JLP's Day 2021

It was quite an active 48 hours in the world of Trek with not just a new trailer for Picard but the first real information around the new characters from Nickleodeon's Prodigy series.

Yes, we all know that Kate Mulgrew will be back as Captain Kathryn Janeway, the ship's training hologram but what about the six runaways who acquire the as-yet unseen starship?

Coming later in 2021 and Picard in 2022, Prodigy's cast is a big mash up of existing aliens and brand new ones. Army of the Dead's Ella Purnell arrives as 17 year old Gwyn from the Vau N'Akat. Her character was raised on a mining colony and travelling to the stars has always been her dream.

Brett Grey voices the maverick Dal whose race has yet to be identified. Jason Mantzoukas is the 16 year old Tellarite Zankum Pog. Fans will easily recognise the argumentative race from TOS and latterly Enterprise. A second familiar race is included with Zero. Again TOS fans will know of the Medusans from Is There in Truth No Beauty and this one is buried inside a containment suit to protect anyone around them. Exposure to a Medusan can cause insanity!

Dee Bradley Baker voices Murf who appears to be a blobby alien of nondescript origin who likes the taste of ship parts and is virtually indestructible. Finally, the youngest voice actor is 10 year old Rylee Alazraqui. She plays the shy, rocklike alien Rok Tahk. While not an obvious returning species, the Brikar have been around before in Worf's First Adventure and the New Frontier novels - both of which were penned by the brilliant Peter David.

Little else to go on there from Prodigy and even the few stills released alongside the character photos provide nothing to expand on the story. It does offer a look at the animation style and the characters a little bit closer up. As with all of the other Star Trek productions around it will definitely have its own identity with the freedom of CG providing an unlimited base of opportunity.

In a wild Messenger conversation yesterday I managed to predict that a Picard trailer would land on Captain Picard Day and lo and behold I was proved right. I mean, come on, it was going to be a certainty wasn't it???

"Welcome my friend to the very end of the road not taken..."

While Prodigy's update offers mere suggestions, the live trailer for season 2 of Picard isn't holding back. Opening with Picard seemingly suffering some ill effect, Q is back. The road not taken suggests we're heading into a season of alternatives but not precisely the often walked path of the Mirror Universe. Indeed there seems to be more of an indication that season 2 will be playing out a slight sideways "What If...?" twist that might be spawned or at least inspired by Tapestry, maybe All Good Things... and The Visitor. 

Aside from a good look at Elnor (who appears purely as a background character here), we get to see Soji in white, Doctor Jurati, Captain Rios and of course Seven.

There's not a lot riding on the sightings of Soji or Jurati but Rios has a distinct look and is sporting a black uniform with an unfamiliar Starfleet badge. Picard and Raffi are back in uniform themselves at what one might assume is Starfleet Headquarters. Their styling is of the uniform used in the flashbacks of season 1 rather than the "present" versions seen at HQ and worn by Riker.

The verdict in humanity's trial may not have been reached but there are more than a couple of surprises and questions packed into the last few seconds. For one, there's an oddly shaped pin badge or object in Seven's room...but when she wakes there's no sign of a single Borg implant...Seven of Nine is totally human which would make her 100% Annika Hansen!

Here's one other thought - perhaps that scene of Jean-Luc faltering at the beginning is Q returning him to human form and ridding us of the contentious robo-Picard that was in play at the end of the first season. Just a thought there but it's something that I wouldn't put past Q nor the writers to deal with the level of backlash that the move to "kill" the captain seemed to create.

Either way - anyway - we'll have to wait at least six months before we get to find out...

Breaking Borg, Part III

The last time we saw the Borg, they were seemingly vanquished. The Queen has been corrupted and the virus implanted by Admiral Janeway had apparently sealed the fate of the Collective, infecting the core to destroy the body.

But is that where it all stopped? The Borg we’re back to their malevolent best - possibly their most dangerous form since Picard drew a line and allowed them to go no further. 

Picking up 18 years after the events of Nemesis, 2020’s Picard brought the Borg out of semi-retirement but this was a very unusual Collective and focused purely on one, lonely disconnected Cube.

A cube that had been severed from the Hive mind and subsequently held by the Romulans as a reclamation centre, repatriating drones (XB’s) from the horrors of the Collective. 

Led by director Hugh, the facility seeks to restore something to the lives of these apparently broken individuals and Picard shows us, within the events of The Impossible Box that these drones are struggling to regain themselves after a life of enforced servitude.

