Review: Star Trek Picard Episode 4: Absolute Candour

CONTAINS SPOILERS

So, Picard is finally out in space.  The first time Star Trek took off on an arc-long mission into unknown space, we were with Captain Archer looking for the Xindi, and that was widely regarded as a plotting mistake.  It wasn't written well, with lengthy detours and difficulties in motivation and tempo.  And so, when I realised that Picard wasn't going to go directly to hunt down Maddox on Freecloud, I became concerned.  All voyages that take detours get bogged down and lose their way, and it never goes well.

Nevertheless, Picard wants to go to Vashti, en route to Freecloud.  Vashti, as we discover during the pre-credits sequence was one of the first Romulan Reclamation camps set up even before the Synth attack on Mars, and Picard was well-regarded there, due to his key role in the Romulan evacuation.  There is a special Romulan group on Vashti, known as the Qowat Milat - inaccurately but simply described as Romulan warrior-nuns; assassins that you can hire (except they aren't assassins and you can't hire them).  Most importantly, they are the feared enemies of the Tal Shiar, and they believe in absolute candour (which is the exact opposite of typical Romulan behaviour).

I was delighted to see Raffi's gentle insistence that they stick to the plan.  My concerns about the plot wandering off course are alleviated.

Picard does not get the reception he was expecting at Vashti - his suggestion that his crew, "Call Central Station and tell them it's me," was not well-received on the planet.  We continue to see the Picard is not as welcome as he used to be, and his name doesn't carry the gravitas it used to have - Starfleet are not impressed; Raffi is not amused; the Romulans aren't much impressed either.  Picard isn't a has-been, but he's not the hero he thinks he is, or was.  Nevertheless, he beams down... and still gets a cold reception.  I suspect this is because Starfleet stopped the evacuation of Romulus following the attack on Mars.  Nonetheless, he is welcomed again by the Qowat Milat, and I spy another crew member joining Picard's band of three musketeers.

On the Borg Cube/Romulan Reclamation Camp, Soji and the Romulan brother continue to play cat and mouse.  After an initial burst of interest in this relationship, this has settled down into a steady game of espionage and counter-espionage.  Thankfully, there is plenty of intrigue in the Borg Cube and the secrets it holds to keep their relationship interesting, although sliding down a shiny corridor seems a bit mundane and decidedly disappointing. They're both keeping secrets, but they're open secrets - they both have information they could trade. She has information on her past; he has information on the Borg.

There is an extended and creepy scene between Narissa and Narek, the Romulan sister and brother who are trying to uncover the identities of all the synths.  Their relationship is downright weird, and makes for some unpleasant and uncomfortable viewing.  Narek has his plan - to enable Soji to uncover her true identity slowly and through questioning her own personal history - and to be fair, it seems to be working.  His sister, however, driven by jealousy or pressure from the Tal Shiar (or whoever) wants results sooner and is losing patience.

Back on Vashti, Picard's mixed reception continues.  He's welcomed by the older members of the Qowat Milat, but their young ward, Elnor, is unhappy and bitter at Picard, and reflects the feelings of the rest of the planet's population.  Picard attempts to recruit Elnor to his 'quest', outlining the story so far, and Picard's need for - well, a bodyguard.  He has his own ingenuity; Raffi's paranoia and skills in security; Jurati's science skill, Rios at the conn - if he was assembling a bridge crew, then he needs someone at tactical.  In the absence of a suitable Starfleet Klingon, he's hoping to recruit a Romulan.

However, Elnor is not willing to follow Picard in his quest.  There is significant and deeply-felt resentment to Starfleet for abandoning the Romulans - collectively, to their fate on Romulus, and across the planet, for leaving them in a poor, barren wilderness.  Picard is the personal embodiment of all that these Romulans resent, and this is made abundantly clear through various devices, the most obvious of which is the "Romulans only" sign on the outdoor cafe (Picard tears it down at tramples on it.  Classic), and culminates in a sword fight in the town square.  Picard is in no state to defend himself, and declines to fight.  Elnor flies in (well, almost) and with a swift swipe of his sword beheads Picard's would-be attacker.  It's brutal, it's quick, and it's surprisingly gore-free - think of a lightsaber wound.  Picard is disgusted and appalled by Elnor's actions, and after their swift beam-out demands that Elnor does not engage in battle again without Picard's approval.

