Recap / Star Trek: Picard S3E06 "The Bounty"

The Titan has given Vadic the slip, and it's less than 72 hours until Frontier Day. After blowing away a mook who dared point this out, Vadic demands her crew check the 25th century equivalent of the internet for all of Picard's known associates, intent on finding where he went to ground.

Beverly has run some scans on Jack after his admissions in the previous episode. She has confirmed he has Irumodic Syndrome, the same thing Picard did — the same thing Picard died of, though in his case it didn't unlock a Superpowered Evil Side. Jack, drinking in the Ten Forward holodeck, gripes about what Picard passed on to him.

Worf and Raffi beam aboard the Titan, engineering two Big Damn Reunions: one between Worf and the Enterprise crew, and a slightly less fun one between Raffi and Seven, who have broken up, again. The two present their plan to get into Daystrom Station, and Riker decides to join them. They will have an hour at most to do their break-in.

Aboard Daystrom Station, Riker, Worf and Raffi work their way to the central mainframe, observed by the promised super-advanced defense AI. It incorporates Moriarty (TNG: "Ship In A Bottle") to slow them down, but Moriarty confesses he has an Ear Worm stuck in his head. Riker, the jazz musician, recognizes it as "Pop Goes the Weasel," and has flashbacks to when he whistled it to Data during the Enterprise's first mission. At the station's central core, they find another synth golem: Daystrom Android M-5-10, the last work of Altan Inigo Soong, who has had a Bus Crash since the first season. Soong claims to have poured a number of personalities — Data, Lore, Lal, B-4, himself and more — into the android, which is also tempered with both the wisdom and appearance of age. The golem is not only the super-advanced defense AI, it is also the station's Wetware CPU and knows what the Changelings stole. Riker decides to have the android beamed back with them, even though the personalities are not precisely integrated.

Of course, they can't beam back; basically the instant the Titan showed up, additional Starfleet starships arrived to apprehend it. Picard orders the ship to the Athan System, where Starfleet keeps its Fleet Museum, which is currently run by Commodore Geordi La Forge. Though he's glad to see his friends, Geordi is upset at the idea of his family being dragged into danger, and exhibits Refusal of the Call. Meanwhile, Jack and Seven check out the ships of the Museum — an original Constitution-class called the New Jersey; Kirk's NCC-1701-A; the tough little ship herself, the USS Defiant; the HMS Bounty, the Klingon Bird-of-Prey Kirk commandeered in 2285; and USS Voyager, NCC-74656, where Seven of Nine found her (first) Family of Choice — before Jack has a brainwave and asks both Sidney and her sister Alandra whether they're interested in a bit of petty larceny. Picard and La Forge are then surprised when the Titan suddenly grows an Invisibility Cloak.

La Forge: You stole the goddamn cloaking device from my Bird-of-Prey?
Picard: Geordi, I would never deceive you, and I would never steal from... (thinks it through) Jack.
La Forge: Sidney.

With La Forge sticking around to stabilize the cloaking device, Titan returns to Daystrom Station, and Worf, Raffi and the synth golem come home, their mission accomplished. Jack meets Picard again with somewhat more complimentary tone: while he knows he got some bad genes from his father, he has also learned to recognize that his bravery, loyalty and discernment comes from him as well.

Geordi succeeds at reactivating his best friend. Though it is not Data as we knew him — Data is now merely one voice of many — he does succeed at explaining what the Changelings came for: Picard's corpse.

And, of course, there's Riker. He stayed behind to Hold the Line and was tagged with a transport inhibitor. Now in Starfleet custody, the guard interrogating him inexplicably blows away his allies... before shapeshifting back into Vadic. She takes him into the bowels of the Shrike. Riker laughs at the idea that he would betray his friends, but Vadic clarifies that it's not his friends she's threatening.

Deanna Troi: Oh, Will...

---

Tropes:

• Actually Pretty Funny: Shaw smiles a bit when Riker quips at Picard's use of the word "burgle".
• All There in the Manual: Kinda. David Blass' Twitter feed presents an in-universe tour guide and map for Fleet Museum visitors, explicitly identifying each of the other ships in the collection. This includes the fact that one of the ships is the Akira-class USS Wersching, named in tribute for the then-recently-deceased Annie Wersching.
• Ambiguous Situation: Given Vadic and her crew are Changelings, there is a valid question of whether or not that actually is Deanna being held captive aboard the Shrike, or if they're a duplicate "Deanna" there to try and trick Will into giving up Jack's location.
• Ape Shall Not Kill Ape: Subverted. Given how sacrosanct this commandment was for DS9-era Founders, you'd expect this would be the norm among Vadic and the rest of the renegade Founders. Instead, it's a sign of just how extremist and divergent the Dominion Renegade Splinter Faction is that Vadic has no compunctions whatsover about killing one of her Changeling underlings after they criticize her one too many times.
• Area 51: Daystrom is, for all intents and purposes, the Federation's version of Area 51; this week's Ready Room episode even outright calls it Starfleet's Area 51. This is also consistent with past episodes wherein advanced alien technology the various franchise crews have encountered gets passed on to Daystrom for further study or archiving.
• Art Evolution: Played straight and inverted:
  • While the Defiant and Voyager had been previously rendered in CGI during their respective shows' runs, digital technology's advanced by leaps and bounds over the last 20 years (to say nothing of the original models having been rendered for standard definition TV). So, the new CGI models for the beloved Defiant and Intrepid-class ships are much more detailed and in high definition compared to their earlier CGI predecessors.
