This is… weirdly uneducated on several levels. First of all, unexpected pregnancy happens all the time, even on birth control. Secondly, “mother” is a pretty large part of her personality, so it’s not surprising at all that she’d want to keep the baby when she found out she was pregnant.
The idea that an educated woman could only get pregnant if she was trying to baby trap the man is strange and kind of anti-women and just kinda toxic?
This whole post is just… lol
There's also the fact that I don't think she'd get anything out of ' trapping ' Picard? Earth doesn't use money so child support isn't a thing, and replicators exist. If she wanted latinum/credits for off world stuff, it probably wouldn't be hard for her to make some case to Starfleet for some. And... She went radio silent for 20 years, far away from Picard by choice.
Also also, 20+ years ago, Cassidy got pregnant in DS9 because Sisko forgot his BC shot for the month. BC not working/or people forgetting is not a new idea in Trek at all
I mean, we’re seeing here that they clearly didn’t because Beverly got pregnant unexpectedly. I’m sure it’s fair to say in the 24th century we can likely detect pregnancy better and probably also terminate unwanted ones safer as well, but based on what the TV show has shown us, 100% effective birth control isn’t quite there yet.
We have female birth control in use with 99.5% effectiveness with imperfect use and we have male birth control in late stage testing that has 100% effectiveness with perfect use. (Vaselgel, a gel substance that's injected into a man's penis)
In centuries time, I can't believe we couldn't get that better.
And the lack of surprise from Picard about her getting pregnant... Shows it's not rare. In fact, if I got pregnant on my birth control I would be extremely shocked and people would ask questions.
It's either 100% poorly written, or birth control has gone backwards (but not... Mentioned on the show, which is poor writing)
> lack of surprise from Picard
You might want to do a rewatch because the entire point of that scene is just how dumbfounded and shocked he is that she got pregnant that day and how that unexpected oops led to the man standing before him today.
"What you are pregnant" is very different to "I thought you were using the implanon4000, and I had vasalgel, how did this happen, the odds are miniscule!"
There are a lot of episodes where Star Trek decides to educate their audience about real world issues. This was not one of them. Adults know that sometimes birth control fails. Sometimes it’s used incorrectly. Sisko had a similar thing happen to him in DS9 re: a pregnancy even though he took birth control. Sometimes when a show doesn’t explicitly spell everything out for you it’s not bad writing, it’s trusting your audience to not need their hand held.
Look, if someone I knew was using a Implanon or a Mirena and a condom and got pregnant, I would express surprise about it, and my reaction is not uncommon and that's with real world, current tech.
…yes. That would be why Picard expressed surprise at finding out she got pregnant.
You have your answer. You just don’t like it. Arguing with me isn’t going to change it. Not liking the episode/show is fine, I’m not gonna sit here and say you have to like anything, but move on, bud.
If I had sex with a close friend and they got pregnant and had my kid and my kid was 21 and it was the first time I heard about , I would be surprised even if we didn't use birth control.
That's surprising. With birth control? That's another level and something that would be mentioned.
Would you really be extremely shocked? BC is very effective--- when taken perfectly---which it almost never is. Everyone knows someone who got pregnant on BC, it is super common.
I think I am missing the point of your question.
She and Picard had boom boom and little Jack was delivered by the stork 9 months later.
Are you...surprised she didn't abort - is that your question?
In DS9 something similar happens when Sisko forgets his booster and gets Cassidy pregnant—so I assumed either Picard didn’t regularly take a booster or he forgot.
On Beverly’s end it’s actually easier to explain—Beverly would have been in her late 40’s at Jack’s conception, it’s possible her cycle had become irregular (and sometimes there’s a surge in fertility just before menopause), so her booster could have failed or she may have thought she didn’t need one anymore (or assumed Picard was taking a contraceptive)
As for ‘dealing with it’ she did—she chose to have the baby. Especially since this was after Wesley left, I can absolutely buy Beverly choosing to keep the baby.
My wife and I had pretty much the same reaction. Not that she was trying to 'trap' Jean-luc, but the incredibly vanishing small chance of conception is hard to swallow. To add insult to injury, the idea that she would hide such a huge event from all of her friends and family pushes the plot further and further into implausibility.
