Stuff that make you wonder but not own thread worthy

I got a kick out of seeing Jonathan Frakes have a "blink and you'll miss it" part in the teen drama "Clockstoppers", which he directed.

Goofy is an anthropomorphic dog. Pluto is... well, a dog.

I don't think it was meant to make sense.

 

This is just after-the-fact franchise changes, which these new Trek shows chose to muddle the history of the prime universe with. If anything, the episode "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" where they are back in Kirk's time and are shocked to find out that smooth-headed guy is a Klingon and look to Worf for an answer. He just says it is a personal matter and they do not talk about it with outsiders. So, in other words, seeing Worf -- nobody questions his head ridges -- that's a normal Klingon, just as in Kirk's time nobody questions a smooth-headed Klingon -- that's a normal Klingon.

It's just as all after-the-fact writers trying to make things work because TOS didn't have the budget to do what they wanted to do back then.

But even the writer's attempts still create holes themselves.

 

Real world, yes. But those things are all part of the story. I'm not particularly interested in the real world reasons, i'm interested in the in-universe stuff. Both (err, all three) types of Klingons exist.

Part of the fun I have with Trek is putting all the pieces together.

 

Humans have multiple races. Why can't Klingons do the same?

 

They can... and this is actually the now completely canonical reasoning for the different Romulan looks. Northerner Romulans have the forehead ridge, Southern Romulans are more Vulcan-looking.

My only issue with the Klingons is that the changes are SO dramatic between the three (four, kind of) types, and we exclusively see one single "race" in iterations (save for once in SNW, when there's the updated-DSC style Klingons and at least a few S1 Klingorcs in the background.)

But yeah, at the end of the day I would accept "Idk, different races" over "it's a TV show, nerd." I don't love the different races idea, especially since we have an in-built lore reason to build off that was just outright completely ignored. I prefer to go with DSC Klingorcs being a step in the eventual full cure for the Augment virus, sort of a Klingon engineered "brute force" attempt at a cure that kind of did the reverse, rather than altering their DNA to have human features, the Phase 2 virus mutated into something of a hyper-Klingon, exaggerating damn near everything about their physiology (which in the long run, is still bad, and probably would lead to all manner of health issues).

 

Show me two human ethnicities that look as drastically different as the TOS Klingons and the Discovery Klingons. Yes, humans can look very different from each other, but like completely different species.

Also...where were the smooth headed Klingons and the Disc Orc-style Klingons during all those endless, Klingon-centric episodes in Berman Trek? Always just hiding off camera?

 

This is Star Trek. With enough technobabble, you can explain anything.

 

The "DS9" episode "Trials and Tribble-ations", contains what is probably my favorite example of both a retcon, and a slight bit of technobabble...

Worf: "They are Klingons… and it is a long story."
O'Brien: "What happened? Some kind of genetic engineering?"
Bashir: "A viral mutation?"
Worf: "We do not discuss it with outsiders."

You gotta love desperate screenwriters.

 

I am reading the spec script "To Thine Own Self Be True" Has anyone else read it? It's not terrible but kind of odd. Some kids in it don't like Data much. I thought kids would love Data. I reckon adults would find him weird sometimes but kids would find him almost like a superhero.

 

What's the premise? MA could use more info on it.

 

I'm only about halfway through but the Enterprise responds to a distress call from a planet where a disaster has struck and the inhabitants are kinda xenophobic, and one of the formers inhabitants is Riker's drinking buddy who joins the mission. I'm sorta being vague in case people want to read it, and sorta being bad at summaries, sorry.

 

The lack of any emotional response would be difficult to parse for many children, especially since part of the social feedback that humans thrive upon is that reaction.

 

I could absolutely see Data coming as mean or otherwise scary to children. Kids like smiles and stuff, Data would probably come off somewhat too serious and be something of a red flag for them.

 

In Haven the Terellian ship bypasses that solar systems stargate. It's always made me wonder. What is that in the Trek universe?

Why do you have to go through one if you can just arrive in orbit like the Enterprise does?

Hey another one. If Geordi's visor can do so much why can't it resolve the normal visual spectrum?

 

I always figured that was simply Haven's term for the border of their system.

 

I just assumed that since his visor transmits sensor data directly to his brain, no one had yet invented a way to transmit the ocular type of photographic image data along those same pathways to a brain, which to be fair is kind of weak.

If Geordi's visor can relay its information to Starfleet tech like the ship's viewscreen or a tricorder, it would seem the 1st logical technological step would be to work on taking photographic data from a plain old digital camera & find a way to transmit that data to his brain via those implants he has, but I guess they hadn't pulled that off yet.

Unless, you want to count Noonien Soong being able to transmit that type of data to an android neural net. If an android neural net is at all similar to a human brain, then his android eyes might be a big leap toward making a visor or implant that can do the same for biological eyes

The more fun question IMHO, is why did Geordi's visor necessarily have be worn over his eyes? His eyes don't have anything to do with it. He could've mounted the mechanism(s) on his ears (with a hookup to his temple jacks) or wore it like a hat, or headband, any of which could've potentially given him a 360° view.

 

You want the field of view to be close to the natural one because the brain is wired to process images like that. The visor range includes the visual spectrum, but also extends beyond. His view was seen in TNG at least twice (the first Klingon episode, and the Romulan mind control one).

 

But on the show he says stuff like "I wish I could see you the way you see me" as if his eyes can't process the normal visual spectrum.

 

They can't on the show. Episodes like Heart of Glory, The Enemy, & The Mind's Eye pretty consistently show us what his vision is like

 

But you'd think the visor would have a default setting for regular day to day things wouldn't you, a setting that is mostly equal to what the rest of us see.