Speculation: SF Debris's view on "Silicon Avatar"

[Yukaphile]

Well, even if it must die, kill it quickly and humanely is how I could see the humans of the 24th century, which I admire. Nothing excessive or overly cruel about that.

[Sir Will]

I remember liking that episode. Though I don't remember how bad it sounds like Picard gets. I know he wanted to avoid killing it if possible. But then again, how is that possible? And hell, even if it avoided populated planets, which it doesn't seem sentient enough to do, it's still so much devastation. Yeah, it has to go down.

[FlynnTaggart]

Though as the franchise would later prove, that's not the case, and secondly, that even if they can bargain with the entity, it should face some form of justice for the lives it's taken, the worlds it's destroyed.

Would the creature even be deserving of justice though? Even assuming its intelligent, which is debatable, its doing what it naturally does. Its like a hungry tiger attacking someone to eat, the snowflake in space isn't just going Galactus on planets for shits and giggles. Its apparently somehow evolved to eat all life on planets.

Even if its intelligent I'm not sure whether smacking it with the open hand of the law would be correct. It would be like arresting a vampire that has to kill to drink blood (for some reason), its doing what it has to do to survive. There may be no malice involved, its literally kill or die.

Not saying it doesn't deserve to be kersploded, its either a dangerous rampaging animal or a killer, just by self defense alone it would need to die. Just not sure its really a legal system type matter.

[Yukaphile]

Well, if it won't accept justice, then it's a policeman's dilemma. Use deadly force to save infinitely more lives. I consider that ethically sound.

[PapaPalpatine]

I always found it a headscratcher that Picard and crew talk about the damned thing like it's an innocent space whale; doubly so after it's been in league with Data's evil twin, Lore, and it just ate a Federation colony world right before their very eyes that episode. Did self-preservation instincts go out the sodding window by the 24th century? Because that kind of thinking absolutely makes you a Darwin Awards contender.

[Yukaphile]

More like writer's intent to do something interesting > actual common sense. It's happened before.

[Yukaphile]

Though isn't it possible we're overblowing this? Maybe Picard truly intended to tell it, "Stop eating our planets or we'll be forced to kill you." Though this seems like the writers wanted to go with that take Gene had where he was repulsed by the idea how Kirk actually (GASP!) killed a Ceti eel! He'd be fascinated and want to study it, according to the old bastard. Remember in "The Loss" Picard was very hesitant to take action against the two-dimensional entities (ie, Gene's pets ) with the line, "Must we destroy them to save ourselves?" He seemed upset at the idea of killing what might be a unique and sentient lifeform, but he did do it. Besides, the thing with the Crystalline Entity seemed more contrarian and to fire back against the lead scientist (forget her name) who was clearly out for revenge that Picard felt was distasteful. I dunno. Maybe I'm overthinking this?

[PapaPalpatine]

Another famous facepalm moment was Riker handing off a small child to Data in order to go back and rescue his flavor-of-the-week girlfriend and an old man who tripped and fell...

SEND DATA, YOU IDIOT!!!!!!!

With his running speed, reaction time, and strength, Data would've stood a much better chance of rescuing those two. What were you thinking, Will?

[Yukaphile]

OMG I never thought of that! But then, that's just there to add pathos to the horror of the Crystalline Entity. You know... I always wondered what that creature's deal was? If it devours worlds, why does it even need Lore? Is it lonely and wants companionship? Or is it similar to a dog whistle in that the right frequencies can make it "obey?"

[PapaPalpatine]

During the events of "Datalore," Lore at one point was seen talking to the entity over one of the ship's com panels after tapping some series of keys. As for the dog whistle theory, it didn't seem like there was a master/pet dynamic between the two; more like short term partners for a heist.