Chairslinger

I remember years back I had someone come up to the counter at work. It was this 5'6, 55 year old man who planted his hips with his feet spread out like gunfighters in an Old Western every time he took a step in line and then had to stop. He had a pistol holstered at his hip for a random trip to a fast food restaurant. I couldn't help but laugh out loud when I saw him. I don't think he noticed. It was just so on the nose. The only way the guy could have been a bigger white grievance avatar is if he has drove his pickup truck with a Confederate flag hanging on the back through the foyer, stopped to rev his engine then rolled coal smashing through the other side of the store and sped off with his truck nuts gently swaying in the wind.

The 2024 election is so dangerous because the GOP knows just how bad their prospects are for the future when they run Trump again and if he loses. I agree with you....even the GOP aren't delusional enough to run Trump again in 2028.....but trying to access their party after a 2024 loss would be like the biggest hangover ever after a raging house party the next morning when you have to take stock of the damage and clean things up.

I like what they are doing with the Klingons. I tried to be open minded about Discovery Klingons because at one time TNG Klingons were the weird new look compared to TOS. But let's be honest, at some point you just have to accept that the canon on this thing is so mixed up that it's time to just go with what looks best. And I think it's pretty clear that Worf and TNG Klingons just look the best. It's what most people think of when they think of Klingons. Don't exactly see fans lining up to cosplay as TOS or Disco Klingons at cons. That all said, looks like SNW is doing TNG style Klingons with maybe a bit of a nod to TOS. He has pronounced cranial ridges, but the fine detail looks pretty smooth. Like the TOS movies, but maybe even a bit more on the TNG style of things.

I am glad it's only a movie. Get it over with. And I say that as someone who has enjoyed all the New Trek shows to some extent, so I am not just hating on New Trek. This thing has been in development hell for something like 4 or 5 years depending on how you do the math. I think the studio itself has lost faith in it. Anywhere from 3 to 5 shows have leap frogged it in the time that it's been kicked around and now it's just a movie? So one wonders why they are even bothering to do it other than "We got Michelle Yeoh, so lets use her". Like I said, I don't even say this as someone just hating on New Trek....but Section 31 is one of those things that takes a very deft hand to make work......and that has not been a hallmark of most New Trek shows. In a way Section 31 reminds me a bit creatively of Jurassic Park. The fact is that at it's heart it is a limited concept, and the more you try to use it the more you are either going to simply rehash what came before, or water down what made it work until it is unrecognizable. I think this might be inescapable even in the best of hands. The two things that make Section 31 interesting in DS9 are it's layer upon layer of subterfuge(not a great fit when you make all the POV's about Section 31 operatives) and Sloan's self awareness that he is not a lovable rogue with a heart of gold or the antihero. He knows he is the bad guy. If you put him in front of a firing squad Sloan would say you were right to do it and yet still not regret the things he did at all. They seem obsessed with making Section 31 the poster child for the the Star Trek version of the GoT, Walking Dead, Arrow, SoA, Breaking Bad etc etc. morally gray/antihero shows that became so popular in the 2010's. On the surface it seems like a good fit. But it is a fundamental misunderstanding of who Section 31 is in the Trek universe.

Remember when Trump was indicted and his lawyers moved for there to be no cameras in the courtroom because it would cause a circus? This despite the fact that Trump did everything in his power to make things a circus before and right after the arraignment? Here's just a little bit of karmic justice for that tiny slice of Trump hypocrisy.... Judge in the defamation case rejects Trump request for a delay due to media uproar. Cites the fact that Trump helped go create that uproar.

Absolutely. I said years ago that maybe the most damaging aspect of Trump fans and their similarities to wrestling is that they are smart marks. They think they are smart to what is going on, but in that self-deception they turn out to be maybe the biggest marks of all.

Karen with a badge and qualified immunity.

Considering this comes out during the same week that it was revealed what Lapado and DeSantis did by surpressing data they didn't like on the threats of heart inflammation with the vaccine vs. with Covid I would call this more a moment of "Guy was found not guilty on 1 count out of 73" rather than confirmation bias.

