Original sin: technobabble

[LadyT'Anna]

Wait a minute--was that actually true in TOS?

LOL! No, M'lady.

(phew) Thank goodness!

Sorry, martok2112, I was starting to second-guess myself there; I'm better with character motivations than technical specs.

The beauty of Star Trek (or any work of fictional art), M'lady. The many sides that can be embraced, be they character motivations, tech stuff, and all the things betwixt.

Thank you for that, martok2112. You're a kind soul. And betwixt is a lovely word.

 

[martok2112]

(phew) Thank goodness!

Sorry, martok2112, I was starting to second-guess myself there; I'm better with character motivations than technical specs.

The beauty of Star Trek (or any work of fictional art), M'lady. The many sides that can be embraced, be they character motivations, tech stuff, and all the things betwixt.

Thank you for that, martok2112. You're a kind soul. And betwixt is a lovely word.

Thank you, M'lady. You are most kind. (tho' I'm sure there are those here who have differing opinions about my soul...or my mind, for that matter. )
Betwixt....'tis a rather nice word, isn't it?

Like the Twix candy bar....
There's chocolate all 'round, the cookie in the center...and the caramel filling Betwixt.

 

[Captain Rob]

You guys are making me hungry. Come on Halloween candy!

 

[martok2112]

You guys are making me hungry. Come on Halloween candy!

 

[LadyT'Anna]

The beauty of Star Trek (or any work of fictional art), M'lady. The many sides that can be embraced, be they character motivations, tech stuff, and all the things betwixt.

Thank you for that, martok2112. You're a kind soul. And betwixt is a lovely word.

Thank you, M'lady. You are most kind. (tho' I'm sure there are those here who have differing opinions about my soul...or my mind, for that matter. )
Betwixt....'tis a rather nice word, isn't it?

Like the Twix candy bar....
There's chocolate all 'round, the cookie in the center...and the caramel filling Betwixt.

martok2112, be assured that I shall forevermore think of Twix in a new light. And you're the kind one.

May I trust that Twix is your favorite Halloween candy? Mine are Hershey's milk chocolate, candy corn, SweetTarts, and Reese's peanut butter cups, in no particular order. Any sudden accelerations in warp speed on the part of my mind are surely due to a sugar high.

 

[martok2112]

Thank you for that, martok2112. You're a kind soul. And betwixt is a lovely word.

Thank you, M'lady. You are most kind. (tho' I'm sure there are those here who have differing opinions about my soul...or my mind, for that matter. )
Betwixt....'tis a rather nice word, isn't it?

Like the Twix candy bar....
There's chocolate all 'round, the cookie in the center...and the caramel filling Betwixt.

martok2112, be assured that I shall forevermore think of Twix in a new light. And you're the kind one.

May I trust that Twix is your favorite Halloween candy? Mine are Hershey's milk chocolate, candy corn, SweetTarts, and Reese's peanut butter cups, in no particular order. Any sudden accelerations in warp speed on the part of my mind are surely due to a sugar high.

Actually, my favorite candies are Whoppers. I especially love it when you bite into the occasional confectionary "oops" with them....where you bite into one, and there's just a little bit of malt on the inside, just enough to make the candy seem solid, but it's actually hollow.

But yes, I love Twix. There's an ice cream Twix now that is quite good. All the things one might love about Twix, but now with ice cream in it as well.

When time comes 'round, may you, Lady T'Anna, and all the residents here, have a Happy Halloween.

 

[Kirby]

LOL! These are good, but Stargate: Atlantis got so lazy sometimes they didn't even try technobabble, they just problem solved things through telepathy, or something.

McKay: We're out of time! Wait a minute, we can...
Zelenka: Yes, Yes, but first we'll have to...
McKay: Right, but we'll need a...
Zelenka: I'll take care of that.
McKay: And I'll go prep a jumper.

30 seconds later, a puddle jumper flys in and something explodes.

McKay: I knew that would work!

 

[Amaraen]

I think that if it all made sense to us, then it wouldn't really be science fiction. It would be things we already have and use. Isn't the whole point that in the future, they will have developed new ways of understanding science and technology, and will do things in a way we cannot truly conceive today? If it was all "correct" and worked then we would have it right now, wouldn't we?

I think I read somewhere that hundreds of years ago, the idea of burning a fire inside a sea ship (steam power) was considered crazy. If you told someone from the 1800's that an invisible particle could be affected to release enough power to destroy a city, they would say you are insane.

21st Century People: "Silly geese, photon torpedoes couldn't work!"