The final sequence of the episode is the space battle between the Romulans (in an antiquated bird of prey) and Picard's crew on the La Sirena (The Mermaid).  The Romulans may have an out-of-date ship, but they also have the planet's orbital defence system on their side.  There's no real sense of danger here - the arrival of the Emergency Tactical Officer, an inept Spanish-speaking hologram, sees to that - but the ship is taking shield damage.  The crew are aided by the surprise arrival of a small, agile fighter vessel, which helps Picard and crew disable the Romulan bird of prey.  It's exciting stuff, with phasers and flying - and the battle results in the small fighter being critically damaged.

Classic moment of the episode: "Open a channel" from Picard, on somebody else's bridge, acknowledging a hail from the damaged fighter's pilot.  Clearly there are some chains of command to be sorted out, but it played out well.

And who is the mystery pilot?  None other than Seven of Nine, who insists on a replacement ship before passing out.

So, Picard gets two crew members for the price of one.  We have Rios as the captain (or first officer, depending on the situation); Jurati at Science; Raffi at Ops; Elnor at Security or Tactical or both, and now Seven.  As Kathryn Janeway would tell you, every bridge crew needs a Borg.  Now, hopefully, on to Freecloud.


Footnotes:
Why, when the holomatrix of Picard's study is paused, and the birds freeze in mid-air, does the fire in his study keep burning?
Again with the f-bomb.  Seriously, writers:  why? It's as unexpected and unwelcome as a wrong note played loudly during a piano recital.

Season 1 Episode List

Episode 1: Remembrance
Episode 2: Maps and Legends
Episode 3: The End is the Beginning
Episode 4: Absolute Candour
Episode 5: Stardust City Rag
Episode 6: The Impossible Box
Episode 7: Nepenthe
Episode 8: Broken Pieces

Episode 9: Et in Arcadia, Ego - Part 1

Episode 10: Et in Arcadia, Ego - Part 2

Review: Star Trek Picard, Episode 3 The End is The Beginning

CONTAINS SPOILERS

At the end of last week's episode of Star Trek Picard, I realised that there are a number of timebombs neatly installed in the plot:

The Borg Cube:  at some point, the Borg are going to either reawaken, or another cube is going to come along, and wreak havoc and destruction across the Romulan outpost.  You can't mess with the Borg; the clock is ticking.
Soji - initially, the question was, "When will the Romulans realise she's a synthetic?  Is she going to be safe?" and that changed last week, to, "Will Soji realise she's a synthetic before the Romulans decide to either capture her or start dismantling her?  When will she activate?"  Tick, tick, tick...

Picard - when will he get onto a starship?!

This is in addition to the various other questions - is the pointy-eared Commodore Romulan or Vulcan?  (We assume Romulan, but who knows?).  Who is the woman that Picard visited in the middle of the desert?  And so on.

Episode 3 briefly reminds us of the attack on Mars and Utopia Planitia, and then shows us, in flashback, Picard's immediate response and his plan to resume the evacuation of Romulus, prior to its star going supernova.  We see the relationship between Raffi and Picard - she was his assistant, Exec Officer or similar.  Picard gave Starfleet an ultimatum: accept his well-written, well-thought-out plan for continuing the evacuation, or accept his resignation.  I enjoyed this quiet scene - I too had considered that the Romulan Tal Shiar agency may have been responsible for the attack on Mars, and I had discounted it - it's good to see this being discussed on screen - and we see this through the episode; "that's why they call it a cover-up".  We see how Picard was surprised by Starfleet accepting his resignation and dismissing his rescue plan, and Picard looks increasingly arrogant or excessively self-confident - the hubris that Admiral Clancy accused him of last week is starting to appear believable.  Did he really just think he could waltz into Starfleet HQ with a plan and go sailing off to rescue the Federation's long-time enemies?

I do wonder if Mars could be burning - as an entire planet - without an oxygen atmosphere?  

I was delighted to see that Raffi starts her conversation with Picard by accusing him of having some nerve to show up.  His resignation from Starfleet led to her getting fired, and Picard really, really is over-playing his hand (and is rightly called out for it).  She reminds him that he wasn't "such a chatterbox, back in the day", and she joins the list of people who criticise him for the media interview he gave in episode one.  Last week, we saw how Starfleet is not what it was; this week, we see that Jean-Luc is not who he was either.  Challenging stuff.