Del Arco's take on this version of Hugh is a lot lighter and more sensitive than I would have imagined. He is a shining example of someone who has truly regained his individuality and has sought to better others lives. I'm not in the least shocked by his extreme reaction to the execution of the other XBs by Narissa but Hugh is now the exception to the rule. While I, Borg may not have initially seemed a good idea, here we have the expansion of Picard's decision in the right way that Descent, Part II didn't quite muster. Here Hugh has a strong purpose, he leads and sees the positives everywhere while Picard and Seven actually have a leaning towards the darker events of the galaxy. 

Notably Picard chooses in no way to ‘cuddle’ the Borg and give them a humanising slant that we have witnessed before and has been done with every major alien race in Star Trek. In this series we are exposed psychologically and physically to the terrors of assimilation and years of torment associated with being part of the Borg Collective. 

The Impossible Box in fact takes us back to Wolf 359 and, as noted in the review of that episode, Star Trek actually addresses PTSD. Jean-Luc is visually shaken by his first trip back to a Borg cube since he was partially assimilated into the Collective and for a few moments we see him revisiting that traumatic time. It’s not something that dominates the series but it is addressed and dealt with alongside the correct material. Family dig into the immediate aftermath and here we have the long term effects and we have Jean-Luc interacting with the two people who can understand his pain the most; Hugh and Seven. 

Picard does nod to First Contact but it’s real focus is The Best of Both Worlds as well it should be. That was the keystone of his experiences with the Borg and the series hits the damage caused by their incursion head on.

Picard does nothing to make the Borg seem less than menacing. Seven’s own past with the Borg is resurrected with the savage murder of Icheb for the acquisition of Borg technology pushing the visual envelope of the franchise that bit further than ever before. This also reflects the severe hatred for the Borg - there’s no grace in removing the implants for profit and they are only seen as a resource nothing more even in XB’s.

The future of the Star Trek universe isn't quite the utopia we have seen before by the time we get to Picard. A lot's changed with contempt for the former Borg drones just being one tip on the iceberg. The Borg threat itself may not be as present as it was thanks to the intervention of Admiral Janeway but the fear of assimilation is still there.

When Seven reconnects with the limited-scale Collective in order to defeat the Romulans, one of her first actions is to reactivate the dormant drones and reconnect them to a smaller hive mind controlled by her. It's a dangerous narcotic for the former Borg with a demonstration that the Collective is a brutal force even in reduced numbers.

Ultimately these XB's - or whatever is left of them by the end of the series have chosen to stay away from returning to the unified consciousness. Perhaps the most telling moment of the season is the conversation between Seven and Picard as she leaves the La Sirena which delivers the blow that neither has ever truly been the same since their time with the Collective even though its two decades in the past. There's always going to be a part of each of them which will be associated to that period.

What Picard chooses NOT to do is answer what has happened to the Borg in the years since Endgame. The acquisition of the Artifact indicates that the Borg have been active since Voyager ended but it does nothing to indicate what damage was done to the Collective or how it survived or rebuilt itself following Admiral Janeway's attack. 

We don't even know if this was a lone cube which assimilated the only Romulans to ever to part of the Borg or if there was a fleet - it's all kept very vague and in some respects this goes right back to the more ambiguous roots that we discussed in Part I. 

Picard has taken just one element of the Borg and focused on it, choosing to dig into the torments and terror that comes from life after being separated from the hive mind and leaving us to imagine what has occurred elsewhere.

The cube is still terrifying and the fact that they have been collecting new drones nods to the fact that the Collective are back to their singular, emotionless focus to become better and strike down everything in their path. The Borg are, it seems, very much still out there....so maybe this isn't the last time we'll be seeing them in the franchise.

As we've seen in this three part overview, the Borg have certainly had their fair share of change - they have been adapted to the show and each of the times they have been utilised either on the big or small screen. Picard has returned the mysticism to the Collective while at the same time bringing the horrors of their actions back to the fore and away from the occasional sensitive mush that Voyager meandered into during its sixth season. 

Even if you don't agree with moving corridor walls and a slightly different aesthetic to the Borg (not the first time), you can't help but feel that Michael Chabon and his Picard team have really gone back to the roots of the Borg and what made them interesting. I was originally intending to deal with Seven in here but now I think she's worth her own future supplement - and that's on the way.