  • Inverted with the U.S.S. New Jersey and the U.S.S. Enterprise-A. With the updated design of the Constitution-Class starship, which debuted in Discovery and shown at length in Strange New Worlds, it would make sense that the New Jersey would share this design. However, possibly because this would mean the Enterprise-A would also have to updated as well, as it would need to be an update to this design, and both ships are more recognizable with the original design, the VFX team chose to go with the original design, even if it doesn't make sense from a timeline-standpoint.
• Ascended Fanon: Kinda. Star Trek IV has always been known among fans as "The One with the Whales". In-universe, Jack refers to the Probe incident as "the whole whale thing".
• As You Know:
  • When briefing the Titan characters on his and Raffi's findings, Worf again recounts the broad strokes of the Dominion War, the Morphogenic Virus that nearly wiped out the Founders, and Section 31's role in its creation and deployment. This, again, is more for newer viewers who haven't seen Deep Space Nine.
  • When Worf mentions that Daystrom stores Section 31's off-the-books tech, Riker exclaims "Section 31?" and Worf gives a brief description of their nature. Riker then clarifies that he knew that already, and is simply surprised to learn where they're keeping their toys.
• Back from the Dead: Data, or at least an amalgamation of Data circa Nemesis, along with the now-deactivated B-4 and Lore (and a bit of Lal), and the now-deceased Altan Soong.
• Bad Boss: Vadic has one of her underlings killed for saying that they have no means of locating the Titan.
• Bait-and-Switch: In-Universe, when Captain Shaw expresses his admiration for Geordi as a former engineer, the latter responds by criticizing how beat up the Titan is from its misadventures, before saying he'd like geek out with Shaw about how he's keeping it running.
• Bookends: The Enterprise-A was first introduced to the TOS crew and audiences alike at Spacedock. Now, it's final resting place is ironically the same Spacedock.
• Boyfriend-Blocking Dad: It takes Geordi all of two seconds to realize Sidney and Jack have a potential thing going, and even less time to warn him against it.
• Brain Uploading: Before Altan Soong died, he uploaded his mind into Daystrom Android M-5-10 along with the personalities of Data, Lore, B-4, and Data's daughter Lal. While the process wasn't what Soong considered "complete", his mind is shown to be intact within M-5-10 and is able to assert control over the android for brief periods.
• Break the Haughty: A minor case. After spending the season being a jerk who is infuriatingly poignant in why he's a jerk, Captain Shaw gets dressed down by his hero Geordi LaForge about the state of repair of his ship. All Shaw can do in response is sheepishly answer "It's been a weird week" while still standing at attention.
• Brick Joke:
  • Back in Star Trek: First Contact, Geordi enthusiastically discussed Zefram Cochrane's Bozeman statue with the legend-to-be (something which Riker gave him grief for after it caused a panicked Cochrane to try and make a run for it). 30 years later, Geordi now has a replica of said statue in his office. In this week's Ready Room, Production Designer David Blass confirms this was an intentional Brick Joke.
  • When Riker first met Data when he was trying, and failing, to whistle "Pop Goes the Weasel." After Data's Heroic Sacrifice in Star Trek: Nemesis, in his memorial Riker mentions this encounter but sadly couldn't remember the exact tune Data was trying. In this episode as they are trying to explore the Daystrom Station, the security measures kick in and sends out oddly musical chimes. Riker, being a musician, was catching on to the exact notes being played and realized it was "Pop Goes The Weasel," and on a wild guess finishes the last couple beats, by which security turns off. This was the lead-in to the discover that a part of Data was actually in charge of the security system.
• Broad Strokes: Via Art Evolution the classic Constitution-class design had been altered for Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, largely to move beyond the Zeerust Canon that had been used before. At the fleet museum a Constitution-class USS New Jersey is seen (a stand-in for the original Enterprise as it had seen a refit and was destroyed) utilizing the original design and not the one created for this "era" of Star Trek productions.
• Call-Back:
  • Voyager being decommissioned and ending up in the Fleet Museum following "Endgame". The alternate Admiral Janeway had told 'our' Janeway that her Voyager became a museum on the grounds of the Presidio after its return from the Delta Quadrant. While that exact future has not come to pass, history has repeated itself and Voyager still ultimately ended up in a museum, just not the same one.
    • For that matter, there's also the Enterprise-A, the Defiant, the Klingon Bird-of-Prey from Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, and another TOS-era Bird-of-Prey.
  • Back in "Relics", Picard had told Scotty there was a pre-refit Constitution-class vessel in the Fleet Museum. Here, we finally see it (and it's revealed to be the New Jersey).
  • Moriarty's opening words are "I think, therefore I am."
  • Data had been setting up this code by a musical melody that keeps breaking down until Riker recognizes it as "Pop Goes the Weasel", the tune Data was trying to work on the very first time he met Riker. Just like Data, Moriarty exclaims "Marvelous!" when Riker completes the tune with a whistle.
    • Similarly, Riker initially struggles to recognize and remember the tune — something he previously did after Data's death in Nemesis. This time around, he finally remembers, thanks to having an audio cue.
  • The crow that appeared in Data's very first dreams also returns as part of the Daystrom AI's holographic avatars. It's also an intentional in-universe callback; Data's personality is trying to communicate with Riker and clue him in by using a memorable incident from their days aboard the Enterprise-D. Riker eventually realizes its significance and explains the callback to Worf and Raffi.