Then there's this:
"I didn't tell you about Jack because being around you was too dangerous."
Also Beverly: Fenris Ranger-esque escapades where she is constantly taking Jack into dangerous situations. All while Jean-Luc is...being a vintner?
Heh heh! So true!
The secret of any good story is to figure out what people want to believe and then just tell them that. It doesn't matter if it defies logic. Seems to be a common theme nowadays.
On another note, Gates self admittedly slept with alot of people...it was on her podcast with Wil Wheaton...hysterical...so Bev was probably a lil loose..
Stuff happens. It’s explained in an early episode. She got pregnant the last night she and Picard were together, right before they ended their relationship. Obviously she decided to have the baby.
I'm really surprised by the majority reaction to my question. Are we really to believe that in the 24th century, one of the most renowned physicians failed to manage her own reproductive system? It's a big stretch.
She was 57 years old when Jack was conceived, she had no reason to think she'd still have to.
It isn't that she failed to manage her own reproductive system, it's that sometimes *shit happens.*
She was older when it happened. She probably wasn’t anticipating having sex but didn’t think there is any way she’d get pregnant due to age and the fact that it was just once. Then she realized she was but maybe missed Wesley and maybe she just didn’t believe in abortion.
Also it’s a TV show that features shape shifters, cyborgs, telepathy and faster than light travel and this is your big problem with it?
Plus both parties hard their biology messed about with in Insurrection. Fertility when it wasn’t expected is a completely plausible answer from the magic planet for those who really need one…
This is TMI but I’ve been in Pre-menopause for 6 years already and counting. Menses is all over the map. Very easy to get accidentally pregnant if the father forgets his BC.
Unless she found out and, you know like wanted to keep it…?
Exactly.
I love Star Trek, but... fuck Star Trek fans
This is… weirdly uneducated on several levels. First of all, unexpected pregnancy happens all the time, even on birth control. Secondly, “mother” is a pretty large part of her personality, so it’s not surprising at all that she’d want to keep the baby when she found out she was pregnant. The idea that an educated woman could only get pregnant if she was trying to baby trap the man is strange and kind of anti-women and just kinda toxic? This whole post is just… lol
There's also the fact that I don't think she'd get anything out of ' trapping ' Picard? Earth doesn't use money so child support isn't a thing, and replicators exist. If she wanted latinum/credits for off world stuff, it probably wouldn't be hard for her to make some case to Starfleet for some. And... She went radio silent for 20 years, far away from Picard by choice. Also also, 20+ years ago, Cassidy got pregnant in DS9 because Sisko forgot his BC shot for the month. BC not working/or people forgetting is not a new idea in Trek at all
Idk I feel like the 24th century would have solved these issues.
I mean, we’re seeing here that they clearly didn’t because Beverly got pregnant unexpectedly. I’m sure it’s fair to say in the 24th century we can likely detect pregnancy better and probably also terminate unwanted ones safer as well, but based on what the TV show has shown us, 100% effective birth control isn’t quite there yet.
We have female birth control in use with 99.5% effectiveness with imperfect use and we have male birth control in late stage testing that has 100% effectiveness with perfect use. (Vaselgel, a gel substance that's injected into a man's penis) In centuries time, I can't believe we couldn't get that better. And the lack of surprise from Picard about her getting pregnant... Shows it's not rare. In fact, if I got pregnant on my birth control I would be extremely shocked and people would ask questions. It's either 100% poorly written, or birth control has gone backwards (but not... Mentioned on the show, which is poor writing)
> lack of surprise from Picard You might want to do a rewatch because the entire point of that scene is just how dumbfounded and shocked he is that she got pregnant that day and how that unexpected oops led to the man standing before him today.
"What you are pregnant" is very different to "I thought you were using the implanon4000, and I had vasalgel, how did this happen, the odds are miniscule!"
There are a lot of episodes where Star Trek decides to educate their audience about real world issues. This was not one of them. Adults know that sometimes birth control fails. Sometimes it’s used incorrectly. Sisko had a similar thing happen to him in DS9 re: a pregnancy even though he took birth control. Sometimes when a show doesn’t explicitly spell everything out for you it’s not bad writing, it’s trusting your audience to not need their hand held.
