• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Spoilers Canon, Continuity, and Pike's Accident

Unless someone can correct me, I can't actually remember why the advanced systems on the Enterprise started to malfunction in DIS S2. I presumed it to be a side effect of Control, akin to Skynet in Terminator 3 and the disruptive effects on electronic devices, but that doesn't seem to be confirmed. (Or was it?)

Whatever the cause, there does seem to be a modest effort to maintain a minimalist philosophy when designing sets for the SNW Enterprise. I would personally surmise that deep exploration requires starship tech that is reliable and durable, even if it does look a little clunky in comparison.

Some particular case of malfunction hardly indicates techn. stagnation. I think it was a bad idea to give an explanation to the lack of holograms in TOS, almost as bad as the klingon virus from ENT used to explain the species' different design.
Like every show, SNW should only use holos when it is practical. For communication, 2D screens, audio, or even text messages are sufficient in most cases.
I would not even mind seeing good old paper again like in TOS if it offered some benefit.

They do tend to evoke a Middle-Ages type setting which is part of the appeal. Game of Thrones especially likes to draw influence from historical sources for costuming and sets. Star Wars, with its Science Fiction (and yes it is Science Fiction) setting is a different beast. Though like some of its influences (Foundation and Dune) it too draws on the Classical, Medieval and Renaissance eras for inspiration. The PT has look that invokes elegance, opulence and finery in opposition to the OT's clean and sterile look for the Empire and a more rough-hewed look for those under the Empire's heel.

How and if technological advancement is shown is an authorial choice to aid in the story being told.

The audience can accept the lack of technological advancement more easily in a fantasy setting such as LotR or SW because it is presented as a natural state in their completely detached respective universes.
What do Star Trek, Foundation, Dune, Halo, Starcraft, Mass Effect, The Expanse, and many more have in common? Earth. The real world as a basis with a nearly identical human history (on Earth) right up until the late 20th century.

LotR takes place on Arda, SW has its own galaxy/ realm as well. Numenoreans exists as a type of humans who can live for centuries, Arda's Sun was made out of a fruit from a magical tree, Dwarves and Hobbits exist alongside of humans. In SW, humans/ beings can die of losing their will to live. GoT has unpredictable summers and winters. All these things are natural parts of their settings, you do not seriously question them.

Star Trek has equally fantastical elements, take the humpback whales. When ST IV reveals they are a sentient, advanced species, this happens...

SPOCK: As suspected, the Probe's transmissions are the songs sung by whales.
KIRK: Whales?
SPOCK: Specifically, humpback whales.
McCOY: That's crazy! Who would send a Probe hundreds of light years to talk to a whale?
KIRK: It's possible. Whales have been on Earth far earlier than man.

McCoy reacts as anyone in real life would, he expects whales to be just animals, so the movie explains they had secretly evolved on Earth, if it did not, if it treated smart whales as normal, the audience would be left confused. In Star Wars, talking whales could pop up on Naboo like a talking wolf does in Little Red Riding Hood, nobody would raise an eyebrow. The same with the lack of progress.

Space Fantasy is a legit sub-set of Science Fiction.

GL directly links SW to "fairy tales and the dragons and Tolkien." To be fair, he also called SW a space opera another time which is indeed a sci-fi sub genre. The franchise has definitely sci-fi elements, no one can deny that, and one might call it a hybrid, but I would still argue that it is fantasy at its core.

When, in any of his movies, including the Prequels, has he really gone into fantasy? When did characters go into actual magic?

Right here at the very beginning.
To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

"A long time ago in a galaxy far far away..." Do you think it is a coincidence SW is introduced like a fairy tale?

Why did Han, Leia, and Chewie bother to have breathing masks in The Empire Strikes Back? His dogfighting snub fighters are no less silly than The Enemy Below IN SPACE of Balance of Terror or swashbuckling galleons going toe to toe in The Wrath of Khan. Good grief, in the prequels he came up with MIDI-CHLORIANS (there is a hyphen???) to make the Force MORE scientifically grounded, not less!

