Most Gratuitous Trek MacGuffin!

[Cyke101]

Slightly OT, but Sam & Max had their own adventure about McGuffins:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpR-Misimgw

 

[Armored Saint]

I've always understood a MacGuffin as also having virtually no impact on any of the details of the plot. The Maltese Falcon is a MacGuffin because if you changed it for something else of approximately the same size, value, and upkeep needs (in the Falcon's case, none), the characters would be doing exactly the same things they're already doing.

But I suppose that's too limited. The whales of TVH sure seem like a MacGuffin to me, just an excuse to get the crew into the past, but there's no denying their nature does impact the plot--McCoy and Scotty need special tanks to get them home. But that's pretty much it, unless you think an SF Bay rescue is a strong impact on plot (I don't).

They couldn't have replaced the humpback whales by rats, because they needed a species which upcoming extinction was plausible. They couldn't have replaced the humpback whales by koalas, because they needed a species which transport would be difficult. They couldn't have replaced the humpback whales by tigers, because they needed a species which is presumed smart. They couldn't have he humpback whales by elephants, because they needed an aquatic species.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Quadrotriticale is important only because it's needed for Sherman's Planet, which is—not important to the viewer. The plot revolves the grain, just as plots revolve around all MacGuffins. The fact that this MacGuffin is edible is part of the humor involved (such as it is). It's edibility provides the means by which the tribbles end up "possessing" it, foiling both the Federation heroes who want to use the MacGuffin and the Klingon villains who want to destroy it (as tribbles, dumb little creatures, are shown to eat everything).

 

[Armored Saint]

The Trouble with Tribbles is about how a trouble maker can save the day by the trouble he made himself. The sabotaged ressource could have been something else than poisoned food

Quadrotriticale is important only because it's needed for Sherman's Planet, which is—not important to the viewer.

Yup, Sherman's Planet is only there to set another confrontation between the Enteprise and Klingons.

 

[E-DUB]

The "Stone of Gol".

 

[wulfio]

basically the whole Abramsverse is a MacGuffin.

 

[CorporalClegg]

basically the whole Abramsverse is a MacGuffin.

Basically? As in not at all?

 

[Zaku]

The "Stone of Gol".

^ This. Absolutely.

basically the whole Abramsverse is a MacGuffin.

 

[wulfio]

definitions expand.

 

[Maurice]

definitions expand.

Not on your say-so. But thanks for being on the show.

 

[CorporalClegg]

They expand. They don't become something completely different.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

I went for "red matter". If they only needed a microscopic drop of whatever the hell it is, why then do they have a huge ball of the stuff? It's just begging to be abused by a madman.

 

[CorporalClegg]

People still seem to have difficulty with the definition of McGuffin.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

People still seem to have difficulty with the definition of McGuffin.

Yep.

 

[Zaku]

Ok, I believe that the definition of Wikipedia is a good one.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacGuffin

In fiction, a MacGuffin (sometimes McGuffin or maguffin) is a plot device in the form of some goal, desired object, or other motivator that the protagonist pursues, often with little or no narrative explanation. The specific nature of a MacGuffin is typically unimportant to the overall plot. The most common type of MacGuffin is an object, place or person; other, more abstract types include money, victory, glory, survival, power, love, or some unexplained driving force.

The MacGuffin technique is common in films, especially thrillers. Usually the MacGuffin is the central focus of the film in the first act, and thereafter declines in importance. It may re-appear at the climax of the story, but sometimes is actually forgotten by the end of the story

Examples in film include: the meaning of rosebud in Citizen Kane (1941), the NOC list in Mission: Impossible (1996) or the Rabbit's Foot in Mission: Impossible III (2006), the briefcases in Pulp Fiction and several Coen brothers films, the Heart of the Ocean necklace in Titanic, and the mineral unobtainium in Avatar (2009).

The nature of Red Matter, for example, is quite important for the plot (it destroyed Vulcan, an important plot element for the 2009 movie and the sequel!)

definitions expand.

A a MacGuffin is a plot device. How can a narrative universe be a plot device?

 

[CorporalCaptain]

But Red Matter is not a "goal, desired object, or other motivator that the protagonist pursues".

 

[Vandervecken]

Ok, I believe that the definition of Wikipedia is a good one.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacGuffin

The specific nature of a MacGuffin is typically unimportant to the overall plot.

Which leaves out quadrotriticale, because its nature was important to the plot.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Ok, I believe that the definition of Wikipedia is a good one.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacGuffin

The specific nature of a MacGuffin is typically unimportant to the overall plot.

Which leaves out quadrotriticale, because its nature was important to the plot.

No, it said specific nature unimportant to the overall plot. Quadrotriticale's specific nature as a "high-yield, perennial, four-lobed grain" [link] is completely immaterial to the plot, as is its importance for Sherman's planet. It only needed to be something that the Klingons could covertly sabotage and that the tribbles could subsequently and overtly sabotage without covering up the Klingon sabotage. Nothing else mattered.

 

[Mudd]

The nature of the "Sherman's Planet problem" didn't matter. The show is a comedy about Kirk dealing with all these fucking rabbits, and the punch line is a ton of them falling on him. If you think the hows and whys of that are other than trivial you've missed the point.

 

[Vandervecken]

Ok, I believe that the definition of Wikipedia is a good one.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacGuffin

The specific nature of a MacGuffin is typically unimportant to the overall plot.

Which leaves out quadrotriticale, because its nature was important to the plot.

No, it said specific nature unimportant to the overall plot. Quadrotriticale's specific nature as a "high-yield, perennial, four-lobed grain" [link] is completely immaterial to the plot, as is its importance for Sherman's planet. It only needed to be something that the Klingons could covertly sabotage and that the tribbles could subsequently and overtly sabotage without covering up the Klingon sabotage. Nothing else mattered.

Only? That's ALOT of plot relevance in my book.