I have a holodeck question or two

[Gingerbread Demon]

These started with TNG.

I was just wondering is the experience in the holodeck active or passive, and could you choose that option?

For example movies like The Godfather, Kiss Me Kate, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

Could you load up a movie like that and just let the story play out as it was made, could you get to walk around inside it and let everything happen around you?

The other option, could you interact with the stories and have your own interactions with characters or change things?

 

[Tosk]

You can do either. You can be part of the story, or just watch it play out as an observer.
We see Riker do both in These Are The Voyages.

 

[Mojochi]

Those seem pretty evident. My only wonder is how much can a holodeck alter the user? It can change the clothes on the user, yes? Then can it change everything about the user? Can a human be a Klingon in there & have it make them appear that way?

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Those seem pretty evident. My only wonder is how much can a holodeck alter the user? It can change the clothes on the user, yes? Then can it change everything about the user? Can a human be a Klingon in there & have it make them appear that way?

Well it turned Tom Paris b,/w so I guess it could

 

[Dr. K.R. Kollman hon.]

Can a human be a Klingon in there & have it make them appear that way?

Well, it changed Data's Offspring Lol into an Andorian and others.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Also jumping off high buildings...... How does a holodeck simulate a 2000 ft fall or a skydive?

 

[Tosk]

By levitating you and blowing some air. Super easy.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

By levitating you and blowing some air. Super easy.

I guess but would that be enough to trick you?

 

[Tosk]

Yes. Coupled with the holography of course.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Yes. Coupled with the holography of course.

I mean it would be very fun

 

[Michael]

Those seem pretty evident. My only wonder is how much can a holodeck alter the user? It can change the clothes on the user, yes? Then can it change everything about the user? Can a human be a Klingon in there & have it make them appear that way?

Well, it changed Data's Offspring Lol into an Andorian and others.

IIRC, they were somewhat inconsistent with how they portrayed the holodeck technology’s capabilities in that regard over the various seasons of Trek shows. In a majority of cases you would see characters get into real costumes before entering the holodeck (think Geordie and Data for their Sherlock Holmes program, Picard for Dixon Hill, Bashir and O’Brien for the Alamo, Paris and Kim for Captain Proton), implying it wasn’t capable of just projecting a costume onto you. But then in “The Offspring” and “These Are the Voyages” it’s suddenly able make it look like a user is wearing a different attire or even appear as a different species (although it has to be pointed out that when Lal was “trying on” different appearances in “The Offspring”, she was standing still and was only watching herself in some sort of mirror, not really interacting within her outfit). In “The Killing Game” it’s apparently able to make B'Elanna appear pregnant and Janeway and Neelix appear Klingon (although on that latter point it’s not entirely clear if that was magical 24th century plastic surgery or not).

Could be that in-universe it’s just capable of doing both and that most people still prefer bringing their own costumes, which I guess makes kind of sense, too.

 

[Warp 10 (Pepperoni)]

When people eat or drink in the holodeck, is this also holographic or does it use replicator technology?

 

[Michael]

When people eat or drink in the holodeck, is this also holographic or does it use replicator technology?

As far as I remember they state on a number of occasions that it’s real, replicated food and drink on the holodeck, yeah.

 

[somebuddyX]

There's a cool description in the novel "Avenger" that I've seen multiple people use to describe how a holodeck works. It lines up with all the stuff in the Tech Manual about forcefields and changing perspectives and treadmills.
The room sound disgusting.

 

[Mojochi]

Well, it changed Data's Offspring Lol into an Andorian and others.

This seems to be a whole other level of use they only scratched the surface of, living avatars would almost certainly be a far more employed use than we see. It wouldn't even be that much more exhaustive of a budgetary requirement for the show... maybe

The only hiccup could be how confusing it might be to the audience of who we're actually watching, like Barclay running a program where he IS Data & Geordi is mocked up as Locutus & then want to engage in combat as them against one another

Also, do we ever see anyone playing a character 3rd person? Some folks would certainly do that too

 

[Christopher]

Then can it change everything about the user? Can a human be a Klingon in there & have it make them appear that way?

