulans too.   The replicator looks cool. Very similar to the TNG replicators.  The effect suggests the object is being built up molecule by molecule like an advanced 3d printer. It doesn’t quite fit with the established understanding of how they work, which is more akin to transporter technology, but it looks cool. Maybe they’ve found this is a more efficient way of doing it.   And notice that the computer interfaces on this show are very reminiscent of the LCARS okudagrams used inthe Berman era. The sound effects too. The aesthetic of this show all feels like a logical extrapolation of the berman era 20 years on. Replicators, transporters, shuttles. And we learn that Picard is now having his earl gray decaffinated. Interesting. As I understand, people often sleep less as they get older. (either that or they sleep all the time). But I can imagine that as a 94 year old (yes, that’s Picard’s age) he may have found reason to adust his favourite beverage slightly.   I love how Laris mothers Picard. Very amusing. The TV interview is an effective way to get out quite a lot of exposition in a dramatic way. This show is introducing us to a brand new era in the Star Trek universe, and we’ve got quite a lot of catch up on. The interview scene pulls double duty, getting this information across, but also showing a lot of Picard’s character. Very nicely done. I loved the little images of Picard from the past. Two from the TV series, and two from the movies. And we learn that since retirement, Picard has been writing history books. He left his day job to become  an author. A man after my own heart.   This brings us to the supernova that destroyed Romulus, which, of course, connects us to the narrative of JJ Abram’s Star Trek 2009 movie, co-written by Alex Kurtzman. We’ve always known that this even took place in the original prime timeline, in which TOS, TNG, DS9 and Voyager all took place. When nero and spock were pulled into the singularity and thrust back to the 23rd century, they created the new timeline in which those Kelvin movies are set. But now, we get to see the ongoing consequences that event had on the prime timeline, which I think is really cool.   That was a massive event. Liken it to 911 but even that falls short. We learn that when it happened, some in the Federation opposed helping the Romulans. Feeling the resources of the Federation could be put to better use than helping a former enemy. Now this is really interesting. I’ll be honest. I have a hard time buying that.  First of all, this is Star Trek. Resources are basically limitless. But let’s put that aside because that never really made a lot of sense anyway. We’re talking about the potential extinction of an entire sentient species. This is the Federation. Do-gooders of the galaxy. And I don’t mean that with derision. The federation is a very moral organisation which values compassion and peace. If it were the Jem Hadar, at the height of the Dominion War, I could maybe buy it more. But the Romulans? Let’s not forget they were our allies during the war. And relations only improved after the whole Shinzon incident in Nemesis. I don’t think the Romulans posed any significant threat to the Federation at this point. Could anyone in the Federation really not look with compassion on a former enemy and help save them.   Of course, in the real world, people have many different opinions on issues, so again, this adds a greater sense of realism to the Star Trek universe, so I’m with that. But even in the real world, let's say Russia, who were once considered the enemies of the western world. If some natural disaster was going to destroy eastern europe, and a western country had some means of saving them, would anybody argue against helping those people? Civilians? Children?   But then I realise I think the writers are trying to connect this with the real-world issue of refugees, which has been a hot-button topic for a number of years, in many countries. Don’t worry, I’m not going to divert into real world politics.   So I guess there could be debate and disagreement in the Federation council regarding this. I also very much buy that Jean Luc Picard would want to help those in need, regardless of who they were. And while physical resources such as food as ships are near limitless due to replicator technology, the availability of habitable planets to house that many Romulan citizens would be a very real concern.    I do like when the interviewer says “Romulan lives” And Picard replies “No. Lives.”   And this is where we learn about the attack on Mars. A group of rogue synths (androids) attacked Mars and destroyed the rescue armada (there’s that word again) being constructed at Utopia Planitia. This has me worried for Gerdi. He was at Utopia Planitia in charge of that construction project. Is he still alive. Man, I hope so. There were two major consequences of this attack.   Firstly, it destroyed Starfleet’s ability to evacuate those Romulans. The fleet they were building was gone.   Second, the Federation placed a ban on the development of synthetic or artificial life forms. I’m not sure why we have to introduce this new term, synthetic, into Star Trek Lore. What’s wrong with Android? Although we’ll get into more of this later.   But the real reason Picard resigned from Starfleet is that they went back on their decision to help the Romulans. They didn’t rescue them. This is a complex issue and we don’t know all the facts. But with that rescue fleet destroyed, did they even have the ability to help? On one hand, no. I mean, if their existing fleet was sufficient for the job, they wouldn't have been building new ships in the first place. They probably couldn’t have rescued everyone as they had planned to do, but I am sure they could have rescued someone. But it seems they just gave up. They became inwardly focussed, mourning the loss of the many many who died on Mars. I can understand Picard resigning over this. “It was no longer Starfleet”, Picard passionately says. He likens the rescue of the Romulans to Dunkirk, where allied forces retreated from France into England during world war 2.   All of this just feels like it’s adding some gritty realism to the Star Trek universe, which I’m with.   Then Dahj comes to Picard at his estate. She saw his interview, but something in her mind flashed like lightning and told her to seek him out. That she’d be safe with him. This is the big msyery of episode one. I love how Picard responds to her. This werid stranger turns up in his front yard and starts crying. He immediately responds to her with compassion. He takes her into his home. Most importantly, he listens. That’s Jean-Luc Picard. Picard was always a compassionate man, but as he’s mellowed with age, I think he’s become much more empathetic. He becomes even more, someone we’d all like to know. At this point, I’m already wondering if she is synthetic. But she’s bleeding, so she can’t be, right?   Then we get our second dream sequence, and we’re treating to Data and Picard int their original TNG uniforms. Yay. Data is painting, which is something he’s always been known for. Picard’s mind is trying to tell him something. Something he isn’t yet willing to consciously admit. The visual similarity between Dahj, and Data’s daughter, from the TNG episode The Offspring, is hard to ignore. I really liked the way they used Data in this episode. My theory was always that Data wsa a hallucination, a sign of Picard’s developing Irumodic Syndrome. I’m still not completely discounting that as a possibility for the future, but his appearances here have all been in dreams. It has been done in a way that feels natural to me.   So Picard goes off to the Starfleet archives to investigate. And as we get our first real hint of Star-Trekiness, or at least, of Starfleet-iness, we hear hints of the TNG theme (which, of course, is actually the theme from Star Trek The Motion Picture, credited that way in the end credits, by the way).   I like the holographic index in the archives. Given the prevalence of holographic technology in the 24th century, it makes perfect sense to me that an archive would have a holographic librarian.   This is the scene the fans have been waiting for. From the moment we first hear that Door whoosh sound, the show allows us to really dwell, for a moment, in unadulterated nostalgia. But in a way that again feels completely natural. And if you were new to Star Trek, you’d just think, ok , this is some old things of Picards. But to us, every item in this room holds meaning, brings back memories. We see his model of the Stargazer from his ready room on the Enterprise. A klingon batleth and daktag. And notice, these are the original designs, not the re-designs from Discovery, which, I suppose, were simply 23rd century equivalents. We also see the book that was displayed in his ready room. Shakespear? Probably. There’s a model of the Enterprise E, The Captain Picard day banner, models of the captain’s yacht, and Enterprise D. What else did you spot?   So the reason Picard came here was to see a painting Data gave him. It looks like Dahj. Data called it Daughter. So….this was a painting of Lal? Dahj calls her mum, further confirming that she is human. But when her mum tells her to go back to Picard, even though Dahj never mentioned that, we have doubts again. Who and what is this girl? The floating holographic interface doesn’t look very TNG, but i’m cool with that. Remember back in the DS9 episode, The visitor, was set somewhere around this time, and Bashir remarks to Dax about how he doesn’t know how they ever manage dusing 2d interfaces. This is a natural progression of 24th century technology.   We see a few Starfleet uniforms in the background. We don’t get a really good look at them. I’m sure we’ll see more in subsequent episodes. We know from the trailers that Picard will go to Starfleet headquarters. So I’ll talk about them when we get a closer look.   At this point, Picard has figured it out. She knows what Dahj is. He tells her all about Data. He believes Dahj is a synthetic. It all makes sense when he lays out the evidence. All her memories of her childhood and family, are implanted. But Picard doesn’t belittle those memories. He calls them beautiful. He refers to Dahj as something that is lovingly and deliberately created. And I really like that. And although he doesn’t fully understand the nature of the connection, after all, Lal died, Picard is at a point where he is willing to consider Dahj as family. You are dear to me, he says.I will never leave you. I’m loving this stuff. This is emotional. It’s great character drama, and as a parent, I’m connecting with it strongly. At the same time, at this point I’m dying to understand the mystery. Did data secretly build a second Dahj back in the day? One that survived? Or is it something else? Then we switch into thriller mode again. First of all, I love how Picard is struggling up the stairs. OF course he is. Even with 24th century medicine, he’s in his 90s. I like that the show allows Picard to be old. How many shows do we get with elderly heroes like this?   This action scene is fantastic. I feel like I’m watching a big screen action movie. Brilliantly done. When Dahj does a superman jump, we’re left with little doubt that Picard is right about her. But what’s with that bleeding? Let’s talk about the new transporter effect. I don’t mind it. It’s still somewhat reminiscent of the TNG transporter effect. But it’s very quick. Again, I can buy that. It seems a logical advance that would occur in the technology.The sound effect still has hints of the old sound, but perhaps sounds a little too hologrammy to me. But I’m with it. This is a new era with a new aesthetic. But that aesthetic doesn’t feel like it came out of nowhere.   And then the big shock that I did NOT see coming. The romulan puts his disruptor on overload. It explodes. And Dahj dies. I thought she was gonna be a major character in this show, and she didn’t make it to th end of the first episode. That was shocking. And she Isa Briones played her death wonderfully. The fear on her face. The horror as she realised she was about to die. That hit me. Not to mention Picard’s reaction.   Now we need to talk about something. Dahj has been experiencing and expressing a lot of emotion. She didn’t even know she was an android. Data, as we know, was incapable of feeling emotions, at least until he installed the emotion chip that Soong developed later in life. So this android is more advanced than data. Remember, also, though, that Lal was able to experience emotions, or at least a reasonable simulation of them just before she died. That was explained as a glitch in her positronic brain. Anyway, this is something to keep in mind. Somebody has the ability to create android with emotion. When he wakes up, Picard has a character growth moment, as he realises he hasn’t been living, he’s been waiting to die. I wonder if he remembers at this moment, a conversation he once had with James T. Kirk, about making a difference.   So he heads off to the Daystrom institute to talk to an expert about whether one can make an android out of flesh and blood.   And can I just point out how awesome all of the sets on this show look. Brilliant.   And here we meet another main cast member of this show. Doctor Agnus Jurati. She’s the expert. She says a flash and blood android was in their sights, but a sentient one, not for a thousand years. This kind of makes sense. A body is just a body. The impressive thing about an android like data was not the mechanical arms and legs. It was the brain. The mind. When it comes to creating life, that’s the hard bit. That’s the bit that matters. The mind. And potentially, the soul. I can buy that in the 24th century, that can manipulate biological matter to an extent that they can create a body out of bio matter. One that would bleed, like a true biological organism. But creating a positronic brain like Data’s is something only one person ever achieved. Doctor Noonian Soong. And nobody has ever been able to duplicate his work.   This is why I think maybe the word synthetic could work. Because it’s more than just android. It’s talking about synthetically created biological organisms with robotic brains.   And now we learn the fate of B5. He’s been disassembled and put in a drawer at the Daystrom Institute. I wonder why they dismantled him. Jurati tells us what we already knew, that B5 is an inferior copy of Data. And we learn that sadly, Data’s neural network didn’t take in B4’s primitive brain. Almost all of it was lost. And then we get an exciting name drop. Bruce Maddox, from the TNG episode Measure of a Man. Maddox was trying to follow up on Soong’s work. He wanted to dismantle Data to learn more so he could create more soong-type androids. Data refused, believing the procedure too dangerous, as Maddox needed more research. That, of course, lead to the court case where Data’s rights as a sentient life form were established.   Data and Maddox continued to keep in contact over the  years. He’s occasionally mentioned in TNG. It seems he kept working and eventually recruited Doctor Jurati. They came close to succeeding, and then mars happened, and the ban on the creation of synths. That understandably crushed him. He was no longer allowed to finish his life’s work. The guy was a jerk in TNG when we first met him, but I’m feeling sympathy for him now. Will we see him in a future episode. Man, I hope so.   Let’s talk about this ban on creating synths. As I understand, we’re not talking about taking away anything from synths that already exist. We’re talking about making it illegal to create more. Was this an over-reaction? Possibly. Picard certainly thinks so. But I can understand the feat that drove that decision. To this day, nobody knows why those synths attacked mars. You can’t blame an entire race for something done by a finite number. Obviously. But at the same time, we’re not talking about people. We’re talking about machines. And probably not even sentient machines, as they’re still trying to crack that nut. Created by technology. Created by flawed imperfect humans. Was there some kind of failure of glitch in the technology that lead to this tragedy? We don’t know. I’m not sure where I stand on this issue right now, but I can see both sides.   Maddox disappeared after the ban. Even Jurati doesn’t know where he went.   Because nobody is clever enough to duplicate Soong’s work, any new sentient android would have to be created from data   Jurati then tells us about the theory of fractal neuronic cloning. Maddox believed all that data was could be re-created from a single positronic neuron. Kind lof like re-created a human from a strand of DNA in one of its cells.  So the theory is that Maddox created Dahj using this method, and modelled her appearance after the painting of Lal. They’re created in pairs. Twins. Why this is the case, I don’t know. The episode doesn’t do a good job of explaining that. I can’t see a logical reason why the technology would require you to make two. Hopefully this will be explained more in future episodes.   And as Picard comes to the conclusion that there is another one out there somewhere, we leave him, as the episode cuts away from Earth for the last scene. But now, it seems, Picard has a goal. A mission. This will guide us logically into the plot of episode 2, and perhaps, the entire season.   The new Romulan ship looks pretty cool. Very birdlike. The voice we hear as it flies by sounds very Klingon to me, but I assume it’s supposed to be Romulan.   This new location is referred to as the “Romulan Reclamation Site.” What that means, we have no idea. We briefly meet another major character, a Romulan named Narek. And then we meets Doctor Soji Asher. Who looks exactly like Dahj. The twin! I think she’s a psychologist.   We get a little backstory about Narek. He had a brother that he lost recently. There’s not a lot to say about this. We don’t know what part this character will play in the show. It’s essentially a cameo.   And that brings me to something about this show. This very much feels like a story about Jean-Luc Picard. There are other characters around him, of course, and they’re important, but this is much less an ensemble show than any other Star Trek. Most of the cast, we haven’t actually met yet.   They tried to do that with Discovery, but Discovery can’t quite decide whether it’s the story of Michael Burnham, or a kind of lower decks ensemble show. I get the impression this show is much more certain of its identity.   And as the camera zooms out, in a shot reminiscent of Star Trek First Contact, we learn tat this Romlan Reclamation Site is actually a damaged Borg cube. Interesting!   The credits mention somebody played a tellarite. I missed that.   I haven’t talked much about the music, so let me just say that I really liked it, and I think it fits the show well. It’s a lot less generic than the berman-era music, which I know a lot of people complain about, but there are a few hints of TNG-era music. I thought I heard a hint of something from Generations.   So that was the first episode of Star Trek Picard. Let’s go into some summary thoughts about the episode. In short, I loved almost everything about it. I loved the tone. I loved the aesthetic. I loved the character focus.   In a way, this show is giving us the equivalent of what the movies gave us for TOS. There was quite a big gap between the original series and the original movies. Not so with TNG. They were filming the final episode, and then practically the next day there were filming the first movie. In a way that was good because we saw continuity. We travelled with these characters from Encounter at Farpoint through the Nemesis.   But we didn’t get to grow old with the characters like we did with Kirk, Spock and Bones. We saw them grow and change. Become old. We saw the world around them change. The look and feel of the original movies and very different than that of the original series.   But Star Trek Picard is giving us that opportunity with the Next Generation characters, and potentially, with Voyager and DS9 as well. We know Seven of Nine is returning. I live in hope that we’ll see someone from Deep Space Nine at some point during the planned 3 seasons of this show. And honestly, after Picard ends, I hope we get more of this era.   I’ve been wanting to return to the 24th century for about 20 years. And I can’t believe it’s finally happened. We’re getting to see a future for my favourite era of Star Trek, the Berman era.   If you’re coming to this, looking for TNG, you’re not going to find it. They’ve told us that all along. This isn’t planet of the week. They haven’t even left Earth yet. The creators described this as a ten hour movie. If that’s not the kind of thing you like, you might be disappointed, but I love this kind of thing.   So I’m really pumped and I can’t wait for next week so I can have another helping of Star Trek Picard.   What about you? What did you think of the show? Feel free to leave me a comment wherever you’re listening to this. (or watching)   So what other nerdy stuff is happening in my life? Well, I recently started walking to Mordor. You see, I’m quite overweight. My job involves sitting at a computer all day, and most of my other interests also involve sitting at a computer. So, that’s really very unhealthy. I need to move a lot more during the day. I thought a fun, nerdy way to motivate me to exercise more, (you’kow, other than not dying) would be to retract Frodo and Sam’s journey from the shire to Mordor to destroy the one ring. I’ve got the Walk to Mordor app on my phone, which has all the distances calculated, with various milestones along the way, from the story. Whenever I go for a walk, I log the distance and it fells me how far I have to go. I started at Bag end, and I’ve just passed through Tookland. In about 35 kilometers, I’ll have an encounter with the black rider. You remember that scene in the movie where they hid under the log with the black rider looming over them. It was terrifying. That’s in my future. Anyway, it seems to be working. I’m finding myself wanting to go for walks. And as I do, I imagine myself on an epic quest through fantastical countryside. The imagination is a powerful thing, and it’s interesting the tricks you can play on your own brain. I’ll keep you up to date on my progress through middle earth in future podcasts.   But for now, I’m gonna say goodbye, until next time, when we meet with our friend Jean-Luc once again.   Have a great week. Live long and prosper.   Make it so.  

