Steven Hawking On Star Trek

[Mojochi]

I'm convinced that in half a century of Star Trek, the most fantastic thing they ever did was have Hawking on the show. It's just wonderful that that happened

I have to wonder though... Does his presence on TNG fly in the face of the canon, in so much as Christopher Pike is very similarly disabled on TOS, & despite being 200 years in the future, he is drastically less abled via technology than Hawking is, virtually reduced to yes or no responses through a single or double beep, which for some ungodly reason they couldn't even work into some kind of binary language for the poor bastard

Clearly the show writers had no idea at all how advanced that technology would become, so it's hard to fault them... but well... there it is

 

[LMFAOschwarz]

You know, that's a really interesting question! I don't have an immediate response, but I'll give that some thought. It's pretty heavy stuff before my morning coffee!

 

[LMFAOschwarz]

Okay, I'm working on coffee now.

I don't know the details of how Hawkings' technology works exactly, but I guess we just have to assume that Pike's injuries somehow negate the use of such. I have no idea how they even managed to hook up the yes/no thing. How were they able to verify the meaning either way? We have no idea what delta rays coud do to a person. They were never defined beyond the name, so one could assume that Pike's nerves were affected in some way which prevented any technological interface. Heck, we don't even know if he could feel anything at all.

Pike is really one of the saddest characters in all of Trek. Poor guy. And it always struck me as ironic that he ended up in many ways so similar to Vina.

Also, I'm not aware if Spock mind-melded with Pike or not, but if not, why not?

 

[Melakon]

You know who else used to be limited to "Yes" and "No" responses? Clarabell, on the Howdy Doody show.


Not exactly Godwinning I guess.

 

[LMFAOschwarz]

Howdy Doody always creeped me out.

Nevertheless, that's interesting to know. Melakon.

 

[Melakon]

Bob Keeshan substituted as a clown or played an early version of Clarabell. Buffalo Bob Smith didn't like him and thought he had no talent. Keeshan later became Captain Kangaroo.

 

[LMFAOschwarz]

Everyone seems to get stuck at Captain: Captain Kangaroo, Captain America, Cap(tai)n Crunch, Captain Planet...

I'd be curious to try a bowl of Adm'l Crunch. Ens'n Crunch sucked.

We're not really helping the OP, are we?

 

[Melakon]

The first time I saw a news story about Hawking, I think he had just been put in the wheelchair. He had more control of motion then. Incredible mind.

 

[Ithekro]

I would think that Pike's accident was recent. They hadn't had time yet to fit out a proper interface for him as he probably needed more work done. Spock just took him early.

 

[LMFAOschwarz]

I would think that Pike's accident was recent. They hadn't had time yet to fit out a proper interface for him as he probably needed more work done. Spock just took him early.

That's certainly true. There'd hardly have been "subspace chatter about it for months" if it were old news.

 

[T'Girl]

Pike probably could no longer conceptualize language, that part of his brain wasn't functioning. He understood what was said to him, but couldn't respond.

Yes and no are more basic concepts.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I'm convinced that in half a century of Star Trek, the most fantastic thing they ever did was have Hawking on the show. It's just wonderful that that happened

I have to wonder though... Does his presence on TNG fly in the face of the canon, in so much as Christopher Pike is very similarly disabled on TOS, & despite being 200 years in the future, he is drastically less abled via technology than Hawking is, virtually reduced to yes or no responses through a single or double beep, which for some ungodly reason they couldn't even work into some kind of binary language for the poor bastard

Clearly the show writers had no idea at all how advanced that technology would become, so it's hard to fault them... but well... there it is

I think people take canon too seriously. We have things today that Trek could never have imagined in the 60's.

There was a moment in the latest movie when Pike gets a text message on his communicator, and I couldn't help but smile at art imitating life imitating art.

 

[Mojochi]

The first time I saw a news story about Hawking, I think he had just been put in the wheelchair. He had more control of motion then. Incredible mind.

You, know, I hadn't thought about that. His TNG appearance was only about 6 years before his Simpsons appearance, & now that I think about it, he was still using one of his hands. It's just been so long that he's being reduced to the cheek muscle interface, that I had forgotten

So maybe it's not as comparable as I had thought anyhow. It's just interesting to think about how far they've come, such that back in the 60's they assumed hundreds of years in the future there'd still be no such tech as Hawking possesses now.

I almost wish they'd have kept Pike alive in the NuTrek, just so they could have him become disabled, such that they could show a different, more modern perspective on that tech, like he controls everything with eye movement or something

 

[Push The Button]

Is it true that Hawking is the only Trek guest actor ever to play himself? I recall Joe Piscopo appearing in another of Data's holodeck programs, but I think he was just some generic standup comic.

Hawking is a present-day version of Albert Einstein, the well known person that almost everyone associates with science and genius.

 

[Hober Mallow]

That's what retcons are for.