Check Out New Photos From “Broken Pieces,” The 8th Episode Of ‘Star Trek: Picard’

CBS has released a few new photos from this week’s episode, which features the return of Fenris Ranger Seven of Nine. Also, Agnes’ actions have consequences. (More photos below.)

“Broken Pieces” — Episode #108 — Pictured (l-r): Santiago Cabrera as Cristóbal Rios; Michelle Hurd as Raffi; Sir Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard of the CBS All Access series STAR TREK: PICARD. Photo Cr: Trae Patton/CBS ©2019 CBS Interactive, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Episode teaser

Here’s the teaser for this week’s episode in case you haven’t seen it yet.

Photos


New episodes of Star Trek: Picard are released on CBS All Access in the USA Thursdays at 12:01 AM PT/3:01 AM ET. In Canada it airs Thursdays on CTV Sci-Fi Channel at 6PM PT /9PM ET and streams on Crave. For the rest of the world it streams Fridays on Amazon Prime Video. Episodes are released weekly.

Keep up with all the Star Trek: Picard news at TrekMovie.

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I’m really curious to see what their plans for Seven are. Hope this is not the end of what we know of her.

However, I’d like to bring attention to some other thing… The official description for next week’s episode is (TrekMovie maybe you should add it in the article): “When devastating truths behind the Mars attack are revealed, Picard realizes just how far many will go to preserve secrets stretching back generations, all while the La Sirena crew grapples with secrets and revelations of their own. Narissa directs her guards to capture Elnor, setting off an unexpected chain of events on the Borg cube.”

Especially this part: “…how far many will go to preserve secrets stretching back generations…” This looks more and more like a direct tie-in to what happened in DIS S2. I don’t know how I feel about this really. I’ll reserve judgment for when the season wraps.

“This looks more and more like a direct tie-in to what happened in DIS S2”

I don’t think so, I’m not sure where people see a connection there. From a storytelling standpoint it would not make any sense at all, imho. So far, Picard did tell a very specific story around Romulans, Borg and Synths. To have something in the finale like “Hey there and it’s all about Control AI bla blah or Discovery (the ship) and what happenened in that other show you ~probably~ watched, right?…” just doesn’t make any sense.

From where I stand it’s the Romulans who want to keep a secret – perhaps that they created the Borg somehow far back in the days – and something went very wrong. And since then, the Zhat Wash tries to destroy all Synths because they feel guilty. The reason mostly why I think that lies in the episode in which Hugh tells us that only a few Romulans were ever assimilated – which makes me wonder why the Romulans are the ones so much involved in the Borg Reclamation project. If it’s a problem mostly for other races, why care?

PIC as of now, is not about the Borg, nor about the Romulans. It’s about Synths and that parts of the Romulans and Federations establishment have problems with Synths. How will the Borg fit into this (and whether they will resolve that story in this season) remains to be seen.

Look, I kinda get what you are saying, but we have 2 Star Trek shows that tackle AI. DIS through Control, PIC through Synths. From a storytelling standpoint it will absolutely make sense to connect them. On the contrary, it would make lot less sense if you do the same subject twice but go in totally different directions especially when they are talking about AI destroying all life, and secrets that spans generations.

So from your standpoint, AI (Control or Synths) are a threat to all life twice so far and those two threats are completely unrelated to each other.

I will reiterate again, it makes complete sense to connect those two both from a storytelling perspective and from world-building perspective.

Whether it is the right decision that PIC tackles the same issue again is a whole different thing. We’ll debate when we know for sure :)

The idea that perfectly engineered AI will have all the qualities (imagination, etc) of organic life drastically impacts the concept of the Borg. If you can engineer perfect life to replace organic life why wouldn’t they have done so? Why all the assimilation? Isn’t that exactly what the Borg would love, an AI unimind with all the qualities of organics x 10000. The implication before was that the Borg saw you needed organics for imagination (i.e. to steal their ideas) but watch out, here comes engineered AI perfect people!!!
Of course we all know what is really happening, in trying to force a message into a show without thinking about it (poor Kahn in Into Darkness) they’ve opened up pandora’s box (let’s beam to the Klingon world when we aren’t firing cruise missiles, cough torpedoes, from the neutral zone).

Was that ‘Watch Out’ a reference to McCoy’s Genesis speech in TWOK? I see what you did there…

Personally I think the Borg assimilated populations not for their capacity for imagination, but for the IMPLEMENTATION of the ideas imagined; i.e., they don’t want Ada Lovelace, they want iOS.