LotR has fire that works like real fire, the story is still fantasy. Yes, Star Trek is chock-full of technobabble and space magic, but as I explained in my response to Nerys Myk, Trek is much more connected to real life.

Side note: Midi-chlorians do not make the Force more grounded, they only tell people "the will of the Force" and let you quantify an individual's connection to the Force.
 
Last edited:
Well, you can ignore actual ST lore, but this is not the Fan Fiction section.

But that's the exact opposite of what I said... actual ST lore is that SNW is not the same timeline as TOS/TNG/DS9/VOY/ENT, as confirmed within the actual show itself... but it just gets ignored. Don't blame me, I didn't write that into the episode.
 
The audience can accept the lack of technological advancement more easily in a fantasy setting such as LotR or SW because it is presented as a natural state in their completely detached respective universes.
What do Star Trek, Foundation, Dune, Halo, Starcraft, Mass Effect, The Expanse, and many more have in common? Earth. The real world as a basis with a nearly identical human history (on Earth) right up until the late 20th century.

Dune and Foundation both have technologically stagnant societies. Certainly compared to 20th century Earth. (Lots of periods of Earth history are technologically stagnant compared to 20th century Earth.)

Trek is much more connected to real life.

Trek is only connected to "real life" inasmuch that the characters know the shared history of the audience. (Unless there are Romulan time travelers involved) Beyond that they have carte blanche. They are as restricted by real life as Star Wars is. The Force is no more fantastical than Kevin Uxbridge. In the same film where they carefully make sure we know that "smart whales" are unusual we are able to grow a kidney in a few minutes from a pill.

Dune and Star Wars are so far in the "future" (our literal future in Dune, our technological future in Star Wars) that there are advances so far in the past that nobody even knows where they came from.

I think there are probably other examples of science fiction that have societies unrelated to present day Earth, aren't there?

In Star Wars, talking whales could pop up on Naboo like a talking wolf does in Little Red Riding Hood, nobody would raise an eyebrow.

In Star Trek you have sentient cat creatures in various iterations of the show. Sarek argues with a talking pig.

If an actual wolf (not some space wolf or some intelligent species that looks like wolves) showed up and tried to steal Luke's baked goods I think people would be wondering what was going on in Star Wars. Especially in 1977.

Side note: Midi-chlorians do not make the Force more grounded, they only tell people "the will of the Force" and let you quantify an individual's connection to the Force.

They are a made up BS metric that can be tested and analyzed just like a white cell count or millicochranes.

Qui-Gon did not wave his hands and say "I sense a great affinity for the Force in you" (as characters might do in other parts of Star Wars) he took a blood sample and emailed the results to Obi-Wan and said "Hey, check out the metrics on this kid!" Because George wanted the Force to be more science-y (for reasons known only to George).
 
Amidst this never ending circular argument of whether or not SNW is in a different timeline than the other shows or whatever, I have to ask, let's assume for a moment it is, just for shits and giggles, that it is indeed in a different timeline. So what? What dos this change in terms of your enjoyment? Are you not allowed to enjoy the show because it's in a different timeline? Or are you now allowed to enjoy it because it's a different timeline. What in the grand scheme of things does it even matter what timeline it's in?
 
Amidst this never ending circular argument of whether or not SNW is in a different timeline than the other shows or whatever, I have to ask, let's assume for a moment it is, just for shits and giggles, that it is indeed in a different timeline. So what? What dos this change in terms of your enjoyment? Are you not allowed to enjoy the show because it's in a different timeline? Or are you now allowed to enjoy it because it's a different timeline. What in the grand scheme of things does it even matter what timeline it's in?
Good question. People were gnashing their teeth and rendering their garments over ‘09 for some reason. Might be the comfort food factor. It must be the same even if served in a different restaurant. ;)
 
Arda is supposedly Earth of the distant past.

