Podcasts about noonian soong

Tread Perilously's month of modern Star Trek continues with the lowest rated episode of Star Trek: Picard, "Monsters." After being hit with a car by Noonian Soong's ancestor, Jean-Luc Picard's mind gets lost in his robot body and it is up to Tallinn to find him within the inner recesses of his consciousness. Meanwhile, Picard takes an hour of therapy with a familiar-looking Starfleet counselor. Will their discussion shed any light on Picard's attachment issues? And back in the real world, Seven and Raffi try to find the semi-assimilated Dr. Jurtati -- who will soon become the Borg Queen -- and Rios debates letting his new friends know that he is from the future. Justin attempts to construct a more accurate representation of Picard's mind. Jay Karnes makes a welcome appearance. Erik's disappointment in this episode of Picard is palpable. The pair make an unplanned detour to Obi-Wan Kenobi. Erik also veers into a discussion of Stanley Kubrick. Jeri Ryan once again proves to be MVP. The episode's structure gets criticized despite Justin feeling the pace was on point. Patrick Stewart's age earns a comment. Stereotypical liquors are discussed and Justin offers the most extended sports metaphor ever used on Tread Perilously.

Brothers! Data goes nuts and decides to hijack the Enterprise! Why? Maybe it's so he can find his brother? Surely the episode title didn't give it away! Also, watch as Brent Spiner does the Austin Powers/Klumps shtick before Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy ever did! Dan also informs me that he wanted to compare Lore meeting Noonian Soong again to when Will Smith met his father again in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, but he forgot to mention it during the podcast recording, so here we are in the podcast description instead. Also, we have a special retrospective to celebrate the life of Nichelle Nichols, but that's not really related to The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air at all.    Head on over to JerkyGent (our affiliate link: http://jerkygent.com?afmc=NEWBIE&utm_campaign=NEWBIE&utm_source=leaddyno&utm_medium=affiliate) and use offer code NEWBIE to get 30% off your first subscription box of delicious jerky!   Get an extra three free months of ExpressVPN when you sign up for 12 months through our affiliate link (a total of 49% in savings!): www.expressvpn.com/newbiestartrek    Ask us a question at contact@newbiestartrek.com and we may answer it on the podcast!    Intro theme song: Earl Grey (Hot!) by Nathan Tang  "What happened during this airdate?" song: Around the Sun by Nathan Tang    Catch our other projects (Fugitive Frames Film Podcast, Fugitive Games YouTube channel, etc.) at www.fugitiveframes.com! 

Data meets Juliana Tainer, former wife of Dr. Noonian Soong and Data's “mother,” but she holds a shocking secret that even she doesn't know she carries. Today James and Lou discuss (Inheritance) and what we think of it, with tonight's guest host Christopher Johnson. Credit: Main Title Theme (TV Edit) was arranged by Dennis McCarthy […]

