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Tomorrow is Yesterday

Considering how they focused on it, it's plain that the droplet is meant to be how Tormolen got infected. From there skin to skin contact, even skin to sweat contact, as from Tormolen's shirt to Riley and Sulu, or other body fluids as well, causes infection.
 
Yet no droplets are involved in any of the subsequent infections. Why ditch this powerful visual cue?

Also, where did that droplet come from in the first place? Why would it be relevant to the transmission of the disease when it isn't related to the previous victims in any obvious manner?

And why does it flow uphill...? Or at all, in an environment where everything is frozen solid?

The intended interpretation for the events isn't particularly satisfactory, either dramatically, story-logically or medically. And indeed the TNG reenactment suggest a completely different pathology, more of a match with the evidence. Although other stories could be cooked up, too, even better matching what we see - say, the droplet being a dangerous (even if not malicious) alien lifeform that creeps around looking for victims.

Timo Saloniemi
 
And Riley looking at his hands and wiping them, both on his shirt and his pants. Sulu is seen doing much the same thing, though not as obvious or pronounced. We're meant to think it's possibly Tormolen's blood, but his sweat will do for a transfer to take place.
 
Yet no droplets are involved in any of the subsequent infections. Why ditch this powerful visual cue?

Also, where did that droplet come from in the first place? Why would it be relevant to the transmission of the disease when it isn't related to the previous victims in any obvious manner?

And why does it flow uphill...? Or at all, in an environment where everything is frozen solid?

The intended interpretation for the events isn't particularly satisfactory, either dramatically, story-logically or medically. And indeed the TNG reenactment suggest a completely different pathology, more of a match with the evidence. Although other stories could be cooked up, too, even better matching what we see - say, the droplet being a dangerous (even if not malicious) alien lifeform that creeps around looking for victims.

Timo Saloniemi


Well, it was pretty easy to discern on that frozen console, perhaps the show boffins didn't think it worthwhile to reproduce it with a similar motion effect on ship surfaces or tunics, as they thought it had been so obviously sold as the active agent already.

It was likely an organism that was indigenous to the planet. I don't think it was ever stated how long the science team had been stationed there, so it's plausible that it simply took some time to make its way into the facility, or alternately may have been picked up by one of the crew while outside. I'm not sure how you think it needed to be displayed otherwise to be made convincing evidence of what happened to the rest of the team. There could have been droplets in various other nooks and crannies, that neither we or the landing party saw. Besides, after they were infected, to say nothing of being dead and frozen, what visible signs of the original transmissions would have remained?

Speculation only, but as you suggest lastly, the organism may simply have been able to retain its metabolic processes even in such temperatures as these and been able to move when it sensed? a target of opportunity.
 
I'm even annoyed by TVH. Kirk is selling his glasses. Spock questions this. "Aren't those a gift from Dr. McCoy?"

"And they will be again, that's the beauty of it" Kirk says.

No. No they won't be. Not for this version of you. Maybe for an earlier version of you. Argh.

Well earlier me is still me, and the receiving of the gift is an event to take place in the future so his statement makes sense as a statement. Clearly it isn't true as those glasses will be destroyed by Capt Archer's Great Aunt Henrietta in the tragic sitting-on-the-recliner-without-looking-first accident of 2115. Only the non-time traveling pair can make it to Kirk to avoid the ontological paradox.

I think I'm going with the Tuvix recombination approach as the best explanation of Capt Christopher. I can't accept Kirk outright killing off Christopher so I suppose the recombined Chris retains something of his memories but only in a hazy manner due by being combined with his earlier version works.
 
The Psi 2000 virus I think was activated by the heat of tormolen's hand against the ice! Maybe it just reacted to it even if it was dormant at the time!
JB
 
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