Podcasts about tal shiar

Esta quincena, los presentadores de Star Trek Replay nos despertamos en otro podcast, donde no hay Replayers sinó CataTreks. Bueno, en realidad eso es lo que le pasa a Troi, que despierta en una nave Romulana, con aspecto Romulano, y debe hacerse pasar por un agente del Tal Shiar para transportar a unos disidentes de la facción de Mr. Spock a territorio de la Federación. En realidad, nosotros solo hacemos un amago al principio para explicaros que estuvimos en Star Trek en Català, con Marc Vizcarro, hablando del 30 aniversario de Star Trek Generations. Después de los comentarios, y ya en el minuto 34, nos metemos en ‘El rostro del enemigo'.

Troi egy romulán csatahajón találja magát, hamarosan pedig rájön, hogy az arcát és a személyazonosságát megváltoztatták. Amikor N'Vek alparancsnok eligazítja őt, közli vele, hogy a Tal Shiar tisztjének kell kiadnia magát, a küldetése pedig az, hogy csempésszen ki egy titokzatos rakományt a romulán űrből. Hogy a megbízás sikerüljön, Troi-nak ki kell használnia és félre kell vezetnie a hajó parancsnokát, időközben pedig arra is fel kell készülnie, hogy az Enterprise-al is összeütközésbe kerülhet. Aktuális adásunk témája ‘Az ellenség arca' című epizód, melyről Jutkával beszélgetünk. 0:01:19 - Rövid hírszekció • 0:01:19 | Bemutatkozik új vendégünk, Jutka. • 0:02:25 | Mit tudunk eddig a Section 31 filmről? 0:18:36 - Kibeszélő: Az ellenség arca (TNG 6x14) • Ha a Csillagflotta tisztje vagy, vajon mennyire kell felkészülnöd arra, hogy hasonló helyzetben találhatod magad, mint Troi? • Hogyan állja meg a helyét Troi a fokozódó nyomás alatt? Az ellenség arca a legjobb Troi epizód? • DeSeve visszatérése és élettörténete: mit élhetett át a dezertőr? 1:10:14 - Szinkronos érdekességek 1:19:31 - Összefoglalás, értékelés Műsorunk videós formában is fogyasztható: - https://youtu.be/4rG5U0-72hQ

Ça y est, on peut enfin spoiler la saison 2 de Prodigy comme des fous puisque les épisodes sont enfin disponibles sur Netflix après des mois d'exclusivité pour le public français via France Télévision.On en parle avec le commandeur Guigui, notre capitaine par interim Cyril et un membre d'équipage du Tal Shiar avec Girafe du podcast américain Strange New Pod. On entendra aussi le journal de bord de notre expert scientifique Romain Nigita et de Yasmine notre ingénieure en cheffe.Hébergé par Ausha. Visitez ausha.co/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.

Welcome to our penultimate podcast in our DEEP SPACE NINE series. Fatheree and Dave have 8 more standalone DS9 episodes to discuss before they tackle the epic 10-hour ending next week. For now we are covering everything from Gul Dukat, cult leader, in DS9 S7E9 “Covenant” all the way up to Section 31 and Tal Shiar sneakiness in S7E16 “Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges.” Get ready for casino heists at Vic Fontaine's, Ezri going “Silence of the Lambs,” with the murderous Joran Dax, Ferengi adventures into the Mirror Universe, and more!As always, available in both video and audio-only formats.Watch on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/live/o3Ml63AL6uMGet RSS feed:https://feeds.captivate.fm/tex-trek/Apple Podcasts:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tex-trek/id1495605753?uo=4Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/6mdZ030Klldxwn7SSc5PKp?si=3BOqsbQER9Ssfppqk7lofQ&fbclid=IwAR1M1uH_xBE1lYWcwQocoDzjoVSsLmCgBt08TCEYAltwIH3MPC0S60bMCsEGoogle Podcasts:https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuc3ByZWFrZXIuY29tL3Nob3cvMzM1MjY2NS9lcGlzb2Rlcy9mZWVkJoin our Discord server:https://discord.gg/YXPeRyQh7ySupport us on Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/txtrekhttp://www.facebook.com/textrekhttp://twitter.com/TxTrekEmail: fathereeactual@tex-trek.com

Tout l'équipage du Quadrant Pop vous souhaite une très bonne année 2023 Alors que 2022 fut une année qui plutôt excellente pour la série STAR TREK dont on ne parle pas assez, j'ai nommé STAR TREK PRODIGY ! On en parle avec le commandeur Guigui et un équipage du Tal Shiar puisque nous avons notre romulien relou : Reman Brami ainsi que notre romulannienne géniale, j'ai nommé Girafe du podcast américain Strange New Pod. On entendra aussi le journal de bord de notre expert scientifique Romain Nigita.

With a feeling of jealousy of his newfound outrageous crew member, Dal takes up the offer of a Doctor to enhance some dormant traits. Join us as we discuss it all in our review of Star Trek: Prodigy, Masquerade.

Watch out for that coffee table, it might be a robot in disguise! Okona and the kids go where science is science-y, Dal gets an upgrade, but shoots blue goo. The Tal Shiar get a dose of Murfball, and Rok Tahk learns that science rules, but it should have rules. #StarTrek #StarTrekProdigy #Protostar #Murf #Janeway #Dal #RokTahk #JankomPog #Zero #Science #Goo #Romulans -Brought to you by Section 31- Episode 151 00:30 Don't Sit On Me! 01:00 The Swiss Army Upgrade 01:20 RoDOT In Disguise 01:35 Not The Off-Brand! 02:00 Attachments 02:28 Aqua Teen Hunger Force 02:55 DOTS are Real! 03:28 Corkscrew! 03:40 Don't Cork That! 04:00 NO KIDS 04:40 You Mean Me? 05:00 Artemis Rocket Launch Revenge Porn Ban? https://futurism.com/the-byte/twitter-video-moon-rocket-revenge-porn 05:30 Elon's Smooth Takeover 07:00 No Corrections 08:00 Cheeks Hurt 08:30 PaDD 09:00 Simple Tools 10:30 The Bad Enterprise 10:45 Thanks Patreons! https://patreon.com/starfleetunderground 10:50 Visit our ship's Gift Shop and Get some MERCH - https://starfleet-underground.creator-spring.com 11:20 Order of Operations much? 12:24 Disco Season 5 Production Wrapped https://trekmovie.com/2022/11/20/production-has-wrapped-on-star-trek-discovery-season-5/ 13:53 Black Friday Sales with Paramount+ 14:20 Amazon Trek Movie Deals too https://trekmovie.com/2022/11/25/star-trek-black-friday-2022-deals-included-paramount-for-50-off-and-blu-rays-for-50-off-at-amazon/ 14:30 Also deals at Entertainment Earth https://www.entertainmentearth.com 15:55 Brown Starfish Savings 16:35 Star Trek Romulan Ales https://startrekspirits.com/ https://trekmovie.com/2022/11/23/star-trek-spirits-launching-with-romulan-ale-whiskey-and-vodka/ 17:50 Happy Birthday Dwight Schultz aka Reg Barclay! https://twitter.com/TodayinStarTrek/status/1331296256220667909?s=20&t=qSepqokqReO5XbfFmNmGUQ 18:06 RIP John Aniston 20:22 Star Trek: Prodigy S1E15 - "Masquerade" 20:28 Act I 22:00 MURF BALL 23:30 Dal's Symbols 23:46 He Had a Lot In Him 24:30 He Was a Mashup 24:40 A Soong'er 25:30 Happiness Comes from Within 25:35 Paying for Genetic Manipulation 27:00 Too Good To Be True 29:00 Airlock Day Dream 30:15 I Can Make You Better 30:40 Created by a Soong 31:20 Science vs Starfleet Science 32:28 Act II 33:15 Console Lockout 33:40 Dal Goes Dahj 34:15 Space Elevator? We've Got Anti-Grav Suits 34:38 All Admirals Are Assholes 35:46 Tuvix? 36:20 RokTahk Rocks! 36:55 Okona's Story 37:50 Dal Still A Dick 38:20 How To Steal an Engineer 39:00 Space Puppies! 39:40 Act III 40:20 She Was A Plant! 41:22 Transformer Drednok 41:40 Coffee Tables in Disguise 42:22 Murf Attack! 42:49 The Blue Goo 43:00 Tingles 43:20 Murf Back in the Ball 43:55 Lighting Hits 44:15 Rok Tahk a McGuffin? 48:28 Science Rules and Science Needs Rules 45:30 Imperfections: What Makes Us Who We Are 46:50 Rok Tahk's First Science Log 47:30 Space Elevator Flaws 48:18 Going Down, While Going Down 49:40 Memory Alpha what? -Thanks so much for listening! Get some MERCH - https://starfleet-underground.creator-spring.com Patreon - https://patreon.com/starfleetunderground Email: thecollective@starfleetunderground.com Website: https://starfleetunderground.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/StarfleetUnderG Instagram: https://instagram.com/starfleetunderground Facebook: https://facebook.com/starfleetunderground YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/Qtsy16 Explicit

"Now hear this. Now hear this. On this week's episode of Kirking Off, Counselor Troi wakes up with her brand new Romulan appearance, and she finds herself embroiled in a secret mission to whisk some Romulan defectors off to Federation space. An operation which was apparently spear-headed by the legendary, Spock. She has an unlikely ally who's haphazardly planned this op and he tells Deanna that she will be posing as a Tal Shiar agent. We do get to meet one of the coolest Romulans this week in Commander Toreth, who proves to be a formidable foil to this spy craft scheme. Lots of question are posed this week such as: how sophisticated is the surgical alteration technology? Could one have a prehensile tail implant? Would it be so difficult to medically detect spies appearing as other races? What year in counseling school did Deanna learn about the sensor net codes? And lastly, does Deanna get enough story love to make this episode compelling? I present to you, Face of the Enemy, from Star Trek: The Next Generation." Season 6 - Episode 14 LINKS https://kirkingoff.captivate.fm/listen (Podcast Subscription Link) - https://www.libertystreetgeek.net/kopod Kirking Off on Discord - httsp://www.libertystreetgeek.net/discord https://www.facebook.com/groups/kirkingoff (Kirking Off Facebook) - https://www.facebook.com/groups/kirkingoff https://www.libertystreetgeek.net/ (LSG Media Website) - https://www.libertystreetgeek.net Support this podcast

Episode 6: Villains DSC: Master of Manipulation Is Lorca ruled by destiny? How do her subjects view Emperor Georgiou? Why didn't Georgiou go full Terran in the Prime Universe? Was Michael's mom working for Section 31? How do you break The Chain? Join Ashlyn and Rhianna as they get into the heads of the best Villains of Star Trek: Discovery. SPOILER ALERT: All of Discovery & Picard TRIGGER WARNINGS: Rape, abuse, and slavery. This is the sixth episode of our Villain series, where Ashlyn and Rhianna dive into the greatest Star Trek villains starting with The Original Series and ending with Lower Decks. Is the Tal Shiar worse than the Borg? Join us in two weeks as we pick apart what makes a villain in our Picard episode to find out! DISCLAIMER: We do not own any of the rights to Star Trek or its affiliations. This content is for review only. Our intro, “Klingon Battle” was written by Jerry Goldsmith. Our outro, “Worf's Revenge” was written by Aurelio Voltaire. Rule of Acquisition #2: “Money is everything.” Please check out our Patreon and donate any amount per month to access exclusive episodes of trivia and reviews of every episode from the first season of Lower Decks and our current review of The Animated Series. https://www.patreon.com/thedurassisterspodcast

Epic Fan of the podcast Michelle Coffman beams aboard today we explore having a live audience of Patreon supports listen in like Tal Shiar spies. Loyalty, family, gender and fandom all get unpacked in this episode.

Our Best Of Star Trek species deep dive series continues with the Romulans!From their origins in The Original Series to new mysteries with the Tal Shiar on TNG and DS9, we cover the rich history of the mysterious society and secret sects of the Star Empire.A very special surprise guest joins us as well!Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/astrangenewpod)

During this current era of Star Trek, novels play a more significant role than in previous years. Ken and Amy discuss The Dark Veil written by James Swallow, the second novel from the Picard series. We delve into the Riker-Troi family dynamics; the mistrust and deceit of the Tal Shiar; and the cooperation between two great captains from the Federation and Romulan Star Empire.United Federation of Podcasts is brought to you by listeners like you. Special thanks to these patrons on Patreon whose generous contributions help produce the podcast! Tim CooperBill SmithSimon De LucaChrissie De Clerck-SzilagyiMahendran RadhakrishnanJim McMahonVera BibleJustin OserVictor GamboaCasey PettittChristopher LutzTom ElliotGreg MolumbyKevin ScharfAlexander GatesFit RogersTom Van ScotterVanessa VaughanJim StoffelChris TribuzioThad HaitAnn MarieJoe MignoneYou can become a patron here: https://www.patreon.com/ufpearth

Picard S1, E3: Three former Starfleet officers, all hounded by the ghosts of their former service, and an expert in artificial life forms walk in to a bar. Well, no, they walk into each other. And Picard tells them it is crucial they abscond from Earth and find Bruce Maddox to see how he created Dahj; Meanwhile Dahj’s sister, Asha, continues to work on a Borg cube in Romulan space and carry on a relationship with an undercover Starfleet... Tal Shiar... *something*… covert agent. It’s high stakes espionage, folks. Chateau Picard is attacked, Asha gets a mystic reading, and there are drugs. It’s a trip. Also: Hugh is back!!!http://patreon.com/setphasers http://instagram.com/setphaserspodcast 