This week on Episode 498 of Priority One: We Trek Out what Spiner has to say about a TNG reboot? A new book featuring Cristóbal Rios is on the horizon. And we've learned what the next event in Star Trek Online is slated to be. Of course, as always, before we wrap up the show, we'll open hailing frequencies for your incoming messages This Week's Community Questions are: CQ: If there was a feature film reboot of the Next Generation, who would you cast as Data? AND CQ: What bridge officer traits do you rely on for your builds in Star Trek Online? Let us know on social media like Facebook, Twitter, or by visiting our website! TREK IT OUT Brent Spiner - Next Gen Reboot Brent Spiner recently sat down with SYFY Wire to discuss a plethora of things from his upcoming book, “Fan Fiction: A Mem-noir: Inspired by True Events,” to what tips he would give to Patrick Stewart on portraying an android Jean-Luc for Picard season 2. Spoiler alert by the way. Amongst the many topics touched upon was one in particular which will undoubtedly provide some Trek trivia fodder. It turns out that before Spiner suggested that he play Dr. Noonian Soong, Data's creator, a different actor had already been cast in the role. Keye Luke was set to play the part originally. Having a role in the TOS episode, Whom Gods Destroy, Luke is most well known as Master Po from the Kung Fu TV series in the 70's and as the shop owner who cares for Gizmo in the Gremlins movies. Spiner was unaware that an actor had already been cast and tried to rescind his suggestion afterwards. But the creative team decided to have Spiner play the part and begin building the impressive list of characters and personalities that Spiner would ultimately play. And which of those characters is his favorite to play? ”I always liked playing Lore, because Lore is really more like me than any of the other characters I've ever played because I am evil.”  Spiner also credits Michael Westmore with helping him create the character of Noonian Soong. Talking about the Soong makeup, Spiner said, “When he put it on me and I looked in the mirror, I knew exactly how to play the part. I owe him a lot, because I think we collaborated on that.” Later on in the interview Spiner was asked about the future of Star Trek. In addition to enjoying the recent Star Trek movies, Spiner said, “I think that sooner or later, they're going to do a reboot, a motion picture version of Next Generation, and cast some young guys in our parts.” Star Trek: Picard: Rogue Elements If you were a fan of Spanish Han Solo… I mean, Cristóbal Rios -- Captain of La Sirena… then you might want to mark your calendars for August 17th! New York Times Bestseller, John Jackson Miller is taking you on a spicy adventure featuring your favorite tall, dark, spanish drink of water. Based on events occurring PRIOR to meeting Picard and taking on the Synth Plot to rid the galaxy of all organic life, Miller's book, “Rogue Elements” takes on adventures with ”exotic lovers and locales... as well as dangers galore -- and Rios learns the hard way that good crew members are hard to find”. ASTROMETRICS REPORT By Dr. Robert Hurt Image: NASA/JPL For this week's Astrometrics Report, what else could I talk about other than the incredible feat of interplanetary gymnastics, with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory once again sticking the landing by delivering the Perseverance rover to the surface of Mars? There were a lot of happy faces in Mission Control on February 18th, when the "all's well" signals came back from the Red Planet. You may have a sense of déjà vu looking at this new rover since it bears a strong resemblance to its younger sibling, the highly-successful Curiosity rover. This is no accident: Perseverance is essentially built on the same chassis. When you have a flexible design that's been proven to work, it makes sense to leverage that technology moving forward. Of course, Perseverance brings a lot of new technologies to bear. NASA's website explains that the mission addresses high-priority science goals for Mars exploration, including key questions about the potential for life on Mars. The mission takes the next step by not only seeking signs of habitable conditions on Mars in the ancient past, but also searching for signs of past microbial life itself. Image: NASA/JPL It also provides opportunities to gather knowledge and demonstrate technologies to address the challenges of future human expeditions to Mars. These include testing a method for producing oxygen from the Martian atmosphere, identifying other resources like subsurface water, improving landing techniques, and characterizing weather, dust, and other environmental conditions that could affect future astronauts living and working on Mars. Personally I'm most excited over the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, a technology testbed to pave the way for more flexible aerial explorations of our neighboring planet. Building a drone for Mars is not trivial: when the surface pressure is only 1% that of Earth at sea level, you have to crank out a lot more lift than your typical off-the-shelf drone. Everything we learn from Ingenuity's performance will help us design a new generation of flying laboratories that can be sent to Mars and other places in the Solar System. But if you just want to watch something cool, another mission first includes actual video document of the descent and landing. This is the first time we can see the mind-numbing complexity of the landing sequence directly, instead of relying on visual effects simulations. Adding the diagnostic cameras did cut into the tightly-controlled weight budget for the mission, but it will give engineers lots of insight to how well the technologies are performing...in addition to giving us a great show. Perseverance has already sent back an incredible panorama of its landing site within the Jezero Crater, and even recording what the surface of Mars sounds like. Scientists think that about 3.5 billion years ago, Jezero Crater was actually a lake before Mars lost most of its atmosphere and surface water. This was identified as an ideal place to look for any hints that Mars could have harbored life early in its history. There won't be any quick answers here, but the instruments on Perseverance are well-suited to study the geological clues in this exciting new locale. Make sure to keep an eye on NASA's website in the coming months to see what Perseverance learns. Star Trek Gaming News by Thomas Reynolds, Shane Hoover & Anthony Cox Extinction Events and Campaign Trails By Thomas Reynolds The 11th Anniversary celebrations are over, captains. So now it's obviously time for another grind. As first seen in an unintended Ten Forward stream leak, the next STO event is a 3-week Voth Advance reprise, from February 25th-March 18th, probably following the daily-TFO-for-14-days format. Players can earn Molor's Flaming Sword by completing either “The Breach” or “Storming the Spire” daily during the event. This round of the Voth Advance also starts off the third of STO's popular Event Campaigns. But will it be worth the fatigue this time around? The grand prize for 2021 is either 1500 Lobi, a T6 Zen Store ship, or a Premium T6 Starship Choice. So I'd say yes, yes it is. Read more about the event in our shownotes. Fair Trait Associations By Thomas Reynolds Bridge crew: even if they aren't doing kick flips all the time, they're an essential part of any Star Trek story. They tap consoles, tap each other, and help the audience tap into each show's heart and history. And sometimes, we even learn their names! Although maybe it takes until Season 2 to get there. In Star Trek Online, your bridge crew serves another purpose beyond away parties and eye candy. As your species, career, and lockbox luck give you stat-improving traits, boff traits improve your captainly effectiveness too. Some are useful in very, very specific situations. Nelen Exil --- HE gets knocked down, then he gets up again, so they'll never keep him down. Might not sound useful to your phaser-basted corpse, but a team medic who isn't one-and-done isn't a bad idea. However, the most highly-prized boffs offer traits for space combat and ground. Everyone–not just DPS chasers and PvPers–should look around their bridge and ask if they're truly getting peak performance. Space traits won't make-or-break builds, but don't leave weapon crit bonuses and hull regen buffs on the ready room table. We asked...well, solicited…alright, pestered the P1 production crew to share space boff traits they prefer on their builds. We'll discuss a few here for your listening pleasure, with the full list in the shownotes. Star Trek Timelines Adds New “Crew Retrieval” System By Anthony Cox Over in the mobile world of Star Trek gaming, Star Trek Timelines has added a new feature to help players retrieve specific crew members for their collections. Timelines is a game where you collect crew members from all the various timelines and time periods of Star Trek, assemble them on a team, and battle against mission requirements. It's pretty much Star Trek: Pokemon. There are several rarities of crew members and it can sometimes be frustrating trying to collect that one specific character you need to complete your collections. Well, Tilting Point, the relatively new owners of Star Trek Timelines, has released a helpful, yet somewhat complicated new system. The Crew Retrieval system. The scan feature, which is not new, is used to gain random items throughout the day. Scans were free every 3 hours. Now, scans cost a new currency called ISM or Interstellar Medium. And each scan result not only grants you a random item, but also gives you a chance to gain a constellation. Every time you scan without gaining a constellation the chance you'll get one on the next scan increases. So, what do you do with constellations. Well, using more ISM you can open constellations which will grant you Polestars. What's a Polestar you ask? A Polestar gives you the ability to narrow down a single variable to reduce the pool of crew members from which you're trying to retrieve. These variables can be a skill, a trait, or a rarity. Once you've set up to 4 polestars you then spend credits and, you guessed it, a NEW type of currency called Quantum, to retrieve your crew member. If you've narrowed it down enough it might not be a random pull. For example, let's say you're looking for Grand Nagus Rom, he's a 5 star rarity, has the traits Ferengi, Diplomat, Politician, and has the skills Command, Diplomacy, and Engineer. So you could use a Polestar for rarity 5-star, a Polestar for the Ferengi trait, one for the Politician trait, and one for the Engineer skill. That will hopefully narrow down the pool to just Grand Nagus Rom. Then spend your credits and quantums and see what you get. When a Polestar is pulled from a constellation it already has a specific attribute. Either a specific rarity, trait, or skill. So you'll need to find the right ones if you're looking to zone in on that specific crew member. Star Trek Timelines is available in the Google Play Store, Apple App Store, Steam, Facebook, and Windows App Store.