Ugh, how can you like TNG having ignored the only cool concept in the Borg unimind as an enemy?
“We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your BIOLOGICAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL DISTINCTIVENESS to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile.”
The cool part being is that the Borg in being a “ultimate socialist collective in the unimind” thinks it is actually doing good. Villains are always better when they think they are doing the right thing. Also makes organics special – i.e. if perfect AI is so hot, why do they need biological distinctiveness (the implication being they must assimilate for new technology because they don’t get “imagination” as with V’ger in The Motion Picture). That used to be a reoccurring theme in Trek back when it was, you know, good.

@Falco: Fair enough! :)

@StarTrick, I could be completely wrong here. Everything hinges on the revelations in the next episode. They can really go to a completely different way because the Borg is still the unknown part of the equation. But as of now, my money is on DIS tie-in.

I’m really not sure what the show is about. Like with Disco they introduced so many things so quickly and I fear, just like Discos, most of it goes nowhere. The suggestion that the show is about Synths doesn’t make much sense since aside from the 1st and 2nd Episode we don’t see them do anything – and even then, it’s flashbacks. We still dont know who they were in the ships that attacked Mars…more Synths? or different synths? Where did they get those ships? How did they get all the way to Mars (unless they were federation ships…but they don’t look like it).

The last few episodes seem to be about Soji and finding Soji. And the Borg…so is it about the origins of the Borg? Is it about the Romulans fighting Synths? Even though they didn’t bother going after Data in TNG…I mean…wasn’t Data on Romulus for a time with Spock? What else…maybe its about AI…so that would link Synths…to the Borg…to Soji…to Jurati…to *head explodes*.

Even “Code of Honor” and “The Naked Now” had a cohesive beginning, middle and end. Any writing team that can tie all this together in a few episodes deserve an Oscar for Cross-Stitching.

I do agree with you that they really need to tie the Borg and the Synth story line closer together because as of now they are treated like two totally different plot lines; but we know there HAS to be a connection somewhere. But it hasn’t been suggested there is one…by anyone, Picard, the Romulans, no one.

The Borg plotline is just VERY confusing to me. I originally thought the point was that the Romulans had the cube in secret, that they were planning something sinister with it (ie, what Romulans always do lol). But then we come to find out everyone knows about it and technically the Federation is even helping them. Maybe not directly as a government but they have Federation people legitimately working there. We know what Hugh and Soji were doing there and was trying to rehabilitate the Xbs, but that really CAN’T be it alone? Is no one at least WORRIED the Romulans have one of the most advanced species and their tech to harness however they please? It is odd, but supposedly it was the reason Maddox sent Soji to the cube in the first place, so he seem to think something was up.

As far as the Romulans hating Synths and all of that with Data, etc, the only way to probably explain it is that A. Not all Romulans felt threatened by them as the Zhat Vash does now and/or B. whatever fear they feel now is due to whatever crisis they see on the horizon and became more proactive to eradicate them. In other words synths may not have been part of Romulan society in the past but only now do they fear them as an immediate threat due to what Commodore Oh showed Dr. Jurati. Best way to reconcile it I guess.

I really admire your efforts to try and make sense of all this and I wish I shared your optimism that it’ll work out in the end.

I’m just really disappointed in general. They had so much lore and ideas to work with. I can imagine all the possibilities they could have had with a plotline which focused solely on the Romulans experimenting with the derelict Borg cube…and a community of scientists working to rehabilitate Borg while a more sinister layer of Romulan bureacracy (which could have been the Tal Shiar) were trying to adapt the technology to rejunivate a weakened Romulan Empire.

Instead, we have a confusing mess intermixed with an incestuous three-way which feels more like a “Days of our Lives in Space’ than Science Opera.

I go back to my earlier point. The WORST of TNG had more cohesion and coherence.

I honestly feel the show runners, the writers…the SFX artists are doing their best. You can feel the effort…like watching someone running a race…gasping for air…reaching for the finishing line…but just not getting there….because they haven’t learned to walk yet.

I too agree that the Borg part of the whole storyline is a litle weird. As Narissa mentioned in the last ep, there is a treaty with the Federation (that is implied it encompasses the Artifact) and that is why she couldn’t kill Hugh in round 1. But, the whole part that Romulans are brutally extracting tech from the drones and mutilating them all under the eyes of everyone in the galaxy purely for profit? and nobody is saying hey guys, take it easy a bit, is a little weird to me.

But, I have another question that I want to throw in here. Why are we assuming that PIC will follow the DIS way of storytelling and that all of the threads will or need to be resolved this season? Maybe nothing will be resolved completely. Maybe some aspects (the truth about the synths) will be resolved, but that story and the Borg arc will evolve and the whole show (however long it may last) will be just about the things we saw in S1 or about returning the Federation on the right course by dealing with the truth about the Synths and the issues with the Borg.

