• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

What was "The Burn" and what caused it?

I doubt any explanation will quite make it. If the spore drive is still being questioned the the Burn ain't gonna fair much better methinks.
 
I hope it's not an overly complex thing or tied to our heroes. What caused it doesn't really matter, just how to deal with it.
 
Please don't let it be a Super Galactic Being as the cause of it.

I'd rather it be Super Sneaky Malware inside the Warp Core Software than a Super Powered Galactic Being as the cause.
 
Book mentioned both Qunatum Slipstream (and the Benanite crystals) and Tetryon power cells, both things someone (I think here?) brought up as possible alternatives. Benanite is rare, and Tetryon I think he said was unstable Or something.

No mention of a artificial singularity core

Tetryon? I thought he said Trilithium.
 
This is an interesting idea for a season arc.

Book says that The Burn resulted in all the dilithium going boom. Which the rest of the episode seems to infer quite literally. Any ship, station or outpost with a dilithium based warp core lost core containment. Doesn't mean everybody died, some could have ejected the cores safely and made a minimum safe distance. Not to mention something like storage or transport facilities which wouldn't be part of warp cores. But yeah, that's a lot of potential boom.

But it clearly wasn't ALL the dilithium. Since the whole plot of the episode revolves around getting the stuff, it must still exist. We see Burnham boost several small crystals from the Andorian/Orion alliance. Why was some dilithium unaffected? Or has this been made since?

I do like the implication that races trying to find alternative FTL solutions has resulted in some bad things going down. The Gorn apparently tried to create artificial wormholes, and blew apart subspace across, what did he say, a couple light years? Guess they didn't have John Crichton.

It makes me wonder if we might see entire planets or cultures that have turned away from interstellar travel, or at least warp drive, in fear. Not just because of scarcity but because the disaster could happen again. Book mentions that the Federation not only couldn't explain what happened, but that, as a result, they couldn't promise people it would never happen again. Maybe some members didn't even want to try?

This was kinda my thought too in a way. Maybe after The Burn, planets of the federation became isolationist. Trek has often dealt with current political and social topics, and this could tie in with current views (Brexit, US isolation etc).

S3 is basically Make The Federation Great Again! :rofl:
 
It could have been dilithium crystals that were in use just simply gave up, so any ship or space station using a warp core for power that was currently in use just went boom. Ships could have been destroyed but space stations may have been able to contain the blasts. Dilithium, as a benign crystal, can still be used, it just comes with extreme risk. It seems subspace was also affected. The interesting take was that it could effectively happen again, and using dilithium as a power source for warp drive was now fraught with danger?

In some ways I'd rather they didn't explain it. I don't want it to be found that dilithium is actually a life form and was tired of being exploited, or that it had something to do with the mycelium network leaking caused it, it happened, and not even a 23rd century crew can understand it, just that they need to re-evaluate the Federation for this new weird century.
 
In some ways I'd rather they didn't explain it. I don't want it to be found that dilithium is actually a life form and was tired of being exploited, or that it had something to do with the mycelium network leaking caused it, it happened, and not even a 23rd century crew can understand it, just that they need to re-evaluate the Federation for this new weird century.
The idea of applying your values to a world changed by circumstances beyond your control would have been a very prescient choice for the writers last year.
 
As long as the explanation for the Burn is sound, then everything else we can have fun with. But if it’s something so out of line from Star Trek like the spore drive was, then I am not sure I would like it. Regardless, it does look like they’ll spend time finding the cause of the burn, and exploring other Worlds. So we should get a better idea of what happened to the Federation and to other Powers.
Bah,! I'm sorry but the spore drive is no more out of line for Star Trek, then some of the other methods of travel they've come up with such as quantum slipstream drive, or trans warp drive.

And I still want to know how all the people and ships when they travel it near light speed under impulse drive avoid the relativity effects it would cause.