This week on Episode 498 of Priority One: We Trek Out what Spiner has to say about a TNG reboot? A new book featuring Cristóbal Rios is on the horizon. And we’ve learned what the next event in Star Trek Online is slated to be. Of course, as always, before we wrap up the show, we’ll open hailing frequencies for your incoming messages This Week’s Community Questions are: CQ: If there was a feature film reboot of the Next Generation, who would you cast as Data? AND CQ: What bridge officer traits do you rely on for your builds in Star Trek Online? Let us know on social media like Facebook, Twitter, or by visiting our website! TREK IT OUT Brent Spiner - Next Gen Reboot Brent Spiner recently sat down with SYFY Wire to discuss a plethora of things from his upcoming book, “Fan Fiction: A Mem-noir: Inspired by True Events,” to what tips he would give to Patrick Stewart on portraying an android Jean-Luc for Picard season 2. Spoiler alert by the way. Amongst the many topics touched upon was one in particular which will undoubtedly provide some Trek trivia fodder. It turns out that before Spiner suggested that he play Dr. Noonian Soong, Data’s creator, a different actor had already been cast in the role. Keye Luke was set to play the part originally. Having a role in the TOS episode, Whom Gods Destroy, Luke is most well known as Master Po from the Kung Fu TV series in the 70’s and as the shop owner who cares for Gizmo in the Gremlins movies. Spiner was unaware that an actor had already been cast and tried to rescind his suggestion afterwards. But the creative team decided to have Spiner play the part and begin building the impressive list of characters and personalities that Spiner would ultimately play. And which of those characters is his favorite to play? ”I always liked playing Lore, because Lore is really more like me than any of the other characters I’ve ever played because I am evil.”  Spiner also credits Michael Westmore with helping him create the character of Noonian Soong. Talking about the Soong makeup, Spiner said, “When he put it on me and I looked in the mirror, I knew exactly how to play the part. I owe him a lot, because I think we collaborated on that.” Later on in the interview Spiner was asked about the future of Star Trek. In addition to enjoying the recent Star Trek movies, Spiner said, “I think that sooner or later, they’re going to do a reboot, a motion picture version of Next Generation, and cast some young guys in our parts.” Star Trek: Picard: Rogue Elements If you were a fan of Spanish Han Solo… I mean, Cristóbal Rios -- Captain of La Sirena… then you might want to mark your calendars for August 17th! New York Times Bestseller, John Jackson Miller is taking you on a spicy adventure featuring your favorite tall, dark, spanish drink of water. Based on events occurring PRIOR to meeting Picard and taking on the Synth Plot to rid the galaxy of all organic life, Miller’s book, “Rogue Elements” takes on adventures with ”exotic lovers and locales... as well as dangers galore -- and Rios learns the hard way that good crew members are hard to find”. ASTROMETRICS REPORT By Dr. Robert Hurt Image: NASA/JPL For this week's Astrometrics Report, what else could I talk about other than the incredible feat of interplanetary gymnastics, with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory once again sticking the landing by delivering the Perseverance rover to the surface of Mars? There were a lot of happy faces in Mission Control on February 18th, when the "all's well" signals came back from the Red Planet. You may have a sense of déjà vu looking at this new rover since it bears a strong resemblance to its younger sibling, the highly-successful Curiosity rover. This is no accident: Perseverance is essentially built on the same chassis. When you have a flexible design that's been proven to work, it makes sense to leverage that technology moving forward. Of course, Perseverance brings a lot of new technologies to bear. NASA's website explains that the mission addresses high-priority science goals for Mars exploration, including key questions about the potential for life on Mars. The mission takes the next step by not only seeking signs of habitable conditions on Mars in the ancient past, but also searching for signs of past microbial life itself. Image: NASA/JPL It also provides opportunities to gather knowledge and demonstrate technologies to address the challenges of future human expeditions to Mars. These include testing a method for producing oxygen from the Martian atmosphere, identifying other resources like subsurface water, improving landing techniques, and characterizing weather, dust, and other environmental conditions that could affect future astronauts living and working on Mars. Personally I'm most excited over the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, a technology testbed to pave the way for more flexible aerial explorations of our neighboring planet. Building a drone for Mars is not trivial: when the surface pressure is only 1% that of Earth at sea level, you have to crank out a lot more lift than your typical off-the-shelf drone. Everything we learn from Ingenuity's performance will help us design a new generation of flying laboratories that can be sent to Mars and other places in the Solar System. But if you just want to watch something cool, another mission first includes actual video document of the descent and landing. This is the first time we can see the mind-numbing complexity of the landing sequence directly, instead of relying on visual effects simulations. Adding the diagnostic cameras did cut into the tightly-controlled weight budget for the mission, but it will give engineers lots of insight to how well the technologies are performing...in addition to giving us a great show. Perseverance has already sent back an incredible panorama of its landing site within the Jezero Crater, and even recording what the surface of Mars sounds like. Scientists think that about 3.5 billion years ago, Jezero Crater was actually a lake before Mars lost most of its atmosphere and surface water. This was identified as an ideal place to look for any hints that Mars could have harbored life early in its history. There won't be any quick answers here, but the instruments on Perseverance are well-suited to study the geological clues in this exciting new locale. Make sure to keep an eye on NASA's website in the coming months to see what Perseverance learns. Star Trek Gaming News by Thomas Reynolds, Shane Hoover & Anthony Cox Extinction Events and Campaign Trails By Thomas Reynolds The 11th Anniversary celebrations are over, captains. So now it’s obviously time for another grind. As first seen in an unintended Ten Forward stream leak, the next STO event is a 3-week Voth Advance reprise, from February 25th-March 18th, probably following the daily-TFO-for-14-days format. Players can earn Molor’s Flaming Sword by completing either “The Breach” or “Storming the Spire” daily during the event. This round of the Voth Advance also starts off the third of STO’s popular Event Campaigns. But will it be worth the fatigue this time around? The grand prize for 2021 is either 1500 Lobi, a T6 Zen Store ship, or a Premium T6 Starship Choice. So I’d say yes, yes it is. Read more about the event in our shownotes. Fair Trait Associations By Thomas Reynolds Bridge crew: even if they aren’t doing kick flips all the time, they’re an essential part of any Star Trek story. They tap consoles, tap each other, and help the audience tap into each show’s heart and history. And sometimes, we even learn their names! Although maybe it takes until Season 2 to get there. In Star Trek Online, your bridge crew serves another purpose beyond away parties and eye candy. As your species, career, and lockbox luck give you stat-improving traits, boff traits improve your captainly effectiveness too. Some are useful in very, very specific situations. Nelen Exil --- HE gets knocked down, then he gets up again, so they’ll never keep him down. Might not sound useful to your phaser-basted corpse, but a team medic who isn’t one-and-done isn’t a bad idea. However, the most highly-prized boffs offer traits for space combat and ground. Everyone–not just DPS chasers and PvPers–should look around their bridge and ask if they’re truly getting peak performance. Space traits won’t make-or-break builds, but don’t leave weapon crit bonuses and hull regen buffs on the ready room table. We asked...well, solicited…alright, pestered the P1 production crew to share space boff traits they prefer on their builds. We’ll discuss a few here for your listening pleasure, with the full list in the shownotes. Star Trek Timelines Adds New “Crew Retrieval” System By Anthony Cox Over in the mobile world of Star Trek gaming, Star Trek Timelines has added a new feature to help players retrieve specific crew members for their collections. Timelines is a game where you collect crew members from all the various timelines and time periods of Star Trek, assemble them on a team, and battle against mission requirements. It’s pretty much Star Trek: Pokemon. There are several rarities of crew members and it can sometimes be frustrating trying to collect that one specific character you need to complete your collections. Well, Tilting Point, the relatively new owners of Star Trek Timelines, has released a helpful, yet somewhat complicated new system. The Crew Retrieval system. The scan feature, which is not new, is used to gain random items throughout the day. Scans were free every 3 hours. Now, scans cost a new currency called ISM or Interstellar Medium. And each scan result not only grants you a random item, but also gives you a chance to gain a constellation. Every time you scan without gaining a constellation the chance you’ll get one on the next scan increases. So, what do you do with constellations. Well, using more ISM you can open constellations which will grant you Polestars. What’s a Polestar you ask? A Polestar gives you the ability to narrow down a single variable to reduce the pool of crew members from which you’re trying to retrieve. These variables can be a skill, a trait, or a rarity. Once you’ve set up to 4 polestars you then spend credits and, you guessed it, a NEW type of currency called Quantum, to retrieve your crew member. If you’ve narrowed it down enough it might not be a random pull. For example, let’s say you’re looking for Grand Nagus Rom, he’s a 5 star rarity, has the traits Ferengi, Diplomat, Politician, and has the skills Command, Diplomacy, and Engineer. So you could use a Polestar for rarity 5-star, a Polestar for the Ferengi trait, one for the Politician trait, and one for the Engineer skill. That will hopefully narrow down the pool to just Grand Nagus Rom. Then spend your credits and quantums and see what you get. When a Polestar is pulled from a constellation it already has a specific attribute. Either a specific rarity, trait, or skill. So you’ll need to find the right ones if you’re looking to zone in on that specific crew member. Star Trek Timelines is available in the Google Play Store, Apple App Store, Steam, Facebook, and Windows App Store.

