Chairslinger

I went back and started watching through on the first episode and man this season is so densely packed with clues. Things hit a certain way after the first couple episodes, then differently halfway through the season, and different still now that we are almost done.

I have mostly tried to stay away from fan theories online because much of the fun has been running through the clues myself but just a couple days ago I did hear on a podcast the idea of Armus got thrown out there. Up until that point I was leaning heavily towards Pah-Wraiths, but I think Armus has overtaken them as the leading suspect. The Pah-Wraiths would open up more cameo possibilities, but I think Armus would have more emotional impact and connection to the TNG crew. It opens up a lot of possibilities. The voice and the verbiage sound very Armus-y. And while I wouldn't say it was a game breaking mistake if it turned out to be the Pah-Wraiths I always thought the face looked a bit "juicey" to be the mixture of Pah-Wraiths and Changling(because they are more ethereal), but man that seems almost exactly what it would look like if you mixed the golden goo and black tar.

Two out of the three individuals physically effected during that episode(other than Tasha) were Troi stuck in the shuttle and Riker was actually sucked in. They could reveal that Thad's illness was a result of what Armus did to them all those years ago. Depending on how far they wanted to take it they could even have Thad on the show. That's who is on the other side of the door when Deanna opens it up. Would certainly explain her uncontrollable reaction. A piece of his consciousness still trapped inside Armus. Troi and Riker could get some great closure there by being the ones to finally kill his miserable ass. Imagine Riker and Troi having him in their sights and him saying something like, "I killed your son, I took him piece by piece. And whenever I want I am going to do the same thing to your daughter.". If there was ever a reasonable motivation for someone to get a kill in Star Trek, that would be it.

Also, something occurred to me about Jack. Everybody is wondering what the deal with Jack is, but I think there is a small point here that is important. I don't think there is something going on with Jack.....I think there are some things. For the sake of argument if we assume the big bad guy yet to be revealed is Armus or the Pah-Wraiths, I think they are interested in Jack. But they are not responsible for what is weird about Jack or the source of what he can do.

This would dovetail with what I just said about Thad. I think it has been assumed that whatever is going on with Jack has been causing his condition all his life. But it would be a great interconnected twist if that isn't true. What happened to Thad was connected to what Riker and Troi physically went through. But the connection to Jack is simply one of interest and perhaps revenges for Armus. Jack is unique in an entirely different way and the big bad merely glommed onto him to it's advantage.

I think the deal with Jack will be connected to something in Picard and/or Crusher's past that makes them so unique. Perhaps several things interacting. Very few people have been through the things Picard has been through, and what happens when you subject a body to Borg nano probes, living an entire life in 18 minutes, killing one's own time travel clone, and the list goes on and on and on. The episode where Picard and Crusher were connected telepathically is a really interesting one. That seems very similar to what Jack is doing with his powers. Maybe Picards dormant nanoprobes got confused about what their function was when mixed with that bit of tech and was inherited in their child.

But yeah, this season has been so good about past references that I expect Jack's situation to be something, or a combination of somethings, that makes Picard unique. Since they essentially have retcon'd the Irumodic Syndrome that killed Picard hopefully they appreciate that it needs to be a good, satisfying answer. I think they will because I think that is something else they have done much better this season. Appreciating that the "Pop! Suprirsed reveal plot twist" is nice to have, but it should not override the story. Like at this point it would be very "surprising" to find out that Jack is not actually Picard's son. It would be "surprising" to find out Beverly has been manipulating them in some way. But it would really damage the emotional resonance we have built up over the whole season. A surprise plot twist is not worth that. But if you can have a surprised that builds on and respects that stuff(like the Changling reveal earlier in the season)......that's when it's really worth it.

Also, if it were Armus, it would have the potential to grab a little sympathy for our dearly departed Vadic. Would be a very easy connection between the two. Vadic and her fellow Changlings escaped Daystrom. Stole a shuttle, running on fumes they are forced to land on a planet. Armus's planet. And what we have seen in Picard has been almost a contracted hostage situation. Armus merged with Vadic and tells her, "So you want revenge on the Federation, me too. We can either work together and you get what you want.....or I can just torture you for a few millennium:". Would explain why Vadic was willing to die going back into the nebula rather than defy whoever the hell it is. The list of baddies that could make a changling prefer death to whatever they could do to them seems not to be a very long one.

Anyway, like I said going back through it this show seems so densely packed with clues. I might come back through and post some as I watch. A few I noticed already....