Star Trek First Contact is my favourite Star Trek movie. It was a wonderful way to celebrate the 30th anniversary of our beloved franchise. In this video, I geek out with delight over the movie, and yes, I point out a couple of things that could have been even better. Join me as I review the 10 episodes and movies that you should watch before Star Trek Picard. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/AdamDavidCollings ----more---- Transcript Welcome to Nerd Heaven.I’m Adam David Collins, the author of Jewel of The StarsAnd I am a nerd. This is episode 6 of the podcast, and we’re continuing our look at the 10 episodes and movies you should check out before watching Star Trek Picard, which goes live late January. Today, we’re looking at Star Trek First Contact. The IMDB description for this movie readsThe Borg travel back in time intent on preventing Earth’s first contact with an alien species. Captain Picard and his crew pursue them to ensure that Zefram Cochrane makes his maiden flight reaching warp speed.And this movie first appeared in cinemas on the 13th of November 1996, which was in the UK, prior to the american release on the 22nd of November. Here in Australia, we didn’t get it until the 28th. Let’s do it. This is my favourite Star Trek movie. It came out during the year of the 30th anniversary of Star Trek. What an awesome year that was. We got Trials and Tribble-ations, which was amazing. We get this movie, which was amazing, and we got Flashback over on voyager, which was really good. There are some nice 30th anniversary tidbits in this movie that link it to other Star Trek shows. We’ll cover them as we get to them. Let’s start by saying that the music in this movie is incredible. Jerry Goldsmith composed a hauntingly beautiful theme for First Contact.I always sit through the opening credits just to listen to it. Plus, the names slowly coming into focus looks pretty cool. Nice little callback at the start, seeing Picard in his TNG uniform for the flashback to Best of Both Worlds. That pull back shot gives us a sense of the vastness of the Borg ship. And as Picard wakes from his nightmare, we get our first glimpse of the new TNG movie-era uniforms. This is my favourite Star Trek uniform. It looks so cool. I really want one. Picard is still having nightmare about his assimilation. I image, after going through something like that, the nightmare would never stop. Of course it’s implied that the nightmare is caused by the proximity of the Borg ship.You gotta wonder what made the Borg decide to send another shop to assimilate Earth at this moment. Clearly, they still think one cube is enough. And then we get another first. Our first glimpse at the new USS Enterprise, NCC 1701-E.The last Enterprise was destroyed in the previous movie, Star Trek Generations.The Enterprise E looks fantastic. Sleeker, meaner than the D. Of course, I also loved the D. But this new Enterprise was made for the big screen, and it fills it beautifully. Gorgeous image of a nebula behind the ship, too. Do you think Starfleet’s reluctance to let Picard anywhere near the Borg is more related to his previous assimilation, or his handling of the Hugh situation? Either way, it’s a foolish decision. No one knows the Borg better than Picard. The voice effect used for the Borg collective in this movie is creepier than in the TV show. I love the bridge of the Enterprise E. Those little screens for Picard, Riker, and Troi, the little corner desks for Data and Hawke. Fantastic production design. And that Borg cube. So much more detailed than the model used on the TV show. And here’s a first connection to other Star Trek. The Defiant from Deep Space Nine has joined the fight against the Borg. Obviously. This ship was designed to fight the Borg. It was likely one of the weapons shelby was working on prior to Best of both Worlds. Remember, those new weapons that weren’t ready yet. The Defiant gives us the perfect opportunity to bring Worf into the story, who was a series regular on Deep Space Nine at this time. I love the holographic viewscreen on the Enterprise E. I wish they’d continued to use that effect in subsequent movies. Picard can still hear the Borg in his head. Surprising, since he no longer has any implants. But given how hard it was for the doctor to remove all of Seven’s implants in Voyager, let’s assume maybe there’s still a little something in there.He gets some inside information on a weak spot that allows them to destroy the cube. This seems a little problematic. Remember, Borg cubes are extremely redundant. They shouldn’t have weak spots like that that cause the whole thing to blow up. I mean, this isn’t the blooming death star.But, they need to keep the story moving. The Borg need an excuse to time travel into the past.This, of course, makes absolutely no sense.First, if the Borg simple go back in time and assimilate species when they were vulnerable, why not just do that to begin with. But there’s a bigger problem. What do the Borg gain by assimilating a broken earth that is still recovering from world war 3? Their technology is useless. Biologically, humans are that different to many other species. It makes zero sense for the Borg to want to assimilate 21st century earth.So, the very premise here is filled with plot holes.But, I forgive them, because this movie is awesome. What do you want from me? So the Borg and the Enterprise arrive on my 85th birthday. And you better believe, when I turn 85, I’ll be making a pilgrimage to Montana, USA to meet the Vulcans.But I digress.Interestingly, 2063 is also the 100th anniversary of Star Trek. First Contact presents us with a very different Zephram Cochrane that we are used to, from his appearance in the original series.He’s not the amazing historical figure that starfleet puts on a pedestal. One of the first things we hear him say is “I sure as hell am not going up there sober.”Surprise surprise, Cochrane was human. This is a theme through the whole movie. We have a tendency to venerate great men and women from history, and I’m not saying we shouldn’t, but, these people were human just like us, with the same flaws and emotions. They burped and broke wind just like we do. James Cromwell and Alfre Goodard are both great as Cochrane and lily. Woodward is especially awesome as lily. The enterprise destroys the Borg sphere. Again, it all seems too easy. I remember thinking, the first time I saw this, they had 2 Borg ships, and they’re both destroyed. We’re not even 30 minutes into this movie. So much for a movie about the Borg.Of course, seeing the enterprise slowly get turned into a Borg ship ended up being much more compelling. So, it’s all good. I love time travel stories, especially if they are internally consistent.We’d never seen the TNG crew interact with present day. This was as close as we’d get. This was kind of TNG’s Star Trek 4. I also like the new engineering set for the Enterprise E, with that massive warp core. The idea of tunring a left-over nuclear missile into Earth’s first warp-speed ship is symbolic. And kinda cool. The sickbay on the Enterprise E looks very much like the Voyager sickbay. This was probably just a cost-saving choice to re-use an existing set, but in my mind, back in the day, it was a deliberate creative choice, to make the two newer ships, Enterprise E and Voyager, look alike.And now we get our next link to other Star Trek. And this is brilliantly done. Crusher needs a diversion to get every away from sickbay before the Borg break in, so, of course, they activate the Enterprise EMH, brilliantly played by Robert Picardo from Voyager. I love this scene. I always have. Obviously the enterprise sickbay would have an EMH. They simply don’t use it because they have a medical staff. If you count Zephram Cochrane as a TOS reference, then this movie has now included cameos of ships and characters from all the other Star Trek shows that existed at the time. Troi’s character doesn’t get a lot to do in this movie. In the previous movie, she had some fantastic scenes where she actually got to be a counselor. Here, she’s mainly relegated to comic relief. Still, Marina Sirtis does a good job of it. The emotion chip is put to good use in this story.And despite Data initially being quite annoying (deliberately so) I thought it was used effectively back in Generations as well. It was very thematic in that movie.And it plays an important part in First Contact as well. It’s interesting to know that data can de-activate the chip. Don’t you wish you could simply turn off your emotions sometimes. It would be handy. And now we get our first proper look at the Borg in their new big-screen, bigger budget glory. They look fantastic. So much detail. The chalky skin that looks like makeup is replaced with slimy pasty skin that looks a lot more realistic. The costumes are more detailed. And the Borg represent many different species. There are Klingon Borg, Cardassian Borg, Bolian Borg. If you look closely, you’ll notice all sorts of species. The Borg visual effects for things like their personal force field have also been updated. This is the first time we see the use of assimilation tubules.The assimilation process has always been a bit of a mystery. But here we see the injection of nano-probes (not specifically mentioned in this movie, but explored later in voyager). There’s a chilling moment when an assimilated crew member asks Picard for help.Picard shoots him dead.They don’t have the resources or the ability to surgically disconnect and restore each assimilated crew member right now, and Picard knows from personal experience, that it’s better to die than be a Borg drone. Riker and Troi explain the Roddenberry philosophy to Cochrane. Tomorrow morning, earth will make first contact with aliens after his successful warp test. Within a few decades, war, poverty,disease are all erased. This makes First Contact a very Star Trek show, again cementing it’s place as a 30th anniversary celebration movie. Picard meets Lily. I really like the friendship that develops between them.Picard manages to convince her that he really is from the future.I have to say I really like that when the window opens, and they see earth, they’re over Australia.Yeah! And we meet the Borg queen for the first time. The visual effect of her coming down from the ceiling is fantastic. The Borg queen is a really interesting concept.In a way, she contradicts what the Borg have been established to be.She refers to herself as I. Saying I am the Borg.Here’s the way I’ve always thought of her.She is the central hub of the Borg.Up until now, we’ve always assumed the Borg collective was a peer-to-peer network, but now it seems they are a client-server network. The queen is the server. You could say that the collective consciousness is her consciousness.This is not really what was previously established, but it’s interesting.I think that the Borg work better without the queen.But I think they felt a movie must have a villain that audiences can relate to. And I do admit that the Borg queen fits this bill very well. Alice Krige plays her brilliantly.There’s a lot about the queen that doesn’t make sense. She was on the Borg cube that was destroyed in best of both worlds. The same biological organism. But that ship was destroyed. And after she dies here, we’ll see her again in Voyager.Her explanation for this is “You’ve become small. You humans think in this three-dimensional terms”, which is a total cop-out. This is writer slang for “I don’t have an explanation for this that makes sense.” Picard gives Lily the ridiculous line about there being no money in the 24th century. Everyone works to better themselves and the rest of humanity.Which is total nonsense, of course. A system like that cannot work.The biggest issue I see is the unwanted jobs. Who cleans the toilets? Sure, in the Star Trek world, I would work hard writing books or exploring space, all in an effort to better myself and humanity. But who does the menial jobs that nobody wants? What motivates people to take that on? And we know that people do these menial jobs, it’s not all just robots, because Rom works waste extraction, literally wading in sewage, on deep space nine.Anyway. The holodeck scene is FANTASTIC.It ties us all the way back to TNG season 1, where Picard used to play Dixon Hill on the holodeck. But Dixon Hill never looked this good, with massive sets, heaps of extras and exciting action set pieces.I love it.The idea to use a holographic tommy gun to kill the Borg is very clever. Bullets are not something they’ll have adapted to. We see first hand just how much hurt and pain Picard still has buried, as he continues to pump the Borg full of bullets, long after it’s dead.It’s all come back to the forefront for him, like it was yesterday.And the carelessness when he says “this drone was ensign lynch.”I understand. In his mind, this is not ensign lynch. This is a drone.But still. This scene is really powerful. Nice little cameo from Reg Barclay. It doesn’t make a heap of sense that so many people from the enterprise d wind up on the enterprise e. Not just the senior staff, but people like Nurse Ogawa and Barclay. But, it’s nice to see them so whatever. Cochrane is finding it very difficult to live up to the celebrity everyone keeps telling him he’ll have.His discomfort make sense. Who could live up to that kind of hero worship.But at the same time, given his importance in their world, I understand the hero worship. This is the first time we see the new space suits, which will come back again in Voyager.The battle on the hull near the deflector dish is fantastic. Slow, but awesome. It’s pretty unique. But Worf’s line “Assimilate this” is cheesy and feels like it’s out of a really bad action movie parody.Also, why is his voice distorted? He sounds like a robot. Data’s assimilation is interesting. Usually, they add cybernetic implants into biological beings. But here, they’re adding biological elements to a cybernetic being. They do like the mixture.There’s a whole lot of manipulation going on here.The queen reactivates his emotion chip, which makes him a LOT easier to manipulate. Cochrane is a far cry from the historical figure they all talk about, but, as he gets older, he will become more like that figure. There’s some fantastic drama between Picard and Worf on the bridge.Worf accuses Picard of allowing his personal experiences with the Borg to influence his judgement.And of course that’s influencing his judgement. How could it not?The scene between Picard and Lily in the conference room is amazing and powerful.Alfre Woodard and Patrick Stewart are incredible. This scene gives me so many chills.And there’s lots of thematic stuff in here too.Lily helps Picard realise that he’s being motivated by revenge and hate.And so he changes his plan. When they’re preparing the evacuate the enterprise, Picard says “see you on Gravette island.”I’ve tried googling this, to see if it’s a real place.I came up empty.But I have a head canon about this. I imagine that Gravette is an island that remains unpopulated through most of human history. And that Starfleet has standing orders that any crew who get stranded in earth’s past are to set themselves up there and stay out of history’s way.I think that would make a good TV show actually. Gravette Island, about a Starfleet crew making a new life on present day Earth. Of course, something would have to entice them out of hiding to interact with the rest of the world, or there’d be no storyBut I’m getting quite off topic now. I love how Zephram Cochrane can’t take off without his music.The Pheonix looks great. The perfect mix of old-fashioned real world space program, and the star trek future.I remember geeking out that the bussard collectors at the front of the nacelles resembled those on the original series enterprise. Does Picard really mean it when he offers to become Gorg again, in order to free Data?I have to think that he does.But, how could he possibly be willing to go through that again.That’s self-sacrifice. That’s friendship.But to willingly go into that living hell? It like how the Phoenix takes a few minutes to accelerate up to warp 1.The climactic battle in engineering has some awesome visual effects, included the death of the queen.The Borg shouldn’t really explode when the queen dies, but it kinda works for the movie. The flight of the phoenix, and the landing of the alien ship are full of the sense of wonder that Star Trek is sometimes known for.I remember sitting on the edge of my seat in the cinema, thinking “please be the Vulcans. Please be the Vulcans.”It had to be.I read that the design of the Vulcan ship was based on real-world descriptions of UFOs.The implied idea being that Vulcans had previously visited earth discreetly. So there you have it. My favourite Star Trek movie.It’s got some little flaws, but there’s so much good stuff they’re easy to forgive. Do you think we’ll see the Borg Queen again in Star Trek Picard? Will they acknowledge her? It’ll be interesting to find out. Next time, we delve into the origin of another character that is returning for Picard. Seven of Nine.I’ll see you for my favourite episode of Star Trek Voyager.Scorpion. Live long and prosper.Make it so.

