• 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!

Consider: Weren't the Organians actually a fail safe?

Gary7

Vice Admiral
Admiral
Pre-amble: This topic has been thoroughly debated in the past, but I have a new idea...

In "Errand of Mercy," the Organians put a stop to the conflict between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. Recall what Ayelborne, the leader of the Organian council, said to Kirk and Kor...

AYELBORNE: As I stand here, I also stand upon the home planet of the Klingon Empire, and the home planet of your Federation, Captain. I'm putting a stop to this insane war.
AYELBORNE: Unless both sides agree to an immediate cessation of hostilities, all your armed forces, wherever they may be, will be immediately immobilized.
AYELBORNE: It is no trick, Commander. We have simply put an end to your war. All your military forces, wherever they are, are now completely paralyzed.

So... the Organians find such violence very painful. And thus they stopped the Federation and Klingons from waging war. But they didn't interfere with other conflicts. Most people have explained that it was more of a territorial thing. The Federation and Klingon Empire fixated on Organia... which gave the Organians a good reason to interfere. When Kirk and Kor took their people and left, they tried to abide by the Organian Peace Treaty. It was even mentioned a few times in other episodes. But of course, other conflicts happened... and even in the alternate timeline "Yesterday's Enterprise," there was war once again between the Federation and Klingons, but the Organians didn't interfere... presumably because the conflict hadn't encroached on Organia.

Now here's the thing... Wouldn't this be a terrific fail safe for the Federation? Imagine a war breaks out and it's not going well. All the Federation has to do is lead the enemy to Organia. The Organians won't tolerate the violence, and in turn immobilize all forces. Hostilities cease. Heck... wouldn't even the Borg be vulnerable to the Organians? :beer:
 
Last edited:
The Federation, and Humans in particular, aren't as evolved as they'd like the Alpha Quadrant to think. Not even in the 24th Century. They won't dare admit it but, deep down, the Federation loves the glory of victory. They just try to hide it.

I think the Federation wouldn't go to the Organians because then it means no one wins (including the Federation) and turning to the Organians is basically the same as admitting they can't handle their own problems. The Federation wants to appear dominant and righteous at the same time.

So it's their pride that keeps them from turning to the Organians. I suspect the Organians have probably also made it clear they don't want other species fighting with each other on their world. They want the damn kids -- or the "dangerous, savage child races" as Q would call them -- off their lawn.
 
I'd think (and probably the Feds, too, would) that they got off with a warning the first time around. If they took their war to Organia a second time, there might be hell to pay...

Timo Saloniemi
 
The Organians might feel that more drastic measures need to be taken if they had to get involved a second time, and I would fear that.

Of course, after so many more wars, they probably washed their hands of it.
 
Of course, if the Federation went running to the Organians every time they had a tough time of it, that would wear thin. But I was thinking in the case of the Borg, where it seemed destruction / assimilation of the human race was inevitable, it might've been worthwhile to make an appeal to them.

The Borg probably would have discovered that the Organians weren't truly corporeal and not bothered with Organia. Despite their isolationist outlook on life, Organians did seem to care about the lesser beings. They certainly helped Kirk & Spock to avoid being killed by the Klingons. That has to count for something.
 
I'm sure they were attempted to be contacted with but they must have their own prime directive.
 
If the Organians aren't corporeal (anymore), why would they keep on to material territory? Why would even Organia itself be relevant to them, except perhaps for purely nostalgic reasons?
 
For all we know, these critters still physically exist, inside planet Organia, and just manifest as ghosts on the surface (and elsewhere).

The TOS episode doesn't reveal much. But ENT calls another random bunch of noncorporeals the Organians, establishing further facts about them: as late as the 2150s, they still actively probe alien species for their potential / threat level, venturing outside planet Organia to do so.

Basically, we meet their military in the ENT episode, no doubt greatly separated from the civilian majority in every sense. In TOS, we may have met their less aggressive civilian leadership only, with the military folks remaining in the deep background. The ENT style probing people have done their best to keep Feds and Klingons out, and have failed; it's time for the next step where, amusingly enough, politics is the continuation of war by other means...

Timo Saloniemi
 
I always figured the only reason the organians imposed peace was because the war was about to start over and on their homeworld.

They were no longer corporeal but retained apparently at least some connection to their corporeal past and place.
 
I always figured the only reason the organians imposed peace was because the war was about to start over and on their homeworld.

They were no longer corporeal but retained apparently at least some connection to their corporeal past and place.

Potentially, but I always felt it was more the matter that the war would be so horrifically devastating that, when put in their faces by being at the spark of it, they could not ignore it as some distant thing. War would be the equivalent of a nuclear war on Old Earth. Though the Organians were isolationists, they had their morality. And seeing the war directly overwhelmed their sense of non-involvement.
 
At the same the organians showed some degree of disdain for organic life and did not intervene in other quadrant spanning wars later in Trek history.

Meaning they either ascended to a higher plane of existence or they simply didn't care.
 
I've often wondered why Trek writers have ignored the Organians! The Organian peace treaty forbids any aggression by either side and could be that it had encroached upon their world that made the Organians prevent a conflict and years later they believed that the Federation and the Klingons had resolved their issues and left them to get on with it as they had foreseen a time when both cultures would be fast friends! It's been mentioned only the once in Trouble With Tribbles and nothing since then except for Kang going on about a treaty that the Klingons have obeyed to the letter in Day of The Dove! But the conflict between the Federation and the Klingon Empire in TNGs alternate reality might be because of a glitch in time and the Organians might have been powerless to interfere with! But the Klingon/Federation conflict as seen in DS9 after their failed invasion of Cardassia could have been prevented by Organia if it was close to the super beings territory! In Spock Must die the Organians are prevented from stopping another Klingon attack upon Federation space when the Klingons seal Organia off from everywhere with a force field!
JB
 
I always got the impression the only reason the organians intervened as openly and decisively as they did is that the Klingon-federation war was occurring too close for their convenience and so they slapped the warring parties down.
 
I'm not sure territory had as much to do with it as the way it was demanding their immediate attention, it was happening literally right in front of them and like all fallible beings they reacted to what they saw, not what happened later over the horizon.
 
Indeed it was in front of them if nothing else.

Although they imposed peace and made an accurate prediction(or prophecy depending on your mileage) they weren't interested in corporeal affairs and they made it quite clear involving themselves with beings of flesh and blood was distasteful to them.
 
I WOULD love to see the results of a Cube stumbling upon Organia, and trying to assimilate its primitive native population.....
The Borg probably wouldn't bother trying to assimilate Organia if they saw the "primitive native population" as they wouldn't be technologically advanced enough to warrant assimilation.
 
The Borg probably wouldn't bother trying to assimilate Organia if they saw the "primitive native population" as they wouldn't be technologically advanced enough to warrant assimilation.

Unless the borg already knew the population was nothing of the sort based on the assimilated memories of one of it's trillions of drones.

In which case they'd avoid them for totally different reasons :angel:
 
I do believe the Borg might assimilate primitives if only to bolster their numbers when they need to. Though that is a different discussion.

Anyway I wonder if it would be possible for the organians to be contacted somehow.
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top