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ASK THE CHIEF
9/25/97

(Also available from Starland mirror site)

First, some comments from previous columns . . .

Walter Czarniecki: I was re-reading the DS9 Guide (yet again) when I came across a nit that I believe I have an answer for. In the episode "Homefront," you asked if it was right for Jaresh-Inyo to declare a state of emergency on Earth and wondered about Earth's government. I think I've got an explanation for you. It's wrong to compare the Federation to the present day United Nations when in fact it is much closer to the United States in its structure. Let me explain. The Federation was originally organized under the Articles of Federation similar to the Charter of the United Nations (if you believe the original Star Fleet Technical Manual). In the TNG episode "The Drumhead," Picard mentions the Seventh Guarantee in the Constitution. I think that the Federation Constitution must be somewhat similar in design to our Constitution, and the aforementioned Articles of Federation are something akin to our Articles of Confederation, which preceded the Constitution. We also have a general idea of the structure of the Federation government. It has an executive (the Federation President), a legislature (the Federation Council), and a judiciary (the Federation Supreme Court as mentioned in "Doctor Bashir, I Presume"). Doesn't this sound somewhat similar to our current system of government? In addition, each planet (as noted in "Rapture") selects its representatives on the Federation Council much like states elect Senators and representatives to Congress and has its military absorbed into Starfleet (which is also right, because how many states really have their own military? I don't count the National Guard). Therefore, the Federation government is similar to the federal government in structure. Now, if the preceding statement is true, then the relationship between the Federation government and member planets is more similar to that of the federal government and the states. Each planet does have its own planetary government, but it would be similar in power to a state government and each planetary leader would be similar to a Governor. Well, what about Earth, you ask? Earth is a special case. It is the seat of the Federation government. It houses all three branches of the government as well as Starfleet Command. It is the center of power for the Federation. Sounds just like Washington, D.C., don't you think? Earth would have to be considered a "federal district" just like the District of Columbia. In other words, Earth may have a government, but it would be similar in power to the Mayor and City Council of Washington, D.C. in that their power is given to them (and can be taken away, just like D.C.'s just was) by the federal government. The Federation is ultimately responsible for Earth because it is considered a "federal district." Thus, Jaresh-Inyo was well within his rights to declare a state of emergency on Earth because of the governmental relationships and the unique status of Earth. (This is just a rough explanation. If you are interested, I can give you a more detailed explanation of Federation Government. Hey, I always thought my Political Science degree might come in handy someday! )

Phil: All I can say is--if this is true--the apocalypse did come and someone killed off all the militia men because they would never stand for it!! ;-)

Murray Leeder: I met Mark Lenard at a convention a few years ago. While he was semi-retired and frail, when one audience member asked if he'd ever do Star Trek again, he said that he'd pretty much do anything they offered him.

Christopher Pope: The "Alien" reference is the scene in which the engineers climb into the air ducts. We then see the enemy's point of view just before the attack. This is classic "Alien" stuff, and by the way, "Alien" took its ideas from a very similar 1950s film called "It! The Terror from Beyond Space"--an enjoyable movie in itself.

(I know this isn't a direct reference, but you know they were trying for that "horror movie" feel.)

Phil: Thanks to Dave Craig for pointing this out as well.

Murray Leeder: I think the "Citizen Kane" reference may be that Picard, like Kane, smashed things. Kind vague, granted.

Joshua Truax: Regarding Murray Leeder's question about film references in ST:FC, I recognized at least one from the list, namely Picard saying to Lily, "You are not in Montana anymore," which of course is a reference to "The Wizard of Oz."

Erin Hunt: Jonathon Frakes said in an interview that he studied "Alien" and "Blade Runner" when designing the look of FC.

Several people have commented on how reminiscient of "Close Encounters" the end of FC was, aka the spellbound people staring up at the slowly descending alien spaceship in child-like wonder.

The "Wizard of Oz"- isn't it obvious? The "tin man" who wants to be human. He goes so far as to bring the "wizard" a "prize" (Picard), only to find that the "wizard" can't really give him what he wants. I can't be sure, but I think I even heard the Borg Queen call him a "tin man" once.