First Contacts in TNG. To communicate with new life and new civilizations through first contact is one of the primary missions of a Starfleet crew and the crews of the Enterprise-D and Enterprise-E are no exception. The first contacts that we see rarely seem to be easy, whether with space-faring jellyfish, subspace aliens kidnapping the crew, or the malevolent collective consciousness of the Borg, but it does make for a great discussion topic. In this episode of Earl Grey, hosts Joe Keegan and Justin Oser are joined by guest April Taylor to talk about first contacts in The Next Generation and what they tell us about one of Starfleet's most important missions. The discussion includes the episodes "Encounter at Farpoint," "Pen Pals," "Q Who," "Who Watches The Watchers," "First Contact," "Schisms," and "Phantasms" as well as the movie First Contact. Listen/subscribe via: http://itunes.com/trekfm http://www.trek.fm/earl-grey/302 http://earlgrey.trekfm.libsynpro.com/rss Chapters  Intro (00:00:00)   Listener Feedback (00:02:51)   Welcome, April! (00:07:06)   April’s Star Trek Story (00:07:46)   "Encounter at Farpoint" (00:12:25)   "Pen Pals" (00:30:07)  “Who Watches The Watchers” (00:42:10) “First Contact” (episode) (00:46:57) “Q Who” (00:55:24) “Schisms” (01:02:18) “Phantasms” (01:09:24) First Contact (movie) (01:14:32) Final Thoughts (01:22:28) Closing (01:31:18)   Running Time: 1 hour 39 minutes 37 seconds Hosts Joe Keegan, Justin Oser GuestApril Taylor   Production Joe Keegan (Editor and Producer) Justin Oser (Producer) Amy Nelson (Producer) Tony Robinson (Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Michael E Hueter (Associate Producer) Thomas Appel (Associate Producer) Justin Oser (Associate Producer) Chris Tribuzio (Associate Producer) Joe Keegan (Associate Producer) Jim McMahon (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Tony Robinson (Show Art)

The Future of the Enterprise-E. Jean-Luc Picard will return to the small screen in 2020, and fans will get answers to a lot of “What happened to...?” questions. One of those questions is, What happened to the Enterprise-E? Is it still in service? Who’s in command? Was it destroyed? Decommissioned? The trio look at the possibilities and what it could mean to the Star Trek Universe. They also review the latest Short Trek, “The Trouble with Edward.” Let us know if you want to see the Enterprise-E again.

The Future of the Enterprise-E. Jean-Luc Picard will return to the small screen in 2020, and fans will get answers to a lot of “What happened to...?” questions. One of those questions is, What happened to the Enterprise-E? Is it still in service? Who's in command? Was it destroyed? Decommissioned? The trio look at the possibilities and what it could mean to the Star Trek Universe. They also review the latest Short Trek, “The Trouble with Edward.” Let us know if you want to see the Enterprise-E again.