This week on this Star Trek News Podcast: We Trek Out news about Star Trek Prodigy, how a Cuban helped pave the way for Star Trek, Michael Dorn's “Captain Worf” pitch, and Nichelle Nichol's final appearance on screen. In Star Trek Gaming, the MMO Star Trek Online has launched its 11th Anniversary Celebrations, and we run down what you should expect! We Trek Out news about Star Trek Prodigy, how a Cuban helped pave the way for Star Trek, Michael Dorn's “Captain Worf” pitch, and Nichelle Nichol's final appearance on screen. In Star Trek Gaming, the MMO Star Trek Online has launched its 11th Anniversary Celebrations, and we run down what you should expect! Of course, as always, before we wrap up the show, we'll open hailing frequencies for your incoming messages! Let us know on social media like Facebook, Twitter, or by visiting our website! TREK IT OUT Kate Mulgrew and Prodigy By Cat Hough We have some breaking news from Twitter regarding the Nickelodeon animated show, Star Trek: Prodigy. On Monday, January 24, Kate Mulgrew was asked about the show, saying that she has already finished recording for Prodigy season 1 and how much she enjoyed returning to the role of Kathryn Janeway. Mulgrew ended the chat, saying, “I think we are going into the next season very soon.”  https://twitter.com/jemabean1/status/1353379453913751553 Worf In The Captain's Seat: The Sequel By Cat Hough On last week's episode of Priority One, we just discussed the likelihood of Michael Dorn reprising his role of Worf in any of the new Trek shows. Coincidentally, in an interview with TrekMovie.com that was posted earlier this week, Dorn was asked if he was interested in playing Worf in Star Trek: Picard. He replied, ”It depends on the role...I don't want to get in makeup and just stand around and scowl at people.” He also said he has not yet been contacted by anyone from Picard or Lower Decks, so I suppose we can draw our own conclusions.  Image courtesy of TrekMovie.com However, he did go into some detail about the script he wrote about Captain Worf, saying that he envisioned telling stories about the Federation and Starfleet from the Klingon point of view. Worf would essentially be more like an ambassador of the KDF trying to bring unity to the Klingon Empire. One Last Show for Nichelle Nichols By Tony Hunter It was just last week we were raising a glass to the memory of the Star Trek fan film ecosystem of the mid 20-teens. And then what do we find? It's an article from WFMZ-TV out of Allentown, Pennsylvania, describing the Kickstarter for the sequel to the fan-produced “Star Trek Renegades” from 2015, directed by Tim Russ. The earlier film had quite a few notable appearances from Star Trek alums, including Walter Koenig as Admiral Chekhov, Robert Picardo as the Doctor, and Tim Russ as Tuvok, just to name a few. And seriously, that's just a few. You can't go 10 minutes in that show without saying “isn't that the guy from…?” Yes, yes it is. Image courtesy of Star Trek: Renegades/Kickstarter Image courtesy of Star Trek: Renegades/Kickstarter The sequel, entitled Renegades Ominara, is boasting that they have lined up the “final performance” of Nichelle Nichols, but she will not be playing Uhura. And Walter Koenig will return, but not as Admiral Chekhov. Tim Russ is back in the director's chair, leading a newer cast of stars with a few credits each on their TV CVs. The Kickstarter is sitting at just under $26,000 as we record, two-thirds of the way to its goal of $35,000, with 12 days to go. Lawyer alert! Lawyer alert! We'll put links in the shownotes to the article and the Kickstarter, but a quick word of warning here from the spoilsport lawyers. This project, as it's currently advertised, might not pass muster with the CBS legal eagles. For one thing, it's advertised as “a full-40-minute show (which is a network hour-long television show)”, which does not work with the fan film limits of one single 15 minute project or 2 15 minute segments of a single project. Also, the participation of Nichols, Koenig and Russ seems to run afoul of the rule that “creators, actors and all other participants must be amateurs, cannot be compensated for their services, and cannot be currently or previously employed on any Star Trek series, films, production of DVDs or with any of CBS or Paramount Pictures' licensees.” So, it looks like a fun project, so long as the fun police don't shut it down. How a Cuban Helped Make Star Trek By Elio Lleo  If you fancy yourself a television history buff or have dived into the books and stories detailing the behind-the-scenes development of Star Trek, then you've probably already heard that if Gene Roddenberry is Star Trek's father...then Lucille Ball would certainly be its mother. This–for the most part–is true. By the time Star Trek was ready to begin filming, Lucille Ball had taken full control of Desilu Productions. And, if you've read Marc Cushman's These Are The Voyages, you'll have read a fun little piece of lore that Lucy once swept the sound stage of Star Trek just to help keep the production on schedule and on budget. Image from Los Angeles Times photographic library/UCLA, courtesy of Wikipedia. But, the road to Star Trek was being paved years earlier with Desi Arnaz very much in the picture. In a recent episode of NPR's Planet Money, the hosts give you a quick rundown of how this immigrant from Cuba helped shape television today. From abandoning the classic kinescope to introducing the three rolling cameras to insisting on a live-studio audience, Desi Arnaz's influence can be seen today in all your favorite sitcoms… from the Fresh Prince…to Friends…to Fraiser. And when Lucy got pregnant in real life and the I Love Lucy Show had to go on hiatus, well, Desi had an answer for that too. Reruns and syndication! For anyone looking to enhance their appreciation for the history of television–and if you liked watching I Love Lucy and are curious to learn a bit more about the loud-bombastic Cuban man who loves Lucy–TrekOut the shownotes. In Memoriam: Richard Arnold (1954-2021) Last, but certainly not least, it is with a heavy heart that we report the passing of Richard Arnold. For those of you not familiar with the name, Arnold was known as Gene Roddenberry's “right hand man” during the production of the series and later went on the convention circuit as a “Star Trek Expert.” According to Rod Roddenberry, in a post on Facebook “Richard's voice was the one my father most often listened to; because Richard listened to the fans." Our hearts go out to his and the Roddenberry family. Star Trek Gaming News by Thomas Reynolds & Shane Hoover Abandon Every Hope, Who Battle Here By Thomas Reynolds When we journeyed two-thirds of the Year's way, we found ourselves within a blazing fortress, for we had kept Cryptic's path that does not stray. It is hard to speak of what Gre'thor was, that hellish prison, cowardly and shameful, which even in recall renews my disgust––glorious death is ever more dear! Of course, you've not experienced Dante until you have...well, you know the rest. In the beginning, we fought to preserve the Empire as a warrior's paradise. Together with its wayward son K'mtar, the House of Mogh endured the Warzone's purgatory. Now we stand at the Gateway to Gre'thor–the inferno itself–to draw the Year of Klingon to its fiery conclusion. Cryptic's yearlong revamp of the Klingon Starting Experience concludes with the launch of the Anniversary Event–and if the new Klingon hell doesn't do it for you, nothing will. We could wax rhapsodic for hours about the new maps, environment textures, enemies, the Dishonorable Three, and hair options. But the link is in our shownotes, captains. You have to see the screencaps to believe them. Recruit First, Ask Questions Later By Thomas Reynolds With the starting Klingon experience refresh complete, this would be the perfect time to see the new sights with a new KDF toon. Also, the Klingon Civil War still rages on and both sides desperately need cannon fodd--I mean, brave warriors. But Sto-vo-kor's eternal glory isn't enough for some people: they want dilithium, ships, and shiny new ways to kill people. Starting with the Anniversary Event, Cryptic kicked off Star Trek Online's fourth Recruitment Event: this time, for the Klingon Empire. Until February 25th, new Klingon characters (using the free character slot Cryptic'll give you) will be officially dubbed Klingon Recruits. Like in previous events, Klingon Recruits get special rewards for meeting certain goals during the story and into the endgame. This includes (what sound like) the optional story objectives you completed with other faction Recruits, but naturally more violent. Enemies of the Empire abound, and whoever's on the other end of your transponder wants them dead and gone. Happy hunting! Your other characters also get benefits from the Recruit's progress like currencies, ship and ground traits, and “piezoelectric execution sceptres.” That alone sounds like it's worth the effort--but if pain sticks aren't your style, how about a ship instead? Yes, Klingon Recruits also get the M'Chla Bird of Prey of 2255, refitted for battle in 2411. Details for the scaling T6 ship, along with the other Recruit rewards, will be in our shownotes. As a side note, you can also play a Klingon from 2255 too. Discovery-era Klingons are now available as a KDF race, although identical to their modern counterparts other than looks and uniform. Fortunately no one's ever had strong opinions about how the Klingons looked in Discovery, so this should be controversy-free. The Fire In Which Houses Are Reborn By Thomas Reynolds Are you dying to see the new Gre'thor (get it?), but don't have time to start your Recruit right now? Well, the other massive Klingon story content drop timed to the Anniversary Event has you covered. House Reborn continues the Klingon Civil War arc, as J'Ula's path to redeem the Empire brings us more familiar faces. Our proper review will come next week, once we have time to reflect and replay. But if you're hearing this before playing, and you haven't looked at Twitter in a while, here's a slight spoiler. The title's more appropriate than you might expect. https://youtu.be/lOKDrix1Nms Infinite Ships in Finite Factions By Thomas Reynolds Hoo boy, captains. Red Alert and brace for impact, because we're about to hit the Wall. Or not! Because ships aren't restricted to factions anymore! But they are. Kind of. Look, it's a complicated discussion on in-game policies: exactly the Earl Grey tea that Priority One loves to spill. As of January 26th, having a level 65 KDF officer on your account will unlock both factions' ships for all Fed and KDF officers on your account. Coming with the ships are their Admiralty cards, registries, prefixes, bridges, interiors, and any associated items like consoles or pets. Existing Zen Store purchases are reclaimable across the divide, so your Orion engineer can have the Presidio-class cruiser of their dreams. But your Fed-aligned Romulan won't be getting their hands on a D4x anytime soon. The faction wall for ships still applies to Fed and KDF allies. or now, at least. Forever? Who can say? Ship availability across Red vs. Blue also means the end of other ways Cryptic's tried bridging the divide. Cross-faction packs for ship-specific traits and consoles aren't going away. You can still find them in non-Zen stores or on the Exchange. However you won't be able to get new traits or consoles that way from here on out--get ready to pay for those in the Zen store instead. Fear the Temer-Class Alliance Raider By Shane Hoover We did say your Fed-Aligned Romulan still won't be getting on the bridge of a D4x, but if that's what you're after then the brand new Temer-Class Alliance Raider just might make you smile. This year's Event Grand Prize for the 11th Anniversary event is the account unlock of the T6 Temer-Class Raider. Carrying on the spirit of cooperation that was embodied in the Khitomer-Class Battlecruiser, the Temer is a joint Romulan and Klingon design available to all factions. The ship stats were published Saturday, January 23rd by Ambassador Kael, and they look pretty tempting. This is a T6 Raider with a 5/1 weapon layout, Enhanced Battle Cloak, Improved Raider Flanking, and Command seating. The Repulsor Blaster experimental weapon and the Sniper starship trait firmly establish the Temer as a maximum range torpedo boat. So prepare to decloak at 10km on someone's flank, unload a volley of torpedoes, and watch the fireworks! All you need to do is earn 40 or more Daily Progress in the Anniversary Event, and the Temer-Class is yours. Zhat Vash Some Lockbox, Vashn't It? By Shane Hoover It wouldn't be a Star Trek Online content update without a new lockbox, right? And this time we've got a box inspired by CBS's newest live-action Star Trek show, Picard. Specifically, the “Picard Zhat Vash” lockbox is inspired by the shadowy Romulan cabal that served as the antagonists for Picard's first season. The lockbox has all of the lockbox offerings we've come to expect: Personal Ground and Space traits, Kit Modules, Duty Officer assignments, new Weapon packs, Lobi store items, a new Pit Bull pet, and a Grand Prize T6 ship, which we'll discuss shortly. In every box there's also something new to the game, The Impossible Device. This new consumable will instantly remove one injury status at random from any ground player or player starship not currently in combat. If used on another player, the device also applies an HP and outgoing healing buff for 30 minutes. To see the details of everything this new lockbox has to offer, Trek out the link in our shownotes. Oh! It's That Romulan Ship! By Shane Hoover If you find yourself lucky enough to unpack a Grand Prize from the new Zhat Vash lockbox, you'll get your hands on the brand new Dhailkhina Command Strike Wing Warbird. This new cross-faction Zhat Vash Warbird was last seen in Star Trek: Picard confronting Captain Riker and the U.S.S. Zheng He.The ship sports a 5/2 weapon layout, plus the experimental weapon slot, which are typical for the ship type. The Carbon Scorcher experimental weapon deals physical damage plus a heavy physical damage over time effect, with a bonus damage resistance debuff. Specialty bridge seats include a Command Tactical/Command seat and a Lt. Commander Universal/Intel seat. The new Universal Console, Bombing Run, passively boosts Plasma damage and Crit Chance, while clicking for a heavy Kinetic and Plasma damage attack. The ship's trait, Commanded Singularities, adds a “micro singularity” hazard to the current target's location whenever a Command or Singularity ability is activated. So tell us, Captains, are you going to give Riker an “excuse to kick your treacherous Tal Shiar ass”? The link to all of the ship stats and details is in our show notes.

This week on this Star Trek News Podcast: We Trek Out news about Star Trek Prodigy, how a Cuban helped pave the way for Star Trek, Michael Dorn’s “Captain Worf” pitch, and Nichelle Nichol’s final appearance on screen. In Star Trek Gaming, the MMO Star Trek Online has launched its 11th Anniversary Celebrations, and we run down what you should expect! We Trek Out news about Star Trek Prodigy, how a Cuban helped pave the way for Star Trek, Michael Dorn’s “Captain Worf” pitch, and Nichelle Nichol’s final appearance on screen. In Star Trek Gaming, the MMO Star Trek Online has launched its 11th Anniversary Celebrations, and we run down what you should expect! Of course, as always, before we wrap up the show, we’ll open hailing frequencies for your incoming messages! Let us know on social media like Facebook, Twitter, or by visiting our website! TREK IT OUT Kate Mulgrew and Prodigy By Cat Hough We have some breaking news from Twitter regarding the Nickelodeon animated show, Star Trek: Prodigy. On Monday, January 24, Kate Mulgrew was asked about the show, saying that she has already finished recording for Prodigy season 1 and how much she enjoyed returning to the role of Kathryn Janeway. Mulgrew ended the chat, saying, “I think we are going into the next season very soon.”  https://twitter.com/jemabean1/status/1353379453913751553 Worf In The Captain’s Seat: The Sequel By Cat Hough On last week’s episode of Priority One, we just discussed the likelihood of Michael Dorn reprising his role of Worf in any of the new Trek shows. Coincidentally, in an interview with TrekMovie.com that was posted earlier this week, Dorn was asked if he was interested in playing Worf in Star Trek: Picard. He replied, ”It depends on the role...I don’t want to get in makeup and just stand around and scowl at people.” He also said he has not yet been contacted by anyone from Picard or Lower Decks, so I suppose we can draw our own conclusions.  Image courtesy of TrekMovie.com However, he did go into some detail about the script he wrote about Captain Worf, saying that he envisioned telling stories about the Federation and Starfleet from the Klingon point of view. Worf would essentially be more like an ambassador of the KDF trying to bring unity to the Klingon Empire. One Last Show for Nichelle Nichols By Tony Hunter It was just last week we were raising a glass to the memory of the Star Trek fan film ecosystem of the mid 20-teens. And then what do we find? It’s an article from WFMZ-TV out of Allentown, Pennsylvania, describing the Kickstarter for the sequel to the fan-produced “Star Trek Renegades” from 2015, directed by Tim Russ. The earlier film had quite a few notable appearances from Star Trek alums, including Walter Koenig as Admiral Chekhov, Robert Picardo as the Doctor, and Tim Russ as Tuvok, just to name a few. And seriously, that’s just a few. You can’t go 10 minutes in that show without saying “isn’t that the guy from…?” Yes, yes it is. Image courtesy of Star Trek: Renegades/Kickstarter Image courtesy of Star Trek: Renegades/Kickstarter The sequel, entitled Renegades Ominara, is boasting that they have lined up the “final performance” of Nichelle Nichols, but she will not be playing Uhura. And Walter Koenig will return, but not as Admiral Chekhov. Tim Russ is back in the director’s chair, leading a newer cast of stars with a few credits each on their TV CVs. The Kickstarter is sitting at just under $26,000 as we record, two-thirds of the way to its goal of $35,000, with 12 days to go. Lawyer alert! Lawyer alert! We’ll put links in the shownotes to the article and the Kickstarter, but a quick word of warning here from the spoilsport lawyers. This project, as it’s currently advertised, might not pass muster with the CBS legal eagles. For one thing, it’s advertised as “a full-40-minute show (which is a network hour-long television show)”, which does not work with the fan film limits of one single 15 minute project or 2 15 minute segments of a single project. Also, the participation of Nichols, Koenig and Russ seems to run afoul of the rule that “creators, actors and all other participants must be amateurs, cannot be compensated for their services, and cannot be currently or previously employed on any Star Trek series, films, production of DVDs or with any of CBS or Paramount Pictures’ licensees.” So, it looks like a fun project, so long as the fun police don’t shut it down. How a Cuban Helped Make Star Trek By Elio Lleo  If you fancy yourself a television history buff or have dived into the books and stories detailing the behind-the-scenes development of Star Trek, then you’ve probably already heard that if Gene Roddenberry is Star Trek’s father...then Lucille Ball would certainly be its mother. This–for the most part–is true. By the time Star Trek was ready to begin filming, Lucille Ball had taken full control of Desilu Productions. And, if you’ve read Marc Cushman’s These Are The Voyages, you’ll have read a fun little piece of lore that Lucy once swept the sound stage of Star Trek just to help keep the production on schedule and on budget. Image from Los Angeles Times photographic library/UCLA, courtesy of Wikipedia. But, the road to Star Trek was being paved years earlier with Desi Arnaz very much in the picture. In a recent episode of NPR’s Planet Money, the hosts give you a quick rundown of how this immigrant from Cuba helped shape television today. From abandoning the classic kinescope to introducing the three rolling cameras to insisting on a live-studio audience, Desi Arnaz's influence can be seen today in all your favorite sitcoms… from the Fresh Prince…to Friends…to Fraiser. And when Lucy got pregnant in real life and the I Love Lucy Show had to go on hiatus, well, Desi had an answer for that too. Reruns and syndication! For anyone looking to enhance their appreciation for the history of television–and if you liked watching I Love Lucy and are curious to learn a bit more about the loud-bombastic Cuban man who loves Lucy–TrekOut the shownotes. In Memoriam: Richard Arnold (1954-2021) Last, but certainly not least, it is with a heavy heart that we report the passing of Richard Arnold. For those of you not familiar with the name, Arnold was known as Gene Roddenberry’s “right hand man” during the production of the series and later went on the convention circuit as a “Star Trek Expert.” According to Rod Roddenberry, in a post on Facebook “Richard’s voice was the one my father most often listened to; because Richard listened to the fans." Our hearts go out to his and the Roddenberry family. Star Trek Gaming News by Thomas Reynolds & Shane Hoover Abandon Every Hope, Who Battle Here By Thomas Reynolds When we journeyed two-thirds of the Year’s way, we found ourselves within a blazing fortress, for we had kept Cryptic’s path that does not stray. It is hard to speak of what Gre’thor was, that hellish prison, cowardly and shameful, which even in recall renews my disgust––glorious death is ever more dear! Of course, you've not experienced Dante until you have...well, you know the rest. In the beginning, we fought to preserve the Empire as a warrior’s paradise. Together with its wayward son K’mtar, the House of Mogh endured the Warzone’s purgatory. Now we stand at the Gateway to Gre’thor–the inferno itself–to draw the Year of Klingon to its fiery conclusion. Cryptic’s yearlong revamp of the Klingon Starting Experience concludes with the launch of the Anniversary Event–and if the new Klingon hell doesn’t do it for you, nothing will. We could wax rhapsodic for hours about the new maps, environment textures, enemies, the Dishonorable Three, and hair options. But the link is in our shownotes, captains. You have to see the screencaps to believe them. Recruit First, Ask Questions Later By Thomas Reynolds With the starting Klingon experience refresh complete, this would be the perfect time to see the new sights with a new KDF toon. Also, the Klingon Civil War still rages on and both sides desperately need cannon fodd--I mean, brave warriors. But Sto-vo-kor’s eternal glory isn’t enough for some people: they want dilithium, ships, and shiny new ways to kill people. Starting with the Anniversary Event, Cryptic kicked off Star Trek Online’s fourth Recruitment Event: this time, for the Klingon Empire. Until February 25th, new Klingon characters (using the free character slot Cryptic’ll give you) will be officially dubbed Klingon Recruits. Like in previous events, Klingon Recruits get special rewards for meeting certain goals during the story and into the endgame. This includes (what sound like) the optional story objectives you completed with other faction Recruits, but naturally more violent. Enemies of the Empire abound, and whoever’s on the other end of your transponder wants them dead and gone. Happy hunting! Your other characters also get benefits from the Recruit’s progress like currencies, ship and ground traits, and “piezoelectric execution sceptres.” That alone sounds like it’s worth the effort--but if pain sticks aren’t your style, how about a ship instead? Yes, Klingon Recruits also get the M’Chla Bird of Prey of 2255, refitted for battle in 2411. Details for the scaling T6 ship, along with the other Recruit rewards, will be in our shownotes. As a side note, you can also play a Klingon from 2255 too. Discovery-era Klingons are now available as a KDF race, although identical to their modern counterparts other than looks and uniform. Fortunately no one’s ever had strong opinions about how the Klingons looked in Discovery, so this should be controversy-free. The Fire In Which Houses Are Reborn By Thomas Reynolds Are you dying to see the new Gre’thor (get it?), but don’t have time to start your Recruit right now? Well, the other massive Klingon story content drop timed to the Anniversary Event has you covered. House Reborn continues the Klingon Civil War arc, as J’Ula’s path to redeem the Empire brings us more familiar faces. Our proper review will come next week, once we have time to reflect and replay. But if you’re hearing this before playing, and you haven’t looked at Twitter in a while, here’s a slight spoiler. The title’s more appropriate than you might expect. https://youtu.be/lOKDrix1Nms Infinite Ships in Finite Factions By Thomas Reynolds Hoo boy, captains. Red Alert and brace for impact, because we’re about to hit the Wall. Or not! Because ships aren’t restricted to factions anymore! But they are. Kind of. Look, it’s a complicated discussion on in-game policies: exactly the Earl Grey tea that Priority One loves to spill. As of January 26th, having a level 65 KDF officer on your account will unlock both factions’ ships for all Fed and KDF officers on your account. Coming with the ships are their Admiralty cards, registries, prefixes, bridges, interiors, and any associated items like consoles or pets. Existing Zen Store purchases are reclaimable across the divide, so your Orion engineer can have the Presidio-class cruiser of their dreams. But your Fed-aligned Romulan won’t be getting their hands on a D4x anytime soon. The faction wall for ships still applies to Fed and KDF allies. or now, at least. Forever? Who can say? Ship availability across Red vs. Blue also means the end of other ways Cryptic’s tried bridging the divide. Cross-faction packs for ship-specific traits and consoles aren’t going away. You can still find them in non-Zen stores or on the Exchange. However you won’t be able to get new traits or consoles that way from here on out--get ready to pay for those in the Zen store instead. Fear the Temer-Class Alliance Raider By Shane Hoover We did say your Fed-Aligned Romulan still won’t be getting on the bridge of a D4x, but if that’s what you’re after then the brand new Temer-Class Alliance Raider just might make you smile. This year’s Event Grand Prize for the 11th Anniversary event is the account unlock of the T6 Temer-Class Raider. Carrying on the spirit of cooperation that was embodied in the Khitomer-Class Battlecruiser, the Temer is a joint Romulan and Klingon design available to all factions. The ship stats were published Saturday, January 23rd by Ambassador Kael, and they look pretty tempting. This is a T6 Raider with a 5/1 weapon layout, Enhanced Battle Cloak, Improved Raider Flanking, and Command seating. The Repulsor Blaster experimental weapon and the Sniper starship trait firmly establish the Temer as a maximum range torpedo boat. So prepare to decloak at 10km on someone’s flank, unload a volley of torpedoes, and watch the fireworks! All you need to do is earn 40 or more Daily Progress in the Anniversary Event, and the Temer-Class is yours. Zhat Vash Some Lockbox, Vashn’t It? By Shane Hoover It wouldn’t be a Star Trek Online content update without a new lockbox, right? And this time we’ve got a box inspired by CBS’s newest live-action Star Trek show, Picard. Specifically, the “Picard Zhat Vash” lockbox is inspired by the shadowy Romulan cabal that served as the antagonists for Picard’s first season. The lockbox has all of the lockbox offerings we’ve come to expect: Personal Ground and Space traits, Kit Modules, Duty Officer assignments, new Weapon packs, Lobi store items, a new Pit Bull pet, and a Grand Prize T6 ship, which we’ll discuss shortly. In every box there’s also something new to the game, The Impossible Device. This new consumable will instantly remove one injury status at random from any ground player or player starship not currently in combat. If used on another player, the device also applies an HP and outgoing healing buff for 30 minutes. To see the details of everything this new lockbox has to offer, Trek out the link in our shownotes. Oh! It’s That Romulan Ship! By Shane Hoover If you find yourself lucky enough to unpack a Grand Prize from the new Zhat Vash lockbox, you’ll get your hands on the brand new Dhailkhina Command Strike Wing Warbird. This new cross-faction Zhat Vash Warbird was last seen in Star Trek: Picard confronting Captain Riker and the U.S.S. Zheng He.The ship sports a 5/2 weapon layout, plus the experimental weapon slot, which are typical for the ship type. The Carbon Scorcher experimental weapon deals physical damage plus a heavy physical damage over time effect, with a bonus damage resistance debuff. Specialty bridge seats include a Command Tactical/Command seat and a Lt. Commander Universal/Intel seat. The new Universal Console, Bombing Run, passively boosts Plasma damage and Crit Chance, while clicking for a heavy Kinetic and Plasma damage attack. The ship’s trait, Commanded Singularities, adds a “micro singularity” hazard to the current target’s location whenever a Command or Singularity ability is activated. So tell us, Captains, are you going to give Riker an “excuse to kick your treacherous Tal Shiar ass”? The link to all of the ship stats and details is in our show notes.