  • Data's reactivation and reunion with his old crew-mates is reminiscent of Spock's own resurrection and reunion with the 1701 crew. Similarly, Data's inquiries of "Geordi? Captain?" are similar to his prior reactivation reaction from Star Trek: Insurrection. The BGM during this moment is similar to that from Star Trek: Nemesis.
    • This also isn't the first time Data's had multiple personalities in his head.
  • When he reunites with Beverly, Geordi says he was having trouble deciding whether to hug her or shake hands before settling on a hug. In "All Good Things...", in the anti-time future, Picard and Beverly also had the same trouble before settling on a hug, too.
• Calling the Old Man Out: Sidney furiously tells off her dad when he tries to protect her and make her claim she was an unwilling participant in the situation, saying that her shipmates are just as much her family as he and Alandra are and that he taught her to always stand up for family.
• Canon Immigrant:
  • Elements of David Mack's Star Trek: Cold Equations (part of the now non-canon Star Trek: The Next Generation Relaunch) are formally canonized with Data's resurrection. B-4's copy of Data's memories are, just as in the novel, part of the basis for resurrecting Data. Similarly, it's not Data ressurrected, but a completely new and distinct being that's an amalgam of Data and Soong (or at least Altan, rather than Noonien in the book's case).
  • Enterprise NX-01 from Star Trek: Enterprise can be seen in the background but might be easy to miss, as it appeared post-Series Finale it had the secondary hull refit that debuted in the "Ships of the Line" calendar.
• Canon Discontinuity: This episode retcons the widely-despised Enterprise finale "These Are The Voyages...", as we see in the Federation fleet museum shows that the NX-01 got refit with a secondary engineering hull◊ similar to the original USS Enterprise NCC-1701, which was the intention had this series gotten renewed for a fifth season.
• The Caper: Picard and company realize they're going to have to break into Daystrom Station — one of the most secure facilities in all of Starfleet — to figure out what the renegade Changelings actually stole.
• Captain Obvious: Jack being able to identify the Defiant and the New Jersey isn't that impressive when their names are clearly visible on the viewscreen.
• Central Theme: Legacy through what parents pass on to their children. Parents hope to pass on the best, but it's often a mix, and they can only hope that what results is better than what came before. This is iterated very plainly through a recording left by Altan Soong and his vision for the new composite android he created, realizing he had to create something new and not keep trying to replicate himself, which is interspersed with different groups of characters discussing their family connections.
• Clear My Name: During the burglary planning, Picard's hope is that discovering the true objective of the Changelings' Daystrom theft will allow them to clear their names from the Frame-Up last episode.
• Composite Character: In-Universe, Altan Soong created a new android golem body with the idea of Brain Uploading himself, but saw the philosophical flaw in that direction and turned towards uniting multiple Noonien Soong androids into one mind, hoping to create something new and original in the process. This new body thus uses Data as the template but includes the memories, personality and emotions of Lore, B-4, Lal and Altan himself. At this stage they are not united, making it more of a Sharing a Body situation.
• Continuity Cavalcade: The Daystrom Institute Station is basically an Area 51-esque black site for Starfleet, with corridors and corridors of dangerous tech and other top secret icons. Among them include a Genesis II Device, the remains of James T. Kirk and a genetically modified "Attack Tribble." In conjunction with this was the Titan crew visiting the Fleet Museum, among which contains the Enterprise-A, Voyager and the HMS Bounty, the Klingon Bird-Of-Prey that crashed in the San Francisco Bay.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Geordi notes that the Titan-A fielding a cloaking device is a treaty violation (presumably still the Treaty of Algeron), as it was in "The Pegasus".
  • Riker tries to get Worf to call him Will similar to how Kirk attempted to Picard in Generations.
• Continuity Porn:
  • The Daystrom Station seems to have been constructed solely to house Freeze-Frame Bonus items.
    • Riker passes by an advanced version of the Genesis torpedo and the phasing cloak from "The Pegasus".
    • There's a genetically-modified "attack Tribble" at Daystrom. Worf is still not a fan.
    • Picard isn't even the only legendary Starfleet captain whose corpse is stored at Daystrom — Raffi passes a panel indicating that they have Kirk's as well. It's even accompanied by a burst of the traditional Trek theme intro.
    • The Kataan probe, the Pup probe, an Oscillation Overthruster ^note  a Shout-Out to Buckaroo Banzai that has appeared in many Trek episodes over the years, and more. A full list appears here
  • Geordi's office at the Athan Fleet Museum contains a model of an Excelsior-class ship, a 23rd Century-era United Federation Planets pennant, and a miniature replica of Zefram Cochrane's statue. The Cochrane statue is also the same replica type that Jonathan Archer had in his Ready Room aboard the NX-01 (and given this is the Fleet Museum, it's possible it may very well be Archer's statue).
• Crisis Crossover: Downplayed example. But Worf and Raffi's arrival aboard the Titan marks the very first time that lead characters from TNG, DS9, VOY, and PIC have all been gathered together in a single scene/locale and interacting at once. In other words, all four live-action series of the 24th Century era are thus represented and now officially teaming up to stop the existential threat the Changeling conspiracy poses to the UFP and Starfleet.
• Critical Staffing Shortage: With the late Ro having transferred most of the crew over to Intrepid last episode, the Titan is now operating with a skeleton crew.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Geordi is initially cold and unfriendly towards his former shipmates, being that they've put his daughter in danger. However, he is genuinely happy to see Beverly again after more than 20 years and hugs her.
