For all the dead red shirt dudes ?
Surely it wasnt Federation practice to leave crewmen to rot on distant hostile worlds ?
Surely it wasnt Federation practice to leave crewmen to rot on distant hostile worlds ?
Did the Enterprise have a mortuary ?
- Thread starter Delta Vega
- Start date
guess not...
otherwise they would have used it for Spock instead of shooting him onto Genesis in a torpedo...
they probably had the equivalent of 'stasis' for keeping the bodies on ice if they needed to take the bodies back to earth for burial or anything, but i doubt they had a dedicated mortuary area on the ship
M
otherwise they would have used it for Spock instead of shooting him onto Genesis in a torpedo...
they probably had the equivalent of 'stasis' for keeping the bodies on ice if they needed to take the bodies back to earth for burial or anything, but i doubt they had a dedicated mortuary area on the ship
M
Even though the Enterprise was on a five-year exploration mission, the ship was never really that far from a starbase at any given time, IMO. The morgue in sickbay would be sufficient to hold the remains of deceased crewmembers in the aforementioned stasis until the ship reached a starbase where it could be transferred there.
Planet-side burials may be necessary under certain conditions--such as during a landing party where bringing the remains back to the ship may not have been possible or feasible at the time. Starfleet may have a policy then of not disturbing planetside graves or recovering the remains at a later date (an example would be that even though Picard initially buried Kirk at Veridian III, his remains might have been recovered prior to Starfleet leaving the planet, and he could have been given a proper burial with honors back on Earth).
Planet-side burials may be necessary under certain conditions--such as during a landing party where bringing the remains back to the ship may not have been possible or feasible at the time. Starfleet may have a policy then of not disturbing planetside graves or recovering the remains at a later date (an example would be that even though Picard initially buried Kirk at Veridian III, his remains might have been recovered prior to Starfleet leaving the planet, and he could have been given a proper burial with honors back on Earth).
Kind of makes me wonder if there is a policy to bury people on the planets they died on whenever possible.
Maybe so. Especially in the earlier days of Starfleet, I would imagine that shipboard resources available on an extended mission would all but make this a requirement.
Also: note Spock's burial arrangements in TWoK.
Cremation is also just a phaser zap away. And I assume that there might still be use for donation of organs after death, etc. Perhaps, just as today, people decide in advance how they want their body to be handled.
Getting back to the original question, what do you mean by "mortuary"? Like, a funeral home, or merely a morgue?
Getting back to the original question, what do you mean by "mortuary"? Like, a funeral home, or merely a morgue?
I'd think there would exist a need for some sort of a "freezer" in which to keep dead bodies for weeks or months - but mainly so that McCoy could perform autopsies when needed, even when the corpses keep piling up. I mean, mass autopsies would appear to be a definite tactical requirement for a starship often sent to deal with epidemics and large-scale acts of violence.
I agree that burial would probably be organized according to the documented wishes of the deceased. Yet spacing in a torpedo casing might be such a low-cost alternative that it could be the default mode when no documentation exists. It's the path of least action, after all, the least interference with the body (if we discount onboard storage because of the space requirements). One could even theoretically recover the spaced body later on, in palatable shape, if it turned out that this was the wrong way to proceed... Although arguably Spock's burial casing didn't feature a beacon that would enable recovery, as the sensors of the Grissom had to be employed before Saavik and pals could speculate on the nature of the object they found.
Timo Saloniemi
I agree that burial would probably be organized according to the documented wishes of the deceased. Yet spacing in a torpedo casing might be such a low-cost alternative that it could be the default mode when no documentation exists. It's the path of least action, after all, the least interference with the body (if we discount onboard storage because of the space requirements). One could even theoretically recover the spaced body later on, in palatable shape, if it turned out that this was the wrong way to proceed... Although arguably Spock's burial casing didn't feature a beacon that would enable recovery, as the sensors of the Grissom had to be employed before Saavik and pals could speculate on the nature of the object they found.
Timo Saloniemi
The need for many humans to preserve bodies after death is already at least 3000 years old today, so I doubt it will disappear in the next 200 or 300 years.
There must be many off-screen taboos both pro and con among alien cultures. (Both TNG and VOY also showed us euthenasia -- in VOY, with virtual mummification.)
I do think Roddenberry would have argued against it, however. I imagine that TNG-era, perfect rational humanist Gene would have said something like, "In the future, we will recognize that our bodies are merely containers made of common chemicals." McCoy said as much in TOS, during "Omega Glory": "Without Water, we're all just three or four pounds of chemicals."
Roddenberry may even have looked toward -- ahem -- onboard recycling. I hate to bring it up, and I don't mean to offend, but I'm sure that's what many of us were already wondering about.
On the other hand, a portion of Roddenberry's own cremated remains were shot into space, so I doubt if he would have objected to torpedo "burial."