We've hit what the vast majority consider the high point of the TNG films in "First Contact"! The Borg are all "choke on THAT causality" and decide to go back in time to screw with Earth of the past, specifically Zephram Cochrane and his first warp flight. But Captain Picard an the "Enterprise"-E crew are hot on their tail, and everyone's favorite Anglo-Frenchman has decided he's going to go all Ahab on their cybernetic tuchuses. Also this week: a rare Easter Egg, alternate Cochrane casting, and Data becoming a real man.

Download This week, we #TrekOut Star Trek: Picard’s Key Art announcement. Then Levar Burton is betting on Geordie’s return, The Westmore’s continue to Trek, and David Mack gets his dream job. In Star Trek Online and gaming news, you can now adopt your favorite furry in-game friend and Anthony reviews the latest Star Trek tabletop game, “Conflick in the Neutral Zone.” Then, Star Trek Online’s Community manager - Ambassador Kael - stops by to tease about some of the happenings going on in just three week’s time at the Star Trek Las Vegas Convention! Later, Dr. Robert Hurt provides this month’s Astrometrics Report!  Of course, as always, before we wrap up the show, we’ll open hailing frequencies for your incoming messages!  This Weeks COMMUNITY QUESTION is: CQ: Did you find any spoilers, hints, or “Easter Egg’s” in the new Star Trek: Picard Key Art? AND CQ: Do you plan on purchasing an STO Tribble? If so, which one? Let us know on social media like Facebook, Twitter, or by visiting our website! TREK IT OUT by Jake Morgan “Star Trek: Picard” Key Art Revealed The “Star Trek: Picard” team gave us a nice surprise before San Diego Comic Con and Star Trek Las Vegas - Star Trek: Picard’s Key Art! On July 10th, the art was dropped by both Sir Patrick Stewart’s and Star Trek’s social media outlets. It features the contemplative former Captain in a long coat and high boots. His back is to the audience, though his profile is visible. He is not overlooking the beautiful vineyard and explosive sky that stands in the distance, or the wine barrels nearer, but rather he is looking down - away. But the good Captain is not alone. With him sits - A DOG! His assumedly-loyal companion is wearing a collar sporting a Starfleet Delta, which some keen eyed fans noticed looks to have “_1” on it. Later, Star Trek’s twitter account added an animated gif that pans across the landscape, landing on the final piece of static art. Levar Burton Expects Geordie in “Star Trek: Picard” So we MAY be getting a “Number 1” - of sorts - in the new Picard series, but will we ever get to see the proper Next Gen cast join Sir Patrick? LeVar Burton thinks so! Appearing at the premiere of Disney’s “The Lion King”, Burton - who played Chief Engineer Geordie LaForge - was asked by CNN about the likelihood of a TNG reunion on “Star Trek: Picard” “Each of us, I would say certainly, right? It is unreasonable to assume that he doesn't know those people anymore, or that he stopped talking to them. And if he did there's good storytelling in why” But Burton also made clear that this wasn’t “Star Trek: The Next NEXT Generation” - it was “Star Trek: Picard” “Are you gonna see all of us together, again, in a scene or episode? I don't know. There's a lot of paper that needs to be papered, before we get there.” McKenzie Westmore On “Star Trek: Picard”: “Cat’s out of the bag” The Westmore family has made quite an impact on Star Trek, and it doesn’t look like they are done yet! On Saturday, July 13th, McKenzie Westmore posted a time-lapsed video to her instagram feed. The video shows the 42-year-old actress, best known for her work on the NBC Soap Opera “Passions”, getting a full head cast. Accompanying the post, Westmore said “There’s such a great story to go along with how all of this came about from beginning to end but for now here’s a little peek at what I went through to transform into what @nevillepage created! More of the story to come! I can’t express enough how great it was to be part of the Star Trek family again with @sirpatstew even if just a moment. I’ve known him for 30 years! Thank you to all involved!! #startrek #picard #comingsoon #family #excited #cantwait #transformation #saturdayvibes #saturdaymorning #actor #actorslife #moretocome #sirpatrickstewart #honored #hollywood” Westmore, who has worked as an extra and guest star on Star Trek before, said later on Twitter “Cats out of the bag! #StarTrekPicard” David Mack a Consultant on a Pair of Star Trek Animated Series Prolific Star Trek author David Mack has some exciting news as well. Mack, the author of over 30 Star Trek novels, broke the news on Twitter, saying “Now it can be told (because my agent secured me permission from the production company): I am excited to be working as a consultant on two new Star Trek animated TV series — Lower Decks, and another whose details remain classified. And that's all I can say about that. #DreamJob” Following a story that claimed Mack was in the writer’s room, the 50 year-old author clarified on Twitter “In case you see this story before it gets corrected: The headline and story are INCORRECT. I am NOT in the writers room on either animated series. I am NOT providing writing services to either show. I am an outside consultant, and my services are strictly advisory in nature.” STAR TREK ONLINE AND GAMING NEWS by Anthony Cox Bring Your Favorite STO Tribble Home Today! Star Trek Online offers the most robust virtual Trek experience any Trekkie could want. Captain your very own Starship, interact with your favorite Trek characters, or become an award winning Tribble breeder! For the last nine years Captains in Star Trek Online have spent years breeding just right Tribble to accompany them on their away missions. Now, thanks to a new partnership with TribbleToys.com, you can bring home your favorite Tribble breed in real life. Available breeds include the Gamma Quadrant Tribble, the Radan Tribble, the Triolic Tribble, the Winter Tribble, and the Black Alert Tribble. What’s a Black Alert Tribble? Well, when you order one of these cuddly shipmates you’ll receive an in-game code for a Black Alert Tribble. Which when pet it, will give you an extra 2% run speed and an extra 3% maximum health. Leaving the Black ALert Tribble alone with the new Sauteed Shitaake food item from the Lobi store will create the new Mycelium Tribble. Petting this little guy will give you a 3% run speed boost and 5% extra maximum health. The Black Alert Tribble code is only available for PC. Trek out the show notes for a link. The Temporal Warship Bundle For the first time the Zen-store is getting a bundle with ships from four different factions. The Temporal Warship bundle, which is already available in the Zen-store, will include starships from the Federation, Klingon Empire, Romulan Republic, and Jem’hadar Vanguard fleets. Also, any Captain can pilot the Jem’hadar or Romulan ships. Right out of the box. No tier 6 ship mastery required. Each of these ships comes with the same console, but it will change the passive boosts depending on the faction. The starship trait is the same also, but both the name and energy type boost will change depending on faction. These ships all have a Commander-rank Temporal Operative Bridge Officer seat and are considered Temporal Operative specialized. So they will have the Molecular Reconstruction abilities. For a full list of stats and details, trek out the show notes. Patch Notables on PC In this week’s PC patch notes: Jem’Hadar Gamma Rep armor is now available to outfit Bridge Officers. Known Issues: Firing arcs are currently not displaying when hovering over weapons icons. Jem’Hadar consoles do not work with the Jem’Hadar temporal warship. PC Events Bonus Marks Weekend Captains will gain bonus marks this weekend. From now until Monday, July 22nd earn 50% more reputation marks. 20% Starship Sale PC Captains can also save 20% off ships in the Zen-store. Including fleet modules, dry dock slots, and ship upgrade tokens. The sale lasts until Monday, July 22nd. Lohlunat Festival Summer Event Ends August 15th July 25 - July 29: Elachi Red Alert Weekend Arena of Sompek Returns as a Featured TFO Aug 1st - Aug 22nd Console Events Double XP Weekend Console Captains can take advantage of a Double XP weekend. From now until Monday, July 22nd Captains on XBox and Playstation can earn 100% more skill points and expertise in game.  July 25th - July 29th: Tholian Red Alert Weekend Aug. 1st - Aug. 5th: Bonus Marks Weekend Aug. 8th: Featured TFO Crystalline Catastrophe WEEKLY TOP TIP Shopping on Risa Before the summer event ends I wanted to draw attention to a few items that, if you don’t have or know about, can be really helpful. If you don’t have at least a very rare floater and power board you’re just doing Risa wrong. Not only will they help you grind out more Lohlonat Favors, but it’s just plan fun to zoom around the island in style. And on the plus side, you can also use the power board on your fleet’s Colony World. Do you need an ultra rare power board? They can really make you fast in the races, but unless you’re an expert power boarder, I find the speed of the ultra rares makes me lose more races then win. But your mileage may very. Don’t forget that there’s a new Baseball themed Tribble this year. Rumour has it feeding a Tribble a Stadium Soft Drink or a Jipper will create a Grand Slam Tribble. But I wouldn’t hit it with a baseball bat, but petting it will give you a 2.5% run speed boost and 5% melee attack damage boost. The last item I want to mention is the Kit Module Graviton Spike. This Tactical Kit module is a staple in many Tactical ground builds. When activated your next weapon attack for 20 seconds triggers additional kinetic damage with 50% shield penetration, knock backs enemies towards the center of the area of effect, and slows enemies by 50% for 5 seconds. Even if you’re not a Tactical officer, check out the other kit modules available in the Summer Event store. You may be surprised to find something useful. Also, once you have access to the Summer event store by completing the welcome project when you first get to Risa, you will always have access to the Summer Event Store in the Events Reputation tab. Other Gaming News Star Trek Conflick Review In the newest tabletop offering from WizKids games, Star Trek: Conflick in the Neutral Zone, players will send their ships into the neutral zone to collect dilithium, grow their fleet of starships, and earn command points to win the game. Unlock most other Star Trek boards games, this is also a dexterity game. In Star Trek: Conflick you literally flick your wooden starship tokens across the board trying to either land on a planet to collect resources or you’re trying to knock your opponents’ ship tokens off the board to gain a command point. Each player starts with either a fleet of four Federation ships or four Klingon ships. During the game you can spend your hard earned dilithium crystals on acquiring new star ships. You don’t have to stick to one faction though, you can purchase any of the four ships available. Klingon, Federation, or even non-aligned ships like Romulans or even Species 8472. The more ships you have the more flicking you can do. But aware of asteroid blocks that opponents might place to protect their ships. In a 2 or 4 player game the board will have 1 large planet in the center that gives command points and two smaller planets that will give dilithium crystals. The 3 player side has the large planet in the center, but has 3 dilithium planets. If you have any collector ships resting on any of the planets at the start of your turn you will gain one of the appropriate items. Once a player accumulates 10 Command points each other player takes a final turn and the player with the most points wins.  The game is a nice departure from the more thinking strategic games that normally have the Star Trek theme applied to them. Instead of trying to negotiate treaties or roll dice to attack ships, you’re literally flicking your ships to attack other ships. There is something giddy and fun about the physicality of sending your starships sailing across the table into the Neutral zone, bashing into other ships, and usually flying off the other side of the board. While the game itself is fun, especially for kids as my 6-year-old quickly became a flicking expert, Star Trek fans will immediately find the cracks in immersion. First off, they advertise the Enterprise D on the box, but the only Enterprise ship disc is the Enterprise E. You’ll find your other favorite Federation and Klingon starships like the Defiant and Voyager, which makes you think the time setting for the game is late 24th century. Circa Insurrection or Nemesis. But then they also included ships like the Reliant and Qonos One. The other theme breaking is that you don’t need to stick to one faction. You may start with an all Federation or Klingon fleet, but you can purchase any available ship to add to your armada. So unless you want to sacrifice strategy for theme, you’re probably going to have an allied fleet. And it’s hard to immerse yourself in a situation where you’re knocking out your opponent's Federation ship with your own, while your Undine Bio-ship is collecting command points. The game is solid fun. And if you can get past those seemingly minor canon flaws you should definitely head to your friendly local gaming store and pick up a copy. Star Trek: Conflick in the Neutral zone is for 2 - 4 players, suggested age range of 14 and up, and plays in about 30 - 50 minutes, depending on the number of players Astrometrics Report Atmosphere of Midsize Planet Revealed by Hubble, Spitzer The Habitable Zone: Scorched Earth Enigma