• Demoted to Extra: Moriarty is demoted from Villain of the Week for two episodes of The Next Generation to only appearing in about 2 scenes here, acting as security to the Daystrom Station.
• Didn't See That Coming: The Titan-A characters and Worf and Raffi were all justifiably certain the Changelings had stolen some kind of advanced weapon or piece of technology from Daystrom for their conspiracy. They never anticipated it might be something non-technological, mundane, and seemingly innocuous, like human remains — and not just any human remains, but Picard's biological corpse.
• Didn't Think This Through: Stealing the cloaking device off of the H.M.S. Bounty was not a smart move on Jack and Sydney's part. Stealing it tripped off an automatic alarm that is going to have Starfleet on their asses and using it is going to violate a ton of treaties. All Picard can tell Geordi is that they'll "have to put it on my tab". And then, there's the fact that they're trying to hotwire a piece of 23rd century Klingon tech to a 24th/25th century Starfleet ship.
• Double-Meaning Title: Bounty could refer to the bounty that the rogue Founders have on Jack, or it could refer to the H.M.S. Bounty.
• Dramatic Irony: Picard and company realize that to solve the mystery of the Changeling break-in at Daystrom, they ironically are likewise going to have to break into Daystrom. Picard also lampshades the irony they're burgling the very institution that's hunting them.
• Drowning My Sorrows: After being diagnosed with Irumodic Syndrome, Jack seeks comfort in bourbon.
• Ear Worm: As an extension of the Daystrom AI (i.e. Data's amalgamated consciousnesses), Moriarty has the melody of "Pop Goes the Weasel" stuck in his head. It's quite understandably driving him crazy.
  Riker: B Flat, D Flat...C Sharp, A Flat...Are you trying to play a song for us? Some sort of a tune?
  Moriarty: Yes! Yes, a maddening melody! A saccharine song! One that I cannot get out of my head!
• "Eureka!" Moment: When discussing the Bird-of-Prey stolen by Kirk's crew and eventually crashed into San Francisco bay, Seven notes that Starfleet had trouble finding it because it disappeared, i.e. because it cloaked. Jack quickly comes up with an idea for some larceny that will improve their odds of evading capture.
• Everything Is Online: Geordi reveals that modern Starfleet ships automatically communicate with each other in proximity, so even if the Titan could discard their transponder beacon, simply flying near any Starfleet ship will instantly expose them.
• Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: When the Fleet Museum's alarm goes off, Geordi is initially furious at Picard for stealing the cloaking device, assuming Picard's efforts to talk him into helping were a distraction. Picard denies any involvement, but both quickly realize their children are behind this.
• Failed a Spot Check: When Picard accepts the Fleet Museum's hail, he's initially relieved and focused on reuniting with his old Chief Engineer and coming up with a plan to rescue the Away Team from Daystrom. It thus doesn't immediately register with him that Geordi doesn't look at all happy to see him.
• Fanboy: Captain Shaw is one of Geordi, and Jack reveals himself to be one of the Constitution class, specifically Kirk's Enterprise. Hopefully Worf and Raffi didn't tell him Kirk's remains aren't on Daystrom Station.
• Fauxshadowing: The Titan-A crew arrives at the Fleet Museum, and learn from the La Forge family that all modern Starfleet ships are integrated; there's no way they can go anywhere without being tracked. As it happens, none of the vessels at the Museum are up to modern standards, so it's not out of the realm of possibility they could have borrowed one of them to hide. Jack in particular looks at the H.M.S. Bounty, and both of Geordi's daughters seem to have the same idea...but they're not stealing the Bounty. Rather, they "borrow" her cloaking device.
• Fish out of Temporal Water: Downplayed, but a variation with Data's personality and perspective within the Data golem. Since this is the copy of Data's memories and personality that were downloaded into B-4 during Nemesis, Data initially still believes it's 2379 and he's aboard the Enterprise-E (ex. still addressing Picard as Captain rather than by post-Nemesis Rank Up). From his perspective, Data has for all intents been thrown decades into the future and is confused by the now-much older appearances of Picard and Geordi (or Worf and Beverly).
• Five-Second Foreshadowing:
  • Sidney tries to warn Picard (just as they're about to accept a hail from Geordi) that the call with her father may not be the best idea. She's quickly proven right, as Geordi is (initially) cold and unfriendly.
  • When asked by Picard what Vadic stole from Daystrom, Data glitches out and repeats "Jean-Luc Picard" several times. When they finally get him to focus, he projects a holographic image from his eyes. It's none other than Jean-Luc Picard, in the literal flesh; Vadic stole Picard's corpse.
• Flashback: When putting the pieces together about 'Moriarty' and Daystrom's AI, Riker flashes back to "Encounter at Farpoint" and his and Data's very first meeting on the Enterprise-D Holodeck.
• Flat Character: Moriarty. As Riker notes, this isn't the self-aware hologram they encountered on the Enterprise-D, but rather a more basic security measure that only captures the hostility of the original Moriarty program.
• Foreshadowing:
  • In addition to the Genesis Device and the Attack Tribble, Riker gets a look at something in cold storage: the mortal remains of one James T. Kirk. This sets up how the Changelings came for the mortal remains of one Jean-Luc Picard.
  • Kirk's corpse was last seen on Veridian III, where Picard buried it (Star Trek: Generations). Other pieces of modern technology — such as, you know, the saucer section of the freaking Enterprise — were left there as well... in violation of the Alien Non-Interference Clause, which was used in the not-precisely-canon William Shatner novel The Return to justify Kirk's corpse being disinterred in the first place. Well, let's just say that this episode confirms that Shatner was on to something.
