How many times did the Enterprise go past the Galatic Barrier

[Methuselah Flint]

In "Where No Man Has Gone Before" they successfully entered it, but immediately turned around and exited back the way they came (IMO this doesn't count as 'Crossing the Barrier'.)

Yes, I agree. But it does beg the question of space exploration in the Trek universe. Does Earth/Sector 001 happen to be at one edge of the galaxy, (say poetically North), and in WNMHGB they decided to probe outward, (i.e. further upward and beyond), whereas before, and thus afterwards, TOS et al decide to probe further inward, past the Solar System, but into rather than out of the galaxy? It adds confusion of sorts that this probe in WNMHGB happens also to be the pilot, with every subsequent story travelling in the opposite direction. Nonetheless, this is just a theory.

 

[johnnybear]

Actually the answer should be: Twice (and both times in the same episode: "By Any Other Name".)

In that episode they successfully crossed it once to exit the Milky Way galaxy and then crossed it again (although that was not shown in the episode, but definitely HAD to occur as they re-entered the Milky Way galaxy.)

In "Where No Man Has Gone Before" they successfully entered it, but immediately turned around and exited back the way they came (IMO this doesn't count as 'Crossing the Barrier'.)

As others have mentioned, in "Is there In Truth No Beauty" there actually is some dialogue from the visiting Enterprise designer that he DID take the ship into the Galactic Barrier; but something else happened, and they were trapped in some void that they couldn't navigate out of using Humanoid senses or instruments. Again, IMO that doesn't count as 'Crossing the Barrier'.)

Yes that's true! They didn't cross the barrier in WNMHGB but they did in BAON! Maybe the question was how many times did the ship encounter the barrier rather than cross it! I'll have to dig it out and check because it has been many, many years since I last read that chapter!
JB

 

[UnknownSample]

On ITITNB: I don't know why dialogue automatically trumps visuals. If things are said that don't seem to match totally with a visual, the visual is more powerful and harder to ignore. Look, there's the Barrier, right there on my TV screen, even if I hear no word "barrier". "Unknown void" is very vague. The Barrier is largely an unknown. They know almost nothing about it. Is it a void? They seem trapped in a big, fairly empty place, in both versions. Who knows how far those streamers are, but could be light years. Space itself is a void. Is the Remastered place more of a void? The colors are darker, but I'm not sure that makes any difference. Purple clouds. Pink stuff. A void either way... the far reaches are just different colors. I guess a real void would be flat featureless black, but they didn't choose to do that.

Why can't the barrier be a vast place that you can get lost or stuck in, in other words, a void?

All this shows the dangers of focusing on technicalities. One can be so concerned with being technically correct that he ends up being wrong... or subverts artistic considerations. A classic, stunning visual effect was replaced with a visual effect so dull it could have been on Voyager.

 

[Timo]

"Is There in Truth" features dialogue that may be taken as an attempt at continuity - and if so, establishes that the ship crossed the infamous Barrier twice. Then again, we may laugh derisively at the idea of continuity in the Turd Season (even when factually it's the most continuity-minded of the lot!) and interpret that dialogue in some other fashion.

Nobody comments on any Barriers when the ship hits Ludicrous Speed and enters that mysterious void, but the ship indeed subsequently resides outside the galaxy - despite the difficulty of establishing their location, Spock says that this is "evident", and he tends to be right (even in cases where the audience cannot fathom why this should be). Spock then says they need to "re-cross the Barrier" in order to get back home. For those of us wanting to see continuity where the writers might not have bothered to insert any, the case is clear and the ship crossed twice. But other interpretations are allowed, and e.g. Spock might instead be discussing a Barrier between normal space and this weird realm where navigation is difficult.

Why the Barrier would not have effects except in the pilot episode is pretty obvious: it only affects a rare breed of humans, those born with telepathic tendencies. Kirk, Spock and Scotty are explicitly immune, as shown in the pilot episode (perhaps Spock's Vulcan roots make him immune, or perhaps his human half is the deciding factor for being telepathy-free?). All that "By Any Other Name" establishes is that McCoy, too, is immune, which isn't much of a surprise. But "Is There in Truth" drops the ball on the dramatically interesting fact that Miranda Jones in fact is another human telepath, and prime material for transformation into a nasty goddess.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Methuselah Flint]

in "By Any Other Name" the entire crew was cubed.

No, they didn't get cubed until after exiting the barrier.

 

[The Old Mixer]

This is a show where they hoped very much that we would care about the world of the show enough to recognize something like the Barrier.

On the contrary, this is a show where they hoped we wouldn't notice when they reused something like a matte painting or an alien ship in a completely different context.

 

[Timo]

No, they didn't get cubed until after exiting the barrier.

...And presumably Kirk ordered them de-cubed some time after the end credits rolled, but before they hit the Barrier on their way back.