Mike Konczewski of Havertown, PA: I think I've got a clean sweep here.

Wizard of Oz--the Wicked Witch dies by melting; so does the Borg Queen (I kept waiting for the BG to whimper, "What a world, what a world!").

Citizen Kane--CK is about a reporter researhing the past to find the ugly truth about the famous Charles Foster Kane; in ST:FC, the crew go back in time and find out that the famous Z. Cochrane was not as lily-white as they were taught. Also in CK, the reporter interviews Kane's ex-wife in a bar; the first shot of her shows her drunk with her head face down on the table. Troi was in this state and position when Riker finds her in the bar after she tried to talk to Cochrane.

Moby Dick--in addition to the obivious Ahab/Picard parallel, the crew of the Pequod were unwilling or unable to stop Ahab's mad quest; only Starbuck voiced his concern. In FC, the crew of the Enterprise were U&U to stop Picard's mad quest; only Lily was willing to speak up.

2001--some slight similarities between the look of Bowman's trip through the monolith and the Enterprise's trip through time. Also, 2001 had a machine intelligence (and one with human overtones, at that) killing the crew by taking over the ship's functions. Both movies are about first contact with an alien intelligence, too. The hero's in both movies also have to don spacesuits for EVA to fight the bad "guy(s)." Said fights involves fooling around with computer components.

Blade Runner--at the end, android Roy Batty shows his humanity by saving Dekker's life. At the of ST:FC, Data proves his humanity by not destroying Cochrane's ship and also by saving Picard's life.

Green Slime--in GS, the aliens are a colony life-form that takes over a space ship orbiting the earth; there's big fight between the Earthmen and aliens in the ship's radar dish, and one Earthman is killed. Sound familiar?

Close Encounters--first contact between Earthmen and aliens at the end of both movies is very similar, including the patented Spielberg "Gaze O' Wonder." Too bad Truffaut didn't get his aliens to try tequila.

Alien--Both movies had a hidden lifeform on the ship that killed/captured crewmembers one by one. Picard's Borg hunt had some similarities to the Alien hunt, as well. There's lot of climbing through tunnels in the ships to get away from or chase down the alien/Borg.

Troll--Evil creature hides in an apartment building and, through hideously transformed human agents, captures residents and hideously transforms them too. Need I say more?

Hellbound--Borgs look a lot like Pinhead, the bad guy in the Hellraiser movies: white skin, things sticking out of their face, black leatherish body armor. Pinhead even extrudes devices from his body to capture and transform his prey.

Tetsuo--in this movie, a victim of an auto accident finds that metal parts are beginning to protrude from his body. He becomes obsessed with finding the man that caused this accident. Very similar to both Picard's weird nightmare at the beginning of the movie, and his motivation.

Star Trev V--in both movies, the Enterprise is taken over by hostile outsiders and used for the badguys' purposes. Also, both ships had to pass through a barrier (energy barrier in STV, time barrier in ST:FC). Finally, the captain of both ships is saved by a person who's motives were suspected to be evil, but turned out to be good in the end (Spock's brother and the Klingon in ST:V, Data in ST:FC).

As a barely related aside, I might mention that a Doctor Who reference book, "The Discontinuity Guide," lists Roots for each DW episode. They are not to list suggested plagarisms, but instead try to demonstrate the interconnectedness between different works of art. FYI, Star Trek TOS episodes are frequently mentioned.

Matt Nelson: This is answered in the Art of Star Trek. When they did the first movie, they didn't want the ships to look "lit up" like they did in the TV series. (Anybody else watching those old rebroadcasts ever notice that sometimes the old E has a kinda green glow?) Anyway, people told them, flat out, that in reality, we wouldn't be able to SEE these ships in space. There's too much space! Because space, as we all know, is really really big! There's too much distance between stars for there to be enough illumination! Obviously, that for an exciting movie does not make. (No comments about ST: The Motionless Picture, please. [wink]) So they came up with the idea of giving them "running lights" to provide their own illumination as they floated though space, and you gotta admit; ILC!!!

