TNG - Devil's Due

[MightyDavidson]

I think DuBois did a really good job here, and her interaction with Picard was the high point of the episode for me. The downside for me wasn't the god gambit being played again, but the Enterprise D being disabled by a con artist's ship. Why haven't the Klingons conquered you people yet?

But it wasn't disabled, merely hidden. It's been awhile since I've seen the episode granted but they either used the Enterprise D to mimic the tricks Arda was doing or the Enterprise D captured Arda's ship, once it was found and used their stuff to do it. At most they were inconvenienced for an hour or so.

[Koshundheit]

But it wasn't disabled, merely hidden. It's been awhile since I've seen the episode granted but they either used the Enterprise D to mimic the tricks Arda was doing or the Enterprise D captured Arda's ship, once it was found and used their stuff to do it. At most they were inconvenienced for an hour or so.

If it was just hidden, the crew probably would have helped Picard and Data get back aboard, instead of their shuttle having to return to the planet. The techobabble was that that Ardra's ship used an energy damping field on the Enterprise to interfere with normal operations, as well as cloaking it. How disabled that is would be at the whim of the writers presuming.

Once Geordi penetrated the field, the Enterprise crew took over Ardra's ship and used it to recreate her 'magic'.

[MightyDavidson]

But it wasn't disabled, merely hidden. It's been awhile since I've seen the episode granted but they either used the Enterprise D to mimic the tricks Arda was doing or the Enterprise D captured Arda's ship, once it was found and used their stuff to do it. At most they were inconvenienced for an hour or so.

If it was just hidden, the crew probably would have helped Picard and Data get back aboard, instead of their shuttle having to return to the planet. The techobabble was that that Ardra's ship used an energy damping field on the Enterprise to interfere with normal operations, as well as cloaking it. How disabled that is would be at the whim of the writers presuming.

Once Geordi penetrated the field, the Enterprise crew took over Ardra's ship and used it to recreate her 'magic'.

It was just hidden, Ardra's ship just extended their cloaking field around it so it couldn't be seen. Pretty sure they say that's the case in the episode itself. Transporter beam was down it was true and communications were likely being interfered with but it probably wasn't as bad as it initially seemed. Ardra's made clever use of existing technology (well existing tech in the Star Trek universe anyway) to inconvenience them it's true but that's all they were: inconvenienced.

[PapaPalpatine]

I'll give "Ardra" points for attempting a very ambitious con, but I must question just what she thought the end game for this was going to be. As I've stated previously, the god act isn't something you can keep up forever unless you're the real thing. Plus you're royally fucked if you ever get exposed as a false god; people aren't going to take kindly to you posing as a deity (or demon) that they've feared for centuries, especially if it was all for purposes of defrauding them.

[Koshundheit]

It was just hidden, Ardra's ship just extended their cloaking field around it so it couldn't be seen. Pretty sure they say that's the case in the episode itself. Transporter beam was down it was true and communications were likely being interfered with but it probably wasn't as bad as it initially seemed. Ardra's made clever use of existing technology (well existing tech in the Star Trek universe anyway) to inconvenience them it's true but that's all they were: inconvenienced.

Really not sure where you're getting that they "just extended their cloaking field". A memory alpha page about damping fields specifically references the episode:
[url]https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Subspace_damping_field[/url]

If you just want to argue about disabled versus inconvenienced, that's a level of pedantry I'm not going to debate beyond saying: If they couldn't move out of the field, couldn't use the transporter, couldn't communicate, couldn't find a way to help the captain get back to the ship, couldn't shoot the ship that had them in the field apparently... That seems more than inconvenient.

[MightyDavidson]

It was just hidden, Ardra's ship just extended their cloaking field around it so it couldn't be seen. Pretty sure they say that's the case in the episode itself. Transporter beam was down it was true and communications were likely being interfered with but it probably wasn't as bad as it initially seemed. Ardra's made clever use of existing technology (well existing tech in the Star Trek universe anyway) to inconvenience them it's true but that's all they were: inconvenienced.

Really not sure where you're getting that they "just extended their cloaking field". A memory alpha page about damping fields specifically references the episode:
[url]https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Subspace_damping_field[/url]

If you just want to argue about disabled versus inconvenienced, that's a level of pedantry I'm not going to debate beyond saying: If they couldn't move out of the field, couldn't use the transporter, couldn't communicate, couldn't find a way to help the captain get back to the ship, couldn't shoot the ship that had them in the field apparently... That seems more than inconvenient.

Given they managed to capture Ardra's vessel with no appreciable damage and without any loss of life, it didn't seem to really take them all that long for that matter, they clearly weren't terribly hindered. The moment the Enterprise spotted them they were dealt with and apparently didn't even manage to put up much of a fight in the process. So despite all the admittedly clever tricks they used against the Enterprise in the end all they managed to be was a nuisance.

[MightyDavidson]

I'll give "Ardra" points for attempting a very ambitious con, but I must question just what she thought the end game for this was going to be. As I've stated previously, the god act isn't something you can keep up forever unless you're the real thing. Plus you're royally fucked if you ever get exposed as a false god; people aren't going to take kindly to you posing as a deity (or demon) that they've feared for centuries, especially if it was all for purposes of defrauding them.

If I had to guess, the plan was to steal as much of the planet's wealth as they could get their hands upon and then run like fury before they were found out.

[PapaPalpatine]

I'll give "Ardra" points for attempting a very ambitious con, but I must question just what she thought the end game for this was going to be. As I've stated previously, the god act isn't something you can keep up forever unless you're the real thing. Plus you're royally fucked if you ever get exposed as a false god; people aren't going to take kindly to you posing as a deity (or demon) that they've feared for centuries, especially if it was all for purposes of defrauding them.

If I had to guess, the plan was to steal as much of the planet's wealth as they could get their hands upon and then run like fury before they were found out.

Fair enough, but that still entails a HELL of a lot of risk. Does this planet have anything worth taking that risk for?

[MightyDavidson]

I'll give "Ardra" points for attempting a very ambitious con, but I must question just what she thought the end game for this was going to be. As I've stated previously, the god act isn't something you can keep up forever unless you're the real thing. Plus you're royally fucked if you ever get exposed as a false god; people aren't going to take kindly to you posing as a deity (or demon) that they've feared for centuries, especially if it was all for purposes of defrauding them.

If I had to guess, the plan was to steal as much of the planet's wealth as they could get their hands upon and then run like fury before they were found out.

Fair enough, but that still entails a HELL of a lot of risk. Does this planet have anything worth taking that risk for?

That's actually a good question. Given that she's taking the risk in the first place I'd have to say the answer is yes otherwise why would Ardra bother? She doesn't strike me as the sort who'd put in the effort unless she was absolutely certain she could benefit from it.

[Jonathan101]

You guys don't know much about con artists...they are typically arrogant, short-sighted and amoral, and don't usually think in terms of "end games" but rather "opportunity". She'd keep the con going as long as it was profitable, and possibly beyond that if she got drunk on power. She might have high-tailed it out of there before she got caught, or she might have went all Jim Jones and forced everyone to commit suicide (maybe even herself)- it really depends on what kind of person she is, and we don't see enough of her to make judgements like that (and remember that what we DO see of her she is playing a role).

And yes, the dampening field is stupid- it takes the Enterprise out of action for an hour? What do you think the Romulans, Cardassians, Klingons, Dominion etc could have done with that kind of tech in the middle of a battle? Heck, even the BORG never demonstrated that sort of ability. Ardra used it for a con, but this (and a lot of what she does in fact) is game-changing technology in the hands of anyone else.