You can read the rest of Breaking Borg here

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Picard: Et in Arcadia Ego, Parts I and II

Making it to the synth homeworld, it seems that the mission will end in failure in sight of the end goal.

That is until the reactivated Borg cube arrives to save the La Sirena from Narek’s attacks.

Et in Arcadia Ego raises the stakes, places Picard firmly planetside and reveals more about the synthetic colony established in secret. 

The trip to the Borg cube to see if Elnor and Hugh survived does allow us to see the swordsman and Seven partnered up to save the remaining XB’s and provides Jean-Luc with a chance to say goodbye to the nearest approximation to a son that he’s had since the death of Data in Nemesis. 

It’s never felt as though this relationship ever really formed nor did we ever get to see Elnor truly at Picard’s side as his bodyguard. Most of his time has been spent on the Artifact away from La Sirena and even then Elnor has never truly evolved as a character and his presence has been sidelined in the few episodes in which he has appeared.

The bulk of the episode rightly focuses on the arrival of Soji back at the synth community. With the added element of trekking across to the crashed cube, I was almost exhausted and frustrated when we finally arrived because the episode felt like we were delaying the inevitable. I understand we needed to know what happened to anyone aboard the Artifact but it did slow the pacing of the episode down.

The biggest reveal of episode nine is the return of Brent Spiner. Not as Data, Lore or B4 but as Noonien Soong’s son (retcon!), Altan Inigo (A.I.). This guy is all for the synthetics of course, being the man responsible for the look of the android bodies while Maddox focused on the minds. Soong is creating a golem in which to place a human consciousness - nothing much revealed about it in this episode but you do sense that its something we need fo pay attention to for episode ten. 

So let's discuss these androids. My god, they seem to have developed a fashion sense off the back of The Original Series with lots of free-flowing fabric but what is quite unsettling and I would think intentionally so, is the choice to have them all gold skinned with distinct yellow eyes a la Data. Their skin tone is much more pronounced and makes them an eerie set of creations. The sister of Janna (whom Rios encountered on the USS ibn Majid is still there, looking like a much more artificial version of Soji.

But these synths have a bigger plan to contact an ancient cybernetic race and bring an end to the rule of the organics. Et in Arcadia Ego does plant a lot of set up in it's first part from the golem to the plight of the synths from the approaching 250 strong Romulan fleet. To be fair by the end of the first part you're not really sure who you should be rooting for - is it the synths who are threatened with extinction or should you be with the Romulans who, for all intents and purposes, are just looking to secure the future of organic life in the universe?

The belief that Jurati and Soji are both swift to change allegiances does to push your ability to believe a little although given their recent past it does seem understandable but the synths do have a tendancy to seem, with the possible exception of Soji-twin Sutra, to be wishy-washy at best with no real oomph behind them apart from the beliefs and drive of Altan Soong and to a minor extent, Jurati. 

The other problem is that the synths of Coppelius don't really play a huge part in the conclusion, Aside from a few reactive shots, most of the action around their enclosure in Part II focuses on Soji activating the beacon which will draw an ancient race to their location. It's not quite on a par with Veridian IV from Generations where we never even saw a native but they do get ridiculously sidelined especially Sutra who is responsible for Narek's escape from confinement. 

But that's not the heart of the conclusion to the season and actually, if I'm brutally honest here, the lack of golden androids doesn't take away from what I might controversially call the greatest episode of Star Trek for about 20 years.

This episode is full of emotional highs and lows, a true cliched roller-coaster of an episode that brings the Romulan navy and Starfleet face to face once more although a firefight (for the second time in the episode) is avoided.

Picard's neurological condition has played a big part since his departure from Earth and here it really comes to the fore leading to an unexpected moment of drama to which you know there has to be a get out clause. Perhaps this is actually the issue with Et in Arcadia Ergo, because for the first 30 minutes of the story there's a lot going on at breakneck speed. Narek teams up with the La Sirena crew, Seven takes on the Zhat Vash skills of Narissa (although she seems to give less of a fight than she did with Elnor disappointingly) and Picard is freed by Jurati with the pair of them flying Rios' ship against the Romulan warbirds.

It's a lot to take in but that piece of the season does end satisfyingly not without the help of an acting, familiar, starship captain and his own fleet of Arbiter Class vessels. While it's not clear if Acting Captain Riker (on a redress of the Discovery bridge) is in command of this fleet, it did raise a few questions for me - how come there's suddenly a huge and super-advanced Starfleet when it's been suggested that all is not well after the Mars attacks and surely they would have managed more than one design? This does feel a bit lazy from the designers but at least we've had one new starship design this season huh?!

