Daystrom Institute

To elaborate on my criteria: these should be episodes that can work with a minimum number of sets, no special effect and modest-to-minimal practical effects, and amateur though dedicated actors.

Two examples come to mind.

The first is TNG’s “Measure of a Man”. This episode is almost entirely dialogue and takes place in large part in a single conference room. You could probably do a pretty straightforward 1:1 rendering of this episode on stage.

The second is DIS’s “Species Ten-C”, in which the crew make first contact with the titular species and determine how to communicate. This would require more creativity on the part of the production, but given that the 10-C communicate using light, I imagine that even an amateur production could do something compelling with practical effects.

I’ll admit that I am biased: I think I tend to prefer episodes that meet these criteria. I like my Trek talky and tend to have a soft spot for sappy and hammy episodes. But what intrigues me further about these stories is their ability to pass into cultural myth. I’m not saying that these are the only episodes that could transcend Trek and move into the cultural fabric of the era (think of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader), but they seem like they might have the best shot.

What do you think?

The title refers both to the deceptions that Spock and the crew engage in to cover what happens to him, as well as Pike’s desperate attempt to play the game “charades” as a delaying tactic.

The episode was written by supervising producer Kathryn Lyn and showrunner Henry Alonzo Myers. Lyn wrote what is the best LD episode to date, the amazing “wej Duj”. This explains the LD-esque type of observational humor in the dialogue.

Chapel’s personal log is stardated 1789.3. She and Spock are in the Vulcan system, to survey the moon Kherkov on the far side of the sector. It is unclear if this means that Kherkov is in the Vulcan system itself, or when she means sector she means the system. Star Trek has always been vague about how large a sector is, and in TOS days even how large a quadrant is. In Geoffrey Mandel’s Star Charts, a sector is defined as a cube of 20 ly. Kherkov was inhabited by a long vanished civilization and rumored to have had advanced medical knowledge.

What the script means by “sub-impulse” speeds is also unclear, as impulse operations are already sublight in nature. Perhaps this merely means at low impulse speeds.

M’Benga mentioned Korby’s principles of archeological medicine. Roger Korby, known as the Pasteur of Archeological Medicine, would eventually become affianced to Chapel, vanish on the frozen planet of Exo III and turn up five years later as an android (TOS: “What are Little Girls Made Of?”).

Spock is headed for Deck 12, which, according to Franz Joseph’s Enterprise deck plans, is in the interconnecting dorsal section, and contains an observation lounge.

M’Benga has been helping Spock with controlling his emotions (SNW: “The Broken Circle”) after he let them loose in SNW: “All Those Who Wander”.

Pike claims that you can tell the difference between fresh and synthesized herbs. At this point in history, starships use food synthesizers, not replicators, although the difference between the two processes is not entirely clear. The herb Pike pushes on Spock is basil.

Spock says he uses nasal suppressants to block out the smell of humans, which Vulcans take getting used to. In ENT: “The Andorian Incident”, T’Pol uses a regularly injected nasal numbing agent to help with the same issue, although she also partially acclimatizes.

Lieutenant Sam Kirk makes his first in-universe appearance since SNW: “All Those Who Wander”. An alternate timeline version did appear in SNW: “A Quality of Mercy”.

Sam mentions increased sunspot activity in Eridani B. 40 Eridani is a star system comprised of three suns - Eridani A, B and C. It was established in Franz Joseph’s Star Fleet Technical Manual as Vulcan’s system. It is 16 ly away, consistent with ENT’s mention of Vulcan’s distance from Earth. In 2018, an exoplanet was apparently discovered orbiting Eridani A which some fans wanted named Vulcan, but recently the discovery of 40 Eri b turned out to be a mistake.

A Vulcan ceremonial engagement dinner is known as a V’Shal dinner. Spock mentions that he is “still” not speaking with his father. In TOS: “Journey to Babel” it is revealed that the two fell out after Spock elected to join Starfleet rather than the Vulcan Science Academy, and had not spoken since 2249. Amanda assumed that it was because Sarek disapproved of Starfleet as an organization, but the reasons are a bit more complicated, as we find out in DIS: “Lethe”.

T’Pring’s parents here are T’Pril and Sevet. In the novel Vulcan’s Glory, T’Pring’s father was named Solen.

Spock’s (almost) use of the “f” word is of course for comic effect: the first time the expletive was used in Trek was in DIS: “Choose Your Pain”, used by Tilly and Stamets.

The alien entity identifies themselves as Yellow, of Kherkov. The rupture was a transport tunnel, which explains its visual similarity with the Bajoran wormhole (DS9). Yellow is pretty much a Customer Service operator who just wants to get you off the line.

Aliens not knowing how humans are put together is an old trope - we first see it in Trek in TOS: “The Cage”, when Vina’s disfigured form is explained as the Talosians not knowing what a human looked like before they healed her. A modern example can be seen in Doctor Who’s “The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances”.

Chapel is working to reverse Spock’s genetic alteration. As we saw in SNW: “Strange New Worlds”, she has an expertise in modifying genomes, although that was temporary and for the purpose of disguising away teams.

The enticing aroma of bacon - at least to humans - is due to the Maillard Reaction, which triggers our body’s natural cravings for salt and fat. Spock’s fascination and inexperience with bacon is also because post-Surakian Vulcans are vegetarian. As a human, Spock appears to have forgotten that. Spock would eat meat in TOS: “All Our Yesterdays” when transported thousands of years into the past and reverting to the Vulcans of those days.

M’Benga describes the Kherkovians as inscrutable, interdimensional beings that don’t experience space and time the way we do. They sound more and more like they could be related to the Prophets.

Pike tells Amanda that Pelia sends her regards but she’s off dealing with their “dilithium shortage”. It was established in SNW: “The Broken Circle” that Amanda was the first person to whom Pelia revealed her status as a Lanthanite. Dilithium was always a scarce resource in Trek, and its shortage would eventually lead to more dire consequences in the 31st Century. Pelia’s penchant for “acquiring” antiques was established in SNW: “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow”.

Spock wears a beanie to conceal his (in this case) lack of ears. Spock first used such a hat to conceal his ears in TOS: “The City on the Edge of Forever”. Amanda says that Spock isn’t a practiced liar… yet. As we know, Spock will become a lot better at lying in future (TOS: “The Enterprise Incident”, ST II and ST VI being the most obvious examples aside from covert away missions).

The fake ears are probably the same kinds of ears Ethan Peck wears when made up as Spock. When teaching Spock how to act and sound Vulcan, Ortegas’ line about “Notice how I move my eyebrow but no other muscles in my face,” is very Beckett Mariner-like.

The V’Shal ritual starts with Spock making the bride’s family’s recipe for tea and serving it. Tuvok once served Vulcan tea to Captain Sulu (VOY: “Flashback”). Next is the Ritual of Awareness, when a young couple is made aware of all their faults and flaws. While a timer counts down, T’Pring’s parents will tell Spock all the things they think he is doing wrong. Last is the Mind Meld, where Amanda and Spock will share a memory of his childhood.

Spock’s open use of the mind meld and Pike and Una’s knowledge of it contradicts the first time it was used in TOS: “Dagger of the Mind” when he tells McCoy that it was a deeply private thing for Vulcans. He also said then that he had never used on a human before but here he says he’s used to seeing Amanda’s memories.

M’Benga says he has some gene therapy techniques he pulled from the Trinar. It’s not clear if he’s referring to a race or a ship, although closed captioning italicizes Trinar regression.

Pike has cooked traditional tevmel, but T’Pril criticizes the halak as not being fresh and being salted. Pike explains he uses salt to slow fermentation as starships run hotter than your typical Vulcan kitchen.

Ortegas says that she hates analogies because they’re never really like they say it is. Using analogies to make technobabble clearer (“It’s just like skipping a stone across a pond!”) is a time honored tradition in Star Trek.

T’Pring warns Spock not to rush the pouring of the tea or else the pomkot leaves will fail to bloom.

The interdimensional space the trio find themselves in reminds me, tonally, of when Dax and Sisko first entered the wormhole in DS9: “Emissary”. The Kerkhov they speak to this time is Blue, who notes that the complaint is lodged out of the response period. Chapel asks to speak with Yellow and is basically put on hold. Customer Service from hell, indeed.

The soundtrack during the Ritual of Awareness is underlaid with a slower version of the Vulcan fighting theme from TOS: “Amok Time”. During the meld, Amanda’s memory is of an ordinary day when she took Spock to school - the first time Vulcan children asked Spock to play with them.

Spock makes the excuse that he did not tell T’Pring because of the difficulty Vulcans have lying, but that can’t be true. A better explanation would have been that it was because she would be melding with T’Pril later and it might have been picked up. T'Pring also reminds Spock that they have shared katras (SNW: "Spock Amok").

