The Whale Probe's Signal Radius

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ IIRC, the novelization of ST4 said the probe had previously been able to communicate to the whales from light-years distant that it was enroute and anxious to hear their stories when it arrived, and mankind hadn't reached a technological age where the communications would have caused any problems to man the last time the probe was around. Also, that the ionization effect on the oceans was the probe's attempt to reach wherever the whales had gone into the ocean depths, not realizing that the whales had gone altogether. It didn't really perceive mankind as an intelligence to be communicated with, just the whales, and stopped the ionization effect caused by its "song" only once it heard George or Gracie sing back to it.

I do remember the book saying that the probe asked the whales where they were for however long it had been bombarding Earth's oceans with whalesong, the whales replying that they didn't know, they were there and then and now they were here and now, talking to the probe, the probe asking where the rest of the whales were and the two whales saying that they were all that was left, and the probe departed, wishing them well and anticipating new songs at some future point as it left Earth's orbit, SpaceDock lights up, the rain stops, cue the fanfare.

It wasn't that the probe was trying to wipe out humanity on Earth, but that was just the collateral damage from its whalesong.

If the probe can communicate with the whales over several light years, why couldn't it detect that there were none left on Earth when it entered orbit? If it can talk to them, it should be able to detect them (or lack thereof). Doesn't this thing have sensors?

 

[Richard Baker]

Maybe the initial signals which disabled everything was a long distance hail- if they whales had responded then the Probe could have chatted and moved on, when there was no response it moved into orbit and increased the strength, focused on the oceans to try and find them.
I think the Saratoga was more damaged than the Spacedock, at least where it could not restore power after the Probe had past, because it was very close to the long distance hail. The Spacedock was affected also, but by then the Probe had focused on the Oceans and it was only getting the fringe of the signal. It also probably had more power options to come back on line once the interference had stopped, like Starfleet command had on the surface when they boosted things to hear what Kirk was saying...

 

[FormerLurker]

The novelization is fairly explicit about the Probe wanting to begin a new cycle of evolution on Earth, to replace the whales it had been in communication with. It is far less clear in the film, which can be attributed to the film only showing our reaction to what the Probe is doing, but it's clear in the film that the vaporization(not 'boiling', Timo) of the oceans is dangerous to land-based life, in part because the oceans are so critical to that life being able to sustain itself.

 

[SicOne]

^ IIRC, the novelization of ST4 said the probe had previously been able to communicate to the whales from light-years distant that it was enroute and anxious to hear their stories when it arrived, and mankind hadn't reached a technological age where the communications would have caused any problems to man the last time the probe was around. Also, that the ionization effect on the oceans was the probe's attempt to reach wherever the whales had gone into the ocean depths, not realizing that the whales had gone altogether. It didn't really perceive mankind as an intelligence to be communicated with, just the whales, and stopped the ionization effect caused by its "song" only once it heard George or Gracie sing back to it.

I do remember the book saying that the probe asked the whales where they were for however long it had been bombarding Earth's oceans with whalesong, the whales replying that they didn't know, they were there and then and now they were here and now, talking to the probe, the probe asking where the rest of the whales were and the two whales saying that they were all that was left, and the probe departed, wishing them well and anticipating new songs at some future point as it left Earth's orbit, SpaceDock lights up, the rain stops, cue the fanfare.

It wasn't that the probe was trying to wipe out humanity on Earth, but that was just the collateral damage from its whalesong.

If the probe can communicate with the whales over several light years, why couldn't it detect that there were none left on Earth when it entered orbit? If it can talk to them, it should be able to detect them (or lack thereof). Doesn't this thing have sensors?

Communicate TO the whales from light-years distant, not communicate WITH them at that range. Unless the whales had fashioned some kind of subspace radio under the boundless sea, which would be admittedly difficult to do without opposing thumbs, the whales would have to wait until the probe arrived and lowered the spinny brainy thingy into the upper atmosphere in order to have the probe hear what the whales had to say. I didn't write the script, but I would think the writers wouldn't have the probe yelling to the whales from across the universe if it didn't think the whales couldn't somehow "hear" it and get ready for its arrival. Although to zap the planet with ocean-changing space rays once it found out that no one was home is kind of a dick move for an extraterrestrial intelligence. Kinda like going over to a friend's house, yelling from across town as you were coming, arriving there to find out he had gone elsewhere, then setting fire to his home. Maybe this probe had some kind of severe personality disorder?