Turciops Quarters (?)

[Amaris222222]

Hello folks,

My apologies if this subject has already been raked over -- please feel free to point me to an appropriate thread if so -- but I had some questions regarding the "turciops" section of the Enterprise.

I was rather bored the other day and decided to peruse some old Enterpise-D blueprints I found online. I noticed that one of the lower, forward sections was dubbed the "turciops quarters". Does that mean that Federation star ships actually house dolphins? In what capacity? Were they considered crew, or did they serve some other purpose?

This brought to mind various novels by David Brin (Uplift Wars, etc). Suffice to say, I was delighted and amused. However, I don't recall dolphins ever being mentioned in any of the Star Trek series. Was this concept abandoned entirely, or do dolphins make an appearance in the novels (or other Star Trek media)?

 

[FalTorPan]

Within the TNG TV series, if memory serves dolphins were mentioned only in passing in a single episode. I think.

I believe the biggest proponents of a dolphin crew aboard the Enterprise-D were folks such as Rick Sternbach, Mike Okuda and Andrew Probert. The idea didn't seem to gel with most or all of the writers and/or producers, since the concept didn't get much "face time" on the show.

Interestingly the Star Trek: The Next Generation Officer's Manual, a role-playing game sourcebook published by FASA during the production of the TV series' first season, suggested that ship's navigation was assisted by a Medusan. The book seemingly was not written with the active participation of anyone working on the TV series, so the Medusan idea was probably a FASA speculation.

 

[Timo]

Some of the starships apparently see fit to haul trees, bushes and grass fields across the cosmos. Why not dolphins?

The idea of a Medusan being aboard is also an interesting one. In scifi, we tend to think of sapience in narrow terms: you either have it, or you don't. But that's not a very realistic approach, as sapience is a graduated thing even within the human species. Some of us are smarter than others, some dumber.

Surely it would be interesting, and perhaps also beneficial, for a starship to carry several levels of intellect. Trees, pet cats, dolphins who help out with some navigation tasks, humans and related humanoids, Medusans and other creatures more sapient than humans, perhaps a computer who out-sapiates us all. Picard was foolish to turn down the opportunity to have a god aboard in "Deja Q"...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Amaris222222]

I decided to read up on these "Medusans" you mentioned on Memory Alpha --

"The Medusans were a telepathic non-corporeal race. Their thoughts were the most sublime in the galaxy; however, their physical appearance was exactly the opposite. Their appearance was so utterly hideous that the sight of a Medusan renders any Human mad, and soon afterwards causes death by massive organ failure. Vulcans were capable of viewing Medusans, but only with the use of a specially filtered visor."

First of all:

Secondly: It does indicate on the page that they were considered to be superior navigators. But life on a primarily human-run star ship would seem to be a poor environment for them... Socially speaking, at least, and in consideration of the health and sanity of others! I don't see why Starfleet would enlist these creatures for any long-term project(s).

On the other hand, I think bio-engineered dolphins would make fine astro-navigators (theoretically), and would be far more welcome, aesthetically.

 

[Christopher]

Re: Tursiops Quarters (?)

I was rather bored the other day and decided to peruse some old Enterpise-D blueprints I found online. I noticed that one of the lower, forward sections was dubbed the "turciops quarters". Does that mean that Federation star ships actually house dolphins? In what capacity? Were they considered crew, or did they serve some other purpose?

According to the TNG Tech Manual, they were civilian navigational specialists who were there to research navigational problems and develop solutions. Though TNG tended to ignore it in later years, the E-D was supposed to have a large complement of civilian scientists aboard, not just military crew and their immediate families.

This brought to mind various novels by David Brin (Uplift Wars, etc). Suffice to say, I was delighted and amused. However, I don't recall dolphins ever being mentioned in any of the Star Trek series. Was this concept abandoned entirely, or do dolphins make an appearance in the novels (or other Star Trek media)?

There was a passing reference to the dolphins in "The Perfect Mate."

And dolphin-human interaction is a theme in a lot of prose SF, though Brin's Uplift is probably the most prominent.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolphin#Literature

I believe the idea for dolphins aboard the Enterprise came from Rick Sternbach. Earlier in his career, he did a dolphin-themed cover for Larry Niven's World of Ptavvs, part of which is shown here:
http://www.freewebs.com/knownspace/SeaStatueDolphinsRS.jpg

I think I recall Rick mentioning having some closer connection with dolphins, but I don't remember the specifics. Maybe he'll drop by and discuss it.

 

[Rick Sternbach]

Re: Tursiops Quarters (?)

I think I recall Rick mentioning having some closer connection with dolphins, but I don't remember the specifics. Maybe he'll drop by and discuss it.

Long story short, I got interested in marine mammals in the late 1960s, visited about twenty aquarium facilities that featured them by 1974, and always thought that if we asked them nicely, they might agree to go into space. Maybe not in real life, but at least in an SF context.

Rick
www.spacemodelsystems.com

 

[Holdfast]

Re: Tursiops Quarters (?)

Yet another thing that Seaquest DSV borrowed from TNG....

 

[Rick Sternbach]

Re: Tursiops Quarters (?)

I think I recall Rick mentioning having some closer connection with dolphins, but I don't remember the specifics. Maybe he'll drop by and discuss it.

Long story short, I got interested in marine mammals in the late 1960s, visited about twenty aquarium facilities that featured them by 1974, and always thought that if we asked them nicely, they might agree to go into space. Maybe not in real life, but at least in an SF context.

Rick
www.spacemodelsystems.com

And I should probably say that when I speak of visiting twenty different facilities, it was not simply as a tourist; I talked with vets, respectable marine mammal scientists, trainers, etc. as part of a proposed pop-sci kind of book project. At one place I hung out with the trainers and vets for a couple of days and got to do some scuba time with an underwater still camera. I used to know the dentition formula for a number of species, which might tell you how into the subject I was at the time.