Star Trek : Generations - Nexus Ribbon

[Dryson]

Star Trek is fan service.
I would really like to see the Federation discover a really advanced species, a species that is close to being like Q but still non-Q. Such a species would be able to basically freeze a black hole in its place and then harvest the tremendous amount of energy stored inside.

If the Borg did enter the Nexus, would the Borg be able to assimilate all of the people inside?

Could the Nexus be used by the Borg to create transwarp conduits that actually functioned?

Could a person trapped in the Nexus die and then return, over and over again?

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Whenever I watch GEN (which isn't often), I'm flabbergasted all over again by how just how vaguely defined the Nexus is. What can it do or not do? I've seen the film maybe half a dozen times, and I still have no idea.

Does it transport you in time or does it stand outside of time? Does it take you to significant moments from your past so you can change the outcome, like Kirk choosing to go back to Starfleet? Or does it create an idealized fantasy life for you that never actually happened, like Picard's Dickensian Christmas? If it's creating fake memories, does that mean Kirk's Nexus vision about Antonia and his uncle's cabin is just as fake as Picard's vision? And if it does both, WHY does it do both? Can the person control where the Nexus takes them at all? And if not, how did Picard find Kirk in there? Can you leave of your volition or not? And if you can choose where and when you leave, why does Picard choose to go back to a time when he has only minutes to stop Soran?

Does everyone leave behind an echo when they exit the Nexus, or was that just Guinan? Is the Nexus why Guinan has the extra time sense she displayed in "Yesterday's Enterprise"? Does Soran have the same time sense, or is that just a Guinan thing? Does Soran have an echo in the Nexus, too? Hell, if everyone leaves an echo behind in there, did Picard even meet the real James T. Kirk?

Really, the Nexus just acts in whichever way is most convenient for the current scene. There's nothing consistent or clearly defined about it, so it's tough to care.

And lastly, this isn't a Nexus complaint but it makes no sense so I'm going to ask it anyway: Who the hell stops in the middle of cooking eggs to go chop firewood?!?

 

[The Rock]

The plot hole that is the Nexus wouldn't be so bad if they had explained why Picard chose to go back in time to the mountaintop on Veridian III right before Soran launched his missile into the sun instead of going back earlier in time to arrest Soran before he could ever get to Veridian III. Guinan even tells Picard that if he leaves the Nexus he can go back at any point in time, anywhere.

All the writers had to do was just have Guinan say that if you leave the Nexus you'll spawn a little bit before from when you entered it in the same place you entered it. Boom, problem solved.

 

[SithHappens]

The plot hole that is the Nexus wouldn't be so bad if they had explained why Picard chose to go back in time to the mountaintop on Veridian III right before Soran launched his missile into the sun instead of going back earlier in time to arrest Soran before he could ever get to Veridian III. Guinan even tells Picard that if he leaves the Nexus he can go back at any point in time, anywhere.

All the writers had to do was just have Guinan say that if you leave the Nexus you'll spawn a little bit before from when you entered it in the same place you entered it. Boom, problem solved.

That wouldn't get Kirk out to fight Soran though.

 

[The Rock]

That wouldn't get Kirk out to fight Soran though.

Good point. In that case they can say that if you bring someone out of the Nexus with you, they will spawn at the same time and place you spawn.

 

[Tango]

Good point. In that case they can say that if you bring someone out of the Nexus with you, they will spawn at the same time and place you spawn.

.

Picard might have come out with Kirk back to the 1701-B. That would have been a rather different movie!

 

[publiusr]

If the Borg did enter the Nexus, would the Borg be able to assimilate all of the people inside?

I like to think the Nexus would rescue the Borg drones before they had a chance to assimilate it. Everyone but the Queen happy…she hears a hum…and the drones start to smile as she screams “NO!”

Then a rapture-like sequence where the drones disappear…leaving their appliances and prosthetics to clatter to the decks.

That should be how the artifact from PICARD was deactivated…with Romulans just happening upon it.

Lots can be done with the Nexus…birth of the Q? Or a version of Starro.

Iod the shining Hunter slowly devouring souls like the Devidians…joy in annihilation.

 

[FederationHistorian]

Two villains long gone could even have found each other in the Nexus and rounded up all of the other villains to suddenly emerge from the Nexus Ribbon as very powerful foes for Picard's son and crew to deal with.

Its one thing for a villain to stop off at anytime period to gathers other villains. Another thing complete to get them to the Nexus. That would take some serious coordination, as the Nexus only entered the galaxy every 39.1 years. He/she/they would have to at minimum, put them in cryostasis, waking them just prior to the ship/starbase gets destroyed. And possibly kidnap some of them.

