I figure (to make sense of them being able to run the E-D) he also rigged up automation systems good enough for a chimpanzee and two trainees to run her even if he didn't actually say so.
I swear, if they bring back the "we have enough automation to run a starship with solely a bridge crew, but go to battle stations and the entire system overloads" plot point from Star Trek III: The Search for Spock...
Bonus points--even if I adamantly refuse to award them for this particular thing--if it leads to an iconic Enterprise ship heroically blowing up again.
I swear, if they bring back the "we have enough automation to run a starship with solely a bridge crew, but go to battle stations and the entire system overloads" plot point from Star Trek III: The Search for Spock...
Bonus points--even if I adamantly refuse to award them for this particular thing--if it leads to an iconic Enterprise ship heroically blowing up again.
I get the gist that MOST ships can run reasonably well with very little crew... for a short time. If it's been optimized for it, moreso. In this case, yeah the E-D probably got a ton of automation added in, LaForge knowing full well it would never actually have a full crew and is really just a glorified show piece.
I also feel like "Battle Stations" on a Starfleet ship isn't so much "Every crew member needs to be actively doing some battle related task" and more "Get to a predetermined secure area." I don't think the Botany department on the E-D is doing much during a battle. They just need to be... out of the way.
Realistically, a good deal of all ships functions are probably automated and have been for quite some time. Basic operation of the ship is fairly simple. It's all the support personnel, science, security, etc. as well as needing more crew to push the ship further or perform some more advanced tasks. We've seen in many times where a ship is operational with only a few people on board.
I get the gist that MOST ships can run reasonably well with very little crew... for a short time. If it's been optimized for it, moreso. In this case, yeah the E-D probably got a ton of automation added in, LaForge knowing full well it would never actually have a full crew and is really just a glorified show piece.
I also feel like "Battle Stations" on a Starfleet ship isn't so much "Every crew member needs to be actively doing some battle related task" and more "Get to a predetermined secure area." I don't think the Botany department on the E-D is doing much during a battle. They just need to be... out of the way.
Realistically, a good deal of all ships functions are probably automated and have been for quite some time. Basic operation of the ship is fairly simple. It's all the support personnel, science, security, etc. as well as needing more crew to push the ship further or perform some more advanced tasks. We've seen in many times where a ship is operational with only a few people on board.
Battle stations likely means a good 75+% of the crew goes to their assigned damage control station, and if something happens nearby they form DC parties to get it under control. Patching the hull, manually redirecting plasma flow since the power systems were cut in the area, firefighting, maybe even jury-rugging a phaser array to bring it back online.
Hate to break it to you but the show has never satisfyingly solved the "do transporters kill you?" question - for every episode where Barclay displays continuity of consciousness (and somehow like physically grabbing shit???) during transport there's one where the transporter creates an identical Riker or Kirk or a fully conscious person person like Tuvix.
It'd be one thing if the transporter was like, I dunno, forming some hand-wavey subspace tunnel where it was more like a wormhole...slide...thing you physically moved through, but the transporter explicitly breaks you down into your subatomic particles and re-assembles that at a distant location. The question of whether or not the person who arrives on the planet is the "original" one has confounded philosophers since the problem first introduced, and probably will forever since there's no way of proving with any kind of metaphysical certitude. There's even a whole goofy Canadian cartoon breaking it down (complete with catchy song):
As @Zap Rowsdower says, the franchise has ultimately smiled, shrugged, and moved on, because unpacking that metaphysical knot is just beyond the show's scope.
The Enterprise-D was intended even from pre-production days to only require three people on the bridge to operate: conn, ops, and tactical. It's easy to believe that for a short time it can function without any other crew, especially since Geordie would have improved the automation as he couldn't expect to have an onboard crew and would be relying on the museum's staff to do maintenance. Throw in that the Titan has shown onboard repair drones are back in style and I don't see problem with them running the ship for a few hours.
I figure (to make sense of them being able to run the E-D) he also rigged up automation systems good enough for a chimpanzee and two trainees to run her even if he didn't actually say so.
Geordi talked about drones loading torpedoes so with any luck the rest of the ship is being run by drones and not some jury-rigged automation system like in Star Trek 3
Geordi talked about drones loading torpedoes so with any luck the rest of the ship is being run by drones and not some jury-rigged automation system like in Star Trek 3
I swear, if they bring back the "we have enough automation to run a starship with solely a bridge crew, but go to battle stations and the entire system overloads" plot point from Star Trek III: The Search for Spock...
Bonus points--even if I adamantly refuse to award them for this particular thing--if it leads to an iconic Enterprise ship heroically blowing up again.
Remember, starfleet is not supposed to be a military organization and starships aren't filled with military personal whose only focus is how to make the ship fight. The majority of people on a starship are, I imagine, doing their own thing no related to ship operations really.
