What are your controversial Star Trek opinions?

[publiusr]

And photon torpedoes.

Now we know what they look like up close—lemons

The shape of light: Scientists reveal image of an individual photon for 1st time ever

Using a groundbreaking new technique, researchers have unveiled the first detailed image of a photon — a single particle of light — ever taken.

www.space.com

Well, if Q hands you [SLAP!]

 

[137th Gebirg]

I was watching The Undiscovered Country and something struck me... The clock.

It's the only iteration of Star Trek where a very visible clock is a significant part of the bridge (with the time of Gorkon's assassination being important to the plot). But I started to wonder about the implications of that clock and whether ALL Starfleet vessels, no matter where they are, operate by a standardized time/clock?

And what would they set the time by? It's a 24-hour clock, so it seems to be based on an Earth time.

• But would Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)/Zulu/UTC still have dominance in the 23rd century?
• Since the Federation President and Council seem to have their main offices in Paris, would it be the Central European Time Zone?
• Or, since Starfleet Command is in San Francisco, would Starfleet vessels base their clocks on the Pacific Time Zone?

To further complicate this, Deep Space Nine implies the station operates on a 26-hour day. However, it is a Bajoran station. So the Bajorans can set the time to whatever they want on their station.

Since it was a Cardassian station, it may have even been Cardassia Prime’s daily cycle. They were an occupying force, after all. Occupiers love to overwrite and usurp the culture of the occupied.

 

[Jayson1]

I was watching The Undiscovered Country and something struck me... The clock.

It's the only iteration of Star Trek where a very visible clock is a significant part of the bridge (with the time of Gorkon's assassination being important to the plot). But I started to wonder about the implications of that clock and whether ALL Starfleet vessels, no matter where they are, operate by a standardized time/clock?

And what would they set the time by? It's a 24-hour clock, so it seems to be based on an Earth time.

• But would Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)/Zulu/UTC still have dominance in the 23rd century?
• Since the Federation President and Council seem to have their main offices in Paris, would it be the Central European Time Zone?
• Or, since Starfleet Command is in San Francisco, would Starfleet vessels base their clocks on the Pacific Time Zone?

To further complicate this, Deep Space Nine implies the station operates on a 26-hour day. However, it is a Bajoran station. So the Bajorans can set the time to whatever they want on their station.

I always assumed the Bajorans have a 26-hour day and thus that is why they go with it on the station. Must be confusing though when making reports to the Federation because you got to keep track of Bajoran time and Federation time. Which in itself must be a nightmare since you got hundreds of planets who using their own measurements of time.

 

[Mage]

I always assumed the Bajorans have a 26-hour day and thus that is why they go with it on the station. Must be confusing though when making reports to the Federation because you got to keep track of Bajoran time and Federation time. Which in itself must be a nightmare since you got hundreds of planets who using their own measurements of time.

I'd have to look it up but I could swear it was literally mentioned in an episode that Bajor has a 26 hour day.

 

[Richard S. Ta]

I was watching The Undiscovered Country and something struck me... The clock.

It's the only iteration of Star Trek where a very visible clock is a significant part of the bridge (with the time of Gorkon's assassination being important to the plot). But I started to wonder about the implications of that clock and whether ALL Starfleet vessels, no matter where they are, operate by a standardized time/clock?

And what would they set the time by? It's a 24-hour clock, so it seems to be based on an Earth time.

• But would Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)/Zulu/UTC still have dominance in the 23rd century?
• Since the Federation President and Council seem to have their main offices in Paris, would it be the Central European Time Zone?
• Or, since Starfleet Command is in San Francisco, would Starfleet vessels base their clocks on the Pacific Time Zone?

To further complicate this, Deep Space Nine implies the station operates on a 26-hour day. However, it is a Bajoran station. So the Bajorans can set the time to whatever they want on their station.

It’s an interesting point and a potentially great discussion in itself, but more like a general query than something that’s actively controversial?

 

[Macintosh]

I was watching The Undiscovered Country and something struck me... The clock.

It's the only iteration of Star Trek where a very visible clock is a significant part of the bridge (with the time of Gorkon's assassination being important to the plot). But I started to wonder about the implications of that clock and whether ALL Starfleet vessels, no matter where they are, operate by a standardized time/clock?

It must have been a continuity nightmare...

 

[Mage]

I'd have to look it up but I could swear it was literally mentioned in an episode that Bajor has a 26 hour day.

From Memory Alpha

Bajor may have a twenty-six-hour day, according to various mentions throughout the series and at the startrek.com database for places. [4](X) This was never fully confirmed in canon, although it does seem to be alluded to in DS9 episodes including "Fascination", "To the Death", "Afterimage", "It's Only a Paper Moon", and "'Til Death Do Us Part". Although Richard Arnold and Chris Childers accepted that the Bajorans had a twenty-six-hour day, they questioned whether that was "based on the length of time it takes Bajor to circle its sun" [sic] or if the duration was counted in Earth hours. They further commented about the notion of twenty-six-hour days, "This was mentioned in one of the first DS9 episodes, and the writers have been fairly consistent about using it, but they haven't really explained it." (Star Trek: Communicator issue 123, pp. 78 & 79)

 

[Tallguy]

To further complicate this, Deep Space Nine implies the station operates on a 26-hour day. However, it is a Bajoran station. So the Bajorans can set the time to whatever they want on their station.

I thought the 26 hour day WAS Bajoran.

