Star Trek: Picard.

Yeah, but they didn't have organs. And I think it was only one that was able to change into fog and fire. Their new abilities gave them the ability to replicate solids much more thoroughly, including organs and blood. Which would "lock" them into that form, making them vulnerable to physical damage. Vadic had to cut off her hand to let it form into skull dude.

Even so, she froze way too quickly. Without any matter to conduct away her thermal energy, she should have radiated her thermal energy much slower, it would take a couple hours at least for her to freeze enough to shatter.

These Changelings have been mutated/neutered/affected by Section 31 experimentation so that they apparently can either switch between goo form and humanoid form, but cannot do the shapeshifting of even a shitty-at-it shifter like Odo could do. On the plus-side for them, they can retain humanoid structures after death and can pass a blood screening that would ordinarily catch OG shifters.

Deanna had/has a telepathic bond with Riker as Encounter at Farpoint established. And it's clear that she can communicate telepathically with others with telepathic abilities, such as Lwaxana. In Nemesis, the Reman viceroy was able to get into her mind from some large distance away Since Jack has telepathic abilities of some unknown level, it's fair that he may be doing the heavy lifting in any telepathic communication.

Two things:

Did they blow up Picard's old body on the Shriek? There's no indication that they pulled it out, right?

If Vadic is not vaporized space debris....then so is the hand/face guy villain, or else the hand was always just some weird sort of communication device and he was never really there?

Fuck that.

It was worth it to see the TNG cast all together on screen for the first time in over 20 years.

Oh yeah, that part was nice. (A little weird that Data was apparently reinstated into Starfleet between scenes, tho) But there's that metric for judging a movie that goes "would I have been more entertained just watching the actors all have dinner together?" and I don't know if it met that standard.

And I'll admit I got a little teary when Data pulled out Spot.

But the rest of it was pointless. After forgetting they could just unplug Data/Lore while he was taking over the ship last week, they immediately unplug him and then take half the episode to remember that he could retake the ship again if they just plug him back in. Even if Data isn't fully in control, it shouldn't be hard explain to Lore than the changeling are going to kill him too, and that if he cooperates they'll happily drop him off on the synth planet where he'll be treated like a beloved celebrity.

And the Jack/Red Door mystery went on far too long. Whatever it is, it's going to be a letdown, and I bet they'll give almost zero time to play out the ramifications of what's really going on and who was in charge of Vadic all along.

And the hostage stuff dragged. You'd think Shaw would have more to say watching members of his crew get murdered over another Picard.

And why would Vadic turn off the lights and let her goons murder people in the dark when she's trying to bring back one particular person she knows is onboard? What happens if they kill Jack by mistake?

Hard to explain? No. Can you count on Lore to agree to do it? Also no.

Lore is basically chaotic evil and would just as easily help Vadic to give Picard and co. the finger as he would to act in his own self-preservation. And that's of course requiring that he buys that the Changelings would see him as a threat worth killing rather than the asset that he clearly could be, and that the Changelings would actually know that he's there and bother with him. As opposed to him just sneaking off the ship in a shuttle or something.

And who gives a shit about that dumbass nitpick because it gave us one of the greatest exchanges in this entire series:

Seven: "Get off my bridge."

Vadic: "Oh, fucking solids!"

And, strip away the context of Vadic's last words, it *still* makes for a great curse phrase

I did appreciate that part, but my point stands. If it's because of some alteration to their makeup, it needs to be acknowledged.

For 177 episodes and 4 movies, the TNG writers struggled to make a compelling story for Deanna Troi. I have to hand it to Terry Matalas & crew. The idea of a psychic empath using her abilities to shield her human husband from pain is so interesting… and dark. Where was this story 30 years ago when we had more time to flesh it out? I’m almost mad about it!

This ep had its up & downs, but I liked it for what it was. The TNG crew is back together!

I almost always relate to your interpretations of storylines - especially the ones that are furthest from the norm. But, I have to say, this never even entered my mind. And you’re right, it is interesting and fleshing it out over the course of 7 years would have/could have/should have been just the type of character development for Deanna as Data coming to terms with balancing being an android and wanting to be human. I just hope they don’t try to do in in two episodes.

I have been enjoying the hell out of this season. There are certainly nitpicks to be made, but it's been overall really good. Most of all, it feels like the natural evolution of these characters over 30 years.

Yeah that was so incredibly fucked up, intriguing, heartwarming, and far better than any Troi plot point from before.

Picard S3 proves that with just the right amount of fan service (see: caked on with a trowel like a two-dollar whore), you can cover over any amount of bad writing, mystery box BS and inane plot gymnastics.