You know, it sure read like a character death to me but it's worth pointing out that from what we have seen in Star Trek it seems plausible that Seven could save Shaw's life with some Borg assimilation sleight of hand. Assimilate him now and worry about saving him along with everyone else later. I am on my rewatch of Voyager and I just got past the episode where she brought Neelix back after being dead for 18 hours. I mean, just imagine the scene where Shaw finds out Seven did it, "You ASSIMILATED me, Hansen!?". I don't think that is in the cards, though. I think the one slip up for season 3 that will be remembered most is that the show runners underestimated just how much fans would love the character. After all, the decision to kill him off was made long before the first episode ever aired.

Yeah, I didn't follow my own advice this morning and opened YouTube to check on some NBA results and the very first video showed the F exiting space dock. I noped out so hard. It wasn't really a spoiler because I identified the F in the trailer from last week, but seeing it in space dock tipped me off that it was probably going to play a bigger role than I assumed. The problem with the E and F is that they have streamlined the ship so much that it looks a bit too much like other classes now. The E looked cool, but the F streamlined it even more so now, like you said, it almost looks like Voyager or even a Nova class ship with that pointy saucer section. Not to say they look bad. All the ship designs of s3 have been really good. I liked how the "neck" of the ship on the F is actually two connections with an opening in the middle. I think that looks pretty cool. So are we going to see a Crusher vs. Queen showdown next week?

The last ten minutes of this episode will take it's place among compilations of best all time TNG scenes. I absolutely loved Data's reaction to seeing the D. That had to be a call back to this scene from First Contact, right? A great way to show how far Data has come. And if there is one take away from this season I think it is this......if you do something well, the fans will forgive you for it. Bringing back Data, the Borg, Changlings, the D.....that could have all been seen as cheap rehashing. But they have done it all so well that it lands. People predicted the Borg were behind Jack, I mentioned about the DNA stuff, but I don't think anyone put all the pieces together. That whole explanation was brilliant. I guess we know why the finale is called, "The Last Generation" now I said earlier in this thread that I really wanted to know what happened to the Borg after Endgame. And in this episode they said no one had heard from the Borg in 10 years. Now we know. They were playing the long game. Now Shaw's line from ep 4 makes even more sense. "The real Borg are still out there". Oh, and as if we needed more proof that Terry knows what he's doing, I am preeeetty sure the voice of the Queen was Alice Krige. Susanna and Anne both had their moments.....but no one plays a more menacing, "makes your skin crawl" version of the Queen than Alice does. Edit: Oh, I forgot to mentioned one more thing. Over the season some people have said stuff like, "Man I love Picard, but I wish they weren't still using New Trek lighting.". I wonder if that was a concious choice by Terry so that it would really contrast and stir the emotions when we stepped on the bridge of the the D and it was as bright as ever. Like stepping out into the sun. Also....Worf got the E blowed up....so that was a fun little 3 second reveal

I am a mess right now.

Sounds fine. Seems like the show is mostly going out on top for creative reasons and an animated show seems like a good way to kind of reset the expectations every season has built of being bigger and better than the last. Just make a fun little animated show for a while. Despite the mature themes of the show I think it is one that lends itself well to an animated show.

