Rascals Implication…
Posted by dig_it_all@reddit | TNG | View on Reddit | 76 comments
Did it not dawn on anyone that the premise of Rascald seems to imply that anyone… at anytime…. can modify the transporter to make themselves younger by resequencing their “RVN” strings??
Like, this is literally a fountain of youth xD —(as proven by their ability to revert the change in the same way).
Fuzzy_Builder_2153@reddit
The implication I took is that if 4 Ferengi were able to take out a heavy cruiser, Thank God the Feds didn't fight Romulans or Spoonheads cause the Feds would get creamed.
rjwut@reddit
The writers actually acknowledged how implausible it seemed that a few Ferengi could take over the Enterprise, but countered, "Would you believe a few kids could take it back from the Romulans?" And they're right: that would be even more implausible. Honestly, having it be the Ferengi should be the signal to the viewers that says, "This episode is being a bit silly, so don't get hung up on things and just enjoy it."
WhatYouLeaveBehind@reddit
Well we have no idea of the long term effects.
You may well be young, but also be very dead in a year when your cellular bonds collapse [insert techo-doctor-babble here].
Torlek1@reddit
Just like Admiral Jameson in Season 1.
BeautifulArtichoke37@reddit
Can we pause for a moment though to appreciate the outstanding performance of the kid who played Picard?
No_Olive_3310@reddit
Absolutely! His voice, mannerisms, even down to the way he pulled the top of his uniform down like Patrick Stewart. Absolutely nailed it
LOUDCO-HD@reddit
Tunic Tug!
doubtfurious@reddit
Processing img 6x2t3rjbl1wg1...
LOUDCO-HD@reddit
If I was Pulaski I would’ve asked them to knock another 20 or 30 years off!
kiteagle@reddit
I normally think many child actors are cringe or annoying, but these kids really nailed their characters.
jpsfranks@reddit
He also played Picard's nephew a few years previously in the episode "Family".
Parallax2799@reddit
So...since Picard's 'nephew' looked just like he did as a kid, does that mean there was some hanky panky with his sister-in-law?
Due_Example1096@reddit
Picard could look like his grandpa, and Rene looked like his great grandpa.
Ralph--Hinkley@reddit
Marie did look like a freak in the sheets.
Flimsy-Blackberry-67@reddit
RIP Rene... In a fire, so horrible.
Svenderhof@reddit
Did such a good job he could have been his own nephew!
OhNoIBoffedIt@reddit
I see we're just going to ignore Pulaski being de-aged using a hair from her hairbrush.
Prudent_Leave_2171@reddit
I just assumed Picard, realizing only people with hair could be de-aged, banned that process.
diodosdszosxisdi@reddit
Does it rely have to be hair on the head?
Prudent_Leave_2171@reddit
BeautifulArtichoke37@reddit
The transporter also added makeup to her face.
OhNoIBoffedIt@reddit
Beautification subroutine is right next to the Heisenberg compensator.
BeckyW77@reddit
What about the Framajam thingy? Sorry I don't speak pretend fake tech!
I_lenny_face_you@reddit
My cheek dampeners are back online
BeautifulArtichoke37@reddit
It did her hair too, so yeah
5pl1t1nf1n1t1v3@reddit
If I were a transporter operator, the crew would never know what they’d beam down looking like. I wouldn’t have the job long, but I’d have the job hard.
tsukiyomi01@reddit
Let's just be glad that the episode didn't dwell on the status of Miles and Keiko's marriage.
CaptainMatticus@reddit
In fairness to Miles, he was reasonably upset, weirded and grossed out with the idea of being married to a 12-year old Keiko. Why the writers decided to make it so Keiko wouldn't be able to grasp why her husband wouldn't want to treat her the same is beyond me.
It could've been worse. Keiko could've shown up and Miles could've said, "There IS a God!" Now THAT would've been awkward.
tsukiyomi01@reddit
You're right. Him being unbothered would have been even worse.
WildStructure4517@reddit
Pumpkin-Spice_Queen@reddit
Law and Order: SVU theme song plays in the distance.
CaptainMatticus@reddit
"Wait, you mean he's attracted to little girls with pigtails?"
