What are your controversial Star Trek opinions?

[XCV330]

Any space-faring civilization that might feel the need to seal itself off in a Dyson sphere might also work hard on finding technologies unfathomable to us for not broadcasting their presence. Freeman Dyson may have theorized the sphere as an efficient way to make use of all of a star's energy, but it's also something of the ultimate wall or citadel.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

but it's also something of the ultimate wall or citadel.

It also helps that you have a Carbon-Neutronium hull in the Dyson Sphere that JLP & Scotty found.

Phasers & Photon Torpedoes aren't going to do jack squat against that hull.

 

[XCV330]

It also helps that you have a Carbon-Neutronium hull in the Dyson Sphere that JLP & Scotty found.

Phasers & Photon Torpedoes aren't going to do jack squat against that hull.

yeah?


YEAH?

well I got a dinosaur that EATS forcefield generating dogs.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

yeah?


YEAH?

well I got a dinosaur that EATS forcefield generating dogs.

That will do nothing for your defense.

 

[XCV330]

That will do nothing for your defense.

Linus is the only defense you need.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

Linus is the only defense you need.

Didn't he take forever to figure out how to use his TriCommBadge?

He kept randomly teleporting in/out.

 

[Truffula]

I don't like it when the Star Trek people are far more respectful of the religions of people on planets they visit when those religions resemble Christianity than when they don't. Two different religions that the crew of Discovery knew were false, two entirely different approaches -- no reason given I could see.

 

[XCV330]

Didn't he take forever to figure out how to use his TriCommBadge?

He kept randomly teleporting in/out.

he had some visits to make

 

[cooleddie74]

Don't tell me his species doesn't know how to party.

 

[dupersuper]

It's not surprising that it wasn't seen until it was effectively stumbled over. Dyson spheres would not be particularly easy to see, even if you're a couple of lightyears away – especially if you're not looking for them.

First – while enormous in absolute terms, the mass of a Dyson shell is spread out over its entire surface area, and it's still a tiny fraction the mass of the central star. The "mass" of a Dyson sphere when you're next to it in space would be negligible. Gravitationally, being next to a Dyson shell with a diameter of 200 million km would be almost indistinguishable to just being 100 million km away from a regular star.

Second – by design a Dyson sphere intercepts radiation from the central star; and a full Dyson shell would intercept 100% of that radiation. The only detectable emissions would be the waste heat of the Dyson shell itself; it would radiate mainly in the far infrared, and not be terribly reflective. It would, in other words, be very dark. They would be virtually invisible to conventional telescopes. In fact there are projects today to look for Dyson spheres in the galaxy specifically by looking for unusual far infrared sources.

Third – it's also worth considering that supergiant stars are far larger than a typical Dyson shell, and they still appear point-like to us. For example, the star Betelgeuse in the constellation of Orion has a diameter of around 1.2 billion km, versus the "Relics" Dyson shell diameter of only 200 million km. Betelgeuse is approximately 600 lightyears away, and while it's so big that we can resolve its disc with our most powerful telescopes, it's also much, much brighter than a Dyson sphere would be.

Also, I hear the navigator on his ship was kicked out of Starfleet for not noticing the solar system his last ship - the Reliant - was entering was missing a planet.

I don't like it when the Star Trek people are far more respectful of the religions of people on planets they visit when those religions resemble Christianity than when they don't. Two different religions that the crew of Discovery knew were false, two entirely different approaches -- no reason given I could see.

Which Discovery religions?

 

[shapeshifter]

Depends how close ships were passing. Compared to, for example, the Bajoran wormhole, where there were a number of reports of anomalies in the vicinity dating back centuries,

Which is stupid if you think about. Anomalies get investigated. Close investigation would have triggered the wormhole, mystery solved. Total needs of the plot.

it looks as though only the Jenolan had been anywhere near it for over 75 years; the Enterprise-D was investigating the Jenolan's automated distress signal specifically, which nobody else had noticed in decades,

Uh, how stupid is it no-one else heard the distress signal for so long. Remember this is supposed to right off the path of a regular route to the colony. 'Nother, needs of the plot hand-wave.

and didn't themselves spot the Dyson sphere until they were almost on top of it despite having vastly more capable sensors.

It is just off the path of a regular route. Sorry, I cannot be convinced it was so well concealed for so long.

So agree to disagree on the science here. Still a fun episode.

 

[Vale]

So agree to disagree on the science here. Still a fun episode.

We're not disagreeing on the science, we're disagreeing on good writing. (Actually we're agreeing on the writing being a little off, but Star Trek has always been powered by plot first and logic second )

 

[Truffula]

Which Discovery religions?

The one on Terralysium and the Kelpien one on Kaminar.

 

[cooleddie74]

The Terralysium religion was a mixture of elements from all the major Earth faiths that existed in the mid-21st century. It wasn't any more Christian than it was Jewish, Muslim or Shinto.

 

[Truffula]

The Terralysium religion was a mixture of elements from all the major Earth faiths that existed in the mid-21st century. It wasn't any more Christian than it was Jewish, Muslim or Shinto.

Disagree, it was expressly descended from a Protestant church. But even if it was based on other real life human religions, the hands-off treatment it got contrasted extremely with the who-cares view they took on the Kelpien religion

 

[ScottJ85]

I think the key difference is that the Kelpien religion was a deliberate lie intended to maintain oppression, and used sapient sacrifice as a means of imposing fear, while the Terralysium religion developed organically out of the traditions that the colonists brought with them.

 

[CorporalClegg]

That there are, in fact, five lights.

 

[GNDN18]

That there are, in fact, five lights.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

That's basically Earth though isn't it? The whole planet is Starfleet Headquarters

No. Not even close.

Starfleet Headquarters is a specific location IN San Francisco, that's it. It doesn't even encompass the entire city, let alone the whole planet.

That'd be like saying all of Paris is the Louvre, or the entire city of Chicago is the BIlly Goat Tavern.

 

[Truffula]

I think the key difference is that the Kelpien religion was a deliberate lie intended to maintain oppression, and used sapient sacrifice as a means of imposing fear, while the Terralysium religion developed organically out of the traditions that the colonists brought with them.

I think the Terralysium one was a deliberate lie, too. And the resident who knew the truth was *begging* them to tell.... and they wouldn't.

And the Kelpien one was created by a nearly-eliminated species to defend themselves against their more numerous fellow species with which they shared the planet, and created a balance between the two that was, yes, oppressive to the Kelpiens, but also enabled the other species to survive. And the treatment the Discovery did to all the Kelpiens without any sort of warning or permission was likely to kill a reasonable percentage of them (x% die during this transformation) along with removing a natural suppressor of violence in them (how many more would die because they'd never learned to control their violent impulses, never having had them before?)

It's not nearly as skewed as it seems from the formulation you gave, at least, in my perception while watching it.

But, I know my take is a controversial opinion, that's why it's in this thread.