It's the no warp thing that really limits its ability. The saucer can 1. limp back home. or 2. stay put while the rest of the ship does something risky and then hope they don't have to resort to number 1.
I could see the saucer section being left in orbit to assist with evacuations while the stardrive section "goes for help" but even this seems like a bit situational.
This is a good point and perhaps there is unused footage that mentions Alexander in more detail which would understandably be cut out if they weren't willing to lean in on it. It's easier for us to forget Alexander existed and to wonder "maybe he died" than to waste lines on that kind of backstory - at least in some writer's opinion which I could see an argument for.
I don't think there's anything that would prevent Dal from obtaining citizenship in the Federation. He could not however serve in Starfleet. Lying about it to Starfleet could be criminal, but probably just being modified isn't. Even Una says that she lived on a provisional colony where segregation existed between modified and unmodified Ilyrians suggesting that those Ilyrians would eventually be able to be granted citizenship in the Federation despite their status as modified.
Una had to be sponsored to join Starfleet which suggests that the colony didn't actually ever join the Federation entirely - whether it granted her citizenship status or not is unclear, but since she was sponsored into Starfleet she's probably not a Federation citizen as such.
I would really like to see Prodigy take cues from SNW here and address Dal's genetics. Janeways says Starfleet will never allow him, but maybe he's just the right person to further change the law and Starfleet policy.
He was not under investigation for being genetically modified. I think a key aspect of this episode and that episode is that Julian and Una were both under investigation for concealing their status as genetically modified. Neither of them faced any penalty for having the modifications done.
It is only Mr. Bashir who is punished for seeking out and obtaining genetic modification for his developmentally delayed child. Being genetically modified isn't a crime and I don't think it was ever depicted as such - but having a genetic modification done is a crime. And having one done on you prevents you from joining Starfleet in some cases. Although for all we know Ilyrians are given exception to genetic modification rules as long as they're honest about it, but no human has ever gotten an exception so Julian lied to protect his parents and to ensure he'd get into Starfleet.
I really loved the dress uniforms. Particularly the details on the collars and on the medals. I only wish they'd done a little more with the Admiral dress uniforms. Leaving them all in Federation Blue like early Discovery is a little odd.
I would like to believe that as well, but we are left with very little to make us believe that other than good will towards Worf. It seems like a particularly glaring oversight to have the season of Picard featuring Picard and Beverly's long lost son, Geordi's daughters, memories of Thaddeus Riker's death, and the first time we've seen Worf in a long time not explicitly mention at least once that Worf is also a member of the parent club.
Instead what we do see are exclusively episodes where Worf's relationship with his son is not treated as a core part of Worf's character - even attempts to reconcile go basically no where.
A single line to Enterprise-D crew about how Alexander is the commander of an entire Klingon battle fleet now and that fills Worf with great pride would have solidified that the characters reconciled. Hell, it's kind of weird that no one asks about Alexander since all the Enterprise-D crew readily know that Worf has a son. But instead, just like the writers, Worf has apparently forgotten that he has a child and so is written as though he doesn't have one.
The decision to not even drop his name in this season of Picard really hammers how bad of a father Worf really was. This is absolutely something that should be explored in a Worf-centric story. There's a lot of context for how Worf was raised by Humans, but Alexander was not.
DS9 tries very hard to deal with this, but they actually make it worse by mistake.
Worf: "I cannot fix the mistakes I have made, but from now on I will stand with you. I will teach you what you need to know to be a warrior, and you will teach me what I need to know to be a father." Alexander: "Let's see if you mean it."
And clearly he didn't. He was too caught up in his own warrior's journey to consider Alexander. Alexander left, remained Klingon on Klingon ships and continues to be estranged from his father.
I think this can quite easily be pulled off. Lower Decks is an example of this to a degree, but for an even better Beta Canon example look at the Star Trek Resurgence narrative game. The story takes place from two perspectives Petty Officer and the ship's First Officer. Each of these characters has relationships which will impact the story and for the most part they work separately from one another, but still work together and it makes a lot more sense when the Captain sends the Petty Officers to go on the hull and do dangerous work than sending the chief of any department.
Consider that Deep Space 9's primary cast of characters includes an enlisted person and several non-Starfleet personnel or straight up civilians. Porting that to a TV show would not be that difficult and I think there has even been some success with that in Lower Decks which features lower deckers along senior staff just fine, even interweaving their stories; and Discovery which, particularly in the first season, creates characters by proximity to the story not by bridge positions. Tilly is important because she is Burnham's roommate, not because she's the chief of anything. Despite this Tilly's character is a fan favorite. Unfortunately, I think Discovery fell into the impulse of giving audiences more of what they want and that meant creating stories where a random cadet was a valued member of the team - and team was still mostly senior staff.
undefined> It represents an approach to Star Trek that was cut off far too early, one that solves or avoids the most obnoxious pitfalls of the later seasons, and one I desperately wish we could have gotten more of.
I'll comment on this most important concluding statement with agreement. Ultimately, Discovery tried to do something different and did it fairly well. It's downfall was in not being willing to take that kind of storytelling and really lean into it. Fans started talking, loudly, about changes that were made and as a result later seasons of Discovery become far more tempered. The Discovery of season 1 could have ended Season 2 by sending Burnham and Discovery to the future and introducing a whole new cast of main players in a whole new context. Instead of that, they responded to the valid criticisms of the weaker supporting characters who don't seem to have much to do and as a result the show took a much more emotional turn. They haven't abandoned these long arcs, but they've tried to tell that story in a more familiar way and in my opinion this was always Discovery's downfall.
It might be a standard Crossfield class ship, not heavily modified like the Glenn and Discovery and this is just what they normally look like when they aren't refitted for mushroom engines.
It definitely looks to be made of a Crossfield primary hull with Constitution nacelles, and maybe a Miranda style rollbar on top. It did give me the kitbash feeling and the idea that the Klingons salvaged maybe two ships to create one is kind of interesting.
What's up with that "Crossfield" class anyway? Clearly a refit after the end of Discovery or a misidentification I think.
I also didn't make the connection of the black backing indicating the Academy or the Starbase personnel flower-emblem, but this makes sense since she would be an officer and the only other Academy badges we've seen are worn by cadets. Assuming that when she says "she teaches" that means she is currently teaching, perhaps out of a Starbase. Although, I wonder why only Pelia wears the flower-emblem when there are other starbase personnel who seem to be wearing standard issue uniforms.
You are correct. We can't really infer much about Una's citizenship status and so letters of recommendation or sponsorships aren't of concern. But with that being said - if Una can be a citizen and be modified then so could Dal. Albeit the restriction on genetically modified people serving in Starfleet seems to stick all the way through to the late 2370s and early 2380s at least.
In fact, unfortunately, we still see a fair amount of bigotry towards modified people persisting into the 2370s, but perhaps by then the difference between a modified Ilyrian and a modified human are more substantial. Dal, being a non-human (I guess?) might face less bigotry in his era than Una faced in hers.