We’ve seen quite a few shows (in the last decade) where the season finale raises more questions then it provides answers.

I’m definitely preparing my self for that possibility.

Falco, I do not think the Romulans are the ones extracting Borg parts for profit. There are other nefarious types out there doing that. I think the Cube stuff is just what Hugh said it was. Trying to reconnect ex-Borg to where they originally came from.

And yes, I think it increasingly obvious that there are way too many story elements to get satisfactorily tied up with the time we have left. They are either going to wrap things up in a shoddy fashion like STD S1 or they will wrap up some things but leave with a larger revelation in the form of a cliffhanger.

That’s a good point you raise then. What are the Romulans doing on the Artifact actually? I got the impression that they are dismantling the technology from the drones and the cube itself for their own purposes.

I believe they outright SAID that’s what they were doing in episode 2. Or Hugh said it in episode 3?

@YKeeg, I believe so too…

Hugh said to Soji that there are those who want to exploit the XBs for their tech and those want to exploit the XBs themselves, but the Romulans want to do both.

So, yes, the Romulans are exploiting the harvested tech even if it is extracted more humanely.

However, they have an agenda to exploit the XBs, and the XBs are under the authority of ‘a queen who is Romulan’. We haven’t been shown or told what that agenda is.

Rehabilitation under Hugh’s direction was his own objective, not the Romulans. The XBs have limited or no civil rights, can’t get out from the Artifact, and have no power to resist the Romulans plans.

Pleaseletmecritique… To play the devil’s advocate a bit… Perhaps this is a case where the season long story works against Picard? It is not a simple 45 minute episode where you can focus on one main issue. Or if you are incapable of devoting 45 minutes to the idea then you split it with an A and B story. But here, you have a huge situation normally only seen in feature films. Short season TV tends to do that these days. So they overload it because A: They need to fill up perhaps 8 hours of story and B: It is expected to be bigger and more complex because of the season long story concept.

Sometimes less is more.

I agree that Season-long story arcs seem to work against New Trek in general. I don’t compare Picard & Disco to TNG or TOS…its not fair, on either. I compare Picard & Disco to Altered Carbon, the Expanse and the Orville. The two former examples prove that you need really good talent to pull off a season-long story arc and the latter proves you can have a modern and popular show that sticks to the 1980s formulae of simple characters, simple stories with a beginning middle and end.

Expanse had a first first episodes which were rocky and frankly the 2nd season of Altered Carbon is boring compared to the 1st season…but Star Trek Picard was given decades of Lore handed to them on a platter…they didn’t need to invent the Borg…they didn;t need to invent a backstory for Picard…they didn’t need to invent the Federation. Hell! Mass Effect 1 and 2 had more cohesive stories…

…they had it all. The budget, the lore, the characters, the fans (who are pains in the butts, sure, but they have proven loyalty)…and what have they done with it? Tied themselves in knots. Again.

…or not…they have a few episodes to go…but really? can they pull it off? I’ll be the first to eat humble pie if they do.

You make a good point Tiger2. It really is hard to imagine that the Federation would be totally fine with Romulans completely running the show with this Borg cube thing. Their empire has taken a gigantic blow. Many feel betrayed by the Federation. The potential for something horrid I’d say is fairy high. But I guess we aren’t supposed to think about that sort of thing…

Pleaseletmecrique,

I don’t disagree. When you put it like that I realized I had completely forgotten all about the Mars attack and political stuff that was going on. I have been completely focused on the Romulans trying to get their hands on the cyborg which Rios and Picard staying just ahead of them. I guess it’s a bit of a testament for the show that I have forgotten a lot of the stuff that was introduced early on. There sure does seem to be a lot going on and not very many episodes left to wrap things up. I fear we are bound to run into a STD S1 situation….

You have earned my undying respect. Too many people engage in discussion and debate for the soul purpose of keeping to the same opinions no matter what they hear.

I certainly can’t blame you for forgetting these muddled plot threats, as far as Disco is concerned, it is something you share with the writers! But they have no excuse…

Another possibility… I may have forgotten about all that because I find the Rios crew to be the best part of the show and seem to really be honed in on those characters and situations. And I found that I really didn’t care all that much about synths or Borg. To me those elements really bog the show down.

We’re seeing the connection because Jurati’s mind meld with Oh showed a lot of the same flashes (identical FX assets with slightly different color filters) that Spock saw in his mind meld with the Red Angel. Both melds pertain to a future AI destroying all life, so, yeah. Totally seeing a connection.

While this simply could be a money-saving measure, reusing existing assets like the Disco shuttles, the timing and similarity in tone is just too much to be a coincidence.