However it's the latter half of the episode that really kicks and potentially lifts it from an average run of the mill finale packed with phaser battles and frantic pacing because it comes down to two core characters and a goodbye that wasn't completed.

My next couple of sentences are huge spoilers but there's no way to review this without doing so. There's the warning now...

Killing Jean-Luc Picard felt inevitable from the moment we heard he was developing a terminal condition although I was counting on it being something that would be stretched across a season or two with that being the ultimate endgame. I wasn't right and I should have taken the golem much more strongly into consideration for the admiral.

Being mentally scanned and saved, Picard gets to meet Data once more in a quantum simulation. This is the neuron that Maddox took from B-4 and from which he in turn spawned Dahj and Soji to uncover the real story behind the ban on synthetic life.

In what has to be one of the most moving and well written pieces of this new Star Trek era, Picard and Data have closure, a time to say goodbye and lay everything to rest. Indeed, Picard admits that he has been unable to get over that very event since the day it happened and now Data can also have his peace requesting that his consciousness be terminated. 

Flicking back to the dream sequence of Data and Picard in the vineyard, we realise that we have come full circle and it might be that the father/son tale here has been the stronger thread running along all the time. We successfully avoid Data coming back to life while also simultaneously celebrating the rebirth of Picard who keeps his promise to a very old friend.

The punch of this second half hour is incredible. Just to see "proper" Data and Picard in conversation once more is seriously emotional because there is such a strong whiff of finality. Capping it off wth Isa Briones' version of Blue Skies truly brings us back to Remembrance and to see Data pass visually of old age is a nod to his desire to become human. While Nemesis ended the story, Et in Arcadio Ego has provided a coda to the narrative and feels more satisfyingly conclusive than the last The Next Generation movie.  Picard's demons too and his health problems are now cast aside by the end of the episode as the crew come together to head out and explore the galaxy; 20 years of regret are done with.

Et in Arcadia Ego does a great job to tie up the season and makes the decent choice not to cliffhanger us over into season two unlike it's contemporary, Discovery. 

How Commodore/General Oh managing to escape scott free didn't sit too well with me - she must know a vast amount of Starfleet secrets and seems to have been able to just walk ut and also return to the Empire following her defeat over Coppelius. We also didn't really have a firm conclusion on what became of Narek and it's certainly annoying not to have a full conclusion but I suspect they might just pop up again in the future seasons of Picard. 

With all the doom, gloom and roundabouts of emotion powering through the second part, to have some closure and optimism for the future and for all the characters aboard La Sirena, it feels that Picard has come a long way since its more grey beginnings and less than positive outlook.

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Thanks to Chris Groves for assistance with screencaps

Picard: Broken Pieces

Seven weeks of setup and this week, we start getting some answers.

Our opening flashback sets up the tone of the episode with the assembly of the Zhat Vash undergoing the Admonition and learning the reason why there has to be an end to all synthetic life.  Even in this there's a lot of information - the reason for the Zhat Vash's existence and that Commodore Oh is indeed a part of their organisation. 

The scene also reveals that Ramdha is Narissa's aunt and that the Admonition is so destructive it can send a person insane. The background to Ramdha's story accounts for the fact that her mental state (which was already unstable) coupled with the damage caused by the Admonition is behind the severance of the Artifact from the Collective. 

It does feel as though this isn't so much as a reveal as a huge piece of narrative slammed into the episode with a seeming lack of finesse. There's no twist, no link in to the main story, instead a flashback tells us what's been going on and even the teaser section goes as far as to announce the Zhat Vash's involvement with the attacks on Mars. Indeed, this 200,000 year old warning has been passed down from generation to generation from an ancient race but the build up to it is non-existent.

Aboard the La Sirena things are a lot more complicated. Jurati is brought round from her coma to face the music for Maddox's murder plus the news that she's been the reason Narek has been able to track the ship due to the isotope Oh made her swallow. While this is again an important development which ties in Oh's relationship to the Romulans, it is somewhat overshadowed by Rios and the five holograms that can man his starship.  Raffi chooses to go digging and in doing so discovers that each of the five represent an aspect of the captain's "broken" personality. 

