Nobody in the Bermantrekverse seems to know it.
What's the worst canon decision in the history of Trek?
- Thread starter Unimatrix Q
- Start date
I wouldn't be surprised if it was classified. If every warp capable starship could do it, there would be chaos.
Though it was referenced in TNG Season 2.
That’s the other thing about these silly technologies. Classifying an incident does not erase the knowledge base surrounding the science of the technology known to the public. Someone else will duplicate or arrive at the same ability, especially in a galaxy or trillions or quadrillions nearby. You can only keep it secret for so long.
Nope, I'm focusing on "magical science", which in Star Trek is a feature not a bug. And yeah, dilithium power warp drive is a magical science no matter how it gets gussied up with terms borrowed from real science.
If you buy into the idea that there are infinite alternate universes, then, by definition, something like the MU isn’t just possible...it actually must exist. Maybe the reason there are so many frequent crossovers is because of all the amazing similarities.
As I said its a riff on SF concept. AU stories rely on familiarity and a twist.
Indeed yes. This is an entertainment franchise, not a scientific treatise.
Science fiction is a broad term, and Star Trek has used fantastical concepts before. Many have been cited here, and often others get wrongly derided as being fantastical (i.e. magic blood). The simple answer, as I noted above, is that Star Trek is designed, first and foremost, as an entertainment franchise. If it doesn't entertain then it doesn't continue-period. So, it will rely upon familiar storytelling tropes, conveniences and flat out fantasy to support telling the desired story. Whether people accept it or not is up to them. But, that doesn't make Star Trek more scientific.
Here's the thing-stories are meant to explore concepts, not posit scientific theory. It plays with what ifs and what would that be like. The Mirror Universe is a tried and true concept with various other franchises involving parallel dimensions, and evil clones. Star Trek did the same with "The Enemy Within" and I don't see that being railroaded for not being scientifically inaccurate. I mean, I'm sure someone will, but wow, the MU is where the line is drawn?
It was referenced as being "in theory". The TNG/Berman Trek people very clearly decided not to even acknowledge it ever again. They made what Orci/Kurtzman would call a supreme court decision on it.
If the events of STIV:TVH are anywhere in the Enterprise D's computers, they'll record a very different, Berman Trek-ified version of what we saw. Visually-static space rift used to transport the ship back through time. Bogus technobabble "explanation" of how Whale Probe could send/receive whale songs across thousands of light years. Perhaps even bogus mandatory first contact with dolphin-foreheaded alien humanoids courtesy of Mike Westmore make-up department (since Berman Trek wasn't fond of open ended mysteries).
That's ok. The audience doesn't seem to like them much either
Yes it’s an entertainment franchise, but it promotes itself on having a sense of verisimilitude. And is much better for it. The NCIS’s don’t adhere to reality either, but they don’t pull out time crystals for the sake of exploring the human condition either. That’s facepalm territory.
Wow.
I’d love to chat more but a giant green hand was chasing me and I ended up in a space ribbon that’s actually heaven, so...
and yet, we haven't seen the Genesis Device technology since.
New song, same dance.Wow.
I’d love to chat more but a giant green hand was chasing me and I ended up in a space ribbon that’s actually heaven, so...
Fact is, Trek, like most art, is better the closer it is to reality. The more useful it is to us in reality. The less it makes you do somersaults to deal with, calling a thing what it is, hack writing.
Absurd elements have to be earned. Though Pike in that episode specifically earned himself a spot as one of my all-time favorite captain ever, the Thanos gauntlet time crystal remains profoundly, needlessly, silly.
This is proof of what exactly? That Starfleet is really good at classifying things or that anything can happen when you’re talking about a TV show? If it helps, think of genesis tech illegalized whenever metagenic weapons were too.
My main point is...almost ALL of it is ridiculous. I just go with it. There are a lot of sci-if shows I enjoy, and most of them have fantastical elements. It’s entertainment, and I am open to being entertained.
Agreed about that scene with Pike. Brilliant and brutal.
Sorry, I've been face palming with Trek since I watched "Where No One Has Gone Before" and the force lightning style fight between Mitchell and Dehner. Star Trek does a great job at faking verisimilitude. But, the older I get, the thinner that layer is. I can accept time crystals because Pike sells the
out of it and it is an interesting story about the human experience. I don't care if it doesn't make sense in real life. I care about the humans, not the handwavium.All shows do this. I roll my eyes at NCIS too. That's the nature of the beast. But, with time crystals, in the moment, it works for me. Just like all the other weirdness in Trek.
I'm curious how time crystals are okay but magical Bajoran orbs and the like aren't?
Trek is very silly at it's core.
Trek is very silly at it's core.
Well it doesn’t work for me and I’m saying so per the point of the thread. Not “in the moment” or otherwise. Obviously Trek isn’t hard sci-fi. And the more you look at it the older you get the more you can see the silliness. But it is a matter of degrees. This fan would like to not have his disbelief strained any more than is necessary. That’s skill. To be appreciated.Sorry, I've been face palming with Trek since I watched "Where No One Has Gone Before" and the force lightning style fight between Mitchell and Dehner. Star Trek does a great job at faking verisimilitude. But, the older I get, the thinner that layer is. I can accept time crystals because Pike sells the
All shows do this. I roll my eyes at NCIS too. That's the nature of the beast. But, with time crystals, in the moment, it works for me. Just like all the other weirdness in Trek.
It’s not a matter of realism over story. You can have the Pike moment and in a less ridiculous way.
You mean the other way around? Orbs were pretty out there as well. They started off giving people hallucinations, then, yup, time travel. You could say that they’re an advanced technology from another universe. Little wormhole devices. You could also see them as specifically godlike devices necessary to put the Bajorans worshiping them into perspective. But they and the Bajoran religious arc were ultimately very silly. I get the feeling that Kira is the only reason anyone likes Bajorans. The philosophical questions around their religion were, alas, not fleshed out.
Thus the greatest work of fiction: the dictionary. Also, the failure of Pablo Picasso to become a household name.
Yes, that's another word that doesn't seem to have a definite meaning.
Similar threads
