(Also available from Starland mirror site)
First, some comments from previous columns . . .
Bob Canada: If Brent Spiner thinks he's getting too old to play an ageless (or does he still have his "aging program," whatever that is) android, then why didn't they just let Data get a full facial from the Borg Queen in First Contact. Then they could explain that he had real skin and it would eventually age.
Phil: Yup! Missed opportunity!
Lars Ormberg of Rimbey Alberta: On the alt.tv.star-trek.ds9 newsgroup we have the good fortune to be able to communicate with Robert H. Wolfe, one of the DS9 writers. When this question was posed to him, we were informed that the Borg were the property of the Voyager writers and Deep Space Nine was not going to be touching them. There will be no Borg on DS9 until Voyager is gone (one more reason to cancel the show?)
Phil: Now, now. Give the new kid a chance! ;-)
Bob Canada: I hate to correct Anne Stockwell, but she's way off on her Chig comment. Chigs were definitely the aliens (and I too, figured it was based on Chigger). The artificial humans were called "InVitros" or "tanks" (because they were grown in tanks) and were created by real humans, not aliens.
Jim Elek of Sterling Heights, MI: Some asked a question about The Animated Series a couple of weeks ago. The best place I know to find info on that series is on the web at: http://www1.ridgecrest.ca.us/~curtdan/TREK/TAS.cgi?FILE=Main This is an extremely comprehensive page and I took a quick look and it doesn't mention anything about missing episodes.
Bob Canada: I figured someone would send in an answer regarding last week's question on what symbol the Jem'Hadar have, and what kind of base the Jem"hadar action figure has, but since no one did: The Jem'Hadar action figure comes on a round base with an image of the wormhole opening. To my knowledge this is the only figure that has this base. There is another generic looking base (that looks like sort of a faceted explosion or crystal) that some of the non-affiliated(?) characters have, such as the Gorn Captain, the "Darmok and Jelad at Tenagra" guy, and I think maybe Morn. Personally I'd like to see a standard round base, as some of those symbol bases (the Bajoran one in particular) are such odd shapes that its difficult to arrange the figure's feet around it.
On a related note, I just got the 9" Dax figure (OK, OK, its a doll). I am unhappy to report that her spots are only on her head and neck and do NOT go all the way down.
Phil: No spot-counting today! (Grin)
Jessica Greenlee: [Concerning your comments about Dorn's charater's dialogue in ST IV,] Are extended versions of movies canonical, then? Just wondering! I thought they had a lot of stuff that was cut out for the actual film.
Phil: Well, I haven't heard that Paramount is saying that they are not canonical and the footage is in the video release of the movie so I'd say yes!
Kevin Spenst of Moscow, Idaho: I think I might have an explanation for the whole Klingon blood thing...
We learned in "Trials and Tribblelations" that the Klingons of that time were different than they are now, although Worf refuses to say exactly what happened. In the movies, Klingons start to get ridges on their heads, and have purple blood. In ST:TNG and on, they have very pronounced ridges and red blood.
My hypothesis: Pre TOS, Klingons were much like they are in TNG:
ridges, red blood, etc. After all, Kahless
This may be a bit of a stretch, but hey, its still a hypothesis!!
Phil: Anything is possible in Trek!
Jessica Greenlee: I think I've come
up with a possible explanation: The cloaking device in ST IV was an
earlier, more primative model that could be detected because it gave of
some sort of emission (can't remember what). By the time of the
Defiant, this problem has been corrected. However, in "tightening" the
shields, the engineers inadvertantly rendered them impervious to the
transporter.
Phil: Could be! Only the creators know for sure!
Phil: Okay, I did some digging. Deb wondered if one of the actors in the Voyager episode "Warlord" also starred in the NextGen episode "Birthright, Part 2". The "Warlord" guest stars were: Anthony Crivello as Adin, Brad Greenquist as Demmas, Galyn Gorg as Nori, Charles Emmett as Resh, Karl Wiedergott as Ameron and Leigh J. McClosky as Tieran. The "Birthright, Part 2" guest stars were: Christine Rose, James Cromwell, Sterling Macer, Jr., Alan Scarfe, Jennifer Gatti and Richard Herd. No overlap as far as I can tell!