This week the word is holodeck. The nerds discuss various implications of holodeck technology, as well as replicators and universal translators. Andy reports on Toy Fair, and Keith talks about playing Villainous for the first time. He also talks about playing Magic for the first time in a while. After the spoiler warning, they discuss episode 5 of Star Trek: Picard, and how modern Trek differs from vintage versions. Andy wonders why you always see the same random episode of a show you don't really watch.SPOILER WARNING: contains spoilers.

Welcome to a special series of Trekking Through Compliance, the podcast series inspired by my review of Star Trek, the Original Series. In this special series I am joined by another uber Star Trek maven, Megan Dougherty, co-founder of One Stone Creative. In this series we will review the new television show Picard which is currently streaming on CBS. SPOILER ALERT-Although we will review each episode after it appears, we will discuss each episode in depth. Episode 5, Stardust City Rag. In a flashback, Seven of Nine mercy-kills Icheb, a fellow former Borg drone saved by Voyager, after his Borg implants have been ripped out by the black-marketeer Bjayzl. In the present, La Sirena arrives at Freecloud, where Raffi discovers that Maddox is being held prisoner by Bjayzl, who intends to sell him to the Tal Shiar. Picard's crew plan to recover Maddox by staging a prisoner exchange, with Seven (and her Borg implants) as the bait. When Bjayzl recognizes Seven, Seven drops the charade and reveals her true intention: to kill Bjayzl to avenge Icheb. Picard persuades Seven to relent, and Maddox is safely recovered and beamed to La Sirena. Afterward, Seven returns to Freecloud and kills Bjayzl without Picard's knowledge. In sickbay, Maddox tells Picard what he knows about Soji and Dahj, explaining that he sent them to Earth and the Artifact in order to discover the true motivation behind the synthetics ban. After Picard leaves them alone, Jurati tearfully murders Maddox, saying "If you'd seen what I saw". Meanwhile, Raffi tries to reconnect with her estranged son Gabriel, who is married to and expecting a child with a Romulan woman but is rebuffed and returns to La Sirena. Highlights, speculations and questions include:  The humanity of 7/9 (and Picard). Is Picard aging too quickly? What are some of the cookies in this show? Does revenge belong in the Star Trek universe? What is Jurati’s agenda? Is she a plant on the team?

Rétegről rétegre jut közelebb a Soji által birtokolt tudáshoz Narek, aki a bizalmas viszony gondos kiépítése után az utolsó, drasztikus lépések megtételére kényszerül: miközben a romantikus kapcsolat az információszerzés operatív lebonyolítása felé száguld, Picard a saját létkérdéseit feszegető, éppen aktiválódó android kimenekítését szervezi. Aktuális adásunk témája a Star Trek: Picard ’The Impossible Box’ című epizódja. Rövid hírszekció: • A 455 Films bejelentette, hogy Voyager dokumentumfilm készül a sorozat 25. évfordulójára. A produkciós cég egyáltalán nem járatlan a Star Trek dokumentumfilmek világában, hiszen neki köszönhetjük a For the Love of Spock, a Chaos on the Bridge, vagy a The Captains című alkotásokat. • Kenneth Mitchellnél (aki Kol, Kol-Sha és Tenavik szerepét játszotta a Discoveryben) amiotrófiás laterálszklerózist (ALS) diagnosztizáltak. Számára ez nem most derült ki, hanem 2018 augusztusában, a színész viszont most elérkezettnek látta az időt, hogy a nyilvánosság is tudja (mostanra tolószékbe került). • Michael Chabon reagált a múlt heti erőszakos jelenetre, valamint a pozitív jövőkép hiányára. A kibeszélő tartalmából: • Hugh küldetése (Borg Reclamation Project), a romulánok haszonszerzési vágya, valamint a Tal Shiar tevékenysége többrétegű helyszínné teszi a borg kockát. Az áldozatok bemutatása után hogyan változik a néző elképzelése a borgról? • Önpusztítás, alkoholizmus a sci-fi sorozatokban: Raffi állapota Tigh ezredes és Starbuck rosszabb napjait idézi a 2004-es Battlestar Galactica sorozatból. • Narek és Narissa: csupán testvéri civódást látunk, vagy ők lennének a Picard sorozat Cersei és Jamie Lannisterei? • Mire számíthatunk a sorozat folytatásában? Mi lesz a legénység úticélja, és a Csillagflotta támogatása nélkül hogyan tehetnek a főhősök a mindent átszövő összeesküvés ellen?