There must be many off-screen taboos both pro and con among alien cultures. (Both TNG and VOY also showed us euthenasia -- in VOY, with virtual mummification.)
I do think Roddenberry would have argued against it, however. I imagine that TNG-era, perfect rational humanist Gene would have said something like, "In the future, we will recognize that our bodies are merely containers made of common chemicals." McCoy said as much in TOS, during "Omega Glory": "Without Water, we're all just three or four pounds of chemicals."
Roddenberry may even have looked toward -- ahem -- onboard recycling. I hate to bring it up, and I don't mean to offend, but I'm sure that's what many of us were already wondering about.
On the other hand, a portion of Roddenberry's own cremated remains were shot into space, so I doubt if he would have objected to torpedo "burial."
It wasn't a tomb, but a hole with a headstone. Good question about Dehner. We saw lots of death in that episode, with no special care for bodies.
In which TOS episode did we see the most lives lost? My guesses are "Tholian Web," "Doomsday Machine," "Omega Glory" or "Lights of Zetar." At least 400 dead in the first two. Perhaps more in "Immunity Syndrome." Or does "Ultimate Computer" raise the toll?
Forget it. This is becoming ghoulish.
During TNG, just feed them (in pieces?) into the replicator for convenient recycling?
During VOY, they ejected that one woman into space after her death, where she was found and reanimated. Kirk (by Picard) might have been temporarily buried, just as D'Amato (by Kirk) was, a act of respect. And in Kirk's case, to keep away the birds and coyotes.
In one of the old novels, a crewman's will asked that he be buried on a "living world."
Transporting a corpse all the way back to Earth might pose some difficulties.
Jewish law demands immediate burial. At the most, Jews should be buried within three days of their death. This would seem to make a Earth burial impossible in most situations. Under Islamic custom, cremation of the body is forbidden. Hindu and Buddhists follow custom of burning the body at death. The Buddha himself was cremated.
With over a hundred and fifty member worlds, and likely multiple customs on each, the Federation could have quite a number of funeral rites.
Gene Roddenberry's cremated ashes were taken into space and released.
")
One of the ships in "The Ultimate Computer" had "53 dead", either thats a lot of torpedo casings, or they had a big mortuary/morgue.
YARN
Fleet Captain
Why? We've been killing off unfortunate souls on Star Trek for decades. We've thought nothing of ensign redshirt getting eaten by the omelet monster. This aspect could make for one heck of a story.
Why not just beam them up, but "suspend them in transit?" Bottle them up as energy and rematerialize them at the home of their next of kin or wherever. Of course, it would suck if someone screwed up the filing system and beamed the wrong dead guy into a grieving family's living room.
At that point, it would probably just be easier to beam the bodies into space with maximum possible dispersion. Or pile them in the hangar deck and open the doors, letting explosive decompression blow them all out. Just be care who's behind you.
Eh most likely, in general, if they died on ship, they stuck the body in the morgue (you know they had one). If they died on the planet, they'd bring the body up if they could (see The Man Trap) or bury if they couldn't (That Which Survives). Or just promply forget about the rotting corpse (Friday's Child).
At that point, it would probably just be easier to beam the bodies into space with maximum possible dispersion. Or pile them in the hangar deck and open the doors, letting explosive decompression blow them all out. Just be care who's behind you.
Eh most likely, in general, if they died on ship, they stuck the body in the morgue (you know they had one). If they died on the planet, they'd bring the body up if they could (see The Man Trap) or bury if they couldn't (That Which Survives). Or just promply forget about the rotting corpse (Friday's Child).
I always made the assumption that he was beamed back to the Enterprise, like that red shirt from The Apple, just it was done off screen.
The body could be exposed to hard vacuum for a spell, and then wrapped up air tight for storage. Or put in a storage locker with the heat turned off.
Storing them in the transporter pattern buffer might take up limited space in there, and use power.
In the US Navy, they put the body bag in the food locker (refrigerator/freezer) right next to the uneaten food. Just clear a space.
I would think there would be a morgue. Several cultures may demand a burial on the person's home planet. Autopsies, as previously mentioned, would require there be a morgue. Starfleet Medical may even want some bodies brought back for study if they died of some strange unknown illness.
Planet side burials leave an infinitesimally small chance that the remains may be discovered - if the planet is currently has no intelligent life - and cause a breaking of the Prime Directive. If the planet does have intelligent life, the possibility, while still incredibly small, increases that the body may be found.
So yes, small morgue.
Planet side burials leave an infinitesimally small chance that the remains may be discovered - if the planet is currently has no intelligent life - and cause a breaking of the Prime Directive. If the planet does have intelligent life, the possibility, while still incredibly small, increases that the body may be found.
So yes, small morgue.
Similar threads