20th century: 1913, 1952, 1981 (Khan & the other Augment leaders) 40 villains

21st century: 2020, 2059, 2098 (Colonel Green) 1 villain

22nd century: 2137, 2176 (Silik, Duras, Dolim, Malik, Valdore) 5 villains

23rd century: 2215, 2254, 2293 (Khan & SS Botany Bay (2260s), Khan and USS Reliant crew (2280s), Kruge, Chang, Soran; Krall's status is an unknown in the prime universe) 4 villains, maybe 5 if Khan is recruited from both the 2260s and 2280s.

24th century: 2332, 2371 (Bok, Ardra, Kivas Fajo, Sela, House of Duras, Madred, Dukat, Weyoun, Female Changling, various Jem’hadar Firsts, Thot Gor, Borg Queen, Locutus, Cullah, Seska, Soran, Ruafo, Shinzon, Reman Viceroy, Nero, Narek, Narissa, Oh. I'm sure there are several I'm forgetting.) 25+ villains

25th century: 2410, 2449, 2478 (Vadic, other villains to come) at least 1 villain

26th century: 2517, 2556 (Spherebuilders?) unknown number; transdimensional beings

Its an interesting idea, but the logistics need to be worked on when involving the Nexus. Its simpler to just create a series of interphasic rifts; then entire fleets (Tzenkethi, Borg, Species 8472, Dominion, 23rd Century Klingon Empire, 22nd century Romulan Star Empire, Zhat Vash, etc) can be involved as well.

 

[Dryson]

I like to think the Nexus would rescue the Borg drones before they had a chance to assimilate it. Everyone but the Queen happy…she hears a hum…and the drones start to smile as she screams “NO!”

Then a rapture-like sequence where the drones disappear…leaving their appliances and prosthetics to clatter to the decks.

That should be how the artifact from PICARD was deactivated…with Romulans just happening upon it.

Lots can be done with the Nexus…birth of the Q? Or a version of Starro.

Iod the shining Hunter slowly devouring souls like the Devidians…joy in annihilation.

Interesting, but would the Borg Drones still have the will to break through the Borg Queens programming to allow the Nexus to create the dream state that the Borg Drones desire?

 

[Haggis and tatties]

That was the point. Kirk wasn't deriving joy from it either. It was just a task he was doing as part of his fantasy of returning to Starfleet. And as I mentioned above, had Picard not interrupted that fantasy, he would have left his firewood, his gf, his cabin, his burnt eggs and his dog and went back to fantasy Starfleet.

I always thought the whole log chopping scene was a euphemism to show that Kirk was not going to chose starfleet again, but rather chopping up the captains logs as a symbol that this time he was going to take the other path he did not chose last time and he was done with starfleet for good.

 

[Dukhat]

I always thought the whole log chopping scene was a euphemism to show that Kirk was not going to chose starfleet again, but rather chopping up the captains logs as a symbol that this time he was going to take the other path he did not chose last time and he was done with starfleet for good.

I mean, you’re welcome to interpret the scene that way, and I won’t tell you you’re wrong, because I don’t think the writers who came up with the idea for the Nexus even thought about it as much as you did. All I know is that Kirk was feeling regret about retirement and really wanted to be in the seat that Harriman was currently occupying when he was swept into the Nexus. So I don’t think he was done with Starfleet in his mind at all. I think his Nexus fantasy was going to be that he breaks up with Antonia, goes back to Starfleet, and gets a new ship to command. He even says as much to Picard as the fantasy is unfolding, but Picard interrupts and breaks the spell before the fantasy can continue. I don’t think Antonia, his cabin, his dog etc. even existed in the real world, just like Picard’s fantasy family didn’t exist. That’s my interpretation, anyway.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

^^^You are no doubt right that they did not think so deeply about the story, as Kirk chopping wood was just that to them, kirk chopping wood, filling some screen time. ha

 

[somebuddyX]

Reading The Fifty Year Mission again and they mention they worked on Generations for a year and All Good Things in like two weeks.
But as to the OP's question, I think if the Nexus came back in some novel/comic that might be good, just with more thought or more rules to it. I think it just has too many facets, like it's a big holodeck basically that feeds off your desires but also a time machine and time stands still when you're inside. And you can't fly into it except Soran and Guinan and Kirk did. It is a very striking design though and maybe it goes around and gobbles up some Jem Hadar or something, who get to dream of glorious battle and the day they met a Founder.

 

[publiusr]

Interesting, but would the Borg Drones still have the will to break through the Borg Queens programming to allow the Nexus to create the dream state that the Borg Drones desire?