Things get serious in the 5th episode of Star Trek Picard. There's a lot to talk about, I dig deep. What a fascinating mixture of brutality, darkness, and light-hearted adventure. We get to spend some time with Seven of Nine, and finally catch up with Bruce Maddox. But there's a lot lurking in background here. This episode has it all. Laughs, triumph, drama, and heart-break. ----more---- ----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 15 of the podcast. Today, we’re discussing the fifth episode of Star Trek Picard, Stardust City Rag.   The description on Memory Alpha reads The La Sirena crew begins an unpredictable and lively expedition on Freecloud to search for Bruce Maddox. When they learn that Maddox has found himself in a precarious situation, a familiar face offers her assistance.   This episode was written by Kirsten Beyer,  directed by Jonathan Frakes And it first aired on the 20th of February 2020.   Make it so.   In America, CBS All Access have been showing little “Next week on Star Trek Picard” clips. We don’t see those in Australia on Amazon Prime, but a few screen captures usually make their way to the internet. I’d seen images of Picard wearing an eye patch and Rios in a silly hat. I was prepared for this to be a very silly cheese-fest. I was prepared to not like it. Well, imagine my surprise when we were served up what is probably the darkest episode of the show so far. Notice also that we didn’t once cut to Soji and Narak on the cube. Last week, they spent some time over there, but that plot wasn’t really advancing. This time, I think they made the good decision to just focus on Picard and crew. IF nothing is happening with the other plot right now, then let’s just not cut over there. And there was plenty happening with Picard and his new crew.   The episode begins, as always, with a flashback. A former borg drone is having his implants rather violently removed from his body. And surprise surprise, it’s Icheb! I picked it up from the shape of his nose. I said to my wife, “I think that’s Icheb.” Then, when we saw the shape of the implants that had been removed from around his eye, it was confirmed. I had such mixed emotions during this scene. I was so excited to see Icheb back. Great to see that he fulfilled his dream of becoming a Starfleet officer. I’ll bet he was a fantastic one. But then the very real sorrow when he died. That was so sad. I always liked Icheb, so it was heart-breaking to see his story end this way. But what a powerful scene. It had so much more emotional resonance because it was a character we knew and loved. Icheb was like a son to Seven. She calls him “my child” as he dies. We just know that she’s going to get some payback for this heinous crime. And it sure was heinous. They did all this to him without anaesthetic, and then left him to die slowly. Seven is left with little choice but to put him out of his misery with a phaser. For them to be that monstrous is almost cartoonishly evil.   It was a pretty bold move to kill off a beloved character in such a brutal way. And while, he was never in the opening credits, Icheb probably got more character development in the year and a half he was on Voyager than Harry Kim and Chakotay together.   It wasn’t the original actor playing him. That’s a shame, but it worked for me anyway. We’ve already seen another actor play Icheb at around this age in the Voyager episode Shattered. We can be sad that Icheb came back for a few seconds only to die like this, but I think it makes me appreciate his journey up to this point all the more. Iheb was assimilated as a child, because of uncaring parents who wanted to use him as a weapon. He was doomed to spend his entire life as a drone. But then Voyager rescued him. And because of that, he got to have a life. He got to grow up. He got to pursue a career in Starfleet. He got to make a difference. And most of all, he got to know what it’s like to be loved. He had a family. He had a mother-figure in Seven. His life may have been short and it may have ended badly, but he had a full life, one he never would have had if Voyager hadn’t rescued him from that cube.   Also, did you notice the line where the doctor asks “Where’s your cortical node, Buddy? Gotta be in there somewhere.” That was a very nice touch, and is of course, a reference to the Voyager episode imperfection.   I’m talking about this first scene a lot because it had a big impact on me. And honestly, I’m still sorting out all the emotions it has made me feel. But that means the writers did their job well. This made me feel deeply, and that’s what a writer is supposed to do. That’s their job.   But before we leave this scene, we need to acknowledge that this has got to be the most violent scene we have ever seen on any Star Trek. It was graphic. It was horrific. If the swear words weren’t enough of a hint, we have no doubt now that this is firmly an adult show.   Then we jump to almost present day. We meet up with Bruce Maddox. Finally. Again, it’s not the original actor, which is a tremendous shame. But I’m sure they tried. He’s played here by John Ales. It’s been a long time so I guess I can accept that a much older Bruce could look like this. He’s been in hiding and his meeting with a woman called Bjayzl. If you had a keen ear you’d have noticed the evil doctor in the previous called out the name Bjayzl when she heard Seven entering the room. And they’re drinking Tranya. Nice TOS reference. So Bjazyl is the loan shark Maddox went to, but he can’t repay her since the Tal Shiar destroyed his lab, and almost killed him. So, I guess that’s why he disappeared after the Mars attack. So Picard better get to Freecloud quickly, because Bzayzl is gonna sell Maddox to the Tal Shiar.   So Deven is awake and comes to see Picard in his holographic ready room. It seems she’s moved on from the purely practical nutrient supplements. She drinks bourbon now. And it does kind of suit her harder, more world-weary personality.   Seven is a member of the Fenris Rangers. Self-appointed police officers, trying to keep the peace in the power vacuum left behind by the Romulan Star Empire. That’s why she came to Picard’s aid at the end of last episode. Picard sees them as vigilantes and is a little uncomfortable about their role and self-appointed judge, jury and executioner. But as Seven points out, they are the only law that region of space knows. Seven’s motivation is to help people, the little people, one at a time, as best as she can. She represents what Picard could have been if he hadn’t given up. Something she points out rather bluntly. So when she hears Picard is on a mission to help someone who has nobody else to help them, she’s interested.   We get confirmation, through a holo-recording, that Agnes and Maddox were together, romantically. I wasn’t surprised by this, because I’m reading the Picard novel, which seems to be setting things up in this direction.   Funny how we see her tear as she watches, and think she’s just missing him. Not realising there’s a lot more beneath the surface.   The holographic pop-up ads as they near freecloud were …. Interesting. Very much targeted advertising. Rios gets the offer of ship repairs from a Red Bolian. I wonder, does this suggest that there are red Bolians? Humans have different skin tones, so it’s possible. Picard gets an offer of high tea in a classy restaurant.   Agnes gets a job offer from an entertainment robotics company and has to behead the thing to make it go away.   And Raffi gets an offer of snake leaf, the drug she was smoking back in episode 2.   And Elnor, poor Elnor doesn’t get any, because he’s lived in isolation with the nuns, so he has no presence on the space internet. He seems almost disappointed. I’ll admit, that got a laugh out of me. Anyway, this whole targeted ad thing was very topical for the present day. But it doesn't feel completely out of place in the 24th century. It reminded me of the jingle Quard had programmed into Deep Space Nine’s computer.   Seven’s ears prick up at the mention of Bjayzl. When Picard says “Options” to his new crew, well, it felt like the old Picard we knew. He’d often say that to his Enterprise crew.   So they’re gonna pose a go-betweens to put Bjayzl in touch with the Tal Shiar. And they have to perfect bait. Seven. She’s more than willing to help them, of course, but not for the reasons they think. The exterior context shots in this show all look great. I’ll bet there’s a few easter eggs hidden amongst the los vegas lights of freecloud.   And I just spotted one. It seems Mr. Mott has gone into business here. He was the hair-dresser on the Enterprise. He now has a shop here called Hair Enterprise. And right next door is a bar called Quark! Is this actually our favourite Ferengi? He’d likely have more lucrative business on Freecloud than he ever had on Deep Space Nine. Or is it just a place called “The Quark Bar” named after the elementary particle?   This show loves to do this thing where it intercuts two scenes jumping backward and forward through time every sentence, or just cutting to a different location entirely. Most of the time, it has been jarring and annoying. This time, it works. Because it makes this whole thing feel like a heist movie. It’s been a negative every other time they’ve used it, but this time, for me, it’s a positive.   So now we get to see the costumes.And, they do look silly. There’s no denying that. And yet, when you see them down on the planet, they fit in a lot better than I’d have thought. It actually works for me, a lot better than I thought it was going to. And Raffi gives a good practical reason why they’re dressing this way. Rios especially sells it. Did you notice the guy in the bar with holographic angel wings? That was …. Different. Why are there so many translucent holograms about? It’s well established that in the 24th century, they have opaque holograms that you can feel and touch. Anyway, At least the EMH is opaque.   Rios’s contact is Mr. Vup. A Beta Annari. They’re a reptilian species that can smell a lie. IS there any scientific basis to such a concept? I’m gonna guess…  probably not. Maybe some species give off different endorphins when they lie vs when they tell the truth. I dunno. I’ll go with it.   And we get an actual name drop of Quark. Which was very welcome. I still want more. There’s plenty of TNG and Voyager, but I need me some Deep Space Nine. Anyway, the fake references they created for Rios include him assisting Quark with some trouble relating to the Breen. Interesting.   So, Rios is gonna offer Bzayzl an alternate buyer for Maddox. The payment being Seven of Nine. A dangerous game. Bzayzl is not gonna want to go back on a deal with the Tal Shiar. Honestly, Seven is probably the only bait that would ever entice her to consider it.   It’s a good thing Rafi’s medications can fool his senses.   Which only goes to strengthen Rios’s position more than if Mr. Jup hadn’t been able to smell truthfulness and deceit.   I love how through all of this, Elnor is trying to get his head around their deceit. Remember, he’s grown up with the doctrine of absolute candor. The never concept of a lie is a concept more alien than anything he’s encountered. When it finally clicks for him and he says “It’s a lie.You’re all behaving as someone other than who you are.” I had a good laugh. But then he realises “everybody except me.” Elnor’s inability to be dishonest may be a danger on this mission. I laughed again when he said “I don’t know how to not be Elnor.” So Picard and Seven give him good advice. “Then be Elnor. An Elnor that doesn’t talk.”   And can I point out that Patrick Stewart’s idea of a French accept is so stereotypical it probably borders on insulting. He sounded like Inspector Cleaseu from The Pink Panther. Again, it got a little laugh from me, but I’m not sure it’s truthful for Picard, who is supposed to actually be French.   Why is Agnes so afraid of operating a transporter console? She’s a blooming robotics engineer. And not knowing how to operate a transporter is probably the equivalent of not knowing how to drive a car. Sure, not everybody can drive, but it’s a fairly normal everyday activity. I’m just not buying that somebody as technologically minded as her would be so anxious about having to beam somebody aboard.   You’ll notice they’re putting a reasonable amount of humour in here. Now, I am not one of those people who say “you’ve gotta put levity in everywhere, or that everything has to be made light.” I like a serious story. But I’ll admit, the humour they add to this episode is useful. It does help to balance out the really heavy darkness and brutality we also see. I’m not saying that darkness always has to be balanced out in a story. Often, I find it’s impact is lost when you try to do that. But here it worked for me. And I think one of the big reasons is that the humour comes naturally out of the characters. You’ll hear me say that a lot. Humour needs to come believably and naturally out of the characters. That’s where I think the Marvel movies often fall flat (and I love the marvel movies, don’t get me wrong) but they have characters cracking jokes in the middle of tense situations that is totally unbelievable for me.  I n my opinion, this episode did it well.   And now we get to see what Rafi’s business on Freecloud wa sall about. She’s beaming down to see somebody called Gabriel Hwang So I’ve mentioned before that Picard is setting up a lot of mysteries. And I’m not the only one who’s been wondering if the payout of those mysteries would be satisfying. Why do they have to keep Rafi’s business on Freecloud secret? Now we get the payoff. And to me, it was satisfying. Because it’s a character beat. We learn something about her, and we have a very emotional experience with her. And honestly, this is something she probably wants to keep private because it’s so personal.   But first we have a touching goodbye between Rafi and Picard. It seems they’ve kind of repaired their relationship. Which is nice. And this point, I’m invested as much in their relationship as I am with Picard’s relationships with Riker, Data, and all the TNG characters.   So Gabriel is Raffi’s estranged son. Agin, he’s been mentioned in the book. When Rafi took the job as Picard’s first officer on the Verity, she had to leave her husband and son back on earth for an extended period of time. But we get the impression that even when she was back home, she was a mess. Her drug addiction may have been a bigger problem than we realised, and she became obsessed with her conspiracy theories about the Federation and Romulans working together to allow the synth attack on mars, making her an absent mother even when she wasn’t away. I’m still keen to find out if Rafi is correct with her theories. Gabrial wants to know if she’s really changed, or if she’s still obsessed with what he considers a crackpot theory. So he tests her by bringing it up and calling it nonsense. And of course, she immediately defends it. Kinda proving that she hasn’t changed as much as she wants to make him believe. This is all powerful character stuff. Gabrial is carrying a lot of resentment. He’s not going to let go of it easily. We learn that Raffi’s name is actually Rafaella. Gabe is married to a Romulan named Pel and they’re expecting a daughter. I really hope that over the course of the show, Raffi and Gabe can work out their differences, for the sake of the baby if nobody else. She deserves to have a relationship with her grandmother. And how heart-breaking would it be to have messed up with your child, and then not even have a chance with your grandchild. Of course, Gave is worried that Rafi will let down his daughter as she let him down. Anyway, let’s hope they can all get it together.   I’ve been hoping we’d hear the Rios EMH says “Please state the nature of the medical emergency.” We almost get there in this episode. It says ‘What is the nature of your psychiatric emergency.” This scene makes so much more sense on second viewing. We think Agnes is just panicking about using the transporter console. But no. She’s frantic about something else she knows she has to do. She’s so worked up it automatically launches the EMH. I guess it is programmed to monitor the crew’s vital signs when it is turned off. Which actually makes perfect sense. We get confirmation of something I’ve long suspected as head-canon. If you reclaim a borg drone quickly, there is much less technology that needs to be removed. You can more fully restore them. But when they’ve been assimilated for a long time, since childhood, they’re so riddled with it, you can never get it all out. That’s why Picard is so much more Human than Seven and Icheb ever were. It’s why Janeway, Tuvok and B'elanna, who were all assimilated, seemed to come back from that with no lasting consequences. Heck none of them even got their eyes replaced.   Picard and Rios realise that Seven and Bjayzl know each other. She even calls Sevan Annika. Her original human name.   Picard drops the act and returns to his normal accent when he asks Seven what the hell is going on. And then Elnor says “Are we still pretending?” I laughed out loud at that line. The way Evan Evagora delivers that line, I think it’s a bit of the self-deprecating Aussie humour coming out there. I love it.   Picard points out that murder is not justice. He pleads with Seven not to squander her humanity by killing Bjayzl. And he’s right of course. This is classic Jean-Luc Picard. And yet, the way that set this up at the beginning, the way we saw Icheb treated, I find myself rooting for Seven to take revenge, dare I call it justice, against Bjayzl. I agree with Picard, but I find myself still wanting Seven to kill that monster. This is why it kind of had to be Icheb, It wouldn't have worked any other way.   Seven listens more to the practical argument from Rios than she does to the moral argument from Picard, but she beams up with them all, leaving Bjayzl behind. There’s a nice moment when Seven asks Picard if he ever felt he regained his humanity after being reclaimed from the Borg. He answers yes without hesitation. But when pressed ,he admits, not all of it. But it’s something he and Seven are still working on.   As seven beams away, there’s a hint of the Voyager theme. I didn’t pick up on it the first time, but a friend brought my attention to it.   So Seven wasn’t as willing to leave Bjayzl as she lead Picard to believe. She beams right back down. Picard still thinks there’s a place in the galaxy for mercy and Seven didn’t want to disillusion him. And I believe her when she says that.  So seven gets her revenge and then walks out of there shooting two phaser rifles at once.   So Maddox explains to Picard some of what he doesn’t know. We get confirmation of what I’ve long believed, that Dahj and Soji’s mum is an AI built into them. As maddox tells Picard where to find Soji, we can’t help but wonder what’s going on with Agnes. Why is she off to the side looking so sad. Why isn’t she by Brice’s side? So Bruce sent Soji and Dahj to the cube and earth respectively, to find the truth behind the synth ban. It seems the Romulans aren’t the only ones after Soji. The Federation is involved somehow. Seems Rafi might be right.   Speaking of Rafi, after failing to reconcile with her son, she’s back on board the ship. I guess she’s got nowhere else to go.   And then we get the shocking final scene. So Brue has fulfilled his life’s work. He has replicated Soong’s work. We still don’t know where he got one of Data’s neurons. Agnes clearly regrets her role in helping to create the androids. She calls it one more thing she has to atone for. And then …. She kills him. Agnes Jurati kills Bruce Maddox. I didn’t see that coming. Some people have been talking about Agnes since Episode 3. Commodore Oh went to meet her, then she signed on to Picard’s mission. Some felt she wasn’t entirely what she seemed. It appears they were right. “I wish you knew what I know,” she says, as he chokes. “I wish I didn’t know what I know. I wish they hadn’t shown me.” She kills the man she not only respected, but loved. What would drive her to do that? I must know! Things are getting real now. And that’s two classic Star Trek characters this episode has killed.   Wow. I don’t know what to think about all of this. To me, Agnes was always the nice kindly, somewhat awkward character we could all relate to. But she’s just become something very different. I don’t think any of that was a lie, but whatever Oh showed her, it was serious.   I guess we’ll find out more next week on the episode “The Impossible Box.”   So, in the tradition of shows like The Walking Dead, I’m not going to play any outro music this time. Let’s just have a moment of silence for Icheb. And for Bruce Maddox. And, well, for Jurati’s innocence. See you next week.

Welcome to a special series of Trekking Through Compliance, the podcast series inspired by my review of Star Trek, the Original Series. In this special series I am joined by another uber Star Trek maven, Megan Dougherty. In this series we will review the new television show Picard which is currently streaming on CBS. SPOILER ALERT-Although we will review each episode after it appears, we will discuss each episode in depth. Episode 2, Maps and Legends. A flashback shows a normal day on Mars Utopia Planitia Shipyards followed by the deadly attack on Mars 14 years ago by the synthetics. Following Dahj's death, Picard seeks to track her twin Soji down. With the help of Laris, he investigates Dahj's apartment and finds the place completely scrubbed. Laris suggests that the assassins may have been part of the Zhat Vash, an organization even more secretive than the Tal Shiar that holds a deep-rooted hatred of synthetics. At the Romulan reclamation site, a relationship between Soji and Narek is flourishing. Picard appeals to Starfleet for a ship but is denied by Admiral Kirsten Clancy. Picard attempts to assemble his own crew, inviting Agnes Jurati and the estranged Raffi Musiker. Meanwhile, Clancy informs Commodore Oh of Picard's request and asks her to look into it. Oh notifies the (secretly Romulan) Lt. Rizzo to have her undercover operative "stay on mission". Via holo-communicator, Rizzo speaks to Narek, her operative and brother. Rizzo warns Narek that if he does not persuade Soji to reveal the location of other synthetics, she would be forced to take more extreme measures. Highlights include:  Is Picard mentally fit to go into space? How did the Romulans infiltrate Star Fleet leadership? Does Picard think the Romulans have breached Star Fleet security? What about the tech? What are the ethics around the Borg reclamation project? What was the former relationship between Picard and Raffi?

