Personal Log: WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!!!!!
General Trek Questions and Observations
- Thread starter The Old Mixer
- Start date
The personal log conundrum was quite hilariously addressed and somewhat fixed in fanfic. In the story let’s just say someone, quite naively, as they were dictating their duty log digressed into a personal area regarding a kissing session they had had with a certain captain. It was made clear that personal logs (in this universe) were encrypted and locked. Duty (and mission) logs were not and could be and usually were read by anyone allowing that once one person read it it would disseminate quickly and it was best to keep personal in personal logs (or perhaps not at all). I could see wanting to document happenings to revisit sometime down the line. However, it doesn’t explain why or how easily personal logs are accessed in canon stories.
Obviously. I wouldn't put something that I really need to keep secret on the system in the first place. After all, any advanced quantum recursive fractal encryption algorithm that hasn't been broken in over two centuries can be broken in 5 minutes of one of Our Heroes actually puts his or her mind to it.
I'd say it also intersects partly with information classification levels.
For example, suppose Captain Janeway comments on how she dealt with a first contact situation - that's work, so it should be in her captain's log. Presuming it was an orderly first contact and nothing out of the ordinary happened, there's probably no reason not to make that log accessible to everyone.
But suppose she ran into some Omega molecules - that, too, probably should be in her Captain's logs, just not accessible to everyone, but presumably only
only to captains and higher. There may be things even more secret that are on a strict need-to-know-basis.
Yeah, I sadly left off the captain’s log which the fanfic story made that exact point as well.
(I can’t believe how much this site makes me laugh as I traverse posts. That’s a good thing though. What took me so long finding my way here).
I suppose it's strongly encouraged, if not mandated, with the incentive of rewards of some kind. We've really only seen recorded logs that are like diaries, but I imagine some of the more creative types might have one that's more like a sketchbook, or an author's/poet's notebook; hobbyists might use it to document their pursuits, while the analytic sort might keep a record of personal progress/milestones; still others might keep more of an agenda/calendar.
Where's the realistic log from Captain or crew where we hear the person fart. Come on.
"And ensign ... ensiiigggnnn Whatshisname over there. Yeah, I hate that guy. Would like to blow him out an airlock. So, anyway, I read over his report..."
So there are all types of logs besides the Captain’s Log, Duty Logs, Personal Logs...
My Secret Diary - this would be manually written in a book of paper with a colorful, perhaps even decorated cover, locked with a simple key. Stored in a small metal or wooden box that also has a simple key locking mechanism. The box is placed into the top drawer of the nightstand next to the bed which may or may not have it’s own lock/key because no one would think to look there. They keys are in a locket on a necklace to be kept with the person to ensure no one could ever get to this precious text of private ramblings.
My Sketchbook - may or may not require locks. My guess is much of them would need locks.
My Life so Far aka My Stitch in Time, My Poems, My Photo Book, My To Do Lists, My Psychopathic, Ramblings aka Just let me do this so as to not go crazy in the Delta Quadrant, Love Letters and so forth.
Of course the assumption is that it’s a time where everyone is past the petty and/or strong hurtful urges that are considered to be in the past. Gossip notwithstanding.
How so?
These people seem to have no toilets on board in the first place.
I think that's a clear indication they've evolved beyond farting as well.
We'll, Kirk sat on a toilet in the brig in Star Trek V, sinks seen at bathroom entrances in TNG, and sonic showers in Voyager. Plus, I think I remember reading one the new Trek series actually had a toilet seen. If being morbidly obese still is a thing in the 23rd century, and being bald in the 24th century, it's entirely reasonable to think they're all farting. Maybe some more than others (here's looking at you, Tuvok...).
That would account for why Picard got up so often to walk around. He had to fart, got up, cranked it out and made it look like he was in serious contemplation.
Well, Kirk was only living in the 23rd century, which obviously was not quite as evolved as the 24th. And sinks, yes, sonic showers, yes, bathrooms, yes, but that don't necessarily mean toilets, does it?
(Of course, I'm only joking. There are some claims a toilet was actually seen in Q who, in the cylindric section the Borg extract. See this screenshot, I think it is fairly convincing.)
(Of course, I'm only joking. There are some claims a toilet was actually seen in Q who, in the cylindric section the Borg extract. See this screenshot, I think it is fairly convincing.)
Kind of also looks like a fax machine. ;-)
Speaking as someone with an actual History degree, albeit only a BA, may I observe that the journals, letters, and diaries of so-called "ordinary" people are often hugely helpful in understanding events. Decision makers have a tendency to present events in an optimised light, even in an official log. Other peoples' writing can add a lot of nuance and context. (Example: the entire premise of the movie Enemy a the Gates, the "sniper duel" between Zaitzev and Konig, comes from a comment Zaitzev made in an interview about how the Nazis sent a sniper instructor to hunt him down. No journal, log, or orders from anyone else on either side of the conflict mentions this.) And, of course, the writings of everyday people are hugely helpful in understanding the day to day life of a different time or context.
Reading the official log of an accident that occurred at a World War 2 flight training school leaves a very dry, bare-bones impression of what happened. Reading my grandfather's diary for the same event - and he does not go into gory detail - turns the story into something that involves actual people who actually got scared and hurt, and not just a plane that broke and some overtime for the mechanics. Personal logs bring events to life.
As to why personal logs are so common in Starfleet, and ignoring the narrative advantages, it's worth noting that most literate sailors in the age of sail and even in the late 1800s and early 1900s tended to keep journals and diaries. Partly this was because of a widespread cultural expectation that one would do so; partly this was seen as a way to remember what had happened when you finally got home after months or years and were talking to your friends and family.
I doubt Starfleet requires personal logs, but they do encourage it on a professional level. And once one is in the habit of recording or summarising everything job-related, it becomes pretty easy to get into the habit of doing the same thing for one's personal life. So, IMO, we see a lot of people keeping personal logs because they life in a culture that encourages it and their job has made it a habit.
One reason I can slam TOS Season 3 only so much: scenes like this from an underrated episode shot on a bare bones budget. Season 3 gets justified flak for having on-balance the worst writing of the three years of TOS, but when it got the stories and performances right it was pure gold.
DeForest Kelley, Nimoy and Shatner all knock it out of the park here, and guest star Kathryn Hays is always eerily effective and lovely as Gem. She has absolutely no lines in the entire episode, but still delivers a memorable and emotive performance.
DeForest Kelley, Nimoy and Shatner all knock it out of the park here, and guest star Kathryn Hays is always eerily effective and lovely as Gem. She has absolutely no lines in the entire episode, but still delivers a memorable and emotive performance.
@Vagabond Elf I suppose some were written as long letters home, to be posted at the next port of call, or personally handed over to the one you were writing to upon your return.
Similar threads
- Locked