  • Speaking of the saucer of the Enterprise, it's been confirmed in previous episodes that it's here at the Museum, but she isn't seen with the rest of the ships. This will be important later.
  • When the Titan Away Team beams over to Daystrom and the AI tags them, it focuses on Riker. As soon as it does, the broken music notes start playing on the Station speakers. It's almost as if... the AI knows that Riker is an amateur musician, that he might recognize the musical notes, and is trying to communicate something musically.
  • In addition, when Worf activates the key that temporarily disarms the security systems, the overlapping computer voices include one that sounds like Brent Spiner, hinting at The Reveal of who's controlling the system.
  • Downplayed. When the Titan' first arrives at Athan Prime, Seven recognizes the Fleet Museum and starts to say she's been here before. This sets up the reveal that Voyager is one of the exhibits (although this had already been spoiled by the End Credits).
    • Similarly, when we get our first look at the Fleet Museum, all its berths are currently displaying ships in the collection...but one's conspicuously empty. While the ‘’Titan’’ remains moored there for the duration of their attempt to recruit Geordi, nobody thinks to ask why it’s empty or what exhibit Geordi is eventually intending to display there (which is justified, as their current focus is on finding a way to help the team back at Daystrom). And then Allandra mentions the mysterious Hangar 12 in passing...
  • Seven reflecting to Jack on Voyager and its legacy. As it will turn out, Voyager's sojurun through the Delta Quadrant is crucial to the overarching Season mystery and threat.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: While it's not explicitly acknowledged, TrekCore's has pointed out◊ that the Enterprise NX-01 is indeed in the shots of the Fleet Museum's collection. One reason some people may have trouble immediately recognizing it is that the NX-01 now sports Doug Drexler's refit design, which he'd intended to implement had ENT not been cancelled with Season Four (and which Picard formally canonized last Season with "Hide and Seek").
• From Bad to Worse:
  • Following on from the ending of "Imposter", the compromised Starfleet is now hunting the Titan-A. They're on the run and have 48 hours to break into Daystrom — one of the most secure Federation facilities — and figure out what the Changelings stole and how it factors into Frontier Day.
  • Riker is being tortured by Starfleet security for Picard's whereabouts. Except the one doing it isn't Starfleet, it's actually Vadic, and she has Troi.
• Fugitive Arc: Following on from the ending of "Imposter", the compromised Starfleet is now hunting the Titan-A and they're on the run.
• Genre Blind: Downplayed, but as they're running from a Changeling conspiracy that's compromised Starfleet, neither Picard, Beverly, or Sidney thinks to do a Bluff the Imposter just to be safe and to ascertain if this is indeed Geordi and not an imposter. It may be possible, however, that Sidney confronting her father doubled as her Bluff the Imposter moment, albeit downplayed.
• Got Volunteered: Geordi refuses to help, but when Jack and Sidney steal a cloaking device for the Titan, he's left with little choice but to make sure they aren't caught.
• Graceful Loser: Once Riker solves the music puzzle, Moriarty genuinely remarks "Marvelous" and then deactivates.
• Hates Being Touched: As Riker dryly lampsahdes, Worf as ever isn't one for public displays of affection. Doesn't stop Beverley from hugging him (and considering this is the first time they've seen each other in 20 years, Worf doesn't protest...too much, anyway.)
• Heel Realization: Geordi realizes that his anger wasn't at Sidney or his former shipmates, but at himself for not doing what he knew was right and helping them from the start.
• Hero of Another Story: The Constitution-class U.S.S. New Jersey, which is hosted at the Fleet Museum and, by implication, was one of the most famous Starfleet vessels of the mid-23rd century — although we never saw its voyages or even heard of it before this episode (or at least barring Picard's indirect mention of it back during "Relics").
• Heroic Sacrifice: Riker holds off Starfleet security while Worf and Raffi free Data from the Daystrom core, leading to him being tagged with a transport inhibitor and captured.
• How the Mighty Have Fallen: Moriarty's sneering opinion of the (from his perspective) now-elderly Riker and Worf.
  Moriarty: What solvable puzzles you all are. Your unguarded expressions, your physical scars. My, how time has spun you all apart. Such pathetic old warriors!
• I Have Your Wife: Riker scoffs at the idea that he would betray his friends to Vadic. Vadic shows him someone he would betray his friends for: Troi.
• Internal Reveal: Picard and the Titan-A characters learn the truth that Worf and Raffi uncovered about the Daystrom theft on their end over the last 5 episodes.
• Invisibility Cloak: Jack and Sidney swipe the cloaking device from Kirk's old Bird-of-Prey, allowing the Titan-A to cloak.
• Jump Scare: The Attack Tribble that doesn't let a Daystrom vault stop it from trying to take a bite out of Worf.
• Kansas City Shuffle: Worf and Raffi share their conclusions about how the Daystrom theft was actually one. Upon reviewing the evidence, Beverly and Shaw concur with their assessment. The investigation and break-in at Daystrom proves they're correct, as the Portal Technology was cover for really stealing Picard's mortal remains from the end of Season One.
  Beverly: Steal the diamonds so nobody checks on the pearls.
• Killer Rabbit: For reasons known only to whatever deranged person designed it, there's a genetically-modified Tribble at Daystrom that leaps at the glass when Worf examines its case, showing a mouth full of sharp teeth.
