Conspiracy- biology questions

[Solarbaby]

Is it possible for the mother creature of the neural parasites to live inside Remiick?

What happened to Remmick's internal organs? Why was the mother creature so big and so different looking from the creepy crawly parasites?

How could Remmick Physically swallow the mother creature let alone be it's host?

How could Remick host the mother creature and all the creepy crawlies?

Why did the parasites eat worms? I personally would imagine that parasite wouldnt care if they ate human food or worms. The host's tastes buds would remain the same. But the parasites would experience the same sensations through their connection. And somehow get their nutrients after the host has digested the food. It makes no sense to eat the worms other than to disgust and creep out the viewer.

 

[Tora Ziyal]

It makes no sense to eat the worms other than to disgust and creep out the viewer.

Which I assume is also why you chose to post the lovely photo.

 

[Solarbaby]

It makes no sense to eat the worms other than to disgust and creep out the viewer.

Which I assume is also why you chose to post the lovely photo.

No one is eating worms. I posted that to show the scale of the mother creature with the host

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

^ She meant the head-less remains of Remmick.

Most insects have, at least, a larger queen. Who knows about alien insectoids?

 

[Garrovick]

Well, we never really learned much about the biology/anatomy of those aliens except what we saw on-screen, so I guess the queen bug managed to survive inside Remmick's body somehow.

That scene in the picture above is easily the most shocking thing I ever have seen in filmed Star Trek.

 

[Solarbaby]

That scene in the picture above is easily the most shocking thing I ever have seen in filmed Star Trek.

When it was broadcast on the BBC in the UK they cut bit out. it wasn't until I bought the DVD that I saw it. I had seen pics before so I was prepared for it. It just didn't shock me having been forewarned. I'm really upset that I never got to experience that shock

 

[Pavonis]

What the hell did the "queen" do to Remmick (or his zombified corpse) that allowed her/it/him to survive phaser blasts that long? Usually phasers just vaporize the victim. Did Riker and Picard set their phasers to "torture"?

 

[R. Star]

Crusher gave some BS explanation that the parasites stimulate the production of endorphines in the host and that's why they're able to take sustained phaser fire.

 

[Unicron]

Well, not exactly. She said that they could control the adrenal glands and generate great strength, which is not necessarily the same as also giving them stronger resistance to stuns. Perhaps in Remmick's case, one could argue that the changes made by the queen parasite left him relatively less vulnerable to damage that would have affected his human organs.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

It took three or four blasts from Dr. Crusher to immobilize Admiral Quinn.

 

[MikeS]

If Quinn and Remmick were unaffected in Coming of Age, where did the mother creature live before Remmick?

 

[R. Star]

If Quinn and Remmick were unaffected in Coming of Age, where did the mother creature live before Remmick?

Been awhile since I read Unity, but in the DS9 relaunch novels the queen parasites are said to be similar to the regular ones. That big slug thing that came out of Remmick is a gestational thing to give birth to the baby parasites that grows in a host after the queen parasite takes control.

That makes a bit more sense than a giant slug somehow burrowing it's way into a host body unoticed.

 

[Vanyel]

They always kinda reminded me of The Brood.

 

[Timo]

On the phaser resistance issue, it would appear that most phasers in the episode "Conspiracy" were set on various levels of stun. Significantly, when a beam misses, it fails to even scorch the paint on the walls...

Also, when Quinn is subdued, it's rather unlikely that anybody would have their phasers set on kill yet. They are shooting at a fellow Starfleet officer, after all. Crusher makes her recommendation about the kill setting only after studying Quinn for a while, and the only one who could possibly follow her advice in the final act of the episode is Riker. Picard's gun is confiscated, and he uses Tryla Scott's weapon instead, without visibly adjusting the setting. All the victims of these two guns drop down intact, rather than being vaporized. And in the ensuing chase, it's the infected Admiral Aaron's phaser that fails to make a mark on the wall when missing, while Picard and Riker's guns again drop the man without vaporizing him.

In destroying Remmick (or possibly an artificial construction created in the shape of Remmick but really just a shell of flesh for the mother creature?), neither of our heroes is seen adjusting his gun. Perhaps the big explosion only comes from holding the stun or non-vaporizing-kill beam on the target for a long time - after all, we never see such long dwell times in other episodes!

