True, but shouldn't sci-fi try a little harder to show something futuristic without using a trendy modern day item as a big crutch?
News Dahj And Soji Omega Necklace
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True, but shouldn't sci-fi try a little harder to show something futuristic without using a trendy modern day item as a big crutch?
Yeah, if you're going to have characters remark on how unique the necklace is or notice it at all (Picard takes particular interest in it, Not!DiscoverySpock notices it too on the sister) it better be damn special looking. And yadda, yadda, the Venn Diagram/infinity symbol/figure-8 sign *could* be unique in this time period... Could. (But, I mean, it's two fucking circles overlapping one another.) But it needs to be unique to us because we're watching the show and characters marveling over something unremarkable makes it hard to buy into the mystery of things.
Certainly someone BTS could have came up with a design that was more interesting looking.
Hell, looking really quick... Lowercase "G" in Wingdings.
I don't think so.
Maybe there's something to the necklace that our puny 4K TV's aren't showing us?
Yes, definitely. If you are going to have two different characters take note of it, there should be something noteworthy and outstanding about it. Not identical to what any two 7th grade girl BFFs wear.
Why? Not every single detail needs to scream THE FUTURE . I use to wear my grandfather's wedding ring in memorial to him. I now where my own wedding band. Aside from one stone that could be identical .
Simple is ok too.
Simple is ok too.
It is not about THE FUTURE. It is about why it would noteworthy in any century.
Value is in the eye of the beholder.
It may be archaic by the dawn of the 25th century, which is why it was used.
It's TWO CIRCLES OVERLAPPING! How is that unusual or remarkable to anyone at all? How is the most simplest and basic thing anyone can make become archaic? It's practically a figure-fucking-8!
The number-8 is archaic?
I think we are way overthinking this. Like, by a lot.
But again, it's not the necklace that is special. It's the two different characters who are.
This isn't a future swastika, a surefire conversation piece in any company. It's the company that matters: Picard the vision guy, and Narek the suspicious creep. We can tell that these people are special exactly because they pay attention to the jewelry when nobody else does. Heck, not even the wearers themselves think much of the motif they wear!
I really don't see how there could be an issue with this. Common or rare, this exact necklace is how you tell an advanced android from ordinary folks. Narek must know that, which is the only reason he pays attention to it. And Picard is at least subconsciously suspecting it.
Timo Saloniemi
It is not a big issue. It's a small thing. But it is noticeable. I dont think it is too much to ask that if you want something to be eyecatching, it should be eyecatching. Noticeable. Unusual. Picard clearly does not know what it means. Narek might. Clearly no one who knows that Synths are banned would wear something that identified them as a synth. That's kind of silly. Yet, why does Picard think there is anything unusual about it? It is as ordinary as can be. Yes, maybe Picard now has supernatural powers that we didnt know about before. Could be. I only have one Art Department credit on IMDB, so I am no top pro. But as a designer, I am disappointed. C'mon, they can do better. That's $5 at Hobby Lobby.
That's just it, though: if it were eye-catching, this would defeat the purpose, because eyes catching it would not be anything out of the ordinary then. Only as matters now stand is it oooooominous that Narek pays attention to the silly pendant!
As for Picard, his subconscious may work overtime, or his frequent melding with his Romulan bedfellows may carry consequences. But this is looking at this from the wrong end. It's not that the two rings would catch Picard's attention. It's that the two rings were worn by Dahj! Inquiring about this (or, say, of her pocket contents, were Picard somehow to kow about those) is a bit more natural than being curious about her hair color.
Timo Saloniemi
As for Picard, his subconscious may work overtime, or his frequent melding with his Romulan bedfellows may carry consequences. But this is looking at this from the wrong end. It's not that the two rings would catch Picard's attention. It's that the two rings were worn by Dahj! Inquiring about this (or, say, of her pocket contents, were Picard somehow to kow about those) is a bit more natural than being curious about her hair color.
Timo Saloniemi
No, eye catching is what would make it out of the ordinary. Instead they chose the most ordinary, non-eyecatching "design" you could imagine. Making it unlikely that anyone, incl Picard would have noticed it. It felt, as I was watching it, that he noticed it because the script told him to notice it. Not for any other reason.
I really don't see the issue. Picard wants to know more about Dahj, starting with the things he has been able to observe. What is he to inquire about, her boobs? The pendant is visible. Were it additionally remarkable, this would diminish its dramatic impact and the in-universe logic.
Timo Saloniemi
Timo Saloniemi
As I said before the bigger thing is that for us, watching the show, we have to be in it with the characters, see things through them, and the show should be doing what it can to make that process easier for us and we're supposed to be behind this with Picard and suspicious of Not!DiscoverySpock. So if Picard's in danger we should be worried, if N!DS is in danger we should be happy. If Picard is suspicious things we should be too.
So when our protagonist character see a necklace and goes, "That's very unusual!" and then we see it we shouldn't be sitting here at home going, "Huh? There's nothing remarkable about that thing at all. My kid bought something just like that out of one of those gumball-machine things in the Walmart breezeway last week."
Looking at a closer-up picture of it (they're selling it on-line, linking it to the series, because of course they are) the most "unusual" thing about it beyond it just being two interlocking circles is that the ring of the circles isn't consistent, it's got kind of a wider edge to it, sort of like the ring around an eclipse at 95% or something. But other than maybe that, it's an unremarkable design and not something anyone should take notice of, beyond knowing what it means which N!DS may know, but Picard doesn't.
And even with N!DS pointing it out, again, there shouldn't be anything remarkable about it because it's a perfectly normal-looking piece of jewelry that there's probably billions of people wearing who have no idea about the cloning thing whatsoever.
If your character is going to go, "That's very unusual!" it better be pretty fucking unusual for us because we're the ones watching the show and the ones who have to buy into things.
And why is it the symbol for the cloning thing anyway? They need to get a new PR guy because he phoned that thing in.
If this cloning thing was/is supposed to be so unique, remarkable, the "grand slam" as the doctor puts it their symbol should represent that and not be something someone wouldn't give a second thought to.
... Huh?! Eye catching is the very definition of "out of the ordinary." Ordinary things are dismissed, glossed over, you don't think about them. They're don't catch your eye. But something that's unordinary stands out it catches your eye.
If your eye catches something eye-catching, this is an ordinary action, an everyday occurrence. If it catches something mundane and makes a big fuss about it, the act is extraordinary and raises immediate questions in the audience. Like here, say. Which would have been the dramatic intent.
Sure, it's extraordinary that Picard says "That's unusual!" when it clearly isn't. But this calls almost paranormal attention to the fact, just like the painting thing or the poker game thing.
As for why the symbol would exist in-universe, well, a scientist came up with it. Thanks to scientists, we have "the Big Bang", too. Banal is only to be expected!
Timo Saloniemi
Sure, it's extraordinary that Picard says "That's unusual!" when it clearly isn't. But this calls almost paranormal attention to the fact, just like the painting thing or the poker game thing.
As for why the symbol would exist in-universe, well, a scientist came up with it. Thanks to scientists, we have "the Big Bang", too. Banal is only to be expected!
Timo Saloniemi
I feel like such a bad nerd that I didn’t notice this before...
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Romulan_transport?file=Romulan_transport.jpg
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Romulan_transport?file=Romulan_transport.jpg
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