Shane Cathcart: Another fun thing to think about this situation is that Tom was created during a transporter accident, and since O'Brien was transporter cheif on the Enterprise, it may only be natural hostility towards the Cheif.

Patrick Sweeney of Torrington, CT: In Response to Jim Coyle's comment about running lights, and spot lights on ships, there have been a couple of times in the shows (that I wish I could quote), where people look at drifting vessels, or vessels with which contact has not been made, and say, "Oh look it's the so-and-so ship." Even in The DS9 tribbles episode, when they first see the Enterrpise. Also, in the TNG episode "The Pegasus", the running lights come in quite usefule for the E-D when it is flying inside the asteroid so that everyone can see what is going on.

Gary Clawson: Corey Hines asked about Darth Vader's demise. My slant as a Respiratory Therapist in the 20th Century in this portion of the Milky Way Galaxy is that the Emperor damaged Darth's suit respirator. It would be like a portable iron lung that pulls in and out on his chest. The lightning bolts directed toward Luke didn't harm him but when directed towards Darth they damaged his respirator and he was then done for sure. I don't think that taking off the mask did any more harm because the respirator would have to be located in the chest.

Matt Nelson: We must remember that Vader was actually HOLDING the Emperor when he was getting hit by his nasty lightning projections, not standing away from him like Luke was. Also, Vader got hit by "exploding Emperor blast" while he was standing over the reactor where the Emperor was thrown. Thirdly, Vader's suit may have been damaged when the Emperor was thrashing around in his arms, AND during the battle with Luke. Last but not least, internal injuries could have capped it all off when the Death Star's reactor was hit by the Falcon.

Kevin Weiler: In response to Corey Hines question about what really killed the Dark Lord of Sith, I believe that the Emperor's dark Force energy was redirected at DV when he picked him up and threw him over the ledge. If you look at Luke when the Emperor was zapping him, you can tell he is in obvious pain. Darth Vader's death was probably caused by the compounded injuries he sustained in the fight with Luke and the Emperor.

Phil: Jim Elek of Sterling Heights, MI also sent along the explanations above, indicating that he preferred the "eletro-bolt through the respirator" scenario but he also sent along another): Vader is also kept alive through the power of the Dark Side. This is illustrated in the book Shadows of the Empire. Vader believes that if he can generate enough hate, then he will be able to survive without the suit. This is what he is doing in the meditation chamber from the Empire Strikes Back.

When Vader kills the Emperor, he is free of the Dark Side. So, he no longer has that power to help keep him alive. Of course, he could use the Light Side, but the conversion probably left him too weak to do so.

Dave Craig from Waterloo, Ontario: There are probably a few other factors that contributed to Vader's death. For starters, The Star Wars RPG states that Luke actually delivered a death blow to Vader, but Vader used a force power called "reduce injury", which allowed him to remain alive and wounded, but cost him his hand. Secondly, when Vader tossed the Emporer into the pit, he redeemed himself and "returned to the light", and the Dark Side more or less abandoned him. Now, Vader had been under the infulence of the Dark Side for a LONG time, and It's quite possible that Vader used the Dark Side to help stay alive, so the sudden "change" might have made his condition worse.

Paul Knibbs: I noticed Corey Hines' comment in the 12th September column about why Darth Vader died when Luke took his helmet off. As I recall, Luke says, "But you'll die!" followed by Vader saying something like, "Nothing can prevent that now." I understood that the reason Vader was dying was because the Emperor's power had damaged the artificial system that kept him breathing--that regular, in-out drawing of breath you could always hear wasn't natural!

Phil: Thanks as well to John Myers, Jeff Muscato and Joe Perry for sending information along!

Daniel Tyman: On the subject of TV Guide's comments:
Ron Moore(Trek writer) has already stated that Colm Meaney is not leaving the show.  He also said that TV Guide is wrong, no major charachters will die during the War.