It was done for budgetary reasons I’m sure. I didn’t even recognize it as being from Discovery. I’ve only seen the show the one time and have no intention to submit myself to it again. It’s really not a big deal and I think people shouldn’t read into it like some are.

It will make absolutely no sense to connect them, despite the fact that the epicenter is focused on destructive AI. But because this is Alex Kurtzman’s writers room (CW alums), they will totally tie it together. Such horribly written shows.

If it is Control I again find it entertaining that Pike and the 1701 won the day where Picard failed to protect Mars.. reminds me of Generations where the Ent-D was lost to 150year old BOP that the 1701-A could handle in VI.
Though Picard helping Control is consistent with his character.

You forgot to whine about the replicators and free energy and stuff.

Suddenly starships are “expensive” to the point they use robots on Mars that Picard programs to have emotions so I’m cool on the replicators (TNG does need resources, thanks ST: Picard!) especially if your cool with Picard being sadistic.

Picard is a programmer now?

Well granted he was a lousy Admiral but the evacuation fleet was his responsibility. Dare we compare “As Captain I am responsible for the conduct of those under my Command” to Admiral ‘ anything for more perfect engineered life like Data’

I hope this has nothing do do with CONTROL from DISCO Ssn2. I always assumed CONTROL was created last minute to account for another Discovery showrunner change. it seemed so lazy

Remember all those theories about Control and the Borg from Disco S2. Well here we go…

Let’s think about it. How did that Control guy die and how did Maddox Die? they used the same FX. :(

Leland (who was at that point taken over by a large quantity of Control’s nanoparticles) was subjected to a strong electromagnetic field in the spore drive test cube, which disrupted the nanoparticles – we saw them pouring out of him.

Maddox was killed by Jurati increasing his blood pressure to fatal levels, which caused a lot of broken blood vessels to bloom under his skin. This way, it could look like a natural cardiac failure from his torture (presuming she erased the records of what she did).

They might look vaguely similar, but they couldn’t be more different :)

I would find that to be a remarkable letdown.

Why would that be? You’ve been pretty vocal about your disappointment with this show, aside from the pilot, so where would the room for a letdown be, much less a “remarkable” one?

…conversely, I’ve recently mentioned here how much I’m starting to enjoy this show, Michael, with the exception of some plot inconsistencies and what I consider weak villains. Is it the direction I would have picked for Trek to go in? Not necessarily. But I think the last two episodes have been the strongest of the season so far, and I have even downloaded the opening theme from iTunes (something I’ve never done with any Trek theme). I’m simply offering that to link PIC with DSC (which I have been quite vocal about disliking) would be doing a great disservice to PIC, imo. I would prefer PIC to stand on its own, because thus far, I think DSC is utter crap (except for moments of Pike).

Okay, fair enough (guess I missed those, as I’m not as regular a lurker/poster here as I used to be). The show is by no means above criticism, though I’m liking it overall (my favorite episode would be #4, which is still Chabon’s solo writing credit), and I’m glad you’re having a decent time with it.

I’m afraid so… but hopefully not!

This is the first episode in weeks without a “Dr. Jurati looking stern/worried on the bridge” portrait. :)

It looks like she may have done some more throwing up, however.

Hey, that vomiting is a new thing for Trek.

Not that many Trek characters get to exhibit an unprecedented bodily experience.

(Does US broadcast television censor on-screen vomiting?)

I am unaware of anyone daring to show the stuff leaving the mouth. It’s nearly always done off screen or out of sight in some way. Even in feature films. At best I think I may have seen a bit of vomit around an actor’s mouth post upchuck. Others may have a better grasp on this.

Once again I have to state for the record how much I REALLY hope this show is not connected to DSC in any tangible way. I fear that hope is going to be dashed.

who cares if it is or isnt… i suggest go back to school… become s a writer… move to hollywood… get a job at paramount and trek then become showrunner and create your own new series that every trek minion who knows better will tell you everything you’re doing wrong…

Enough worrying already about STD (ha), incestual Romulans, Seven/Dahj/Someone else queen, and etc. Just sit back and enjoy!

That “other” cube in the preview looks terrifyingly monolithic.

My theory – Pinhead is the Borg King and he’s come to make cenobites of the Alpha Quadrant :D I actually had a dream about this years ago, remember it quite vividly…

Exactly!! Just enjoy STD and STP for what they are,an enjoyable tv show.

You’ll have to enjoy STD for me, JRT!. PIC has been adequately entertaining so far… I’m really hoping Control isn’t shoehorned into the series.

