(Also available from Starland mirror site)
First, some comments from previous columns . . .
Trevor Ruppe: I noted with interest the discussion about Vader's death in ROTJ, and having just gone back and watched the trilogy again on the new videos, I'd like to point out something that apparently everyone has missed. If you watched the saber fight between Darth and Luke, Darth's breathing actually starts going wonky RIGHT AFTER Luke chops his hand off!! No doubt the respirator controls are in Darth's bionic hand. (Respirator, wristpirator? Sorry!) Just thought I'd point that out before this topic gets banished from the column...
Chris Ng: I think I've got it. Everyone's right about Darth Vader's death, except they forgot one thing. Right before Vader turned to the Dark side, he and Obi-Wan Kenobi fought. Vader plummeted into a molted lava pit. Kenobi left him for dead, but Vader crawled out. That suit he wears is all his life support equipment, his artificial limbs, his voice enhancer, his... Let's face it, but the time of RJ, Vader's half dead as it is! (Sorta like Bareil in DS9's 'Life Support.') At least, according to the RJ book.
Scott Vogt: Here's my whole take on "Vader death thing". OK. When the Emperor was zapping Luke, it was as much for torture as for killing him. I mean, he could have flash fried him, but he wanted him to suffer. Now, Vader grabs him, and the Emp realizes he's in trouble so he turns up the juice on Darth. But he's too slow and Vader throws him down that shaft. But he's taken a lethal dosage of power from the Emp and he knows he's dying.
One side note: Do you think it's fair that Vader gets to be with Yoda and Ben just because he sees the light? I mean, there's no accountability for his actions? Do you realize the atrocities he's committed? He saves Luke and gets to go to "heaven"?
Phil: I suppose it depends on whether or not "the Force" makes it's determinations on the basis of works or repentence!
Corey Hines, Hamilton, ON: The novel that fills the gap between Generations and First Contact is called "Ship of the Line". In the novel, the first captain of the Enterprise-E is Captain Morgan Bateson.
Phil: Thanks to Michael Ash for sending this information along as well!
Brian Straight: After the topic of Starfleet/humans, and money has been brought up, I thought I would throw in some of my own personal ideas on how currency works in the latter part of the 3rd Millenium.
OBVIOUSLY Starfleet and humans use some form of money, right? Otherwise they would be the "worse-than-the-Ferengi-moochers" of the Galaxy" "Watch out for those humans, they'll borrow a strip from ya, and you'll never see it again!"
In "Encounter at Farpoint" Dr. Crusher "buys" some cloth from the station. She even says "charge this to my account" (or something), and at the end of "Relics" Scotty says something to the effect of "I thought you where going to buy me a drink in 10-Forward". But in "First Contact" (the movie) Picard says, "The economics in the future are different... we don't use money." Kirk also says he dosen't use money in Star Trek iv. The problem is we're confusing "money" with having means of payment " My desk dictionary defines money as "coin, pieces of gold, silver, or other metal, stamped by public authority, and used as medium of exvhange, a circulating medium".
It's possible that the Federation, and Earth for that matter, uses some sort of "electronic funds." If Beverly makes 100,000 "credits" in a year, that goes into her account. If the cloth she bought costs 10 credits, that's deducted from her account, if she wins 15 credits at poker on Tuesday, that goes into her account, etc..
Unfortuantly the Federation Electronic Credt is only good at Starfleet-run, or Federated planets, stations, and anywhere and with whomever else is on good terms with the Federation. Which is why Jake can't use his credits to buy the baseball card , the trader probably is more interested in latnium than he is a couple electronic credits. Since we sometimes see Starfleet officers with latnium, I guess it's possible to exchnage credits to latnium. Why Jake didn't do this? Well he probably is REALLY broke!
This seems to make a LOT of sense. The Federation probably does use gold or latnium to trade with between other planets and governments. Since any eighth grade ecnomics class will teach you that a government or society CANNOT survive without some means of trade.
I also blieve in Family we hear Robert's wife say they're saving up for, or can't afford to but a repilcator, even though she'd like to.
Phil: Well . . . it certainly makes sense to me that Earth uses some kind of credit system but that's not the impression that I've gotten from the episodes! It would take a lot of research to pin this stuff all down and I don't have the time to do that at this juncture in my life. However, I'm not really sure we can give the creators the out that when they say "money" they are only referring to coins and paper. Even today, the term "money" is interchangable with what are really electronic funds. Every day, people speak of the "money" that they have in their checking accounts when they really don't have papers bills and coins in their accounts, they have an electornic repesentation of paper bills and coins. I believe there's even a form of exchange floating around the Internet called E-Money. Clearly--at least to me--the trend for the word "money" is a term that refers to any type medium of exchange.
