The Shuttle Pod Crew Gathers ‘Round The Campfire To Talk “Et In Arcadia Ego, Part 2”

‘Star Trek: Picard’ Season 1, Episode 10

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The Shuttle Pod crew gather round their mics to discuss the final episode of the first season of Star Trek: Picard. Feelings are mixed among the crew. We all agree that the show ultimately delivered a heartwarming as ever scene providing closure we’ve been waiting for for twenty years. And, the episode did tie up a lot of key story threads from the season. But, so many other narrative threads were left hanging, and Picard’s new reality opens up one huge can of worms for the franchise.

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Ok, so I’m going to respectfully disagree with you guys on one part of your analysis:
Chabon himself has said that Picard’s transition into the golem is going to play a large part in season 2. I do agree with Kayla in part that the “Picard as golem” thing was conceived as a way to get Picard into Data’s simulation. However, I suspect that we will see how transition plays out fully in the coming seasons. In the podcast episode, you guys make it sound like a shitty throwaway gag, which I don’t think it is.

I will say that overall, it still is a bit tough to swallow, especially as Picard has always had a healthy appreciation for his mortality. I think that TNG-era Picard would have thrown a fit about being moved into an artificial body. But by the same token, i think this philosophical quagmire is exactly the kind of weighty thinking that has always drive Picard as a character and I think how he wrestles with that will end up informing a large part of his character arch for the next two seasons. And I would also being willing to bet dollars to donuts that he will pull the plug on himself at the end of season 3.

Just my opinion.

I think that many may have missed the boat about what the first season of the show was about, IMO it was about Picard and Data and Soji. And all of those narratives were answered. As for the many threads not answered, totally agree except for your Borg cube questions. The Orchid soft landed the cube just the same way it softlanded the other two ships. That question seems irrelevant at least to me. As for Narek, The XBs, those are absolutely legit and Chabon joked, Jurati is going to need a lawyer. Oh “failure of imagination” IMO means “think outside the box” for a solution. I do however agree with you on the fix anything device, but I guess they were trying to show viewers how technically advanced they were – I guess! Also, why did Picard not just fire up the holograms to fly the ship? Anyway, despite those issues, maybe I’m the one who missed the boat on this show because overall I thought it was quite good. No matter what, take care, stay healthy and safe everyone. LLAP

Well, it’s easy to miss that boat when it’s packed with plot elements like Borg reclamation and ancient Romulan mysteries that should probably be saved for later seasons and allow the heart of the story with Picard, Data and Soji more room to breathe. Overloaded boats tend to sink.

Yeah, can totally agree with that take as the story didn’t always stay focused on the three primaries, but I can say I was happy with seeing other elements too, whether it was Seven’s struggle with her humanity and emotions, or the backstory of Riker and Troi’s family tragedy, etc. Perhaps as you say they tried to pack too much into S1 – maybe making the finale a 75 or 90 min final episode would have immensely helped. Hey Trekmovie.com – if you have insiders at CBSAA float the idea of having them release an EXTENDED VERSION of episode on the Blu-ray release, showing what happened with Narek, the XBs, and any other footage that ended up on the cutting room floor. Just a thought. I will post this separately as well, so that it might catch Trekmovie.com’s attention.

Economics of the Star Trek franchise as a podcast topic? Yes please! I would totally dig that!

Good podcast, but I disagree about one point. I absolutely loved the Ask Ron Moore boards back in the 90s and contributed often, so I enjoy when the creators interact with fans with Q&A. I asked Chabon a bunch of questions on his IG story and he answered every one. I love it. Bob Orci also did the Q&A on this very website!

I do agree that a show/movie should not let things go unanswered, so that’s not good. For example, Chris Terrio, the Rise of Skywalker writer, has given lots of interviews explaining things from his movie. That, to me, is not good writing.

The message board was the best format, but the IG story isn’t so bad. I’m not a fan of his snark, but I greatly appreciate Chabon for doing it.

Even a fixed-perspective video capture would improve these things immeasurably, as far as I’m concerned.

Every time I listen to the podcast (which is weekly) I feel like you guys forget the style of storytelling had changed. Yes, we are having to digest it in one hour episodes. But it’s really a 10 hour movie. Watch from one hour into any film and stop watching 30 minutes later, then compose a podcast on what you just watched. That’s what you’re doing when you continuously knit pick an episode of a 10 episode story that doesn’t narratively distinguish itself into actual episodes. Perhaps binge the season over again and comment on how you may or may not perceive it differently.

Message to Trekmovie.com – if you have insiders at CBSAA float the idea of having them release an EXTENDED VERSION of episode on the Blu-ray release, showing what happened with Narek, the XBs, and any other footage that ended up on the cutting room floor. Just a thought. It might help answer a lot of questions AND I am sure many would buy a version that was say 70 mins long instead of the 54 mins we got last week.

Yes! Far too many loose ends, plot holes. V unsatisfying. Btw sorry to neg but I feel Matt really dominated the conversation this week. He has great insight but I do enjoy a more balanced input from the other guys.
You all rock. LLAP.

Hmm. Well, I’m glad someone got something out of this. I can’t really say I did, but that’s fine. I’ll admit it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, I even liked some bits, but overall… sigh.

There’s a line in the Good Place about frozen yogurt, how there’s something so human about taking something great, and ruining it a little bit so you can have more of it. That’s Picard to me. I don’t really see the cleverness in resurrecting a dead character just to kill him in the next scene, or in doing the reverse. I grew up on TNG, but I was not moved. I said goodbye to Picard and Data in All Good Things. Much like the TNG movies themselves, which took our crew dedicated to diplomacy, peace and scientific discovery and put them on a warship and made them fight everyone; it gives us “more”, but not without cheapening what we already had. In my ridiculous and totally unimportant opinion, Star Trek ended when Voyager got home. I could go on, but I won’t.