I do agree on that point…

Why are the crew taking Jurati to Deep Space 12…and not 9, ugh.

They heard the fans complaining about fan service. :-P

Perhaps because DS9 is on the other side of the Sol System (if I’ve got my Trek cartography right in my head).

Because DS9 is practically on the other side the galaxy maybe? And why would they even GO there?

Presumably DS12 is closer to the Romulan border. DS9 was in Bajoran space in the Alpha Quadrant; Romulan territory is in the Beta Quadrant.

From an out-of-universe point of view re-creating the DS9 sets might have been too much.

I hope they change the entire art direction and costumes for Season 2. Did they get drab discount clothing from Banana Republic for these ‘costumes’? Budget must have been tight to pay for all the CGI.

LOL

They apparently decided on a retro look for the clothing to go with the show’s more grounded visual style. It’s a defensible artistic choice, though not one I would have gone with.

I’m fine with the costuming. Fashion trends lean to dark colours and conservative styles during periods of relative scarcity.

My production design nitpick is all the unsecured clutter and rolling furniture in a medbay on a ship that experiences issues with inertial dampening.

It doesn’t look ‘StarFleet’, but more to the point, there is a reason why even in the era of Victorian clutter, ships secured objects not in use in latched drawers and cupboards and wedged chests. The logic of persistence in logical design has failed them on that point.

No signs of scarcity on earth (and no reasons put forth for it if there were). But I do agree with you on the second point, though in truth there’s been lots of unsecured stuff on every ship in the franchise going back to TOS, the luxurious E-D probably being the worst of the lot.

Yes, I’ve always wondered what the crew’s quarters looked like after a red alert LOL.

But, the La Sirena medbay seems to have taken on unsecured clutter as an aesthetic.

By the way, the drab colours (and previously long skirts) in recessions is a psychological phenomenon not an economic one. It hasn’t cost more to make bright coloured clothes in the better part of a century, but the pattern rolls on. So, it’s the socio-political idea of scarcity that determines the trend, not a manufacturing constraint.

Good points TG re the psychological phenomenon.
I find drab colors so wearying though. Wouldn’t they?
And why the FECK do they keep putting Soji in those dreadful jumpsuits. At least fit them slightly, my god

I’ve always secretly been concerned for Picard’s fish after all that shaking. It made me wonder if there was some sort of force field that protected any aquarium on board!

Regarding the desks and loose items I always just assumed robots came out and cleaned everything up so fast that no one ever saw them work!

Glad to see you back Michael! :)

I have no idea why inertial dampening is considered such a vital system that it demands power diversion. I guess everyone in the 24th century is too lazy to properly secure ship’s gear or wear mag boots? Jaysus on a zero-grav bus

The inertial dampeners was a concept they had to come up with to deal with the physics of the incredible speeds these ships achieve. Without them just slowing down would take ages to keep people standing. I recall someone asking Bermam or someone else high up, “How do inertial dampeners work?” He replied, “Very well, thank you.”

Not Banana Republic, surely something more like Forever21 or American Apparel

Season Two: Picard Hot Topic!

What’s the over/under of Seven dying in Episode 8?

I give her a 7/9 chance…

lol

Napkins? Wow

Wow. Soji appears to be wearing shoes in this episode. This is a first for the series.

Yeah. That’s because Kurtzman was fired between episodes 7 and 8. :-P

“I’m out.”
~ Quentin Tarantino

oh gaaawd, it´s that lazy cheesy control thing pooping all over our cherished Data family story… crap!

Hunch: I think at the end of this season, we will meet Data (a positronic fractal clone with all of his memories) reborn as a flesh a blood synth. Maybe in the form of a boy. It was always data’s dream to be a “real” human and Riker referred to him a “Pinocchio” in Encounter at Farpoint. In Soji’s dream, she was made of wood on the table like Pinocchio. I think that’s going to be the twist. Data alive, in the form of a flesh and blood boy.

Interesting thought, Luke.

I like that. :-)

Maybe they backed-up their Data to the (Free)cloud… 😏

That is the rumor I heard weeks ago. One that I found to be so amazingly lame it rivals the Lorca MU thing for the dumbest thing to ever happen in Trek.

I’m not in love with it, but could live with it.

In the Relaunch novels, Soong (who has been hiding) was able to bring back Data in an adult body that appeared fully human, and could be reconfigured to different appearances.

Data didn’t want to return to Starfleet. In fact, he had his own goals, not least trying to revive Lal and to connect with other artificial life forms.

While these weren’t my favourite of the Relaunch books, they’re very popular.

All to say, it’s been shown to be workable.