Yeah, Ice, he's a pedo. You're in the Special Victims Unit. You're gonna have to get used to that.
milaga@reddit
Like when someone plays too many scratchy lotteries?
Obsydie@reddit
It makes sense, because kids are famous for being stupid due to not being fully mentally mature due to all of the chemical reaction going on in their brains; so she'd likely figure it out within a week or so.
wrongantenna@reddit
She retains all of her adult memories while reverted to being a child.
bloodfist@reddit
Yeah but they're being processed by kid hardware.
CaptainMatticus@reddit
Didn't affect the other 3 so much, though.
Due_Example1096@reddit
Guess that's the Star fleet training? And Guinan is of a race we know very little about, so we don't know how they process things when they're that young. She did enjoy jumping on the bed. Plus, the way El-Aureans age, who knows how old they'd be when looking that young. She could be 200 years old there for all we know lol. In Picard she was played by a younger actress (I get and support why they wouldn't use Whoopie, obviously, but the actress they used looked younger than Whoopie was during TNG). Yes, it's before the events of TNG, but it's also after when she was hanging out with Samuel Clements, where they still used Whoopie, and she appears the same age as during TNG. They didn't use a younger actor there, because the implication was that her body hadn't really aged in all that time. That being said I'll get slightly tangential and pedantic and say it makes no sense that they used an actress younger than Whoopie was during filming of TNG, as it makes it so she appears to have gotten younger between hanging out with Mark Twain in TNG, and the flashback in Picard.
Obsydie@reddit
Yes, but as she is a child it would take her longer to comprehend why O'Brien is treating her differently.
Low-Palpitation-9916@reddit
"Beverly, I don't understand it, but Miles can't seem to keep his hands off of me lately!"
LOUDCO-HD@reddit
He was the Transporter Chief, he could have transported her in her sleep to make any physical tweaks he wanted. It’s a good thing 24th century values and integrity are so high, the possibilities of misuse of the transporter are limitless.
Darmok47@reddit
Garguyal@reddit
Homer Simpson shudder sound
cybersquire@reddit
shadowknave@reddit
Are these redshirts in danger?
LiveLongAndProspurr@reddit
Release the O'Brien files!
dig_it_all@reddit (OP)
Sooo awk!
KorEl555@reddit
The Picard kid should have been made to look bald right after transport. Then they could give him a wig, or explain that Crusher used some medical thing to grow out his hair since he had follicles.
chitzk0i@reddit
There was already a season 2 episode where they de-age Pulaski with the transporter. Not to mention the 1st season episode where Picard abandons the Enterprise to explore the galaxy as an energy being and the crew re-materializes him. Who knows if they beamed a random energy being onto the ship?
Effective-Board-353@reddit
The episode could've ended with Ro deciding to remain a child, to have a better childhood than her first one. Of course, that would prevent the episode "Preemptive Strike" from ever happening...
dystopiadattopia@reddit
Amazing how their uniforms got younger too - they were a perfect fit!
asomek@reddit
Yeah that part annoyed the shit out of me. They should have them all standing there in oversize uniforms when they transport in
geobibliophile@reddit
They did
geobibliophile@reddit
If you watch it again, the initially transformed Picard, Ro, Guinean, and Keiko have baggy clothing while standing on the pad. After they’re checked out by medical, they have fitted clothing.
Due_Example1096@reddit
I guess the transporter automatically adjusts for sizing discrepancies in clothing. Good thing TNG didn't get in on that whole baggy clothes fad lol
CodeToManagement@reddit
A lot of trek you kinda just have to forget things don’t really make sense.
Like the transporter beams someone up and reassembles them. They have records of their previous pattern. Yet when someone is hurt they beam them to sickbay, why doesn’t the transporter just re assemble them without the broken arm or phaser damage or radiation poisoning etc
Voyager figures out warp 10 flight and can now go anywhere but can’t use it because you turn into a salamander. But they also have the cure for that so what’s the problem?
Even away missions. Every time there’s a dangerous situation it’s like right let’s take the chief medical officer. The chief engineer. The second in command and the only android to ever be sentient. Why the hell does Worf never be like “dude I have an entire security team trained for securing these places before you go over can’t we just go first this once??”