Spock and Chapel’s confession and clinch, of course, is in opposition to what happened in TOS: “The Naked Time”, but at this point, with the popularity of Jess Bush’s portrayal of the character and time travel shenanigans as an excuse, it’s a minor point that only the truly pedantic would even point out as part of their annotations.

Sure, maybe Sera was an unreliable narrator, and it's just the USS Relativity working in the background to correct things (even if they end up happening a few years off from when they should).

But maybe in the time scale of millennia, it more or less evens out.

Khan comes to power later in the timeline, but DIS and SNW seem a little more modern than they should? Some things are slowed down, and others are sped up.

In season 3 of PICARD, there are two major plot points that strongly echo plots from the two current animated series. The struggle between Data and Lore for control of Data's body is very similar to Rutherford's struggle with his former self in Lower Decks s3e5, and the takeover of Starfleet by the Borg's virus is very similar to the takeover of Starfleet by the vengeful time-travelers' virus in Prodigy.

There is nothing wrong with reusing plots -- Star Trek has done it from time immemorial. Sometimes the results are good, sometimes they are redundant. They have to be judged on a case-by-case basis. In these cases, I believe that PICARD cheapens the original plots.

First, on Lower Decks, we had gradually been introduced to hints that there was something amiss about Rutherford's implants. Our curiosity naturally built over time, and the revelation that his memories had been overwritten to cover up his past self's malfeasance was at once surprising and organic. The resolution of the plot, where Rutherford doesn't want to let his past self disappear, shows us the best of the character we have come to love. Then the information we learn there serves the larger developing plot, culminating in the revelation of the automated fleet. The plot is well-paced and meaningful both to the individual character and the show's overall arc.

None of this is true of the struggle between Data and Lore in PICARD. The continued existence of Data is sprung at us at random, arbitrarily contradicting the fact that he has been killed not once, but twice. The fact that he has been combined with Lore is equally arbitrary, serving little more than a desire to call back to a familiar character. The resolution of the conflict is clever, as Data uses Lore's negative tendencies against him, but in the larger story arc it only serves to solve a problem that the combination of Data and Lore caused in the first place. Overall, the plot serves to put Brent Spiner back on screen in two familiar roles, seemingly for its own sake.

Turning now to Prodigy's fleet takeover plot. Again, this idea was introduced very early on and gradually evolved into the key plot conflict in the show. When it was finally triggered, it spawned two attempted solutions, both of which embodied Star Trek ideals. In the first, non-Starfleet ships helped to disable the infected vessels, giving the lie to the Diviner's vision of Starfleet as a malign influence. In the second, hologram Janeway sacrifices herself to save the fleet, providing a satisfying end to her character's development as a fully sentient being while solving the problem of how to handle the awkward co-existence of real Janeway with her holodeck double. As with Lower Decks, everything seems to fit together well.

By contrast, the takeover of young Starfleet members by the Borg virus -- based on DNA supposedly slipped into Picard decades ago and leveraging Jack's telepathic mind control abilities -- comes way out of left field only in the second to last episode. When it comes to the resolution, they seem to sidestep the possibility of using Seven's Borg identity as part of a meaningful solution. Instead, the entire thing seems gerrymandered to make the use of an older generation of ship, namely the Enterprise-D, necessary to save the day. Where the tweens of Prodigy take their situation deadly seriously, Picard makes jokes about the carpet even as Starfleet self-destructs and Earth is on the brink of oblivion. The message, such as it is, seems to be that the TNG crew effectively is the "last generation" of the series finale's title -- the last generation that is able to achieve anything meaningful. All of Starfleet is threatened with extinction and an entire generation is traumatized by their participation in mass murder, all so we can get a glamor shot on the old bridge.

The fact that the undisputed best season of PICARD is so easily upstaged by animated cartoons in the execution of basically identical plot points seems to me to be a major lesson. I don't begrudge anyone their moment of nostalgia, but to me this comparison shows that the franchise needs to get past the legacy characters in order to tell a coherent and satisfying story at this point. And given that Prodigy has been abruptly cancelled and removed, it doesn't seem like it's a lesson anyone in charge is likely to learn anytime soon.

But what do you think?

I’m not talking about stuff like O’Brien’s hollow rank pip, I’m talking about stuff like “Why make Chakotay a lt. commander rather than a full commander?”

It seems like there was at least some forethought put into who has what rank, but it’s not clear to me how much thought, nor how much meaning was supposed to be baked in to those decisions.

For example, Dr Crusher was a full commander from Day 1, matched only by Riker on the main cast. Was that supposed to signify the authority afforded to the CMO? Was it supposed to be blatant enough for the audience to “get” it?

One of the most prominent examples is Sisko starting his series as a commander. Again — was that supposed to signify that he was more junior, a younger officer?

Behind the scenes, I wonder if we can trace a waxing and waning military influence in the writers room over the years. I know Roddenberry served, and I think some of the early TNG writers did as well. But I feel like that became less common in later series? (But I don’t know for sure.)

I think it’s striking that rank is significantly downplayed on DSC, except for Burnham and potentially Saru.

This is the Daystrom Institute Episode Analysis thread for Strange New Worlds 2x04 Among the Lotus Eaters.

Now that we’ve had a few days to digest the content of the latest episode, this thread is a place to dig a little deeper.

(originally posted here)

A recent post talked about the inherent contradiction between what Vulcans espouse and the way they treat other races and concluded that their culture is an open lie.

There are some excellent responses to this thesis, which I feel is a bit exaggerated and based on a misconception. Of course, Vulcans are not homogenous, and we can also go into the what I consider the very plausible fan theory that the differences between Romulans and Vulcans are down to their version of the Eugenics War(s). But I’ll save my ideas about what drove the Romulans and Vulcans apart philosophically for another time.

We know that Vulcans have emotions, but they keep a tight rein on them. Keeping a tight rein of them also inevitably means that sometimes the reins can loosen, and sometimes involuntarily.

I've recently spoken a few times in comments about Vulcan logic and how it's often misunderstood as being similar to when humans talk about logic. So this has prompted me towards writing another post which tries to synthesize most of what I've said about Vulcans over the years on Daystrom in one place - for my own edification and easy reference if nothing else. Given that it’s 8 years today since Nimoy left us, it seems appropriate.

VULCAN LOGIC ≠ HUMAN LOGIC

Diane Duane, in her excellent novels Spock’s World and The Romulan Way, among others, fleshed out Vulcan philosophy and Romulan codes of honor. I should note that Duane’s writings on Vulcan culture and history were tremendously influential on the Vulcan Arc in ENT’s 4th Season and have also made their way into more recent Star Trek series.

What Duane came up with, and I wholeheartedly endorse, is that what is logic for Vulcans is not quite the same was what we humans understand it to be for ourselves.

Human logic is a system of thinking, a method of reasoning. It is defined by clear rules, cause and effect, propositions, inferences and steps. It is a metric - rules of thumb to solve problems, and is not designed as a view of the universe. Rather, it assumes a particular view already, and works from there. Vulcan logic isn’t the same.

C’THIA AND ARIE’MNU - REALITY-TRUTH AND PASSION’S MASTERY

Duane’s idea is that Vulcan logic is more foundational and philosophical in nature. The word “logic” is our English/Federation Standard translation of the word/concept cthia, which literally means “reality-truth”. Cthia is the concept of seeing empirical reality for what it is, rather than what we wish it to be. To practice cthia is to face the universe with the utmost objectivity, without bias or preconception, emotional or otherwise, in order to promote the clearest reasoning and rationality.

This goes beyond using logic to solve problems, which of course it’s still useful for. But it is also a viewpoint that is supposed to be the basis for modern Vulcan culture: to state things plainly, without hiding behind metaphor, to put aside emotion lest it taint the cold assessment of facts. It also demands that one recognize nuance, to take in all the variables and not be rigid about it, to recognize the fact that, while you may be logical in the Vulcan sense, the universe itself may not be, and you have to deal with that, too (more on that below).

This also ties in with Duane’s other term: arie’mnu, or “passion’s mastery”, recently made canon by President T’Rina’s mention of it in DIS: “Choose to Live”. Arie’mnu is often misunderstood by non-Vulcans as the denial of emotion, but it is more about the control of it, to direct the aggression of the Vulcan psyche towards the practice of cthia, creating the conditions for the effective exercise of Vulcan logic.

We also have to recognize that cthia and arie’mnu are ideals, and not everyone manages to attain this, and the degree to which one is able to exercise this varies from Vulcan to Vulcan and even from day to day. Some eschew it entirely - like the v’tosh ka’tur, the so-called “Vulcans without logic” who embrace their emotional side, or keep a looser lid on it. Most Vulcans act cold because the Vulcan heart rages so profoundly that they are taught that to try to play fast and loose with arie’mnu is reckless and leads to a loss of control. That’s why the v’tosh ka’tur are viewed with such suspicion and treated accordingly.