I guess I should say that the rumor I heard was Data would be awakened in the Cyborg girl. Same actress. Same voice. Just it would be Data with all his mannerisms and memories. Essentially Data’s soul or consciousness or essence or whatever it was that made him sentient over the other AI attempts would be in Cyborg girl. (I honestly do not recall her name which is why I keep referring to her that way. That is telling for how memorable the character is)

I suspect that we have not seen the last of Brent Spiner.

Interesting idea.

I honestly have been surprised how quickly Data faded into the background here. While I obviously wouldn’t read *too* much into Brent Spiner’s presence during some of the press tour (and would note that, at least in the interview footage I saw, he seemed more “along for the ride” than the core cast, which would be consistent with how small a role he’s had), I have been surprised that he hasn’t reappeared in more dreams, for instance. Sure, the de-aging effects are expensive, but it’s odd how absent he’s been given how central he is to the show’s premise. (I’d also note that while I’ve been a big fan of the new characters and the performances their actors have given, I have sometimes felt that Picard himself is oddly de-emphasized. I know Patrick Stewart’s no spring chicken, and probably doesn’t have quite the stamina for long shoots he did in the TNG days, but he’s not as much of a focal point as I had expected given that the show is named after his character.)

Anyway, I have two major Data-related questions that still need answering, from a narrative perspective:

1) Why did the Zhat Vash never lift a finger against Data when he was still alive? They had lots of opportunities.

2) What the hell ever happened to Lore? Last we knew, he was disassembled, just like B-4. Granted, there was something a bit off with his positronic net, but why never mention him (aside from keeping the backstory tidy, a la Lal)? Before the Synth ban, they could have tried putting Data’s backup into Lore’s body…

Maybe we’ll get a twist where Maddox & Jurati *did* resurrect Data, in Lore’s stolen body, and Data built his “daughters” with Maddox on that planet with the red moons? (Not likely, I know…)

I also think that Maddox is not dead. It may have been a flesh synth copy of Maddox. Remember Dr. Ira Graves and his research on being able to transfer himself at death into an android body? I think we might be in for a switcheroo like this off some sort. Who knows? Also, why would Maddox wish coming out from hiding when when he could send a decoy copy out? Looking forward to some twists.

And Mudd had numerous copies of himself, too.

Sippin jippers on a beach somewhere

I’ve been speculating along somewhat the same lines luke montgomery.

However, it seems unlikely that a synthetic Maddox would have not been discovered by Bjayzl’s gang.

Or, maybe Bjayzl knew right away that any Maddox who turned up must be a synthetic, and was only of use as a fraudulent trade. This would explain her initial order to kill ‘Maddox’.

Yup, with ya there Luke

Luke, I think the fact that Maddox was recast is enough reason to believe that he is as dead as David Marcus.

Interesting posts, Logician and Luke. I’ve thought of Ira Graves, too, but in connection to Picard. Maybe not. But the almost off-handed mention by Agnes that all of Data’s memories could be reconstructed from a single positronic neutron is sitting there begging to be developed. Somehow the attack on Mars, the Romulan obsession with synths, the Borg, and “the Destroyer” are all interconnected. Apparently we’ll learn more this week.

Make that positronic neuron (grrr spellcheck).

Was it indeed Maddox on that planet? I thought maybe Data?

Lore keeps playing out in my imagination. Perhaps Picard is not LOTR, but more like Apocalypse Now? Which is also kind of what Nemesis was like? So we have Picard who thinks he looking for Data’s daughter, but instead is there to terminate Lore… who will tie together the Borg, The Synths, and (gasp) Control? That would be a crazy cliffhanger for season 2.

1: Because it would have been extremely difficult save for a few scant opportunities. But unless they found some way of monitoring data 24/7 odds are they would not have even been aware of the opportunities. Only in Reunification would there have been a chance to do something. But I think the real answer is because they didn’t have that edict decades ago.

2: The less we hear about data’s evel twin the better. Lore was a creatively bankrupt concept from the beginning and certainly deserving of season one hokiness.

I don’t think that Data would have been cool with killing Lore so that he could live.

I’m looking forward to another episode directed by Maja Vrvilo.

I thought she did a fantastic job with episode 6.

Are they sitting at a high school table? Seems like a lame reused contemporary design.

Further to my earlier comment, it seems odd to have bolted down industrial style tables and bench seats in the open area, but unsecured furniture, equipment and supplies in the medbay that will be hurled around during manoeuvring.

LOL I didn’t really notice until you mentioned it but yeah it looks a bit TOO contemporary.

Not to mention ugly and uncomfortable. Gad, the whole design of this show [except for exteriors] is just … fugly.