CountVanillula@reddit
Of all the stupid Star Trek-isms, that last one is the one that bothers me the most. The technology is all made up, so they can make up limitations for storytelling purposes - fine, whatever - but the same six or seven people in a crew of over a thousand doing almost everything is what always made me suspect that Star Fleet is really just a handful of cosplayers on a most autonomous ship flying around the galaxy pretending to be army guys or diplomats or spies or whatever.
Sea-Quality4726@reddit
David Gerrold supposedly hated that too, and wanted Decker and then Riker to handle away missions with some ground only specialists; Geordi started as one. But that's not practical for a TV show.
We should have seen engineering and science specialists plus tactical and security ones. Instead the chief engineer (manager and decider) is the expert on all the tech, the science officer is the best in all fields of science, the CMO handles disease and surgery and biochemistry, etc. Of the examples I can think of, Barclay, Crell Mosset, and Brahams, two were holograms! The human expert asked ChatLCARS for advise.
Due_Example1096@reddit
They're all just bored.
https://youtu.be/r1Kju_-1sYM?si=fxLU2Q-EdUfMjSFN
Due_Example1096@reddit
The technology/process was likely banned, and the crew were ordered never to speak of it. Think about it: with vastly decreased mortality rates due to no one aging, combined with virtually guaranteed increased birth rates, there would be a population explosion that they would have no way to combat. How many empty but viable planets can there be to start colonies? Eventually, at least some of the colony planets would decide to become conquistadors and take over the planets that the prime directive would prohibit them from even interacting with. And so on and so on.
CaptainMatticus@reddit
They never properly use their transporters. We know you can perfectly clone someone with a transporter, so why not create duplicate patterns when someone goes on a dangerous away mission? If they die, then you can duplicate them on the ship, and the only memories they won't have will be of that time they died.
In fact, you could have a separate storage device, solely for patterns, and it's updated every day. Someone's panel explodes, or an empty barrel strikes your Security Chief, and it's no problem.
Bruce Maddox wants to study Soong-type androids? Well just fire up the transporter and duplicate Data? You could make countless copies of him. The possibilities are endless!
DuranStar@reddit
There weren't actually made younger. Like with Pulaski they were altered into a different age. Their cells were just as old before and after, that's how they were all able to be restored to their correct age even though they were radically different ages.
Insurrection on the other hand was regenerating them.
dig_it_all@reddit (OP)
But wait - Troi talks to Rascal Picard and tries to sell the upside of living life over again — the way she makes it sound seems more like the cells yave been “reset”.
Activision19@reddit
I would assume you could alter your appearance using a transporter as well. Not happy with your jaw line or bust size? transporter. Want to loose 20lbs? transporter. Want to be a little bit taller? Transporter.
LOUDCO-HD@reddit
Slip the Chief a brownie to add another inch or two to your junk.
asomek@reddit
I wish I was a little bit taller, I wish I was a baller
I wish I had a girl who looked good, I would call her
I wish I had a rabbit in a hat with a bat And a '64 Impala
Shamanjoe@reddit
It was the same thing with the episode where they de-age Pulaski using a piece of her “younger” dna patterns. Never talked about again..
LOUDCO-HD@reddit
If I was Pulaski I would’ve asked them to knock another 20 or 30 years off!
RockTheGlobe@reddit
I hate how the transporter was always used as the deus ex machina of the series. Need to return someone to their rightful age? Put them through the transporter. Someone caught a deadly disease? The transporter will filter it out. Need to survive a crash? Go live in the transporter.
asomek@reddit
Yeah until it's needed to forward the plot by not working (radiation /scattering ion field in the atmosphere), so the character stays stuck on the planet.
sorcerersviolet@reddit
Although it's not perfect; living in the transporter only works until one of its technical bits fails and enough of you is lost that you can't get back out of it.
Realistic-Safety-565@reddit
Another reason why Insurrection plot is stupid.
samurian4@reddit
They could have worked it into the plot that if they didn't re-age via transporter that they wouldn't age at all.
SamuraiGoblin@reddit
Yeah. That episode is the epitome of "this discovery is galaxy-shattering, let's forget all about it!"
Ralph--Hinkley@reddit
Ralph--Hinkley@reddit