Trek Things That Went Over Your Head

[Kryton]

I don't know how or why I never put it together before (or, for that matter, saw it being discussed somewhere around here or wherever), but for whatever odd reason it just occurred to me...

DS9's Morn, always at the bar, was a tribute to Norm from Cheers, right down to the letters in his name.

Okay, maybe YOU realized it a long time ago, but it only just dawned on me. What Trek mainstay that seems SO OBVIOUS NOW didn't strike you until long afterward?

 

[Wonderlust King]

holy shit I just realized that too!

 

[Red Ranger]

Until you mentioned it, I didn't have a clue! Wow! Can't think of anything else that went over my head, aside from catsuits! -- RR

 

[AdmiralGarak]

As a kid, a lot of the allegorical stuff went over my head. That's especially true for the Original Series. "A Private Little War" is a good example of that.

 

[JiNX-01]

The "resolution" of Year of Hell. I still don't understand how ramming the time ship produced a reset button.

I also don't understand how killing off a single alien Nazi ended a temporal cold war that spanned hundreds of years.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The "resolution" of Year of Hell. I still don't understand how ramming the time ship produced a reset button.

Whenever that ship did a 'temporal incursion' on something, it created a new reality in which that thing never existed.

When Janeway rams the ship at the end, it does a temporal incursion within itself. The timeship erases itself from history. So if the ship does this to *itself*, a new reality in which the whole timeship never existed would be the norm. Its crew weren't affected (in the ending scene, Annorax is still alive and with his wife), but in the new reality, the ship will never actually be built.

And if the ship doesn't exist, none of what happened to Voyager could occur.

 

[JiNX-01]

The "resolution" of Year of Hell. I still don't understand how ramming the time ship produced a reset button.

Whenever that ship did a 'temporal incursion' on something, it created a new reality in which that thing never existed.

When Janeway rams the ship at the end, it does a temporal incursion within itself. The timeship erases itself from history. So if the ship does this to *itself*, a new reality in which the whole timeship never existed would be the norm. Its crew weren't affected (in the ending scene, Annorax is still alive and with his wife), but in the new reality, the ship will never actually be built.

And if the ship doesn't exist, none of what happened to Voyager could occur.

OK, then, did Janeway know what would happen? Or did she just want to stop the temporal tampering? I would have liked it better if they had been stuck with a trashed ship and had to cobble together repairs.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

When Janeway rams the ship at the end, it does a temporal incursion within itself. The timeship erases itself from history. So if the ship does this to *itself*, a new reality in which the whole timeship never existed would be the norm. Its crew weren't affected (in the ending scene, Annorax is still alive and with his wife), but in the new reality, the ship will never actually be built.

And if the ship doesn't exist, none of what happened to Voyager could occur.

OK, then, did Janeway know what would happen? Or did she just want to stop the temporal tampering? I would have liked it better if they had been stuck with a trashed ship and had to cobble together repairs.

Janeway definitely knew what would happen. She told all the ships in her fleet to take their temporal shielding offline, so that they would be 'repaired' along with the rest of the timeline.

 

[TrekNut87]

DS9's Morn, always at the bar, was a tribute to Norm from Cheers, right down to the letters in his name.

Oh wow, I had never even thought about that until you brought it up.

 

[erastus25]

As a kid, a lot of the allegorical stuff went over my head. That's especially true for the Original Series. "A Private Little War" is a good example of that.

That's true for me as well. When I watched stuff like The Apple now I can't believe I didn't see the "hidden" meaning. (I had the same response when I rewatched Elogium for the first time about a year ago.) I often wonder how much those hidden messages affected my moral perspectives while I watched TOS as an impressionable 8 year old.

 

[Philo]

I don't know how or why I never put it together before (or, for that matter, saw it being discussed somewhere around here or wherever), but for whatever odd reason it just occurred to me...

DS9's Morn, always at the bar, was a tribute to Norm from Cheers, right down to the letters in his name.

Okay, maybe YOU realized it a long time ago, but it only just dawned on me.

Don't worry about it guys. If I hadn't read it in a book a long time ago, I'm sure I would still be unaware of that particular reference.

As a kid, a lot of the allegorical stuff went over my head. That's especially true for the Original Series. "A Private Little War" is a good example of that.

It's a cliché, I know, but that's why I'm here. Trek was about the spaceships and adventure for me as a kid but then I got older and found what else was there.

 

[T'Leisha]

I have a complete lack of understanding for metaphor/idioms/figurative speech, so i have difficulty understanding alot of the deeper meaning in Trek. Usually i have to think quite a bit about it in order to get my head around it.

Although, in this regard, Trek is still easier than Shakespeare.

 

[BigC]

The Morn thing was great. He never said a word on screen. But the other characters were constantly alluding to things he had said. Loved morn.

 

[jealousblues]

I don't know how or why I never put it together before (or, for that matter, saw it being discussed somewhere around here or wherever), but for whatever odd reason it just occurred to me...

DS9's Morn, always at the bar, was a tribute to Norm from Cheers, right down to the letters in his name.

Okay, maybe YOU realized it a long time ago, but it only just dawned on me. What Trek mainstay that seems SO OBVIOUS NOW didn't strike you until long afterward?

Im glad im not the only one who thought that

 

[Admiral_Young]

I'm not entirely sure this counts...but during the airing of "The Best of Both Worlds Part One" I guess back around 1990 or 1991 I sat in front of the tv while Locutus appeared on the screen while building a LEGO Flux Capaciator with my friend and not knowing what the hell was going on or what the show was. It completely went over my head that what I was watching was potentially the biggest episode of Star Trek ever. That episode was my first viewing of Star Trek...it wouldn't be later on while catching an episode with my mom that I fell in love with it.

 

[Forbin]

"Fair maiden" and "Sorry, neither" went over my head at first, but i was only 9 then.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

"Fair maiden" and "Sorry, neither" went over my head at first, but i was only 9 then.

Apparently it went over the NBC censors' heads, too.

Here's something more subtle: In The Trouble with Tribbles, when Spock says "He heard you, he simply could not believe his ears," Kirk gives him a pained look. Took me a couple viewings before I got what Kirk was thinking.

 

[Wonderlust King]

I just realized a strange link between two characters

Khan Noonien Singh
Dr. Noonien Soong (data's creator)

It could be a coincidence but from what i gather Noonien is a completely made up name. The last names are eerily similar as well. I wonder if it was just a little wink wink for fanboys.

 

[Frodo Lives]

Uh, actually, while those two have similar names on purpose, the legend goes it wasn't because of anything story-related. Rather, and this is purely from memory, Gene Roddenberry had a friend he served with during WWII, who apparently had the name Noonien (or was it Singh, or Soong, whatever, poor memory), and when it came time to name some characters in Trek, Roddenberry paid homage to his friend with said name. There's also some story about him doing it in the hope that his friend would see Star Trek and maybe get back in touch with him. Perhaps someone else will know the tale better than I.

So, not a coincidence, and Noonien certainly isn't a made-up name.

 

[Philo]

^ That's my recollection as well. I'm pretty sure his name was Noonien Singh

EDIT: Ah yes, memory alpha says it was Kim Noonien Singh