 

[Mage]

I thought the 26 hour day WAS Bajoran.

As posted above, this was implied throughout the show but never canonized. Personally, with it mentioned so often and there being no other logical explanation, I'm sticking with it.

 

[Tallguy]

As posted above, this was implied throughout the show but never canonized. Personally, with it mentioned so often and there being no other logical explanation, I'm sticking with it.

Yeah, I saw your post right after I submitted mine.

 

[Farscape One]

The 26 hour day on DS9 was mentioned often throughout the entire show's run.

How can it be anything but canon?

 

[Tallguy]

The 26 hour day on DS9 was mentioned often throughout the entire show's run.

How can it be anything but canon?

The 26 hour day is. Whether it is of Bajoran origin or something else is the question.

 

[Farscape One]

The 26 hour day is. Whether it is of Bajoran origin or something else is the question.

I suppose, but it makes perfect sense that it would be a typical Bajoran day on Bajor, since DS9 is owned by them. Even if the Cardassians had a different hourly system, say 25, why would the Bajorans keep it once they got control of the station?

DS9 was originally orbiting Bajor, so they would likely follow the amount of hours that planet takes to be a day.


Now, whether Cardassia also has a 26 hour day is a question, because I don't think it was ever established how many hours they follow on their ships, stations, etc.

 

[Tallguy]

I suppose, but it makes perfect sense that it would be a typical Bajoran day on Bajor, since DS9 is owned by them. Even if the Cardassians had a different hourly system, say 25, why would the Bajorans keep it once they got control of the station?

DS9 was originally orbiting Bajor, so they would likely follow the amount of hours that planet takes to be a day.


Now, whether Cardassia also has a 26 hour day is a question, because I don't think it was ever established how many hours they follow on their ships, stations, etc.

It all makes sense. No argument from me.

 

[tim0122]

Having just finished TNG season one (almost all of which I hadn't seen, and out of the few episodes I HAD seen, I don't think I'd seen in their entirety), I was left thinking, "That wasn't that bad." I felt the same way about the last year of the Original Series, which is also rated pretty low by fans. I don't know, maybe I acclimatized to season one's iffy quality, but I thought it was much better than it's given credit for.

There are some truly awful episodes and some terrible choices made throughout. The show certainly gets better in later seasons, but I felt the writers and actors found their way much quicker than many think. While the season starts off truly atrociously, it gets much better as it goes and has some solid episodes.

For those curious, here are my rankings of the best and worst of the season:

Best:
1. Conspiracy
2. Where No One Has Gone Before
3. The Big Goodbye
4. Coming of Age
5. Home Soil


Worst:
1. Encounter at Farpoint
2. Angel One
3. The Lonely Among Us
4. The Naked Now
5. Too Short a Season (probably)

 

[FredH]

While this is not actually my personal headcanon, I’m forced to admit that looking back over the entire range of the franchise and looking closely at all of it, it does rather feel like the “We explore strange new worlds, and Starfleet is about love and is always worth doing!” sheen over all of it — ie Star Trek as I largely want it to be — is the propaganda line put out by a probably rather less wonderful Federation military. Which is not to say that “real” Starfleet is The Bad Guys by any means, but it’s probably a lot more coldly pragmatic (and if TOS is any indication, cronyist)… to the point that a hypothetical Star Trek fan joining up with the real Starfleet would probably be in for a rude shock. Maybe that’s what causes defectors like Ensign DeSeve?

 

[fireproof78]

While this is not actually my personal headcanon, I’m forced to admit that looking back over the entire range of the franchise and looking closely at all of it, it does rather feel like the “We explore strange new worlds, and Starfleet is about love and is always worth doing!” sheen over all of it — ie Star Trek as I largely want it to be — is the propaganda line put out by a probably rather less wonderful Federation military. Which is not to say that “real” Starfleet is The Bad Guys by any means, but it’s probably a lot more coldly pragmatic (and if TOS is any indication, cronyist)… to the point that a hypothetical Star Trek fan joining up with the real Starfleet would probably be in for a rude shock. Maybe that’s what causes defectors like Ensign DeSeve?

Even Mariner admits as much in the first episode of that show. She wants to do good by people but there are a lot of rules, and regulations that sometimes get in the way of trying to be helpful, and she finds that more than a little frustrating, because of that pragmatism.

 

[FredH]

Even Mariner admits as much in the first episode of that show. She wants to do good by people but there are a lot of rules, and regulations that sometimes get in the way of trying to be helpful, and she finds that more than a little frustrating, because of that pragmatism.

True, though I’m thinking more “coldly pragmatic” in the sense of “Federation interests first” and “black flag directives exist”…

 

[fireproof78]

True, though I’m thinking more “coldly pragmatic” in the sense of “Federation interests first” and “black flag directives exist”…

Also probably significantly the case. TOS often talked about "treaty ports" and making contact to support their interests.

 

[FredH]

Also probably significantly the case. TOS often talked about "treaty ports" and making contact to support their interests.

Sure. But then TOS was before the Big Utopia idea really kicked in for the franchise, and the Federation basically stood in for the United States.

(I mean, I recognize that I’m probably just being affected by various real-world developments of the last couple of years, making it that much harder to stretch and believe in the traditional Trek-future optimism as anything but a nice fable. (One always knew that it was, but one tried to hold on to the just-maybe.) I very much want this NOT to be the case, but.)