Bienvenidos los #Trekkies de la galaxia entera a este nuevo episodio del único programa de radio enteramente sobre #StarTrek que hacemos desde la Argentina. En el programa de hoy comentamos el 8vo capítulo de la nueva temporada de #StarTrekDiscovery y otras noticias del mundo Trek. Continuamos la última temática del año del #CapítuloDeLaSemana: #FelicesFiestas, con el episodio "Alter Ego" de #StarTrekVoyager. En la sección #Trekkiepedia hablamos de la obra y vida de Noonian Soong. Luego nos visitó nuestro amigo Jack para traernos un nuevo dato curioso de la franquicia, siempre con el whisky bajo el brazo. Y para cerrar el programa llegó "Esta Semana en #StarTrek", nuestras efemérides trekkies en donde recordamos fechas especiales, nacimientos, muertes o estrenos dentro de este universo que tanto queremos. ------------------------------------------------- Buscanos en nuestras redes: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/remerasrojas Twitter: @remerasrojas Instragram: @remerasrojas ivoox: https://remerasrojas.ivoox.com Anchor: https://anchor.fm/remerasrojas Youtube: RemerasRojas ------------------------------------------------

This week Mike and Dave start the Holodeck’s discussion on the Soong family. Doctor Noonian Soong’s first appearance in TNG 4.03 ‘Brothers’. Betrayal and jealousy ‘Brothers’ is a page taken from Shakespeare. The inclusion of Altan Inigo Soong and what it does to the Soong legacy. Acorns Core automatically invests your spare change and lets you...

This week Mike and Dave start the Holodeck’s discussion on the Soong family. Doctor Noonian Soong’s first appearance in TNG 4.03 ‘Brothers’. Betrayal and jealousy ‘Brothers’ is a page taken from Shakespeare. The inclusion of Altan Inigo Soong and what it does to the Soong legacy. Acorns Core automatically invests your spare change and lets you […]

Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1. The perceived danger of synthetic life has been an important theme in Star Trek: Picard since the pilot episode. In “Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1,” we finally arrive at Soji's homeworld, Coppelius, and see a group of synthetic life forms that now must grapple with a threat to its existence. Meanwhile, the crew of La Sirena get caught in the middle as a Romulan fleet approaches. In this episode of The Line, hosts Brandon-Shea Mutala, Justin Oser, and Chrissie De Clerck-Szilagyi discuss the penultimate episode of Star Trek: Picard, “Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1.” We explore the introduction of Noonian Soong's son Altan Inigo Soong, the synth society he created together with Bruce Maddox, and the android Sutra, who reinterprets the warning called the Admonition. We also discuss the connection between the episode title and two 17th-century paintings, and share our predictions for the season finale. Chapters Intro (00:00:00) Initial Thoughts (00:03:08) Meaning of the Title (00:06:22) Favorite Moments (00:12:38) Opening Scene (00:17:42) A Synth Society (00:29:08) Altan Inigo Soong (00:42:58) Sutra and the Admonition (00:50:12) Questions and Concerns (01:20:55) Canon and Book Connections (01:28:47) Chrissie's History Corner (01:34:11) Final Thoughts (01:43:33) Closing (01:49:52) Hosts Justin Oser, Chrissie De Clerck-Szilagyi, and Brandon-Shea Mutala Production Justin Oser (Editor and Producer) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Producer) Chrissie De Clerck-Szilagyi (Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Tony Robinson (Show Art)

Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1. The perceived danger of synthetic life has been an important theme in Star Trek: Picard since the pilot episode. In “Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1,” we finally arrive at Soji’s homeworld, Coppelius, and see a group of synthetic life forms that now must grapple with a threat to its existence. Meanwhile, the crew of La Sirena get caught in the middle as a Romulan fleet approaches. In this episode of The Line, hosts Brandon-Shea Mutala, Justin Oser, and Chrissie De Clerck-Szilagyi discuss the penultimate episode of Star Trek: Picard, “Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1.” We explore the introduction of Noonian Soong’s son Altan Inigo Soong, the synth society he created together with Bruce Maddox, and the android Sutra, who reinterprets the warning called the Admonition. We also discuss the connection between the episode title and two 17th-century paintings, and share our predictions for the season finale. Chapters Intro (00:00:00) Initial Thoughts (00:03:08) Meaning of the Title (00:06:22) Favorite Moments (00:12:38) Opening Scene (00:17:42) A Synth Society (00:29:08) Altan Inigo Soong (00:42:58) Sutra and the Admonition (00:50:12) Questions and Concerns (01:20:55) Canon and Book Connections (01:28:47) Chrissie’s History Corner (01:34:11) Final Thoughts (01:43:33) Closing (01:49:52) Hosts Justin Oser, Chrissie De Clerck-Szilagyi, and Brandon-Shea Mutala Production Justin Oser (Editor and Producer) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Producer) Chrissie De Clerck-Szilagyi (Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Tony Robinson (Show Art)