- The beginning of the first episode starts with the old timey song seemingly being played on Beverly's ship the first lyrics are "I don't want to set the world on fire". If it turns out to be one of them, surely a reference to the Pah-Wraiths or Armus, right? Both of whom want some variation of watching the Galaxy burn.

- Picard's first scene starts with him wanting to give Geordi his picture of of the Enterprise-D for the Fleet Museum. If there is any truth to the buzz about what might be in Hanger 12(not sure if you guys have heard this theory, Mica makes a blink and you'll miss it reference to something that could help in Hanger 12 in the middle of ep 6 but it is quickly dropped) then this would definitely be foreshadowing that what actually happens is that his friend Geordie and the fleet museum give Picard the real Enterprise-D! They could even explain why no one knew this was a thing by explaining that as a celebration for the Frontier Day they salvaged the saucer section off Veridian Prime, refurbed it, and then gave it a shiny new Warp section. Hell, if the Defiant can get an entirely new body, then I think the D can get a new ass end

- In the bar when Riker and Picard are talking about giving their speeches at Frontier Day there is a big banner in the back that says "Frontier Day Celebrating the 250th Anniversary". To hype up my previously posted pet theory about showing Archer's speech at Frontier Day I would point out that I believe the 250th anniversary they are talking about is literally Archer's speech. The day they officially signed the Federation charter. In the same scene Riker makes a quip about who would want to see some old fart make a speech.....meanwhile quite a few fans were very pissed we say a bit too much of Riker in These Are the Voyages and not enough of Archer's speech! Would be a great mea culpa if I turn out to be right.

Oh, and also there are five ship silhouettes portrayed on the poster. There is one that I think is the Enterprise A and another that might be an Excelsior class ship, maybe the Enterprise B? The other 3 are very recognizable. Voyager, Enterprise D, and good ol NX-01  

- This one is a small one. So small I am not even sure if it's meant to be a clue. The guy who is doing the evil mcbadguy shifty eyes at the bar holding the Enterprise D model is presumably a shapeshifter that tips off Vadic that Picard is coming. That is all pretty easy to see now. The small clue may be that he has slicked back hair, a style we usually saw from changlings unless they were trying to imitate a specific person.

Oh well, back to the show. I may post a running tab as I go along. Not too much time left to get the pet theories in!

Fucking Bond villains.

Man, I just thought of a great way that the last two episodes could bring together almost all of the Legacy captains.

I already mentioned(and it seems pretty self-evident) why Janeway is just about the most obvious cameo ever at this point. But now that it's looking increasingly likely that whatever is going on with Jack is the Pah-Wraiths that means Sisko is on the table, as well.

If you do that, then you already have most of them involved(especially if you count the Kirk reference from earlier in the season).

My favorite though is how you could include Archer. It would be perfect, and it would be one more chance for Matalas to put right the sins of past Trek. Maybe after most of the action is done and the crew is "celebrating" you cap off Frontier Day by finally showing Archer's speech at the signing of the Federation charter!

That would be a bit of a redemption for two of the biggest flaws of These Are the Voyages. Which were that they hyped up, but then never showed the speech. But also that they allowed TNG characters to dominate Enterprise's finale. This time, give Enterprise a small voice in TNG's finale.

One of the best pound for pound cameos in Star Trek history was the short video in Broken Bow when Zephram Cochrane broke ground on the Warp 5 facility.......

As TNG is set about 100 years after Kirk, and Kirk about 100 years after Archer, and Archer about 100 years after the first warp flight it really brought the story full circle. They could do the same thing, kind of in reverse by having Archer's speech at Frontier Day. The finale of both TNG and the latest show set in the timeline. And if Janeway, Picard, and Sisko are there along with the TNG crew, some of Voyager, and maybe even some of DS9 what a great send off to have Archer give a speech about the ideals of the Federation and why it was formed.

When they made These Are The Voyages they defended the decision by saying they felt it wasn't just a send off to Enterprise, but for all the shows that had been running for nearly 20 years straight at that point. An idea not entirely without merit, but executed terribly. They have the opportunity with Picard to do it right. Bring together those shows in a more organic way this time and actually send them all off in a way that respects all of them.

Now that I have thought of this, I really hope they do it or something similar.

3 hours ago, Zaku3 said:

 

Senor Vicente Del Mac.

Needs a stripped shirt, baguette, and beret.

Not too often you can say a Hitler stache would probably be an improvement.