Picard’s visit with Raffi - a former crew member who helped him after the Romulan Supernova and was fired when he resigned - ends with her connecting Picard to a pilot. We meet the pilot who’s also former Starfleet. Soji is introduced to a very special ex-Borg who is also a Romulan and who calls Sofi The Destroyer. Picard and his Romulan helpers fight off the Tal Shiar with help from Dr. Jurati who convinces Picard that she must go with him to find Soji. They all board the ship to we don’t actually know where yet but Picard says “Engage” so we’re on our way! Today's After Show Was Hosted By: Christian Bladt, Flobo Boyce, Angelica Trae, Nikki Bailey Follow us on http://www.Twitter.com/AfterBuzzTV "Like" Us on http://www.Facebook.com/AfterBuzzTV For more After Shows for your favorite TV shows and the latest news in TV, Film, and exclusive celebrity interviews, visit http://www.AfterBuzzTV.com --- This episode is sponsored by · The Colin and Samir Podcast: The Colin and Samir Podcast hosted by LA - based friends and filmmakers Colin and Samir takes a look into what it’s like to make creativity your career. https://open.spotify.com/show/5QaSbbv2eD4SFrlFR6IyY7?si=Dj3roVoJTZmOime94xhjng · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Jean Luc Picard finally takes command of a new ship and crew in the third episode of Star Trek Picard. Join me for a detailed review and analysis of this episode. This one feels more Star Trek than the previous two. The plot is beginning to heat up. Plus, the return of Hugh, and revelations about Dahj and Soji that raise many more questions than they answer. There's a lot going on in this episode. Geek out with me! ----more---- Welcome to Nerd Heaven. I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars, and I am a nerd.   This is episode 13 of the podcast. Today, we’re talking about the third episode of Star Trek Picard, titled The End is The Beginning.   First of all, though, I have to apologise for something. In the last two episodes, I’ve been saying Akiva Goldsmith, but the man’s name is actually Akiva Goldsman. So, sorry about that. I realised my mistake while listening to other podcasts on the show. You know your eyes sometimes just see what they think is there, rather than what is really there.   Okay. Onto this week’s episode. The description on Memory Alpha reads   Completely unaware of her special nature, Soji continues her work and captures the attention of the Borg cube research project's executive director. After rehashing past events with a reluctant Raffi, Picard seeks others willing to join his search for Bruce Maddox, including pilot and former Starfleet officer Cristóbal Rios.   This episode was written by Michael Chabon and James Duff It was directed by Hanelle M. Culpepper And it first aired on the 6th of February 2020.   And as Picard said for the first time this episode,   Engage!   Well there's certainly a lot of cool stuff happening in this episode. And this is definitely the most Star Trek feeling episode we’ve had so far.   First of all, do you remember last week, when I was disappointed that Picard’s old com badge made the wrong sound when he tapped it? Well, in the “Previously on Star Trek Picard” bit, they changed it to make the correct sound. But then, later in this episode, it makes the wrong sound again. What’s that about?   Anyway, let’s talk about the story.   We get a few quick flashbacks of the attack on Mars yet again, and then we cut to earth. It’s still 14 years ago, and we see Admiral Picard. Inm Uniform! It’s a uniform we haven’t seen before, except in the comics. I gotta say it’s a thrill to see Picard in Starfleet uniform again, even if it isn’t the familiar uniform from the TNG movies. Jean Luc has been presenting his plan to Starfleet command. The rescue fleet is gone, but there are still options. Using reserve duty officers and mothballed ships they could still mount a rescue. Not as significant as the originally planned rescue, but it’s something. But if they used synthetic labour, it would be far less reduced. His first officer, Rafi Mussiker is keen to know how it went. We’re seeing a very different Rafi here. She still has her starfleet optimism. Her idealism. But it’s about to be crushed. They said no. As Picard says, half of them never wanted to help the Romulans in the first place. (something I still find a little hard to believe). We learn a little more about the situation with synthetic lifeforms. Not only is the development of new synths banned, but all current synthetic lifeforms must be dismantled. This seems like quite an overreaction, but again, I can kind of see where Starfleet are coming from. They need to be very careful to prevent a tragedy like this from happening again. But what they really need to do is understand what caused it. They say it was a fatal flaw in the unit’s operating systems. But, in that case, you find the bug and you fix it. You don’t say “all computers must now be dismantled.” I’m a computer programmer. I do this for a living. As rafi says, something smells off about all this. It seems like there is a conspiracy at the highest levels pushing for this overreaction. Could they even be responsible for programming the synths to attack in the first place? That’s a trope we’ve seen in Star Trek before. This also explains why B4 was dismantled.   Rafi thinks the tal shiar are behind it, but Picard makes a very logical point. Why would the Romulans do something to sabotage their own rescue efforts. It doesn’t make sense. Weird question, why is Rafi, Picard’s first officer, therefore, a command officer, wearing yellow? Commodore Oh last week made sense. She’s head of Starfleet Security. It’s been established they wear yellow. But Rafi?   Picard’s departure from Starfleet is seen in a different light through this flashback. He didn’t just run away in a childish tantrum. He asked them to accept his rescue plan, or accept his resignation. To his shock, they accepted his resignation. And now we learn why present day raffi is so angry with Picard. He gave up. Ironically, just like starfleet did. Raffi holds Picard accountable for the same thing Picard holds starfleet accountable for. In Picard’s mind, there is really nothing more he can do. Offering his resignation was his last hope. Now, without Starfleet, he’s out of options. But Rafi’s not ready to give up. She wants to find a way. Somehow. Who is right? Clearly Rafi didn’t succeed. But if Picard had kept trying with her, could they have succeeded? We’ll never know.   Back in the present, Picard makes the same request to Rafi he made to Starfleet. I need a ship and crew to go find Bruce Maddox. And she gives him the same answer. And then…...she smokes. She puts a flow off some plant she calls snake leaf, puts it in some kind of electronic cigarette thing, and she smokes. Honestly, this pulled me out of the story even more than the swear word last week. Gene Roddenberry had a very strict rule as far back as the original series in the 60s. Nobody smokes in the 23rd century. As I’ve said, I don’t always agree with Rodenberry’s rules, but I credit this one  as why the original Star Trek has been as timeless as it is (old fashioned looking sets no withstanding). Smoking was very common in the 60s, but much less so now. If you’d had Captain Kirk puffing on a cigarette on the bridge of the enterprise, it would have firmly rooted the show in the 60s, and would feel very wrong today. Kirk did smoke briefly in Star Trek 6, to keep warm on Rure Penthe, and it pulled me out of the story then as well. And later in this episode we see Rios chewing on a cigar. I know Raffi has been through a lot. Character-wise, it’s a realistic move. Anywhere else, it would add an element of gritty realism. But I’m starting to think that Star Trek exists in it’s own little reality. Does realism actually feel unrealistic in Star Trek? I’ve always though I wanted realistic Star Trek, but the F bomb and now the smoking have me wondering, DO I really want realism in Star Trek? Emotional realism from the characters, absolutely. But touches like this? I’m not sure. I guess I need to keep thinking about it.   But speaking of that character emotional realism, I’m loving what they’re doing with Rafi. She’s carrying 14 years worth of hurt and rage. But why, at the end of the 24th century, where money and poverty don’t exists, is Rafi living in what she describes as an embarrassing hovel? I can only assume it’s by choice. She’s sealed herself off like a hermit as Vasquez Rocks. Yes, for the first time, this iconic star trek location is being used as itself, not as an alien planet.   She burns picard with a scathing truth. It might have been nice to hear from you, and not just because you need me to hook you up with a ship and pilot.    I’m loving character scenes like this in the new show. This scene in particular is effective. Beautiful writing and acting.  Patrick Stewart is a phenomenal actor. We all know that. So, he kind of needs to be surrounded by other good actors, or else it really shows. Michelle Hurd seems to be up to the task. She can carry a scene with Stewart very well.   Now we get to meet Hugh for the first time. We knew he would be in the show, but this is his introduction. We learn that he’s the director of the Romulan borg reclamation project. But what lead him here? The last time we saw him was in Descent. He was leading a small group of Borg who had been disconnected from the continuum and regained their individuality. Where’s he been up to all these years. Where are the others he was leading? How did he get involved in this Romulan project? We’re still to learn all this. And I’m hoping we will at some point. Hugh is very impressed with Soji, the way she speaks to the drones in their own language. She has respect and compassion for the ex borg. Apparently this is rare. Hugh tells us that ex borg are among the most despised people in the galaxy. Which is interesting because Picard is an ex borg. I think the difference is that he doesn’t look like a nex borg. He was reclaimed much sooner than most, so all of his visible implants were able to be fully removed.   So Hugh is allowing Soji to interview someone called Ramdha. She’s a romulan ex borg. And this is weird. Soji has seen her dossier from before she was assimilated. Hugh is shocked by this. Soji says, “I find if I ask people for help they’re happy to give it.” So….does soji have some kind of android powers of persuasion? I suspect this is something we’ll come back to.   Picard has already figured out that the Federation has to be complicit for the Tal Shiar to be operating so openly on Earth. Raffi saw Romulan connections 14 years ago. Picard didn’t believe her then. She claims to have concrete evidence that a high ranking starfleet official allowed the attack on mars to go forward, in order to stop the rescue mission going forward. That’s…... pretty heavy.   Raffi refuses to help Picard on this mission, but she does offer to connect him with a pilot. That’s the depth of their relationship, even though she currently hates him. I like this because it shows that Picard has that same sense of family with Raffi that he had with Riker and all the others on the Enterprise. We didn’t get to see it develop, but it’s there. And that makes sense. Picard had a life during all those years he wasn’t on our screens. Raffi is new to us but she sure isn’t new to Jean Luc. The show sells this well, and so we’re willing to just accept raffi as if we’d always known her. Picard does form strong family bonds with those he works closely with. When he was younger, he didn’t show it as openinly, but it was still there.   And then, we see Commodore Oh wearing sunglasses. Have you ever seen something more comical? More out of place? Ok. Realistically, in the 24th century, you still need a way to shade your eyes in the bright sun. Makes sense. But seeing a starfleet officer wearing present day sunnies, and a vulcan at that. It’s not wrong, it just pulled me out of the story again, much like the swearing and the smoking. It’s weird isn’t it. The realism touches seem to be having the opposite effect on me. That’s really strange. Although, memory alpha reminds us that vulcans have inner eyelids that make sunglasses unnecessary, based on an episode of enterprise. But I’m still suspecting that Oh is Romulan, even though everyone, including Picard, believes she is vulcan. So is this some clever foreshadowing?   This is interesting. Hugh says he’s come to see patient 4822 stroke 2. I have the subtitles on so I know how to spell things. Looking at the way it’s written, I’d pronounce that as slash 2, not stroke 2. I’ve never heard anyone pronounce the slash character as stroke.  Is that an American thing?   Anyway When romulans are assimilated, and then reclaimed, they seem to lose their minds. All the romulan former drones have severe mental illness. That’s fascinating. Is that a peculiarity of romulan Physiology? That’s fascinating, but also, very sad. It means that if a Romulan is assimilated by the borg, they’re never coming back. Even if they are restored, they’ll never be the same again. Although that contradicts the voyager episode Unity. I’m sure there were Romulan ex borg in that episode. I’d have to re-watch it to be certain.   I love the scene when Picard calls Rafi. You’re doing the research, aren’t you? No I’m sending you all I have on Bruce Maddox. I don’t want it. Carry on.   That really amused me. That’s character-based humour done the right way.   Then we get our first look at the new ship, and we meet Santiago Cebrera’s character. Rios. I love how it plays the TNG theme when Picard first breams aboard the ship. He probably hasn’t set foot on a starship in 14 years. I love that Rios has an EMH. Makes perfect sense that after 20 years they’d be so common that everyone would have on on their ship. This is the perfect situation for one. Little ship with minimal crew. Rios isn’t gonna hire a doctor to travel with him in case he needs one occasionally. A holographic doctor would be a bit like a microwave. Something everybody has, and nobody can remember how we ever lived without them. It’s also logical that his EMH looks like him. By now this is a mature technology. Of course you’d be able to skin your EMH with a custom appearance and personality that you find agreeable. It’s possibly telling of rios’s character that his choice is to have holographic representations of  himself, with various different accents.   Let’s talk a little about Rios’s ship. On the outside, it doesn’t look very star trek at all, in design. Based on the trailers, I didn’t think the inside looked very star trek either, but now that I’m seeing details from various angles, I’m noticing little touches like the navigation thing at the from between the two forward stations, just like on Kirk’s Enterprise. And I think I can even see some LCARS on one of the consoles. This ship has elements that root it in the Star Trek universe, while still feeling very fresh and new.   We get hints of a rich backstory for Rios. He was the XO of a starfleet ship called the ibn Majid, named after an Arabian navigator and cartographer from the 1400s. It strikes me how little I know of non western history.   Apparently, the ibn Majid ws erased from official starfleet records, kind of like the Discovery. Rios served a grand heroic captain, who died horribly. Somebody we know, I wonder? Clearly they’re hinting at something significant in the past there, and I can’t wait to learn what it’s all about.   Raffi locates Maddox on a place called freecloud. Looks like a casino. I wonder if we’ll see some Ferengi when we get there! Wouldn’t it be interesting if Quard had moved up in the world. I’d love to see him. We need some more deep space nine references in Picard. DS9 was always my favourite. Anyway, I noticed the text Gorn Egg on the screen as she’s researching. Significant? Judging by her facial expression, the name Freecloud has great emotional significance to Raffi, and clearly negative emotions.   I love the emergency navigation hologram fanboying all over Picard. He name drops some important references to the past. The Q continuum, Picard’s role as arbiter of succession. Cool stuff. This show seems to handle fan service better than any other show I’ve seen. It does it right, in a way that feels completely natural.   There’s a nice touching scene between Picard and Laris. I’m gonna miss Laris and Zhuban just as much as Picard will. I hope we see them again as the season goes on.   I chuckled quite a bit when Hugh called Soji a know it all. Lots of characters in Star Trek are knit alls, if we’re really honest, but I don’t think anybody has ever been called out on it before.   There’s a whole lot of interesting stuff going on between soji and Ramhda. Cool cultural details about false doors on Romulan houses. Stuff about romulan mythology. I don’t know what it all means, yet. Ramdha knows about soji. She is one of the twins. One lives and one dies. She says she recognises Soji from tomorrow. What on earth is that about? Are we hinting at time travel? This interesting. But we don’t get any answers in this episode. There’s a whole mystery about what caused this borg cube to die. And it seems it has something to do with ramdha’s ship, the last ship assimilated by the cube. I’m hungry to learn more about this, too. There’s another great action scene as Romulan comandos invade chateu picard. I like how they acknowledge Picard needs protecting. He’s not a young man anymore. But this doesn’t diminish him in any way. And then Agnes Jurati is forced to kill a romulan to save them all. She is clearly shaken up by this. Of course she is. She’s not a soldier. Taking a life takes a huge toll on people. The episode doesn’t take a lot of time to really delve into the emotional impact this will have on her. I hope they continue to give this time to develop over future episodes. It should haunt her.   The romulan forehead ridges in this show are a lot subtler than they were in TNG. So much so that at first I thought those were just creases in the actor’s face that plays zhuban. But apparently, it’s northerners that have the ridges. In episode 1, I thought it was an overloading disruptor that killed dahj, but I have to agree with everyone else now, it seems these zhat vash Romulans spit some kind of acid.   There is clearly more to learn about Dahj and Soji. The romulan fear of them seems to be much more than a generic hatred of androids. Two romulans refer to her as the destroyer. Interesting.   Soji contacts her “mother” just like Dahj did. The mother lies to soji about dahj being okay. I'm pretty certain the mother doesn’t exist, but is just a part of the girls’ programming.   And just like dahj, soji gets flashes of knowledge that she shouldn’t have.   Risso is back on the cube, and no longer disguised as a human. Not sure why. She and Narak are … strangely intimate for brother and sister.   All the talk of Rios being expensive to hire, and Agnes earning her keep, is kinda of strange in a world where we know they have no money. That never made any sense anyway. I have to imagine that people like Rios probably interact outside of the federation a lot, so they use money. But where is Picard getting the money to pay for Rios’s services?   I’m living the longer transporter effect, that we saw when Picard and Laris beamed into Dahj’s apartment, and also on Rios’s ship. It’s very reminiscent of the tng transporter, just updated.   I’m really liking Agnes. Her youthful innocence helps balance out the world-weary characters like Raffi and Rios.   Raffi still doesn’t want to join Picard’s mission,but she wants to ride with them to freecloud, for reasons she won’t disclose. Interesting.   So Picard has a new crew. They’re a motley lot. It’s going to be an interesting ride.   And then….he says it. Picard says “engage”. And as the TNG theme swells in all its wonderful glory, the ship jumps to warp. I’ve watched that scene 3 times and I still get goosebumps. Now, it’s star trek!   I love it.   No doubt, there will be people who say it’s taken too long to get to this point. But i’m going to disagree with that. I’ve enjoyed the slow burn, taking time to let Picard get to this point on Earth. Exploring setting and character.   But this all makes good sense, and the reason is story structure. Remember, we’ve been told this show is a 10 hour movie. Another way to look at it, is it’s a novel on TV in 10 chapters. The episodes of this show are made in chunks of 3. A collection of 3 episodes are all directed by the same person. These first 3 were directed by Hanelle M Culpepper. The next 3 will be directed by Jonathan Frakes. Akiva Goldsman described these first three as act 1 of the story. In story structure, act 1 takes us up to the first plot point at the 25 percent mark of the book, and that’s roughly where we are now. Something significant happens and at the 25% mark, the character reacts to it, and will spend the rest of the story reacting to it. This is the moment when the protagonist really engages with the plot. They have a mission they’re all in.  The next quarter of the story will be quite different. Picard is actively on the case.   I’m really enjoying Star Trek Picard so far, and I’m excited for the next part of the story. Bring it on, mate.   Well, it’s time for an update on my walk to mordor. I’ve walked 71.1 kms so far. I’ve had my encounter with the black rider, and I’ve met the elves. My next milestone is the edge of farmer maggot’s field, which I’ll hit in 27kms. I need to get out and have another significant walk this weekend. There have been days this last week I’ve been too busy to fit in my working and afternoon walks.   I still haven’t read the third Star Trek Picard countdown comic book, but I’ll endeavour to be able to talk about that next week.   Don’t forget, if you like Star Trek, which you must, because you’ve listened this far, I think you’ll also love my Jewel of The Stars series. My setting has drawn significant inspiration from Star Trek, and there’s a real boldly going kind of feel to it, even though these people are hardly starfleet. They’re the crew and passengers of a cruise ship that can no longer return home. So there’s a bit of battlestar galactica going on in there as well. You can get book 1 for just 99 cents at all the popular ebook retailers, and it’s also available in print if you prefer that.   Also, if you’ve been enjoying my in-depth discussions on Star Trek Picard, why not shout me a hot chocolate. Just go to https://www.buymeacoffee.com/AdamDavidCollings   I’ll see you next week when we geek out over episode 4 of Picard, titled “Absolute Candor”   Until then Live long and prosper Make it so

-Brought to you by Section 31- Nathan Adams Heather Ferris Rocky Robinson Fred Beutler Ambassador T’Pan aka Oren Whyche-Shaw Warning! Spoilers for Star Trek: Picard S01-E02 This week we're joined by our very own Vulcan Ambassador, we ask: Are Romulans sexy, and we talk about, and probably say, the F-word. :30 The intros 1:00 Warning - Heather sings Blue Skies 2:23 News - Superbowl Walmart Commercial 2:56 NY City Metro Cards 3:30 Dahj's Necklace is out 3:51 1st episode of Star Trek: Picard is on YouTube for free! https://youtu.be/1PPm5l3o2zw 5:16 The 3rd Star Trek: Picard Countdown comic book is out. 5:50 Geordi is alive! 6:30 Our homework: The Measure of a Man 7:45 The revolt on Mars 9:40 F8 commits suicide 10:30 Zhatt Vash conspiracy? 11:29 The giant onion! (all the layers) 11:50 Artifact - the Borg Cube and Romulans 13:00 Romulans and the lack of AI 13:40 Resurrection 15:18 Concept of a Nest 16:02 Picard's instinct was right 16:30 Is the Commodore a Romulan or Vulcan? 18:13 Lt. Rizzo and her Brother Narek 18:53 Picard's health 21:40 Those streaming numbers 22:12 -Censored by Section 31- 22:34 Tal Shiar and Laris is awesome 23:58 Pacing of a streaming show and binge watching, and ratings 28:40 Tie-ins with TNG's Contagion? Transporters and more 32:30 Controlling tech development 33:50 Who are these Romulans, anyway? 35:30 Our Ambassador's location (That Borg Cube) 37:05 Are Romulans really that sexy? Can you keep a secret? 38:00 Soji Triggered yet? 39:04 Starships 47:20 Lives are lives, are lives. 48:42 Not save Romulans? 14 major worlds! Not just Starfleet 50:18 Raffi's got a nice pad, the '86, your neighbor might be a Gorn. 52:00 The F-word (Not Ferengi) 57:44 Star Trek and real life reflections of today 1:00:04 Heather on Retro Rogues Live https://youtu.be/oe_5782xk7U 1:00:41 Nathan on Down the Road Show https://youtu.be/5w-1RwVnI4w 1:01:20 Reach us at thecollective@starfleetunderground.com 1:01:50 Thank you listeners! 1:02:30 Wrap up Email: thecollective@starfleetunderground.com Website: http://starfleetunderground.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/StarfleetUnderG Instagram: http://instagram.com/starfleetunderground Facebook: http://facebook.com/starfleetunderground