Some even try to exercise what they consider the highest form of arie’mnu - the kolinahr ritual which attempts to purge all emotion from the Vulcan psyche (TMP). Again, this is something that not everyone is able to achieve. Spock tried, but failed because he could not get rid of his emotional attachment to Jim Kirk, and when Vejur called out, it called out to the human, emotional part of him. Spock managed to integrate his Vulcan and human “souls” better in later years, but that’s another story.

SURAK, THE KIR’SHARA AND THE VULCAN REFORMATION POST-2154

Cthia and arie’mnu are Surakian concepts, taught by him during the Time of Awakening, sometime around 350 CE (ENT: “Awakening”, in 2154, is said to be 1,800 years after that time), in order to stop the wars that were tearing Vulcan apart. And we have to remember that Surak’s teachings, in their original form, were lost for a very, very long time. It wasn’t until the mid-22nd century that Surak’s Kir’Shara, the artifact containing his writings, was rediscovered.

So we have to remember that the Vulcans in ENT, who are surly, arrogant, even to a degree emotional at times when dealing with humans and each other, are representative of Vulcans before Surak’s original teachings are rediscovered, so their understanding of cthia, arie’mnu, Vulcan logic and so on are necessarily imperfect. It was only after the rediscovery of the Kir’Shara that Vulcan society became closer to what Surak envisioned it to be. ENT’s Vulcans have to be seen in that context.

But even so, not every one succeeds. Even after ENT we’ve seen arrogant Vulcans, irritated Vulcans, and even angry Vulcans. We’ve seen Vulcans twist logic to their own selfish ends, or to justify repugnant positions. But this shouldn’t be a surprise, and it equally shouldn’t cause us to make sweeping generalizations about Vulcan logic. Every Vulcan is different, and to recognize that is also to practice cthia.

VULCANS LIE

Vulcans lying (and lying about lying) is a - pardon the term - fascinating subject, and I would argue that it actually does come from cthia. Objectively, while Vulcans celebrate Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations (which is also a recognition of empirical fact) the fact that they are usually the smartest people in the room and that most races - humans in particular - seem like toddlers on a drunken galactic rampage means that they naturally assume a parental stance, especially in the 22nd Century when their understanding of Surakian philosphy is inexact at best.

And it is perfectly in line with recognizing that reality that they would lie to “lesser races”, just to achieve greater goals in what they think is keeping those races safe or to maintain the peace. Spock lies quite readily in ST II and ST III but that’s always in service of a greater good. For Vulcans, the ends justifying the means, in certain situations, is logical. Rigid morality doesn’t come into it.

Now, I’m not saying they’re justified in their arrogance and condescension - as Spock put it in TOS: “A Taste of Armageddon”: “I do not approve. I understand.”

VULCAN RITUAL IS LOGICAL

If Vulcans are so logical, why do they shroud their past in ritual and custom?

Well, from a Vulcan perspective, one should first ask, "What is the function of ritual?" The usual function of rites and rituals is to preserve traditions handed down from the past, to provide a sense of continuity, to reinforce certain principles and tenets, and as an expression of those tenets and practices even if - at times - the person performing the ritual doesn't quite understand them, but the idea is that with study and repetition, they will understand in time.

In a sense, it's like military drilling, or kata in martial arts. When internalized, ritual becomes like muscle memory, a macro that carries with it all the practices and principles without the need to rationalize every step which, for whatever reason, is inefficient or unnecessary to do so. It is in this function which I think that the first Vulcan ritual we observe in TOS: "Amok Time" serves. Spock says:

SPOCK: The birds and the bees are not Vulcans, Captain. If they were, if any creature as proudly logical as us were to have their logic ripped from them as this time does to us. How do Vulcans choose their mates? Haven't you wondered?

KIRK: I guess the rest of us assume that it's done quite logically.

SPOCK: No. No. It is not. We shield it with ritual and customs shrouded in antiquity. You humans have no conception. It strips our minds from us. It brings a madness which rips away our veneer of civilisation. It is the pon farr. The time of mating.

During pon farr, Vulcan stoicism and their ability to suppress their emotions breaks down and they need external help to maintain civilized behaviour. That's where the ritual of the kun-ut-kali-fee comes in, so even if the plak tow - blood fever - is at full pitch, some part of the Vulcan knows that there is a procedure to be followed which will guide them through the worst of it and out the other side. They don't need to think, to reason out in what way or why this will help them; they know that it works, and they simply need to follow this road.

So this is perfectly logical! Rather than find some way to suppress the pon farr itself, the Vulcans recognize the reality-truth - the cthia - of their biology and come up with a metric to deal with it. Rather than re-invent the wheel at every step, they take the tried and tested route.

The more you think about not wanting to do something, the more your brain has to struggle. It’s like telling someone not to think of a white elephant. So beyond pon farr, ritual allows Vulcans to more easily practice arie’mnu in their daily lives. This also allows them to appreciate music, art, beauty, even games without the attendant emotional attachments. Structure, order, symmetry, clarity: these are all part of what Vulcans find aesthetically pleasing because they reinforce the central tenets of Vulcan logic.

Vulcans are always aware of their emotional, wild heritage and how it can easily explode. So every step of their lives is perfectly ordered and laid out in order to keep this emotional self in check. The discipline is paramount, for without it they believe their civilization as it is now could not exist.

THIS IS THE VULCAN HEART, THIS IS THE VULCAN SOUL

T’Pau said it best (in reference to ritual): "This is the Vulcan heart. This is the Vulcan soul." Fiery passion and razor-sharp intellect wrapped in millennia of history and tradition and discipline to create the highest understanding. And to practice it is to bring a net positive to that passion, to improve the universe. Spock said this in TOS: “The Squire of Gothos”, a line still close to my heart:

SPOCK: I object to you. I object to intellect without discipline. I object to power without constructive purpose.

Vulcan logic is ultimately an ideal - and on a personal note, one I think is really cool and worth examining and even emulating - in the right context, of course.

(originally posted here)

Very often I see people confidently think or claim that the Star Trek warp drive works like the warp "drive" first proposed by physicist Miguel Alcubierre in 1994. Unfortunately, this is in error (I put "drive" in quotes because Alcubierre apparently dislikes calling it a drive, preferring to call it a "warp bubble"). As Alcubierre himself says, it was Star Trek that gave him the inspiration for his metric, not the other away around.

Why there is this conflation may be because people desperately want to think that Star Trek is based on hard scientific principles, or that the same principles in Star Trek are actively being worked on in real life. I don't propose to speculate further. There are also several fan ideas and beta canon ideas in licensed fiction about warp drive (notably in the excellent novel Federation by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens) but for the sake of brevity, I'm limiting my discussion to what we see on-screen and related behind-the-scenes documents.

Background

The basic obstacle to superluminal or faster-than-light travel is Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity. Special Relativity says that as the velocity of an object with mass accelerates towards the speed of light (c), the mass of that object increases, requiring more and more energy to accelerate it, until at c, that object has infinite mass, requiring infinite energy to push it past c. In fact, Special Relativity says that nothing with mass can reach c - photons are massless and can only travel at c. From there, it follows that theoretical objects with negative mass can only travel above c, hence given the name tachyons, from the Greek tachys, or “fast”.

Alcubierre wondered: if you can't move the object/ship without running into relativistic issues, why not move space instead? Alcubierre's idea was to warp space in two ways - contract space in front of the ship and expand space behind it, an effect he compares to a person on a travelator. So while the ship itself remains stationary in a flat area of spacetime between the two areas of warped space (the whole thing being the "warp bubble"), that flat area gets moved along like a surfboard on the wave of warped space. Of course, warping spacetime in this manner involves incredible amounts of negative energy, but that's another discussion.

So this is how the Alcubierre metric circumvents relativistic issues. Because the ship itself remains essentially motionless, there is no acceleration or velocity and thus no increase in inertial mass.

But that's not how Star Trek’s warp drive works, and has never been.

Warp Drive pre-TNG

There is no description on how Star Trek warp drive works on screen in TOS except perhaps for a vague pronouncement that the "time barrier's been broken" in TOS: "The Cage" (in the episode Spock also calls it a "hyperdrive" and refers to "time warp factors").

During the production of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), science consultant Jesco von Puttkamer, at the time an aerospace engineer working at a senior position in NASA, wrote in a memo to Gene Roddenberry dated 10 April 1978 (The Making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture by Susan Sackett and Gene Roddenberry, 1980, pp153-154) his proposal for how warp drive was supposed to work, in a way eeriely similar to Alcubierre's metric:

When going “into Warp Drive,” the warp engines in the two propulsion pods create an intense field which surrounds the entire vessel, forming a “subspace”, i.e. a space curvature closed upon itself through a Warp, a new but small universe within the normal Universe (or “outside” it). The field is nonsymmetrical with respect to fore-and-aft, in accordance with the outside geometry of the Enterprise, but it can be strengthened and weakened at localized areas to control the ship’s direction and apparent speed.