It's hard to say if Picard is truly repentant for his selfish actions, or if he's desperate for help, but his grasp of the Romulan situation within the Federation is clear and accurate.  Raffi, for her part, is still convinced that the Romulans truly did orchestrate the attack on Mars, but refuses to follow Picard "down another rabbit hole" as she did before, having paid dearly for her previous connection with him.  She offers him a pilot, but isn't going along with him.

Commodore Oh - the Romulan commodore, meets with Doctor Jurati from Cybernetics.  They've been keeping tabs on her.  Another timebomb starts ticking:  what will Oh get from Jurati, and when?

This week sees the advertised arrival into the series of Hugh - the show has recruited the original actor and his voice is immediately recognisable as the Hugh we met decades ago.  He's a former Borg who is now actively assisting the Romulans in their plan to reclaim the xBs (ex-Borgs).  Soji and Hugh (not yet named) are working together on the xBs.  Hugh, as executive director of this program, allows an interview between Soji and one of the reclaimed Borg; Soji believing that 'a shared mythical background' will be benificial between societies.  We meet the 'disordered', assimilated and separated Romulans who are all suffering the mental consequences of that assimilation and separation process.  It's a scene that's reminiscent of an asylum, with quiet muttering and a general disturbed atmosphere.  One of the key Romulans, Ramdha, is an expert on ancient mythology, and Soji would like to talk to her as an xB who could reframe their experiences through a shared framework.  However, Ramdha - as an xB - remembers Soji "from tomorrow".  Ramdha appears to know that Soji is more than she appears.

Narek, Romulan secret operative, has a short scene with his sister, Lt Rizzo (who appeared human in the previous episode).  There's nothing much to say about it, except that it shows their ongoing sibling rivalry.  Let's move on.

Picard finally beams onto a spaceship, and the music (subtle as ever) plays a suitable fanfare riff from the TNG theme.  It immediately transpires that the pilot, Rios, has been stabbed in the shoulder, and is being helped by his ENH (no, not an EMH - this is Navigation, not Medical).  The pilot immediately reminded me of Han Solo... drinker, smoker, scruffy-looking... when asked about his injury, he replies, "I didn't die;" when questioning Picard, he asks, "Are you breaking any laws or intending to?" with a tone that suggests he's not bothered either way.  He's not in Starfleet; he's more Harry Mudd, even though he is former Starfleet, and Picard identifies him as "Starfleet to the core".  Nonetheless, Picard hires him to take him on his mission. 

Picard returns home to prepare for his journey, and his plans are rudely interrupted when the Romulan Ninjas storm his chateau.  This was genuinely tense - I realised at this point that it was quite possible within the plot for Picard's two Romulan friends to get killed.  In fact, they nearly did, and were all saved by the unexpected arrival of Doctor Jurati, clumsily wielding a Romulan blaster (without a stun setting).  This was gripping drama, and I enjoyed it, almost as much as I did the immediate revelation that Commodore Oh is NOT Romulan - she's Vulcan.  Like I said - we assume as little as possible!

One of the Romulan Ninjas is captured alive and can therefore be interviewed.  Or should that be interrogated?  The interview between Soji and Ramdha is cross-cut with Picard's interrogation of the Romulan prisoner, and the two scenes run in parallel, as the tension and volume of both discussions increase at the same time, and end with a suicide (the prisoner) and an attempted suicide (Ramdha).  The conclusion of Soji's discussion - the grab for the phaser, the struggle and the fight - causes her to partially activate.  She knows more than she should, moves more quickly and precisely than she ordinarily could... timebombs are ticking.

Dr Jurati makes a very compelling series of arguments for going along with Picard - he accepts, and so Rios, Jurati, Raffi and Picard set off together to search for Bruce Maddox on  Freecloud (looks like an online gambling site to me, but who knows?).  After all the phaser fire and fireworks, the episode - in fact, the series so far - has earned its moment:  Picard stands on the bridge, and with appropriate and suitable fanfare building, raises his right hand and delivers the line that will finally take this series out into space.

"Engage." 