• The Knights Who Say "Squee!": As a former engineer, Shaw has to summon every ounce of his professionalism not to be completely giddy about having the Geordi La Forge on his ship.
• Leitmotif:
  • Geordi transporting onto the Titan-A is accompanied by an excerpt of Jerry Goldsmith's "The Meld and A Good Start" from The Motion Picture. Similarly, Worf's arrival with Raffi is likewise heralded by Goldsmith's "Klingon Theme".
  • When Seven and Jack are reviewing the contents of the Fleet Museum, snippets of the main themes from TOS, The Voyage Home, DS9, and VOY accompany their respective star ships (the Enterprise-A, the HMS Bounty, the Defiant, and Voyager).
  • Jerry Goldsmith's theme for Data from Nemesis also plays when the Data golem is reactivated aboard the Titan and Data initially is the dominant personality.
• Living MacGuffin: Daystrom's computer core and AI security are a single being: Data. Or, to be more precise, Data, Lore, Lal, B-4, and Altan Soong all stored in a single synthetic body like Picard's.
• Match Cut: Present Day Riker's first glimpse of the Data golem seamlessly cuts to the same angle of the younger Riker's first glimpse of the original Data in the holodeck during "Encounter at Farpoint".
• Mind Hive: The Data golem. Altan Soong died before he could integrate all of the Soong androids personalities into one cohesive whole, so instead the various fragments of personality are at war with each other for control.
• Mythology Gag:
  • One of the items in Daystrom is a Tribble with sharp teeth. In Star Trek Online, one of the Tribble breeds is the "Cannibal Tribble", which would eat other Tribbles in a player’s inventory.
  • Riker passes by a locker with an item called the Genesis II Device, both a reference to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and a TV movie Gene Roddenberry produced in the early 70's before Star Trek came back.
• Needle in a Stack of Needles: Shaw has the Titan-A park in one of the docking bays at the Fleet Museum, so people won't immediately notice them among the actual relics.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Downplayed, but it's confirmed the renegade Founders — and by extension the Great Link — know the morphogenic virus that nearly killed their entire race during the Dominion War was actually engineered by rogue Federation elements (i.e. Section 31). That revelation could only have come from Odo, who would've brought the knowledge back with him when he returned to the Link at the end of DS9. So, Odo's homecoming and internal reformation efforts are indeed partly responsible for the schism within the Link and the emergence of Vadic and her Renegade Splinter Faction.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Again, Odo's compassion and bringing the morphogenic virus cure back to the Great Link at the end of the Dominion War. As Shaw states, this act of goodwill only weaponized zealots among the Founders and caused the schism.
• Not Now, Kiddo: Sidney tries to warn Picard and Shaw twice that going to her father for help isn't going to go the way they hope. She's ignored and overruled (and ultimately proven correct).
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Geordi is not welcoming (initially) of Picard and the Titan-A crew, acting cold and unfriendly. Considering the Titan-A has 'officially' gone renegade and that his daughter's a part of it, Geordi's behavior isn't surprising.
• Older and Wiser: Invoked figuratively and literally with the Data golem. Altan Soong's final log states his goal was to give Data the physical appearance and mental prowess of human age and wisdom.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: Worf states there are still scars and shame within both the Federation and the Great Link from the Dominion War. In particular, the renegade Founders are still pissed about the Section 31-engineered morphogenic virus which nearly wiped out the Changelings.
• Patrick Stewart Speech: Jack unintentionally starts channeling his father while he and Seven are reviewing the Fleet Museum's collection. Seven (good-naturedly) pokes fun at this and at the Trope Namer.
  Jack: You're just trying to find [another family]. We all long for connection. But we're just a little bit alone, aren't we? Stars in the same galaxy, but light-years between us.
  Seven: Oh, you are definitely your father's son. He too has a knack for the, um, poetic drive-by observation. Can be very annoying ... but it can also make a person feel seen.
• Proud Warrior Race Guy: Amusingly subverted as Riker becomes acquainted with the now-pacifistic Zen Master Worf. Over the course of the episode, Riker becomes increasingly unhappy and frustrated with how much Worf's changed since Nemesis (i.e. moving beyond this Trope) and how his old playful dynamic with the Klingon Warrior thus isn't the same.
• Putting the Band Back Together: Figuratively, while they are not all in the same room, this is the episode that has all of the TNG characters in the same episode. At the end of the episode, Picard, La Forge, Beverly, Worf and Data (intermixed with Altan Soong, Lore, B-4, and Lal within an archive) are on the Titan-A, while Riker and Troi are on the Shrike.
• Race Against Time:
  • There are 48 hours remaining until Frontier Day, so Picard and company now have only two days to evade the now-compromised Starfleet, figure out what the Changelings really stole from Daystrom, and avert their plot.
  • Worf, Riker, and Raffi only have an hour on Daystrom before security finds them, a situation complicated by the fact that the Titan is detected minutes after they're beamed aboard and forced to flee.
• Ragnarök Proofing: The Bounty's cloaking device must be exceptionally robust to still work properly, almost 120 years after being stressed to its limits while visiting the 20th century in The Voyage Home, and then getting dunked in San Francisco Bay upon the ship's crash-landing for an extended period of time until Starfleet managed to find and recover the ship. Superior Klingon technology indeed!