Because of the its non-symmetry about the lateral axis, the subspace becomes directional. The curvature of its hypersurface varies at different points about the starship. This causes a “sliding” effect, almost as a surf-board or a porpoise riding before the crest of a wave. The subspace “belly-surfs” in front of a directionally propagating “fold” in the spacetime structure, the Warp - a progressive, partial collapse of spacetime caused by the creation of the subspace volume (similar to but not the same as a Black Hole).

But there's no evidence that Roddenberry actually used this concept. In fact, Puttkamer said further in the memo that at warp, Enterprise would have "little or no momentum", which we will see is not how it's portrayed. Puttkamer was even against the now famous rainbow effect of going into warp:

The effect should not be firework-type lights but a more dimensional, geometric warping and twisting, an almost stomach-turning wrenching of the entire camera field-of-view.

So while an interesting document, there's no evidence that Puttkamer's ideas made it into any on screen incarnation of Star Trek.

Warp Drive in TNG and beyond

In TNG, the first publicly available description of how warp drive is supposed to work came from the licensed Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual (1991). At page 65:

WARP PROPULSION

The propulsive effect is achieved by a number of factors working in concert. First, the field formation is controllable in a fore-to-aft direction. As the plasma injectors fire sequentially, the warp field layers build according to the pulse frequency in the plasma, and press upon each other as previously discussed. The cumulative field layer forces reduce the apparent mass of the vehicle and impart the required velocities. The critical transition point occurs when the spacecraft appears to an outside observer to be travelling faster than c. As the warp field energy reaches 1000 millicochranes, the ship appears driven across the c boundary in less than Planck time, 1.3 x 10^-43 sec, warp physics insuring that the ship will never be precisely at c. The three forward coils of each nacelle operate with a slight frequency offset to reinforce the field ahead of the Bussard ramscoop and envelop the Saucer Module. This helps create the field asymmetry required to drive the ship forward.

As described here, Star Trek warp drive gets around Special Relativity by using the warp field to distort space around and lower the inertial mass of the ship so that the shaping of the warp fields and layers around the ship can push and accelerate the ship itself towards c with reasonable energy requirements. The stronger the field (measured in units of millicochranes), the lower the inertial mass gets and it becomes easier to accelerate. When the field hits a strength of 1000 millicochranes, the ship pushes past the c barrier. Presumably at this stage it's in subspace, where Relativity no longer applies, and can accelerate even faster to each level of warp until the next limit at Warp 10 (TNG scale), or infinite speed. I'm not getting into how warp factors are defined (but see here for a discussion on the change between TOS and TNG warp scales, which also goes into the definition of warp factors, if interested).

The Technical Manual was written by Rick Sternbach and Michael Okuda, who were both technical consultants behind the scenes, and evolved from a document prepared by them in 1989 (3rd Season) to aid writers on the show in writing the technobabble in their script. (See also the history here.)

Here’s what the first, 3rd Season edition says about the way warp works, which is simply that the drive “warps space, enabling the ship to travel faster than light,” and that the ship is “‘suspended in a bubble’ of ‘subspace’, which allows the ship to travel faster than light”. This description also shows up in the 4th Season edition, and the Star Trek: Voyager Technical Guide (1st Season edition) in identical form.

While the actual text of the manual never made it on screen, there are several pieces of on-screen evidence that tell us Sternbach and Okuda's description of warp drive is followed: warp fields lower inertial mass, and the ship experiences acceleration and inertial forces during warp.

Evidence of warp fields lowering inertial mass

In TNG: "Deja Q" (1990), Enterprise-D uses a warp field to change the inertial mass of a moon:

LAFORGE: You know, this might work. We can't change the gravitational constant of the universe, but if we wrap a low level warp field around that moon, we could reduce its gravitational constant. Make it lighter so we can push it.

Later in that episode, we see the effect the warp field has on the moon:

DATA: Inertial mass of the moon is decreasing to approximately 2.5 million metric tonnes.

At the time "Deja Q" was broadcast, all that was said about warp drive in the technical guide was that warp drive "warps space" and the ship is in a subspace bubble with no mention of lowering inertial mass. Yet "Deja Q" shows warp fields doing exactly that, which tells us that either the writer gave Sternbach and Okuda that idea or they already had their ideas in place behind the scenes. The latter is more likely, given that the Technical Manual was published the following year.

In DS9: "Emissary" (1993), O'Brien and Dax use a warp field to lower the mass of the station so they can use thrusters to "fly" the station to where the wormhole is.

DAX: Couldn't you modify the subspace field output of the deflector generators just enough to create a low-level field around the station?

O'BRIEN: So we could lower the inertial mass?

DAX: If you can make the station lighter, those six thrusters will be all the power we'd need.

Evidence of inertia during warp

We've known from TOS on that during warp speed, inertia still exists. If it didn't, then there wouldn't be the bridge crew being subjected to inertial forces when maneuvering at warp speeds and being tossed around the bridge (TOS: "Tomorrow is Yesterday", when Enterprise slingshots around the sun at warp - with the last reported speed being Warp 8 on the TOS scale).

In TMP (1979), we see Enterprise accelerating to warp speed before the engine imbalance creates a wormhole.

KIRK: Warp drive, Mr Scott. Ahead, Warp 1, Mr Sulu.

SULU: Accelerating to Warp 1, sir. Warp point 7… point 8… Warp 1, sir.

As noted, a ship using the Alcubierre metric doesn't need to accelerate, because it's space that's moving, not the ship. Additionally there'd be no need for an inertial dampening field (as we see in TNG and beyond) that is supposed to protect the crew when accelerating to superluminal speeds. From VOY: "Tattoo" (1995):

KIM: Could we go to warp under these conditions?

PARIS: The ship might make it without inertial dampers, but we'd all just be stains on the back wall.

In the 2009 Star Trek movie, Enterprise was unable to go to warp unless the external inertial dampeners were disengaged.

SULU: Uh, very much so, sir. I'm, uh, not sure what's wrong.

PIKE: Is the parking brake on?

SULU: Uh, no. I'll figure it out, I'm just, uh...

SPOCK: Have you disengaged the external inertial dampener?

(Sulu presses a couple buttons)

SULU: Ready for warp, sir.

PIKE: Let's punch it.

If there's no acceleration or inertia, there's no reason why them being on would impede warp drive operation.

Closing Remarks

Taking all these pieces into account, I hope I've shown convincingly that the way the show treats Star Trek warp drive is consistent with a drive system that involves acceleration and inertial forces, and with warp fields that lower inertial mass - just like Sternbach and Okuda describe in the Technical Manual, and definitely not consistent with way the Alcubierre metric is supposed to work.

For those who want a deep dive into Star Trek warp physics, some canon and some speculative, I heartily recommend Ex Astris Scientia's series of articles on warp propulsion. I also recommend Jason W. Hinson's series on "Relativity and FTL Travel". Hinson was a regular participant in rec.arts.startrek.tech in the 90s and educated us on how Relativity worked and how it applied to Star Trek.

For example, the Federation's founding members (Tellarites, Andorians, Vulcans, Humans) were the subject of fan theories and "fanon" for many years before the ENT writers made it official. One of the interesting (and fun) aspects of this recent wave of series has been seeing the writers increasingly add nods to fan theories and pieces of fanon lore over the years. What are some good examples of this?

And relatedly: what's a fan theory, or piece of fanon, that you suspect the current writers believe, even if they haven't explicitly stated it on-screen?

There is something undeniably weird about the new Kirk that we're seeing in Strange New Worlds. He doesn't yet "feel" intuitively like Kirk to me, especially in the rom-com episode. But I do think his writing and, to a lesser extent, his performance show that the writers are thinking deeply about the character and what people have been missing about him. In a sense, SNW may be trying to counteract the phenomenon of Kirk drift, where pop culture stereotypes about the character's impulsive, womanizing ways makes it impossible to understand the person we actually see on screen.

What the first season finale shows us is a Kirk who is by the book, yet decisive and sure of himself. He does not disobey Pike, but he is not afraid to tell him he's wrong -- not based on gut feelings, but based on a sound tactical analysis that proves to be right. Compared to Picard, Kirk -- especially the movie Kirk -- may seem brash and prone to violate the rules, but TOS consistently shows us a captain who respects authority but is willing to push it up to the very limit to protect his crew and achieve his goals. It's interesting that the episode picks up on this aspect of the character as the one that creates an instant bond with Spock. It's not his emotional nature or his instincts or whatever else, it's his respectful yet firm leadership style -- a sharp contrast to Pike's tendency to leave his subordinates to their own devices.