Hosts Cam Smith and Tyler Orton con their way out of their prison cells in order to break down Star Trek: Picard's penultimate first season episode, Et in Arcadia Ego: Part 1. From Dr. Noonian Soong's secret lookalike son, to Soji's peculiar home planet and Picard's possible game-changing destiny, the duo tackle all the most fascinating bullet points. Right-click to download.Read more »

It's the second-last episode of Star Trek Picard season 1. And all the threads have now come together. A show like this lives and dies on the payoffs to its mysteries and mythology. And I feel that Star Trek Picard is doing pretty well in that regard. What do you think? This episode manages to be quite thematic and thought-provoking while still leading up to the grant finale. Let's dig deep into this show. ----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 19 of the podcast Today, we’re talking about the 9th episode of Star Trek Picard. Et in Arcadia Ego Part 1. Et? Et? I want to say et because in French, e t is pronounced et. It means and. But the rest of the title is in english. So I don’t know what’s going on with this title. Anyway, it’s the first Star Trek episode title that’s had Part 1 in it for a very very long time. Voyager was probably the last show to do it. Actually, I think Enterprise used the same title with parts 1 and 2 for the two-parter In A Mirror Darkly. Anyway, This is the second last episode of season 1. Can you believe it? The description on memory alpha reads Following an unconventional and dangerous transit, Picard and the crew finally arrive at Soji's home world, Coppelius. However, with Romulan warbirds on their tail, their arrival brings only greater danger as the crew discovers more than expected about the planet's inhabitants. The teleplay for this episode was by Michael Chabon & Ayelet Waldman. The story was by Michael Chabon & Ayelet Waldman & Akiva Goldsman The episode was directed by Akiva Golsman And it first aired on the 19th of March 2020. Make it so. In story structure, the second plot point takes place at the 75 percent mark of the book or film. It comes just after the darkest moment, when all hope seems lost. IT signifies the protagonist setting off for the final showdown, heading toward the climax, and it signals the beginning of act 3. The end of last week’s episode felt very much like the second plot point, and it’s showing up in roughly the right place. So this is act 3. After a harrowing trip through a borg transwarp conduit, the La Sierrena arrives at Soji’s homeworld. A planet called Coppelius. Agnes is still wandering the ship and asks “Am I still under arrest?” I’m still kinda shocked that they’ve brought her here to the synth homeworld. I know she says she’s turned over a new leaf, but honestly, this is a risk I wouldn't be taking. She killed the man she loved in order to prevent the creation of new synths. Now she says she won’t harm the synths themselves. I wouldn’t be taking any chances with her. If I were in Picard’s shoes, I’d have continued to DS12 to drop her off. Or, if the urgency of the situation didn’t allow it, which is how Picard ultimately felt, I’d be keeping Angus under close guard. Just in case. Anyway, Narak shows up and they have a nice little space battle. They manage to get in a lucky shot, which gives them a nice moment to discuss the morality of rescuing your enemies, but it turns out to be a bit of a ruse. They really don’t stand a chance against Narak’s advanced fighter. But, surprise, a honking big borg cube comes out of the corridor. I cheered out loud when this happened. Seven!. But the cube doesn’t even have a chance to be awesome. The orchids are really cool. A bunch of giant space-faring flowers come up and swallow the ships. This was really cool. This is Star Trek. This is the kind of wondrous thing you find at a strange new world. So the flowers drag the ships down to the surface in a visual and audio extravaganza that rivals any big screen movie I’ve seen. I was a little skeptical about the flowers bringing down the cube, but there were several attached to it, and it’s not operating at peak efficiency. They mention later that the flowers are not used to bringing down something so big. It was a bit of a shame though, because seeing something as terrifying as a borg cube coming to the rescue is a new idea that I was looking forward to. But we’ll see later. That cube ‘aint going anywhere ever again. Picard chooses this moment to exhibit symptoms of his dementia. Just briefly. We get a nice little scene with Agnes, doing her medical thing. It was nice to see and hear the old TNG tricorder. Agnes knows about his condition. The acting between these two is amazing in this scene. The way Allison Pill makes her mouth quiver with emotion. I have no idea how actors do that kind of thing, but I’m somewhat in awe of it. So Picard tells the whole truth to his crew. Raffi’s face when she hears Picard’s prognosis is terminal is subtle but heartbreaking. They seem to be going out of their way to avoid using the words irumodic syndrome. I don’t know why, but to be honest, it’s kind of annoying me. They’re clearly drawing from All Good Things, so for goodness, just say it and get it over with. And on that, we have yet to hear Picard say “Make it so” even once on this show. That’s Picard’s most iconic catchphrase. And, putting that into the script would not be an easter egg. It would not be fan service. It would be remaining consistent with his character. When Picard seeks options and recommendations from his crew, which has happened a number of times in this show, the words he always chooses to communicate his agreement, and instruct them to proceed is “Make it so.” The whole thing is very glaring by its absence. It’s like they’re deliberately trying to avoid using it for some reason. I’ll be disappointed if he doesn’t say it next week. But, I don’t want them to just shove it in there either. There have been missed opportunities to use it naturally in the past. Anyway, moving on. Soji is pretty sure her fellow synths don’t hate biological lifeforms. But I love Rios’s line. They crashed my ship without even asking. That feels a little biased to me. The surface of the planet looks really cool. Rock formations. Alien plants. It’s a nice mix of the familiar but beautiful, which is live action, and the unusual, which is CG. So they’re off to rescue Hugh and Elnor first. Of course, what they find is Seven and Elnor. The reunion between Elnor and Picard is very nice. And there’s a nice final send-off for Hugh and Picard and Seven talk about the loss together. So they’ve established the xbs are okay. There’s nothing Picard can do for them. But Raffi and Rios are able to use the Borg sensors to determine the Romulan fleet is 2 days away, and it’s massive. It’s time to take Soji home to her settlement. Honestly I’m not sure why Seven and Elnor are staying behind. I mean, Seven came all this way specifically to help Picard. Picard says the xbs need protection more than him. Which frankly seems an absurd statement to me. But they’re gonna try to get defensive systems online. I suspect the borg cube may end up being a refuge from the Romulans next week. It’s feeling like they really haven’t used Elnor’s character to his full potential. He’s barely spent any time with Picard and the La Sirena crew. We spent an entire episode recruiting him. I don’t think that’s paid off as well as it should have. Anyway, off to the settlement. Which looks pretty cool. A very nice place to live. The synths that live here have tinted skin and yellow eyes like Data. They don’t look as human as Soji. And their skimpy outfits make this look a little like an episode of TOS. They also speak more like Data. As if they have a less advanced emotional program than Soji. Again, more like Data. The crew are welcomed into the facility. But Soji has to give the bad news. The Romulans are coming and the synths don’t have anywhere near enough orchids. And then the big surprise. Brent Spiner appears. As himself. Fully human with no de-aging. Turns out he’s playing Dr. Altan Inigo Soon, the son of Dr. Noonian Soong. It seems every male Soong, of any generation, looks just like Brent Spiner. But it was a cool way to bring him back onto the show. It seems reasonable to me that Soong had a biological son. We know he had a wife. And it makes sense the son would be this old. I mean, Soon was over a hundred when we saw him die in TNG. Altan’s mother can’t have been Juliana Soong, because she didn’t marry Noonian until he was living and working on omicron theta. So I’d say Altan was the product of a previous relationship. Probably long out of the picard by the time Data and Lore were being created. So then a more android-looking version of Soji reveals herself, first to Picard, and then to everyone else. This is Sutra, Jana’s sister. It seems that there are a number of different models, and many copies of each model, but always in sibling pairs. If you’re thinking this all sounds very familiar, you’ve probably seen Battlestar Galactica. The more I think about it, the more paralleles I see. And let’s just acknowledge that now, we have Agnes walking around mixing with these synths. Risky business if you ask me. And yes, we’ll learn some information soon that may alleviate some of the anxiety, but they don’t know that information yet. If I were the synths, I’d be pretty angry that Picard had brought this person into their midst. And this is where Sutra makes quite a jump, mentally, to a theory she has very little evidence to support. But it makes sense, and it’s really interesting. She theories that the admonition was never intended for organic minds. We’ve seen how it drives many insane. It’s not the nature of the content as such, it’s more of an incompatibility. Which I like, because it seems a lot more believable. I mean, we’re gonna see the full contents of the admonition shortly. Dunno about you, but it didn’t make me want to commit suicide. So this is fascinating stuff. The theory is that Agnes was driven somewhat insane by the admonition, and that’s why she killed Maddox. But now the madness is leaving her, and she’s getting back to being her old selse. This doesn’t exactly justify her crime, but insanity is a legal defense used. Agnes wasn’t in her own right mind when she did what she did. Which means she’s not entirely to blame. Which means, she is less of a risk now. Ok. I’m with that. Not sure how Sutra made that leap, but the conclusion is logical and makes sense of a lot of stuff in the show. Sutra theories that the admonition was intended for synthetic minds. And this is where it gets a bit weird. Sutra is fascinated with Vulcan culture. And she has taught herself how to mind meld. And that’s absurd. Mind melding is not just a skill you can learn.  