If they're going to go full nostalgia bait, then they had better re-use the same clip of the D firing a torpedo spread, then cut to some models veering slightly to the left and exploding while Picard and Riker look at the view screen with concern.
Go big or go home, Matalas. If you're gonna give me nostalgia bait I want it all, baby
Remember, starfleet is not supposed to be a military organization and starships aren't filled with military personal whose only focus is how to make the ship fight. The majority of people on a starship are, I imagine, doing their own thing no related to ship operations really.
In a fight or any other emergency, the people who aren't directly involved in operations will still have a role on damage control or first aid teams. That isn't a "military vs not military" thing, that's a "the ship needs to not blow up" thing, which applies equally to being shot at by the alien of the week or running into an amorous space energy vampire squid.
In a fight or any other emergency, the people who aren't directly involved in operations will still have a role on damage control or first aid teams. That isn't a "military vs not military" thing, that's a "the ship needs to not blow up" thing, which applies equally to being shot at by the alien of the week or running into an amorous space energy vampire squid.
You get a bunch of people who don't know what they're doing to try and ix something, and that thing is gonna break more. I suspect the crew mostly battens down and does nothing when the ship is in a fight
In a fight or any other emergency, the people who aren't directly involved in operations will still have a role on damage control or first aid teams. That isn't a "military vs not military" thing, that's a "the ship needs to not blow up" thing, which applies equally to being shot at by the alien of the week or running into an amorous space energy vampire squid.
You get a bunch of people who don't know what they're doing to try and ix something, and that thing is gonna break more. I suspect the crew mostly battens down and does nothing when the ship is in a fight
That's why you get damage control training before being given an assignment. Even if it's something like STCW training today, it's going to have firefighting and first aid components which would allow the average crewman to be useful.
I mean, realistically why WOULD the Fleet Museum have state of the art military weaponry in stock? What's going into the E-D is almost certainly just like, whatever they have laying around.
I mean, realistically why WOULD the Fleet Museum have state of the art military weaponry in stock? What's going into the E-D is almost certainly just like, whatever they have laying around.
I mean it's still a starbase a dozen kilometers long that could house tens of thousands; it's almost certainly armed to some extent.
Certainly its replacement at Earth seems to be heavily armed and apparently capable of holding off a fleet of modern Starfleet ships, at least for a time.
they did Shelby SO fucking dirty. There is no way in hell the top anti-Borg expert would've signed off on connecting Starfleet like this. And then killing her off. God fucking DAMMIT I hate 'Back for the dead'. And picard has been doing it all series long and I've hated it.
I loved Shelby in Best of Both Worlds and part of me has always wanted her to have stayed on. but nope! A short cameo and that's it, killed off. Fucking A!
The Collective here was a broken, bitter remnant after the devastation Voyager and Future Janeway inflicted on her. No wonder they used her organizing the Founders Day celebrations to destroy the Federation.
Nailed the landing. This has been about as close to perfect as it could have been. Picard S3 is quite frankly the best thing that has ever been put out under the Star Trek label. PIC as a whole has been fantastic, but the first two seasons did have issues. This season? Damn near perfection. I do believe this is truly my favorite entry in Star Trek as a whole.
They need to let Matalas to Legacy. I understand exactly what that show would be now. There's been talks of a Voyager reunion type show, Legacy could absolutely lean into that. They apparently made SNW due to fan reaction and demand... what do we need to do to get Legacy made?
This was the Star Trek i've been waiting for since 2016. It took them half a decade to get there, but they found it. I'm sad it's over.
They had two more cameos in the barrel... and also a very nice call out that I think went more than surface deep...
Walter Koenig! As the voice of his son, Federation President Anton Chekov... nice tribute there too. Very cool.
And... Q! Alittle sad we didn't get Wesley Crusher come to say hi to his half-brother, but Q was cool. It's even addressed HOW he could be there, "You mortals think so linearly." Like yeah, Q died in S2... but... Q also exists outside of normal space-time, so he can "die" at an earlier point and still be active later on.
And also as the E-D shut down and the computer lets them know, Riker's "I miss that voice." hit hard. That was definitely a double meaning, the computer itself and Majel Barrett.
I'm still left with some questions, but that's ok. I don't think everything needs to directly explained, and most of my questions are kind of general lore related anyway. I think everything that NEEDED to be answered was answered.
"You mortals think so linearly." Like yeah, Q died in S2... but... Q also exists outside of normal space-time, so he can "die" at an earlier point and still be active later on.
I have to wonder if part of his reason for his final test last season was to get everyone into position to survive this test, and come out better for it.
I have to wonder if part of his reason for his final test last season was to get everyone into position to survive this test, and come out better for it.