Believe me, I'd love to find away around the statements that Star Trek characters have made about the economy of Earth in the future because I personally think it's goofy to say that there's no medium of exchange. Unfortunately, I do not I believe that when the creators have characters say that Earthlings no longer use money, they mean solely that Earthlings no longer use paperbills and coins but instead use electornic fund transfer. I think they mean that Earthlings have no medium of exchange at all!. In support of this position, I offer Nog's ribbing of Jake during "In The Cards." If Earth uses a credit system them Nog's chiding makes very little sense!
From Someone Identified Only As Lone Cleric: Well, honestly, if you're living in something like the United Federation of Planets, [Who cares?!] Would you need to buy? Food? Nope. Clothes? Nope. Housing? Doubtful. Computer games?
I think we can assume that for the other stuff, like paintings and other art, basic trade could be used. ("Hey, my Renoir for your Picasso!")
Now the question: If we want something special (an art piece, or a little souvenir - like a "I got dumped on Risa and I all I have left is that stupid T-shirt" shirt) from a non-aligned world, what can we do?
- Hey, would you like some diamonds for that statue? On Earth, we have diamonds at will?
- Well, I'm not sure yet...
- Ok, here's what we'll do. I'll give you a CREDIT for the statue, so when you'll be decided, you can get from a Federation representative.
As for non-Terran in Starfleet, I suppose that they are considered like Federation members (seems like a pretty good pay in itself). Now there's still that Vulcan lamp problem. Could it be that some Vulcans are not Federation members? That would explain those Vulcan ships...
Murray Leeder: We know that "humans" as a species are no longer economics driven, but that doesn't mean that certain humans opted to earn a profit. Remember what Riker said in "Firstborn" about how Quark should have given him latinum?
John Myers: I know that it has been non-canonised but according to "Mr Scotts Guide to the Enterprise" (and supported by a graphic in Wrath of Khan) they had installed a "Skinfield" (the grid) which projected a force field equivalent in protection to the Kelvan Metal from TOS (that Spock had commented would take a very long time to burn through with a Phaser) as a supplementary defense to the shield bubble. Thus the Skinfield absorbed most of the energy leaving just enough to slice each ship up.
Scott Wasilewski: The episode Kevin refers to is (can't remember the name) is the one where the Romulans and Cardassians attack what they think is the Dominion home planet. Odo and Garak are with Tain, and Sisko and Co travel to the battle to rescue them. At the end of the second part (it was a two-parter), Sisko reports to an Admiral in gold who tells him, "You ever try a stunt like that again and I'll promote you to Captain." (Of course, a short time later this happened anyway, but that's not important now.)
There is precedent [for a Gold Admiral]! Remember STIII? When Scotty became Captain of Engineering? Now, that's not a command branch (it was support). But Scotty still achieved the rank. One can assume that this practice became more common in te movie timeline, as there is a Captain on the Enterprise (Spock) in STII and beyond, and I can't believe Decker would stay a Commander when he was days away from the refit Enterprise's trial run in STTMP. So it's not hard to assume that such a person, having reached the rank of Captain of a support branch, would be quite valuable to the Federation and Starfleet. And perhaps then, to use this person to the best of his/her abilities, they could promote him or her to Admiral, and give them duties like Head of Engineering Desgin or some wide area of the support branch (or medical, let's not leave them out!). This may even have been Scotty's fate had he not retired and been lost on the Dyson Sphere for 75 years (and I bet he'd be welcome in this position again if he chose).
So, while the Admiral in this case should have been wearing red, judging by the conversation Sisko has with him, there is no reason why there wouldn't be Admirals in the Support and Science branches. Also, remember that Wolf 359 was only a few years earlier. Perhaps Starfleet suffered such a loss that they promoted anyone they could find with the experience and some degree of talent. This would mean we would see even more of these types of branch rank than before.
(For further info on this type of situation, I refer anyone who wants to research this to a wonderful article by David Crockett (I am not making this up!) in the book "Best of Trek 16" (published by ROC Science Fiction) entitled "Uniforms" (pg 178).)
My point is that this kind of thing might be a new trick or the first time we've seen something that may be established practice.