Yeah, like I said maybe there were some exceptions? I was just warning about spoilers because whatever was true in the past, screenings for ep 9 are definitely out by now for a relatively wide audience and even if most outlets are good about containing outright spoilers the more people with access means a bigger chance of springing a leak. One example in particular I remember early on I saw headlines like "Season 3 isn't just a sendoff to TNG but also DS9". Maybe not an outright spoiler., but obviously coming from someone who had already seen the Changling reveal. Yesterday I saw one or two suggestive headlines like that for ep 9 and that's when I NOPED out and posted my warning. That all said, we got one more preview video. If you are mad at them for holding back the info last episode than this one will really piss you off A few days ago when they released some pictures from the episode they had Troi in a room with Crusher. Troi appears to be looking at someone else. Then in another picture it shows Picard in that same room. My guess at the time was that this was the scene right after the end of last week. Troi opens the door, sees what's inside and runs away. She goes and tells Picard and Crusher what she saw, and this preview is Picard going to Jack after he finds out. Early on in the show they were really hinting at a full blown heel turn for Jack. With the scenes of him gunning people down and stuff. They had already been moving away from that in the past few episodes but I think this clinches it. Picard knows most, or all, of what is going on with Jack and he is not scared of him.....just for him. Either way, I think Elbobo will get his wish. The sequence I laid out above is three different scenes and I wouldn't be surprised if they are all together before the opening title card. Maybe with a short bridge scene catch up tucked in one of the cuts. We know the Frontier Day showdown is the big action for the episode, so I think they'll get most of the reveal out of the way first, Maybe Jack will learn more about himself as the episode goes on(like, "Oh, this is how my go go gadget mind control works), but I don't think we'll have to wait long for the basics.

Not what I heard. Every review and preview I saw tended to have a similar sentiment. They would talk about how much better they thought this season was than 1 and 2, but then caveat it with saying "but take this with a grain of salt as we have only seen the first 6 episodes". Here is a reddit post from right before ep1 came out where they mention the screeners were out for the first 6 episodes. And a list of 5 different outlets who were seemingly working off only the first 6 episodes for their reviews. Here is a review that says they are working off the first 6 episodes. Here is one from Screen Rant. They then go on to quote from over half a dozen reviewers, all presumably going off the first 6 episodes. Maybe some were granted special access? But most weren't. I went back and double checked to make sure I wasn't going crazy. As I said, this was a really common thing said in the early reviews.

All the sources I follow said only the first 6 episodes. Pretty sure it has been episode to episode since then.

@Jason @elbobo @BloodyHell @dualhunter Be super careful guys,. I am seeing stuff online that is really suggestive that there are spoilers out there now. I don't know if it's because reviewers are starting to get screening copies or what. I am seriously considering going full offline mode for the next 36 hours or so because I really, I really want any and all big reveals to happen when I watch the episode.

We've seen weirder. While most of politics now is just a horrifying realization of our dystopian future coming into focus, you have to admit that the rightwing obsession with liberal tears has resulted in some fun, Mad Lib style team ups. Like the America-First, freedom loving rightwing media falling in love with the British Royal family. Or J.K. Rowling forming a tag team with the same people that burned her books 20 years ago. Even Big Show is like, "Whoa guys, that's a lot of turns" at this point.

And to think, this all could have been avoided if Vince McMahon Sr. had given this poor guy a few more hugs as a child. I guess it's because I don't really watch the product one way or another anymore but this makes me more sad than angry. Vince really is gonna keel over one day at Gorilla with a headset on screaming at Micheal Cole for saying "fans" instead of "WWE Universe".

If your religion is based on reincarnation is anyone truly underage?

Yeah, TOS is definitely the blind spot in my Trek trivia. Even when I try to watch the show the details go in one ear and out the other.

Noticed another interesting thing on my rewatch. So fake Tuvok mentions that Janeway is busy preparing for Frontier Day with the entire fleet assembling in the Sol system. I am not sure, but I don't think we had confirmation before this that this whole thing is happening at, or near Earth. In the preview I just posted, I briefly wondered if that blue ball the starbase was orbiting was Earth, but kind of brushed it off without studying the topography too closely because.....well....we have never seen one of those big boy space stations orbiting Earth before, have we? They have the Utopia Planitia shipyards at Mars, but the most we have seen around earth is some space frames for starship repair as far as I remember. When the heck did they build that thing? Did we get a good enough look at Earth in Picard s1 to see if it was there or not? And if not, when was the last time we did? Endgame or Nemesis, probably...... Edit: Later in ep. 8 when the Shrike catches up with Titan, and Vadic is rushing to board the ship, and her second in command warns her that it might be a trap she has some really interesting dialogue looking back at what we know now..... "He's(Jack) right there. RIGHT THERE! I can almost......touch him. Don't you hear that? DON'T YOU!? Tick tock, tick tock goes the ancient clock. We are out of time." On first viewing that last line seemed like the most important aspect of why Vadic was taking the bait, even if she knew it might be bait. They were running out of time until Frontier Day. But that first part seems very relevant now. The part where she says she can almost "touch him". Whatever it is, that suggests to me that the "hand" part of Vadic and the evil that Troi says is around Jack, but not in Jack are so close they can almost touch each other. Tick tock goes the "ancient clock" seemed almost like nonsensical theatrics initially, but now we have Troi describing this being as "ancient and weak".