They had their own fantasy land in a virtual sense--as per Voyager.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

I don’t think Antonia, his cabin, his dog etc. even existed in the real world, just like Picard’s fantasy family didn’t exist. That’s my interpretation, anyway.

I agree. I just don't think the whole Antonia/cabin thing fits with the continuity the TOS movies showed us, so I'm fine with discounting it altogether. And considering it a pure fantasy like the Picard family Christmas actually adds a bit more consistency to the movie.

I think it just has too many facets, like it's a big holodeck basically that feeds off your desires but also a time machine and time stands still when you're inside. And you can't fly into it except Soran and Guinan and Kirk did.

As I said above, the Nexus basically functions however the screenwriters want it to function in any given scene, regardless of whether or not it contradicts what the movie previously showed us.

 

[Unimatrix Q]

I like to think the Nexus would rescue the Borg drones before they had a chance to assimilate it. Everyone but the Queen happy…she hears a hum…and the drones start to smile as she screams “NO!”

Then a rapture-like sequence where the drones disappear…leaving their appliances and prosthetics to clatter to the decks.

That should be how the artifact from PICARD was deactivated…with Romulans just happening upon it.

Lots can be done with the Nexus…birth of the Q? Or a version of Starro.

Iod the shining Hunter slowly devouring souls like the Devidians…joy in annihilation.

Considering that Borg drones apparently experience a constant state of euphoria, I guess it's possible that their Nexus fantasy consists of staying inside their alcoves for eternity

 

[Damian]

I actually liked the idea of the Nexus. It's definitely a different type of plot device. And how much it feels like paradise that you can understand why characters are reluctant to leave it.

There are plot holes about it that bother me, yes. But more in how they used it, not the Nexus itself. The writers seemed to think saying you can't fly into it with a ship because it would be destroyed sets that aside.

Ok, it does destroy ships. I can see why Soran wouldn't want to take that chance. What if his ship was destroyed before he could be taken in. There's no guarantee there. So for the sake of argument I'll say trying a ship again is out.

But someone else mentioned it, he knows where and when it's going to be. Why not get into a space suit and a little bit before it shows up, beam himself into space and just wait for it to show up. No need to wipe out a civilization. It seems like an easy answer. Of course there'd be no movie then, but it should work.

And when Picard and Kirk leave why does Picard come out only just before the Nexus arrives? Sure an argument can be made he doesn't want to alter the timeline so he wouldn't want to come out days, months or weeks before. The only thing I'm guessing is he doesn't want to run into his 'younger' self before he can be taken into the Nexus and somehow interfere with that. Because then he wouldn't be there to get Kirk's help. But still, you'd think he'd give himself more time. I'm thinking in this case the writers wanted to destroy the Enterprise because they wanted a new ship for the next movie, so they didn't want to come out early enough to stop that (I was kind of hoping that was going to happen because I was sad to see the ship destroyed).

 

[Dukhat]

Ok, it does destroy ships. I can see why Soran wouldn't want to take that chance. What if his ship was destroyed before he could be taken in. There's no guarantee there. So for the sake of argument I'll say trying a ship again is out.

The problem with this scenario, of course, is that Kirk, Soran, and Guinan all originally entered the Nexus by ship: Kirk on the Ent-B and Soran and Guinan on the transport ships.

 

[Kor]

... Is the Nexus why Guinan has the extra time sense she displayed in "Yesterday's Enterprise"? ...

I remember that at least one novel after GEN did give this explanation, and maybe the GEN novelization too, but I haven't read it in years.

Kor

 

[Damian]

The problem with this scenario, of course, is that Kirk, Soran, and Guinan all originally entered the Nexus by ship: Kirk on the Ent-B and Soran and Guinan on the transport ships.

True. But they did put in the story that any ship that goes near it is destroyed. For the purposes of the plot I'll grant the point that you take a chance using a ship. Perhaps there's a good chance the Nexus will take you on a ship, but there's also a chance you might get destroyed before it takes you and you die. An argument can be made that Soran's obsession made it that he didn't want to take any chances, how ever minimal. They might have pushed that point a little more to state why he might not want to use a ship this time (as an aside, I also wish they pushed the point that Kirk's death, however badly it was handled, did help save an entire civilization on Veridian IV--I have no doubt Kirk would give his life to save a planet, even one he never heard of, but that point was forgotten by that point).

But I still say, given that, why didn't Soran just put on a space suit, beam himself into space where he knew the Nexus would be (since it followed a predictable course) and just wait for it to come to him? There was no need to go to the trouble of destroying stars to do that. And I don't know how far the Nexus went, but he might have been able to do that years before and not waited so long.