Season 1 Episode List

Episode 1: Remembrance
Episode 2: Maps and Legends
Episode 3: The End is the Beginning
Episode 4: Absolute Candour
Episode 5: Stardust City Rag
Episode 6: The Impossible Box
Episode 7: Nepenthe
Episode 8: Broken Pieces

Episode 9: Et in Arcadia, Ego - Part 1

Episode 10: Et in Arcadia, Ego - Part 2

Review: Star Trek Picard, Episode 2: Maps and Legends

CONTAINS SPOILERS

In my review of last week's episode I mistakenly assumed that the destruction of Utopia Planetia and the whole of the Mars colony directly lead to the deaths of thousands of Romulans. The flashback scene at the start of this week's issue - and then further revelations - make it clear that the annihilation of the Mars colony by the synthetics led to the destruction of many of Starfleet's ships and this prevented Starfleet from rescuing more Romulans.  It's a minor point, but I suspect it will have major repercussions.

This week's episode was another fascinating instalment, building on all the threads that were started last time: Picard starts his investigation into Dahj's death with the assistance of his Romulan friends, while we learn more about Dahj's twin, and her relationship with the Romulan.

Picard goes on a classic Dixon Hill investigation into Dahj's death, and the death of her boyfriend, by visiting her flat and investigating the crime scene.  Laris, Picard's Romulan friend has a useful array of gadgets to help the investigation along, and it becomes apparent that the Romulan secret-secret-police have been involved.  I mentioned last week that there was bad blood between the Romulans and the androids, but revelations this week show that these pre-date the Mars attack and the aborted rescue plan for Romulus.  The Romulan secret-secret police, called the Zhat Vash (even more secret than the Tal Shiar) have a loathing for artificial intelligence of any kind, and are tracking down any synthetics they can identify, and terminating them.

It becomes clear that Dahj knew and communicated with her twin sister, and Picard learns that her twin is off world. This all makes sense and is explained well. So, Picard needs to go out into space, and for that, he needs to return to Starfleet, and for that he needs medical clearance.  This is not a formality; the series again taps into Picard's alternative future from The Next Generation's finale All Good Things by giving Picard a disease in his parietal lobe. This part of his brain was identified in All Good Things when Dr Crusher explained there were warning signs he could develop irumodic syndrome - a form of 24th century dementia. Here, the news is delivered by Dr Benayoun - I'm sure I've seen him before. This is a clever move, since it continues to tie the series to its history without bringing someone like Dr Crusher into the story - she would add too much emotional backstory that would need to be addressed.

The music around the Borg cube last week was excellent and there is no subtlety in the Star Trek theme blasting out as Picard arrives at Starfleet Headquarters.  This contrasts sharply with his undignified arrival at Starfleet (the receptionist doesn't recognise him), and is merely a precursor to the shoddy treatment he gets from the Admiral he meets. She drops the f-bomb (a Star Trek first) and calls him out for his "hubris".  That went well, then; so much for the fanfare.  This scene makes two things perfectly clear: this is not the Star Fleet we used to know, and it has certainly not changed for the better.

As Admiral Picard offered to accept a temporary demotion to Captain, I was reminded of Kirk's similar demotion to a role he excelled in (at the end of Star Trek IV) and of Kirk's warning to Picard in Generations - don't let them take you off the bridge of a ship; don't let them promote you out of it.  This made the verbal slap in the face even more dramatic.

Still, Picard is Picard and he has his ideas. To quote Kirk again: "The word is no. I am therefore going anyway."

Meanwhile, Dahj's twin sister Soji is living and working on the Romulan-claimed Borg cube.  The setting one Borg cube alone says, "Danger!" (even if it's 5843 days since the facility's last assimilation, a very funny way of telling us that the Romulans have been on the cube for 16 years - before the Mars attack) but as an unidentified synthetic working among Romulans, we know Soji's life is a ticking time bomb - as soon as she is discovered, she will be killed.

Except, in a major development, we discover that the Soji's friend, new arrival Narek, is actually an undercover agent who does know her identity - even though she doesn't.  The Zhat Vash have agents within the ranks of Star Fleet - and a Romulan commodore at that - and they are using Star Fleet's intelligence to track down the synthetics.  There are more questions than answers, but this is fascinating, and as I mentioned earlier, this is really not the Star Fleet we used to know. Not at all.

There are some gory scenes as we get a glimpse of what the Romulans are doing on the Borg cube. They aren't rescuing "xBs" - presumably people who were Borg but can be saved - but stripping Borg drones for spare parts and saleable items. This is as gruesome as it sounds, and is carried out in a way that could best be described as disassembly-line surgery.  I'm already backing the Borg to reawaken and start assimilating the Romulans.