[Name Withheld]: I just came back from a pitch meeting for DS9 and I asked Rene Echevarria if there was any truth to the rumor that Colm Meaney was leaving the show and his character was going to be killed off. Rene said that Colm was seriously considering leaving the show, but he changed his mind at the last minute.

Brian Straight, Shawnee Kansas: There is no novel that I know of that fills in this gap. But there is novel (try as I might to remember the title!) coming out around November that fills in the Generations and First Contact gap. I'm sure it will be interesting, the crew not having a ship and all, and Geordi getting ocular implants, but it won't be cannonical.

Michael Bates: The closest I've found is the Star Trek:TNG pocket book #39 titles "Rogue Saucer". It has an historian's notes that says; "This story takes place shortly after the events in Preemptive Strike." Which is the final episode before "All good things.." I believe. It's a good book and hints about the Enterprise needing a new bridge in the saucer section because of damage it receives in the book. I know it's not cannon but it does help supply an answer to the new bridge seen in "Generations".

Phil: Thanks to Chris Marks of Maidenhead, UK for sending this information along as well!

On to the questions . . .

Jeffrey M. Muscato: What's the deal with money in the Federation? First Contact was the first time I blatently refused to accept Paramount dialogue as canonical (when Picard said there was no money in the 24th century). I've seen Quark offer Harry Kim jewels for money, I've seen Joe Sisco serve his customers at a resturant that he presumably charges for, I've seen Ben Sisco imply that the Federation (I mean the government itself) uses money when he says that there will be a repair "bill" for the cargo bay in "Business as Usual." I've heard Riker say that you can spend latinum "almost anywhere." I've heard the Bajoran on the promenade say that the jumja sticks "aren't for sale" (to O'Brien). I've seen Dax play tongo with Quark and play with latinum that she presumably received as payment for her service in Starfleet. I've seen Garak tailor clothes, a service which he presemably charges for (the replicator can make clothes -- dialogue in DS9 "Paradise" -- but I guess Garak's better at it). I'm sure there are 50 times as many instances that I can't think of off the top of my head, but the point is that there almost has to be money in the Federation.

Phil: Read on . . .

Nat Hefferman of Lexington, MA: I just saw the rerun of the "In the Cards" episode of DS9, and got to thinking about the confusing attitude towards money shown by the creators. In this episode, Nog chides Jake for humans having abandoned a currency-based economy. This also shows up in STIV:TVH, where Kirk pawns his reading glasses because "they still use money here", and later sticks Gillian with the bill for the pizza for the same reason. However, there are numerous instances that I found throughout the episodes of TOS that show that humans are quite familiar with money:

"Where No Man Has Gone Before": Sulu describes the exponential growth of Gary Mitchell's powers by comparing it to taking a penny, doubling its value every day, and at the end of the month, you'd be a millionaire. Would this analogy make any sense to people who don't use money?

"Mudd's Women": Kirk promises the miners that they'll be well paid for their dilithium crystals.

"Who Mourns for Adonais?": When Chekov devises a way to defeat Apollo, Kirk tells him, "You've just earned your pay for the week."

"The Apple": Kirk scolds Spock for taking unneccesary risks with his life by asking him if he knows how much Starfleet has invested in his training. Spock actually begins to quote a figure before Kirk cuts him off. ("Investment" could mean something other than money here, such as man-hours of training, but since the figure Spock cites begins with "two million", that doesn't seem likely. Does it really take two million man-hours to train a logical, efficient Vulcan to be a Starfleet officer?)

"Catspaw": DeSalle tells Chekov, in regard to Sylvia's force field, "I'll bet you credits to navy beans we can put a dent in it." This variation on the phrase "nickels to navy beans" would seem to indicate "credit" as a unit of currency. This term appears again in "The Trouble with Tribbles", where Cyrano Jones offers tribbles to the bartender at "five credits a head... er, body."

"Requiem for Methuseleh": The purchaser of Holberg 917G, where Flint resides, is listed as "Mr. Brack, a wealthy financier and recluse." Whereas "wealthy" doesn't necessarily have to mean money (it could mean valuable artworks or collectibles), "financier" indicates someone who is invests in financial markets.