Mike Johnson: Picard: Countdown. With an unspeakable tragedy about to strike the homeworld of the Romulan Empire, Admiral Jean-Luc Picard undertakes a daring mission: leading a rescue armada to evacuate millions of Romulan citizens. However, not everyone is supportive of this mission, and the admiral faces some unexpected resistance when he tries to save everyone in danger, not just the Romulans. In this episode of Literary Treks, hosts Bruce Gibson and Dan Gunther welcome Mike Johnson, co-writer of Star Trek: Picard: Countdown, back to the show. We discuss how the comic trilogy came about, the inclusion of characters from TNG, Picard's new first officer, Tal Shiar operatives Laris and Zhaban, Admiral Picard during this time, the natives of Yuyat Beta, Romulan diversity, the machinations of the Tal Shiar, and wrap up with what Mike is working on now and where he can be found online. At the top of the show we review Star Trek: Year Five #9 and respond to listener feedback from The Babel Conference for Literary Treks 294: Pulling the Strings. News Star Trek Year Five #9 Comic Review (00:02:25) Listener Feedback (00:14:24) Feature: Mike Johnson Getting Started (00:20:11) TNG Characters (00:27:21) Commander Raffi Musiker (00:32:12) Laris and Zhaban (00:35:36) Who is Admiral Picard? (00:38:01) Yuyat Beta Natives (00:41:58) Making It All Fit (00:46:00) Romulan Diversity (00:51:33) The Tal Shiar (00:55:42) More To Come (01:01:18) Final Thoughts (01:07:17) Hosts Dan Gunther and Bruce Gibson Guest Mike Johnson Production Bruce Gibson (Editor and Producer) Dan Gunther (Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Associate Producer) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Associate Producer) Justin Oser (Associate Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Greg Rozier (Associate Producer) Jeffery Harlan (Associate Producer) Casey Pettitt (Associate Producer)

Mike Johnson: Picard: Countdown. With an unspeakable tragedy about to strike the homeworld of the Romulan Empire, Admiral Jean-Luc Picard undertakes a daring mission: leading a rescue armada to evacuate millions of Romulan citizens. However, not everyone is supportive of this mission, and the admiral faces some unexpected resistance when he tries to save everyone in danger, not just the Romulans. In this episode of Literary Treks, hosts Bruce Gibson and Dan Gunther welcome Mike Johnson, co-writer of Star Trek: Picard: Countdown, back to the show. We discuss how the comic trilogy came about, the inclusion of characters from TNG, Picard's new first officer, Tal Shiar operatives Laris and Zhaban, Admiral Picard during this time, the natives of Yuyat Beta, Romulan diversity, the machinations of the Tal Shiar, and wrap up with what Mike is working on now and where he can be found online. At the top of the show we review Star Trek: Year Five #9 and respond to listener feedback from The Babel Conference for Literary Treks 294: Pulling the Strings. News Star Trek Year Five #9 Comic Review (00:02:25) Listener Feedback (00:14:24) Feature: Mike Johnson Getting Started (00:20:11) TNG Characters (00:27:21) Commander Raffi Musiker (00:32:12) Laris and Zhaban (00:35:36) Who is Admiral Picard? (00:38:01) Yuyat Beta Natives (00:41:58) Making It All Fit (00:46:00) Romulan Diversity (00:51:33) The Tal Shiar (00:55:42) More To Come (01:01:18) Final Thoughts (01:07:17) Hosts Dan Gunther and Bruce Gibson Guest Mike Johnson Production Bruce Gibson (Editor and Producer) Dan Gunther (Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Associate Producer) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Associate Producer) Justin Oser (Associate Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Greg Rozier (Associate Producer) Jeffery Harlan (Associate Producer) Casey Pettitt (Associate Producer)

The second episode of Picard introduces new characters and intrigue, rapidly advancing the plot while still not putting Jean-Luc on a starship. Ken and guest co-host Amanda are okay with this as we pull apart the threads of the Romulan’s Tal Shiar and Zhat Vash, our empathy (or lack thereof) for synthetic lifeforms, the integration …

Con el episodio aún caliente, nos lanzamos a analizar y diseccionar el segundo capítulo de la serie Picard; ¿quién manipuló a los sintéticos para que atacasen Marte?¿ qué es esa oscura organización que se esconde incluso tras el Tal Shiar? ¿Qué motiva su odio a los droides y qué gran secreto oscuro atesoran? Ángel, Juan, Manuel y Miguel tienen con Mapas y leyendas muchas cosas que asimilar. Escucha el episodio completo en la app de iVoox, o descubre todo el catálogo de iVoox Originals

Una rebelión en Marte, recepcionistas que te piden el nombre y una organización romulana más secreta que el Tal Shiar … todo esto y mucho más nos trae 'Mapas y Leyendas', el segundo episodio de 'Star Trek: Picard', la nueva serie de CBS All Access que en España podemos ver a través de Amazon Prime Video. Si queréis hacernos llegar vuestras teorías y comentarios, lo podéis hacer por redes sociales o al correo startrek@fueradeseries.com.

In the second episode of Star Trek Picard, Jean-Luc goes head to head with Starfleet, and things get very heated between him and Admiral Clancy. We learn quite a lot in this episode about what the Romulans are up to, but there's plenty more to discover. Basically, a lot of setup this time around, but that doesn't mean it isn't compelling viewing. Join me as we dig deep into this episode of Star Trek Picard. ----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 12 of the podcast. Today, we’re talking about the second episode of Star Trek: Picard. Maps and Legends. The description on IMDB reads Picard begins investigating the mystery of Dahj as well as what her very existence means to the Federation. Without Starfleet's support, Picard is left leaning on others for help, including Dr. Agnes Jurati (Alison Pill) and an estranged former colleague, Raffi Musiker (Michelle Hurd). Meanwhile, hidden enemies are also interested in where Picard's search for the truth about Dahj will lead.   This episode was Written by Michael Chabon & Akiva Goldsmith And Directed by Hanelle M. Culpepper   And it first aired on the 30th of January 2020. Make it so.   So episode two begins with a flashback to the synth attack on Mars. There have a bunch of androids who live in a closet. They appear to be manual labourers. I’ve heard a few people say that the shuttles in Picard are copies of Discovery shuttles. And that may be so. I’d have to look at them side by side. By honestly, they fit in much better here. They look like 24th century shuttles. So I don’t see that as a problem. Their use here is fine. Their use in the 23rd century is the issue. One of the human workers is kind of mocking the android F8. This just seems weird to me. I mean, I don’t insult my toaster and make fun of it because it’s not alive. And from what we understand, these androids are not sentient. In fact, this was all established way back in Voyager. In the episode Prototype, B'elanna Torres is asked whether her culture includes artificial lifeforms. She answers  “As a matter of fact, it does. They come in different shapes, different sizes, some have limbs, some don’t. Most don’t have your cognitive abilities. I guess you could say that the robots we use are servants in a manner of speaking, but they aren't sentient like you. In fact, we have only one sentient artificial lifeform in our society and he is treated the same as any human.” She, of course, is speaking of Data. What we’re seeing here fits very nicely with what Belana said in Voyager. Anyway, that woman was a bit odd. She didn’t feel very federation. I’ve heard some people saying that this new show completely destroys Gene Roddenberry’s utopian view of the future, and this was before the show even came out. That’s not the way I see it. Deep Space Nine pushed back against the upotian thing, and I think the show was better for it, but I think it might have done a better job. This woman being intolerant of a non-sentient  non-living android is a bit clumsy. And then F8’s eyes flash and he starts doing something at the computer which initiates the synthetic attack. What brought this on? Was it the woman’s mockery? Were they rising up because they weren’t being treated with respect? I don’t think so. F8 isn’t capable of feeling offense The flashing eyes seems to represent something activating in him. Some latent programming that somebody has turned on. I’m very interested to learn more. Fun little tid-bit. Looking at the various images in the opening title sequence, we see some 3d glass polygons. We’ve seen something that looks like that before. A holographic portrait of Tasha Yar that belonged to Data. Interesting. I wonder why they chose that particular image. Back at chateau picard, Jean Luc is on the case, trying to learn what he can about the attack on dahj. And we learn about the Romulan myth of the Juk vash. A romulan police even more secret than the tal shiar. Most romulan, including zhaban don’t even believe they exist.  In this opening scene, they keep cutting between Picard at his home, talking with his romulan friends, and Picard 7 Laris investigating Dahj’s apartment. It’s pretty confusing, and I’m left having no idea which of these two events took place first, chronologically. Some people enjoy filmmaking tricks like this, but I find it pulls me out of the story. I’m the same with books. I tend to like fairly basic prose that doesn’t draw too much attention to itself, because it’s the story I care most about. We get another look at the new transporter effect. When Picard and Laris beam into the apartment, the effect is longer, and looks more like a modern update on the classic TNG transporter effect. It seems logical there are different types of transporters in operation, and one available to civilians (and retired starfleet officers) would be an older type. Anyway, I like this effect more. Looks more transporter-ish The romulan technology that lets Laris somehow see what was happening in the room several days ago based on particle residue or something, seems a little absurd to me. I know most of the technology in Star Trek is essentially magic, but I have a harder time suspending disbelief with this than I do warp drive, transporters or phasers. Maybe someone more in the know could explain the science, or at least pseudo-science behind it, but I don’t get it. It gives a clear photorealistic image and even sound. Where’s it getting that data from? But the biggest thing here is the massive consequence a technology like this has on the world of Star Trek. If you can do this, it changes everything. So, at the heart of this mysterious Juk Vash is a deep hatred for artificial lifeforms and AI. We just don’t know why yet. Through a bit of technobabble, Picard and Laris figure out that Dahj’s twin sister is not on earth. Which takes us to the borg cube We learn quite a bit more about the cube in this episode. We learn that the romulans are actively trying to reclaim the drones and the technology. Freeing borg and giving them back their individuality, just as was done for Picard and Seven. This is admirable. I’m sure they have selfish reasons as well. They want the borg technology. And given there are very few of them left, I don’t blame them. They need any advantage they can get at this point. Soji’s job is to help seperate the drones from the collective, so I was wrong about her being a psychologist. She’s more of a surgeon. So those glimmers of attraction I thought I saw in Soji’s eyes when she met Narak last episode turned out to be true. And they’ve gone straight from attraction to sleeping together, because that’s how it works in hollywood. Narak is very unwilling to share much about himself, which is funny since last week he was basically, “G’day. I’m Narak. I have a dead brother which makes me very sad.” Now we meet a brand new character. Doctor Moritz Benayoun. He’s an old friend of Picards. They served together on the Stargazer, which, of course, was Picard’s first command. This is a nice touch and reminds us that Picard had a full life before we met him as he first took command of the Enterprise D. I dunno if Benayoun has a great bedside manner, though. His face immediately gives away the bad news, and then he tells Picard he might need a stiff drink. But then this isn’t just a doctor talking to his patient. This is one friend to another. So basically, Picard needs medical clearance so he can approach starfleet and ask to be reactivated to go on a mission to help find Dahj’s sister. Picard is very healthy, except for a little defect in his parietal lobe, which of course, Beverly discovered back in All Good Things. Now I loved this because they’ve acknowledging the intergalactic elephant in the room. Picard’s irumodic syndrome. I’ve been wondering if they’d just ignore that altogether. I’m kind of glad they are acknowledging it, because it will gives us a whole other dimension to Picard’s character. Clearly it’s not as advanced as it was in the alternate future created by Q, but it’s still there. Picard is heading toward dementia. And there’s nothing he can do about it. The dreams are likely part of it. I’m really looking forward to seeing what they do with this. Seriously, what other TV show gives us a hero in their 90s dealing with the inevitable onset of dementia? For the sake of friendship, Benayoun is willing to sign Picard off as fit for duty. But he says if he’s lucky, whatever he’s getting himself into will give him before the syndrome does. That’s kinda dark. But I get it. Many people would rather go out in a blaze of glory than slowly descend into madness. Now we get the scene where finally, Picard returns to Starfleet headquarters. The show is beginning to feel a lot more star trek. We hear the starfleet fanfare, and then the TNG theme. And in this moment, Picard is relishing in it. Despite the problems he had in the past with Starfleet, it still means a lot to him. That uniform, everything it stands for, that’s what his life was all about. As he walks into the building, he feels home. Just look at his face. I quite like the public transporter chambers. They look pretty cool and they make sense as a logical form of public transport on 24th century earth. And as he looks up, he sees holographic representations of a constitution class ship and then a galaxy class. Beautiful. OF course, what we’re seeing is the Discovery retconned design for the constitution class. Still not sure what how I feel about that. But you can still imagine that it was a different version prior to a refit when Kirk took command. Anyway, it’s a minor thing. The fact that the guy at reception has no idea who Picard is gives him a harsh reality check that the world has moved on without him. I think anyone at least approaching middle age can probably identify with this a little. Picard tries to be cordial but he’s got some annoyance there which bubbles to the surface. That brings us to the scene with Picard in the admiral’s office. First of all, I want to talk about this whole neuron cloning thing that was brought up last episode and again in this scene. Maddox thinks he can re-create the entirety of what Data was from a single positronic neuron. Which really doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. We’re talking about a neural network here, which is a real world concept in computer science. A neural network is made up of many neurons, connected by pathways of varying weights. It’s a simulation of how the human brain works, at a very basic level. But a neural network is just that. It’s a network. The data, the understanding, is stored in the various weightings between neurons. If you’re got one neuron, you’ve got one neuron. That can’t tell you anything about how all the other neurons relate to each other. All I can think is maybe each neuron stores a cached backup of the entire network within itself, which seems kinda of extreme redundancy. I dunno. It really doesn’t make sense. But, data’s neural network was more than just a software concept. He had a positronic brain, which was a physical hardware device. So, I guess there’s a lot more to it than what we understand in the 21st century. Still, this is probably the hardest thing in the show for me to swallow. I have very mixed feelings about the conversation between Picard and Admiral Clancy. First of all, let’s just get the swear word out of the way. I’ve talked a little about this regarding Discovery in the past. It is basically Star Trek canon that swearing is not a thing in the future. Kirk and Spock are exposed to it in Star Trek IV when they travelled back to the 1980s. Kirk says “It’s simply the way they talk. Nobody listens to you unless you swear every other word.” Both Kirk and Spock attempt to swear to fit in, but neither of them do a particularly good job of it. Spock especially. Clearly, they swearing is not something they’re accustomed to doing, or hearing. Now, I’ll grant you that In Star Trek III and V, Kirk does utter a mild word. And Data also makes that amusing utterance as the Enterprise D is crashing, but I can kind of hand-wave those away. But the sudden propensity of Starfleet officer to drop F bombs, that’s not Star Trek. I argue it’s not canon. Plus, Star Trek has always been a family show. Does this add anything? Maybe. Enough to make it worth losing the younger audience? I’m not convinced. However, I’ll say this for Picard. The way that word was used in Discovery was very badly done. Tilly says “this is so effing cool”. It added nothing to the drama. It wasn’t used to emphasise strong emotions. It was basically just the writers saying “Hey, we’re on streaming now. We can swear…...because we can.” Contrast that with how it is used here. It powerfully gets across Clancy’s emotions. It shows us a lot about who she is, about how she’s feeling, and about what she thinks of Picard. It’s used in a moment of high tension. And that’s the way I prefer swearing to be used in fiction. If it’s peppered all over the place it loses its impact. But placed here, to emphasise drama, it actually means something. I still don’t think Star Trek needs f bombs, but I much prefer how it was used here than in discovery. Also, I love the little thing Patrick Stewart does with his eyebrows when Clancy starts her triade. Great physical acting. So clancy comes across as a massive jerk. We absolutely do get to choose whether a species dies, she says. I’d like to have a little bit of balance in all this. I’d like to see a sympathetic character who sees things differently to Picard.Who has different opinions, but not the almost ridiculous extremes that we’re seeing from Starfleet as represented by Clancy. I’d like to see the issue actually explored and honestly look at both sides. We get a little of that, but I think Starfleet is being set up as a bit of a caricature of pure evil. We start to understand some of the pressure that went into starfleet’s decision not to help the romulans. 14 member species threatened to pull out of the Federation unless they cut the Romulans loose. Again, that seems very un-federation. But it’s also realistic. So many species with so many values and ideas. The Federation council had a lot of difficult things they were trying to keep together. I’m not saying I agree with Starfleet’s decision to abandon the romulans, I just like the acknowledgement of the complexity of the issue. This is something that Babylon 5 was especially good at. Looking at multiple sides of an issue and then asking the audience, what do you think? Discuss? Picard does probably come in here with a little too much ...arrogance isn’t quite the right word. But he expects they’ll give him a ship and crew. And he’ll concede to be demoted to Captain. He also admits that he shouldn’t have spoken against starfleet in the news interview. That was a mistake. I like how they allow Picard to be imperfect, but still good. In the end, Picard comes out of this as a man with a very strong moral conscience, which is the core of his character. I think I can safely say that Gene Roddenberry would not have liked this show. But then, I don’t always agree with Gene Roddenberry either. And honestly, if it’s a choice between this, and the Rodenberry rules of early next generation, where no crewmembers were allowed to have conflict with each other, I’d choose this in a heartbeat. We get to see a number of familiar star trek species in the background on the borg cube. I like that. I saw a few Andorians, and quite a few of a species that I honestly can’t remember the name of, but I’m sure I’ve seen them. The have kinda slimy green faces with a bit of a beak.. The sign that says 5843 days without an assimilation is chilling. Good reality check of what they’re dealing with here. Where they are. I assume the safety badges are coded to turn green when they detect the presence of Borg nanoprobes. We still don’t know the history of this cube. How was it damaged. When did the Romulans find it. I hope we learn more about that. Why doesn’t Narak need authorisation of the director to watch the procedure? I guess we’ll find out later. We get a bit of a look at the borg makeup in this episode. Not much more than we’ve seen in the trailers. We still haven’t really seen a full borg, completely assimilated, but what I’m seeing so far I like. Pretty close to the First Contact borg. And then, finally Picard takes out his old com badge. It’s the familiar one we remember from the TNG movies. My favourite com badge design. It’s a wonderful moment. But it’s kind of broken when he taps it and it makes the wrong sound. I’ll be honest, that really disappointed me. I wanted to hear that familiar high-pitched click. Anyway, Picard calls somebody named Rafi. We’ll come to her shortly. I gotta say, I really love Laris. Zhuban too, but especially Laris. She’s so cool. She worries a lot about Picard. She really does mother him, which is funny given his advanced age.  The way those two romulans play off each other is delightful. I’m not sure why Picard won’t take Zhuban with him. He says “the grapes are in far more need of protecting than I am.” Which is just plain wrong. Picard knows the Tal Shiar are dangerous, these people after Dahj and her sister even moreso. So why does he want zhuban to stay? I enjoyed the name drops of Riker, Worf and LarForge. They are the obvious ones for Picard to go to for help. Picard’s excuse that he doesn’t want to get them involved feels like a flimsy excuse for “we’re not getting all the old actors back.” but at the same time, Picard doesn’t want to risk loosing his closest friends. Which kinda makes it seem like Rafi is expendable. Doesn’t matter if she dies, as long as Riker, Worf and Geordi don’t die. We get to see some inner workings at starfleet. Admiral Clancy is talking to a vulcan officer about picard. The vulcan’s name is Commodore Oh. That’s a weird name, especially for a vulcan. Let’s briefly talk about the new Starfleet Uniform. I don’t mind it. It’s not my favourite, but it’s both new while still having familiar elements. There are two things I especially like, because they call back to the future uniform we say in All Good Things. First, there’s the com badge, which is very similar to the all good things combadge. Nice touch. Then there’s the rank pips on the chest, again, quite similar to the all good things uniform. I can very much believe that this is a slight update on that uniform. Anyway, Oh meets with a lieutenant Narissa Rizzo. At first, her performance felt a bit wooden and stiff. The kind of less realistic acting that my friend Paeter often associated with Star Trek. Both my wife and I were actually looking at the ears to see if she was Vulcan. But no, she looks human. But something about the angle they shot her really emphasised her ears and made her look almost vulcan. It’s starting to look as though we have a secret romulan incursion in the heart of Starfleet. It seems that Oh and Rizzo are behind the people that killed Dahj. I think Rizzo is a Romulan surgically altered to look human. And as for Oh, well, she doesn’t even need to be altered, because Romulans and vulcans look so similar. And Narak is working for them as well. So it seems he is manipulating Soji, rather than having a genuine romantic interest in her. Some people got some manipulative vibes from him at the end of last week’s episode. I didn’t, but I can see it now. Actually, I missed this on first viewing, but we get confirmation Rizzo is absolutely a Romulan in disguise. Narak makes fun of her rounded ears. And calls it a terrible disguise. More than that, she is Narak’s older sister. Anyway, I now have no issue with the way Rizzo talks. Because she’s talking like a Romulan. Let’s talk holographic communications. They did this in Discovery and I really didn’t like it. There, it was a significant canon issue. They tried to patch it up in season 2. Not really satisfactorily, but they tried. Here, it makes a lot more sense. Holographic technology is all over the place in the 24th century. We know Starfleet dabbled in holo communicators during Deep Space Nine’s 5th season, before letting it go by the wayside. It’s logical that they would improve the technology and then bring it back. So that’s all fine. I don’t have any canon issues with it. It makes a lot more sense in this setting. Except...I dunno. I still don’t overly like it. My main problem with it is the way it’s done. The way holograms walk around the room. The worst example was in Discovery when a holographic Sarak actually sat on the edge of a desk in Georgou’s office. The only way I can see this working is if Rizzo is in a holodeck, and she’s seeing a holographic representation of Narak’s room. She sees everything he sees. And for both of them, it’s like they’re in the room together. That works and I’d be cool with that, in fact I kinda like that, so until I’m proven wrong, I’m going to adopt that as my head canon. Picard goes to see Raffi Musiker. You may be wondering who she is, and if that’s the case, you clearly haven’t read the Picard Countdown comics. Essentially Raffi was Picard’s first officer on the Verity which he commanded after the Enterprise, while he was trying to evacuate Romulans. It seems that she left Starfleet as well, and clearly she has some issues with Picard. I don’t know all the backstory yet, because I haven’t yet read book 3, which has just come out, but I would certainly recommend reading these comics to ge the full experience. Without that backstory, this would feel kinda weird. There’s not much more to say about her at this point, so let’s delve into her character next week. Interesting that so many locations we saw on the trailers, which I assumed would be alien planets, turn out to be Earth. So there you have episode 2 of Star Trek Picard. When the credits appeared I was shocked. What? Over already? I’m not sure if I felt that way because I was really into it, or because it felt like nothing much actually happened in the episode. I think it’s probably both. This episode had a lot of setup in it. It actually moved the plot forward a whole lot less than episode 1 did. And that’s ok. That’s the nature of serialised storytelling, and this show is even more serialised than Discovery. Some people may not like that, but I love serialised storytelling. The last thing I want is to see Picard go on 40 minute advntures of the week every episode. I’ve got 7 seasons of that I can go back and watch. I don’t need any more of it. What I want is a big grand story that has enough time to really dig into characters, and shoe us long term consequences. Which is exactly what we’re getting. So overall, I’m still really enjoying star trek Picard, and can’t wait to see what we get next week. I wonder which episode Picard will finally go into space.  Do you think it’ll be next week, or further away than that? When do you think we’ll get our first Engage or Make it so? I know he’s going to say engage at some point because it’s in the trailer. We’ve already heard a twist on Tea, Earl Gray. Hot. So last week I mention I’d started a walk to Mordor, based on the journey taken in Lord of The Rings. I’m pleased to report that it’s still going well. I have now reached the encounter with the black rider.  Overall, I’ve walked 55.41 kilometers. Just 3,053.76 to go. My next milestone will be an encounter with the elves at 10.57 kilometres. Don’t forget to check out my Jewel of The Stars books. You can get the first one for just 99 cents at books2read.com/jewel. And that’s the number 2. Or, you can read it for free, on wattpad. I add a new chapter every weekend (except for last weekend. I forgot because I was so busy making the podcast.) I’d appreciate a review wherever you listen to this podcast. Reviews on iTunes are especially helpful, even if you’re not an apple person. I’m an Android man myself. But if you are on Ios, you can leave a review directly from your phone. I’m told it’s quite easy. That really helps raise the visibility of my podcast so others can join us on this journey. Anyway, I’ll talk to you all next week when we discuss episode 3, “The End is The Beginning” Live long and prosper. Make it so.