Picard goes to meet an old 'friend' - her identity isn't clear - to arrange a ship and a crew, and while her first response is to draw a phase and tell him to leave, there's plenty of unmentioned history between the two. So, Picard is still stuck on Earth - no sign of him returning to his usual environment of outer space. At least not yet.

This was another great episode - the revelations about the Romulans in Star Fleet has set the tone for the series. There isn't any phase fire in this episode, apart from the flashback scene at the start, but there are still plenty of fireworks.

Season 1 Episode List

Episode 1: Remembrance
Episode 2: Maps and Legends
Episode 3: The End is the Beginning
Episode 4: Absolute Candour
Episode 5: Stardust City Rag
Episode 6: The Impossible Box
Episode 7: Nepenthe
Episode 8: Broken Pieces

Episode 9: Et in Arcadia, Ego - Part 1

Episode 10: Et in Arcadia, Ego - Part 2

Review: Star Trek Picard, Episode 1: Remembrance

CONTAINS SPOILERS

Star Trek's latest series, "Star Trek Picard" is an Amazon Prime exclusive - for the UK, this is a long way from the BBC2 once-a-week episode on Thursday evenings (which I eagerly watched) - and shows how far Star Trek has travelled from its syndicated roots.  I watched the first half of this episode on my mobile phone, then finished off the episode on following day at home on TV.

Star Trek Picard is also a considerable distance from its predecessors.  For the first time since Star Trek Voyager, we have a series which is set after the Voyager/TNG/DS9 era - Enterprise and Discovery were both prequels.  This is a real blast of fresh air - this series is not saddled with all the issues of making its continuity fit with already-known events, and having to fit everything in to a huge narrative.  And the best part of this is that STP sets up its own universe very quickly:  the Romulan sun (or, more accurately, star) has gone supernova and there's been a forced relocation of the Romulan population.  Admiral Picard now lives in a chateau in France, with a sizeable vineyard (as suggested in the TNG episode All Good Things), with a Romulan family.  The exact relationship here, and the personal story of how the Romulans came to live with Picard aren't clear - yet.

Much of the backstory is related during a media interview between a journalist and Picard, as he explains how Starfleet abandoned their mission to rescue the Romulans when they were needed most.  Events took a turn for the worse when the Romulan rescue mission was sabotaged - mortally - by synthetics who hacked into the Mars defence network and blew up the colony on Mars.  This has led to a galaxy-wide ban on the development of synthetics, and leads to bad blood between the Romulans and any remaining synths.

There's a parallel plot concerning a young lady called Dahj.  As she learns that her application to the Daystrom institute has been accepted, mysterious ninja assassins beam into her apartment, kill her boyfriend and attempt to either kill or kidnap her.  In a surprise development, she's able to defeat them in hand-to-hand combat (despite having a bag over her head) and realises that she isn't all that she thought.  Further developments follow as she starts having visions of Picard, and determines to track him down when she sees his broadcast interview with the journalist.

Picard is having bad dreams involving Data (who sacrificed himself at the end of Nemesis), and in one interesting dream, sees Data painting a picture - which Picard later realises is a painting that Data completed while he was alive and which now hangs on the walls of Picard's chateau.

The story develops at a measured pace - there are the high-energy phaser fire and hand-to-hand combat scenes, but there are also lengthy dialogue scenes, but these do serve to unpack this new world, and to further the plot in a sensible and plausible way.  Dahj meets Picard, and the two of them attempt to work out how they are actually connected.  There's a bit of the mysterious (which is a new twist for the generally straightforward science-and-logic format of Star Trek), but Picard realises that Dahj is the woman in Data's paintings - and, in a twist that I'm pleased to have spotted - Data painted two identical pictures (one in Chateau Picard, one in the Starfleet Archive).  

As Picard and Dahj start to come to terms with Dahj's true nature - she is a synthetic (android) - Dahj is caught and killed by the Romulan ninja assassins who have been chasing her down.  Picard has a lengthy and revealing conversation with an AI professor at the Daystrom institute, in which he asks about producing an android from flesh and blood, and gets a long but informative 'no'.  Bruce Maddox (TNG Measure of a Man) has been working on this idea, but has not made any progress.  However, it transpires that Dahj was one of a pair - twins - in the same way as there are two identical paintings of her (painted by Data, and titled "Daughter").