The mind meld is a biological thing. The vulcan brain has telepathic abilities. This is linked in some way to their sense of touch. Now, can I conceive that an artificial brain could be constructed to simulate the same telepathic functions of the organic Vulcan brain? I suppose so. But Bruce and Altan would have had to have constructed her specifically that way from the beginning. She can’t just decide she likes vulcan culture and teach herself. I’m afraid I don’t buy that. Not one tiny bit. But I’m just going to have to accept it, as silly as I think it is. It does solve a story problem. They can’t afford a big detour to take Sutra to the grief world. And she needs to be able to see the admonition somehow. But Rios is against this. As he says, “Agnes is just starting to get over this.” He’s worried, and legitimately so, that this mind meld, forcing Agnes to relive the admonition again,  could re-trigger her madness. Not only would that be bad for Agnes, but it could make her a danger to the synths, once again. He’s right to warn caution here. But Agnes feels the synths have a right to know, and this information could be the key to solving the whole mystery. So the mind meld goes ahead. Again, some great acting from Alison Pill. She’s terrified to live through this again. So now we finally get the whole truth behind all of this. And it’s a bit of a twist. Organic life is fragile and impermanent. As it advances, organics seek perfection, and that perfection drives them to create synthetic life. But they always end up fearing that synthetic life and feeling threatened by it. Which leads to conflict. Inevitably, this will lead to conflict. The big mysterious force out there does not come to wipe out races to prevent them from creating synthetic life, as the Zhat Vash believed. No, they are an alliance of synthetic life. They wipe out races to protect the synthetics. The admonition wasn’t a warning to organics. It was a promise of help to synthetics. That’s really interesting. At this point, I feel like everything has come together. It all makes good sense. A show like this lives and dies on the payoffs of its mysteries and mythology. And I feel that Star Trek Picard is doing a good job with it’s payoffs. So well done to the team. A couple of little thoughts about the admonition message itself. First. Why all the starfleet imagery. We see Data’s face. Starfleet logos. Even an image of the Mars attack. Obviously, the ancient race couldn’t have known about these things when they created the message.  But perhaps it's because they tailor the message. I mean, they’re still out there. Monitoring. Adding new relevant imagery to the message. Except what we’re seeing here came from the grief world 14 years ago. The mars attack hadn’t happened yet. So are we saying these synths can see the future. Personally, I think this is just a bit of sloppiness on the part of the show, choosing visual symbolism to aid the story-telling at the expense of in-universe believability. I really don’t think there's any time travel or seeing into the future going on. Second thing. The way they show a human aging from a child to an old man was very impressive visual effects. And the shot of the fox dying and rotting away to nothing was impressive but kinda of gross and disturbing. Do they timelapse film a real dead animal? I dunno. But it kind of made me uncomfortable. It’s cool that Altan made android butterflies because he missed them. We have a nice conversation between Agnus and Altan. Altan makes it clear that he is not dismissing her crime. The loss of Bruce Maddox is a tragedy. Not just because human life is precious, and the death of any human being is a tragedy, but because his was a great mind, that could have done so much more. And she extinguished that. Perhaps her insanity defense means she’s not guilty of murder as such, but she still owes a debt. They both know it. Altan offers her a chance to repay her debt. He shows Agnus what he’s been working on. It’s not entirely clear. We see a synthetic body. Is it an android, or is it biological like Soji? Not sure. Agnes calls it a golem. The world golem comes from Jewish folklore. It is an anthropomorphic creature made out of clay, animated and brought to life by magic. She then starts talking about mind transfer. It seems Altan has created an empty shell of a body, into which he plans to transfer a living mind. Apparently, Altan was the body guy, and Maddox dealt with what Altan calls substrates. Now I’m wondering, whose mind is gonna end up in that thing by the end of this show? I think Altan is planning it for himself. Perhaps because of his age. Maybe he too is dying. He says he recently regained an interest in mind transfer, along with a sense of urgency. His father, Doctor Noonian Soong, also worked on mind transfer and successfully transferred his wife’s mind into an android body at the time of her death. This android, Data’s mother, continued to live, believing that she was a human, rather than an android with all the memories and feelings of that deceased human. Data discovered the truth about this, and chose not to tell his mother what she really was. I wonder if she’s still out there. Sutra has a worrying plan. I understand where she’s coming from. All they have to defend themselves from the Romulan fleet is a few space flowers, an old man and his friends. They won’t last more than a few minutes. And I can’t argue with that. She wants to contact the alliance of synthetic life. Get them to come in and “bring hell” as Agnus put it last week. Wipe out the Romulans. Except, I don’t think they’ll stop there. They’ll wipe out all organic life in the alpha quadrant. Soji has an alternate plan. Repair the La Sirena and flee this world before the Romulans get here. Apparently there’s room in that little ship for the whole colony of synths. Sutra believes they will never be safe as long as the Zhat Vash is out there. Again, she’s probably right about that. But it doesn’t justify what she’s planning to do. She’s operating from cold logic. She lacks Soji’s humanity. And then Narak shows up. They found him and brought him in. It was cool that we got to see spot 2. An artificial cat. Again, I’m asking, is it a robotic cat, or did they manufacture it biologically, like Soji? This leads to a nice moment between Rios and Agnus. It shows that there really is still a spark of something between these two. It’s actually kind of sweet. We also get a nice scene between Raffi and Picard. She has finally, fully forgiven him for all that went on 14 years ago. We get a sense of just how close these two are. She means every bit to him as much as Riker, or Deanna, or Geordi does. There’s a really awkward moment between them as Raffi says she loves her. Picard shows a lot of growth as he manages to let himself say it back to her. Picard has never been one to express emotions to his crew. Heck, it took him seven years just to join his crewmates in their weekly poker game. I find Picard’s character arc very satisfying. I feel we’re seeing the fulfilment of an arc that began all the way back in Encounter at Farpoint. And that’s awesome. Also, I don’t read any hint of a romantic aspect to what these two are sharing. They love each other as close friends. That’s a thing. Rios and Raffi are off to repair their ship with a magic repair device. I believe this is the last we see of them this episode. Jean-Luc is unable to get a message through to Starfleet. That’s annoying. But it’s not like Clancy can’t figure out where he’s gone. She’s already got a squadron on its way to DS12 to help him. Let’s just hope Picard was smart enough to give her the coordinates of the planet before he set off without the squadron. I love how Narak is judging the synths on their treatment of him as a prisoner, and when Saga asks him how Romulans treat their prisoners, he says “Let’s change the subject.” There are two races you don’t want to be a prisoner of in the Star Trek universe. Cardassians, and Romulans. I also like that Soji is having none of Narak’s talk. He’s not gonna smooth talk her back into trusting him again. That would be a huge disservice to her character. As soon as the camera zooms in on her bird broach, we know it’s gonna be the weapon that kills her. Not only is Soji not trusting Narak. She’s very seriously considering killing him. She seeks Picard’s council. And we have an interesting conversation about the morality of killing, and the logic of sacrifice. He’s not an idiot. He is concerned about what she might be considering. Picard isn’t interested in having an academic philosophical debate. He wants to know what they’re really talking about. Sutra has a plan. And it makes sense. She knows her idea of calling the synth alliance is gonna be a hard sell. So she needs a way to convince her brothers and sisters. So she lets Narak go, makes it look like he escaped and killed Saga. Just another reason for the siblings to believe that organics cannot be trusted. When villains talk about sacrifice in stories, they’re always talking about someone else. But the true meaning of sacrifice is paying that cost yourself. Self-sacrifice. The one who suffers the loss is the one making the sacrifice. Both Soji and Sutra are considering “sacrificing” the life of another for what they consider to be the greater good. For Soji, she’s thinking of killing Narak. For Sutra, she lets her sister Saga die. Who actually carried out the murder? Her or Narak? It doesn’t really matter. Ultimately, Saga’s metaphorical blood is in Sutra's hands. The difference between Sutra and Soji is that Sutra carried out her plan. Soji is still wrestling with the ethics of hers. And then it’s too late. Everyone would have been better off if Soji had killed Narak (well, everyone except Narak) but does that justify it morally? Personally, I’d say no. But you can see Soji’s regret that she didn’t act sooner. Sop Sutra makes a speech to her people. The organics came here and now we have lost another sister. Notice how she puts all organics in one big basket. Narak and Picard are the same. They’re both organics. Organics are not to be trusted. This is the very definition of prejudice.  It’s interesting to see the show demonstrating this prejudice from both sides, the Zhat Vash and the synths. I feel like all the themes that this show has explored are all converging at this moment. It’s really quite well done. And Altan Soong is siding with his synthetic children. He even helped Sutra create the beacon to contact the synth alliance. I wonder, does he believe he will be spared? Because it’s pretty obvious Sutra thinks that all organic life must be exterminated.   Altan is right about one thing, though. Picard can’t guarantee that the Federation will listen to him. If anything, what sutra is planning to do will make the Federation fear synths even more. In a way, Picard is probably viewing these synths as his second chance to succeed, after he failed to help the Romulans. But soji says “we can’t be your means of redemption. We’re too busy trying to survive. So Picard is placed under house arrest. They agree to let Agnes go free with the promise that she will protect them as a mother protects her children. She would die for them. And now I get it. I’m certain that Altan wants to transfer into his synthetic body, so as to survive the coming apocalypse. They won’t kill him if he’s a synth too. Agnes will help him do that. But what about her? She’ll die too, unless she’s in a synth body. Meanwhile, Rios, Raffi, Enor and Seven are free, able to still help. But then so is Narak. And the Romulan fleet is 24 hours from the planet. Things are getting exciting. I’m very interested to see how it will play out next week, in the season finale. All in all, another great episode. I’m continuing to love this show.  I haven’t hit any more milestones in my walk to Mordor since last episode. I’ve been a bit distracted, but I’ve still managed to go for my morning walk some days. The world is kind of crazy right now, isn’t it? The company I work for has decreed that everyone works from home until further notice. Which of course is business as usual for me as I work from home by choice anyway. I know a lot of schools in other countries have closed. Here in australia, our schools are largely staying open, but we’ve got school holidays coming up in a few weeks. The scariest thing locally is that we’ll soon be heading into our winter, and Tasmania has pretty cold winters, so people are going to be more vulnerable to disease. Anyway, stay hopeful. As Picard would say, don’t give in to fear. Don’t panic buy toilet paper or food. Just get what you need and then there’ll be enough for everybody. I’ll catch you next week for the season finale of Star Trek Picard. 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.  

