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The Probes Was A Jerk.

Nardpuncher

Nardpuncher

Rear Admiral
So the probe would wreak havoc on the Earth because the whales are gone? What did the squirrels, bears, dragonflies, salmon, puppies, kittens and all else have to do with it?! :confused:

I'm being a little silly, but it does ring of that bias towards large lifeforms. people want to save redwoods (admirable, of course) but won't say anything about smaller plants that are cut down. Whales should be protected if they are endangered of course...but be careful not to do it just because they're so darned big. Oh yeah, and they are smart too.
 
Also, we don't know if the storms and stuff were a punitive act against mankind ("you killed the whales, nothing on this planet is worth my mercy, so begone!"), a neutral act in favor of the whales ("whales gone, sea chemistry all wrong for their return now, let's oceaniform this planet and seed it with these calves I have in my holds"), or an incidental or accidental act ("I'll scan the seas for whales, oops, my beam is creating storms, no matter, the whales won't mind that"), or something else altogether.

For all we know, the Probe wasn't interested in "saving" the whales at all. Perhaps it was a colonization vessel for an aquatic lifeform, intent on oceaniforming any planets on its path unless they featured "life as they knew it", that is, whales and their ilk. If there was no return to its hails, then oceaniforming would proceed. If there was, the Probe would leave these dumb animals in peace, hoping that some day they would develop into aquatic intellects similar to the crew/payload of the Probe.

Or then it was a harvester for rare oceanic delicacies. It would first scan for those aroma-fouling whales, and if none were present, it would harvest. But just two and a half individuals would pollute the whole catch and cause the Probe to give up.

That's a big part of the allure of the movie: we don't have the faintest idea why whales were important to the Probe. Which is an excellent message regarding real-world eco-thinking: we just plain cannot know which of the things we erase will prove out to be important to us in the future. Big whales or small bacteria, the basic problem is the same.

Timo Saloniemi
 
I still like the theory that the probe made a million-light-year trip to Sea World and was honked off that it was closed and threw a tantrum.


:evil:
 
You know how if you're looking for something important, you'll tear a room apart to find it with no regard to the mess you're making? Similar situation, the whales were the thing the Probe was looking for, and Earth was the room.
 
Semah said:
I still like the theory that the probe made a million-light-year trip to Sea World and was honked off that it was closed and threw a tantrum.


:evil:
Click to expand...

But then why did it leave when the whales were brought? Or did they just sing a 'sorry - closed for repairs, try again in about five thousand years' message?
 
I got the impression that the Probe was 'unaware' of the damage it was causing - it expected to show up, call the whales, have an apparently 5 second chat and then disappear. It's likely it's designers didn't really look into what it would do to other indigenous life if the whales didn't return its call.
 
DGCatAniSiri said:
Semah said:
I still like the theory that the probe made a million-light-year trip to Sea World and was honked off that it was closed and threw a tantrum.


:evil:
Click to expand...

But then why did it leave when the whales were brought? Or did they just sing a 'sorry - closed for repairs, try again in about five thousand years' message?
Click to expand...


Ever take a kid to the zoo?

"I wanna see the Tigers! I wanna see the Tigers!"

"There are the Tigers honey."

(5 seconds later)

"I wanna see the bears! I wanna see the bears!"
 
The Probe is fucking weird when you get right down to it.

Were there lifeforms aboard? Was it automated? What was its purpose? Why did it care about humpback whales so much? Are humpbacks actually aliens? Are George and Gracie now ambassadors to the Probe's planet?

Spock should have done another mind meld with the whales to find out exactly what was going on!
 
The probe mugged my grandma, sexually assaulted my pet chihuahua, and took a big steaming shit in my Cheerios.

RoJoHen said:
The Probe is fucking weird when you get right down to it.

Were there lifeforms aboard? Was it automated? What was its purpose? Why did it care about humpback whales so much? Are humpbacks actually aliens? Are George and Gracie now ambassadors to the Probe's planet?