Actually, someone on TV Tropes pointed out Troi was basically doing what we saw Lwaxana did in "Dark Page" - except Lwaxana only had to suppress her own pain since Deanna was too young at the time to remember her big sister's death.

If this is how Picard wraps up, I'm not sure if I'll laugh at the irony or shit kittens at ENT's worst idea being dredged up from the dark pits of Hell that we left it in back in 2004 when Coto took over



I was pretty forgiving of a lot of ENT's sins the first go around, but it was pretty obvious even to teenage me that no one wanted what I now know was a studio mandated so they could keep the door open for crossovers from the other shows. The writing was just not there for it.

TATV is a better valentine to ENT fans that bringing up this stupid ass bullshit.

Let it die.

It has been acknowledged that these changelings have been experimented on and they don't work the way OG changelings do. Remember the autopsy Crusher did where she talked about how OG changelings would revert to goo after death, and that these can pass the blood test we saw in DS9? Or the recap Vadic did talking about how they were experimented on by Section 31?

Did you want Vadic turning to the camera and saying "Oh no! Unlike most changelings, I can't survive in the vacuum of space because of the experiments done on me!"?

I don't disagree, but at least with the Changelings you don't quite have the same moral dilemma when you vaporize them or blow them out into space.

'Cause they ain't human, and Star Trek morality says it's okay to kill non-humans. (Note I said "Star Trek", as in the franchise -- not the Federation.)

I believe there were 3 changelings on Earth. And the one that met with Sisko might have been lying. I don’t think it’s at all implausible several were captured. It’s a big alpha quadrant, DS9 couldn’t show us everything.
It’s not named, but I’ve always figured Section 31 gave then-Captain Pressman the cloaking device to test on the Pegasus. It always bugged me that no one in TNG asked where he got it.

The best part of the episode is that they finally killed off Vadic. What a horrible villain, maybe the worst ever in Trek, she was just ridiculous. This silly old woman trying so hard to be all hardcore and menacing, just made me roll my eyes every time she opened her awful thin lips. She was basically the crazy old cat lady from the Simpsons

Or maybe the doctor saying "Huh. I guess those alterations had unintended effects. "

The monologuing protoplasm essentially said this at some point, I'm pretty sure.

I don't recall anything about that specifically. Stop apologizing for sloppy writing.

Sure you do, if you kill them while they're still occupying an innocent person. It's killing Borg drones all over again.

She started out fine when she was all mysterious and knew too much, but taking orders from a floating head, willingly abandoning the portal weapon, playing the pity card, and the dumb hostage taking plan really undermined her by the end.

It was said in dialogue that it had unintended consequences.

Go back and watch Episode 7. Vadic talks about how the S31 doctor whose form she took did a whole bunch of experiments on the nine changelings that were captive at Daystrom and inflicted ungodly amounts of pain on them. Beverly says "So you evolved from those experiments?" And Vadic confirms this and says that she's able to pass that along to Changelings who want to join their cause, and they get a shorter lifespan and eternal pain for the ability to better fool solids.

Note: it is sloppy writing to expect that any Changeling would take that deal.

"So right now, you can change into basically whatever you would like except the solids -- if they specifically think to test you -- will be able to tell that your "blood" will revert to goo. Of course, they will not generally be looking for that. But if you link with me, you can fool their blood screenings. In exchange, all you have to do is limit your shapeshifting abilities AND live in excruciating pain for a severely shortened lifespan. How's that sound?"

The 9/11 killers took a worse deal than that, and here we are.

The 9/11 killers were told that their acts would get them something better than what they had for them personally and for Islam. Giving up your life in exchange for a happy afterlife with all the hot virgins you can screw doesn't seem so shabby.

OG Changelings are already nearly undetectable, especially if you're not specifically looking for one. And they can change into all sorts of things, large and small. I don't see what self-respecting Changeling would give that up for the ability to not revert to goo after death or when cut, on top of a side order of perpetual pain.

I'm enjoying this series, albeit for all the wrong reasons.

It's all memberberries and sugary dopamine hits - I feel like we all won Golden Tickets, but no one called Bucket did. So I'm going to enjoy the sugar rushes until my fat arse gets stuck up a pipe, and I'm going to hum the theme from Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads as it fits the show as I go along.

Now what Jack is - given the flames though the keyhole, and the DS9 callbacks, he's got to be the Pah Wraith's Emissary surely? The door opens and there is an older Gul Dukat sneering "Oh, you've brought a friend along".

I'm hoping the Irumodic Syndrome stuff is a red herring, and it calls back to Sub Rosa, where it turns out Crushers have been getting magically knocked up by a Pah Wraith for evers, like a pyromaniacal Bene Gesserit.