While he wallows in his emotions and revisits his Starfleet past, Raffi brings the quintet together to find out what the link is between Rios and Soji.  Of the events on the La Sirena the Rios line is the most involving if only to see Santiago Cabreras appear in five slightly different versions of himself - even if the Scottish accent of his Engineering hologram isn't exactly on form. 

The summit of these creations has its humorous points but the underlying story is much darker and unsettling leading to the death of the ibn Majid's captain, Vandermeer who was ordered to eliminate individuals who were, it seems, synthetics. The key here is that now each member of the La Sirena crew has been affected by artificial lifeforms and on the most part not for good which in turn only provides more backing to the Romulan desire to remove all traces of androids from the galaxy.  

This is the more poignant element of Broken Pieces and almost certainly the inspiration for the title but lets not forget that Elnor dialled up the Fenris Rangers to help him out of his predicament. No points for correctly guessing that Seven of Nine is his saviour and his reunion with the former Borg is almost as emotional as Picard’s reunion with Hugh two weeks ago. Quite a bit of action here as Seven helps the Qwvat Milat swordsman evade the Romulans led by the icy Narissa. 

She too goes on a one woman killing spree, double-phasering it mercilessly against the XBs and pretty much anyone who happens to be in the way.  However all is not lost and the choice Seven makes is the ultimate last gasp - becoming the Borg Queen of the decimated and severed mini Collective on the Artifact.

There are perhaps a couple of elements within episode eight that might jar fans - there's the reported inconsistency in the timeline of when the Zhat Vash ship was assimilated and just how long the Romulans have been in possession of the cube, the manner in which the Borg are so easily spaced after the manner in which they established a solar plexing beacon in First Contact and on top of that there's the way in which the evolution of Seven's character has been handled. 

Broken Pieces definitely has its moments with Seven's choice to return to the Collective perhaps being the most striking and terrifying of them all - would she be able to let go not just of the link but of the power to control the Borg themselves (in whatever limited numbers the Artifact would allow). Jeri Ryan has been ever-watchable here and there's a level of believably to the journey she has been on since the end of Voyager. Yes, we would all like to think that the galaxy continued to be all positively driven and aiming towards that greater good but, realistically, things happen (and don't we know it right now in March 2020) which will alter paths. 

The Hobus supernova is the key to this series and has been since the beginning with a lot of change echoing from that flashpoint. I for one champion the decisions to take all of these known characters - Picard, Seven, Hugh, the Rikers and even Icheb and take a new and divisive spin on each and every one.

While this week's story does feel like it's all over and done too soon, at least we can say there have been some movements on plot details - but you just know that with two weeks left it's not over....

Catch up on all our Picard season one episode reviews here.

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Thanks to Chris Groves for assistance with screencaps

Picard: Stardust City Rag

From the trailer I’d have been convinced this episode was a write off. 

In some respects that didn't quite happen however Stardust City Rag is a shining example of both the best and worst that Kurtzman-era Star Trek has to offer. Evidently the big talking point of episode five is the return of Jeri Ryan as a more worldly-wise Seven of Nine now patrolling the area around what used to be the Romulan Neutral Zone.  

Seven’s return to the Star Trek universe 19 years after Endgame brought a lot of joy go fans when we spotted her in the series trailers and now we get to see where she has ended up and why. Her story of retribution over the death of Icheb (not played by Manu Intirayami) in fleeting flashbacks rings very true as does Seven’s choice to make her way with the Fenris Rangers but is this a character development too far? 

Nineteen years have passed and the death of someone that close to her does appear to have been a seminal moment in her life but is the brutality it leads to in keeping with her regaining most of her humanity after disconnecting from the Borg? While the stilted and uncomfortable Seven finding her feet in Voyager is almost two decades in the past, it almost feels as though she has taken a step back rather than one forward. 

As I said, this is where Stardust City Rag skips down a thin line with the return of a beloved character being an event in which to rejoice yet there may well be a suggestion that the character has been paid a disservice. Indeed, Seven’s final scenes in Stardust City Rag leave her fate uncertain although they do suggest her personality is a long way away from the role we knew on Voyager. Seven is damaged, has been betrayed and chosen a life far removed from the apparent idyllic nature of the Federation post-Dominion War. 

The universe is perhaps not as cut, dry and cuddly as it was and the way to look at Seven is to see how far things have truly changed away from Earth. She’s not the only one mind you that receives a bit of character assassination but we shall come to that in a second because after four episodes it finally feels that we are getting somewhere. The quarter impulse speed of the series has finally taken us to somewhere we are supposed to be and in contact with someone who has been on the lips of many people since Remembrance; Bruce Maddox (not played by Brian Brophy). 

