First Look At Alien From New Trek Film - Serious

[Tralah]

I just want to double check since although I love TOS, I don't have all the episodes memorized the way some people do. We never actually saw anything of Starfleet Academy during the run of the first TV series right? Sounds to me that the creators have pretty free reign to show us Starfleet Academy in the 23rd century in whatever way they wish without violating precious canon.

 

[Kryton]

Yeah, but we saw it 100+ years later in TNG and VOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And it was nothing LIKE this abortion!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Grrrrrrrrr!!!

BOYCOTT! BOYCOTT! BOYCOTT!

 

[Michael]

I just want to double check since although I love TOS, I don't have all the episodes memorized the way some people do. We never actually saw anything of Starfleet Academy during the run of the first TV series right? Sounds to me that the creators have pretty free reign to show us Starfleet Academy in the 23rd century in whatever way they wish without violating precious canon.

No, we saw nothing. Although it is speculated that Finnegan from Shore Leave wore a cadet's uniform.

 

[CaptainDonovin]

Big deal, we will likely see these new aliens for a few seconds at best. We've only seen a small handfull of the different aliens that are part of the Federation and even though I'm still hoping to see an Andorian or two I'm all for the new ones. I will say though that the purple headed one does look like the Trill symbiont.

 

[3D Master]

Really? I wouldn't be surprised if they look more like us.

What drives you to that rather bizarre conclusion, since most exobiologists I have read would disagree completely ?

And they all fail to understand some significant things that are required to get anywhere:

1. A form that can build starships - physically (or rather the progenitor (no pun intended)) machines that do.

2. A form that is smart enough to so.

3. A form that can survive and evolve, and grow technologically long enough to so.

When you start taking all the exo-biologist projections, and evolution simulations, you see many fascinating things; all dumb animals.

Let's take them on one by one:

1. The need to use tools to build things, requires at least two free limbs/hands and opposable thumbs.

2. The reason that we're smart, is because we stand erect. The higher away from the ground, the cooler, less chance of a complex brain over heating. In a cold climate, as opposed to the hot we evolved in, we might get smart not standing erect, but we wouldn't get requirement number 1.

3. We are the single most efficient form on this planet. Granted, cockroaches may survive certain extreme climates and environments, on the other hand, I don't see any cockroaches on the north pole, or high up on freezing mountains. We are. We can spread anywhere - survive nearly anywhere short of extreme cases like radiation and chemicals - and thus are less prone to go extinct by environmental disaster. Similarly, our form allows rapid 360 degree turning, using weapons to increase our lethality against predators - etc. etc. etc. We are survival machines - and survival machines are those who will live long enough to reach the stars.

Indeed, the aliens we'll meet face to face, mind to mind, starship to starship, will almost all be quite similar to us. There'll be a few exceptions like ST's Sheliak who probably use telekinesis or something instead of hands, and a few may use tentacles, or trunks to manipulate tools and materials, but somehow I think they're a lot more rarer than hands.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Actually, none of what 3D Master is insisting upon leads necessarily to the conclusions that he's reached - which is why, of course, not only exobiologists but a great many other scientists studying evolutionary biology who actually know a good deal about their subject areas don't agree with any of what he's suggesting.

All of his reasoning and conclusions are very parochial. The suggestion that scientists with specialized knowledge "fail to understand some significant things" that are clear to him is insupportably silly.

Let us note, in passing, that there is thus far little real-world evidence to suggest that the "human form" is any more capable of building starships than are plankton. We do make a mean cup of espresso, though.

 

[Guartho]

We never actually saw anything of Starfleet Academy during the run of the first TV series right?

That's exactly right.

 

[Tralah]

I just want to double check since although I love TOS, I don't have all the episodes memorized the way some people do. We never actually saw anything of Starfleet Academy during the run of the first TV series right? Sounds to me that the creators have pretty free reign to show us Starfleet Academy in the 23rd century in whatever way they wish without violating precious canon.

No, we saw nothing. Although it is speculated that Finnegan from Shore Leave wore a cadet's uniform.

Wow if that's a cadet uniform, it sure is shimmery! I'm not a huge fan of the red color they chose, but I'd sure take it over what they had Finnegan wear!

 

[Kryton]

Kinda reminds me of the Away jackets from The Cage...they also shimmered and glistened to no obvious end.

 

[I Grok Spock]

3. We are the single most efficient form on this planet.

I think that honor falls to bacteria. They do just about everything you described, some of it inside us. We sure need them to survive, but they do fine on their own. Someday, they'll wise up to that.