Spock should have done another mind meld with the whales to find out exactly what was going on!
Click to expand...
I dunno, this whole need to have every element of the story explained like we're stupid... would it really add that much to TVH to find out whether the probe was crewed or automated, or to have the whalesong conversation at the end between George and the probe translated into English? Or would it just needlessly complicate the story? To delve into actual reasons and motivations for the probe would detract from the film's message — its obvious "save the whales" message, as well as the more general message that humans should be good stewards of the earth.
 
Yeah, it's fun to speculate as to what the probe's motivations were and where it came from and why it wanted to speak with the whales, but ultimately, I think that the movie would have lost something if we'd learned them. Even in the 23rd century, some things just don't get answers.
 
Pssst! Wanna know what the probe REALLY was?

Heh.


Come closer...





Closer.




The probe was REALLY...











a MacGuffin. Nothing more! :lol: Just like the Doomsday Machine it was ultimately just another plot complication to deal with and didn't have any greater meaning or motivation. ;)
 
cardinal biggles said:
The probe mugged my grandma, sexually assaulted my pet chihuahua, and took a big steaming shit in my Cheerios.

RoJoHen said:
The Probe is fucking weird when you get right down to it.

Were there lifeforms aboard? Was it automated? What was its purpose? Why did it care about humpback whales so much? Are humpbacks actually aliens? Are George and Gracie now ambassadors to the Probe's planet?

Spock should have done another mind meld with the whales to find out exactly what was going on!
Click to expand...
I dunno, this whole need to have every element of the story explained like we're stupid... would it really add that much to TVH to find out whether the probe was crewed or automated, or to have the whalesong conversation at the end between George and the probe translated into English? Or would it just needlessly complicate the story? To delve into actual reasons and motivations for the probe would detract from the film's message — its obvious "save the whales" message, as well as the more general message that humans should be good stewards of the earth.
Click to expand...
Oh no, my post was only half serious. I definitely don't want the explanation in the movie. I love it as it is. But it's fun to come up with explanations just to satisfy my own curiosity.
 
The Probe Was A Big Meany that Took My Lunch Money.

I will echo the already proposed idea that the probe did not intend to wreak any havoc. That is what I always assumed.

Anyway... so the probe was sent to see why they lost contact with the whales (at least, that was Spock's guess, and there was no other alternative explanation given, so I assume that was the screenwriter's way of letting the audience know the truth). This means that back before Humpbacks became extinct, they were in regular communication with a lifeform in another part of the galaxy. Kind of makes ya' wonder how the communications were being sent, don't it? Aside from being sonic waves, did whale songs also travel through some form of hyperspace that is undiscovered even in the 23rd Century?

When the probe came, our crew intercepted the signal it was sending, and figured out that it was a whale song. However, that signal was intercepted by our crew in the vacuum of space, which means it was not being transmitted through sonic waves, but through radio waves or something more high-tech. So how did the whales listen to the signal? Was the signal transmitted by something that turned into regular sonic waves when it hit the ocean surface?

Actually, I don't care what the answers are; it's just fun to ramble.
 
The Wormhole said:
You know how if you're looking for something important, you'll tear a room apart to find it with no regard to the mess you're making? Similar situation, the whales were the thing the Probe was looking for, and Earth was the room.
Click to expand...

Yep...and the whales weren't there...how many times did you yell at your sister for taking something from your room when, in fact, you misplaced it....crap rolls down hill..

Rob
 
So the impression I got from watching the movie and paying attention
was that the probe was sent by a race who had lost contact with the
Whales and were trying to find out what happened to them.

The probe was probably built with only the need to find the Whales in mind
and did not realize it was causing damage since none of these little ships
and such were flying around last time they spoke. The Whales simply
explained what was up and so the probe went on it's way having done it's job.
 
I wonder who would win in a fight the Whale Aliens and there evil Probe or the Borg? Can you imagine a Giant Whale Borg!! :borg: :techman:
 
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