[Also,] when Eddigton says "The captaincy doesn't come with a gold uniform", he may have been referring to starship captaincy, ala Sisko (certainly seemed like he was bootlicking Sisko at the time). But there must be other captain jobs in the fleet besides ship captian.
Corey Hines, Hamilton, ON: The episode I see a gold admiral's uniform was "The Die is Cast"(DS9). I'm not sure whether Toodman's uniform is gold or the way the light was hitting it. Phil, I know you're no good with colours but what about anyone else?
Jason Liu: Regarding Wells Martin's comments on weight - aren't grams a measure of mass, and not weight? I'm not sure about that, but, if it is correct, then there would be no nit. It has been shown, again and again, that Trek uses the International System of measurement, as opposed to the clumsy U.S. system.
Phil: Oops! Sorry, oops! I was in a huge rush last week to get the column done and I blanked out! Yes, I believe that grams are a measure of mass not weight! Sorry about that! Thanks to John Bibb and Andy Bay for sending this information along as well. "LoneCleric" sent along some definitions for those who don't know . . .
From Someone Identified Only As Lone Cleric: WEIGHT: Force that pulls an object toward an astral body. Mesured in Newtons in the metric system, and in pounds in the imperial system. Will vary according to the distance and the mass of both bodies.
MASS: Resistance of a body to forces applied to him. Also known as inertia. Mesured in Grams (or kilograms) in the metric system, and in Slugs in the imperial system.
It might still be a nit, however, if Spock clearly said that the WEIGHT was 500 kilos. It's such a common mistake, the Universal Translator probably does it too. ;-)
Phil: I'm out of time this morning so I won't check the tape. But maybe next week, I can say for sure what Spock says!
Jason Liu: Paul Lalli might be interested in knowing that there was an actual Star Trek parody on one episode of the Animaniacs cartoon. It was actually very funny, and had lots of things that a true Trekkie could appreciate.
Todd Felton: I haven't seen this either, but would love to read it! Animanics has done Star Trek spoofs in at least two skits, one called "Karaoke-dokey" with William Shatner (well, they called him Willie Slapner I think) and him having the first 95 turns or so at the Karaoke machine. (With lines like, Willie: "But I have to sing...ALL..my...songs." Yakko: "Then why....don't you stop talking...like this"). Then "Lenny Neeboy" comes out after, Vulcan ears and all, logically singing/saying "This old man. He played one. He played nicknack on his thumb. etc") The second skit is called "Star Truck" where the Warner Bros. and the Warner sister visit the original Enterprise.
Also, regarding Star Trek being spoofed in cartoons, there's the quick skit on the Simpsons about "Star Trek 12: So Very Tired" ("The bridge is drafty...and damp. I complain, but...nobody listens.")
Other Star Trek spoofs on tv include the newer Muppets show, "Muppets Tonight", their Pigs in Space routine was renamed "Pigs in Space: Deep Dish Nine: The Next Generation" (I think that's right anyways). On "In Living Colour" there was a skit as well, with Jim Carrey as Kirk, titled "The Wrath of Farrakhan". I also seem to remember an old Saturday Night Live skit with John Belushi as Kirk and Dan Aykroyd as Spock (or maybe Bones).
Heather B. Smith: I have the Star Trek Omnipedia CD Rom, written by Michael Okuda and Denise Okuda, copyright 1995, based on the Star Trek Encyclopedia and the Star Trek Chronology. I'm assuming that this is canonical, having been written by the Okudas.
ANTIMATTER:
There are five entries under the category antimatter. The definition is essentially the same as Phil's, with the following information added:
The controlled annihilation of matter and antimatter is used as the power source for warp-drive systems used aboard Federation starships. (The Naked Time (TOS)) Because of the highly volatile nature of antimatter, it has to be stored in special magnetic containment vessels, also known as antimatter pods, to prevent the antimatter from physically touching the storage vessel or any part of the ship. (The Apple (TOS))
SUBSPACE:
There are no less than 17 entries under the category subspace, including subspace compression, subspace field inverter, subspace radio, subspace relay station and subspace transporter.
The definition for subspace is as follows:
Spacial continuum with significantly different properties than our own, a fundamental part of warp drive. Warp-driven starships employ a subspace generator to create the asymmetrical spacial distortion necessary for the vessel to travel faster than the speed of light. Subspace is also used as a medium for subspace radio transmissions.
Then there's a comment, I assume from Michael/Denise Okuda: Einstein's theories suggest that light-speed travel is impossible in our universe, so subspace and warp-drive were invented to explain how a starship might do it anyway. On the other hand, Professer Stephen Hawking, when visiting the Enterprise D engine room at Paramount Pictures in 1993 said he was working on warp drive. We can hardly wait.