Even if we survive the coming monkey-robot apocalypse, the bacteria will surely be our doom. It is they, with their tiny flagella, who will reach for the stars.

 

[Captain Pike]

"Dolphins and barracudas look similar in silhouette, even though they evolved from very different forebears. Their shapes are the result of convergent evolution. Some biologists have suggested that the same may be true of humans and extraterrestrial life -- that the human body plan is a good design for an intelligent creature. We have free appendages (these are known by the technical term: “arms”) terminated by graspy little hands useful for writing, wielding tools, or ferrying snacks to our mouths. We also have two eyes with overlapping vision, providing 3-D views of the world that facilitate tool use. The eyes are located high up, permitting us to peer over grass and brush to find a mate or a meal. And the list goes on. Humans, in many ways, are a reasonably functional design for a technically sophisticated creature.

But it’s a bit extreme to maintain that we are the best design, and therefore convergent evolution will ensure that an intelligent alien looks like your brother-in-law. After all, an extra set of arms might be useful, as would an eye in the back of our heads. A double spine might allow faster and easier walking, and a few extra digits on each hand could make for better tool use or piano playing. The bottom line is that any biological creature we find that’s at least as clever as we are might have, some features in common with us (two eyes, instead of one, for instance). But there’s little reason to think our own design is so wonderfully optimal that all thinking beings will have converged on it. Intelligent extraterrestrials may look vaguely humanoid, but no more than vaguely."

- Dr. Seth Shostak, Senior Astronomer, SETI Institute, publisher of approx. 50 professional journals..

 

[Michael]

But it’s a bit extreme to maintain that we are the best design, and therefore convergent evolution will ensure that an intelligent alien looks like your brother-in-law. After all, an extra set of arms might be useful, as would an eye in the back of our heads. A double spine might allow faster and easier walking, and a few extra digits on each hand could make for better tool use or piano playing. The bottom line is that any biological creature we find that’s at least as clever as we are might have, some features in common with us (two eyes, instead of one, for instance). But there’s little reason to think our own design is so wonderfully optimal that all thinking beings will have converged on it. Intelligent extraterrestrials may look vaguely humanoid, but no more than vaguely." - Dr. Seth Shostak, Senior Astronomer, SETI Institute, publisher of approx. 50 professional journals..

So the question really is how you define "vaguely humanoid", right?

 

[Captain Pike]

Well, personally speaking, I do not define it as simply a human with a piece of plastecine stuck to his/her nose..

 

[JoeZhang]

When people go on about "similar" they miss the point entirely - unless the gravity on the planet has no variance from ours, then they will look entirely different.


That's one factor out of millions...

 

[Redfern]

Me, I don't really care what kind of aliens STXI presents as long as I get to see my favorite, M'Ress:

Of course, since this film is supposedly something of a "prequel", then it's just possible we might see her before she joined the service, when she had to make ends meet as a showgirl at the Baz'Shrak Temple Casino on Wrigley's Pleasure Planet:

Tell me, isn't this worth putting up with a few knotty foreheaded humanoids?

(lest anyone think I'm serious, this is a bloody joke!)

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[Michael]

(lest anyone think I'm serious, this is a bloody joke!)

A reference to a TAS species would be nice, though.

 

[Gepard]

(lest anyone think I'm serious, this is a bloody joke!)

Sincerely,

Bill

Too bad. I quite like that second image!

 

[Redfern]

(lest anyone think I'm serious, this is a bloody joke!)

A reference to a TAS species would be nice, though.

In all honesty, yes, I'd like a lil' homage, but realistically, the odds of it happening are just almost "nil".

I just thought I'd toss these up to hopefully lighten the mood.

Oh, Gep? Thanks for the kind words!

Sincerely,

Bill

P.S. NCC and Gep? Your similar avatars are getting me confused!

 

[Gepard]

Oh, Gep? Thanks for the kind words!

Sincerely,

Bill

Is say bring on the catwomen in sexy slave-Leia costumes!

P.S. NCC and Gep? Your similar avatars are getting me confused!

Then you'd better not look at the avatars for Samuel T. Cogley, PKTrekGirl, jon1701, Akiraprise, Defcon, or EliyahuQeoni.

Seriosuly, read all about it here.

 

[Redfern]

P.S. NCC and Gep? Your similar avatars are getting me confused!

Then you'd better not look at the avatars for Samuel T. Cogley, PKTrekGirl, jon1701, Akiraprise, Defcon, or EliyahuQeoni.

Seriosuly, read all about it here.

Oh, I know about that zany thread and the avatars it spawned. When you lovable nutters post in sequence, I have to constantly backtrack to realize just who said what.

Sincerely,

Bill