Spoilers The Strange New Worlds Starship Thread™

[Manticore]

So treating them as if they are an Intelligent Alien Species that happens to be located on Earth is beyond your ken?

Pelia must give you horrendous heart palpitations then.

...I find the concept goofy and don't like it. I don't see why it's worthy of derision.

And no, I don't mind Pelia's race at all. I don't like the character but that's not the same thing.

 

[Nerys Myk]

It’s a holdover from the idea that dolphins are as smart as humans that was popularized last century. It’s not a particularly goofy concept. Though I’m unsure if science bears it out.

 

[Manticore]

It’s not a particularly goofy concept.

I mean, I watched SeaQuest. It kinda is.

 

[Tuskin38]

Iirc the concept behind the TNG version was that they would help with navigating in space, as they were said more adept to moving in 3D.

Which is how prodigy uses it IIRC

 

[Lakenheath 72]

The concept of dolphins serving on Federation starships dates back to the first season episode "We'll Always Have Paris", where door signage said "Tursiops crew facility". Tursiops are bottlenose dolphins. Later, in the series, we heard two mentions to Cetacean Ops on the Enterprise - "Yesterday's Enterprise" and "The Perfect Mate".

 

[Tomalak]

But presumably it was influenced by The Voyage Home, which established that humpback whales are considerably more intelligent than 20th century humans.