David Craig from Waterloo, Ontario: In response to Marian Perera's chemistry question, I do believe it is a nit. From what I have learned in my high school chemistry class, I
don't think trinitogen chloride (N3Cl) could form a stable molecle.
However, a nitrogen TRIchloride(NCl3) molecule would be quite stable.
Gareth Wilson: Marian Perera was probably correct in saying TNC is an impossible
compound. It's much more likely that the explosive in "Things Past" was
nitrogen trichloride. One of the favourite explosives for laboratory
practical jokers is the related compound nitrogen triiodide, which is
sensitive enough to respond to a minor shock but not powerful enough to
injure the victim.
Kathy McCracken of Ithaca, NY: As a chemist, I wanted to respond to Marian Perera's question in the 4/4
Ask the Chief column, about trinitrogen chloride, the supposed explosive in
"Things Past". It would indeed be unlikely to find such a compound.
Although it is possible for iodine or bromine to bond to more than one
other atom (as the central atom in something like BrF3), the only compounds
with chlorine as the central atom that I have seen are things like ClO2
(chlorine dioxide) and related compounds. I don't believe it ever bonds
with nitrogen in this way.
Nitrogen trichloride (NCl3), on the other hand, is not only a real
compound, but quite unstable and will explode spontaneously if heated to a
moderately high temperature. So either they intended nitrogen trichloride
(which makes this a nit), or quite possibly, they intentionally used a
non-existent compound to avoid giving anyone any "bright ideas" about
explosives. I have seen this sort of thing done before in movies or TV,
such as in the movie "Flashback", where a completely non-existent chemical
name was given for the accelerant used by an arsonist.
Phil: I knew we had a chemist out there somewhere!! ;-)
Sean Corcoran: The Maquis rank bars on "Voyager" do indeed have slashes correspodning
to the circular pips that the Starfleet officers wear. This information
is from the first issue of the "Voyager" magazine, published by Starlog.
Although, I'm not sure if the slashes actually correspond to the
supposed ranks on the show. Chakotay is always called a commander, but
when I look close enough, I could swear that his rank bar has two gold
slashes and one black, making him a lieutenant commander.
On to the questions . . . .
Jessica Greenlee: Various times in the different Star Trek series, someone will conduct a
"level X" diagnostic. My question is, do the diagnostics get more or
less important as the numbers go up? ie: is a level 4 diagnostic more
or less thorough than a level one?
Phil: According to the Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual--a fabulous book by the way--on page 46, the Level 1 Diagnostic is the most comprehensive. Level 5 is merely a routine automated procedure. (Much like the system test that computers do whenever you turn them on.)
Clay Johnson: Did the show with Arissa that aired recently give a name to the device she
had implanted into her neck that allowed her to access computer files? I
don't remember the name.
Phil: The episode was "A Simple Investigation" and I believe the creators called it a "data port."
Matt Nelson: I noticed that you collect the
toys! Do you leave 'em in the box or open 'em and make little phaser
sounds? (I like to make phaser sounds, myself. I think it's a mark
of good character. Chuckle, chuckle.)
Phil: For the most part, I leave mine package! Although I do have Vina on my computer (hubba, hubba)--kindly supplied by Bob Canada because I couldn't find one here in town. I also have Picard and Woody from Toy Story and a collection of MicroMachine spaceships from Trek, Star Wars and Babylon 5. I especially like the MicroMachine metal die-cast miniatures. Wish they'd make more of those!
Jeff Flowers of Oak Park, MI: While reading the April 1997 Nitpickers Guild Newsletter, I saw the nit about Voyager being in
the battle in "First Contact". Who says Voyager could not be there? Has
there ever been any dialogue about Voyager being lost on any other
series? Let's say at the end of its run, Q, the Caretaker, or some
other omnipotent being, sends Voyager back to the Alpha Quadrant at the
point when it left. Voyager may spend years in the Delta quadrant, but
return tem minutes after it left! Therefore, Janeway hails StarFleet HQ,
tells them,"you wouldn't believe what happened", gets a few days off,
and is sent right back out again! The remaining Maquis are sent to jail,
Chakotay and B'Lanna assigned to Voyager, and Tom Paris reinstated. So
yes, Voyager could have been at the Borg battle.
