TNG: First Contact (episode)

[pilight]

There doesn't seem to be a thread for this episode, so here we go.

One scene always throws me off in this one. I thought Chuck might mention it, but he didn't.

Durken is in his office signing papers. His secretary buzzes to tell him Minister Yale is there with someone to meet him. He tries to pawn it off on the vice chancellor, but the secretary says Yale is insistent that it be him. He agrees to see them. Yale comes in, Durken says "Always happy to meet your friends", then Picard walks in and Durken is awed. Seems straightforward enough, right?

Here's my boggle. Was Picard standing at the secretary's desk? She doesn't sound excited or frightened or impressed or any of the other emotions you might expect from someone seeing a space alien for the first time. Was anyone else in the lobby or passing by in the hall that might have seen him? Surely there are security cameras in this area directly outside the office of the leader of the planet. Not to mention that the secretary would have likely called the planetary equivalent of the secret service, on the off chance that this space alien turns hostile.

Some people have suggested Picard beamed into the hallway before stepping into the room. That makes no sense on a number of levels. We don't hear the beaming sound effect before he comes in. Why would he beam into the hall instead of directly into the office? The office isn't shielded, he beams directly in later in the episode and the three of them beam out from the office at the end of this scene. Plus, the secretary said Yale had someone to meet the chancellor. She wouldn't have said that if Yale was alone.

If Picard was at the secretary's desk, how did he get there? Did he beam in? It's one thing for the secretary to have no emotional reaction to the presence of an alien, it takes a special level of jadedness to calmly go about your job when one appears out of thin air right in front of you. Maybe he beamed back to Yale's laboratory then they went to the chancellor's office. If it's in the same building, they must have walked along some busy hallways filled with security cameras, junior staffers, dignitaries, and tourists (this is the equivalent of the White House). Did no one get freaked out by the space alien in the corridor? If it's in a different building, did Picard go through security when entering the executive office building? There are probably several levels you have to go through before seeing the leader of the world, and it would surely involve pictures and whatever they use for fingerprints.


This scene just bothers me. It makes it impossible for me to believe there wouldn't have been definitive evidence of alien life left behind.

[BunBun299]

Well, yeah there was evidence, but all in the most secure building on the planet. They could easily make everyone in the building to sign papers that they are never allowed to disclose what happened. Not so with the hospital, but Durken seemed confident those rumors would die down. Whether or not they ever did, we'll likely never know.

[AllanO]

My silly explanation is that the secretary is blind.

The cameras could easily have been circumvented one way or the other by the magical tech of the Enterprise so no problem there.

[Yukaphile]

Or, you know, perhaps Yale had explained it to the secretary, hence she knew he WOULD wanna take this appointment.

[pilight]

Or, you know, perhaps Yale had explained it to the secretary, hence she knew he WOULD wanna take this appointment.

She explained a space alien, on this world that's overly frightened of such things?

[Yukaphile]

So that she knew it would be a matter for their elected leader.

[Darth Wedgius]

We don't know how long the secretary had to calm down before announcing Durken's new guests, but that's probably just excusing an oversight.

[Yukaphile]

^ Exactly this.

[Admiral X]

It kind of works that some time have gone by between him beaming down and walking into that office. That way the seeming security lapse could be argued to not be a lapse, because they'd have had time to frisk him down and whatnot to make sure he isn't a security threat before walking into the office.

[Sir Will]

The secretary is very, very jaded. No fucks to be given.