Looks like he sneezed and accidently attached an extra eyebrow above his lip.

Vince is playing the long angle where it's all leading to him putting on a sequined outfit, holding up a red cap, and shouting "Toro!" while Strowman does that run around the ring thing he does.

Even Bret Hart agrees that mustache is now the worst thing Vince McMahon has ever been responsible for in the wrestling business.

I could literally go on all night.

Seeing other countries actually hold their leaders to account our "exceptionlism" in that arena is starting to look about as impressive as our educational and healthcare systems.

2 hours ago, Spork3245 said:

lol rumors are that a handful of "top stars" in WWE want to be released from their contracts now.

 

Apparently on WM Night 2, LA Knight was going to have a segment/impromptu match with Bobby Lashley, Vince nixed it. On Raw, there was going to be three triple-threat women's matches with the the winners going on to have a triple threat next week to decide the number one contender for the Raw Women's Championship, Vince nixed it. 

There is an old saying about the Roman Empire. They make a wasteland and they call it peace.

At least Vince is only ruining a wrestling company and growing a stupid mustache to coup with his mid late-life crisis. As we see with other emotionally fragile, super rich egomaniacs around the world things could be worse......

16 minutes ago, GeneticBlueprint said:

Still love how his first physical listed him as exactly one pound under obese. 239, if memory serves.

1 hour ago, IdeaOfEvil said:

At the very least, it's poetic justice for Vince to be above Dana. For as much trash talking as those blind UFC loyalists have done to the WWE for all these years (and wrestling in general), they deserve to have to work side-by-side and under pro wrestling execs. "Fake fighting" "Clown shows" "stupid entertainment"... All those meat head MMA-losers who can't respect wrestling as a long time legit form of entertainment THAT UFC OWES ITS POPULARITY TO can go suck a juicy one, lol

I mostly agree with that sentiment, however I am a fan of MMA as well as wrestling. 

But what you said reminded me of a cool MMA On Point video from a while back. MMA and Pro Wrestling are far more connected than most people realize and certainly more than most MMA fans would like to admit.

And just to be clear, this isn't a video about just attacking MMA, despite the title and opening minutes. It's a very interesting look at the history of MMA, catch wrestling, Pro Wrestling, and how they came together at a time and place that predates the UFC.

37 minutes ago, Greatoneshere said:

There is a reason I'm waiting for more information before saying anything as an ex-lawyer. Though it's been so long since I practiced I don't claim to know as much as I once did.  Statute of limitations stuff can get incredibly weird and complex and it's also state by state dependent and it'll also depend on the case law precedent within that state that has been set within the realm of these specific charges (falsification of business records) - so whoever brings to bear better legal research and legal analysis will likely succeed if the law isn't clear and plain on its face to the judge with regard to the statute of limitations. 

 

My general guess is that while lawyers are all over the place in terms of quality and many make all kinds of mistakes, pulling the trigger to be the first in American history to indict a former American president, I'd think Bragg and his team of lawyers would at least have had the conversations being had in this thread and still felt confident enough to put the case forward. I need more before I'd feel confident even speculating yet though of course speculating is part of the fun.

If that is true, probably not great for Trump who tends to have some of the losiest lawyers in American history.

Unless there is a ref bump and Aileen Cannon runs in to shout out legal strategies for Trump's lawyers to try out....

Wisconsin Republicans right now.

For all the hype that crazy Republican states get, I don't think any compare to the obscene disparity between votes per party and what the Congressional makeup looks like.

Has been one of the most outrageous, undemocratic representations in the country for a decade or more.

4 minutes ago, Jason said:

Trump Tower Doorman Was Paid $30,000 to Hide Story of Trump’s Out-of-Wedlock Child, Manhattan D.A. Says

NEWREPUBLIC.COM

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Well, this was unexpected.

 

With the National Enquirer stuff roaring back to relevance I would love to know if there was ever any meat on the bone to speculation that the paid abortion thing was a scheme by Trump to hide that he was the one responsible.

Remember it always seemed suspicious that the only three "clients" of Micheal Cohen was Trump, Hannity, and a third rando who paid off a woman through Cohen to have an abortion. Even used the same stock form letter to do the deal with some details changed.