New 30 second preview for Vox. Goes to show how little we have seen from eps 9 and 10 in all the other previews. I think I saw a commercial with a small 1 or 2 second clip of the fireworks going off for Frontier Day, but other than that I think this is 100% new footage. Not much in there about Jack, but I will say I think a lot of what I said about the starships is looking ever more likely. Remember in my above post when I said the credits scene has a structure with Voyager and Defiant flying around it? I was trying to determine whether or not it was the starbase from ep1 or the Fleet Museum from ep 6, but it didn't quite look like either? That's because it's the starbase from this preview! Seems like it's what I guessed, they try to approach in Titan and it's almost immediately being taken over by the ship network(Fleet Formation Mode, the companel says). And Will saying they have to get off the Titan. The rest of the trailer makes it look like they are hopping from starship to starship in the fleet we see, or maybe the starbase, trying to escape(or maybe those are all still on Titan? Hard to tell). So I wonder if we won't see the classic ships in ep 9. Maybe we will end ep 9 with them finding Janeway and Tuvok as prisoners on the starbase(along with others?) and rescuing them. And they will escape to fleet museum and they will come back in ep 10. Interesting tidbit. I tried like hell to pause and pick up on some of the starship names at the beginning of the preview. Best I could find was Venture, Akira, and Sutherland(Data's old command?). Couldn't make out any of the others. One looks like Corekiller....not sure if even New Trek is Metal enough to name one of their ships that yet In ep 5 if you pause at a certain time Ro's intel has a tree of Starfleet Command officers and suspected Changling infiltrations. A little less than half were in red, couldn't make out any names as far as I could tell. In the beginning of this preview you can see that every starship around the starbase is in red. Symbolizing, one would guess, that the problem is much worse than even Ro knew and every single ship is compromised. Ro's little black book also had a small note that seems to say the Enterprise F was slated for early decommission. Wonder what that was about. Also, you can see the F for just a split second in the preview at :21. I am so psyched for these last two episodes. Don't know what I am going to do without Picard, and they aren't helping matters making us wait until June for SNW!