The framing device is that the text of The Lord of the Rings was discovered, translated, and/or adapted from the text in the Red Book of Westmarch that had been written by Bilbo, Frodo, Sam Gamgee, et al.

Arda is so radically different that it hardly matters, a SW writer could also pull something like "and then the Force teleported Coruscant to the Milky Way and turned the planet into Earth."

But that's the exact opposite of what I said... actual ST lore is that SNW is not the same timeline as TOS/TNG/DS9/VOY/ENT, as confirmed within the actual show itself... but it just gets ignored. Don't blame me, I didn't write that into the episode.

You are ignoring my reply to your post here.
 
Amidst this never ending circular argument of whether or not SNW is in a different timeline than the other shows or whatever, I have to ask, let's assume for a moment it is, just for shits and giggles, that it is indeed in a different timeline. So what? What dos this change in terms of your enjoyment? Are you not allowed to enjoy the show because it's in a different timeline? Or are you now allowed to enjoy it because it's a different timeline. What in the grand scheme of things does it even matter what timeline it's in?
Personally, I fight against the idea that it's an alternate timeline because one of the biggest reasons I like the show is because it is the same characters that I fell in love with decades ago.

Strange New Worlds actually helps me appreciate the characters even more than I already did by filling in their backstories and giving them far more character than TOS ever could have gave them in the 60's.

Uhura didn't exactly get much character development back in the day. But now, thanks to SNW, I can appreciate and look back at her personal journey to get where we saw her in TOS. Same with Spock, Chapel, etc.

Strange New Worlds has done nothing but improve The Original Series characters and setting. To remove it from the prime timeline would be doing those characters a great disservice.
 
Dune and Foundation both have technologically stagnant societies. Certainly compared to 20th century Earth. (Lots of periods of Earth history are technologically stagnant compared to 20th century Earth.)

Again, one would want to know why that is in a sci-fi setting, at least one reason (AI wars) is given.

Trek is only connected to "real life" inasmuch that the characters know the shared history of the audience. (Unless there are Romulan time travelers involved) Beyond that they have carte blanche. They are as restricted by real life as Star Wars is.

The shared history and our world, real-life precedents like progressing technology do affect Trek.

In Star Trek you have sentient cat creatures in various iterations of the show. Sarek argues with a talking pig.

You completely missed the point, those are not animals but aliens somehow sharing traits with animals from Earth. AGAIN, I am fully aware ST is not hard science fiction.
I made my case, at this point i would be endless repeating.
 
You completely missed the point, those are not animals but aliens somehow sharing traits with animals from Earth.

I did not miss the point. You suggested that the literal Big Bad Wolf would not be out of place in Star Wars because Star Wars is fantasy.

I stated that such a character would be out of place because that's not how people see Star Wars. But other characters of the same kind that appear in Star Trek would not be out of place because of the same reasons that they are not out of place in Star Trek. Ewoks are vicious little teddy bear looking CREATURES. They are not literal teddy bears anymore than tellarites are literal pigs.

When the wolfman looking fellow appears in the cantina in Star Wars nobody thinks "ahhhh yes, lycanthropy, because this is obviously fantasy". They look at it just the same way someone looks at tellarites in Star Trek, up to and including thinking "They might have spent a little more money on that mask."
 
STAR WARS is fantasy.

The author intended it as such. The details of such things doesn't preclude it from being a fantasy world, including the use of creatures, which often times inhabit fantasy realms.
 
it hardly matters
In terms of the plot, maybe, but that's hardly the case regarding the story. The Lord of the Rings operates on other layers besides simply telling the sequence of events in the Fellowship's adventures, layers that involve the nature of language itself and its relation to mythology and folklore. These self-referential aspects of the masterpiece are hardly elements that "hardly matter."
 
You are ignoring my reply to your post here.

Ah I see what your referring to.

Some of that was just speculation to make the 1992-timeline work prior to the divergence of the new timeline.
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top