Download This week, we #TrekOut Star Trek: Picard's Key Art announcement. Then Levar Burton is betting on Geordie's return, The Westmore's continue to Trek, and David Mack gets his dream job. In Star Trek Online and gaming news, you can now adopt your favorite furry in-game friend and Anthony reviews the latest Star Trek tabletop game, “Conflick in the Neutral Zone.” Then, Star Trek Online's Community manager - Ambassador Kael - stops by to tease about some of the happenings going on in just three week's time at the Star Trek Las Vegas Convention! Later, Dr. Robert Hurt provides this month's Astrometrics Report!  Of course, as always, before we wrap up the show, we'll open hailing frequencies for your incoming messages!  This Weeks COMMUNITY QUESTION is: CQ: Did you find any spoilers, hints, or “Easter Egg's” in the new Star Trek: Picard Key Art? AND CQ: Do you plan on purchasing an STO Tribble? If so, which one? Let us know on social media like Facebook, Twitter, or by visiting our website! TREK IT OUT by Jake Morgan “Star Trek: Picard” Key Art Revealed The “Star Trek: Picard” team gave us a nice surprise before San Diego Comic Con and Star Trek Las Vegas - Star Trek: Picard's Key Art! On July 10th, the art was dropped by both Sir Patrick Stewart's and Star Trek's social media outlets. It features the contemplative former Captain in a long coat and high boots. His back is to the audience, though his profile is visible. He is not overlooking the beautiful vineyard and explosive sky that stands in the distance, or the wine barrels nearer, but rather he is looking down - away. But the good Captain is not alone. With him sits - A DOG! His assumedly-loyal companion is wearing a collar sporting a Starfleet Delta, which some keen eyed fans noticed looks to have “_1” on it. Later, Star Trek's twitter account added an animated gif that pans across the landscape, landing on the final piece of static art. Levar Burton Expects Geordie in “Star Trek: Picard” So we MAY be getting a “Number 1” - of sorts - in the new Picard series, but will we ever get to see the proper Next Gen cast join Sir Patrick? LeVar Burton thinks so! Appearing at the premiere of Disney's “The Lion King”, Burton - who played Chief Engineer Geordie LaForge - was asked by CNN about the likelihood of a TNG reunion on “Star Trek: Picard” “Each of us, I would say certainly, right? It is unreasonable to assume that he doesn't know those people anymore, or that he stopped talking to them. And if he did there's good storytelling in why” But Burton also made clear that this wasn't “Star Trek: The Next NEXT Generation” - it was “Star Trek: Picard” “Are you gonna see all of us together, again, in a scene or episode? I don't know. There's a lot of paper that needs to be papered, before we get there.” McKenzie Westmore On “Star Trek: Picard”: “Cat's out of the bag” The Westmore family has made quite an impact on Star Trek, and it doesn't look like they are done yet! On Saturday, July 13th, McKenzie Westmore posted a time-lapsed video to her instagram feed. The video shows the 42-year-old actress, best known for her work on the NBC Soap Opera “Passions”, getting a full head cast. Accompanying the post, Westmore said “There's such a great story to go along with how all of this came about from beginning to end but for now here's a little peek at what I went through to transform into what @nevillepage created! More of the story to come! I can't express enough how great it was to be part of the Star Trek family again with @sirpatstew even if just a moment. I've known him for 30 years! Thank you to all involved!! #startrek #picard #comingsoon #family #excited #cantwait #transformation #saturdayvibes #saturdaymorning #actor #actorslife #moretocome #sirpatrickstewart #honored #hollywood” Westmore, who has worked as an extra and guest star on Star Trek before, said later on Twitter “Cats out of the bag! #StarTrekPicard” David Mack a Consultant on a Pair of Star Trek Animated Series Prolific Star Trek author David Mack has some exciting news as well. Mack, the author of over 30 Star Trek novels, broke the news on Twitter, saying “Now it can be told (because my agent secured me permission from the production company): I am excited to be working as a consultant on two new Star Trek animated TV series — Lower Decks, and another whose details remain classified. And that's all I can say about that. #DreamJob” Following a story that claimed Mack was in the writer's room, the 50 year-old author clarified on Twitter “In case you see this story before it gets corrected: The headline and story are INCORRECT. I am NOT in the writers room on either animated series. I am NOT providing writing services to either show. I am an outside consultant, and my services are strictly advisory in nature.” STAR TREK ONLINE AND GAMING NEWS by Anthony Cox Bring Your Favorite STO Tribble Home Today! Star Trek Online offers the most robust virtual Trek experience any Trekkie could want. Captain your very own Starship, interact with your favorite Trek characters, or become an award winning Tribble breeder! For the last nine years Captains in Star Trek Online have spent years breeding just right Tribble to accompany them on their away missions. Now, thanks to a new partnership with TribbleToys.com, you can bring home your favorite Tribble breed in real life. Available breeds include the Gamma Quadrant Tribble, the Radan Tribble, the Triolic Tribble, the Winter Tribble, and the Black Alert Tribble. What's a Black Alert Tribble? Well, when you order one of these cuddly shipmates you'll receive an in-game code for a Black Alert Tribble. Which when pet it, will give you an extra 2% run speed and an extra 3% maximum health. Leaving the Black ALert Tribble alone with the new Sauteed Shitaake food item from the Lobi store will create the new Mycelium Tribble. Petting this little guy will give you a 3% run speed boost and 5% extra maximum health. The Black Alert Tribble code is only available for PC. Trek out the show notes for a link. The Temporal Warship Bundle For the first time the Zen-store is getting a bundle with ships from four different factions. The Temporal Warship bundle, which is already available in the Zen-store, will include starships from the Federation, Klingon Empire, Romulan Republic, and Jem'hadar Vanguard fleets. Also, any Captain can pilot the Jem'hadar or Romulan ships. Right out of the box. No tier 6 ship mastery required. Each of these ships comes with the same console, but it will change the passive boosts depending on the faction. The starship trait is the same also, but both the name and energy type boost will change depending on faction. These ships all have a Commander-rank Temporal Operative Bridge Officer seat and are considered Temporal Operative specialized. So they will have the Molecular Reconstruction abilities. For a full list of stats and details, trek out the show notes. Patch Notables on PC In this week's PC patch notes: Jem'Hadar Gamma Rep armor is now available to outfit Bridge Officers. Known Issues: Firing arcs are currently not displaying when hovering over weapons icons. Jem'Hadar consoles do not work with the Jem'Hadar temporal warship. PC Events Bonus Marks Weekend Captains will gain bonus marks this weekend. From now until Monday, July 22nd earn 50% more reputation marks. 20% Starship Sale PC Captains can also save 20% off ships in the Zen-store. Including fleet modules, dry dock slots, and ship upgrade tokens. The sale lasts until Monday, July 22nd. Lohlunat Festival Summer Event Ends August 15th July 25 - July 29: Elachi Red Alert Weekend Arena of Sompek Returns as a Featured TFO Aug 1st - Aug 22nd Console Events Double XP Weekend Console Captains can take advantage of a Double XP weekend. From now until Monday, July 22nd Captains on XBox and Playstation can earn 100% more skill points and expertise in game.  July 25th - July 29th: Tholian Red Alert Weekend Aug. 1st - Aug. 5th: Bonus Marks Weekend Aug. 8th: Featured TFO Crystalline Catastrophe WEEKLY TOP TIP Shopping on Risa Before the summer event ends I wanted to draw attention to a few items that, if you don't have or know about, can be really helpful. If you don't have at least a very rare floater and power board you're just doing Risa wrong. Not only will they help you grind out more Lohlonat Favors, but it's just plan fun to zoom around the island in style. And on the plus side, you can also use the power board on your fleet's Colony World. Do you need an ultra rare power board? They can really make you fast in the races, but unless you're an expert power boarder, I find the speed of the ultra rares makes me lose more races then win. But your mileage may very. Don't forget that there's a new Baseball themed Tribble this year. Rumour has it feeding a Tribble a Stadium Soft Drink or a Jipper will create a Grand Slam Tribble. But I wouldn't hit it with a baseball bat, but petting it will give you a 2.5% run speed boost and 5% melee attack damage boost. The last item I want to mention is the Kit Module Graviton Spike. This Tactical Kit module is a staple in many Tactical ground builds. When activated your next weapon attack for 20 seconds triggers additional kinetic damage with 50% shield penetration, knock backs enemies towards the center of the area of effect, and slows enemies by 50% for 5 seconds. Even if you're not a Tactical officer, check out the other kit modules available in the Summer Event store. You may be surprised to find something useful. Also, once you have access to the Summer event store by completing the welcome project when you first get to Risa, you will always have access to the Summer Event Store in the Events Reputation tab. Other Gaming News Star Trek Conflick Review In the newest tabletop offering from WizKids games, Star Trek: Conflick in the Neutral Zone, players will send their ships into the neutral zone to collect dilithium, grow their fleet of starships, and earn command points to win the game. Unlock most other Star Trek boards games, this is also a dexterity game. In Star Trek: Conflick you literally flick your wooden starship tokens across the board trying to either land on a planet to collect resources or you're trying to knock your opponents' ship tokens off the board to gain a command point. Each player starts with either a fleet of four Federation ships or four Klingon ships. During the game you can spend your hard earned dilithium crystals on acquiring new star ships. You don't have to stick to one faction though, you can purchase any of the four ships available. Klingon, Federation, or even non-aligned ships like Romulans or even Species 8472. The more ships you have the more flicking you can do. But aware of asteroid blocks that opponents might place to protect their ships. In a 2 or 4 player game the board will have 1 large planet in the center that gives command points and two smaller planets that will give dilithium crystals. The 3 player side has the large planet in the center, but has 3 dilithium planets. If you have any collector ships resting on any of the planets at the start of your turn you will gain one of the appropriate items. Once a player accumulates 10 Command points each other player takes a final turn and the player with the most points wins.  The game is a nice departure from the more thinking strategic games that normally have the Star Trek theme applied to them. Instead of trying to negotiate treaties or roll dice to attack ships, you're literally flicking your ships to attack other ships. There is something giddy and fun about the physicality of sending your starships sailing across the table into the Neutral zone, bashing into other ships, and usually flying off the other side of the board. While the game itself is fun, especially for kids as my 6-year-old quickly became a flicking expert, Star Trek fans will immediately find the cracks in immersion. First off, they advertise the Enterprise D on the box, but the only Enterprise ship disc is the Enterprise E. You'll find your other favorite Federation and Klingon starships like the Defiant and Voyager, which makes you think the time setting for the game is late 24th century. Circa Insurrection or Nemesis. But then they also included ships like the Reliant and Qonos One. The other theme breaking is that you don't need to stick to one faction. You may start with an all Federation or Klingon fleet, but you can purchase any available ship to add to your armada. So unless you want to sacrifice strategy for theme, you're probably going to have an allied fleet. And it's hard to immerse yourself in a situation where you're knocking out your opponent's Federation ship with your own, while your Undine Bio-ship is collecting command points. The game is solid fun. And if you can get past those seemingly minor canon flaws you should definitely head to your friendly local gaming store and pick up a copy. Star Trek: Conflick in the Neutral zone is for 2 - 4 players, suggested age range of 14 and up, and plays in about 30 - 50 minutes, depending on the number of players Astrometrics Report Atmosphere of Midsize Planet Revealed by Hubble, Spitzer The Habitable Zone: Scorched Earth Enigma

Talkin' Ships, Part Two. The trio continue their in-depth coverage of the main vessels in Star Trek. They cover Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and the Enterprise-E. How do some of these ships separate? Is the runabout more shuttle or starship? Should saucers be circles or ovals? Let us know your starship opinions.