Q was somewhat unstable during that thing on account of... dying. But he was aware enough to set up a situation to get people where they needed to be, emotionally and potentially physically. The biggest part of that was probably that Picard may not have been ready/able to accept Jack as he did without confronting the issue of his mother/father... he had a sort of neurosis where he hated his father, he repressed the memory of his mother and bottled up everything to blame Maurice for everything bad that happened. If he still had that hate for Maurice inside of him... he may not have been able to give Jack what he needed, especially at the end... without Season 2, I think Picard may have just unplugged Jack and killed him. Anything for the mission, right?
Seven got some growth out of all that too, mostly getting over her self-loathing that tended to manifest as constant self-sabotage.
I will say there was one loose end I didn't realize right when watching it but do now and like... I don't know what to think... it's also not a big deal or something that really needs to be addressed...
Very much feels like Picard has reconnected with Beverly. They have a bond like they never did through Jack now. So... um... we also didn't see Laris again. I'm curious as to if Picard ended up rekindling with Beverly, or if he goes home to Laris. I'm on team Laris, really.
Kind of alittle sad we didn't see Laris one more time at the end there, and just kind of for the sake of it, Elnor. I was fine with Soji not showing up, her story ran it's course. Elnor didn't really have much but... it was literally Q's last act to bring him back before he died, might have been nice to see Raffi reach out or something quick at the end. Would have been even better if we were put in a situation where Borg-Elnor had to encounter Raffi...
Heh, STO definitely has a new promo box ship coming.
Super minor lore note... did we get a new division color? Cook guy was in gray... do we have a fourth division now, or maybe a support/logistics subdivision of Operations?
Q was somewhat unstable during that thing on account of... dying. But he was aware enough to set up a situation to get people where they needed to be, emotionally and potentially physically. The biggest part of that was probably that Picard may not have been ready/able to accept Jack as he did without confronting the issue of his mother/father... he had a sort of neurosis where he hated his father, he repressed the memory of his mother and bottled up everything to blame Maurice for everything bad that happened. If he still had that hate for Maurice inside of him... he may not have been able to give Jack what he needed, especially at the end... without Season 2, I think Picard may have just unplugged Jack and killed him. Anything for the mission, right?
Seven got some growth out of all that too, mostly getting over her self-loathing that tended to manifest as constant self-sabotage.
I will say there was one loose end I didn't realize right when watching it but do now and like... I don't know what to think... it's also not a big deal or something that really needs to be addressed...
Very much feels like Picard has reconnected with Beverly. They have a bond like they never did through Jack now. So... um... we also didn't see Laris again. I'm curious as to if Picard ended up rekindling with Beverly, or if he goes home to Laris. I'm on team Laris, really.
Kind of alittle sad we didn't see Laris one more time at the end there, and just kind of for the sake of it, Elnor. I was fine with Soji not showing up, her story ran it's course. Elnor didn't really have much but... it was literally Q's last act to bring him back before he died, might have been nice to see Raffi reach out or something quick at the end. Would have been even better if we were put in a situation where Borg-Elnor had to encounter Raffi...
Heh, STO definitely has a new promo box ship coming.
Super minor lore note... did we get a new division color? Cook guy was in gray... do we have a fourth division now, or maybe a support/logistics subdivision of Operations?
Whether purposefully or not, Elnor is implied to be dead again. It was his ship that was destroyed by the Borg in episode 9. Considering the unmitigated spite they showed Shelby, I'm going to guess that was purposeful.
Absolutely whelmed by the finale. Not as much of a clown shoe overload as the last episode, but the "That's good!"/"That's bad!" hot streak continues unabated.
I've got a lot of thoughts (lord o' mighty is Matalas astroturfing his Legacy show, and lmao even while Earth is literally burning President Chekov stops to 'member berry TOS), but honestly my biggest beef with the finale is that they literally pull the bizarre move of going "Hey good to see you Guinan, you're totally here just not on camera, great to have you here even though we'll never show you!".
Like, if you can't get Whoopie back, don't mention her!
*EDIT* Also press F for the Titan - she gets stripped to the studs for a "refit" and re-christened, then unceremoniously re-re-christened to a different lineage.
So what you wanted was Ready Player One: The Star Trek? I could say that I'm not judging you for that, but that'd be a lie: I am judging you, I'm judging you very hard and I find you wanting.
The first season was badly muddled but it at least seemed to want to say something, even if it never seemed to figure out exactly what it wanted to say. The second season was a trainwreck that quite frankly should not have been made to begin with. This season was... hollow, a crunchy layer of nostalgia bait and spectacle wrapped around a void. Sound and fury signifying precisely fuck all. If it has anything to say at all it says it in the penultimate episode, and that's "the Youngs are corrupted by a mind virus perpetuated by the perfidious Other that turns them against Society but it's okay, because the Olds will save the day!" which is an awful thing to say under the banner of Star Trek, and quite frankly made me want to punch Terry Matalas.
But this is, as you say, the very best Star Trek ever.
Like, I think I landed on the finale (and the show overall) being maybe a 6/10 but it's very fucking telling that the final scene is the exact same as "All Good Things..." but without any of the character growth.