23rd Century People: "OMG they are so primitive! They haven't learned how photons can be used to release energy!"

I do not care much when technobabble is used purely as a solution to the plot. I think it makes sense when that is not the true thing the story was about. There is a difference for example between the Voyager episode "Parallax", where there is a whole spew of technobabble solution at the end - but the real story was about the relationship between Kathryn Janeway and B'Elanna Torres - and say a story where at the end they find the solution that "Oh, we need to use a reverse ion beam! We've been using a regular ion beam this whole time!". In the latter there was really nothing else to the story.

 

[Jedman67]

LOL! These are good, but Stargate: Atlantis got so lazy sometimes they didn't even try technobabble, they just problem solved things through telepathy, or something.

McKay: We're out of time! Wait a minute, we can...
Zelenka: Yes, Yes, but first we'll have to...
McKay: Right, but we'll need a...
Zelenka: I'll take care of that.
McKay: And I'll go prep a jumper.

30 seconds later, a puddle jumper flys in and something explodes.

McKay: I knew that would work!

Hah! SGA was pretty fun. Sometimes their technobabble worked, often it didn't. McKay and Zelenka are depicted as "an old married couple" they can practically read each others minds. Of course, half the time it doesn't work.

 

[LadyT'Anna]

I think that if it all made sense to us, then it wouldn't really be science fiction. It would be things we already have and use. Isn't the whole point that in the future, they will have developed new ways of understanding science and technology, and will do things in a way we cannot truly conceive today? If it was all "correct" and worked then we would have it right now, wouldn't we?

I think I read somewhere that hundreds of years ago, the idea of burning a fire inside a sea ship (steam power) was considered crazy. If you told someone from the 1800's that an invisible particle could be affected to release enough power to destroy a city, they would say you are insane.

21st Century People: "Silly geese, photon torpedoes couldn't work!"

23rd Century People: "OMG they are so primitive! They haven't learned how photons can be used to release energy!"

I do not care much when technobabble is used purely as a solution to the plot. I think it makes sense when that is not the true thing the story was about. There is a difference for example between the Voyager episode "Parallax", where there is a whole spew of technobabble solution at the end - but the real story was about the relationship between Kathryn Janeway and B'Elanna Torres - and say a story where at the end they find the solution that "Oh, we need to use a reverse ion beam! We've been using a regular ion beam this whole time!". In the latter there was really nothing else to the story.

Hm. In "The Doomsday Machine," Spock thinks of inverse phasing barely in time to save Kirk, but the episode is about much more than a transporter malfunction, and there isn't *that* much technobabble, considering. I find that technobabble lends a certain urgency to the plot; people are thinking on their feet and they don't have time to offer a detailed explanation of what they're doing.

And the saying, "You don't know what you don't know," applies in every century.

 

[martok2112]

LOL! These are good, but Stargate: Atlantis got so lazy sometimes they didn't even try technobabble, they just problem solved things through telepathy, or something.

McKay: We're out of time! Wait a minute, we can...
Zelenka: Yes, Yes, but first we'll have to...
McKay: Right, but we'll need a...
Zelenka: I'll take care of that.
McKay: And I'll go prep a jumper.

30 seconds later, a puddle jumper flys in and something explodes.

McKay: I knew that would work!

Hah! SGA was pretty fun. Sometimes their technobabble worked, often it didn't. McKay and Zelenka are depicted as "an old married couple" they can practically read each others minds. Of course, half the time it doesn't work.

McKay: I thought you were gonna--
Zelenka: I did, but why didn't you--
McKay: What're you layin' this on me for? I'm not the one who--
Zelenka: Yeah, but you--
McKay: Ok, fine! Maybe I didn't-- but we still need to get the hell outta here while we have time!

(Not actual quotes....just something I figured would be an aftermath in the half-the-time where their ESP doesn't work. )

I think that if it all made sense to us, then it wouldn't really be science fiction. It would be things we already have and use. Isn't the whole point that in the future, they will have developed new ways of understanding science and technology, and will do things in a way we cannot truly conceive today? If it was all "correct" and worked then we would have it right now, wouldn't we?

I think I read somewhere that hundreds of years ago, the idea of burning a fire inside a sea ship (steam power) was considered crazy. If you told someone from the 1800's that an invisible particle could be affected to release enough power to destroy a city, they would say you are insane.

21st Century People: "Silly geese, photon torpedoes couldn't work!"

23rd Century People: "OMG they are so primitive! They haven't learned how photons can be used to release energy!"