Jean-Luc Picard is back and so are we to talk about his new show Star Trek: Picard! Guest starring Billy HarmonyContact Us!Email: pilotprojectshow@gmail.comInstagram: @pilotprojectpodFacebook: https://fb.me/pilotprojectpodTwitter: @pilotprojectpodVoicemail: (469) 573-2337Subscribe for Free!Apple Podcasts: http://apple.pilotprojectpod.comGoogle Play: http://googleplay.pilotprojectpod.comRSS: http://feeds.feedburner.com/pilotprojectpodSpotify: http://spotify.pilotprojectpod.comStitcher: http://stitcher.pilotprojectpod.com ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

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.  

The Hunt for Red October and Face of the Enemy. In space, all warriors are cold warriors. And none are colder, perhaps, than the steely Romulans who crew those imposingly green warbirds. In the sixth-season TNG episode “Face of the Enemy,” the normally warm-hearted Counselor Deanna Troi must join their ranks as she impersonates Major Rakal, a ruthless operative in the Tal Shiar, the Romulan intelligence service. This popular story was inspired, in part, by Tom Clancy’s thriller The Hunt for Red October—particularly the movie adaptation starring Sean Connery as a Soviet submarine commander who attempts to defect to the West. In fact, when writer Naren Shankar was at work on the script, it was Connery’s voice he imagined for the captain of the Romulan ship. In this episode of Primitive Culture, host Duncan Barrett is joined by Carlos Miranda, a massive fan of The Hunt for Red October, to discuss the film’s influence on “Face of the Enemy.” We then open up the discussion and look at the role of the Romulans as primary Cold War antagonist in Star Trek: The Next Generation, as well as some other episodes involving defections across Star Trek’s own iron curtain: the Neutral Zone. Finally, we consider how the Enterprise’s various Romulan encounters might play into the new Picard series coming in early 2020. Chapters Up Periscope (00:02:15) Cloaking Dagger (00:15:40) One Ping Only (00:35:20) Across the Neutral Zone (00:41:55) Chair Versus Badge (00:51:55) Final Thoughts (01:06:58) Host Duncan Barrett Guest Carlos Miranda Production Duncan Barrett (Editor, Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Tony Black (Associate Producer) Clara Cook (Associate Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Amy Nelson (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager)

Doctor Dalen Quaice, AKA discount Wilford Brimley in space, AKA space cowboy entering retirement, has had it with Starbase 133 after years of serving whiskey under the table in the infirmary. And why wouldn't he after a dead wife and too many broken bones repaired after constant chicanery from the Parrises Squares matches the local maintenance crew keep losing. Meanwhile, has life as a single dad rendered the USS Hood's Kevin Kurland insane? Would Conrad rather be interrogated by the Tal Shiar or Section 31? Pack a small, oddly shaped Federation suitcase. It's time for another pod!

Join the crew of the USS Ophion as they embark on a bit of convoy protection duty and thwart several Tal Shiar attempts to disrupt said convoy. The Ophion campaign started in 2017 and ran for two years before becoming the Amalthea campaign.

When an attempt is made on Garak's life, it's not just tailoring paraphernalia that gets blown out into the open. But when the Cardassian spy stops dissembling and the Tal Shiar stops playing chess, the potential conflict takes on a Spaceball One sense of scale. Is Quark finally fulfilling his debt to society? How big a threat are the Romulans now that they can walk two abreast? Do the Star Trek caves have mattresses on the floor? It's the one where Garak Jazz Hands take on an ominous overtone.

Ever since Discovery teased looming possibilities for the franchise's favorite controversial covert spy agency Section 31, debate has begun anew regarding whether or not this element of canon suits the Roddenberry philosophy. As cool as these stories can be, do they belong in a utopia? This week hosts Cam Smith and Tyler Orton dust off their best fedoras and trenchcoats in order to delve into Trek's surprisingly long history of cloak and dagger tactics. From the Romulan-headed Tal Shiar, to Cardassia's Obsidian Order all the way down to 31, the duo do their darndest to track the evolution of these often twisty tales and consider the potential pitfalls future series may want to watch out for before shining up their black badges.  Right-click to download.Read more »

The Cardassian-Romulan fleet attacks the Founders homeworld, and Garak is forced to torture Odo for information. In wrapping up the story of "Improbable Cause", DS9 re-boots its central premise by kicking the Dominion conflict into high gear, As Starfleet watches from the sidelines, the Cardassian-Romulan fleet is obliterated by the Jem'Hadar. The Obsidian Order and the Tal Shiar took a tremendous gamble, and now that "The Die is Cast" we'll have to see how our heroes pick up the pieces. Clay and Darren join me to discuss the problem with the "epic", the problem with pacifism, and the problem with not writing an episode where Odo pulls a "Quantum Leap"! Are you looking for older episodes? Find this and every other episode at The Pensky Podcast! Thanks for listening. Stay connected: • https://thepenskyfile.com/links/ • e-mail: thepenskyfilevideo(at)gmail.com

The Cardassian-Romulan fleet attacks the Founders homeworld, and Garak is forced to torture Odo for information. In wrapping up the story of "Improbable Cause", DS9 re-boots its central premise by kicking the Dominion conflict into high gear, As Starfleet watches from the sidelines, the Cardassian-Romulan fleet is obliterated by the Jem'Hadar. The Obsidian Order and the Tal Shiar took a tremendous gamble, and now that "The Die is Cast" we'll have to see how our heroes pick up the pieces. Clay and Darren join me to discuss the problem with the "epic", the problem with pacifism, and the problem with not writing an episode where Odo pulls a "Quantum Leap"! Are you looking for older episodes? Find this and every other episode at The Pensky Podcast! Thanks for listening. Stay connected: • https://thepenskyfile.com/links/ • e-mail: thepenskyfilevideo(at)gmail.com

With all three hosts back in the studio for the first time in over month, Greg, Jeremy, and Derreck sit down to talk about Star Trek’s most secret and covert organizations, Section 31, the Obsidian Order, and the Tal Shiar. Who are these organizations? Well, three of the galaxy’s biggest groups, the Federation, Cardassian Union,...

SHOW NOTES SPECIAL EDITION NINE; “Violations of the Neutral Zone” In this Special Edition of the Show Host Dave Bledsoe takes a break from his religious observances to get bitter about what might of have been. (Another failed DJ with a podcast!) On the show we talk Net Neutrality and why you should actually give a shit. (Hint: They are coming for your porn!) Along the way we defend our stand on Ajit Pai being a member of the Tal Shiar and remind you even people who aren't White can been shitty too. We do a quick mini-Wayback to 1996 and the death of all that was good and decent on the airwaves. (We miss you Justin and Whitey! #RiseGuysForever) Finally we explain what YOU need to do save your porn, or anything else you value on the Internet. Get over to www.battleforthenet.com and DO SOMETHING! Our Sponsor is Fast Eddies Internet, the Internet just like you remember it: sloooooowwwww. We open the show with Captain Picard and close with YouTuber Gary Schutt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pySrsDSUJw4 Show Music: https://www.jamendo.com/track/421668/prelude-to-common-sense The Show on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheHell_Podcast The Show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whatthehellpodcast/ The Show on Soundcloud www.whatthehellpodcast.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A two part Garak story concludes! Odo has a very hard time of it, and our love of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine blooms anew. The Obsidian Order and the Tal Shiar execute on their plan to raid the gamma quadrant, but things get fubared. Tane recognized Game. 49:59, when the calls come in! Tom from Cleveland calls and we talk Dragons, Tumblr and whether Cardassians have tails? Stefan has some suggestions. And, as a proclaimed mailman, is he willing to make a trade for some ASMR? What happens when we get a critical review? Is this podcast our safespace? 917 408 3898

Greetings, Captains! You’re listening to EPISODE 306 OF PRIORITY ONE PODCAST, your weekly report on all things Star Trek! Recorded LIVE on Thursday, February 16th, 2017 and available for download or streaming on Monday, February 20th at PriorityOnePodcast.com! This week we’re Trekking Out the winners of the Roddenberry Prize, a new piece of tech straight out of Star Trek, and the latest news about Discovery. In gaming news, the Tal Shiar lockbox is bringing a must-have ship console to Star Trek Online, and Star Trek Bridge Crew VR has been delayed - but for a good reason. As always, before we wrap up the show, we’ll open hailing frequencies for your incoming messages! TOPICS DISCUSSED Trek It Out Roddenberry Prize 2017 winners announced Opus12 New VISOR-like glasses help restore sight to the legally blind Three new cast members announced for Star Trek: Discovery Is this our first look at Klingons in Star Trek: Discovery? Star Trek Online News (PC) Patch Notes: February 16th, 2017 (Console) Patch Notes: February 14th, 2017 (Console) K-13 Fleet Holding Special Unlocks (Console) Tal Shiar Lockbox (and stats) (Console) Echoes of Light - Week 1 rewards Other gaming news Ubisoft's Star Trek Bridge Crew VR delayed again, will have playable USS Enterprise THIS WEEK'S COMMUNITY QUESTIONS If you could have any piece of Star Trek technology, today, what would it be? Does the possibility of commanding the Enterprise in VR make you more likely to buy into a VR system, and Star Trek Bridge Crew VR in particular? BE SURE TO VISIT OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL AND SUBSCRIBE TO THE PREMIER STAR TREK ONLINE PODCAST! Priority One Productions is always looking for new team members that have a passion for Star Trek. Please know that all of our positions are volunteer, but we do offer a well-known outlet for your work. If you have a skill that you believe could enhance our content, then send your contact information and experience along with a few writing samples to INCOMING@PRIORITYONEPODCAST.COM Did you miss any of our great Blogs last week? Stop by THIS LINK and see for yourself! How about our latest Video Release? You can also follow us on the social media sites! We’re on Facebook! Head over to WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/PRIORITYONEPODCAST and say, “Hi!” Or, Check us out on Twitter via @PRIORITYONEPOD for show times and other cool stuff. Liked this episode? Totally hated it? Leave a comment below or CONTACT US via our handy web form! Enjoy the show!