• Rank Up: In the 20+ years since Nemesis, Geordi has gone from the Enterprise-E Chief Engineer (and a Commander) to a Commodore and Curator of the Fleet Museum.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Daystrom Station and the Fleet Museum are both space stations used for storing things of high value. While Daystrom Station stores very dangerous things such as advanced weapons prototypes, the Fleet Museum maintains historically significant starships. Former members of the Enterprise crew can also be found in both places.
• The Reveal:
  • The item even more dangerous than the portal technology is the corpse of Jean-Luc Picard.
  • Downplayed example, but Shaw's dialogue when they reach the Fleet Museum reveals that the Earth Spacedock we saw in "The Next Generation" is actually not the same Spacedock that first appeared in The Search for Spock and across all the subsequent TOS films. It's actually a successor Station; the TOS-era Spacedock has since been retired, towed to Athan Prime, and converted into the current Fleet Museum facility.
• Revenge: It's revealed the renegade Founders aren't simply trying to avenge the Dominion's loss in the Alpha Quadrant. The Great Link knows of the Federation's role in the creation of the morphogenic plague that nearly wiped out the Changelings during the War. This is personal and payback for that attempted genocide.
• Rule of Symbolism: Worf and Raffi agree with the late Ro Laren's fears that the Changelings' endgame is somehow linked to Frontier Day. Picard concurs, pointing out that Starfleet's 250th anniversary is the perfect time and place to make a statement (for good or ill).
• Scars Are Forever: Downplayed, but justifiably averted with the Enterprise-A's presence in the Fleet Museum. The extensive damage that General Chang's Bird-of-Prey inflicted above Khitomer has long since been repaired by Starfleet archivists and engineers.
• Ship Tease: Jack and Sidney team up to take the cloaking device from the bird of prey. The two complement each other. Geordi picks up on this and tells Jack to stay away from Sidney.
• Shout-Out:
  • Shaw's reaction to meeting Geordi La Forge recalls a meeting with another superfan who struggled to speak in LeVar Burton's presence.
  • The scene of Worf getting startled by a contained "attack tribble" is similar to the scene in Aliens where Burke is startled by a contained facehugger.
• Skewed Priorities: Played for levity with Riker's response to Picard's burglary analogy.
  Riker: Excellent use of the word "burgle", Admiral.
• Smoking Gun: Discussed when Picard and company are planning their Daystrom burglary. The Daystrom Smoking Gun is whatever the Changelings really stole under cover of Kansas City Shuffle. As Riker lampshades, therein of course lies the problem: Said Smoking Gun itself is long gone from Daystrom and now in their enemy's hands. Their only option, as Picard observes, is to therefore 'follow the smoke' (i.e. backtrack Daystrom's inventory and project manifest and use that to identify the all-powerful missing MacGuffin).
• Spin-Offspring: While we've already met Sidney La Forge, Geordi's other daughter Alandra debuts in this episode.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
  • Voyager being decommissioned and ending up in the Fleet Museum following "Endgame". Voyager went from being one of the inaugural ships of the Intrepid-class to one of the most important vessels in Federation history. Preserving it for future generations would thus be a top priority for Starfleet historians. As Voyager returned in the aftermath of the Dominion War, there would also be PR value in making the ship — a symbol of Starfleet's mission, bravery, and heroism in the face of unimaginable odds — available to Federation citizens while trying to rebuild post-War morale. An honorable retirement was also certainly mandated from an engineering perspective — and not just to evaluate the alien technologies they'd brought home. While the Intrepid-class was built for long-term exploration, its designers also obviously never anticipated something like the Delta Quadrant. After spending over half a decade without access to drydock facilities and under near-constant stress, battle, and exposure to God knows what else to get its crew home, Voyager would almost certainly have been too structurally compromised to remain in active service regardless.
  • For that matter, the Defiant and the Enterprise-A probably suffered enough structural stress in battle that also justified their own retirements. Fortunately, they were still intact enough (unlike the original Enterprise NCC-1701, and the Enterprise-C and -D (who's saucer section is preserved there, but isn't seen)) to preserve in the Fleet Museum for posterity. The Defiant in particular was nearly destroyed in her last appearance, and the first one was already destroyed, so Starfleet wouldn't want to take the chance of losing another named ship again.
  • Once the Probe Incident had been resolved, it makes complete sense that Starfleet would recover the HMS Bounty from San Francisco Bay (and not simply to memorialize it for its role in saving Earth). Similarly to modern maritime wrecks, leaving a sunken vessel with an active antimatter reactor and weapon systems a stone's throw away from a populated locale like San Francisco (let alone Starfleet HQ) would've been too hazardous. More, recovering the Bounty would've given Starfleet unprecedented access to then-cutting edge Klingon technology and weaponry. Such an evaluation and reverse engineering would've been invaluable during those final years of the Federation-Klingon Cold War.
  • Despite the risk of the Titan being a beacon due to the extensive use of fleet integration, taking one of the ships at the museum would've been even more dangerous as "preserved in a museum" does not mean "spaceworthy and mission-ready". Restoring one of those starships to anything resembling spaceworthyness would've taken more time and resources than they had. However, taking a preserved cloaking device and retrofitting it to the Titan is much faster and safer, though still not without an element of risk. Likewise, as "In A Mirror Darkly" demonstrated by having the Constitution class Defiant slaughter the entire 22nd century Terran Empire fleet, none of the museum's ships, not even Defiant or Voyager, are capable of holding their own against 25th century vessels—untrackable or no, they would be shot down before they could even move an inch.
  • With the end of the Federation's ban on synthetic life following Season One, Federation research into positronic-based artificial intelligence has resumed.