Now at the mercy of club host Bjayzl who would look to strike a deal with the Tal'Shiar, Maddox is seemingly unreachable by Picard and his assorted crew. That is of course until Seven offers herself up as bait since Bejayzl is on the market for Borg parts which can provide her with substantial profits. Planning to pose as traders seeking Maddox, Rios and Picard pose as what I can only describe as a space pimp and a terribly French-accented rogue, a rouse that is quickly undone by the revelation that Bjayzl and Seven - or Annika as she refers to the former Borg - have something of a deeper and longer standing relationship than has been made clear. 

The fact that the cover plan is effectively doomed from the start and that it betrays some rather darker truthes is a grim twist especially after the opening minutes of the episode add some gory context to it but the choice to degrade the character of Rios LET ALONE Jean-Luc Picard is to the point of absurdity. I understand that the galaxy has changed and that Picard is no longer under the jurisdiction of Starfleet and Federation rules of conduct but REALLY? Did this need to dip to this level? 

Luckily we’re spared the mangled accents and strutting fairly quickly but for a series deep seated in its fanfare for human development and even as Picard states in First Contact - to better themselves, this is getting close to the line although on which side is a tad blurry.  Doctor Jurati also picks up a bit more action in episode five with it revealed (popular word in this review...) that she and Maddox shared an intimate relationship - which is also turned on its head by the conclusion of this week’s story.  The twist in her character is unexpected although the encounter with Commodore Oh in The End is the Beginning will probably have a lot to answer for in the future. Some conversations I'd had before watching episode five did revolve around where Alison Pill's cyberneticist character was heading and it looks as though there was some more thought than for her just to come along for a jolly.

Raffi's storyline here is massively underplayed considering the gravity of her situation. Locating her son on FreeCloud, her reunion is uncomfortable but adds more depth to the fragile past of Musiker. Between Picard effectively leaving her to the mercy of Starfleet when he resigned through to his reappearance at her Vasquez Rocks home, Raffi has been left out to pasture with no one really caring leading to depression and apparent drug abuse. Even her VR advert from FreeCloud is tailored to her "needs", playing to her drug addiction over everything else.Definitely not the utopian future Roddenberry would have liked to see.

I suppose this is a thing we should consider. For once we have a show that is set within the Star Trek universe but not necessarily set within the boundaries that were established in the 1960’s by Gene Roddenberry and caused all sorts of strife for writers in the early years of The Next Generation. There is conflict outside of those restrictions, the galaxy has changed due to events external to the Federation and everything we understood about the tranquillity of the Alpha Quadrant is in flux.  Stardust City Rag is not without its merits. There are some cool callouts to both Quark on two occasions (looks like he’s expanded a franchise!) and Mr Mot the barber but it also mentions some tantilising titbits of information such as the Conclave of Eight among others in relation to events after the Hobus Supernova. 

FreeCloud itself betrays perhaps the darker entertainments of the galaxy, almost an anti-Risa if you might with over the top holographic adverts that physically invite you in with tailored merchandise and offers spammed into your ship. Metaphor for cookies and the dregs of the internet? Highly likely in my opinion.

The change of pace is a real sigh of relief after four weeks of fairly plodding universe building with the crew getting to do something more than ask lots of questions. However, what the heck was the point of bringing Elnor along to FreeCloud? A lot was made in Absolute Candor that this guy could kick ass and would be the ideal bodyguard for Picard on his lost cause but here he seems little more (only just) than comedy relief due to his naivety of the outside world away from Vashti and doesn’t once spring into warrior action. Here he seems barely window dressing and deserves to be used in the way he was intended. Fingers crossed for next week, viewers.

Ultimately Stardust City Rag manages to spin another line of mystery with the news that the Romulans and Starfleet are involved in something and to a much deeper level than suspected. The synthetic lifeform ban in the Federation also may have been manipulated through events on Mars and now La Sirena is heading off into even deeper troubles on a course for the Artifact.

This episode is that "marmite" entry, the one that will be debated for many years as to just how it fits into the franchise and perhaps why it as even attempted. While it does descend into near-pantomime levels of stupidity at times, Stardust City Rag doesn't fail to shock and deliver the punches where it needs to, evolving a major returning character for better or worse and firmly placing this era of the franchise into its window of social commentary. Times change, people change, it would be silly for the 100% idyllic Federation to exist forever - it's not realistic and both Discovery and more heavily Picard are leaning to explore the mood of the time just as previous series have slotted themselves into the issues of their times.

