Q; So how did they recreate Picard using the transporter and why can't they do that all the time with anyone and everyone?
A; Hmmm. My theory is that Picard is not recreated solely by using his physical pattern stored in the transport buffer. His physical pattern was recombined with his energy, which was beamed back from outside the ship. I personally feel that if the Technical Manual (which I've not read) states that this reconstruction could not have occurred, then they're completely wrong. This was, we must remind ourselves, a unique set of circumstances. Picard's merging with the rascally entity was unsuccessful ultimately, but one might argue that it must have had some effect for him to be able to survive and be detectable by Troi even a teensy bit. Since we've heard of these entities neither before nor since, we might consider ourselves safe in assuming that it was only the entity's presence that made it possible for the restoration of Picard. We could not, therefore, create clones from the transporters. And by the way, the Technical Manual is a book, and since when were books regarded as being canon? Hmmmm?
Incidentally, when the fish-types are boarding in the opening scenes, they ask to be downwind of their enemies. Downwind? On a starship? If these people are sophisticated enough to be able to grasp the concept of interstellar travel, how come they can't grasp that there are no air currents (bar recycling) on a starship? Of course, it could have been a wry, sophisticated joke, but do these guys look wry or sophisticated to you?
When approaching a mysterious energy cloud of unknown origin or specification when you have urgent matters to attend to (like getting the delegates to their destination actually before they eat each other) and you happen to be driving a warp-capable starship, why not just go around it? Daft, isn't it?
Good to see Miles again, even if he is only referred to in the credits as 'First Security Officer' . . .
When I bought my VCR, one of the reasons I chose it was because it had what the manufacturers referred to as 'one-touch' recording. Nice to see that this technology has now extended itself to transporters . . .