NuTreklit and Galactic Threats

[Wadjda]

This of course if we get more coherent AbramsTrek literature.

Do you feel old Treklit had overdone it and saving the galaxy became just an another day at work for or heroes? In general are there too many major events/threats going on all the time?

How should Abramstrek handle it? Do you expect major events only in the movies and rarely on novels or comics?

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Do you feel old Treklit had overdone it and saving the galaxy became just an another day at work for or heroes? In general are there too many major events/threats going on all the time?

I believe I've heard some people suggest that, but I've never agreed. I can't think of that many "galactic threats". There's plenty of crises, but I don't see how that's unrealistic. Look at the real world - there's always at least four or five "major" crises going on at any one time. Country 1 has been hit by a typhoon, demolishing a major city and causing thousands of deaths, there's been a military coup in Country 2, a plague has broken out in Country 3, Countries 4 and 5 are threatening to go to war because 4's Under-Minister of Small Fancy Doilies made a disparaging remark about 5's doily-making industry. That's only one planet. With hundreds upon hundreds of planets and political entities and strange natural phenomena it doesn't strike me as requiring a suspension of disbelief when the Starfleet ship is constantly rushing to Planets In Crisis.

 

[Wadjda]

There is galactic crisis and there is just small crisis. There is difference between what happens in the Central African Republic now and WW2 to use an IRL example. Trek seems to always be in WW2 phase in terms of conflict during the lifespan o the captains that showed up in the tv series. They could do incredible and stunning things in smaller wars, no need for the whole galaxy to be constantly be on an edge of a huge war.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

There is galactic crisis and there is just small crisis. There is difference between what happens in the Central African Republic now and WW2 to use an IRL example. Trek seems to always be in WW2 phase in terms of conflict during the lifespan o the captains that showed up in the tv series. They could do incredible and stunning things in smaller wars, no need for the whole galaxy to be constantly be on an edge of a huge war.

I'd say the Trek verse has been more in Cold War mode than in WWII mode. We didn't see that much open fighting at all, in the books or on screen, other than two years of the Dominion War (and the Borg Invasion). Political tensions and posturing, as well as occasional tense run-ins between rival ships, seems to be the Trek 'verse way, rather than committed conflict.

 

[ryan123450]

There are a conspicuous number of 'end of the universe' crises that our heroes are involved in. That is what is bothersome to me.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

There are a conspicuous number of 'end of the universe' crises that our heroes are involved in. That is what is bothersome to me.

Yeah, I see what you mean by that one. Millennium, Omega Continuum, the Strings, Q and A, the Protean Codex.

Point acknowledged.

 

[Markonian]

There are a conspicuous number of 'end of the universe' crises that our heroes are involved in. That is what is bothersome to me.

Yeah, I see what you mean by that one. Millennium, Omega Continuum, the Strings, Q and A, the Protean Codex.

Point acknowledged.

Imagine how uncomfortable it must be for a new member of the Federation to learning that more than once the existence of the entire universe (or even multiverse) depended on a single ship and crew happening to be in the right spot at the right time to prevent it. Without the Enterprises and Voyagers, the entirety of existence could wink out at a moment's notice.

And Starfleet is among the most competent organizations to deal with such things. Imagine how many times the fate of the universe may have rested in the appendages of some random imperial aliens in any other galaxy.

 

[JeBuS]

And Starfleet is among the most competent organizations to deal with such things. Imagine how many times the fate of the universe may have rested in the appendages of some random imperial aliens in any other galaxy.

Sounds like an excellent basis for a short story in the Trek universe.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

There are a conspicuous number of 'end of the universe' crises that our heroes are involved in. That is what is bothersome to me.

Yeah, I see what you mean by that one. Millennium, Omega Continuum, the Strings, Q and A, the Protean Codex.

Point acknowledged.

Imagine how uncomfortable it must be for a new member of the Federation to learning that more than once the existence of the entire universe (or even multiverse) depended on a single ship and crew happening to be in the right spot at the right time to prevent it. Without the Enterprises and Voyagers, the entirety of existence could wink out at a moment's notice.

And Starfleet is among the most competent organizations to deal with such things. Imagine how many times the fate of the universe may have rested in the appendages of some random imperial aliens in any other galaxy.

Good point! It is quite an alarming situation, when you think about it, isn't it?

We can only hope that a large part of the higher dimensional beings' considerable time is spent cleaning up after the mess.

"The Pakleds got into the Doomsday Vortex again".

"Oh, for..."

 

[Sci]

There is galactic crisis and there is just small crisis. There is difference between what happens in the Central African Republic now and WW2 to use an IRL example.

There is. But, to be pedantic, just south of the CAR, the Second Congo War had between 2.7 to 5.4 million deaths -- a number that surely puts it in the same neighborhood as World War II, even if it's not quite as huge!

Trek seems to always be in WW2 phase in terms of conflict during the lifespan o the captains that showed up in the tv series.

I don't agree. I think the only Trek conflicts that can be compared in scope relative to the Federation to World War II relative to the U.S. or U.K. would be the Borg incursions, the Dominion War, and the Borg Invasion.

 

[Wadjda]

here is. But, to be pedantic, just south of the CAR, the Second Congo War had between 2.7 to 5.4 million deaths -- a number that surely puts it in the same neighborhood as World War II, even if it's not quite as huge!

That's kind of like the Talarian-Cardassian War . It;s unlikely we will so much of that from a central character POV.

 

[Christopher]

I think the only Trek conflicts that can be compared in scope relative to the Federation to World War II relative to the U.S. or U.K. would be the Borg incursions, the Dominion War, and the Borg Invasion.

Can we really say that about the incursions in "The Best of Both Worlds" and First Contact, though? Sure, those cubes went right for Earth and destroyed some colonies and armadas that got in their way, but they didn't have any effect on any other major Federation planets. From an Earth-centric or Starfleet-centric perspective, yes, they were huge, but relative to the Federation as a whole, they were extremely narrow, targeted strikes -- analogous to, say, a single air raid directed against London or Tokyo. So they don't come close to being on the proportional scale of WWII as a whole. Only the Dominion War and the Borg Invasion were that big -- and, arguably, the Genesis Wave, although the lack of long-term ramifications from that suggest that the breadth of its impact may have been overstated.

Still, though, there have been a disproportionate number of existential threats to the entire galaxy or universe coming along in recent years. In addition to the ones Nasat mentioned above, there's also the Body Electric.

 

[JD]

While I do agree that it might be a little OTT to have all these crises, I think it is worth keeping in mind that we are jumping over at least a year between books, so it's not like they're going directly from one crises to another. I just assume we are only seeing the major missions, while there are a lot of other smaller missions between the books.

 

[NotLKH]

Imagine how uncomfortable it must be for a new member of the Federation to learning that more than once the existence of the entire universe (or even multiverse) depended on a single ship and crew happening to be in the right spot at the right time to prevent it. Without the Enterprises and Voyagers, the entirety of existence could wink out at a moment's notice.

I doubt that the failures get reported very often. And the only reason there have been so many successful instances of the universe being saved is because once a universe fails to be saved, the point of view is adjusted to one of the many universes in the multiverse where either the crises did not occur, or was indeed saved by that universes Enterprise or Voyager crew.

Successes therefore accumulate as the viewpoint is adjusted away from the failures.