Talkin’ Ships, Part Two. The trio continue their in-depth coverage of the main vessels in Star Trek. They cover Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and the Enterprise-E. How do some of these ships separate? Is the runabout more shuttle or starship? Should saucers be circles or ovals? Let us know your starship opinions.

Favorite Conflict Resolution Moments in TNG.   Conflicts and how those conflicts are resolved are an essential part of storytelling. Gene Roddenberry famously said that in The Next Generation, there should be no conflict among the characters that we follow. The writers often expressed that this was a challenge in creating stories for the show. However, we do see plenty of conflicts with outside forces and even some between the characters on the Enterprise-D and the Enterprise-E. How those conflicts are resolved within the episodes and movies of The Next Generation are an important aspect of the show's enduring appeal. In this episode of Earl Grey, hosts Amy Nelson and Justin Oser are joined by Shoaib Mirza, Associate Producer of The Edge, to list their three favorite conflict resolution moments from The Next Generation. Each participant talks about why the moments discussed are meaningful to them and important to understanding the characters on The Next Generation. Chapters Intro (00:00:00)  Babel Conference Feedback (00:01:34)    Shoaib's Star Trek Story (00:05:35)  Favorite Conflict Resolution Moments (00:07:41)  First Picks (00:09:48)  Second Picks (00:28:04)  Third Picks (00:48:29)  Final Thoughts (01:09:08)    Closing (01:18:20) Runtime: 1 hour 28 minutes 1 second   Hosts Amy Nelson   Justin Oser   Guest Shoaib Mirza   Production Justin Oser (Editor and Producer) Amy Nelson (Producer) Tony Robinson (Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Michael E Hueter (Associate Producer) Thomas Appel (Associate Producer) Chris Tribuzio (Associate Producer) Joe Keegan (Associate Producer) Jim McMahon (Associate Producer) Justin Oser (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Tony Robinson (Show Art) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Patreon Manager)

Riker's Command Offers.   William T. Riker serves as first officer on the Enterprise-D and Enterprise-E for a total of 15 years during seven seasons of The Next Generation and four movies. In that time, he is offered command of a Starfleet ship three times and declines each time before finally accepting command of the USS Titan. Why does Riker keep turning down command offers and what do the times we do see him in command say about what he would be like in command of his own ship? In this episode of Earl Grey, hosts Amy Nelson and Justin Oser are joined by Brian Meloche, Associate Producer of The Edge, to talk about Riker's command offers. The discussion includes talking about why he declines offers to command three different Starfleet ships, why he accepts command of the USS Titan, and the different times that we see Riker in command of the Enterprise-D and Enterprise-E. Chapters Intro (00:01:11)  Brian's Trek Story (00:09:05)    USS Drake (00:16:46)  USS Aires (00:22:38)  USS Melbourne (00:33:08)  USS Voyager (00:40:09)  Captain Riker Style (00:45:12)  USS Titan (00:53:38)  Final Thoughts (00:57:11)    Closing (01:02:44) Runtime: 1 hour 15 minutes 43 seconds   Hosts Amy Nelson and Justin Oser   Guest Brian Meloche   Production Amy Nelson (Editor and Producer) Justin Oser (Producer) Tony Robinson (Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Michael E Hueter (Associate Producer) Thomas Appel (Associate Producer) Chris Tribuzio (Associate Producer) Joe Keegan (Associate Producer) Jim McMahon (Associate Producer) Justin Oser (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Tony Robinson (Show Art) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Patreon Manager)

It's the first Star Trek: The Next Generation novel in nearly two years and it picks right up with the fallout from the exposure of Section 31! "Section 31, the covert organization which has operated without accountability in the shadows for more than two centuries, has been exposed. Throughout the Federation, the rogue group’s agents and leaders are being taken into custody as the sheer scope of its misdeeds comes to light. Now Starfleet Command must decide the consequences for numerous officers caught up in the scandal—including Admirals William Ross, Edward Jellico, Alynna Nechayev, and Captain Jean-Luc Picard who, along with many others, are implicated in the forced removal of a Federation president." Plus, the Enterprise-E, still in the Odyssean Pass, has encountered a derelict ship---or is it? There's a lot going on in this novel, and we'll be joined by author Dayton Ward to discuss all the details! Plus news and a BIG announcement on the FanSets party in this week's episode of The Biggest Little Show This Side of the Alpha Quadrant! WILLIAM SHATNER AUCTION Bid on the exclusive one of a kind FanSets pin for the William Shatner Charity Horse Show by visiting this link! https://www.silentauctionpro.com/bidonlinedetail.php?groupId=453&itemNumber=46&fwd=BidOnline&return=bidonlinegrid.php FIVE YEAR MISSION We are truly grateful to our friends FIVE YEAR MISSION for allowing us to use their music for every episode of Trek Geeks. They’re creating one song for every episode of TOS and their brand new album is amazing! Get your copy of YEAR 4 right now over at FiveYearMission.net and, while you’re at it, grab a copy of all their other fantastic albums:  Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, The Trouble with Tribbles, and of course, Spock’s Brain! We know you’ll become just as big a 5YM fan as we are, so what are you waiting for? Please show them some support and download all their music! =/=

It's the first Star Trek: The Next Generation novel in nearly two years and it picks right up with the fallout from the exposure of Section 31! "Section 31, the covert organization which has operated without accountability in the shadows for more than two centuries, has been exposed. Throughout the Federation, the rogue group’s agents and leaders are being taken into custody as the sheer scope of its misdeeds comes to light. Now Starfleet Command must decide the consequences for numerous officers caught up in the scandal—including Admirals William Ross, Edward Jellico, Alynna Nechayev, and Captain Jean-Luc Picard who, along with many others, are implicated in the forced removal of a Federation president." Plus, the Enterprise-E, still in the Odyssean Pass, has encountered a derelict ship---or is it? There's a lot going on in this novel, and we'll be joined by author Dayton Ward to discuss all the details! Plus news and a BIG announcement on the FanSets party in this week's episode of The Biggest Little Show This Side of the Alpha Quadrant! WILLIAM SHATNER AUCTION Bid on the exclusive one of a kind FanSets pin for the William Shatner Charity Horse Show by visiting this link! https://www.silentauctionpro.com/bidonlinedetail.php?groupId=453&itemNumber=46&fwd=BidOnline&return=bidonlinegrid.php FIVE YEAR MISSION We are truly grateful to our friends FIVE YEAR MISSION for allowing us to use their music for every episode of Trek Geeks. They’re creating one song for every episode of TOS and their brand new album is amazing! Get your copy of YEAR 4 right now over at FiveYearMission.net and, while you’re at it, grab a copy of all their other fantastic albums:  Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, The Trouble with Tribbles, and of course, Spock’s Brain! We know you’ll become just as big a 5YM fan as we are, so what are you waiting for? Please show them some support and download all their music! =/=

Death in Winter. Following the film Star Trek Nemesis, novels in the Star Trek literary universe were given more of a free reign to play with the familiar characters and situations, creating what has been termed the "novelverse." Without any more televised or filmed adventures for the crew of the Enterprise-E on the horizon, authors could take the story in new and exciting directions. One of these directions involved the culmination of the "will they/won't they" romance of Jean-Luc Picard and Beverly Crusher, as well as a new source of turmoil for the Romulan Empire. In this episode of Literary Treks, hosts Dan Gunther and Bruce Gibson discuss Death in Winter. We talk about Beverly's transfer off the Enterprise, the state of the Romulan Star Empire, an undercover mission into Romulan space, Worf and Geordi's role in the story, the love between Picard and Crusher, and wrap up with our final thoughts and ratings. At the top of the show, we discuss your feedback from the Babel Conference on Literary Treks 258: Inaccurate Operas Will Be Performed of This Day! News Listener Feedback (00:03:36) Feature: Death in Winter Post-Nemesis Novels (00:10:13) Beverly's First Assignment (00:13:34) Sela Strikes Again (00:20:54) The State of the Romulan Empire (00:24:34) A Stargazer Reunion (00:31:56) Worf and Geordi's Role (00:40:56) Love Comes Around (00:45:45) Ratings (00:53:22) Final Thoughts (00:59:03) Hosts Dan Gunther and Bruce Gibson Production Bruce Gibson (Editor and Producer) Dan Gunther (Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Patreon Manager) Ken Tripp (Associate Producer) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Associate Producer) Justin Oser (Associate Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Greg Rozier (Associate Producer) Jeffery Harlan (Associate Producer)

Best and Worst Will Riker Moments.   For 15 years, Will Riker is Captain Picard's loyal first officer before being promoted to captain of the Titan in Nemesis. Throughout that long association as part of the crew of the Enterprise-D and the Enterprise-E on The Next Generation, we see Riker being part of many of the best moments of the show as well as some of the worst moments. In this episode of Earl Grey, hosts Amy Nelson and Justin Oser are joined by guest Wes Huntington of The Minnesota Star Trek Nerd podcast to list their picks for the three best and three worst Will Riker moments. Each participant discusses their choices and the reasons why the selected moments show Riker in a favorable or unfavorable light.   Chapters Intro (00:00:00) Listener Feedback (00:02:13)  Welcome, Wes! (00:05:22) The Minnesota Star Trek Nerd Podcast (00:05:56)  Wes' Star Trek Story (00:07:09) The Concept and How We Chose (00:08:20) First Best Moments Picks (00:10:37) First Worst Moments Picks (00:15:20) Second Best Moments Picks (00:20:16) Second Worst Moments Picks (00:25:43) Third Best Moments Picks (00:31:37) Third Worst Moments Picks (00:37:50) Honorable Mentions (00:44:03) Final Thoughts (00:52:25)    Closing (00:58:43)  Runtime: 1 hour 3 minutes 23 seconds Hosts Justin Oser Amy Nelson GuestWes Huntington   Production Justin Oser (Editor and Producer) Amy Nelson (Producer) Richard Marquez (Producer) Tony Robinson (Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Michael E Hueter (Associate Producer) Thomas Appel (Associate Producer) Justin Oser (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Tony Robinson (Show Art) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Patreon Manager)

Remember at the end of All Good Things... how Troi and Worf appeared ready to embark on a potential long-term romance? Boy, that sure paid off! But then, the TNG crew experienced so much off-screen change and growth in the eight years between the finale and Nemesis... In an attempt to settle their restless continuity-obsessed minds, this week hosts Cam Smith and Tyler Orton form a two-man writers room to decide which unanswered questions most demand answers in a hypothetical reboot bridging the crucial post-series/mid-film time gaps. For example, what were the deciding factors behind Geordi's switch to ocular implants in First Contact? How did the crew occupy themselves while the Enterprise-E was under construction? And what were the circumstances surrounding Wesley's return to Starfleet and Guinan's exit post-Generations? If you've ever spent time pondering the staffing issues caused by Worf's sporadic movie-required reappearances on the bridge this is the episode for you!Right-click to download!Read more »

Favorite Badass Geordi Moments.   Geordi La Forge is often thought of primarily as the brilliant chief engineer of the Enterprise-D and the Enterprise-E who was born blind but can see with the help of his advanced VISOR. Geordi is also frequently remembered for his difficulty with romantic relationships. However, we think that Geordi does have his share of badass moments throughout the course of The Next Generation episodes and movies.  In this episode of Earl Grey, hosts Richard Marquez and Justin Oser are joined by guest Hayley Stoddart of Standard Orbit to list their three favorite badass Geordi moments from The Next Generation. Each choice is discussed and highlights Geordi as tough and uncompromising. Chapters Intro (00:00:00)  Babel Conference Feedback (00:02:51) Trekdocs Feedback (00:07:29) Welcome, Hayley! (00:08:46)  Hayley's Star Trek Story (00:09:27)  Thoughts on Geordi (00:11:56)  First Picks (00:18:11)  Second Picks (00:31:28)  Third Picks (00:42:55)  Honorable Mentions (01:00:44)  Final Thoughts (01:05:36)  Closing (01:15:16)  Runtime: 1 hour 20 minutes 33 seconds   Hosts Richard Marquez, Justin Oser GuestHayley Stoddart   Production Justin Oser (Editor and Producer) Richard Marquez (Producer) Amy Nelson (Producer) Tony Robinson (Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Michael E Hueter (Associate Producer) Thomas Appel (Associate Producer) Justin Oser (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Tony Robinson (Show Art) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Patreon Manager)

O convidado do The Sales Follow Up de hoje é o William Maruiama, Sales Specialist na CenturyLink. Ele vai nos contar sobre a sua trajetória de 7 anos em vendas e sobre a sua formação como vendedor. Além disso, ele dá dicas para os vendedores que buscam pela otimização do seu processo. Outro ponto discutido é a diferença entre vendas enterprise e vendas para SMB e como fazer um bom forecast.