One final note too - the last conversation between Picard and Seven discussing their past Borg incarnations is incredibly telling and maybe even more revealing than the immediate after effect of Family or the act as Locutus during I,Borg. For Seven these few lines too explore that even with 20 odd years away from the Collective it still has a hold in some way and neither were ever truly the same again. I can only imagine how being on a Borg Cube for the first time since The Best of Both Worlds is going to play out for Jean-Luc Picard.

How do you feel about Picard after episode five? Still going or packing it in?

Catch up on all our Picard season one episode reviews here.

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We Are Borg: Faction Pack Part One

Deadlier, stronger and with some new twists, the Borg Faction Pack returns one of Star Trek's greatest foes to Attack Wing.

This time, of course, it's personal with one of the most ferocious line ups of all time - a Scout Cube and a Sphere now joined by a Borged USS Voyager and Assimilated Target Prime, a Borged Galaxy Class starship both of which we'll cover in Part Two.

First up lets tackle the updated Borg Scout Cube 609. Carrying screenshots from I, Borg, the ship packs three dice for attack and defence alongside two hull points and four shield points. Its basic actions are Evade, Scan, Target Lock and Regenerate while the four upgrade slots provide one for each of the available categories - Weapons, Crew, Tech and Borg. Offering some form of defence for the horribly under-defended Borg ships, the Scout Cube can regenerate one shield and one hull point as its Action. 

It can perform this when at Range one and might be a big help to the Sphere as a support craft since it has no dice to roll in defence.   As for speed and movement, the Scout Cube can punch up to speed four along with a reverse pace of three. As with all Borg ships it can only perform right angle turns at speeds one to four with all moves at four or reverse three incurring an Auxiliary Power Token. Given the size of ship this is pretty impressive maneuverability to be offered up especially from the Borg which already have significant advantages.

Also note that the cost of this ship for your fleet - 22 points is not double the total of the four ship stats. The generic Scout Cube is also a bargain at a mere 17 points offering strong upgrade possibilities sacrificing a Weapon upgrade and a shield point for the price.

In terms of the model, it's a slightly lighter shade of grey than the solus edition we have reviewed previously and carries exactly the same details; no big improvements here and nor are there any changes when it comes to the model of the Sphere - even down to the idiotic way it's been orientated. The Sphere is still 90 degrees incorrectly aligned with the panelling running front to back rather than top to bottom. With a minor adjustment, some filler and a drill you can have the Sphere the right way up in about ten minutes...

Sphere 634 packs a bigger attack loading up six dice on the offensive although there is nothing to counter an assault with zero for defence (so keep the Scout Cube close to hand). 

Additionally, the Sphere bears seven hull and seven shield points so its going to last a little longer than the Scout Cube. It only has built in Actions for Target Lock, Scan and Regenerate which could leave you desperately needing some assistance.   As for cards you can equip up to two Borg, one Weapon, Crew and Equipment upgrades onto the Sphere to make even more of this dangerous ship.

During Combat, Sphere 634 can spend a Target Lock to discard a Scan, Evade or Battle Stations token from an enemy craft within range two, thus depriving it of means of additional defence or attack. I've always felt this is one of the criminally overpowered ships in the game and one that is a hard target to eliminate. Even the generic version losing a Borg upgrade and a shield point barely has an effect on its dominant presence in the game. 

As with the Scout Cube its movements top out at speed four and bottom at reverse three. The left and right turns at speed four and reverse three will lead to an Auxiliary Power Token while forward speeds one, two and three are ranked green. The movement plus high attack make this a difficult option to ignore in a Borg fleet.

The pure named Borg captains in the faction pack are just as hardcore as the two ships. The Borg Queen and Locutus both pack a nine Captain skill with the former costing five points to the latter's four. Looking at the abilities of both it's clear why one is more expensive. Both are set up with nine Drone tokens however the Queen can be any other captain ability in your fleet that requires spending at least one Drone Token. 

That's a bonkers ability giving you the chance to play any Action in your fleet wherever that ship is on the board since it's not range limited. The Borg Queen is also able to field am Elite Ability. Pick wisely...