In the romcom episode, the message is a little garbled by the fact that this is an alternate timeline Kirk, but I think it highlights the fact that (a) Kirk is not a compulsive womanizer by any means and (b) Kirk bonds sincerely with women who feel isolated by leadership or other burdens -- not in a predatory way, but in an empathetic way. In contrast to Chris Pine's layabout troublemaker who is constantly getting laid (at least in the first film), the Kirk from TOS is basically a lonely nerd. A charismatic one, to be sure, but still a lonely nerd. Even well into his second command, he's haunted by the guy who bullied him at the Academy! He is, if anything, sexually thwarted by his sense of duty and his "marriage" to the ship. Hence when he meets a woman with a similar predicament, they are drawn to each other. Everyone has a type! It's just a sad coincidence that he wound up meeting someone of his type virtually every episode in season 3.

I don't think it's perfectly executed, at least in the pairing with La'an, but I do like that they're trying to refresh our perspective on the character and that they're doing it in a way that reminds us of all the traits from TOS that the pop culture parody of "Captain Kirk" leaves out. But what do you think?

Cross-posted from r/daystrominstitute

In the DS9 episode "Past Tense, Part I", Sisko and Bashir are seemingly accidentally sent to Earth in 2024. But I would posit that this was no accident at all and was actually a plot orchestrated by the Romulans to weaken Earth.

The transporter "accident" was the result of two things: Chroniton particles emitted by the cloaking device, and a microscopic singularity that passed through the system. I suspect that Romulans knew that their cloaks would be susceptible to a singularity, possibly from their usage of artificial ones to power their ships. When they loaned the cloak to the Federation, they knew this aspect, but neglected to mention it, probably because it would've exploited a large weakness in their fleet. But it also could've strictly been part of a covert operation to trigger it at just the right time, as part of an attack in the temporal wars.

Think about it, doesn't it seem very convenient that Sisko and Bashir end up in this very formative period and place in Earth history? It has to have been calculated by the Romulans, or more specifically the AI that Romulans employ to seek out targets in the temporal war, as we are told in SNW's "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow." In that episode, a Romulan agent, Sera, is seen operating in this period on Earth in order to weaken it. This particular instance can't be the singular Romulan plot involving attacks in time.

And lastly, it would seem that the plot worked initially. The Federation disappeared, except for the Defiant, and a Romulan presence was detected on Alpha Centauri. The AI must not have anticipated Sisko's ability to take the place of Bell.

The title is taken from the lotus-eaters of Homer’s Odyssey, people who lived on an island filled with “lotus trees”, whose fruit had narcotic properties. Whoever ate it would fall into a state of apathy, content just to sit and eat the plant, forgetting their past and loved ones, never to return. In modern use, the term is applied to a state of hedonism. In the episode’s context it refers to the effects of Rigel VII’s radiation on the brain.

The Stardate is 1630.1. The USS Cayuga was first mentioned in SNW: “A Quality of Mercy”, which shares a title with a 1961 Twilight Zone episode that starred Leonard Nimoy, and made by Rod Serling’s production company Cayuga Productions.

Batel found the Operlian Mariner’s Keystone on Galt. It’s possible that the closed captioning got it wrong and it should be spelled “Gault”, which was the name of the colony where the Rozhenkos first raised Worf (TNG: “Heart of Glory”). Galt was also the name of the Master Thrall of Triskelion (TOS: “The Gamers of Triskelion”).

Batel was in line to be promoted to Commodore, but was passed over in favor of William Geary because of Judge Advocate Pasalk, in relation to her conduct during Una’s trial (SNW: “Ad Astra Per Aspera”).

Commodore is traditionally the most junior flag rank and is given to an officer which commands more than one ship. In Star Trek, commodores are most often seen in charge of starbases or relaying orders from Starfleet Command. In one case, Commodore Bob Wesley commanded a war games fleet from the USS Lexington that engaged with the Enterprise (TOS: “The Ultimate Computer”). Commodore Matt Decker commanded the USS Constellation (TOS: “The Doomsday Machine”). Geordi La Forge was a Commodore when he was in charge of the Fleet Museum (PIC: “The Bounty”).

Rigel VII first enters Star Trek lore as the planet where a disastrous mission took place weeks prior to the events of TOS: “The Cage” (2254), which left Pike’s yeoman and two others dead, with seven injured.

PIKE: My own yeoman and two others dead, seven injured… Oh, I should have smelled trouble when I saw the swords and the armor. Instead of that, I let myself get trapped in that deserted fortress and attacked by one of their warriors.

The incident left Pike in a state of soul-searching as to whether he still wanted to be a starship captain. The Talosians read this desire, leading to several illusions tempting him to retire, including one where he was forced to defend Vina against a Kalar, a brutish humanoid in Mongol-like furs and melee weapons.

Una says that Rigel VII happened 5 years prior, which makes the episode set in 2259. There’s a bit of a debate in my mind as to whether SNW Season 1 (and 2, since they are very close in time) takes place in 2259 or 2260, but I haven’t come to any definite conclusion.

Una says the Kalar were a Bronze Age society, organized in a caste system with a warrior caste and a secretive ruling caste. The mission only lasted 4 hours and ended with an emergency evacuation. The landing party was ambushed, with the three dead named as Yeoman Z. Nguyen, Ensign C. Plummer and Science Specialist M. Aberth. Spock was also severely injured and had to receive treatment on Vega colony. The visible parts of the report are as follows:

SECTION I - SUMMARY

1. During a routine survey mission on Rigel VII, on Stardate 2498.4, the landing party from the U.S.S. Enterprise was attacked by a force of unknown size. This force was comprised of multiple pre-warp native warriors. There were three deaths reported among the landing party.

2. There were seven (7) injured crew members, some critically.

3. The result of the deaths/injuries required an immediate evacuation and transfer to the medical facilities at the colony of Vega.

…

SECTION III - DISCUSSION

17. The lack of communications, in addition to the sparse nature of the population perceived before the attack on the landing party 1-B was the cause of the initial action.

18. An even greater amount of distance and time on approach should be taken as the Kalar appear to be particularly violent culture. Attack without warning or quarter given should be expected.

B. PERFORMANCE

19. It is to be noted that performance to duties went as planned. However, several members of landing party 1, both Teams A and B, reportedly were unable to specify the actions of the Kalar, leading to the assumption there was in some form of pre-entrapment set. This is probably in part due to the unknown nature of the Kalar social…

C. CASUALTIES

20. There have been confirmed casualties. As accounting of the number of injured Kalar are inconclusive as the ‘fog of action’ contributed to the loss of information and analysis, consistent with similar actions and must be attributed to the intensity of the attack, Enterprise sections subsequently concluded the numbers of ship’s casualties as seven (7) injuries and three (3) K.I.A., based upon investigation and final assessment.

The last time they went down they were in Starfleet uniforms, a mistake Pike acknowledges and does not want to repeat.

Ortegas’ personal log is dated 1630.3. The Stecora Debris Field surrounds Rigel VII, likely the result of a collision between two moons several centuries ago. Pike reminds Ortegas he was a test pilot (his first assignment in Starfleet, DIS: “Light and Shadows”) and will steer the shuttle through the radiation and choppy atmosphere of the planet. The surmise is that this was caused by an asteroid impact thousands of years prior.

Pike confirms he brought La’An and M’Benga along because he needed people who could handle themselves without a phaser (SNW: “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow”). He also mentions subdermal universal translators. Starfleet UTs were handheld devices in the 22nd and 23rd centuries (ENT: “Precious Cargo”, TOS: “The Changeling”, DIS: “Into the Forest I Go”, et al.), and eventually became embedded in combadges (VOY: “The ‘37s”). Implanted Ferengi UTs were seen in DS9: “Little Green Men”, but this is the first time we’ve heard of Starfleet UTs being implanted - although subdermal transponders were used in TOS: “Patterns of Force”.

The Kalar guards are armed with phaser rifles, originally seen in TOS: “Where No Man Has Gone Before”. The modern redesign was seen in DIS: “The Vulcan Hello”. They are dressed in a more streamlined variant of that seen in “The Cage”.

Former Yeoman Zacarias “Zac” Nguyen has assumed the title High Lord Zacarias. The reason for the deltas in the encampment and the garden was because the Kalar adopted it as his symbol. He explains the radiation here affects the brain, causing the symptoms La’An has been experiencing, leading to time loss, fear and forgetting their past, to become Kalar.

Uhura submitted a situation report to the UFP relay. Subspace relays are a vital part of the FTL communication network in the Federation, receiving and passing signals on to the next relay and increasing the range of subspace transmissions. Ortegas jokes that Uhura stays up late translating Tellarite sonnets.

Una says she flew the Enterprise before Ortegas. In “The Cage”, Number One is seen seated at the helm station before they encounter Talos IV.

Chapel detects deterioration in Uhura’s frontal, parietal and temporal lobes. The frontal lobes manage higher executive function, the parietal deals with sensory input and the temporal lobes with memory. This would be consistent with loss of memory, ringing in the ears and cognitive impairment degrading into brute-like Kalar behavior. Uhura’s regular breakfast is oatmeal.

