The problem with introducing my kids to Star Trek

[Komack]

One of the problems of introducing my kids to Star Trek is now I'm getting questions that I can't answer - especially from my 10 year old son. Here are today's questions, if any one can help:

(1) What is "bigger" - the Klingon or Romulan empire?

(2) How many planets/worlds make up the two empires?

(3) Did the Federation have a war with the Romulans before the Klingons?

(4) What happened to the Organian (spelling?) peace treaty?

Yikes!

 

[marksound]

Send them to this forum. Regardless of whether anyone knows the answer, there will be plenty of discussion.

 

[Sam_I_Am]

I'm answering these on the fly without checking any resources, so perhaps wait for a better answer:

1. I seem to remember from the Star Trek Star Charts that the Klingon Empire is bigger than the Romulan Star Empire, quite significantly so. The RSE seems to be 'locked in' by its Neutral Zone, whereas the Klingon Empire extends further on the other side to its border with the Federation.

2. Pass

3. They did have a war, referenced in the TOS episode 'Balance of Terror'.

4. Pass

 

[Pavonis]

I imagine the Klingon empire is larger than the Romulan empire, but that's based more on the fact that the Klingons were more of a match to the Federation, whereas the Romulans, though dangerous, were isolated from the rest of the galaxy by the neutral zone. Besides, what does "size" mean? Population or just controlled planets? Or maybe just the size of the military counts?

Earth and her allies fought the Romulans in the 22nd century, before the development of the Federation. I don't know that the Federation ever had a shooting war with the Klingons in the prime timeline. They had a cold war akin to the US-USSR tensions, for sure. The Organians put a stop to the shooting, but they were motivated more by the annoyance of the activity in their system, I think. If the Feds and the Klingons wanted to fight somewhere else, I'd not expect the Organians to stop it again. Though just because the Organian Peace Treaty is not mentioned again after TOS, there's no reason to think it didn't remain in force.

 

[Dale Sams]

One of the problems of introducing my kids to Star Trek is now I'm getting questions that I can't answer - especially from my 10 year old son. Here are today's questions, if any one can help:

(1) What is "bigger" - the Klingon or Romulan empire?

(2) How many planets/worlds make up the two empires?

(3) Did the Federation have a war with the Romulans before the Klingons?

(4) What happened to the Organian (spelling?) peace treaty?

Yikes!

1) Klingon

2) We don't know

3) Yes.

4) The Q Continuum drove the Organians underground.

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

How is it a problem if your kids want to know more about Star Trek?

--Sran

 

[Richard Baker]

I am facing a lot of the same questions introducing my Fiance to Star Trek- she saw the newest movie first, then next weekend I showed her 'The Space Seed' and 'The Wrath of Khan'..
Favorite comment so far:
"You know honey, not to seem ugly or anything, but William Shatner is not a very good actor,, is he?"

Since she is going to be part of my life I am trying to show her what I like, where I am coming from and quite frankly most of this sounds silly as hell when you try to describe it to a person who has only seen PriceLine commercials...

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

^If half of everything is luck, the other half is context. People's impressions are based on what they know. If your wife only knows Shatner because of his Priceline commercials, it's not surprising that she doesn't think much of his acting. Hell, I remember him as Kirk from when I was four years old (I'm now thirty), and I still don't think much of his acting.

--Sran

 

[hyzmarca]

One of the problems of introducing my kids to Star Trek is now I'm getting questions that I can't answer - especially from my 10 year old son. Here are today's questions, if any one can help:

(1) What is "bigger" - the Klingon or Romulan empire?

(2) How many planets/worlds make up the two empires?

(3) Did the Federation have a war with the Romulans before the Klingons?

(4) What happened to the Organian (spelling?) peace treaty?

Yikes!

1) Klkingon. The Romulans, though militant, are pretty isolationist rather than expansionist.

2)Unknown.

3)The Federation didn't exist at the time of the Earth-Romulan War. It was the Human-Vulcan-Andorian-Telerite Alliance that came about during that conflict which eventually inspired the Federation.

The Federation never went to war with the Klingons. What they had was a cold war with a number of proxy conflicts, but it never descended into war between the two sides.

4)The Kittomer Accords happened after Praxis exploded. The Organian-enforced treaty became irrelevant as the Federation and the Klingon empire became allies.

That's the whole plot of The Undiscovered Country.

 

[iguana_tonante]

What's wrong with "I don't know" as an answer?

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

What's wrong with "I don't know" as an answer?

Do you have kids? If you say, "I don't know," they'll want to know why.

--Sran

 

[T'Bonz]

Or make up some crap. They'll never know!

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

Or make up some crap. They'll never know!

Is that logical?

--Sran

 

[iguana_tonante]

Do you have kids? If you say, "I don't know," they'll want to know why.

Well, he's only 6 months old now, so rolling on his tummy is what preoccupies him mostly these days. (Also, it was a joke, as you can infer from the winking face. )

 

[ALF]

[wrong forum, whoops]

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

Do you have kids? If you say, "I don't know," they'll want to know why.

Well, he's only 6 months old now, so rolling on his tummy is what preoccupies him mostly these days.

Very nice! Does he commando crawl?

--Sran

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

Or make up some crap. They'll never know!

Is that logical?

--Sran

Logical? Probably not, but making stuff up is about as accurate as the pick-your-own-canon/continuity Trek books and websites kids will encounter.

 

[BoredShipCapt'n]

I've never thought of the Romulans as having an empire as such. That may be due to some vague memories of the James Blish text saying they were confined to the twin planets Romulus and Remus inside the neutral zone.

Or, to get into less-canonical sources, there was the Power Records track "In Vino Veritas" (if anybody remembers that), where Kirk referred to "the Romulan sphere" and "the Romulan hegemony," but never "the Romulan Empire."

 

[iguana_tonante]

Very nice! Does he commando crawl?

Well, he tries. Furiously, I might add.

 

[CaptainDave1701]

My suggestion would be to keep them watching TOS for at least the next 10 to 15 years before exposing them to anything else. This and having them look for, research and read every fanzine and article ever published.(If they find the old Dynamite Magazine Trek issues let me know as I will buy it off them)
This way they will be be fully informed in reference to what has been established and yet has been argued upon in forums such as this. Yes, include TAS in their studies and have them get back with us in the year 2028 or so........