Star Trek has always been science fantasy. It's never been true "Hard" science fiction. So yeah I have no problem with the spore drive, Any more than I have a problem that they can get to nearly any star system in the galaxy in the 50 minutes needed for the plot of a given story they're telling this week.:angel:;)

Please don't let it be a Super Galactic Being as the cause of it.
I'd rather it be Super Sneaky Malware inside the Warp Core Software than a Super Powered Galactic Being as the cause.
It'll turn out to have been caused by the Cosmic Koala entity from the recently aired episode of Star Trek Lower Decks.
:wtf::rofl::whistle:;)
 
Last edited:
I know it doesn't make for dramatic storytelling for The Burn to have been caused by a natural phenomenon that made all processed dilithium in the galaxy suddenly unstable. More likely, it will be Section 31's failed plot to stop everyone, everywhere from using time travel.
I'm beginning to think Yeoh's Section 31 show will be set in the 32nd century, with her rebuilding of the agency. Or, maybe S31 survived the breakup of the Fed and had become a fiefdom unto itself? (and needs an Empress, er, Director?)
 
So Planets, like Coridan, with a good supply of Dilithium.. suddenly explode? Ouch.. Then how is there "shards" left? Bit more explaining.
And Book's ship at "FTL" didn't look like warp, more like and Andromeda slipstream with it weaving and such.. ??
 
So Planets, like Coridan, with a good supply of Dilithium.. suddenly explode? Ouch.. Then how is there "shards" left? Bit more explaining.
And Book's ship at "FTL" didn't look like warp, more like and Andromeda slipstream with it weaving and such.. ??
^^^
Looked more like a form of Transwarp or maybe Quantum Slipstream.
;)
 
^^^
Looked more like a form of Transwarp or maybe Quantum Slipstream.
;)
It was just a new warp FX.

He needed the dilithium to go to warp, and they stole some dilithium as they escaped the mercantile.

He also mentioned not having any Benanite crystals for Slipstream at the start of the episode.
 
Burnham: Booker, you're the kindest, most wonderful guy I've ever met and I in no way believe the widespread rumors that you're a pah-wraith single handedly responsible for the Burn.

Discovery crew: ...

:guffaw:

But seriously, maybe Book's "family" really are the Pah Wraiths. The way his face changed when he used his powers reminded me on Dukat in "What You Leave Behind".

And there's the way he described his people as hunters and murderers :whistle:

And Book told Burnham about the location of the next wormhole. Another hint? ;)
 
:guffaw:

But seriously, maybe Book's "family" really are the Pah Wraiths. The way his face changed when he used his powers reminded me on Dukat in "What You Leave Behind".

And there's the way he described his people as hunters and murderers :whistle:

And Book told Burnham about the location of the next wormhole. Another hint? ;)
That's ok the Prophets already have things well in hand. In the final confrontation with Book just as he's about to burn the entire mycelial network to end interstellar travel for good, Grudge the cat will leap at him and push him into a bottomless pit, and everyone will realize that Grudge was Emissary Benjamin Sisko all along. :eek:

EDIT: Just realized Grudge was female. Oh well, wouldn't be the first time a cat changed gender on Trek (looking at you Spot).
 
So Planets, like Coridan, with a good supply of Dilithium.. suddenly explode? Ouch.. Then how is there "shards" left? Bit more explaining.
And Book's ship at "FTL" didn't look like warp, more like and Andromeda slipstream with it weaving and such.. ??
I'm wondering if they will specify Processed Dilithium. That would explain why there's still any of the stuff left at all.
 
To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.
 
This wouldn't be Star Trek without a Beta III or Rubicun III-type of episode where the backward inhabitants of a planet try to execute Burnham for having Burn in her name -- therefore she must be responsible for The Burn -- while the crew figures out a way to save her without violating the Prime Directive, even though there isn't one in this Federation-free future.
 
Would the Prime Directive even apply to the Disco crew this far in the future? If anything, the people of this time would be prohibitive towards Disco, being from the past - quarantining them from the current timeline until they figured out a way to send them back. There are still elements of Starfleet floating around out there; they may not take too kindly to time travelers, irrespective of their point of origin or tech level, especially since it’s been banned. Not all of them will be as receptive of their presence, I would think, as that guy that Burnham met on the station.
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top