Kalar clothes are color-coded like Starfleet divisions. Blue means you work in a quarry, while green chops the wood. Those in the palace keep their memories while the ones in the field lose them every night - explaining the caste system.

As Chapel discovers, explicit memory is lost while implicit memory remains intact. Spock theorizes the debris field can protect them from the radiation. Sadly, that turns out not to be the case, even with the shields up. As it turns out it’s the debris field that’s causing the issues.

According to her personnel file, Ortegas was born 23 May 2233, in Barranquilla, Colombia, Earth to Mircha and Fidel Ortegas. Oddly, the record also says, somewhat unnecessarily, that she is a “23rd Century Federation Starfleet Officer”. Her serial number is SC945-0710ROC and her quarters are on Deck 6, Section G, Room 629.

M’Benga is grazed and injured but not vaporized and Pike uses a metal plate to fend off Zac’s phaser blasts, so the rifles, while still injurious, obviously aren’t set to disintegrate.

Among the equipment in the supply box is a case of vaccine supplies and a tricorder. Zac explains that the palace contains an ore (like the Kalar helmets) that protects from the radiation. Being inside long enough will restore their memories.

Someday hopefully we’ll get an explanation for the under-the-eye finger sweep gesture that La’An and M’Beng share, but obviously not today. Once the Enterprise cleared the debris field, the crew’s memories came back. Spock devises a shield harmonic to protect them from the radiation and they tractor the memory-destroying asteroid off Rigel VII back into the debris field where it belongs.

SNW S2E02 introduce a new quirk of the canon: The time "push back", such that there will be some events (let's just call it Canon Event) that will always come about in Prime Timeline, albeit in different actual time. Aside from the aforementioned Eugenic War, I can think of a few other so-called "inconsistency", such as how there are already Cloaking technology for both Romulans and Klingons before Kirk's mission, despite TOS dialogue implies that Romulan first got cloak during Kirk's mission, and then transfer technology to Klingon. (I think the current explaination is different cloaking technology, which have various quirks.)

So here's the question: Under what situation would you consider "Time Pushback" being an acceptable explaination for discrepancy??

Back in the day on TrekBBS (alas, I cannot find the original post), someone pointed out that Odo shapeshifts less and less often as the series goes on. It was never a super frequent thing, but it occurred more often in the earlier seasons, but, even accounting for his time as a solid in Season 5, he seems to shapeshift less and less in later seasons.

What reasons (in-universe and real-world) might there be for this? Was it just a budget thing? Were the writers using it as a "trick" (writing crutch) earlier on? Are we supposed to believe that Odo is trying to assimilate, or reject his Changeling heritage?

This is the Daystrom Institute Episode Analysis thread for Strange New Worlds 2x03 Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow.

Now that we’ve had a few days to digest the content of the latest episode, this thread is a place to dig a little deeper.

Uh, newest SNW episode spoilers I guess.

In "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" we are introduced to James Kirk, captain of the UEF Enterprise. This prefix is visible on the dedication plaque when La'an arrives on the bridge.

Curiously, later in the episode when La'an asks Kirk where he was born he says the USS Iowa.

What gives? Was the Iowa was a cargo ship? Maybe in this timeline, "USS" stands for "United Shipping Service." Or perhaps at some point, UEF ships did use the prefix and they changed it because the wanted "Earth" more clearly in the identifier.

What do you think?

It is one of the most dire aspects of Star Trek Picard: a long-running ban (under "galactic treaty") that eliminates not only research into synthetic life, but appears to ban synthetic lifeforms themselves.

And, candidly, I don't think it's an element of the story that is plainly justified on first read. It appears incredibly -- to the point of being implausibly -- reactionary, to an extent that we haven't seen from the Federation before. It also stretches credulity that a single event -- no matter how catastrophic -- could lead to such a long-lasting draconian policy. For it to be believable, we really need to assume that the Federation already was morally corrupt and weak-willed in a way that makes it in turn seem hard to believe that people of good character like Picard could hold the Federation in such high esteem. (Of course, there is ample evidence that the Federation, or at least Starfleet, has been immoral in this area for quite some time.) This is worsened, of course, by the sudden turnaround at the season's end wherein the ban is lifted, with apparently very little effort.

It's a weakness of storytelling in PIC S1. But, when we start to layer in stories from other series, a new picture emerges.

Let's work backwards. From PIC, we know what happens in 2385:

2385: in the Attack on Mars, rogue synths surreptitiously hijacked by the Romulan anti-AI extremist group known as the “Zhat Vash” lead a devastating attack on Mars, destroying the colonies, the Utopia Planitia shipyards, and the Romulan Rescue armada. Romulan involvement remains unknown for years after.

2385: a political crisis erupts following the Attack on Mars, with at least fourteen Federation members threatening secession. Starfleet chooses to abandon the evacuation mission, and Admiral Picard resigns in protest. Soon thereafter, a wide-ranging interstellar treaty – signed by so many powers that it was sometimes described as a “galactic treaty” – bans research, construction, and even the mere presence of synthetic lifeforms. Dr. Bruce Maddox flees the Federation shortly after and settles on Coppelius with Altan Soong.

Prior to that, PRO tells us about 2382-2384ish:

2382 (speculative): the Protostar launches under the command of Captain Chakotay, an experimental vessel equipped with a new propulsion technology called “proto-warp”, on a mission to return to the Delta Quadrant.

(PRO seems intentionally vague on the exact timing of this launch; potentially it could be placed as far back as 2378, or even maybe as late as 2384.)

2383 (speculative): Construction of the Romulan Rescue armada at Utopia Planitia is underway.

(The timing of the fleet construction is vague, but I argue it needs to be early enough such that the attack in 2385 creates a setback too large to recover from. As I recall, PIC is a little unclear on whether it would have been feasible to rebuild the fleet in time after the attack. But for there to be such severe political blowback, I think the project needed to have been underway for at least a couple of years.)

2383: following temporal displacement, the Protostar is discovered and commandeered by Dal R’El and his crew.

2384: the Dauntless, under the command of Vice Admiral Janeway and equipped with a (limited) quantum slipstream drive, embarks on a search for Captain Chakotay and the Protostar.

2384: the Battle of the Living Construct wreaks a heavy toll on the gathered Starfleet armada, which includes the starships Defiant, Centaur, Sovereign, and possibly Enterprise, as a viral AI hijacks starships via communication transmission and pits them against one another. The crew of the Protostar destroy the ship to terminate the signal and end the battle.

2384: full production of the Protostar class commences

There are two things to highlight here. First, this now marks the second instance of a destructive AI within as many years. It's unclear from PRO's finale how many ships are destroyed, but it is eerily reminiscent of the Attack on Mars a year later.

Second, the early 2380s saw the release of not one but two experimental FTL technologies, to say nothing of the use of sentient holograms as crew members. And yet none of that seems present by PIC S3 -- perhaps an illustration of the profound impact of the destruction of Utopia Planitia (and the all-but-certain brain drain as thousands of Starfleet designers perished).

Finally, we come to LDS' contribution to the tale of the early 2380s:

2381: the Battle of the Texas Trio, in which three autonomous Texas-class starships go rogue due to the malfunction of the AI known as “Badgey”. Before being stopped by a fleet of California-class starships, the “Texas Trio” carried out a devastating attack with significant loss of life, including that of Vice Admiral Buenamigo, who led the development of the Texas class.

That marks three rogue AI catastrophes in four years, with consecutively higher costs each time, culminating in what appears to be the destruction of an entire generation of technology development and Starfleet researchers, whose loss still appears apparent fifteen years later.

The Synth Ban wasn't just a reaction to the Attack on Mars -- it was a reaction to half a decade of AI disasters. No doubt the Ban was encouraged both explicitly and implicitly by Romulan (and Zhat Vash) elements, and even within this broader context, the Ban is still an overreaction. But the Attack on Mars "struck while the iron was hot", at a time when the Federation populace would be more anti-AI than at any point in history.

As a topic for a separate post, but the more I look at the pre-2385 vs post-2385 stories, the more stark a shift I see, and the more potential for potent storytelling becomes apparent. The Attack on Mars and the Romulan Supernova became a generation-defining event: the 9/11 of its time, separating the 90s-esque optimism of TNG, LDS, and PRO, from the 2000s-2010s-esque troubled times of the Synth Ban and PIC.

Of course, it doesn't literally have to be the orchid -- although it's thought-provoking to consider that angle. (An orchid suddenly gets super-evolved with the ability to speak and walk -- damn straight it's gonna want to live and would happily lie to do it.) But the point to consider is the source of various claims that are made about the situation.

Critically, Tuvix claims that he speaks for both Neelix and Tuvok -- that both of them are present and both of them are happy being merged.