22 minutes ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said:

From what I’m reading they’re all (34 counts or so) class E felonies which are the lowest level felony in NY but have 4 year prison sentences

 

falsification of business records all

12 minutes ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said:

Statement of facts:

https://www.manhattanda.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Donald-J.-Trump-SOF.pdf

And those felonies would normally be misdemeanors, but the kicker in New York law is that if they are done in the furtherance of a separate crime it upgrades them to a felony. The question has been what Bragg thought he could prove those other crimes were....the statement of fact makes it seem like the answer is "lots"

2 minutes ago, Jason said:

Jennifer Lien is cast as Kes in Star Trek Voyager

 

She starts having mental health issues and is fired, leading to Jeri Ryan being hired to play 7 of 9

 

Jeri Ryan's higher profile leads to people finding out her husband, Illinois Senate hopeful Jack Ryan, is an abusive piece of shit and they get divorced, tanking his campaign

His opponent, Barack Obama, wins the seat

 

In 2011, Barack Obama roasts Donald Trump at the Correspondent's dinner, leading him to decide to run for president

 

Which means if Captain Janeway had followed the Prime Directive, we'd have never had Obama or Trump as presidents

Really torn over whether four years of president Trump is worse than 4 extra years of Kes on Voyager....

On 4/2/2023 at 1:59 PM, Greatoneshere said:

 

 

Basically this. Turkey doesn't like Sweden's specific stance on freedom of religion in Sweden and their stance on what Turkey deems Kurdish terrorists. They don't have these same issues with Finland.

 

It's no surprise that Hungary and Turkey, both essentially fascist dictatorships now, were the hold outs. It's also stuff like this is why the EU will never confirm Turkey to join them (especially after 2016) and why NATO has always been hesitant including Muslim-dominant countries into its fold (see also: Turkey's issues with Cyprus, preventing Cyprus from joining NATO despite Cyprus being in the EU), which is why I believe NATO would consider the rest of the Balkan states or Georgia before ever considering Azerbaijan. Armenia and Serbia are the two divisive ones since many in those countries still support Russia. While Armenia and Azerbaijan remain in Russia's CSTO, they can never join NATO anyway.

 

Edit: In fact, the EU has considered/is considering Armenia and Georgia while Azerbaijan's not even on their list.

Turkey is the Joe Manchin of NATO.

It's a god damn catastrophic clusterfuck that is going to make everything in the company worse. It's bad for everyone involved including Vince himself probably.....and yet you can't help but still be impressed by the guy.

I am hearing that in the corporate structure Vince is actually above Dana White?  

I mean, how can you not laugh at the audacity? Dude went from stepping down and rumored to selling the company to maybe, kind of being one of the top dogs in a merged UFC/WWE?

Fucking insanity.

So looking back over the season, 1-4 is kind of an arc in itself and then 5 and 6 feel almost like a two parter. I am thinking that 7 and 8 will be something of a self contained story of Vadic and Picard dueling over who gets Jack/getting the information they need.

Meaning that I suspect that this weeks episode will wrap with Vadic(mostly?) dealt with, the true big bad being exposed, and the crew getting the info they need. This will lead to 9 and 10 which will be the big, two part finale which will largely take place at Frontier Day. Judging from early trailers and teasers we have seen virtually nothing from those last two episodes. Considering that Frontier Day is said to bring together every ship in the fleet, and how things have went so far this season, I would buckle up for a possible metric shit ton of call backs and/or cameos. Literally almost anyone from TNG/DS9/Voy might show up.

Also, very slight spoiler here......

With Tuvok, Seven, and Ro's comment....there's no way Janeway doesn't show up, right? That would be the biggest dry fire of a Checkov's gun in television history if they don't pull the trigger on that one.

It feels like past seasons of Trek have been really stingy about their use of legacy Trek references and characters. Almost like are scared to "use up" the material. I think Matalas is taking a more "you got to spend money to make money" approach that is working out pretty damn well. Using the references doesn't have to be a zero sum game if you do it right. By placing Shaw opposite Picard and Riker you make a new star. By putting Crash alongside Picard and LaForge you make a new star with her. The reason I say this is because I think some show runners would look at Picard's blowout 3rd season and be like, "Boy, where do with go from there? How do you top that?". Matalas just seems excited like, "You don't think I can top that? Watch me".