You know, I had meant to double back and mention this thing you said from a previous post and it connects to what you say here. Some bits of info gleamed from the Ready Room might answer some of your questions, I think. For one, the previews at the end of the Ready Room are usually more wide open. But this week's preview was very, very tight on following on from the end of ep8. It makes me think that we will get exactly what you want. It will be a reveal very early on in the episode. Which brings me to your second point. At the end of ep 8 we see Troi and Jack standing in the corridor with the red door and then it cuts to a hand opening the door, end scene. But the preview doesn't just pick up right where that left off, it overlaps with the scene. We get to see Troi walk down the corridor as Jack watches her, seemingly too scared to move. She then opens the door. Her reaction to whatever she sees on the other side is to immediately break the link, say, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry", and run out of the room while Jack shouts at her, asking her what she saw. To me, this is a point in the favor of Armus and against the Pah-Wraiths(not saying it wouldn't make sense with a different theory, but these are the ones that dovetail with everything else we have seen). It very much has a "victim knew her assailant" type vibe. My guess is either she saw Armus, Tasha, or Thad on the other side of the door. Really, I am thinking Thad. She almost doesn't seem scared so much as she seems stunned and numb. Having said all that, I am rewatching it now and Troi asks at the beginning of the scene about the vines, and if that represents Jack wanting to make a connection to people. And he says, "Yes, many" almost in a hungry way. That strikes me almost as Borg-ish in it's desire to form connections. So who knows. I feel like they have been really good this season about giving out clues that suggest much, but fit with various answers. Maybe it's like I said and there are multiple things going on with Jack. The vines are about his powers and the red door is his connection to Armus. Her line at the conference table was that she felt an evil "ancient and weak". Maybe whatever connection Armus has to Jack is too weak to recognize him outright. To be fair, ancient and weak could apply to the Pah-Wraiths, as well. And the Borg could be ancient, I don't know that we have ever really gotten a feel for how old the collective(in the books we have, but that is not canon). Whatever the answer is, I think we have gotten the answer to why, storyline wise, we needed to keep Marina away from the action until just now. I have heard some chatter online complaining that she hasn't been given enough to do. But this is her character. She is not going to lead a starship in a big space battler. She is a counselor. Her contribution is that she is going to help Jack and everyone else solve what is going on with him. And they couldn't have her on earlier because she is the one person out of all of them that seems to be able to figure out what is going on with Jack almost right away. Also, one little other thing from the Ready Room. Wil said that what is coming up in the next two episodes is so secret that they can't even reveal the guest for next week's Ready Room because it would give too much away. My guess is we might finally get to see Janeway and we'll have Kate on the Ready Room, but we'll see. Outside chance it could be Denise Crosby if they involved her with the storyline if it is Armus. They have said the hologram memory in ep 8 was her small cameo for the season....but it wouldn't be the first time they have deceived us a bit for the season to preserve a surprise. Anyway, a few more things on my rewatch...... - In ep3. when Riker and Picard are at the bar in the past talking about kids Riker talks about how when he held Thad he knew how important he was. As a parent you realize you would "Burn the world for them". Is this just a literary flourish that the writers really like this season or some kind of clue? - In ep 3 In the scene where Beverly and Picard are talking about why she didn't tell him about Jack at the tail end of the conversation Picard makes a remark about Jack's accent. And Beverly explains that he went to school in London for a bit and maintained the accent. This is what I am talking about the clues being so well done and hidden for the season. At the time this seemed like a simple deflection of fan snark saying, "Well Jack didn't inherit his accent, did he?!". It comes across as the show cutting that argument off at the pass. But after explaining the real reason he has an accent she jokes, "Maybe it's in his DNA". We take it at the time as Picard being such an iconic figure that surely his child would be born with an accent, stern look on it's face, wearing a Starfleet uniform. But maybe there is more to it than that. We already know that there is some significance to what Jack inherited from Picard in his DNA with the Irumodic Syndrome. If I am right about the clue embedded in the end credits then the significance about what really is in Jack's DNA from Picard is still yet to show it's full extent. Edit: By the way, it was also revealed on the Ready Room that next week's episode is titled Vox. Presumably meaning voice and meaning the voice, or voices, in Jack's head. I am very optimistic about the finale but there is one thing that I am bracing myself for. Both season 1 and 2 had good finales imho, but felt a bit disjointed I think because creatively they were written as feature lengths like All Good Things, but for, I would guess, business reasons they were aired as two episodes. And looks like the same is going to happen for season 3. With the episode name being Vox it makes me think a big portion of the reveal and final battle with the big bad will take place in episode 9 and that, like season 2, a big portion of the last episode will feel a bit lopsided because it will be dedicated less to action and more to wrap up. I mean, to be fair, they have the same problem as Return of the King....they have given themselves a lot to wrap up and pay off. Cutting the episode in two will exacerbate this(Imagine if RotK was split like Harry Potter 7 and then on top of that you had that 45 minute ending on the end of the 2 hour second half of RotK).. In the long run I don't think this will be a big deal because you can just watch them as a feature length upon rewatches. But on first viewing I am preparing myself for this feeling a little weird.