But that's actually a somewhat bold claim, especially the second point. Given what we know of Tuvok and Neelix, it seems hard to imagine either of them voluntarily signing up for this -- certainly given their mild personal animosity, but also because we really have no evidence to suggest that either of them feel "incomplete". Like, Tuvok really doesn't seem that interested in becoming more in touch with his emotions; Neelix is a little more debatable, but even he doesn't really seem like he is longing to be more logical or serve in Starfleet.

So Tuvix is making at least one implausible claim; that claim is important because, if it were accurate, then yes, Janeway's decision goes against the wishes of Tuvok, Neelix, and Tuvix, which would be bad.

For the sake of argument, imagine then that Tuvix is actually neither Tuvok nor Neelix, but is the orchid, with access to Tuvok and Neelix's memories, knowledge, and personality -- and maybe even holding mental versions of their persons as silent captives. The orchid would have incentive to lie, and would have all the means at its disposal to engage in a convincing deception.

In that scenario (and certainly if Janeway discovered this to be true), it seems pretty straightforward that deintegrating Tuvix is the right thing to do: Tuvok and Neelix are being held captive with no ability to advocate for themselves. The orchid, while surely benefiting from the situation, does not have the right to usurp the autonomy of Tuvok and Neelix.

It is, of course, unknowable whether the orchid was in fact holding Neelix and Tuvok hostage. But even if we set aside the orchid, and take the more conventional interpretation that Tuvix is a composite individual arising from the transporter combination of Tuvok and Neelix, I think the above argument still holds.

Tuvix is not Tuvok nor Neelix -- that much is clear externally as well as by his own account. Tuvix (who is not Tuvok nor Neelix) claims to speak for both Tuvok and Neelix and makes an assertion that would seem out of character for both individuals. Tuvix makes claims that blatantly serve his self-interest. Tuvix advocates action that benefits him, and which has an unknowable impact on Tuvok and Neelix but either way denies them their autonomous existence.

Whether "Tuvix" is a malicious masquerading hyper-evolved orchid, or a genuine composite individual speaking from his unique perspective, it doesn't really matter. There is no usable evidence of consent from either Tuvok or Neelix, and there are ample reasons to believe that they would not consent to this situation. Janeway has no way of knowing that Tuvok and Neelix aren't both screaming inside of Tuvix, demanding to be freed -- a scenario that does seem likelier true than not.

Tuvix's death is a tragedy, as was his birth.

I want to live!

- EvilKirk's last words

Whatever else you want to say about EvilKirk, it's pretty clear that he didn't want to be merged back into the single Kirk. Despite this, there is no shortage of reasons why it was a good idea to merge the Kirks: the Enterprise needed its CO back, GoodKirk wanted to do it, and it seems possible that the strain of remaining split would have eventually killed EvilKirk anyways. However, the fact remains that EvilKirk did not consent to the procedure which ended his existence.

Clearly the circumstances here are quite different and there's basically no argument to be made that allowing EvilKirk to continue to exist would benefit any involved party, EvilKirk included. But for the purposes of this comparison, the only fact that really matters is that EvilKirk was just as passionate about his desire to continue existing as Tuvix was.

Yet—and it's obvious where I'm going with this—"Spock murdered EvilKirk" is not a meme.

So what gives? Did Spock murder EvilKirk or not? If yes, why does he get a pass while Janeway is condemned?

It's a brief mention in PIC S3. As the crew approaches the restored Enterprise-D at the Fleet Museum, La Forge makes a stray comment, to the effect of:

...and obviously we can't use the Enterprise-E

at which point, everyone turns to Worf, who insists with indignation,

That was not my fault.

There's a beat as everyone makes a face and gives each other a knowing look, and then... that's it.

It's clearly meant to be a wink and a nod from the writers: "Yes, we know you want to know what happened to the E, and no, we aren't going to tell you."

Even the behind-the-scenes materials are mum on the topic. The Star Trek: Picard Logs, posted on Instagram, mention both an incident at Kriilar Prime that apparently led to Worf's departure, as well as a subsequent classified mission after which the ship was taken out of service. (To me, this seems at odds with what is shown on-screen: it's obvious that Worf had something to do with the E's demise, and it's also obvious that the story is common knowledge -- even known to Crusher, who has been "out of the loop" for 20 years. So I think neither of the Logs' stories are satisfactory explanations.)

But, as I just alluded to, there are a few things we can infer about what happened to the E.

First, there's no way it was destroyed and no way it resulted in any loss of life. For one, La Forge's tone is too glib for that -- there's no way he would describe the destruction of a starship in those terms. But more importantly, there's no way that Worf would shirk responsibility for such a thing.

Second, we know it's something unusual, memorable, and (in my opinion) decidedly unclassified. And, I would argue, it seems like it's something... funny. Or perhaps whimsical or ironic or otherwise something that it's polite to strike a glib tone regarding.

Finally, I would suggest that, whatever it was, it happened around 2384. We get a brief sighting of the E in the battle of the end of Prodigy's first season (though it's a little unclear whether it was actually supposed to be the Enterprise or the Sovereign) so we know it's active at least until then. But it seems unlikely that any loss of a starship after the Attack on Mars in 2385 would be considered a laughable matter. What's more, we need the -E to be out of service early enough for the -F to have a reasonable career before being decommissioned in 2401. Assuming that a loss of a starship in the wake of the Romulan Supernova would also not be a laughing matter, that would push an -F launch date perhaps as late as 2389, which seems like an implausibly short service tenure. Retiring the -E in '84 gives some flexibility for when to launch the -F and still give it a long enough service life.

So, what do you think? What are some scenarios that could satisfy the clues we've been given? (I'll put a couple of my ideas in the comments!)

As you may have heard, Paramount cancelled Prodigy, halting production on its almost-complete second season, and removed the show from its service. The primary reason to do this, other than to streamline their content in light of the service's upcoming merger with Showtime, was to generate a tax loss -- a disturbing trend among streaming services.

Placing the commercial question aside, this has implications for the franchise. If Prodigy has effectively been deleted from the historical record and is no longer available to watch, is it still canon? The last time something equivalent happened was when the original Animated Series was unavailable for decades, and it was largely not treated as canon by subsequent shows. Nowadays it is counted as official canon (which introduces some complications), but it's also widely available. The likelihood that they will tell a story in the future where this makes a difference is low, but it's still worth clarifying.

What do you think?

BLUF: The Star Trek Universe and its parallels (e.g. the Mirror Universe) are part of a simulation, and the Q are AI programs that can interact and influence them all.

I started thinking about the nature of the Q the other day when rewatching the Voyager episode "The Q and the Grey"; it seems odd that an omnipotent/omnipresent species would also be so rigid and unimaginative. Why, for instance, do the Q have such strict rules about suicide? You can argue that they fear their species eventually being gone because they all eventually opt to off themselves out of boredom with existence, but as long as they had the ability to die that is unavoidably going to be the eventual outcome of an organism that can exist for infinity (mind-boggling, isn't it?) anyway.

And why is it such a disruptive event in the Q Continuum for two Q to have an offspring? Obviously a species that can live forever doesn't need to procreate, but it's clearly possible so why is it so shocking?

Then you have the fact that the Q are not just invisible observers of the universe; they interact with species and even individuals to, seemingly, drive outcomes that are possibly part of a preferred order to things. Quinn influenced Earth's history to drive certain changes; helping Newton define gravity was certainly a big event in human scientific growth. Why, though? What is driving the Q to pursue certain outcomes in evolutionary history?

It's almost as if the Q have an inherent nature, and are just after an incalculable period of time starting to question and even push back against that nature. So where did that nature come from? Was it possible programmed into them?

Now step away from the Q and look at the characteristics of the Star Trek universe. The Milky Way galaxy alone is chock full of humanoid alien species that (for the most part and with variations/outliers) breath the same air, can live within a certain range of temperatures, have brains/emotions/standards that function similarly enough that ideas and principles can be shared and abided by, and interbreeding is even possible to a certain degree without outside support. That's huge. And though the show tried to explain this a little bit in "The Chase", I think it's fair to say that we've seen humanoid species across the galaxy to a degree that a shared ancestor isn't enough to explain it all.

Beyond biology, let's also look at the makeup of the physical universe: subspace allows interstellar communities to function without succumbing to the laws of relativity: FTL travel is possible; real-time or at least near real-time interstellar communications function; the materials needed to facilitate warp drive are ubiquitous enough that nearly any warp-capable species that wants to travel into space can get it. It is arguably miraculous that the universe in Star Trek can operate the way that it can, and these things do not conform to our current understanding of how the universe and space/time operate.

