Heh, I don’t think I agree with either of these takes.

It seems to me like season 1 was very much Michael Chabon’s vision - indeed, they’ve said in interviews that it didn’t bear much resemblance to the original pitch that sold Stewart on the series.

I’ve always felt that Chabon had a lot of great ideas (and to be frank, I still think that first season is the best “Picard” season), but was perhaps too inexperienced to get those ideas implemented in a timely and affordable fashion.

Del Arco not being informed of Hugh’s death is a bit of a non-issue, I think - the guy was a guest star, so it wouldn’t be right to expect them to treat him like a principal cast member.

Flag restrictions are typically a way to ban Pride flags without actually saying it out loud.

Covering the era from The Original Series, to Star Trek: Enterprise, and the films, the franchise is known for celebrating the beauty of exploration and analyzing ethical dilemmas largely based on societal issues.

Interesting - I guess the newer stuff is covered by a separate license.

The Mastodon version of this Lemmy post should contain the link (and does, when I look at it).

I think we have to assume it is - there’s kind of an unspoken contract with the writers that any universe containing the trappings of the Mirror Universe must be the Mirror Universe.

And there’s certainly precedent for the shows and movies nicking elements from novels and comics. It doesn’t have to mean that the works have been “canonized,” but it’s nice to see them using bits from those stories when it suits them.

I’m no DPS chaser, and the character I used is weirdly weak against Borg for reasons I’ve never bothered trying to uncover, but I think you could probably complete it more quickly than “Wanted.” I’m sure the XP rewards are far smaller, though.

That’s probably a good comparison. I don’t know whether the final battle is time-gated like those Klingon patrols are, but if they are, it’s a much shorter time limit.

Patrol: “Unwanted Guests”

This one is less interesting than “Out of Control” - close a couple portals, fight a few Borgs. Not much to say, really.

Moving forward, I’ll probably stick with the TFO - it’s not too complicated, and lets us knock out both daily points at once.

It felt similar to the TFO with the multiple shipyards and genocidal Klingon lady.

I’ve only run it once, but agreed. I did find the geography of the map a little confusing, but I’m sure I’ll learn the lay of the land after some more runs through it.

Patrol: “Out of Control”

It’s a pretty standard “defeat 5 groups of enemies” patrol, with the added wrinkle of the timed AoE attacks from the Borg. I actually enjoy this mechanic, especially when I’m in a slow-as-shit cruiser like I was when I ran the patrol today.

The story is nothing to write home about, as is usually the case with patrols. Alt-universe Iconians need our protection, blah blah blah.

For a brief moment, I thought maybe the other shoe was going to drop re: the Aetherians, but it was not to be (it also would have been very strange for that to happen in a patrol).

This article does not say threats were made - it says, “according to Chinese Canadian interview subjects, this invoked a widespread fear amongst electors, described as a fear of retributive measures from Chinese authorities should a CPC government be elected.”

That’s bad, to be sure, but if there was no direct threat, you’re going to have a pretty hard time prosecuting the issue.

So…if I were to say online that Donald Trump is an absolute disgrace, and people in the US should vote for his opponent, should I be facing charges in the US? Or maybe my comment should just be nuked?

By no means am I arguing that foreign influence is a good thing, but it’s awfully hard to regulate effectively.

That assumes they’re operating within the country.

The “pressure” in question is social media content - how do you propose legislating that?

A law against what, exactly?

CBC has this to add:

Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE Inc.), which owns 37.5 per cent of MLSE, said in a Wednesday press release that the deal is expected to close in mid-2025.

The company said that it is selling its ownership stake to reduce its debt and “support its ongoing transformation” from a telecommunications firm to a tech company.

What the hell are they doing over there?

I don’t even know why I checked the website, I usually don’t bother on weekends.

I think the ship is a standard reclaimable, account-wide unlock.

I think it’s possible to get a little salty about the state of things without turning the community (such as it is) into a wretched hive of scum and villainy - I think you’re in the clear.

It’s funny, I don’t think the current storyline has been bad, necessarily - just uninteresting. Maybe they were a year or two too late to hop on the multiversal bandwagon, even though it makes perfect sense in a Trek context.

Important note about one of the prizes:

Pulse Phaser Weapon Pack

This pack is account bound, and not reclaimable. It will be granted to the character who claims the Grand Prize.