There may be more, but I think you get the point. I'd be interested to hear what you and other nitpickers think of these examples. Thanks a lot.

Phil: This whole idea of not using money seems to have evolved sometime during the movies. Some have said that Roddenberry started it but if the concept arose during the movies and if Shatner's movie memoirs are anywhere near accurate, Roddenberry didn't really have much to do with the movies after the making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. As near as I can tell--according to Trek--Earth in the 24th century is some kind of giant commune where everybody just works for free and gives stuff to anybody else who wants it and replicates whatever, whenever, however they want. (By the way, some have said that Nog's statements during "In The Cards" refer only to the abandonment of physical money--that humans still use some kind of credits system. I don't find that a convincing argument in light of statements that Picard has made in shows like "The Neutral Zone" and the movie Star Trek: First Contact.)

Anyway . . . back to the commune idea. The commune thing works fine as long as you are self-supporting and sealed. Everyone simply works for the common good (which sounds surprisingly like communism, oh joy). My problem is if Earth is a currency-less society, how does it interface with other societies and does Starfleet have a horrific payroll problem? "Okay, Tom is human so he doesn't get paid. Bob is half Andorian, he gets half-pay . . ."

I'm no economist but as long as there are unique goods and a desire to possess them, I think you have to have some medium of exchange--unless you're using barter.

Jay: Though I wouldn't exactly call this a nit, did you notice that during TOS, when a ship was hit by a phaser while its shields were down, the ship usually vaporized instantly, while in Wrath of Khan, the phasers just seemed to burn holes in the sides of the ships?

Phil: No doubt the ship-board crews of the late 23rd century are grateful for the advances in special effects in the late 20th century! ;-)

Danny Wiese: At the end of the TNG episode "Thine Own Self", why was Dr. Crusher fixing Data, wouldn't Geordie be much better qualified?

Phil: Seems like it, doesn't it?

Nadine Banis, Krimpen aan den IJssel, The Netherlands: I think somebody working with the different Star Trek series must be a roleplaying game fan.

In the AD&D roleplaying games, the long lived races like elves, after a while, need much more experience to rise in levels if they rise at all. The reason given for this is that "humans are more flexible than nonhumans", "to enforce gamebalance as an elf could rise to higher levels than a human in his lifespan (350+ to 90)", and "the longer lived races would, over the years, loose interest in their work as they have hundreds of years to go in their lives. Whereas humans are so forced by their short life spans to be the best in the shortest time possible."

Personally I think the rule stinks and its explenation even more. Especially the last one, the best known artists in the different AD&D worlds are always elves or dwarves who have been perfecting their skills over the last 300 years.

It would be something of an explenation to why Vulcans and Trill are always seen in the "lower" ranks.

My roleplaying group would love to find out if this is true. For most of us, it would link two hobbies.

Phil: I have no idea!! Never got started with the role playing games so I couldn't say! (Although, the "humans are more flexible" explanation does seem goofy to me to!)

Kevin Weiler: I have a few things I was wondering about. Is Darth Vader's trademark scuba gear deep breath sound really the sound of him breathing, or just the respirator doing its job? Also, in the DS9 episode "The Adversary", Sisko gets promoted to captain. Eddington takes it upon himself to congratulate the new captain privately. He says "the captaincy doesn't come with a gold uniform," or something like that. But I distinctly remember seeing an Starfleet admiral wearing the traditional admiral uniform and it was gold. How did he become and admiral without being captain?

Phil: I believe the breathing sound was the respirator. As for the gold uniform and the admiral, my guess would be it's just a continuity gaff.

Wells P. Martin: How does one go about determining the ' weight ' of an object floating in space? Weight is a relative thing. And, in space things are weightless. So how, in 'The Changeling ' (TOS) did Spock determine that Nomad ' weighed ' 500 kilos?

Phil: Lucky guess maybe? Spock should have probably specified its mass but who would have understood that term in the audience? ;-) (Then again, Spock could have used the terminology "500 cabbages".)