  • It turns out, unleashing a genetic virus on an entire species is not a good way to convince an entire race of peaceful intentions. Some of the more zealous Changelings refused to forgive Starfleet for that transgression, and decided to pay them back in kind. That the plague's architects were rogue citizens and that their actions were unsanctioned is also irrelevant; it only proves to them all Solids are evil and cannot be trusted.
  • Starfleet recovering Kirk’s remains from Veridian III after Generations. As Trek novelists Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens argued in their 1996 novel The Return, Starfleet would have had to remove the Saucer Section and Kirk's remains from Veridian III bcause of the Prime Directive. Leaving remnants of alien technology and life behind would've risked cultural contamination of the pre-Warp civilization on Veridian IV once they began exploring their Solar System. Kirk's also the most famous and accomplished Human Starfleet Captain since Jonathan Archer; the Federation would want to honor one of its greatest heroes and not leave him rotting in the middle of nowhere. However, Kirk did also spend nearly a century inside one of the most unique and powerful phenomena Starfleet’s ever encountered; it makes sense his remains would be studied to try and further understand the Nexus. It would also not be surprising if his remains were publicly recovered for a memorial, but then privately and quietly removed (or not even really interred at all) to further study them.
• Terms of Endangerment: Upon being activated, Moriarty expresses his delight at being reunited with his "old friends" from the Enterprise-D ... by leveling and cocking a loaded pistol at them.
• Took a Level in Badass: By the end of this episode, the otherwise Fragile Speedster Titan-A can now cloak, courtesy of a cloaking device stolen from the Bird-of-Prey from The Voyage Home.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Geordi has seemingly become this since Nemesis. However, it's justified, as the Titan has gone renegade and his daughter's been pulled into it, and his concern is thus for her safety in Papa Wolf fashion.
• Too Dumb to Live: The Changeling on the Shrike bridge who gets vaporized for talking back to Vadic. He keeps criticizing Vadic's leadership desite her being clearly trigger-happy and having made clear she was gonna shoot the next mook who told her they had yet to locate Picard.
• Tracking Device: The Starfleet ships at Daystrom have weapons which, should they hit the Titan-A even once, would leave an energy signature that could be tracked anywhere.
• Two Lines, No Waiting: Following on from the ending of "Imposter", Worf and Raffi's storyline has fully converged with the Titan-A's storyline.
• Uncertain Doom: Kestra Riker's fate, with the reveal that Deanna was captured by the Changeling conspiracy (and assuming that is Deanna and not a Changeling masquerading as her to try and trick Riker). If that is indeed the real Deanna, it's left unrevealed whether the Rikers' daughter is also aboard the Shrike, if she was left behind or killed, is hiding back on Nepenthe, or some other fate.
• Walk-In Chime-In: While trying to fix the malfunctioning cloaking device, Sidney admits she doesn't know how to fix it. Cue Geordi walking in and casually mentioning that he does know.
• We Want Our Jerk Back!: Kinda; it'd be more accurate to call it "We Want our Grumpy Klingon Back". Riker has immense difficulty coping with the post-Nemesis Worf and laments his once playful dynamic with the onetime Proud Warrior Race Guy is no longer the same now.
  Riker: You used to poke back [at my teasing]! What happened to you?!
• Wham Shot:
  • The Daystrom Station's sophisticated Security AI is none other than another Soong-type android.
  • The visual record of what Vadic and the Chanelings really stole from Daystrom...is Picard's original biological body from the end of Season One.
• Whatever Happened to the Mouse?:
  • With the reveal that Daystrom Moriarty is not the same self-aware Hologram from TNG, it leaves open the question of what's become of the Professor's Tech Cube since "Ship in a Bottle". It's possible Daystrom does have the Cube (and if so, that it would be in the Institute's Evil AI Vault back on Earth). It's also possible the Cube was destroyed with the Enterprise-D stardrive section during Generations.
  • Amongst the Starfleet vessels preserved at the Fleet Museum, there are sadly those that didn't make it to posterity—the original Enterprise NCC-1701, the Enterprise-C, the star drive section of the Enterprise-D (the saucer section is there, but isn't seen), the original Defiant Sisko designed, and (officially, but not really) the Discovery. But of the other big name Trek ships, the Enterprise-B (whose fate hasn't been disclosed in canon), the Enterprise-E (whose final mission is marked "classified"), the Cerritos (whose journey has yet to conclude), and the Protostar (which was "technically" destroyed but still exists thanks to some temporal shenanigans) aren't at the museum, so whether or not those ships were destroyed or preserved elsewhere has yet to be revealed.
  • The ultimate fate of Picard's original biological body prior following the ending of Season One's finally resolved, revealing Starfleet took it into custody and housed it at Daystrom.
• Where It All Began: Invoked when Worf and Raffi are briefing the Titan-A characters on the Changeling threat. With no other leads and time running out, the only way to learn what the Changelings really stole from the Daystrom Institute — and how it factors into their endgame — is to return to the scene of the original crime.
• Whole-Plot Reference: To Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Like Kirk, Spock, and the Enterprise-A, Picard and the Titan have been framed for murder by a conspiracy at the top levels of Starfleet. The Titan is now on the run and trying to clear their names and expose the shadowy cabal while planning a break-in to one of the most secure facilities in the Quadrant. As an added bonus, the A herself shows up at the Museum.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Downplayed, but as soon as Worf hears the all-too familiar sounds of Tribble cooing coming from one of the Daystrom vaults, there's a look of quiet resignation on his face.

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