Agreed. I actually love the beautiful exteriors but a lot of the interiors so far still leaves a lot to be desired; especially everything dealing with the La Sirenna which I think is just a horrible design all around, inside and out.

But even the Borg cube lacks compared to all the past ones. The guys on Trekyards did a video about it last week and made a lot of observations about it that I didn’t really notice that much until it was pointed out that this cube looks pretty bland and bare compare to how complex and interesting the former cubes use to look. I don’t hate it, but its funny how much it lacks considering they have more money and better FX today to play with.

I think Rios’ ship is supposed to be a bit on the cheap side. It was not supposed to be slick and new like a Federation Star Ship. Although I do think given that it ought to be a bit more cramped than it is…

I’m okay with a big empty box if it’s supposed to be a merchant/commercial ship.

Federation vessels other than Starfleet’s have always been boxy.

Even the configurable cabins and holodeck for paying passengers make sense.

However, the configuration with the stairwell doesn’t line up with being able to lock down large containers.

I still think that La Sirena is more than she appears.

Don’t get me started on the costumes… as well, the interiors make me scratch my head.

Given headlines like “Star Trek: Picard Viewership Plummets Over Half A Million In Canada“ prob trying to save capital.

You do realize all of this was made months ago right? And one country good or bad isn’t going to make any big difference when its streaming in over a hundred of them.

From the article “ However, given the rapid attrition of Canadian viewers from Picard, it’s safe to assume that CBS All Access is more than likely facing similar results.”

I’m talking about the line ‘trying to save capital’. They spent that loooong ago lol.

And TG47 link below proves it’s doing quite well in Canada! And even if it dropped harder, it’s already been renewed so either way it doesn’t matter that much.

Command Bremmon, Star Trek Picard premiered during CTV Sci-fi Channel’s promotional free period at the end of January.

Numeris’ figures don’t account for what proportion of those initial viewers were not subscribers to the paid premium channel.

Now, one could argue that BellMedia was running the free access period in the hopes that Picard would get new sign ups for the service, but for all we know some interested new subscribers chose crave instead of the premium cable channels.

Last point, Picard is actually maintaining demand well as compared to streaming shows that drop all at once.

It’s great to hear Picard is holding its own in Canada TG47! Pcard is loved everywhere! :)

But I’m now curious, how well is it doing compared to what DIS did its first season there? It’s funny these shows now play in so many countries now but Canada is really the only one that has hard numbers on ratings since they stream practically everywhere now. I would assume its doing well on AA, BUT when compared to the other shows there. But who knows what that means in terms of expectations.

Picard is doing better than Discovery from what’s available in ratings and Parrot Analytics’s comprehensive demand analysis.

In fact, one of the demand analysis stats that I find very interesting is that in the lead up to Picard’s premiere, demand for Discovery picked up in Canada, the U.S. snd the U.K. (No hard Numeris ratings since Discovery isn’t on broadcast currently.). There is also some modest indic

So, Picard has been motivating viewers, and likely new viewers, to check out Discovery. More than that, it appears that increased demand is being sustained.

Bottom lines:

– Picard is reasonably maintaining demand with a weekly release

– Picard is also increasing demand for other franchise properties

– Picard is building a new audience for the franchise in Latin America (based on upward demand trends in Mexico and to a lesser extent in Brazil.)

It was not an extreme assumption before the show even began that Picard would have more viewings than Discovery. They had a built in audience with the character that Discovery never had. It’s a bit of an unfair advantage. And then Picard had the advantage of coming AFTER Discovery, learning from SOME of their mistakes and producing not a good show but a better one than Discovery.

But… This could also not bode well for future Trek that does not involve legacy characters. It suggests the possibility that Trek will work better if it has known characters and new ones will have a difficult time. Harder still if, like Discovery, has new characters who are mostly weak combined with a less than interesting plot line. I think for a show with entirely new characters to work they really need a good, interesting and well thought out story for their season since it is inevitable they will have season long arcs. Turns out this is a tougher climb than I had originally thought it would be.

I think you compare Picard to the Mandalorian (no one knew who “baby Yoda” was six months ago) and I don’t think you need to worry about thoughts that future Trek needs legacy characters. That *maybe* applies to TNG fans only (OMG, RIKER AND TROY ON A FARM!!!! SERVING PIZZA!! BEST TREK EVER!!!)

Well so far we only have the two example to work from. So it is a small sample size. But that is what the samples show at the moment.

Hi Tiger2.

While we have Numeris rating for broadcast and cable television in Canada, a lot of the demand is on OTT services. So, Numeris is just part of the picture.

But even the Numeris ratings for Picard are strong. For the week ending March end, Picard was the top rated premium cable show, and the 12 rated show overall. That means, it drew a larger audience any other broadcast sci-fi show.