There are some overtones of Blade Runner here (I've never seen it), especially as we discover that Dahj's twin is living and working on a Romulan colony which - in the episode's final reveal - is built inside the remnants of a Borg cube.  The final scene, starting with two dangerous-looking spacecraft (the latest version of the Romulan warbird) moving through a cloaking field and entering a large, dark space station is filled with tension and the slow, steady reveal of the cube is shot in the style of the opening of First Contact, with a musical score that is very reminiscent of the Borg theme.  It's a dramatic conclusion to a great opening episode, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.

For those who were expecting to see more of the characters from previous Star Trek series - Seven of Nine, for example - you'll be disappointed.  This is very much the start of a long series (Star Trek has had mixed form with series-long arcs) and the trailer is for the whole series, not for episode one.  There's plenty in this first episode, though, and there is much to be hopeful about.

Season 1 Episode List

Episode 1: Remembrance
Episode 2: Maps and Legends
Episode 3: The End is the Beginning
Episode 4: Absolute Candour
Episode 5: Stardust City Rag
Episode 6: The Impossible Box
Episode 7: Nepenthe
Episode 8: Broken Pieces

Episode 9: Et in Arcadia, Ego - Part 1

Episode 10: Et in Arcadia, Ego - Part 2

Project Management: A Trip To The Moon

Scene: meeting room, some people dialling in remotely. The plan is to launch a manned rocket to the moon, and the project manager (PM) is kicking off the project.

PM "Right, team, let's plan this space journey to the moon. What kind of fuel will we use in our rocket?"

Designer 'Before I answer that, we want to discuss the colour of the nose cone. The design is to paint it blue.'

PM "Okay, blue is fine. Have you had any thoughts about the engine?"

Designer 'No, but we actually think a red nosecone might be better.'

PM "Noted. Let's move on from that, and come back to it nearer the launch time."

Marketing: We thought blue. Now, how we will we choose the pilots? PM "I was thinking that we would have a rigorous selection process."

Marketing: "We can do that. But we'd like to address the name of the spaceship. Our subsidiary want to call it the USSS Pegasus. We want to refer to it as the US Pegasus - the 'SS' was a suggestion from our previous owner. As this is a combined program, we're going to go with the US Pegasus."
PM "Noted. The US Pegasus. Now, about the pilots..."
Designer "And the name of the ship must be in blue text."
PM [making notes] "...blue text..."
Designer "To match the nose cone." PM "Now, circling back to the question of the pilots."
Stakeholder: "Oh, you can't say that. Circling back suggests that the ship isn't going to land on the moon." PM "Sure. So let's go on to the pilots?"
Stakeholder; "Yes, we can sort that out." PM "Thanks. Now - timelines. Do you have a target date for landing on the moon?" Stakeholder; "Yes, we want to land on 28 July, 2020. When do you need to launch?"
PM "How long will the flight take?" Stakeholder "That depends on the fuel." PM "Doesn't it depend on the engine?" Marketing "Possibly. But it's important that we land on 28 July." Stakeholder "Yes. 28 July. We've set that date with our president. It's his birthday"
PM "So who can give me the launch date?"
Stakeholder "Well, we expected you to provide that." PM "Okay, let's assume it takes four days to reach the moon. Can you have everything built and fuelled by then?" Stakeholder "And we'll want to check everything works." PM "Like a test launch?" Marketing "Oh no, we can't have a test launch. We can't have our competitors knowing what we're doing."
PM "No test launch?" Marketing "No." PM "And the pilots?" Stakeholder "I'm working on it." PM "And the fuel?" Stakeholder "I'll find somebody. Somebody somewhere must know something about it."
Marketing "And we'll need hourly readouts on speed. Preferably minute by minute. And oxygen levels; distance from the earth; internal and external temperatures. All those things." PM "Are you interested in the size of the engine?"
Stakeholder "We've been planning this for six months already. We know it'll need an engine." Engineer; "Sorry I'm late, I've just joined." PM "Thanks for joining. We're just discussing the rocket engine. Do you know what size it will be?" Engineer: "Big." PM "Big enough?" Engineer: "Yes. 1000 cubic units. Big enough." PM: "Great. Thanks. Let's move on." Stakeholder: "Wait, let's just check on that detail. Are you sure?"

