Weekend Trek “Tapestry”

Picard’s artificial heart is not something that comes up very often, a story he once told Wesley Crusher, but here it is, recreated on the show with Picard getting a chance to avoid the mistake that got him that mechanical heart.  Plus, it’s a Q episode.  Jimmy and Tom usually like those.

See their chat on the episode below.

“Tapestry”

Q gives Picard a chance to avoid early mistakes.

jimmy:  Picard makes an interesting point at the end of this one.  Was Q even really involved or was it all just some sort of near death experience playing out in his mind?

tomk:  Why would he picture Q in such a scenario?

jimmy:  Who knows. Have you never had a dream that made no sense?

tomk:  Like the time I dreamt Watson was eating Jenny’s hair?

jimmy:  I hope that was a dream.

tomk:  In the dream, you were his best friend.

jimmy:  Sounds more like a nightmare.

tomk:  Now that I think about it, there was a distinct lack of Q.

jimmy:  In your dream?

tomk:  Yes. I don’t really know Q.

jimmy:  Probably a good thing.

tomk:  Yeah, his help isn’t always helpful unless you like wearing blue.

jimmy:  Speaking of, does it make sense for “dream” Picard to be the age he was and not even be a lieutenant yet?

tomk:  He sucked that much with all of his original parts.

jimmy:  So he gets all his power from his mechanical heart?

tomk:  Eh, Q said something about how he learned to take risks.

jimmy:  Did he risk sleeping with his friend in the original timeline?

tomk:  Apparently not. But she learned she wasn’t that into him. He must be terrible in bed.

jimmy:  Damn.  Tom with the truth bomb.

tomk:  I calls ‘em as I sees ‘em.

Maybe that’s why all those women keep slapping him.

jimmy:  Or throwing drinks in his face.

tomk:  Or secretly being Q.

Or, if this is Star Trek Picard, the Borg Queen.

jimmy:  Either way, it seems that the best thing to happen to Picard’s career was to laugh at a blade sticking out of his heart.

tomk:  We’ve probably all been there. But in my case, it came from stubbing my toe.

jimmy:  Did you laugh in a way that made you wonder if you laughed because of some Q shenanigans and it was some kind of time loop situation and it always happened this way?

tomk:  No, I laughed because that minor injury made me pause in my steps and then Watson couldn’t run me over with his car as I crossed the street.

jimmy:  That.  Or time loop.

tomk:  You think lots of things are time loops.

jimmy:  See, that’s a loop.

tomk:  Aren’t loops hollow?

jimmy:  I think they are filled with chocolate.

tomk:  Those are various items covered in foil.

jimmy:  Chocolate is delicious.

tomk:  And Picard didn’t get any. Most likely because this wasn’t Troi’s near-death experience.

jimmy:  Troi’s would probably be death by chocolate.

tomk:  And she’d love every second of it.

jimmy:  Yes. She didn’t seem to love Mr. Picard though.

tomk:  He’s just some old dude without the skills to advance past a blue uniform. He annoys everyone with sloppy work. And that female friend told every woman and most of the men in Starfleet he sucks in bed.

jimmy:  Ouch. He’s better off getting stabbed in the heart.

tomk:  I think that was Q’s lesson.

jimmy:  Or “Q”’s lesson.

tomk:  If it wasn’t Q, who it?  R?

jimmy:  It might have been “PI”, as in “Picard’s Imagination”.

tomk:  Not PI as in “Private Investigator Dixon Hill and his Blue Gun”?

jimmy:  You’re right, it could be…

tomk:  Blue guns though?  That’s silly.

jimmy:  Sillier than that “pool” game they were playing?

tomk:  You’d rather they do that blind American Gladiators reject game Riker and his dad do?

jimmy:  You can’t play that in a pub, Tom.

tomk:  You just aren’t trying hard enough.

jimmy:  Well, I don’t want to accidently spill a Nausicaan’s beer.

tomk:  You don’t have the grapnas for that.

jimmy:  You’re right.  I would definitely end up a low ranking science officer.