Amikor az Enterprise kapcsolatba kerül egy régmúltból származó földi hajóval, a fedélzeten egy genetikusan feljavított, erős kezű vezető ébred fel: a Föld jelentős részét egykor uraló Khan rendre kitér a múltját firtató kérdések elől, feltörekvő természete pedig a hajó elfoglalására, és ambiciózus uralmi terveinek megvalósítására sarkallja. Karizmatikus fellépésével ráadásul a küldetés történészét is könnyedén az ujjai köré csavarja. Az eredeti sorozat ’Alvó oroszlán’ című epizódja mellett Saru múltjáról is beszélgetünk, hiszen megjelent a decemberi Short Treks, ’A legfényesebb csillag’. A legfényesebb csillag: - Mi történik azokkal a kelpiánokkal, akik a szertartás során eltűnnek? Kiknek állhat érdekében eltüntetni őket? - További kérdések és rejtélyek: vajon mikor és milyen formában térhetnénk vissza Saru otthonába? Az alvó oroszlán: - McGivers nem elégszik meg a saját korszakával: az igazi férfiasságot már csak a XX. században találjuk meg? - Kapcsolatok a múltban: a nevek változhatnak, a gének nem? Spekulatív összefüggések Noonian Soong és Noonien Singh között. - Kahn gonosz, vagy nem gonosz? Intellektuális összecsapások a múlt emberével, aki a kezét is képes bepiszkolni.

