Or a klingon uses it for target practice.
The Inner Light
- Thread starter MurphyCooper
- Start date
Had to make Picard super special.
And where did they go?
They weren't stupid to launch the probe, so manned ships should have been launched. Thousands of them, they had the time. At least at the DY-500 level...maybe higher.
My conclusion is that they have yet to be found.
If Bonaventure level then spreading out at warp factor two.
They weren't stupid to launch the probe, so manned ships should have been launched. Thousands of them, they had the time. At least at the DY-500 level...maybe higher.
My conclusion is that they have yet to be found.
If Bonaventure level then spreading out at warp factor two.
I sometimes refer to him as Sir Patrick because I think it fits his personality.
Contemporary chic cynicism creeps into the criticism of this episode. The probe was supposed to be that one-in-a-million shot. As for "Why not send out a massive cluster of probes?" I don't know. Perhaps the memory simulation technology was extremely complex (maybe even experimental) and, thus, could only be fabricated once?
Lotta trouble to go to for a million to one shot.
And my criticism has nothing to do with being chic or contemporary. I am not the former and barely the latter.
I'd be into that idea. It's not the romantic position the episode seems to take, but I like the thought that there were many, many probes and they all do the same "We just wanted to find you" routine.
My favorite "Inner Light" joke is that the probe inadvertently locks on Spot. While the Enterprise is studying the probe, Data's cat is alone in his quarters, experiencing the Kataanian culture in all its glory. And by the time Data returns to his quarters, he's woken up like nothing happened.
They're a navigational hazard!I'd be into that idea. It's not the romantic position the episode seems to take, but I like the thought that there were many, many probes and they all do the same "We just wanted to find you" routine.
It has been a long time since I saw the episode but our own attempts at communicating with extraterrestrial life have been of the “shot-in-the-dark” variety—a few things attached to the side of outer solar system probes, occasionally leaving some microengraved stuff on other solar system bodies, even the Arecibo message was a one-and-done. Only one (or a few) launches, especially in light of a society dealing with a planetary catastrophe, doesn’t seem all that unlikely to me.
I think my assumption has always been that Kataan basically poured all their resources into this probe because it might be their only shot at being remembered at all and they might not have the time remaining to do more. One might argue that they would have been better off doing something else, but assuming they were really the relatively benevolent civilization they seem to be, I'm disinclined to speak ill of the dead.
Another interesting thought, at least to me: How do we know that any of what Picard experienced is actually real? How do we know that society existed? How do we know that the probe was actually designed to do that? What if he just had some weird reaction to the probe's signal and his brain just hallucinated the whole thing?
Or that it wasn't just somebody's work of fiction.
I think you kind of have to take it on faith that what we're seeing is supposed to have some degree of verisimilitude. Nothing is really presented to the contrary in the course of the episode, and for what it's clearly trying to achieve, it falls apart if you start looking too deeply under the hood.
Although I do like the idea that if a Klingon had been zapped by the probe then they'd have a more Klingon-compatible experience.
Although I do like the idea that if a Klingon had been zapped by the probe then they'd have a more Klingon-compatible experience.
Yes, but why make it a one-time-only deal? If it's already a long shot, why risk it all with the single-use program?
If you wanna preserve your race through memory or story, maybe at least include a paperback version in the probe's storage compartment just in case. Even if just so that Picard can refer to it when he forgets stuff.
Unfortunately the episode doesn't give us a lot of insight into Kataan's space program.Yes, but why make it a one-time-only deal? If it's already a long shot, why risk it all with the single-use program?
If you wanna preserve your race through memory or story, maybe at least include a paperback version in the probe's storage compartment just in case. Even if just so that Picard can refer to it when he forgets stuff.
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