Theory: Ocampan Physiology is Influenced by Nearby Species

[Timo]

Even if Ocampans typically give birth to multiple offspring at once, the elogium being a once-in-a-lifetime thing is quite problematic, since there's always a chance that an Ocampan woman could die from disease or accident before it ever happens, or be trapped somewhere away from any biologically compatible mates while it happens, etc., etc.

Which is no problem if we read the episode as establishing the phenomenon as simple anti-virginity. If you do it when the time comes, you can do it again as many times as you please (as nothing contrary is stated). If you fail to do it, you can never try again (as stated).

Accidental death would have no major effect on birth rate in such a case. Being stuck in an elevator for the crucial hours would be comparable to death in its practical effects, though.

No, I'd never want to hear that "covered". Implicit trumps explicit if there is no contradiction. And it's with the explicit that the writers can go wrong, not with the implicit, which is our domain.

The problem is that the writers didn't think when they came up with those weird abilities for the Ocampa.

I hardly think this is either a problem, or something to be avoided. Trek lives and breathes "coming up with weird". Consequences are the interesting thing that emerges later on, enriching further storytelling.

The audience "didn't notice" when Spock compared himself to salmon, and then it turned out he didn't die with his first and only spawning, and never was supposed to, his spawning being cyclic instead. Good came out of that, much better than what the "Amok Time" intent was.

Good might have come out of the elogium, too. Only, Kes left before the writers got around to that.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Brobdingnag]

....

1. Kes's training sessions with Tuvok increased the strength of her telepathy. Obviously Tuvok's teaching was a factor, but she was also being exposed directly to his Vulcan telepathy.

But Kes' abilities were way beyond Tuvok's. If anything it's meeting her own kind with enhanced abilities that did the trick.

1. There was no hint of Ocampans having any time-travel related abilities, until "Before and After," when Kes was exposed to radiation from one of Annorax's Temporal torpedoes. Note that several crew members were exposed to those tachyons, but it seems only Kes gained the power to move through time. She retained this ability up to even "Fury"

Kes was the only one to spend time in the Doctor's "something" chamber... which is what triggered the time travel.

1. Only after telepathic conversations with 8472, aliens from another universe, did Kes suddenly gain powers that transcended her own universe (seeing beyond the subatomic level, etc)

It's never been shown that 8472 were able to do anything more than communicate with telepathy (we never saw them set things on fire with their minds for example).

1. She also had shape-shifting abilities in "Fury"-- something 8472 has as well

...

8472 obviously don't have that ability naturally, they need to be injected with something for that, otherwise, you'd think the fugitive from Prey would have used it at one time or another.

 

[Lynx]

Which is no problem if we read the episode as establishing the phenomenon as simple anti-virginity. If you do it when the time comes, you can do it again as many times as you please (as nothing contrary is stated). If you fail to do it, you can never try again (as stated).

Accidental death would have no major effect on birth rate in such a case. Being stuck in an elevator for the crucial hours would be comparable to death in its practical effects, though.

No, I'd never want to hear that "covered". Implicit trumps explicit if there is no contradiction. And it's with the explicit that the writers can go wrong, not with the implicit, which is our domain.



I hardly think this is either a problem, or something to be avoided. Trek lives and breathes "coming up with weird". Consequences are the interesting thing that emerges later on, enriching further storytelling.

The audience "didn't notice" when Spock compared himself to salmon, and then it turned out he didn't die with his first and only spawning, and never was supposed to, his spawning being cyclic instead. Good came out of that, much better than what the "Amok Time" intent was.

Good might have come out of the elogium, too. Only, Kes left before the writers got around to that.

Timo Saloniemi

I doubt that the writers could have come up with anything to save the day in this case. Every time they did screw up, they just kept going as if nothing had happened. Sometimes i get the impression that they didn't actually care about the show, the characters or the ongoing story. It was all about ratings and money.