Greetings, Captains! You're listening to EPISODE 306 OF PRIORITY ONE PODCAST, your weekly report on all things Star Trek! Recorded LIVE on Thursday, February 16th, 2017 and available for download or streaming on Monday, February 20th at PriorityOnePodcast.com! This week we're Trekking Out the winners of the Roddenberry Prize, a new piece of tech straight out of Star Trek, and the latest news about Discovery. In gaming news, the Tal Shiar lockbox is bringing a must-have ship console to Star Trek Online, and Star Trek Bridge Crew VR has been delayed - but for a good reason. As always, before we wrap up the show, we'll open hailing frequencies for your incoming messages! TOPICS DISCUSSED Trek It Out Roddenberry Prize 2017 winners announced Opus12 New VISOR-like glasses help restore sight to the legally blind Three new cast members announced for Star Trek: Discovery Is this our first look at Klingons in Star Trek: Discovery? Star Trek Online News (PC) Patch Notes: February 16th, 2017 (Console) Patch Notes: February 14th, 2017 (Console) K-13 Fleet Holding Special Unlocks (Console) Tal Shiar Lockbox (and stats) (Console) Echoes of Light - Week 1 rewards Other gaming news Ubisoft's Star Trek Bridge Crew VR delayed again, will have playable USS Enterprise THIS WEEK'S COMMUNITY QUESTIONS If you could have any piece of Star Trek technology, today, what would it be? Does the possibility of commanding the Enterprise in VR make you more likely to buy into a VR system, and Star Trek Bridge Crew VR in particular? BE SURE TO VISIT OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL AND SUBSCRIBE TO THE PREMIER STAR TREK ONLINE PODCAST! Priority One Productions is always looking for new team members that have a passion for Star Trek. Please know that all of our positions are volunteer, but we do offer a well-known outlet for your work. If you have a skill that you believe could enhance our content, then send your contact information and experience along with a few writing samples to INCOMING@PRIORITYONEPODCAST.COM Did you miss any of our great Blogs last week? Stop by THIS LINK and see for yourself! How about our latest Video Release? You can also follow us on the social media sites! We're on Facebook! Head over to WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/PRIORITYONEPODCAST and say, “Hi!” Or, Check us out on Twitter via @PRIORITYONEPOD for show times and other cool stuff. Liked this episode? Totally hated it? Leave a comment below or CONTACT US via our handy web form! Enjoy the show!

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine wraps up last week’s cliffhanger by completely changing the balance of power in the galaxy, in “The Die Is Cast”. Meanwhile, “Explorers” proves that ancient Bajorans were pretty badass. iTunes Google Play RSS

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine returns to the Mirror Universe in “Through the Looking Glass” as Mirror O’Brien kidnaps Commander Sisko in a last-ditch effort to free some Terrans. Later, in “Improbable Cause”, the Cardassians and the Romulans reveal a last-ditch effort to reshape the galactic political situation. iTunes Google Play RSS

"Face of the Enemy" Commentary. Romulans. Vulcans. Tal Shiar. Conspiracies. In the sixth season episode of The Next Generation, "Face of the Enemy," a rare Troi-focused episode explores the consequences of Ambassador Spock's work with Romulans from the two-parter "Unification." Darren, Daniel, and Phillip provide their commentary for this episode that depicts the strengths and further potential of Counselor Deanna Troi, as she must play the part of a Tal Shiar agent aboard a Romulan warbird. This story also provides greater insight into the Romulan Imperial Fleet, as we see different uniforms, ranks, and the explanation of what it is like to live in such a police state. Add to that a Starfleet ensign with a blonde Romulan haircut and this episode will get you craving a plate of viinerine and a glass of Romulan ale. Put on your pointed ears and shoulder pads and enjoy Earl Grey's commentary to "Face of the Enemy." HostsDaniel Proulx, Phillip Gilfus, & Darren MoserEditor / ProducerDarren Moser Production Manager Richard Marquez   Content Coordinator Will Nguyen ChaptersCommentary Start (00:02:08)Conclusion (00:48:49) 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

The Battle of the Omarion Nebula. The build up to the Dominion War was a slow one, with hints about the Founders and skirmishes with the Jem'Hadar setting the stage. But it wasn't a one-sided affair. Fearful of the Dominion, the intelligence services of the Cardassian Union and the Romulan Empire—the Obsidian Order and the Tal Shiar—teamed up for a preemptive strike against the Founders' homeworld. It was a bold plan to annihilate the Changelings before they could invade the Alpha Quadrant. What they didn't know was that they were walking into a trap. In this episode of The Orb, hosts Christopher Jones and Matthew Rushing discuss the first major battlefield engagement between the Dominion and the Alpha/Beta Powers, the state of cold war between the Dominion and the Federation, and the motivations on both sides of the conflict that led to the battle.   Send us your feedback! Twitter: @trekfm Facebook: http://facebook.com/trekfm Voicemail: http://www.speakpipe.com/trekfm Contact Form: http://www.trek.fm/contact   Chapters Setting the Scene (5:13) Preemptive Strike (8:41) Cold War Machinations (19:49) Playing Into the Bigger Battle (28:37) Closing (33:43)

[embedplusvideo height="343" width="560" editlink="http://bit.ly/KGHcCh" standard="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZFniUZGpFas?fs=1&vq=hd720" vars="ytid=ZFniUZGpFas&width=560&height=343&start=&stop=&rs=w&hd=1&autoplay=0&react=1&chapters=¬es=" id="ep2623" /] On this episode of The AIE Podcast... - The Nomads Are Official! - Another officer in the hotseat! - Meetups all over the place! - We've got the Blizzard buzz! - And we chat with CaptHunter and RattoZatto about AIE in Star Trek Online! All that and more coming up right now... AIE NEWS Are you a member of AIE who plays a ton of different MMOs? You are probably not alone! A group has started up that we've mentioned in the past, but they've started getting the ball rolling a lot more! A section of the forums has been set aside called AIE Nomads. Check it out, and see if it's something you'd want to join in on.   Emperor Pel-patine has decreed that another of his army be put up for interrogation! This time? The poor soul is Droge. Surely there is something that you want to know from a fellow AIE member. Keep it clean folks, these are family friendly forums! (go to the forums!)   Speaking of such, the Emperor is asking for...volunteers for information collection. Unless you are a Bothan, it should be completely harmless. You can sign up in the forums to be on the list for the “Ask a SWTOR Guildie” threads!   We have quite a few meetups coming up in the great state of California. The AIE gang out in Pasadena will be celebrating the new year with a meetup at Lucky Baldwin's on Saturday January 18th, the San Francisco crew will be holding a winter raid on Harry's Hofbrau in San Jose on January 25th, and the great and wonderful Belthaz is looking to put together a gathering at a Rocky Horror Picture Show screening in Los Angeles on February 22nd. And not to be outdone, the Washington D.C. group will be holding a meetup at AwesomeCon on February 18th. So if you'll be anywhere near any of those meetups, you'll want to RSVP on the AIE Meetup.com site and join in the fun!   Blizzard has been abuzz with changes that are coming in warlords of draenor! Among them changes to Crowd control! Lore in the forums has been talking about the proposed changes coming to CC, what they like, what they don't and there is some buzz about the removal of some of it. If you want  to find out more head to the blizzard forums.   And speaking of blizzard, for all of you who are betting about the date of warlords of draenor, you might have to adjust your timeframes. There is a new PVP season planned between now and the next expanion's release! Holinka on twitter announced the news on the 7th, but there seem to be no further details yet.   I've mentioned this in the past once before, but a former coworker who is kickstarting a CCG/Deckbuilder game is sooo close to funding. If you might be interested in such things, please check out War of Omens. If you contribute more than 10 bucks, they will give you a beta key immediately! 3 more days left on this, and a few thousand to go! GAME NEWS   Previously, on Star Trek Online…  We left off with the Romulan Republic establishing a new homeworld on Dewa 3, now called New Romulus.  After thwarting the schemes of the Tal Shiar, our adventurous captain learns of a great secret, and possibly the reason for Dewa 3's desertion: An Iconian gateway.  And now, the continuation of Star Trek Online.   Before re-activating the gateway, Ambassador Worf is asked by the Klingon Defense Force to oversee the project, due to his previous experience with such technology (TNG S2E11 Contagion).  An earthquake shakes the chamber, and forces everyone to make a do-or-die decision.  Everyone flees into the gateway to avoid being crushed.  On the other side, the captain learns of plans the Iconians have for the Alpha Quadrant, as well as their hand in a number of other events.  After reactivating a gate near the Jouret System, where some Elachi forces arrive.

Hello all and welcome to our next exciting episode of Trekcast the Star Trek podcast we are back, Doctor Phlox has found a cure for the Borg Nanoprobes that were giving David such a hard time he is still recovering but on the road to a complete recovery. This week we celebrated a little thing the one year anniversary of Trekcast can you believe it has been a whole year since David Ivy and Jason Voss started up this, the best Star Trek podcast around so wont you join us as we give you our take on this last year as we review some of our highest points of the year. Who doesn't remember some of the great moments of the last year including V'Qha and my butt hole in your face, the release of that little film this year Star Trek, and of course the passing of a couple great people this year Majel Barrett Roddenberry and Ricardo Montalban. So that's a wrap from Trekcast's year in review we will be back next week for another great episode in the meantime remember that Chairman Koval from the Tal Shiar loves those five star reviews on iTunes, it gets him praise from his higher-ups and of course we appreciate all of you our listeners so Live, Long, and Prosper. Subscribe on iTunes

Season 1 Finale:Agents from the Tal Shiar plot to attack the Klingon High counsel unless Section 31 can stop them. Meanwhile dark agendas begin to come together that may mean war for the galaxy.Listen to Knowledge is Power (22.9MB MP3) Written by Elie Hirschman Additional dialogue by - Mark Kalita Audio Engineering Work - Chris Snyder Producer - Eric BusbyFeaturing the vocal talents of: Dalonna/Shop Keeper - Kara Dennison Mak/Master Chiun - Mark Kalita Judah - Judah Friese Korg - Karl Puder Tom - Elie Hirschman Bishop - Eric Busby Cain - Nick Cook Crimson - Aliza Computer - Miriam SnyderMaster Chiun of "The Destroyer" series is copyright 2005 by Warren Murphy.

Long ago, the Federation starship USS Defiant passed through a tear in space and fell into the Mirror Universe where it was believed lost for all time.... or was it? Listen now to the tale of how Defiant returned to its home universe.Meanwhile, members of the Tal Shiar revive a Section 31 agent to help add them against a new and deadly threat to the Romulan Empire.Listen to In His Name (25.3MB mp3)Written, directed and produced by Eric L. BusbyAgent Judah - Judah Friese Rukath - Karl Puder Tal' Aura - Cassandra Wladyslava Romulan Officer - Jonathan Patrick Russell Regent - Tom Davis Crimson - Aliza Kurian - Kevin Cho Magnus - Ben Harmer Hoshi Sato - Aurora McPherson Unit 179 - Elie Hirschman K'Laren - Mark Bruzee Com Officer - Shire Smith Security Guard - Eric L. Busby Admiral Gardner - Morgan Jeffery

Star Trek: The Section 31 Files – Season 1 EP 014: Knowledge is Power Agents from the Tal Shiar plot to attack the Klingon High counsel unless Section 31 can stop them. Meanwhile dark agendas begin to come together that may mean war for the galaxy. Written by Elie Hirschman Featuring the vocal talents of: […] The post ST 31 – Season 1 EP 014: Knowledge is Power first appeared on Darker Projects.

The Delta Flyers is hosted by Garrett Wang, Robert Duncan McNeill, Terry Farrell & Armin Shimerman. In each podcast release, they will recap and discuss an episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.This week's episode, The Die is Cast, is hosted by Garrett Wang, Robert Duncan McNeill, Terry Farrell.The Die is Cast: Garak finds his loyalties torn when Enabran Tain, his former mentor, orders him to interrogate Odo; the Tal Shiar and Obsidian Order join forces to attack the Dominion.We want to thank everyone who makes this podcast possible, starting with our Production Managers Megan Elise & Rebecca McNeill.Additionally, we could not make this podcast available without our Executive Producers:Stephanie Baker, Jason M Okun, Luz R., Marie Burgoyne, Kris Hansen, Chris Knapp, Janet K Harlow, Rich Gross, Mary Jac Greer, Mike Gu, Tara Polen, Carrie Roberts, Tom Paynter, Sandra Stengel, AJC, Nicholaus Russell, Alex Mednis, Holly Schmitt, Nicole Toma, Roxane Ray, Andrew Duncan, David Buck, Tim Neumark, Randy Hawke, Ian Ramsey, Feroza Mehta, Jonathan Brooks, Matt Norris, Izzy Jaffer, Francesca Garibaldi, Thomas Irvin, Jonathan Capps, & Sean T.Our Co-Executive Producers:Liz Scott, Sab Ewell, Sarah A Gubbins, Michelle Z, Utopia Science Fiction Magazine, Elaine Ferguson, Captain Jeremiah Brown, E & John, Deike Hoffmann, Anna Post, Shannyn Bourke, Lee Lisle, Sarah Thompson, Holly Smith, Amy Tudor, Mark G Hamilton, KMB, Dominic Burgess, Mary Burch, Normandy Madden, Joseph Michael Kuhlman, Darryl Cheng, Elizabeth Stanton, Tim Beach, Victor Ling, Shambhavi Kadam, Tae Phoenix, Donna Runyon, Nicholas Albano, Rob Traverse, Penny Liu, Stephanie Lee, David Smith, Stacy Davis, Heath K., Andrew Cano, Kevin Harlow, Megan Doyle, Chris Garis, Keir Newton, Cindy Woodford, Mariette Karr, Jeff Allen, & Tamara EvansAnd our Producers:Philipp Havrilla, James Amey, Jake Barrett, Ann Harding, Trip Lives, Samantha Weddle, Paul Johnston, Carole Patterson, Warren Stine, Carl Murphy, Jocelyn Pina, Mike Fillmon, Chad Awkerman, AJ Provance, Claire Deans, Maxine Soloway, Heidi McLellan, Brianna Kloss, Dat Cao, Stephen Riegner, Debra Defelice, Alexander Ray, Vikki Williams, Cindy Ring, Kelly Brown, Jason Wang, Gabriel Dominic Girgis, Shanyn Behn, Renee Wiley, Maria Rosell, Michael Bucklin, Lisa Klink, Dominique Weidle, Jesse Bailey, Mike Chow, Matt Edmonds, Miki T, Heather Selig, Rachel Shapiro, Stephanie Aves, Seth Carlson, Amy Rambacher, Jessica B, E.G. Galano, Annie Davey, Jeremy Gaskin, Charlie Faulkner, Estelle Keller, Carmen Puente-Garza, Eddie Dawson, Klee Wiggins, Greg Kenzo Wickstrom, Lauren Rivers, Jennifer B, Dean Chew, Robert Allen Stiffler, PJ Pick, Preston M, Rebecca Leary, Ryan Mahieu, Karen Galleski, Nicole Brettell, Jan Hanford, Katelynn Burmark, Timothy McMichens, Helen Brownrigg, Lindsay Bundy, Dawn Colleen Smith, Cassandra Girard, Robby Hill, Andrea Wilson, Willow Whitcomb, Mo, Leslie Ford, James Poesl, Daniel Chu, Scott Bowling, Ed Jarot, James Vanhaerent, Nick Cook-West, Shawn Battershall, & Natalie SwainThank you for your support!This Podcast is recorded under a SAG-AFTRA agreement.“Our creations are protected by copyright, trademark, and trade secret laws. Some examples of our creations are the text we use, artwork we create, audio, and video we produce and post. You may not use, reproduce, or distribute our creations unless we give you permission. If you have any questions, you can email us at thedeltaflyers@gmail.com.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-delta-flyers/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy