I know that people generally hate Threshold episode, and it was kicked out of canon, but it is not as 'non-sensical' as some people claim.
Using the theory that Warp 10 allows you to occupy every point in the universe... the reason behind Tom Paris's 'evolution' (well, more accurately, 'mutation') could easily be explained via epigenetics (certain genes becoming switched on or off due to environmental influence) and picking up variety of catalysts in the universe that Starfleet never conceived of (against which they might not have invented shields for - which leaves SF vessels travelling at Warp 10 vulnerable to just about anything that SF doesn't know about, or didn't extrapolate of - which I would gather is QUITE a lot - even if they used AI to extrapolate a variety of advances and theories based on the enormous Federation database, the universe is still ridiculously big with properties that their existing knowledge might not be able to extrapolate theories for) that could have easily resulted in his DNA mutations.
We've seen subspace and other spatial phenomena go through shields and affect the crews of SF ships adversely before.
What's so problematic about it happening here and affecting Paris who occupied every single point in the universe with untold number of spatial phenomena (organized in configurations that SF never encountered, or couldn't account for at this time)?
The Milky Way galaxy is a host to a number of phenomena (subspace and otherwise) that affect SF ships and crews... granted, you'd think after TNG and 100 years since TOS, SF would have AI with its transluminal computers extrapolate billions of permutations on various phenomena in the universe with untold properties, and develop shields that would be ridiculously protective, but as I said, the universe is quite big, and they might still account for a relative fraction of things - the shields could theoretically adapt themselves under the circumstances, but occupying every anomaly and point in the entire universe might be simply too big - though you could probably fix that by phasing the ship slightly out in sync with the rest of the universe - enough to be unaffected by various phenomena, but enough to achieve and travel safely through Warp 10 - but that would be a hypothetical scenario for another time).
Even in TNG, we had an example of Crusher using CRISPR like technique on Barclay to activate a dormant gene with a synthetic T-cell, which then caused a chain reaction in his genome, turned into a virus, spread through the ship and de-evolved the crew.
As for 'infinite velocity' and not having enough energy 'problem'... the Bussard collectors as far as I know serve a function to collect interstellar matter (or energy in various forms) as the ship travels through space (sublight or Warp) which it then turns into energy that powers it.
It might be possible that the shuttle got a radical boost of energy from the deep layers of subspace it penetrated as it approached the TW threshold (and finally crossed it) - more dense type of matter, or exotic type of subspace radiation, particles or something else that the Bussard Collectors might have picked up, and upon converting it into usable energy, the conversion ratio was radically high (high enough to continually sustain Warp 10 - essentially the layer of subspace that allows a ship to travel at 'infinite velocity' becomes the ships power source - or at least just enough to sustain it).
Kicking the episode out of canon wasn't necessary. The crew could have simply said that they would need time to properly analyze the data from the TW flight so they can develop sufficient shielding and technologies for navigation (navigation would likely be equally challenging) that would allow for 'safe instantaneous zipping across the universe'.
In the meantime, treat and cure Paris, and that's it - I doubt giving the entire crew antiproton burst treatment would be very practical - but the EMH could have instead used CRISPR like technique to reverse Paris mutations... or use Paris' previous transporter signature pattern to restore his human DNA and stop the transformation.
Then use whatever limited knowledge you gathered on the TW conduit that 7 of 9 wanted to open up when she was initially bored - instead of Paris saying 'I never navigated TW before' - although, he was technically right about that... he didn't successfully navigate in TW.
Heck, they could have potentially used it to develop a more advanced communication system down the line themselves (as opposed for SF developing the MIDAS array) that would send a message to the Federation instantly.
Using the theory that Warp 10 allows you to occupy every point in the universe... the reason behind Tom Paris's 'evolution' (well, more accurately, 'mutation') could easily be explained via epigenetics (certain genes becoming switched on or off due to environmental influence) and picking up variety of catalysts in the universe that Starfleet never conceived of (against which they might not have invented shields for - which leaves SF vessels travelling at Warp 10 vulnerable to just about anything that SF doesn't know about, or didn't extrapolate of - which I would gather is QUITE a lot - even if they used AI to extrapolate a variety of advances and theories based on the enormous Federation database, the universe is still ridiculously big with properties that their existing knowledge might not be able to extrapolate theories for) that could have easily resulted in his DNA mutations.
We've seen subspace and other spatial phenomena go through shields and affect the crews of SF ships adversely before.
What's so problematic about it happening here and affecting Paris who occupied every single point in the universe with untold number of spatial phenomena (organized in configurations that SF never encountered, or couldn't account for at this time)?
The Milky Way galaxy is a host to a number of phenomena (subspace and otherwise) that affect SF ships and crews... granted, you'd think after TNG and 100 years since TOS, SF would have AI with its transluminal computers extrapolate billions of permutations on various phenomena in the universe with untold properties, and develop shields that would be ridiculously protective, but as I said, the universe is quite big, and they might still account for a relative fraction of things - the shields could theoretically adapt themselves under the circumstances, but occupying every anomaly and point in the entire universe might be simply too big - though you could probably fix that by phasing the ship slightly out in sync with the rest of the universe - enough to be unaffected by various phenomena, but enough to achieve and travel safely through Warp 10 - but that would be a hypothetical scenario for another time).
Even in TNG, we had an example of Crusher using CRISPR like technique on Barclay to activate a dormant gene with a synthetic T-cell, which then caused a chain reaction in his genome, turned into a virus, spread through the ship and de-evolved the crew.
As for 'infinite velocity' and not having enough energy 'problem'... the Bussard collectors as far as I know serve a function to collect interstellar matter (or energy in various forms) as the ship travels through space (sublight or Warp) which it then turns into energy that powers it.
It might be possible that the shuttle got a radical boost of energy from the deep layers of subspace it penetrated as it approached the TW threshold (and finally crossed it) - more dense type of matter, or exotic type of subspace radiation, particles or something else that the Bussard Collectors might have picked up, and upon converting it into usable energy, the conversion ratio was radically high (high enough to continually sustain Warp 10 - essentially the layer of subspace that allows a ship to travel at 'infinite velocity' becomes the ships power source - or at least just enough to sustain it).
Kicking the episode out of canon wasn't necessary. The crew could have simply said that they would need time to properly analyze the data from the TW flight so they can develop sufficient shielding and technologies for navigation (navigation would likely be equally challenging) that would allow for 'safe instantaneous zipping across the universe'.
In the meantime, treat and cure Paris, and that's it - I doubt giving the entire crew antiproton burst treatment would be very practical - but the EMH could have instead used CRISPR like technique to reverse Paris mutations... or use Paris' previous transporter signature pattern to restore his human DNA and stop the transformation.
Then use whatever limited knowledge you gathered on the TW conduit that 7 of 9 wanted to open up when she was initially bored - instead of Paris saying 'I never navigated TW before' - although, he was technically right about that... he didn't successfully navigate in TW.
Heck, they could have potentially used it to develop a more advanced communication system down the line themselves (as opposed for SF developing the MIDAS array) that would send a message to the Federation instantly.
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