Engineer; "Yes. I've done the calculations. It's big enough." Stakeholder: "To get to the moon?" Engineer: "Yes." Stakeholder: "And back?" Engineer: "Yes." Designer: "Even if we have blue text instead of red?"
Engineer: "Yes."
Marketing; "What about if we have red text."
Engineer; "The colour of the text isn't going to affect the engine performance." Stakeholder "Are you sure?"
Engineer: "We're not burning the paint as fuel. We're not painting the engine. We're good." PM: "Thank you. Now; how much fuel do you need?"
Engineer: "That depends. How quickly do you want to get there?" PM: "We need to land on the moon on 28 July 2020. I've estimated a four-day flight time." Engineer; "I'd make it five days, to be on the safe side, and I would calculate 6000 units of class-one fuel, approximately." PM: "Okay, that sounds reasonable. Will the number of pilots affect the fuel calculation?" Engineer: "Yes, but it won't significantly change the 6000 units estimate. When you know the number and mass of the pilots, we can calculate the fuel tank size we'll need."
Stakeholder; "But we won't know that until launch." PM: "Until launch?" Stakeholder: "Yes. We don't know how many people we want to send to the moon until the day of the launch." PM: "And the colour of the text? And the nose cone? And the actual text."
Stakeholder: "Will all depend on people we send."
PM: "No test launch?" Marketing; "No. We need this to be secret so that our competitors don't know what we're doing." PM: "So we're launching an undetermined number of people, in an untested rocket of unknown name and size, to the moon, with an approximate flight time and fuel load, at some point in the future."
Marketing: "But it must land on 28 July." PM: "2020, yes. Ok, We've run out of time for today, but let's catch up tomorrow with progress. Between now and then, let's work to decide some of the smaller details like the fuel and the engine, and tomorrow we can cover the main areas, such as the size of the rocket and where it's going. Thank you, everybody. Goodbye for now."

Looking Back Over My Shoulder

The start of a new year (or the end of the previous one) is a time for looking forward, setting goals making resolutions and planning for the future. There's a general view that looking back isn't healthy and focusing on the past doesn't create a healthy mindset.  This is often the case if the previous year has been difficult, challenging or simply awful.

I disagree.

Looking back at the past can help us identify our strengths, our victories and how we can build on them.

The shepherd boy David took on the giant Goliath. He volunteered, based on his previous experience and his previous victories with God.  He knew his God; he knew his place and he knew his own history.

1 Samuel 17:
34But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”

David had learned from his experiences with God, conquering lions and bears in previous years, and he used this experience with 'small things' in preparation for his next challenge.
So, look back over your shoulder, take stock and review your victories, your experience and the positives. Carry them with you (like a sling and a staff) and go take on your giants!

This post is one of a series of New Year's Resolutions/Year in Review posts - here are the others in the series:

The Lists of Firsts

A first time for everything: 2018
2019 in reflection
Looking Back Over My Shoulder at 2019
First times in 2021 list
First times of 2022
First times in 2023
Things I did for the first time in 2024

Just: Not Good Enough

I don't make many New Year's Resolutions.  Truth is, I'm still working through my resolutions from a few years ago: to give more than I receive; to repair not replace and so on.

This year, I have one resolution that I've already started on.  Simply put, Just: Not Good Enough.

"Daddy, come and play with me!'
'I'm just washing the dishes.'
'Just give me a second, I'm just tidying the floor.'
'I'm just sending an email.'
'I'm just checking Facebook'.

And so on.

So this year, I'm going to stop saying "just". If I'm washing my hands, my face, the dishes or whatever, then that's what I'm doing. Saying "just" makes it less important, and makes your request to play or set up your game or whatever even less important. "Just" is not a good enough word to use.

And if you ever catch me saying "just" in my prayers, tell me. I don't usually use "just" but you never know.  Imagine:

"Mighty Father God, maker of the universe, please would you just lift my headache for half an hour."
'30 minutes? Are you sure?'
"Yes, and i pray that you would just bless the meeting at church this morning."
'And this afternoon? When you all go back home?'
"Just this morning is fine, thanks."
'Are you sure??'
"Yeah, and we just pray... that you would just..."

So, I'm going to lift the lid on what I pray for. I don't say "just" verbally when I pray, but I mentally contain God in what I ask for. I've been getting better at asking for the Moon (so to speak) and expanding what I pray for, and asking for bigger things, and this is my main aim for 2020.

Just: Not Good Enough.