The Prytt are so technologically advanced that they can detect and intercept an alien transport beam, implant devices to read thoughts, and erect a shield around their territory... but they can't track two prisoners who left a jacket on their path and made a bonfire in the open at night. Implausible.
The Kes claim to have had no diplomatic contact with the Prytt for a century yet they quickly reveal that they have a secret operative in the Prytt prison and later that they control an entire town. Yet they have grand tales of wildly inaccurate conspiracy. This is incongruent. If they had those spies in place, they would know the truth without need of conspiracy theories.
So, why did the writers decide to have spies at all? Picard & Beverly are resourceful enough to escape on their own and find their own way to the border. Then everything would flow much better and make more sense.
The tricorder added nothing to their journey. It could have been done without but takes a little more creativity because they needed to find something to guide them, or, in the opening scene of breakfast with Beverly, they could have Picard say "Look at this map/globe. The Prytt occupy this small area, divided from the Kes by this mountain range. Then Picard could see the mountains and know which direction they must head. They would find various plausible obstacles instead of gas recorded on a tricorder. They could also act like fugitives.
As a Sci-Fi viewer, I readily accept brain implants but not non-sensical self-contradictory plots.
How about this ending? Picard and Beverly find a gap in the field where two trees had grown or fallen into the forcefield in such a way that there was a small gap between the trunks. Beverly squeezes though but the security forces hit the tree with a phaser, knocking it down and thus removing the gap, stranding Picard. The Enterprise, who has been scanning the border, detects Beverly and immediately beams her up, having her arrive on the transporter platform, immediately collapse, writhing in pain, Warf says that he will beam her to sick bay when she screams "No, send me back!" (Or, Enterprise beams down an away party and one of them moves beside Beverly and immediately orders beam up, when Beverly and Picard shout "No!" They either cancel the beam up or beam her up and then back down again.)
Then they can have their state mate meeting with the two leaders to release Picard and remove the implants from both. This should include an offer of negotiations to get the two sides talking, because that is the high road that the Federation should take.
The writers attempted to inject humor with the ever-increasing security equipment that the Kes leader brought onboard but fell flat because it made no sense and was based on an easily recognizable toy. They could have constructed a Faraday cage to prevent any communication or they could have created a forcefield around the room that they turn on for any conversation. Something plausible but could still be made ridiculous. How about a nod to Get Smart with a "cone of silence". I bet that more of the audience would get a laugh out of that, at least the ones who are old enough to know Get Smart. :)
The Kes claim to have had no diplomatic contact with the Prytt for a century yet they quickly reveal that they have a secret operative in the Prytt prison and later that they control an entire town. Yet they have grand tales of wildly inaccurate conspiracy. This is incongruent. If they had those spies in place, they would know the truth without need of conspiracy theories.
So, why did the writers decide to have spies at all? Picard & Beverly are resourceful enough to escape on their own and find their own way to the border. Then everything would flow much better and make more sense.
The tricorder added nothing to their journey. It could have been done without but takes a little more creativity because they needed to find something to guide them, or, in the opening scene of breakfast with Beverly, they could have Picard say "Look at this map/globe. The Prytt occupy this small area, divided from the Kes by this mountain range. Then Picard could see the mountains and know which direction they must head. They would find various plausible obstacles instead of gas recorded on a tricorder. They could also act like fugitives.
As a Sci-Fi viewer, I readily accept brain implants but not non-sensical self-contradictory plots.
How about this ending? Picard and Beverly find a gap in the field where two trees had grown or fallen into the forcefield in such a way that there was a small gap between the trunks. Beverly squeezes though but the security forces hit the tree with a phaser, knocking it down and thus removing the gap, stranding Picard. The Enterprise, who has been scanning the border, detects Beverly and immediately beams her up, having her arrive on the transporter platform, immediately collapse, writhing in pain, Warf says that he will beam her to sick bay when she screams "No, send me back!" (Or, Enterprise beams down an away party and one of them moves beside Beverly and immediately orders beam up, when Beverly and Picard shout "No!" They either cancel the beam up or beam her up and then back down again.)
Then they can have their state mate meeting with the two leaders to release Picard and remove the implants from both. This should include an offer of negotiations to get the two sides talking, because that is the high road that the Federation should take.
The writers attempted to inject humor with the ever-increasing security equipment that the Kes leader brought onboard but fell flat because it made no sense and was based on an easily recognizable toy. They could have constructed a Faraday cage to prevent any communication or they could have created a forcefield around the room that they turn on for any conversation. Something plausible but could still be made ridiculous. How about a nod to Get Smart with a "cone of silence". I bet that more of the audience would get a laugh out of that, at least the ones who are old enough to know Get Smart. :)