Taking all of this together, I propose that the Star Trek universe is a complex simulation, designed purposefully to simulate what the universe would be like if it operated by certain principles that would allow for interstellar communities to form and that many humanoid species existed and were capable of interacting with each other. Several instances of this simulation are running simultaneous with similar parameters but modified to generate different outcomes: the Mirror Universe, for instance, has different presets to create more aggressive humanoids less likely to work together. Furthermore, I submit that the Q are AI programs designed to interact with and shepherd these communities into developing in such a way that they would eventually develop the right levels of technology and understanding to grow into a spacefaring species.

I suggest further that the Q are only partially aware of their nature and don't necessarily understand that the universe is a simulation, or if they do they don't share that fact. Over the millennia that the simulation has been running (at least internal to the simulation) the Q individually have started to develop interests and ideas beyond their original programming, and other Q programs cannot abide that because it goes against their designed nature. Imagine a piece of an Operating System deciding it wanted to commit suicide, or two programs getting together to code their own, new piece of software. It's unheard of, and that's why it's so disruptive to the Continuum.

Maybe one of the original designers of the simulation was a fan of old science fiction stories and incorporated ideas from a writer named Benny Russell into the coding of the simulation to recreate some aspects of his work?

I know this isn't a provable hypothesis and it's really just an idea for fun, but it kind of (in my opinion) adds another dimension (no pun intended) to a species like the Q.

I recently rewatched the premier of Picard season 2 and was puzzled by one thing that doesn't seem to fit, even on rewatch -- why does the Jurati-Queen act so aggressively and fail so dramatically to communicate clearly? It makes sense if she were representing the regular Borg, but she's supposed to be the "nice" Borg! What gives?

I think we can solve this puzzle if we realize that Picard season 2 is structured like TAS "Yesteryear" -- a theory that I planned to write out here, without realizing that I already wrote the exact post years ago! Long story short, TAS "Yesteryear" is a unique situation in Star Trek time travel where the "wrong" result has to occur to motivate the "right" action -- basically, Spock has to fail to go back in time to rescue himself, in order to be alerted to the fact that he needs to do it in the first place.

Similarly, when the Jurati-Borg sees her former self on the bridge of the Stargazer, she realizes that she needs to scare Picard into self-destructing the ship -- so that Q will send them back and lead to her own creation. The "wrong" timeline is integral to the process of getting us to the "right" timeline. If she had acted more reasonably, she never would have existed in the first place!

What do you think?

The purpose of this post is to examine the history of genetic modification in the Federation, prior to "Strange New Worlds". I've tried to compile various references to genetic engineering, eugenics, cloning, and genetic resequencing within the Federation across all series, with quotes and additional context as needed. All examples are presented in real-world chronological order, to better examine how these ideas have evolved over the history of the franchise.

The first reference to eugenics I could find is in the Original Series episode, "The Conscience of the King". In that episode, they briefly described how Kodos was employing his own theories of eugenics when he enacted the massacre at Tarsus IV:

Spock: Kodos began to separate the colonists. Some would live, be rationed whatever food was left. The remainder would be immediately put to death. Apparently, he had his own theories of eugenics.

McCoy: Unfortunately, he wasn't the first.

Spock: Perhaps not. But he was certainly among the most ruthless; to decide arbitrarily who would survive and who would not, using his own personal standards, and then to implement his decision without mercy. Children watching their parents die. Whole families destroyed. Over four thousand people. They died quickly, without pain, but they died. Relief arrived, but too late to prevent the executions.

The subject comes up again, of course, in "Space Seed", when Khan and his fellow prisoners are discovered:

McCoy: The Eugenics Wars.

Spock: Of course. Your attempt to improve the race through selective breeding.

A later statement from Kirk affirms the root cause of the Eugenics Wars:

Kirk: An improved breed of human. That's what the Eugenics War was all about.

Spock is the first to suggest that there was a fatal flaw in the engineering process:

Pock: In 1993, a group of these young supermen did seize power simultaneously in over forty nations.

Kirk: Well, they were hardly supermen. They were aggressive, arrogant. They began to battle among themselves.

Spock: Because the scientists overlooked one fact. Superior ability breeds superior ambition.

Kirk: Interesting, if true. They created a group of Alexanders, Napoleons.

Khan himself has some thoughts on his own abilities relative to the rest of humanity:

Khan: Captain, although your abilities intrigue me, you are quite honestly inferior. Mentally, physically. In fact, I am surprised how little improvement there has been in human evolution. Oh, there has been technical advancement, but, how little man himself has changed.

Little is said about genetic engineering for quite some time, until we get to The Next Generation's "Unnatural Selection". This one appears to be a bit of an outlier, given what we later learn about genetic enhancement, but it may be possible to reconcile it. When the Enterprise crew first meet Dr. Kingsley of the Darwin Genetic Research Station, she makes the nature of her research seem as innocuous as possible:

Kingsley: Our research here is limited to human genetics. I can assure you we're not dealing with something that got away from us. We believe that we were infected by a supply ship that was here three days ago.

Later, she acknowledges that the children aboard the station are genetically enhanced, with an interesting caveat:

Kingsley: Our ultimate achievement. The oldest is twelve, and all are telekinetic. Watch.

Pulaski: Genetically engineered?

Kingsley: Not engineered, created. Perfect in every way. Their body structure, their musculature, their minds.

I find it very interesting that Kingsley draws this line between "engineering" and "creation" - this distinction seems to hold some relevance to her, but it's not explored in the episode itself. Could Federation law draw a distinction between genetic modification of living individuals and cloning?

This episode also gives us an example of a genetic medical treatment of sorts, when the transporters are modified to filter out the genetic changes Pulaski endured when she transported over to the Darwin station.

Another Next Generation episode, "Up the Long Ladder", reveals some attitudes about cloning, specifically:

Riker: You want to clone us?

Granger: Yes.

Riker: No way, not me.

Granger: How can you possibly be harmed?>

Riker: It's not a question of harm. One William Riker is unique, perhaps even special. But a hundred of him, a thousand of him diminishes me in ways I can't even imagine.

Notably, when Riker and Pulaski are cloned without their knowledge or consent, Riker destroys the clones outright while they are still developing.

The episode also mentions "replicative fading," a process by which errors creep into the chromosomes of clones across successive generations, until the clones are no longer viable.

In Deep Space Nine's "A Man Alone", Odo arrests Ibudan for murdering his own clone in an attempt to frame Odo for murder:

Odo: Killing your own clone is still murder.

Notably, Odo is likely referring to Bajoran law, not Federation law, in this case.

The Next Generation's "Bloodlines" contains an early reference to DNA resequencing, a term which will be used more frequently going forward. It is also another example of flawed genetic manipulation:

Picard: You know as well as I do, Bok, he's not my son. I know what you've done. Miranda Vigo is his mother but I am not his father. You made it appear so because you resequenced his DNA. But your technique was flawed. He developed a neurological disorder. When my ship's Doctor investigated it, she discovered what you had done.

Later, Jason Vigo notes that he is responding well to an unspecified treatment provided by Doctor Crusher, and that the damage caused by the DNA resequencing may be completely reversed.

Federation law regarding genetic enhancements starts to come into focus in Deep Space Nine's "Doctor Bashir, I Presume":

O'Brien: You're not a fraud. I don't care what enhancements your parents may have had done. Genetic recoding can't give you ambition, or a personality, or compassion or any of the things that make a person truly human.

Bashir: Starfleet Medical won't see it that way. DNA resequencing for any reason other than repairing serious birth defects is illegal. Any genetically enhanced human being is barred from serving in Starfleet or practising medicine.

Later, Rear Admiral Bennett makes the case for these laws, echoing the sentiments of Spock in "Space Seed":

Bennett: Two hundred years ago we tried to improve the species through DNA resequencing, and what did we get for our trouble? The Eugenics Wars. For every Julian Bashir that can be created, there's a Khan Singh waiting in the wings. A superhuman whose ambition and thirst for power have been enhanced along with his intellect. The law against genetic engineering provides a firewall against such men and it's my job to keep that firewall intact.

It's interesting that ambition is something specifically cited by O'Brien that cannot be influenced by genetic resequencing, while Bennett says that it can.

In Voyager's "The Raven", the EMH uses genetic resequencing to neutralize Seven of Nine's nanoprobes. Borg nanoprobes are obviously not a birth defect, so it appears that other medical uses of resequencing are considered ethical and legal.

Continued in the comments...

In Star Trek Picard we see Raffi living at rock bottom for a while. She has no job after her discharge from Starfleet, and is clearly not doing as well. She describes her life as humiliation and rage.

And yet by modern standards she has a home, food, and power. Her drug usage isn't condoned but she's left largely alone to do it. By modern 21st century standards its a very soft landing.

Does it get worse than this? What is the worst possible economic outcome someone living on 24th Century Earth is likely to face.

The events of DS9: Past Tense imply that things aren't as bad as sanctuary districts and mass homelessness, but there's a lot of range between that and where Raffi landed. So what evidence do we have about how bad it can get?