Fathers on TNG.   The characters on The Next Generation, whether regular characters or guest stars are shaped by the important people in their lives, including their parents. On the show, we see a number of different fathers. Their interactions with their children and the crew help to reveal important aspects of their lives that we might not otherwise see and of parenting in the 24th century. In this episode of Earl Grey, hosts Richard Marquez, Amy Nelson, and Justin Oser take the opportunity as Father's Day approaches in the United States to discuss the important fathers on The Next Generation and the impact that they have on their children and the show. The characters discussed are Kyle Riker, Data, Noonian Soong, Worf, Sergey Rozhenko, Ian Troi, Edward La Forge, Jack Crusher, and Gul Madred. Chapters  Intro (00:00:00)   Listener Feedback (00:02:22)   Kyle Riker (00:07:30)   Data (00:21:37)   Noonian Soong (00:28:51)   Worf (00:34:17)   Sergey Rozhenko (00:47:24)   Ian Troi (00:49:13)     Edward La Forge (00:51:30)   Jack Crusher (00:53:33)     Gul Madred (00:57:52)   Final Thoughts (01:07:06)   Closing (01:17:42)   Runtime: 1 hour 22 minutes 13 seconds   Hosts Richard Marquez, Justin Oser, Amy Nelson   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)

Who Am I? An Audio Article about finding self by first knowing our Creator. Who am I? I remember an episode on Star Trek the Next Generation where Data the Android had questions of who he was and what his purpose was in life. In this particular episode, Data had the first opportunity to speak with his creator Noonian Soong; (who’s image he was made in) to find out if he was accomplishing his intended purpose and whether his maker approved of him. Like Data, you too, might be like me and desire to fulfill your Creators purpose for you in life… You may hope to one day hear him say “well done”. A better first question is “Who is Jesus?”.

PREMIUM BEEF ... The Chicken McNugget Hour of Power ... The tastiest Long John Silver's fryer effluent ... Overwhelmed by NBA and NHL postseason options ... Playoff triage... The nicest guy in sportswriting (it's Jon Bois) ... The ever-upward evolution of the NBA ... Hero Ball and Phrenology ... Meal Drift, late-night stew, casual wok sexism ... Never go Full Derelict ... Bill O'Reilly and all the ways we failed ... Dr. Noonian Soong and the positronic dryer ... Weird Al'ing anything you own or do...

It's Captain's Prerogative this week as Kal selects The Big Goodbye, the first TNG episode to really show us what the Holodeck can do. Just Enough Trope's Mikanhana is along for the adventure as we discuss whether you can get beaten up in the Holodeck, Pierce Brosnan's pain face, whether Noonian Soong was a cinephile, and the ethical implications of a room containing people that disappear every time you leave it. Grab your fedora, your 20th century anthropologist, and join us in Holodeck 3 for a rip-snortin' adventure! Catch more of Mikanhana on the Just Enough Trope Podcast, available on iTunes! Have some thoughts about therapeutic paintball? Continue the conversation by chiming in on Twitter at @EISTpod or on the Enterprising Individuals Facebook page!

Emotion Chip.A central character struggle in Star Trek: The Next Generation is Lieutenant Commander's Data's lack of emotions. Our favorite android experienced life on the U.S.S. Enterprise-D but was constantly challenged in his attempt to relate to emotional humanoid life forms. Phillip, Daniel, and Darren look at the flagship's second officer's "pre-emotion chip" existence and ask: Did Data actually already have the capacity for emotion? Did he evolve over those seven years, experiencing emotional states?Earl Grey also examines the ever-changing look and features of Dr. Noonian Soong's emotion chip, introduced in the fourth season episode "Brothers." They discuss its appearance in "Descent, Parts 1 and 2," and the chip's installation during the inaugural TNG film, Star Trek: Generations. The trio asks whether "emotional" Data in the film was done well and how fans received that portrayal. They also look at the emotion chip's cameos and various "upgraded" features in the other three feature films. So "stop it, stop it, stop it!", open up your mind, and listen to this episode (which may overload your neural net), analyzing Data's emotion chip.HostsDaniel Proulx, Phillip Gilfus, & Darren MoserEditor / ProducerDarren MoserExecutive ProducersNorman C. Lao, Matthew Rushing, & C Bryan Jones Production Manager Richard Marquez Content Manager Will Nguyen ChaptersData B.C. (Before Chip) - Seasons 1-3 (00:03:46) Brothers (00:18:02)Descent (00:31:00) Generations (00:47:37) First Contact thru Nemesis (01:00:04) Final Thoughts (01:12:40) 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