I do not care much when technobabble is used purely as a solution to the plot. I think it makes sense when that is not the true thing the story was about. There is a difference for example between the Voyager episode "Parallax", where there is a whole spew of technobabble solution at the end - but the real story was about the relationship between Kathryn Janeway and B'Elanna Torres - and say a story where at the end they find the solution that "Oh, we need to use a reverse ion beam! We've been using a regular ion beam this whole time!". In the latter there was really nothing else to the story.

One of the things that I liked about the Star Trek TNG Technical Manual was something that the writer of that TM had said: "If you use more than a small fraction of this tech manual to tell your story, you're doing the story an injustice." (Or words to that effect.)

And the saying, "You don't know what you don't know," applies in every century.

"Much of what I know, I don't know as well as I'd like, and half of what I know is more than deserves to be learned."

 

[Shawnster]

I think that if it all made sense to us, then it wouldn't really be science fiction. It would be things we already have and use. Isn't the whole point that in the future, they will have developed new ways of understanding science and technology, and will do things in a way we cannot truly conceive today? If it was all "correct" and worked then we would have it right now, wouldn't we?

I think I read somewhere that hundreds of years ago, the idea of burning a fire inside a sea ship (steam power) was considered crazy. If you told someone from the 1800's that an invisible particle could be affected to release enough power to destroy a city, they would say you are insane.

21st Century People: "Silly geese, photon torpedoes couldn't work!"

23rd Century People: "OMG they are so primitive! They haven't learned how photons can be used to release energy!"

I do not care much when technobabble is used purely as a solution to the plot. I think it makes sense when that is not the true thing the story was about. There is a difference for example between the Voyager episode "Parallax", where there is a whole spew of technobabble solution at the end - but the real story was about the relationship between Kathryn Janeway and B'Elanna Torres - and say a story where at the end they find the solution that "Oh, we need to use a reverse ion beam! We've been using a regular ion beam this whole time!". In the latter there was really nothing else to the story.

Hm. In "The Doomsday Machine," Spock thinks of inverse phasing barely in time to save Kirk, but the episode is about much more than a transporter malfunction, and there isn't *that* much technobabble, considering. I find that technobabble lends a certain urgency to the plot; people are thinking on their feet and they don't have time to offer a detailed explanation of what they're doing.

And the saying, "You don't know what you don't know," applies in every century.

Do you mean "The Tholian Web"?

 

[LadyT'Anna]

Hm. In "The Doomsday Machine," Spock thinks of inverse phasing barely in time to save Kirk, but the episode is about much more than a transporter malfunction, and there isn't *that* much technobabble, considering. I find that technobabble lends a certain urgency to the plot; people are thinking on their feet and they don't have time to offer a detailed explanation of what they're doing.

And the saying, "You don't know what you don't know," applies in every century.

Do you mean "The Tholian Web"?

No, although I can see how the comparison came to mind. Per the transcript for "The Doomsday Machine":

[Constellation Auxiliary Control]
(The throat of the machine fills the screen when he flips the final red switch.)
KIRK: Beam me aboard.

[Bridge]
SPOCK: Energise.

[Transporter room]
KYLE: Energising. Bridge, it's shorted out again.

[Jefferies tube]
SCOTT: Och, what's wrong with it?

[Constellation Auxiliary Control]
KIRK: Gentlemen, beam me aboard.
SPOCK [OC]: We can't, Captain. Transporter is out again.

[Bridge]
SPOCK: Mister Scott, twenty seconds to detonation.

[Jefferies tube]
SPOCK [OC]: Mister Scott?

[Bridge]
SPOCK: Mister Scott

[Jefferies tube]
SPOCK [OC]: Try inverse phasing.

 

[Kor]

Classic TOS technical dialog, a model of elegant simplicity:

"Check the circuit!"
"All operating, sir."
"Can't be the screen then."

Typical later Trek technobabble:

"Each Cube has specially designed conduits. If we install similar conduits throughout this vessel, then generate a sufficiently powerful field, we may be able to force Voyager back into temporal sync."
"Temporal sync with what?"
"The vessel will return to the moment of the original chrono-kinetic surge. Since the surge will last for six or seven seconds, Commander Chakotay will have a short time in which he could try to counteract the warp core reaction."
"Even if we could replicate these conduits, we'd have no way to get them through the temporal barriers."
"Bioneural circuitry."
"Captain?"
"It runs through every section of the ship, almost like a nervous system. If we could inject the gel packs with your serum, we could use them to transmit the chronoton field."
"The warp core could be recalibrated to generate that field."

