Two issues that came up in February's Dark Mirror discussion thread related to Commander Hwiii ih'iie-uUlak!ha', more commonly Hwiii, a delphine physicist. A Googling revealed an entry for the character at the ErrantryWiki. The article goes on to mention that Duane wrote Hwiii into Dark Mirror as a present to Rick Sternbach, who had apparently written cetacean crew into the TNG bible only to have them out. I thought you'd all be amused.
The dolphins aboard ship were mentioned in passing in "The Perfect Mate," and referred to in The ST:TNG Technical Manual as navigational specialists.
Geordi's address to the Ferengi, right? "Listen... have you been down to see the dolphins yet? You really shouldn't miss them..." We needed more cetaceans.
Me too. It's weird how many Trek fans I've encountered online who are hostile to the idea that an intelligent alien species exists right here on Earth in real life. You'd think SF fans would find that thrilling.
Maybe 70s-80s dolphin/whale adoration tainted that idea? I do know that the Japanese had a pretty hilarious dolphin in Mars Daybreak (with power armor too!).
Did they serve it with soy sauce later ? I believe David Brin's Uplift novels feature dolphins given greater intelligence by humanity and no-one sneers at them ! They also feature an ancestor race The Progenitors, responsible for evolving other species and a federation of these species. Sounds quite Trekky ! I'd like to see Hwiii and co. again in Treklit. Come on authors !
So. Are the dolphins and orca aboard 1701-D members of Starfleet or are they civilian specialists? Is there an academy facility down where the Cetacean Institute that gilian Taylor worked at used to be?
Maybe these folks are afraid of the idea that something on this planet is as intelligent or even smarter than humans claim to be.
Well, sure, but my point is that science fiction fans, and particularly Star Trek fans, are the last people I'd expect such xenophobia from.
It's even established as canonical that one cetacean species has been part of an interstellar civilization much longer than human beings. (Did the orcas and dolphins know what the humpbacks were doing, I wonder?)
I'm with ya there, sadly I've known Trek fans who are closed minded to much more than the intelligence of cetaceans. Sigh... wish it surprised me but it doesn't.