Robert Greenberger: A Time to Hate. The situation on Delta Sigma IV continues to deteriorate. Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the Enterprise-E must find a way to stop the violence and introduce a cure that will set the warring people back on the path of peace. Meanwhile, Riker tracks down his father and learns the terrible truth behind the problems facing the once-peaceful world. Is the Federation truly to blame? In this episode of Literary Treks, hosts Dan Gunther and Bruce Gibson review A Time to Hate before being joined by author Robert Greenberger to talk about both of his books in the A Time To series. We discuss the situation on Delta Sigma IV, the supposed cure, bridging the gap between Insurrection and Nemesis, Riker and Troi's relationship, Riker's relationship with his father, a dark secret revealed at the end of the novel, and we wrap up with what Bob is currently working on and where you can find him online. In the news, we talk about the upcoming Star Trek: Epic Episodes from Titan publishing, as well as speculate about an upcoming project from IDW for which artist J.K. Woodward has been dropping hints about on Instagram. News Star Trek: Epic Episodes (00:04:02) J.K. Woodward Secret (00:06:10) Feature: Robert Greenberger Quagmire (00:10:02) The "Cure" (00:17:15) The Chase (00:25:18) Will and Deanna (00:29:22) Army on Demand (00:34:19) Ratings (00:36:19) Bob Greenberger's First Time (00:39:42) Bickering Binkleys (00:44:38) A Time to Write (00:47:19) Bridging the Gap (00:53:55) Warring Races (00:58:12) Anh Hoang (01:00:36) Passing the Baton (01:04:08) Other Franchises (01:05:11) Final Thoughts (01:08:07) Hosts Dan Gunther and Bruce Gibson Guest Robert Greenberger Production Bruce Gibson (Editor and Producer) Dan Gunther (Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Patreon Manager) Ken Tripp (Associate Producer) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Associate Producer) Justin Oser (Associate Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Greg Rozier (Associate Producer) Jeffery Harlan (Associate Producer)

Star Trek: Insurrection from 1998. Data once again spoils everything for the crew of the Enterprise E, this time by attacking small children while violating the prime directive. Why does anyone trust this robot? Well, at least Picard gets a chance at love thanks to these actions. Join us as we discuss this relatively unexciting movie!   Email: pleasedontpodcast@gmail.com Facebook: facebook.com/pdsmios Twitter: @outerspacepod www.eartrumpetaudio.com

Pete and Nicole are joined by friend and Star Trek fan Greg as they boldly go back in time with Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the Enterprise. Highlights include the introduction of the Enterprise E, the rampant sexuality of the Queen B, and clarifying where the line must be drawn.

5th TNG Movie.   Captain Picard and his crew of the Enterprise E shall never be forgotten and hopes for another Next Generation movie seems to be desired by many fans. But what would this movie look like? The actors themselves have gotten older - can they do another movie justice? With Data dying in Nemesis, would he not appear in the next movie or does B4 return? Which alien species would they be fighting with and what is the conflict they must resolve? In this episode of Earl Grey, hosts Lee Hutchison and Richard Marquez are joined with special guest Justin Oser to discuss the possibilities of a 5th TNG movie. Each will share their ideas on what they would want to see in a final movie - from plot lines to character stories. Listen in as they describe their perfect ending to a mere perfect series. Chapters Into (00:01:17)  Nemesis Fans (00:03:46)  Exceptions (00:04:44)  Q? (00:09:53)  DS9? (00:15:17)  Worf? (00:19:40)  Parasites (00:23:18)  Realistic Book Scenes (00:27:28)  Beyond (00:36:48)  Big Bang (00:41:15)  Lee’s Thoughts (00:47:02)  Closing (00:51:38)    Hosts Richard Marquez and Lee Hutchison   Guests Justin Oser   Production Richard Marquez (Editor and Producer) Lee Hutchison (Producer) Amy Nelson (Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Michael E Hueter (Associate Producer) Justin Oser (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Patreon Manager)

Q-Space. When Q appears on the bridge of the Enterprise-E to stop a scientific experiment, Picard is understandably annoyed. Defying Q, the Enterprise presses on in its attempt to breach the galactic barrier that surrounds the Milky Way. However, they may be in over their heads as cosmic forces collide that may spell doom for the crew of the Enterprise and the rest of the galaxy! In this episode of Literary Treks, hosts Dan Gunther and Bruce Gibson are joined by Earl Grey's Amy Nelson to discuss the first book in the Q Continuum trilogy, Q-Space by Greg Cox. We talk about the Enterprise's mission to the galactic barrier, Q's vulnerability, the cliffhanger ending of the novel, some fun bits in the story, and wrap up with our final thoughts and ratings. In the news segment, we discuss the recently announced release date for David Mack's Star Trek: Discovery: Desperate Hours, and we review the latest comic, issue #2 of Mirror Broken. News Desperate Hours Release Date (00:03:13) Mirror Broken #2 (00:11:53) Feature: Q-Space More TNG (00:19:28) The Galactic Barrier (00:25:33) Q's Vulnerability (00:32:31) Cliffhanger (00:43:10) Some Minor Points (00:51:43) Ratings (00:58:52) Final Thoughts (01:02:56) Hosts Dan Gunther and Bruce Gibson Guest Amy Nelson Production Matthew Rushing (Editor and Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Patreon Manager) Ken Tripp (Associate Producer) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Associate Producer) Bruce Gibson (Associate Producer)

In episode 1 we look at a Conditional Surrender build, review the U.S.S. Equinox expansion, and talk about the Mutara Nebula scenario. If you cannot see the audio controls, your browser does not support the audio element

Headlong Flight: Dayton Ward. A long term mission of exploration far beyond the boundaries of the Federation has yielded many surprising discoveries, but none more surprising than the crew of the Enterprise-E crossing not only temporal boundaries, but dimensional ones as well. In the latest TNG novel, generations and realities collide as the crew of the Enterprise-E meets the crew of an alternate timeline's Enterprise-D! In this episode of Literary Treks, Dan Gunther, Bruce Gibson, and Matthew Rushing are joined by renowned Trek author Dayton Ward about his latest book in The Next Generation, Headlong Flight. We ask him about alternate versions of our heroes, T'Ryssa Chen, the Romulan angle, the temporal prime directive, homages and references, and what's coming next from Dayton. For the news we review the latest New Visions issues, #14. News New Visions #14 (00:02:44) Feature: Dayton Ward Yet Again (00:11:36) A Synopsis (00:12:59) Spoilers (00:15:00) An Alternate Take (00:18:53) Wanting Data Back (00:22:34) Captain's Shadow (00:26:53) Wesley Crusher (00:30:19) Chen (00:34:13) The Romulans (00:38:18) One Big Decision (00:44:41) Easter Eggs (00:51:10) Hints for the Future (00:52:31) A Sly Reference (00:54:13) Coming Next (00:56:11) Final Thoughts (01:02:41) Hosts Dan Gunther and Bruce Gibson Guests Dayton Ward Matthew Rushing Production Matthew Rushing (Editor and Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Patreon Manager) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Ken Tripp (Associate Producer) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Associate Producer) Bruce Gibson (Associate Producer)

Resistance is Futile Johnny and Brian share their thoughts on one of their favorites in the Star Trek Movie Universe… Star Trek First Contact! First Contact Summary Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the crew of the newly commissioned Enterprise-E battle the insidious Borg to restore the rightful future of Earth. The Borg is trying to stop the invention of the warp drive by going back in time. While some crew members are on Earth, the others are in a battle up in space. First Contact Cast and Crew Directed by Jonathan Frakes Screenplay by Brannon Braga & Ronald D. Moore Starring Patrick Stewart Jonathan Frakes Brent Spiner LeVar Burton Michael Dorn Gates McFadden Marina Sirtis Alfre Woodard James Cromwell Alice Krige Contact Us The Infamous Podcast can be found wherever podcasts are found on the Interwebs, feel free to subscribe and follow along on social media. And don't be shy about helping out the show with a 5 star review on iTunes to help us move up in the ratings. @infamouspodcast facebook/infamouspodcast stitcher iTunes Google Play contact@infamouspodcast.com The music in this episodes is Pomade by Silent Partner. The Infamous Podcast is Johnny Pottorf and Brian Tudor, and is produced and...

Worf's Journey to DS9, Part 2: First Contact. When it was announced that Michael Dorn would join the cast of DS9 with the show's fourth-season premier, fan reaction was mixed. Was this just a gimmick to win over the TNG crowd and boost the show? Well, maybe. But as it turned out, DS9 was where Worf really belonged, and the character blossomed as part of the Station's ensemble. But how did he get there? In this episode of The Orb, hosts C Bryan Jones and Matthew Rushing continue their four-part series focused on Worf's journey from The Next Generation to Deep Space Nine. Connecting the dots that were never actually meant to be connected, we find moments that were key to preparing Worf for his assignment to DS9. In Part 2, we discuss Worf's role in Star Trek: First Contact, how his time with Sisko grew his confidence and influenced his decision making, how his view of honor has changed, and much more. Chapters In the Heart of DS9 (00:02:50) Commanding the Defiant (00:05:31) Klingon Cues and Worf's Confidence (00:11:54) A Different Kind of Honor (00:23:45) A More Mouthy Worf (00:29:59) More Thoughts on First Contact (00:34:13) Creating a Villain (00:36:17) Music and a Connected Universe (00:40:11) The Enterprise-E (00:42:58) Final Thoughts (00:48:20) Hosts C Bryan Jones and Matthew Rushing Production C Bryan Jones (Editor and Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Norman C. Lao (Executive Producer) Charlynn Schmiedt (Executive Producer) Ruth Ward (Associate Producer) Will Nguyen (Associate Producer) Ken Tripp (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Will Nguyen (Content Manager)

Eaglemoss Releases Enterprise 1701 Dedication Plaque. The starships that British replica maker Eaglemoss has been making over the past few years are fantastic. If we could zoom inside one of those ships, we'd find a little dedication plaque on the bridge. Luckily, for key Federation ships, they’ve produced replicas of those plaques as well. You can already hang those of the Enterprise-D, Enterprise-E, Enterprise NX-01, Voyager, and the Defiant on your wall, and now you can add the dedication plaque from the original 1701 to that collection as well. We take a look at the replica Eaglemoss has created with with the help of Mike Okuda. View Mike Okuda’s design brief on StarTrek.com: http://www.startrek.com/article/tos-enterprise-dedication-plaque-from-eaglemoss Host C Bryan Jones Production C Bryan Jones (Editor and Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Norman C. Lao (Executive Producer) Charlynn Schmiedt (Executive Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Will Nguyen (Content Manager)