Phil: Hmmm. The creators wouldn't do that to us would they? They wouldn't actually forget to tell us about such a momentous mission, would they? (Heart starting to race.) I mean, if the creators forgot to tell us about that (breaking into a cold sweat), how many other fabulous missions are we missing? (Gasp!) Say it isn't so! (Chest heaving in panic attack) Aaaaaah . . . . (Especially considering some of the less-than-stellar episodes in the recent past. ;-)
Alan Watson of Portland, Oregon: Is it only me, or has the quality of Voyager been decreasing, while DSN has improved
tremendously? When Voyager first aired, I was excited, because DSN was not
going anywhere. However, in the last couple of seasons, DSN has really
picked things up. The
episodes are very good. Voyager, meanwhile, has run out of innovative plot
ideas, and they
show too many reruns! What do you think of the Voyager decline, and Deep
Space Nine
rise?
Phil: Deep Space Nine does seem to have finally hit its stride. I too feel like Voyager is still looking for it's place in the universe. (No pun intended . . . well, okay, maybe there was a pun intended.) The oddity of Trek is that the franchise generates enough money that traditionally Paramount has taken a hand-off attitude. The survival instinct is a wonderful thing. With any other show, you have to hit the ground running. So, in an series like X-Files, you have shows early in the first season like "Beyond the Sea" that are great shows--emotionally powerful episodes with thick characterizations. With Trek, the creators have the comfort of wandering into a formula because the fans will watch. So, don't count Voyager out. There's an adequate mix of characters there to make it work. The actors are well able to do their jobs. The art department is very capable. It will all come down to the writing!
Martha Lauzon: I was reading some history of ancient Greece, &
it mentioned something about an episode where Kirk & the Enterprise travel
back in time to Troy & help out with the horse thing. I don't seem to
recall this one. The author couldn't possibly have got Helen of Troy mixed
up with Elaan (correct spelling?) could he have? I have to admit the first
time I saw that episode, I thought they were all saying `Troy' too, but
the characters are OBVIOUSLY not Greeks. Are you able to shed any light on this?
Phil: It's not an episode from the television series as far as I know and I couldn't find anything in the animated series either. A novel, maybe?
Tony Magnolia: I need to know what the "NCC" stands for in NCC 1701. It has been nagging
me for two weeks now.
Phil: In the present, NCC stands for "Naval Construction Contract." I've heard it modified for Trek to "National Contruction Contract" but that doesn't make much sense when you consider that we're talking about Star Fleet. In the context of Star Trek it's probably just an anachronism. That kind of thing does happen in language. We still talk about people being a "flash in the pan" when the original meaning dealt with muskets! (or panning for gold depending on your etymology.)
Murray Leeder: I've noticed from time to time when posting nits in brash reflections
you'll condense several lines of nits into one paragraph (you did it
with my submission for "Before And After"). Is it an oddity with the
software you use or something?
Phil: Since I'm usually flying when I do the Brash Reflections, I try to save key strokes wherever I can. Normally, I just copy and paste and then add HTML paragraph marks to separate the text however the contributor has formated his or her submission. (If I had more time, I would actually edit but that ain't gonna happen any time soon! ;-) I did look up your original message on "Before and After" and it came to me pretty much like it was posted. "Perhaps something occurred during transport." (Grin)
Have a great weekend, everybody!
If you would like to submit a question or comment, send it to: chief@nitcentral.com with "Question" in the Subject line. (Remember the legalese:
Everything you submit becomes mine and you grant me the right to use your
name in any future publication by me.)
Copyright 1997 by Phil Farrand. All rights reserved.
Cloaks and Transports
Beginning with Joseph Andrew Meslovich, Jr.'s question in the
4/4/97 column
That Guy in "Warlord"
Beginning with Deb Hayes's question in the
4/4/97 column
Trinitrogen Chloride
Beginning with Marian Perera's question in the
4/4/97 column
Maquis Slashes
Beginning with Kevin Weiler's question in the
4/4/97 column