Then there's Locutus. A much wanted card since he's only appeared in the original Oversize Borg Cube pack in retail stores but don't get too excited for to see his visage. His abilities aren't as useful as the Queen as he only provides the chance to add an extra two Crew slots on your ship and cannot be equipped to a fleet that also has Picard onboard. No faction penalties are caused when equipping Crew upgrades here so it's a good card to let you take full advantage of your collection. Picard will also allow the addition of an Elite Action. Bit of a downer in my opinion and should have had some form of ability to predict movements if the opponent was Federation.

Kathryn Janeway (Borg or Federation faction) starts off with a Captain Skill of eight with a cost to your fleet of five points. Each time an opposing ship within range two performs an Evade, Scan or Battle Station Action, one of the Drone tokens can be used and the opponent ship can be targetted. The Action it performed can then be completed as a freebie and leads to your opponent gaining the joys of an Auxiliary Power Token - so a win, win situation for your team. 

The final captain option is the Operations Drone costing a more affordable/reasonable three points. Initially working with a skill of six, the Drone can target a ship at ranges one or to during the Planning Phase of the game and lumber that craft with an Auxiliary Power Token at the cost of one of its Drone Tokens. 

All of the three would be a good punt to team up with the Borg Queen although my personal choice out of the box would be to link up the Queen and Janeway to nullify any Action effects across the board.

If you've got the Elite Action slot in play then the pack provides three new options to play with. The five point Collective Consciousness is effective between ranges one and three and incurs three Time Tokens to target all Borg captains. The result is pretty hardcore especially if it's coupled with Crosis and/or the Borg Queen/Locutus meaning potentially all your Borg commanders could be punching with a skill of up to nine allowing for some early attacks.

Root Command is our first look at a discard feature in this pack with a cost of four and useful up to range two. Initially it's not the greatest but for the chance to select which one of your ships gets attacked could well extend the life of your fleet - however it will rely on there being another ship in range to use to take the heat off your ailing ship for instance. I can get the use but it's very selective when it could be played - maybe one for those who fancy a good bit of close combat.

Third up is another Elite Action costing four points with Ocular Implants. Offering up the chance to spin out a free Scan Action when you perform Target Lock it's one that can be played every single round and if you can twin it with a Target Lock Action this could being a nice series of combos.

Crew slots on your ships can be filled up with five possibles - Three of Nine and Tuvok cost five points a piece with Crosis and B'Elanna Torres costing three points and finally Seven of Nine costing two. 

Three of Nine Is well worth purchasing for your vessel as his ability means the Regeneration function will repair a Hull and a Shield point at the same time plus there's no loss of attack from using the Action and it's neither a discard or a disable. For five points you can't do any wrong with this card as it'll certainly provide lasing benefits for any Borg ship especially those with zero natural defence ability - we're looking at you Borg Sphere.

Tuvok can be equipped either as a Federation character or a Borg crewmember. During the modifying of your attack dice step of an attack you can use the assimiliated Vulcan to spend a Drone token from your captain stopping the opponent from rerolling any dice and if the attacking ship carries any Federation Weapon upgrades it will flip a Damage or Critical Damage result over to a blank. Wow - Tuvok is rather useful and moreso to the Borg than the Federation in faction pure situations.Utilising the Drone tokens does mean this becomes a multiple use card over, potentially, consecutive rounds to beat down heavy attacks from Battle Station use in particular.

With Crosis, this character pumps your Captain Skill up by a point (useful if you have an opponent throwing another nine out there) but also means that a Borg Captain can go up three skill points which can make this a very cost effective addition to your fleet. The extra benefit with Crosis is that he can take over as captain if your ship's commander is discarded and starts out with a skill of five.

Certainly a good and multi-use card in this but B'Elanna can operate as either Federation or Borg. Not too hot an option initially but consider this - she'll let you add a Borg Tech slot to your ship and for each unused slot it'll cost a point less. Now here's a thing - if you're playing faction pure this is a non-starter since Borg upgrades are always Borg faction. B'Elanna is one of those specific use cards if you're chucking in anything to make the perfect combos but will be of more benefit on a Borg pure ship to reduce your outgoings.

The surprisingly low priced Seven of Nine is cheap for a reason - she adds a Borg Tech upgrade to your bar and reduces the cost of all your Borg upgrades by a point.... and that's it. Very direct use but really one that you'll be leaving in the pack unless you're really, really really desperate to fill a slot.

In the second part of the Borg Faction Pack review we will be taking a look at the two new starships plus the Weapon, Borg and Tech upgrades...

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