Not sure if I said this already, but Matalas seems to be going in the direction I want for Trek. Whether it's a Captain Worf show, a Titan show, Tales of the Dominion War or whatever the next show should be something of a spiritual successor 4th season of Picard. The most important thing is, for the love of God, to stop retreating back to setting shows in Kirk's time. Give me a show that carry's on into the 25th century. So much of Trek is set in that time with so many of it's characters just....out there doing shit we don't know anything about that it is near criminal that all we have gotten from it is Picard season 3(which has been great so far) and two prior seasons that took a razor focused approach to their own standalone storylines that told us almost nothing about the current status of the outside "world". How is the Klingon Empire doing after the War? Dunno. How did the Borg respond to Janeway flipping them the double bird on the way out of the Delta Quadrant? Dunno. For that matter, how is the Voyager crew doing? Did Ben ever come back? Did Bajor join the Federation? DON'T FUCKING KNOW because we need 2 or 3 more god damn series trying to be more like Kirk, apparently!

3 minutes ago, marioandsonic said:

But won't he and his drones be making some big protest march or whatever?

Everything I am hearing is that people aren't taking Trump up on the offer.

The protests that are happening seem to be somewhere between small and non-existent.

1 minute ago, Jason said:

some hot bullshit

 

 

Disappointing, but not really surprising. Unlike the lack of cuffs or a mugshot it doesn't seem like special treatment for Trump. Judges will often bar cameras from a courtroom if they are worried it will become a spectacle.

Unfortunately this plays right in to Trump's hands. He will turn every aspect of this trial into a spectacle except the one part he can't control.

Will be interesting to see if the judge attempts any kind of gag order. If I remember right, Stone got his ass thrown in prison for running his mouth too much after the judge had given him a gag order.

16 minutes ago, Jason said:

God damn I hate that we live in a reality where this will be given serious discussion on national news outlets rather than being used as evidence to remand crazy grandpa over to a mental institution for his own safety until he is assessed fit to stand trial.

25 minutes ago, GeneticBlueprint said:

Proud Boy One has landed in La Guardia. 
 

Trump arrives in New York for surrender, opposes TV court coverage

APPLE.NEWS

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Former U.S. President Donald Trump flew into New York City on his private plane on Monday to face charges stemming from a probe into hush money paid to a porn star, while his lawyers argued against letting...

His attorney is asking for no media coverage in the courtroom. 

Trump will make a spectacle out of every aspect of this, but he doesn't want cameras in the courtroom because he knows that, despite his antics, there's no getting around the fact that there is one boss in that courtroom and it ain't Donald Trump.

Just saw a picture of Balor's skullgina injury from last night.

Or as Mick Foley would say....his little boo boo.

I mean, anything that is not a Confederate flag, with a golden T with a dark figure hanging by a rope from it is considered pragmatic, moderate GOP nowadays, right?

2 minutes ago, Air_Delivery said:

DeSantis' biggest problem more than anything is he has zero stage presense, boring and awkward as hell. Its the same reason Tom Cotton will never amount to more than a senator. Charisma has always been important for a presidential run but it is a requirement for a republican to win a primary. Trump doesn't need anything more than to bully him like a middle schooler and his popularity will collapse on itself.

Oh, I definitely agree. DeSantis is basically a creation of the "anybody but Trump" crowd that doesn't want Trump, but also doesn't have the balls to come out and actually criticize him. So after Florida was the one non-disaster for them in 2020 they went all in on DeSantis without ever considering whether he would be good at ground level politics.

Saying that, and that I never considered him a real threat to Trump at all, this past week has knocked him far down from even where he was before. McConnell style Republicans I am sure are already blaming "our side" for stamping out any hope they had of nominating someone other than Trump....but that was never going to happen anyway. They will blame the indictment for why everyone flocked back to Trump(just as they did with the Mar-a-Lago raid) but the truth is they love Trump because of their fetid base and everything their propaganda machine has conditioned them to love for the past 3 decades. They could have ended this all with a few more votes in the Senate a few years ago.

7 hours ago, Spork3245 said:

If anyone thought Vince was back to influencing creative…

Is it clear what the hierarchy of this new....thing is going to be?

It sounds less like a sale and more like a merger. 

Reminds me of.....

This is the sale we have been waiting for.....but not.....

Ronny vows to get to the bottom of how Disney outsmarted him.

Do you think DeSantis realizes just how small this all makes him look? Especially with him already tumbling in the polls because his ostensible base apparently finds criminal indictabilty to be a big drawing point.

It's like if Stone Cold Steve Austin was walking to the ring to face The Rock in the main event of Wrestlemania....then a fan jumped the railing and got into a sloppy hockey fight with Austin and the end of the PPV is just about that now.....

A lot can happen before the voting starts in the primary, but DeSantis sure looks cooked already. Greater than 50% chance that he never even officially announces for '24 now, imho.