• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Suspension of Disbelief vs. In-Universe Explanations

You really don't need to spoiler tag stuff from a 55 year old show or a 12 year old movie IMO.
I believe there are still people around who are watching that for the first time. And I don't see any harm in adding spoiler tags, anyone who doesn't mind spoilers can just click on it
 
And the recreation of Kahless in TOS had no ridges

In universe the recreation was made from the memories of Kirk and Spock. If they never knew about the ridges, then their image of Khaless would be smooth headed.

If only photos or videos of Klingons from before the augment virus existed. If only...

Sigh. Oh well...
 
Of all the Klingon variations I like the ones seen in the very first film (TMP). Instead of a lumpy forehead , it looked like the spine came up the back of the skull and over top to the brow. Makes wonderful sense to me for a warrior race, far better than a ball bouncing on top of a rod like humans have. ST III reduced this to a bunch of ridges, sort of OK but to me it reduced the almost feral look of the TMP Klingons to ones who look like they have a headache...
 
I believe there are still people around who are watching that for the first time. And I don't see any harm in adding spoiler tags, anyone who doesn't mind spoilers can just click on it
Rule of thumb here in general is six months. It's why I held back on talking about DSC Season 3 in this forum until this month.

Quite considerate, I'd say.
True, but the vast majority of board members have been here forever. If they haven't seen the Old Trek they intend to see by now, they're probably not going to and don't care about spoilers.
 
Last edited:
I guess Kang, Kor, and Koloth must have gotten better at some point to become ridged before TUC.

I like to think that people in noble houses like Kor were able to avoid the virus until shortly before Kirks 5 year mission, accounting for Klingons in Discovery (and Axanar, for that matter) having bumpy heads, though making it even odder that Kirk and co. seem unaware of their previous bumpiness. After nobles started getting infected, the search for a cure redoubled, leading to a cure by the end of Kirks first mission.
 
I reject it because I think all of that only exists because there was one single director who wanted to blow everything up.
Heaven forbid after so many decades, something happens in Trek with massive consequences, which shaped Spock and Picard's later lives.

It's easier to suspend disbelief that something like the Romulan supernova happens and it changes everything, than Picard gets tortured for an hour by Cardassians and it never comes up again.
 
I usually prefer Suspension of Disbelief rather than some convoluted in-universe explanation.

For example:
The Klingons look different in TOS and in DISC, simply because the make-up used was different, no silly Augment virus or preposterous theory that all these completely different looking designs are "all the same species"(come on! :rolleyes:)
And the same is true for the Trill.
 
Unless you're talking to a Zaldan...

That one I have a little problem with, IMO, when you're in Starfleet you're supposed to follow the Starfleet code of conduct not the one of your own culture otherwise can you imagine the chaos on the bridge (plus the multiple misunderstandings and possible conflict) if each alien behaves according to their own sense of decorum. So Wesley was not supposed to answer the way he did on a Starfleet Starship to someone wearing a Starfleet uniform. He should have denounced their behavior as out of line.
 
That one I have a little problem with, IMO, when you're in Starfleet you're supposed to follow the Starfleet code of conduct not the one of your own culture otherwise can you imagine the chaos on the bridge (plus the multiple misunderstandings and possible conflict) if each alien behaves according to their own sense of decorum. So Wesley was not supposed to answer the way he did on a Starfleet Starship to someone wearing a Starfleet uniform. He should have denounced their behavior as out of line.
I just got a headache thinking what a Bridge staffed by the TakTak would be like...
 
I believe there are still people around who are watching that for the first time. And I don't see any harm in adding spoiler tags, anyone who doesn't mind spoilers can just click on it
The tags are not needed, so please leave them off. If you believe your thread has spoilers, put an alert in the thread's title
 
Last edited:
That's why I don't understand that so may people seem to dislike these episodes... they show a new facet of Klingon culture, they show enemies working together as professionals, and they explain something people have wondered about. Do people find FC bad because no explanation of the first warp flight was necessary? Was it necessary to explain why Sarek and Spock didn't talk, or where the Defiant went to when she disappeared? It still was revealed decades later and that's a nice thing IMO. Any addition to the background fabric of the whole franchise is a good thing, 'necessary' or not.
 
That's why I don't understand that so may people seem to dislike these episodes... they show a new facet of Klingon culture, they show enemies working together as professionals, and they explain something people have wondered about. Do people find FC bad because no explanation of the first warp flight was necessary? Was it necessary to explain why Sarek and Spock didn't talk, or where the Defiant went to when she disappeared? It still was revealed decades later and that's a nice thing IMO. Any addition to the background fabric of the whole franchise is a good thing, 'necessary' or not.

As a matter of fact, Enterprise season 4 is the one I prefer and I hate "storm front", IOW I like the other episodes all the more.
 
That's why I don't understand that so may people seem to dislike these episodes... they show a new facet of Klingon culture, they show enemies working together as professionals, and they explain something people have wondered about. Do people find FC bad because no explanation of the first warp flight was necessary? Was it necessary to explain why Sarek and Spock didn't talk, or where the Defiant went to when she disappeared? It still was revealed decades later and that's a nice thing IMO. Any addition to the background fabric of the whole franchise is a good thing, 'necessary' or not.
It depends largely on what is being explained. Certainly I find the first warp flight the less interesting part of First Contact, but it works as an overall story. The augment virus is a story is a bizarre exploration of a simple change.
 
I think there is an impossible pushme-pullyou balance due to the nature of the fandom. Some fans want things to be explained and rationalized and "consistent" to the nth degree, and those fans can be very vocal, particularly online.
But the silent majority tend to not care that much, which is why writers and show-runners can get away with making changes they see as servicing the story, rather than fitting into the "canon."
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top