There are episodes where a dwelling beam is used for cutting through an obstacle, and then the same gun drops an opponent without our hero ever visibly adjusting the settings - and there is no particular reason to think our hero wanted to kill, or had to kill because he lacked the time to adjust the setting. Perhaps "cutting" and "stunning" are one and the same thing, and dwell time makes all the difference?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Vanyel]

Then again kill, in the TNG era, could have various settings too. Starting with a setting that would kill most humanoids, then going up the dial until vaporization.

 

[Timo]

We have reason to believe "stun" will kill the weak and the infirm. "Samaritan Snare" and ST6 make it explicit, but it might be implicit in things like "Conscience of the King", too.

It's pretty natural to assume that "kill" is just a "strong stun" - and that "vaporize" is the first step that is qualitatively different from the rest. What's curious about early TNG is that what ought to be "stun" is in fact coupled with "blow up/cut/vaporize". That is, unless we assume our heroes quickly adjust the settings while the camera is looking away.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Use of Time]

I find that picture (or scene really) to be somewhat iconic for TNG. It isn't the most appetizing picture but it was daring and edgy for it's time on syndicated T.V. and it was one of the best episodes of the first season and maybe the entire series.

I have been trying to figure out what happened to Tryla Scott, Admirals Aaron, Quinn, the Vulcan? Did those phaser shots actually kill them. I don't think Scott has come up again in the novels which is a shame.

 

[Timo]

Quinn was said to be doing fine despite having been subdued with a phaser the same way those others had been. So one would assume Aaron, Scott and Savar to still be alive and well.

From the final log in the episode:

"Admiral Quinn is expected to make a full recovery. There is no trace of the parasite which took control of him."

If the bug made such a clean getaway in the controlled environment of the E-D sickbay, one would expect all the others, in less confined circumstances, to have escaped at least equally cleanly, rather than having hurt their hosts out of spite.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Holdfast]

Why did the parasites eat worms? I personally would imagine that parasite wouldnt care if they ate human food or worms. The host's tastes buds would remain the same. But the parasites would experience the same sensations through their connection. And somehow get their nutrients after the host has digested the food. It makes no sense to eat the worms other than to disgust and creep out the viewer.

It's possible the worms featured possess a particular high concentration of some nutrient the parasite needs. It's not unknown for parasites to subtly alter their hosts' biochemistry, so I suppose one could theorise that the Conspiracy parasites can create a craving for foods rich in the nutrients they need. Like the worms.

Been awhile since I read Unity, but in the DS9 relaunch novels the queen parasites are said to be similar to the regular ones. That big slug thing that came out of Remmick is a gestational thing to give birth to the baby parasites that grows in a host after the queen parasite takes control.

That makes a bit more sense than a giant slug somehow burrowing it's way into a host body unoticed.

Yep, that's what I always assumed. It's a phase of the queen parasite's growth cycle. Of course, how such a large thing can draw enough nutrients to survive in a host (and allow the host to live with such a large mass within it without showing externally as a bulge), is another matter entirely!

On the phaser resistance issue, it would appear that most phasers in the episode "Conspiracy" were set on various levels of stun. Significantly, when a beam misses, it fails to even scorch the paint on the walls..

I don't know if it's ever mentioned how phasers actually work, but intuitively one might suggest that they can be "tuned" to agitate/heat different materials. Certainly, there've been times where a crewmember has fiddled with their phaser before firing in order to create a particular effect (I think Chekov did these before heating those rocks in whatever TOS ep it was, and that maybe the Vulcan in Lower Decks did this with his rifle when deliberately scarring the shuttle). Maybe the default settings on hand phasers, like stun and kill, are designed to preferentially work on biological matter rather than inorganic matter. Sort of analogous to how microwaves work by agitating OH bonds in water molecules, so only heat up things with those bonds.

 

[Unicron]

I tend to think only Quinn survived myself, though I could be wrong, as he was clearly stunned but Crusher said the phasers Picard and Riker used had to be set on kill to be effective. Aaron is the only admiral who takes more than one hit, and the parasites which controlled him and Scott were clearly seen leaving their hosts (Quinn's didn't, unless it happened off camera at some point). I also think it's likely the infected officers would have wanted to kill any potential threats and not necessarily stun them, though again I could be wrong there too.