In Discovery's third season, a 31st-century holodeck (a century old in the 32nd-century present) is able to alter people's apparent species, to such an extent that Saru actually feels like he's walking on human-shaped feet and has human rather than Kelpien senses -- which is beyond what 24th-century holodecks would be capable of. I'd imagine they use some kind of neural induction to alter people's sensory perceptions, rather than relying only on holographic projections like earlier versions.

A 24th-century holodeck/suite could presumably surround someone with a holographic illusion of being another species, even give it force-field solidity to the touch, but the person thus surrounded presumably wouldn't feel any different, so the illusion would only work from other people's perspectives.

This, by the way, is something that bothered me about The Orville's episodes where the "environmental simulator" (holodeck with the serial numbers filed off) lets the robotic Isaac adopt a humanlike appearance that lets him interact physically -- even sexually -- with his girlfriend Claire. His human form, of course, is played by the actor inside the robot suit, so the problem is that his human head and body are smaller than his robotic head and body. So the illusion can't be projected around the robot form; part of his physical mass would have to be removed or restructured. Which just doesn't make sense.

 

[DonIago]

This, by the way, is something that bothered me about The Orville's episodes where the "environmental simulator" (holodeck with the serial numbers filed off) lets the robotic Isaac adopt a humanlike appearance that lets him interact physically -- even sexually -- with his girlfriend Claire. His human form, of course, is played by the actor inside the robot suit, so the problem is that his human head and body are smaller than his robotic head and body. So the illusion can't be projected around the robot form; part of his physical mass would have to be removed or restructured. Which just doesn't make sense.

Maybe episodes of The Orville are historic recreations of actual events in that timeline and, just as the show is a bit of a knock-off of TNG, the recreation is more of a B-movie version so there's little goofs.

 

[Qonundrum]

In Discovery's third season, a 31st-century holodeck (a century old in the 32nd-century present) is able to alter people's apparent species, to such an extent that Saru actually feels like he's walking on human-shaped feet and has human rather than Kelpien senses -- which is beyond what 24th-century holodecks would be capable of. I'd imagine they use some kind of neural induction to alter people's sensory perceptions, rather than relying only on holographic projections like earlier versions.

A 24th-century holodeck/suite could presumably surround someone with a holographic illusion of being another species, even give it force-field solidity to the touch, but the person thus surrounded presumably wouldn't feel any different, so the illusion would only work from other people's perspectives.

This, by the way, is something that bothered me about The Orville's episodes where the "environmental simulator" (holodeck with the serial numbers filed off) lets the robotic Isaac adopt a humanlike appearance that lets him interact physically -- even sexually -- with his girlfriend Claire. His human form, of course, is played by the actor inside the robot suit, so the problem is that his human head and body are smaller than his robotic head and body. So the illusion can't be projected around the robot form; part of his physical mass would have to be removed or restructured. Which just doesn't make sense.

Orville shuttles have cloaking technology; while the main ship didn't (from what I recall), is it possible they used a variant of it for their environmental simulator to bend light so perfectly that it distorts the size of the actual item (e.g. cranium) while wrapping the visage of a slightly smaller item (e.g. human head and reflecting in surrounding scenery) in such perfect clarity? All from the same beams that create the force fields -- even the ones so nuanced for all that sexytime stuff and I doubt Isaac has an antenna or electrical recharge cord hanging out down there, sigh... none of it ultimately makes sense, in sci-fi or fantasy terms. Neither should light sabers, but one or two of those on screen is easier to roll with, and while their universe talks of crystals as somehow generating the field of light, there are other and more plausible explanations one could fathom. For Isaac and allegedly needing an extendible and extensible life-size piezoelectric buzzer, not so much... but the show screwed up on the Kaylon too often to begin to believe they were designed for getting jiggy with as well. (Not that I've seen much of season 3 and what I did see just reaffirmed where season 2 went wrong in scope and consistency...)

 

[Finn]

Those seem pretty evident. My only wonder is how much can a holodeck alter the user? It can change the clothes on the user, yes? Then can it change everything about the user? Can a human be a Klingon in there & have it make them appear that way?

It made B'Elanna pregnant....

 

[Tuskin38]

and treadmills.

Speaking of which.. an engineer at Disney has designed a omni-directional treadmill
https://www.ign.com/articles/disney...oor-inching-us-closer-to-a-real-life-holodeck