Starfleet Career Path, Part 2.The Next Generation, and the other 24th Century Star Trek series, can sometimes be inconsistent with how they show a career path in Starfleet. Phillip, Daniel, and Darren finish their focus on the "colors" of careers by looking at the gold shirts of the Enterprise-D and Enterprise-E: the engineering/operations and security officers. They go from the rank of ensign to the upper ranks, examining life as a yellow shirt on the flagship - as well as the need to create more colors to better describe one's job.Earl Grey also focuses on the crewmen who do the real work on the ship, to include the very important transport chiefs (other than Chief O'Brien). The trio take turns discussing what their own career paths would be on TNG if they began as young, fresh-from-the-Academy ensigns. Join Earl Grey as they go into the "lower decks" and talk Starfleet Career Paths, Part 2. HostsDaniel Proulx, Phillip Gilfus, & Darren MoserEditor / ProducerDarren MoserExecutive ProducersNorman C. Lao, Matthew Rushing, & C Bryan Jones Production Manager Richard Marquez   Content Manager Will Nguyen ChaptersGolden Opportunities in Ops/ENG (00:03:04) LT  (00:25:57)LTCMDR  (00:29:37)The Gold Team/Red Shirts TNG (Security) (00:32:13) Saturday Morning Trek (00:40:34)We work for a living/Enlist (00:49:03) Your Career Path (00:53:02) Send us your feedback! Twitter: @trekfm Facebook: http://facebook.com/trekfm Voicemail: http://www.speakpipe.com/trekfm Contact Form: http://www.trek.fm/contact Visit the Trek.fm website at http://trek.fm/ Subscribe in iTunes: http://itunes.com/trekfm Support the Network! Become a Trek.fm Patron on Patreon and help us keep our shows coming to you every week. We have great perks for you at http://patreon.com/trekfm

In a special, double length, poly bagged, chromium covered 25th Anniversary Episode, Andrew joins up with his Listen To The Prophets chums, Paul “The Search For” Spataro and Shawn “Enterprise E” Engel, for a cross-over episode of epic proportions. Listen as they dismiss the popular internet myth that ALL the [...]

Keith DeCandido: Slings and Arrows: Enterprises of Great Pitch and Moment. From the moment First Contact hit the screens and Geordi mentioned the Enterprise-E had been in space for a year, fans wondered what transpired that year. With huge events on DS9, fans knew the crew of the Enterprise had to be involved somehow. Luckily Treklit came to the rescue with the Sings and Arrows series.  In this episode of Literary Treks hosts Matthew Rushing and Dan Gunter are joined by author Keith DeCandido to talk about the last book in Slings and Arrows, Enterprises of Great Pitch and Movement as well as the series. We discuss the conclusion, the genesis of the series, choosing the writers, Keith's installment, Sisko and Picard, tying it all together, favorite moments, Keith's future in Treklit, his work outside Star Trek and where to find him online. In the news we talk about a new book and cover to judge, The Wit and Wisdom of Star Trek and one more thing from Dayton Ward.   Hosts Matthew Rushing and Dan Gunther   Guest Keith DeCandido   Editor and Producer  Matthew Rushing  Richard Marquez   Associate Producers Will Nguyen Lisa Stevens Kenneth Trip   Production Manager Richard Marquez   Content Coordinator Will Nguyen   News New Book and Book Cover Judging (00:01:59) The Wit and Wisdom of Star Trek (00:05:22) Dayton Has One More Thing (00:06:58)   Feature: Keith DeCandido Slings and Arrows Conclusion (00:09:34) Keith Shares About the Genesis of the Project (00:12:13) Choosing the Writers (00:20:12) Enterprises of Great Pitch and Movement (00:23:24) Sisko and Picard (00:26:34) Tying it All Together (00:32:46) Favorite Moments from the Series (00:44:53) Hope for More Star Trek? (00:48:26) Outside Star Trek (00:49:51) Keith Online (00:57:15) Closing (00:59:12)   Send us your feedback! Twitter: @trekfm Facebook: http://facebook.com/trekfm Voicemail: http://www.speakpipe.com/trekfm Contact Form: http://www.trek.fm/contact Visit the Trek.fm website at http://trek.fm/ Subscribe in iTunes: http://itunes.com/trekfm   Support the Network!   Become a Trek.fm Patron on Patreon and help us keep our shows coming to you every week. We have great perks for you at http://patreon.com/trekfm

Season 2, episode 9. Kirk & crew meet Zephram Cochrane, and he regales them with tales of that time he met Capt Picard & the Enterprise E. Man, that would’ve been great. Data goes on trial to determine once and … Continue reading →

The Worf-Dax TNG Wedding Invitations. We all remember the big wedding in Star Trek: Nemesis that finally united two characters who we saw fall in love throughout the years on TNG. But we would have loved to see our beloved TNG crew attend Lt. Commander Worf's wedding years prior in the Deep Space Nine episode "You Are Cordially Invited." The real-life limitations of budget, an existing storyline, and actor availability kept our favorite Klingon's friends and family from attending the ceremony. Nevertheless, in this episode of Earl Grey, we discuss who should have been sent calligraphy-engraved PADDs inviting them to attack Worf with painsticks at his bachelor party. From Worf's adopted parents and brother, to his closest friends on the Enterprise-E, to other people he encountered while serving under Picard, Darren, Daniel, and Phillip arrange the seating at the wedding reception to include those who would have enjoyed being part of Worf and Jadzia Dax saying, "I do."   Hosts Daniel Proulx, Phillip Gilfus, & Darren Moser   Editor and Producer Darren Moser   Associate Producers Become one! Support Trek.fm and Earl Grey at the $25/month level or higher! Visit http://patreon.com/trekfm   Chapters The Setting (5:13) Where Were the TNG crew? (9:38) Captain Picard/Riker (10:05) Mr. & Mrs. Rozhenko (16:46) Nikolai Rozhenko (20:44) Kurn (21:32) Jeremy Aster (22:06) Dr. Pulaski (23:08) Guinan (23:53) Data (28:26) K'Ehleyr (30:43) Crossover Conundrum (32:02) Alexander (33:56)   Send us your feedback! Twitter: @trekfm Facebook: http://facebook.com/trekfm Voicemail: http://www.speakpipe.com/trekfm Contact Form: http://www.trek.fm/contact Visit the Trek.fm website at http://trek.fm/ Subscribe in iTunes: http://itunes.com/trekfm   Support the Network! Become a Trek.fm Patron on Patreon and help us keep Star Trek talk coming every week. We have great perks for you at http://patreon.com/trekfm

Tonight Dan and I will talk about Star Trek Attack Wing, how would you improve or change the game? What ships would you like to see added to the game? What do you think the the Enterprise-E and cards will come in the expansion? If you are just getting started what faction should you play, and, should you buy more than one starter set? We will announce the winner of the Grab Bag raffle and what ship will be next, and, what are the enhanced shield tokens? During our second hour we will discuss the fan favorite Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Of course one lucky caller, (646) 668-2433, will win a FREE blind booster, so, what are you waiting for? RESISTANCE IS FUTILE  

The 1701-E.Following the destruction of the NCC-1701-D in Star Trek Generations, a new starship Enterprise was commissioned for the crew of The Next Generation. Featured in the final three TNG films—First Contact, Insurrection, and Nemesis—the Enterprise-E differs greatly from its Galaxy-class predecessor in both size and appearance, inside and out. In this episode of Earl Grey, Phillip Gilfus, Darren Moser, and Daniel Proulx discuss the finer details of this Sovereign-class ship, including what they liked (and loved!), and why they wish we could have seen more of it.

First Contact. After the release of Generations, TNG fans got their next dose of big screen adventure in 1996's First Contact. With an all new ship and uniforms, the crew is once again faced with an invasion by their biggest foe. In this episode of Earl Grey, hosts Phillip Gilfus, Darren Moser, and Daniel Proulx discuss this heavily praised film. From the Enterprise-E and Zefram Cochrane to the Borg and beyond. Prepare to be assimilated!

The Borg have returned with a new tactic. They go back in time and attempt to prevent humanity's first warp trip, thus preventing first contact with the Vulcans, a pivotal event in human and Federation history. Picard must lead the newly commissioned Enterprise-E and his crew to the past to save history, while also battling the demons that the Borg's reappearance have summoned.

Slings and Arrows: The Oppressor’s Wrong. In 2007 Pocket Books decided to honor the 20th anniversary of Star Trek: The Next Generation with a six-part eBook series that bridged the gap between the destruction of the Enterprise-D in Generations and the next time we saw the crew on the big screen in First Contact. Penned by J. Steven York, Christina F. York, Phaedra M. Weldon, William Leisner, Terri Osborne, Robert Greenberger, and Keith R.A. DeCandido, these novellas tell the story of the Enterprise-E’s shakedown cruise. In this episode of Literary Treks hosts Matthew Rushing and Christopher Jones discuss the second book in the Slings and Arrows series, The Oppressor’s Wrong, which adds to the DS9 episodes “Homefront” and “Paradise Lost” by shedding light on what was happening aboard the Enterprise-E during those events. As it turns out, Admiral Leyton’s plans for a coup d’état extended far beyond Earth and involved treachery worthy of a four-star badmiral. In our news segment we learn that IDW does indeed plan to make John Byrne’s photo comic an ongoing series, and we review the fourth issue of the Khan comic series that fills in the back story from Into Darkness.

This time Steven and Ben turn their attention to the Next Generation movies and see if they can hold their own against the Original Series movies. Just in case any Trekkie/Trekkers feel like enlightening us about what class of ship the Enterprise E is: it’s Sovereign.  And we still don’t care. The post Filmwerk Podcast #81 Retrospective: Star Trek Movies (Part 3) appeared first on Werkre.

This time Steven and Ben turn their attention to the Next Generation movies and see if they can hold their own against the Original Series movies. Just in case any Trekkie/Trekkers feel like enlightening us about what class of ship the Enterprise E is: it’s Sovereign.  And we still don’t care.

A wrap up to the week talking about ‘Oz the Great and Powerful' box office success and why it's a bit disappointing in light of ‘Jack the Giant Slayer' doing so poorly, ‘Star Trek Into Darkness' Teaser Trailer #2 and Anthony Pascale's deep, shot by shot analysis of that, release reshuffling with ‘RED 2' and ‘Now You See Me', ‘Star Trek "3"' might be out for the 50th anniversary, Emma Watson decides not to become a Disney princess and take the part of the live action Cinderella, a mode of the Enterprise E, an article on motion smoothing on modern TVs and why you should make sure that setting is off on your television set, the ‘Veronica Mars' Kickstarter meeting its funding goal in short order with many days left to really boost the budget, as well as what this might mean for the future of film, and Joss Whedon considering the options for a Kickstarter with ‘Firefly. And then TJ wraps it up with a look at what's in the cinemas that you might like to see.

This episode takes John D. and Gen to the brand new Enterprise E, in Star Trek: First Contact. We return to our regular recording schedule and bring you some news that we might have missed in the last month, including David Tennant's engagement, movies based on comic books in 2011 and some discussion about Tron Legacy.Gen gives us a Borg history class, we link The Best of Both Worlds episode to the First Contact movie, talk Borg politics and, of course, Borg sexuality. John D. goes on another Troi rant while Gen goes on a Deflector Dish rant and we try to forget all the time line screw ups. We debate the ethics of a Borg genocide, the warmongering tendencies of Captain Picard and we tackle space zombies, of course.                       You can find us on iTunes under ''Legends Podcast''. Please subscribe and give us a positive review! You can also follow us on Twitter  @LegendsPodcast for updates and to voice your opinion about which movies we should cover in future episodes. Or even better, send us an e-mail at Legends.Podcast@hotmail.com or leave us a comment on our Web page at www.legendspodcast.libsyn.com