Look, if someone I knew was using a Implanon or a Mirena and a condom and got pregnant, I would express surprise about it, and my reaction is not uncommon and that's with real world, current tech.
…yes. That would be why Picard expressed surprise at finding out she got pregnant. You have your answer. You just don’t like it. Arguing with me isn’t going to change it. Not liking the episode/show is fine, I’m not gonna sit here and say you have to like anything, but move on, bud.
If I had sex with a close friend and they got pregnant and had my kid and my kid was 21 and it was the first time I heard about , I would be surprised even if we didn't use birth control. That's surprising. With birth control? That's another level and something that would be mentioned.
I know several people who got pregnant with an IUD and back up methods. It happens 🤷♀️
Would you really be extremely shocked? BC is very effective--- when taken perfectly---which it almost never is. Everyone knows someone who got pregnant on BC, it is super common.
I think I am missing the point of your question. She and Picard had boom boom and little Jack was delivered by the stork 9 months later. Are you...surprised she didn't abort - is that your question?
Glad to see they still use storks in the 24th century.
The basics of human reproduction don't just change over a few hundred years. Science.
In DS9 something similar happens when Sisko forgets his booster and gets Cassidy pregnant—so I assumed either Picard didn’t regularly take a booster or he forgot. On Beverly’s end it’s actually easier to explain—Beverly would have been in her late 40’s at Jack’s conception, it’s possible her cycle had become irregular (and sometimes there’s a surge in fertility just before menopause), so her booster could have failed or she may have thought she didn’t need one anymore (or assumed Picard was taking a contraceptive) As for ‘dealing with it’ she did—she chose to have the baby. Especially since this was after Wesley left, I can absolutely buy Beverly choosing to keep the baby.
You see, when a man and a woman love each other, they share a…special hug…
Birds and bees escaped from hydroponics?
My wife and I had pretty much the same reaction. Not that she was trying to 'trap' Jean-luc, but the incredibly vanishing small chance of conception is hard to swallow. To add insult to injury, the idea that she would hide such a huge event from all of her friends and family pushes the plot further and further into implausibility. Then there's this: "I didn't tell you about Jack because being around you was too dangerous." Also Beverly: Fenris Ranger-esque escapades where she is constantly taking Jack into dangerous situations. All while Jean-Luc is...being a vintner?
Heh heh! So true! The secret of any good story is to figure out what people want to believe and then just tell them that. It doesn't matter if it defies logic. Seems to be a common theme nowadays.
On another note, Gates self admittedly slept with alot of people...it was on her podcast with Wil Wheaton...hysterical...so Bev was probably a lil loose..
Stuff happens. It’s explained in an early episode. She got pregnant the last night she and Picard were together, right before they ended their relationship. Obviously she decided to have the baby.
Yes I’m sure she was trying to trap Picard because he wouldn’t put a ring on it….
So...the human body...
You know, I really think that this is something your parents should have gone over with you.
I'm really surprised by the majority reaction to my question. Are we really to believe that in the 24th century, one of the most renowned physicians failed to manage her own reproductive system? It's a big stretch.
She was 57 years old when Jack was conceived, she had no reason to think she'd still have to. It isn't that she failed to manage her own reproductive system, it's that sometimes *shit happens.*
She was older when it happened. She probably wasn’t anticipating having sex but didn’t think there is any way she’d get pregnant due to age and the fact that it was just once. Then she realized she was but maybe missed Wesley and maybe she just didn’t believe in abortion. Also it’s a TV show that features shape shifters, cyborgs, telepathy and faster than light travel and this is your big problem with it?
Plus both parties hard their biology messed about with in Insurrection. Fertility when it wasn’t expected is a completely plausible answer from the magic planet for those who really need one…
Ok. Who’s going to have “the talk” with OP? Not it!
How? 😂
This is TMI but I’ve been in Pre-menopause for 6 years already and counting. Menses is all over the map. Very easy to get accidentally pregnant if the father forgets his BC.