Any questions?

Kor

 

[Drone]

Kor, I appreciate your latter example and even more mind numbing ones. We shouldn't be able understand the lion share of what's going in the technical realm of the Trek universe and, more importantly, technobabble goes a long way to showing the true comparative mettle of the various series' actors. I'm talking to you, Roxann Dawson!!!!!

 

[martok2112]

Typical later Trek technobabble:

"Each Cube has specially designed conduits. If we install similar conduits throughout this vessel, then generate a sufficiently powerful field, we may be able to force Voyager back into temporal sync."
"Temporal sync with what?"
"The vessel will return to the moment of the original chrono-kinetic surge. Since the surge will last for six or seven seconds, Commander Chakotay will have a short time in which he could try to counteract the warp core reaction."
"Even if we could replicate these conduits, we'd have no way to get them through the temporal barriers."
"Bioneural circuitry."
"Captain?"
"It runs through every section of the ship, almost like a nervous system. If we could inject the gel packs with your serum, we could use them to transmit the chronoton field."
"The warp core could be recalibrated to generate that field."

Any questions?

Kor

"Ah, so ye' soured th' milk?"

 

[LadyT'Anna]

Typical later Trek technobabble:

"Each Cube has specially designed conduits. If we install similar conduits throughout this vessel, then generate a sufficiently powerful field, we may be able to force Voyager back into temporal sync."
"Temporal sync with what?"
"The vessel will return to the moment of the original chrono-kinetic surge. Since the surge will last for six or seven seconds, Commander Chakotay will have a short time in which he could try to counteract the warp core reaction."
"Even if we could replicate these conduits, we'd have no way to get them through the temporal barriers."
"Bioneural circuitry."
"Captain?"
"It runs through every section of the ship, almost like a nervous system. If we could inject the gel packs with your serum, we could use them to transmit the chronoton field."
"The warp core could be recalibrated to generate that field."

Any questions?

Kor

"Ah, so ye' soured th' milk?"

So much more concise!

Incidentally, Martok2112, are you familiar with Lewis Carroll and/or Gilbert & Sullivan? Your signature puts me in mind of both.

Here's a long-overdue thanks for the Halloween wish; consider it reciprocated!

 

[Shawnster]

Hm. In "The Doomsday Machine," Spock thinks of inverse phasing barely in time to save Kirk, but the episode is about much more than a transporter malfunction, and there isn't *that* much technobabble, considering. I find that technobabble lends a certain urgency to the plot; people are thinking on their feet and they don't have time to offer a detailed explanation of what they're doing.

And the saying, "You don't know what you don't know," applies in every century.

Do you mean "The Tholian Web"?

No, although I can see how the comparison came to mind. Per the transcript for "The Doomsday Machine":

[Constellation Auxiliary Control]
(The throat of the machine fills the screen when he flips the final red switch.)
KIRK: Beam me aboard.

[Bridge]
SPOCK: Energise.

[Transporter room]
KYLE: Energising. Bridge, it's shorted out again.

[Jefferies tube]
SCOTT: Och, what's wrong with it?

[Constellation Auxiliary Control]
KIRK: Gentlemen, beam me aboard.
SPOCK [OC]: We can't, Captain. Transporter is out again.

[Bridge]
SPOCK: Mister Scott, twenty seconds to detonation.

[Jefferies tube]
SPOCK [OC]: Mister Scott?

[Bridge]
SPOCK: Mister Scott

[Jefferies tube]
SPOCK [OC]: Try inverse phasing.

Huh. Forgot about that.

 

[martok2112]

Typical later Trek technobabble:

Any questions?

Kor

"Ah, so ye' soured th' milk?"

So much more concise!

Incidentally, Martok2112, are you familiar with Lewis Carroll and/or Gilbert & Sullivan? Your signature puts me in mind of both.

Here's a long-overdue thanks for the Halloween wish; consider it reciprocated!

You're welcome, M'lady.

Actually, I was trying a sort of paraphrase on what Bilbo Baggins says to his countrymen/women at the beginning of "Fellowship of the Ring" during his eleventy-first birthday celebration.

(And in more of a Star Trek spirited reply: )
"No, I did not have a chance to meet all the new crewmembers when I came on board."

 

[Curios_Gelatin]

I tend to try make myself not pay attention to technobabble anymore, hehe. When I do, I find that the longer I pay attention the more I begin to frown and start to think 'That's not how you science...'