Paul Lalli of Feeding Hills, MA: A few years ago, I remember seeing a humourous document about what would happen if the Animaniacs invaded Deep Space Nine. Sadly, I can no longer find this story anywhere on the web. Does anybody know where I might find it? As I recall, it was hilarious when I read it first, and I would really love to read it again.

Phil: No idea! Anybody?

Danny Wiese: The two most used words in trek has got to be Anti-matter and Sub-space. And I have no idea what either actually mean. I alway's thought Anti-matter was just energy but I have a felling that I'm wrong.

Phil: Antimatter for really, truly does exist! As the name implies, it is matter that is charged directly opposite of what we think is "normal". For instance, an antimatter electron is called a positron and carries a positive charge as opposed to a negative charge. (Note: the term "positron" is used for other things as well. A character in Trek may or may not be referring to antimatter when he or she uses the term "positron.") The trick with antimatter is that if it comes into contact with a corresponding amount of matter, both are annihilated in a tremendous burst of energy. Currently, antimatter is nigh on to impossible for us to create but presumably by the 24th century we will have antimatter generators and use the output to fuel our starships (wink, wink).

"Subspace" on the other hand is only hypothetical. As the name implies it is "under space." Trek has never really adequate defined what this is. My copy of the Star Trek Encyclopedia doesn't even have an entry for "subspace!" It goes from "subsonic transmitter" to "subspace compression."

Michael Apple: I've been reading a book about the history of the Normans, the medieval inhabitants of Normandy, France who were descended from vikings, and I noticed something interesting. There's a family tree in the back of the book, which shows all the dukes of Normandy, up to William the Conquerer. The interesting thing is that William's cousin, who became the bishop of Bayeux, Normandy, was named Odo. Do you know if this is somehow connected to the naming of our beloved constable from Deep Space Nine?

Phil: No idea!

Amber Heinzel: Ok, dumb question. Is that a TRIBBLE on Captain Picard's back at the end of "When the Bough Breaks"? (After the little girl thanks him for bringing them back to their parents.)

Phil: I believe that is supposed to be a tribble! (My question is: How can you have only one?!)

Rob Sayer: I was wondering. After seeing Day of Honor, and watching the core go bye-bye, it raised a point in my mind. When the core goes, those hull plates slide back, and the core is ejected, and we see all the pretty gas flowing out around it. Presumably this is oxygen.

Well.. I've seen this before in TNG and VOY, and now it's just [really] irritating me. There are those flimsy standard doors... you know, the ones all over the ship, the exact same ones Geordi Laforge was thrown through... they're in main engineering, the cargo bays, all over the ship. If the impact of a human being is enough to rip them out of their seams, why isn't a decompressing room?? In 'Disaster', there were flimsy doors. No explosion. In Day of Honor, flimsy doors on the upper deck of engineering. Sturdy as a rock.

If the creators had put something in the script about, I don't know, forcfield enhancement to the doors in the event of a venting to space, perhaps I could dismiss it. But they haven't... Has anyone in the guild heard of anything to explain this? Just curious.

Phil: Haven't heard! Wouldn't even be surprised if no one has thought of it! ;-)

Corey Hines, Hamilton, ON: I re-watched ST:Generations and the line where Crusher talks of a nanoprobe. I was thinking of the Borg when this line was said. What, in the original script, happened to LaForge but we didn't see, because of script revisions which caused this line to be a nit?

Phil: In the rough draft of Generations, Soren puts a nanoprobe into La Forge to torture him. It goes to his heart and allows Soren to stop our second favorite chief engineer's heart on command. This is what Soren means when he comes out to Lursa and B'Etor and comments that La Forge's heart just wasn't in it.

Daniel Tyman, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:  I know that in Star Trek, sports have often been mentioned.  Baseball plays a prominent part in DS9, even having an entire episode about a baseball card.  Tennis has often been mentioned, as has Soccer.  But, as a hockey fan, I was wondering if ice hockey has ever been mentioned in any of the Star Trek series or movies.  Does anyone remember it's mention?

Phil: I do not recall a reference to hockey. Anyone?

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.