Although he might have decided that Accounting Division would appreciate him keeping the crew as is for a bit longer, too. We don't know for sure.

What is the true prevalence of psionic vulnerability among humans? In "Where No Man", two people turned into gods, and of the nine killed, at least some died of the esper effect. Was that all nine? "Each case", "only certain people" and "the others" are the expressions used; the heroes might already have excluded the guy who died because a console exploded on his face and the gal who fell down the bottomless shaft, etc.

We might still simply accept that Kirk's crew no longer featured psi-positive humans in the latter two episodes, either for sheer statistical reasons or because Starfleet implemented a new policy.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Green]

No, they didn't get cubed until after exiting the barrier.

I thought they cubed everyone except the bridge crew before they crossed. It's been a long time since I saw it -- time for a re-watch.

 

[Timo]

Once the excitement of Kirk refusing to commit suicide by rigging the ship to blow up at the Barrier is over, Rojan says it's time to "neutralize" the crew. The command shocks Kirk, suggesting no such elimination took place before the Barrier-crossing scene.

Tellingly, when Kirk yells "No!", Rojan simply tells him that the procedure of neutralization is already underway. If Kirk had prior knowledge of his crew being turned into salt lumps, this part of the exchange wouldn't make much sense. On the other hand, perhaps the process has been underway for some time, without Kirk knowing about it, and half the crew is already crystallized?

Rojan then has Uhura turned into one of 'em dodecahedrons, and this is when Kirk first learns that "neutralizing" doesn't mean outright execution...The rest of the bridge crew follows.

We then move to the scene where Kirk almost tramples over a few salt blocks in a corridor, again suggesting all this is news to him. And then comes the scene where Spock confirms only the four of them remain awake. But there's a bit of wiggle room as said.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[BlueshirtGuard]

Heres another question, why is there a barrier that gives people ESP powers surrounding the galaxy?

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Heres another question, why is there a barrier that gives people ESP powers surrounding the galaxy?

Don't be a Barrier Denier. The fictional science is settled on this.

 

[johnnybear]

I thought someone had already stated that after the events of WNMHGB The Enterprise was fitted with better shielding and the like? Barrier resistant metals are expensive to install but well worth it when you know the dangers of not having it!
JB

 

[UnknownSample]

Someone guessed that. It wasn't onscreen.

 

[johnnybear]

True but it would be the logical thing to do after such an experience!
JB

 

[DrCorby]

We might still simply accept that Kirk's crew no longer featured psi-positive humans in the latter two episodes, either for sheer statistical reasons or because Starfleet implemented a new policy.

The rise of PsiCorps in the Star Trek universe...

 

[Timo]

Well, they did insert an agent in the second season...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[johnnybear]

Wonder why Picard and his Ship didn't visit the barrier in TNG? Or any of the other crews as well for that matter!
JB

 

[Timo]

It would depend on whether there's anything of interest beyond the Barrier. The purple mist itself is a known quantity already, supposedly, to the extent it can be known by mere mortals anyway. If space beyond it is empty till the unreachable Andromeda, there's not much point in going there.

How empty could it be? Supposedly there are stars there - heck, we can see those in the relevant TOS episodes! But perhaps intelligence (the humanoid sort, or then intelligence, period) can only evolve closer to the galactic core and never managed to migrate out? Would dead things be worth exploring, when there are so many of those on the inside of the Barrier already? Whatever the Federation needs to mine, it can supposedly mine on its own side of the Barrier, and the rest it will replicate. Etc.

It's a bit difficult to believe that the Barrier would really be a sharp divider of anything much, save (just possibly) for the one thing we did see it block and divide: humanlike minds. But if it's more than that, then the outside would be different and for that reason alone worth exploring.

Does somebody else have dibs, though? Kirk went in and out in a single ship, often at ridiculously high speed. Perhaps the border patrols that failed to catch him are more vigilant in the 24th century, and the governments behind them monopolize Barrier traffic in the UFP neighborhood. Perhaps 'em Nyberrites consume foreign young officers because they regularly dip those into the Barrier to gain that divine edge in their fight for monopoly?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[johnnybear]

Thing is, you can't cross the barrier at sub-light speeds! It's got to be warp speed breaking through all that negative energy! Maybe that's why certain people were altered, because they were harbouring negativity within themselves and the happy go lucky crewmembers were unaffected? Well it's worth a pop right?
JB

 

[Noname Given]

Wonder why Picard and his Ship didn't visit the barrier in TNG? Or any of the other crews as well for that matter!
JB

It probably was an edict of Gene Roddenberry. Remember, he SOLD the rights to TOS as soon as the third season wrapped. He didn't do that with TNG - so for him TNG was the 'new and improved' Star Trek. I mean hell he specifically told any writers who hadn't seen much of the original series to AVOID watching it.