Here’s where it can be found.

http://en.numeris.ca/media-and-events/tv-weekly-top-30

The article Cmd Bremmon found looks like it was deliberately trying to put a bad spin on the Canadian numbers, especially as it didn’t mention that the show premiered during a ‘free trial’ period for the premium cable channel.

BTW Picard streams on BellMedia’s OTT service called crave. HBO is available in Canada via OTT service crave+HBO. So, crave is a go to service for a lot of premium US cable content. Amazon Prime doesn’t have as big a range of content as in the US, but several Canadian premium cable channels (other than BellMedia’s) are available stacked on Prime.

I haven’t seen stats on how Disney+ is doing.

Where on earth did you get that alleged stat Cmd Bremmon?

Demand in Canada for Star Trek Picard holding quite well according to the only independent public data (Parrot Analytics).

Latest stats here:

https://tv.parrotanalytics.com/CA/star-trek-picard-cbs-all-access

(CTV Sci-fi Channel has Numeris ratings, but crave is a big part of the demand.)

Yes, there was a peak in demand for the premiere episode, as there was in most of the major country markets, but the fall off is marginal. (Demand is actually building in Mexico and Brazil.)

Canadian data analysis firm Numeris, who provide “broadcast measurement and consumer behavior data, as well as industry-leading intelligence, to a membership and licensee base that includes Canadian broadcasters, advertisers and agencies, as well as other broadcast-related organizations,” released their latest viewership for Star Trek: Picard as part of their TV Weekly Top 30.

The latest numbers are from Episode 5. They report that the show was only viewed by 1.309 million viewers.

The show originally debuted in Canada with 1.851 million viewers on January 23rd.

Cmd Bremmon the order of our responses seems a bit scrambled, but you’ll find my points above show that Picard is actually exceptionally well in Canada.

One last bit of perspective:

In 2019, The Orville had an average broadcast television audience in the United States of a bit less than 3 million viewers per episode. So, that’s 3 million out of a population of about 330 million Americans.

By contrast, Picard is getting an audience of close to 1.4 million Canadians out of 35 million on a premium pay cable station, and that number doesn’t even include Picard’s streaming audience on the OTT service crave.

So, the Orville would proportionally need to have a broadcast audience of more than 13 million per episode in the United States to match Picard’s Canadian broadcast audience alone.

Picard is doing very well.

TNG’s ‘technology unleashed’ must have gotten rolled back by the current administration. The stills make me think of much less interesting versions of the sets in the Roger Corman 80s space movies. The ones made for pennies on the dollar compared to Trek.

Thanks kmart, I’m finding Picard an odd mix of production design choices myself.

(I even see some throwbacks to Space 1999 and Star Lost.)

I’m wondering if the blowback from fans about Discovery’s ‘visual reboot’ has been a factor.

I hope that blow back is not even remotely part of the reasoning. It would make sense that the wrold of Picard be updated. He’s further along in the future. It makes ZERO sense to upgrade the tech in STD to be beyond what they had even on TNG UNLESS it was a full on reboot. I’m floored at the idea that the production crew might not realize this.

Ugh, PLEASE get Soji out of the Ugly Coveralls, cripes!

if this new episode doesn’t fully match my expectations of what i think should or should not happen then i am going to let the internet know how angry and disappointed i am

Getting a bit tired on the nitpicking Tom Riker ;)

I’ve noticed that there seems to be less of the over-the-top extreme views crashing this and other boards as the season rolls on.

But the fairly friendly nit-picking seems to have been part of the fan experience for as long as I can recall – and that goes back at least to the premiere of TMP.

trek fans have always been lovingly picky which used to be awesome but i think they’ve turned a corner into obnoxious and toxic… not all of them mind you… but you know who i mean… like almost everyone here

Tom Riker, chill out and enjoy the show. I wish certain things are different as well, but its okay the way it is. These new producers are all Star Trek Fans. They are doing this new show with passion. Trying their best with our beloved characters. Everyone, from top executives, to hard core fans have a say. And I have seen that they are actually going to conventions to talk/listen to people, willing to make improvements if necessary.

Live Long and Prosper!

Jay… apologies as i was being sarcastic mocking many on this board… apparently failing miserably lol… i’ve been loving every minute… not everything would be my choice but i’m not writing it… same goes for tng, ds9 etc… we’ve somehow crossed into this threshhold where we think every show now has to meet our every expectation and choice… i on the other-hand just take in what they do and enjoy it

Glad to read this. After watching so many years of ST I realized how some episodes are non sense the first time I watch them. Then, years later I enjoy them very well.