tomk:  But you might get to sleep with that cute friend from your Academy days.

jimmy:  And then have her tell everyone I was awful in bed.  Sounds about right.

tomk:  Jimmy, you clearly have no confidence in your own prowess as a twentysomething who doesn’t know what he’s doing.

jimmy:  I’m a twentysomething?  Awesome!

tomk:  You were when you get to go back in time during a near death experience to make right what once went wrong and hope that every leap would be the leap home.

jimmy:  And on the series finale I got home right?

tomk:  Let me check…

It says here that the Moose’s wife didn’t remarry before he got back from the Moose Wars, and they’re happily married with three daughters, but Jimmy Impossible never got home.

jimmy:  Dangnabbit!

tomk:  Or Q reset the timeline.

jimmy:  One thing I always wonder about episodes like this…Picard’s life is obviously changed when he returns to the present, but everything else is exactly the same. Same ship, same crew, same ranks, etc.

tomk:  Well, it’s not like Picard’s artificial heart taught Riker anything.

jimmy:  But we saw previously that not everyone is a fan of Riker. Does he still end up as Number One on the Enterprise?  And if he does, and Picard is not there, does he turn down numerous offers of his own ship?

tomk:  Maybe the other captain was more awesome than Picard

jimmy:  That’s entirely possible. He was probably killed in the original timeline on the Stargazer.

tomk:  Or he was just a timelost Kirk in disguise.

jimmy:  Now, wouldn’t that be a story?

Also interesting…”There were several changes made to the script prior to filming, including the removal of Edward Jellico as the Captain of the Enterprise in Picard’s alternative future.”

tomk:  Riker was too happy to be serving under Jellico.

jimmy:  Or they couldn’t afford to bring Ronny Cox back. Though it didn’t matter since the Captain is never seen.

tomk:  He could have been a sober Captain Jake.

jimmy:  No one wants that. That’s like Fun Bobby when he stopped drinking.

tomk:  He had to quit or get a new liver, Jimmy.

jimmy:  Picard got a new heart. Anything is possible.

tomk:  Hearts only do, like, one thing. Livers so many things.

jimmy:  You can’t have “live” without “livers”. Uh, or something.

tomk:  Like you can’t have slaughter without laughter?

jimmy:  Exactly!

tomk:  Jimmy, you might need help. Might I recommend a near death experience?

jimmy:  Is Q going to show me that all the mistakes I made made me who I am today?

tomk:  He may show you the day you met Watson.

jimmy:  Are we sure I can’t change that?

tomk:  Are you prepared for the consequences where the Moose leaves you, we never chat, Jenny has even more free reign on your donut stash, and Cousin Minka wants you dead?

jimmy:  Watson!!!!

tomk:  There’s a dark side to every decision.

Plus, bad news.  If you have a near death experience, you don’t get Q to guide you.  You get your own persistent archenemy.

jimmy:  I better stay alive then.

tomk:  I will always encourage that.

jimmy:  And I for you.

tomk:  Well, this has been fun. Sort of. Anything else to add for Picard’s realization that it is indeed a wonderful life?

jimmy:  Not really.  I’m sure that phrasing was intentional, but I did read that the show was an attempt to tell an “It’s A Wonderful Life”/”A Christmas Carol” type story.

tomk:  Why do you think I phrased it like that?

jimmy:  That’s what I said.  

But yeah, the original pitch was even more “Christmas Carol”-y, jumping through time periods with Q as the “ghosts”, until they decided to concentrate on the knife in the heart episode and also to try to give some “canon” reason why Picard laughed upon getting stabbed.

tomk:  Not sure they needed the canon story, but it works.

jimmy:  Time loop!

tomk:  Ok, Jimmy. How do you feel about a Worf two-parter with a side of Data and a guest appearance from another show?

jimmy:  Is that show Seinfeld?

tomk:  Um, no.

jimmy:  Oh.  Still, let’s do it!

tomk:  Sounds good then.

Next:  “Chain of Command Part One”