I just started rereading The Genesis Wave and in it is a report that makes the connection that the Klingons started overmining in response to the Genesis incident. I mean from their point of view there is this torpedo than can remake planets so in turn they start overproducing everything in preparation for war. I had never really linked the two but it does make some sense since we saw how outraged the Klingon Ambassador was over it. Anyone else think it is a good explanation for the moon exploding?
They were paranoid and figured the Feds would torpedo the moon and turn it into something other than a ball of dilithium. Same mentality, over-mining leading to the instability.
Treknologically speaking, dilithium was never mentioned as being present on Praxis. The place was a "key energy production facility", and we don't really know if dilithium produces energy or can be used in processes that produce energy. So far, we've only seen it used in processes that consume energy. Personally, I think Klingon paranoia killed Praxis rather directly: fearing Federation or Romulan infiltrators, they quadrupled the number of anti-personnel mines per corridor meter, and failed to appreciate that when somebody did step on a mine, it would now detonate the mine next to it, too, and that one would detonate the next one, and the next one... Timo Saloniemi
The reason was that they mined the entire moon for some minerals used in 23rd century energy production, and that stuff exploded. Explosions in mines are common accidents. And that one was space-d up. I see no reason for complicated explanations.
I think it was something unstable enough that it could have gone at any time (see: Into Darkness, where it's already exploded 25 years earlier). The parallel was Chernobyl, which also could have happened at any time.
The same way 9/11 could have happened at any time? Chernobyl was "a disaster waiting to happen" only in the same sense that the World Trade Center was. I mean, skyscrapers? Ooh, inherently deadly! But beyond that, it would take malice or idiocy to wring a disaster out of those, or out of Chernobyl, which was a relatively nicely and safely working atomic plant with plenty of failsafes to compensate for certain well-known risks in the design. Nothing could compensate for people who shut down failsafe after failsafe for the heck of it, though. "Overmining" sounds like a very specific act of stupidity, but it's difficult to see how it would lead to an explosion as such. Work pressures and other indirect effects from lots and lots of mining would of course make an accident more likely to happen - but this tells us nothing about the nature of that accident. What could explode with such a force in a mine? Well, any fictional substance X might blow up if hit the wrong way with a pickaxe or a mining phaser, I guess. But why would that be the result of "overmining" specifically? I do think some fairly complicated explanation is needed there. (But no, my exploration of the alternate meaning of "mining" wasn't expected to be a serious explanation...) Timo Saloniemi
It reminds me of the theory that the Soviet Union collapsed because of the expense of the arms race. I think the theory is more an excuse to credit the event to Reagan than something based on reality.
I don't see how "overmining" whould cause the entire body to explode. If they had said it was a munitions depot it would be more believable. I'm OK with "energy facility" on the other hand. An explosion is energy liberation. Also, the image of Praxis in Sulu's screen was kind of childish.
You mean how only a tiny fragment of Praxis is left? Or did you mean the graphics surrounding it? If so, didn't you know that graphics in the future will suck?
I know I haven't had enough caffeine yet this morning, because it occurs to me Praxis would be a good name for a car. "The 2015 Toyota Praxis. For the excitement you crave."
There is absolutely no connection to Genesis. Even by TVH, the implication is that GENESIS was a failed experiment that was abandoned once the "controversy" started. TFF presented another opportunity for the Klingons to press their case for Genesis and it never came up. The Genesis "Tape" wasn't trotted out at any point to pad the movie with, either. The explaination of "overmining" and "insufficient safety precautions" was explicitly stated by none other than Mr. Trivia Knowledge himself, Mister Spock. And Genesis had plenty of opportunity in STAR TREK VI, especially with Meyer at the helm, to play a part directly and it wasn't even hinted at. I don't know what it is about fans and STAR TREK authors that they feel the need to connect dots that aren't connect-worthy. Like V'GER and The Borg. There's no end to it ...
We don't really know what they were mining or how. For all we know they could have been drilling for oil all the way down to the moon's core. Maybe they hit a pocket of something that erupted and blew the planet straight to hell.
Or for all we knew, early technology transfers from the Romulans had the Klingon Empire experimenting with singularities as a power source. And we ALL know how that ALWAYS turns out. Mark
I've often thought the same; if they were in such dire financial straits, why would they spend money building that looney near-duplicate space shuttle of theirs? The only thing I credit Reagan with is his role in THE KILLERS (the 60s remake) and for giving me a really bad decade when I was probably as convinced as Nick Meyer that we weren't going to make it out of the 20th century without looking like glow-pops.
...hmmm...just supposing out lou-...no, nonono...no way...well, hell, you did not happen to notice if a guy named Harry Stamper was listed on any worker or consultant manifests for work authorized on Praxis?...
...but, it was the reason... "During the second part of the 1980s, the Soviet economy was teetering towards collapse and was unable to match American arms spending" Cold War: A Brief History Reagan's Star Wars