(Note from Phil: Bob Canada sent along these comments at the bottom of one of his messages last week while I was simultaneously posting the current Ask the Chief column. In other words, he didn't send them along in response to Amber's question but I thought I would reproduce them here and save myself the trouble of personally reviewing the episode! ;-)
Bob Canada: The episode "Trials and Tribble-ations" *strongly* implied that the Klingons hunted tribbles--all tribbles, everywhere in the Alpha quadrant--to extinction. A ludicrous concept, considering the rate at which they breed, but anyway...this idea is reinforced by the end of "T & T," when Odo is shown standing on the promenade, beaming happily at the litter of tribbles he brought back to the future. However, one of my local stations just started showing reruns of NextGen, and last night I watched "When The Bough Breaks"--the one where the sterile aliens kidnap some of the Enterprise's kids. During the episode, there's a series of scenes showing the kids being beamed off the ship, and one little girl is shown playing with what looks for all the world like--a tribble! It was making the usual purring sounds, but there was a cage on the floor next to her, implying that it was a live animal. Oh well, I guess the creators can't remember everything. Maybe the Klingons missed this batch or something.
Phil: Several nitpickers have written to offer that the "thing" at the end of "When The Bough Breaks" is something other than a tribble but it sure looks like a tribble to me!
Robert Cook of Anacortes, WA: Since Worf says in Trouble and Tribble-ations that the Klingons wiped out all the tribbles decades ago, I think we can assume that the thing on Picard's back was a stuffed tribble. (That is to say, a teddy tribble, not 'stuffed' in the sense of 'hunt it down and keep the skin'.) It makes more sense that the little girl who owned it would carry a toy around with her everywhere, instead of a live tribble. Also solves the breeding problem..
Phil: How true, how true. Of course, given Bob Canada's observations above, we would have to assume that the stuffed tribble came with a sound card installed and a pretend cage!
Simon de Vet: Second favourite [cheif engineer], eh? Who's our favourite? The smart money's on, Torres, I'm sure! :)
Phil: Torres?!? Have we forgotten about the inimitable, irreplaceable, always colorful Montgomery T. Scott?!?!
Matthew Chiappardi: I don't think hockey has ever been mentioned in 'Star Trek', but it has been mentioned in the abysmal tv show 'SeaQuest DSV'. The crew sat around once waiting for the results of a New York Rangers/Washington Capitals playoff game.
The only reason I remember this, is I'm a Ranger fan and was a little surprised to hear a reference to the team in futuristic science-fiction.
Josh Truax: Just a quick response this time, to Daniel Tyman's question about ice hockey and Star Trek. As both a fellow Trekker and a fellow hockey fan, I too have been looking for any mention of the sport in Star Trek. It is with regret that I tell you that I, too, have found none. Indeed, the only connections I have seen at all between Star Trek and hockey are the Federation and Klingon hockey-jersey-style shirts currently being sold in the Star Trek Fan Club catalog...
On to the questions . . .
From Someone Identified Only As Boeba: How do they justify the change of character of Cochrane in the movie First Contact. In the original series, Kirk found Cochrane starnded ona planet at a relatively young age with an energy creature called "The Companion". In the movie, we were presented with the information that Cochrane did not make his flight until he was a much older man. Why dey do dat ?????
Phil: Who can say for sure? James Cromwell is a great actor who's done several roles for Trek already. He was a popular actor from his work with Babe and did a great job with the role. As for "the other" Cochrane, maybe the creators just figured that the Companion made him young again! ;-)
Mike Cheyne, Kent City, Michigan: I've got some questions about what's accepted into the Trek mythos and what's not. I know the animated series is apocryphal, but Gene Roddenberry said "Star Trek V" was too, and you use that to mine nits. Of course, Paramount doesn't hawk the animated series like "Star Trek V", so--? Next, are the computer games. Of course, they aren't canonical, or are they? They use all the regular voice talent of the original series (at least "25th Anniversary Edition" and "Judgement Rites" do); they are licenced by Paramount; they more or less follow the same basic elements. So, can you use information given in the computer games (about aliens, planets, characters) to nitpick?
Phil: At one time, this was a bit easier to establish. Pocket Book used to have a submissions form that clearly stated what was acceptable to refer to in a novel. The list included all the television series--not counting the animated series--the movies and the reference books based on the television series and the movies. Of course, now Pocket Books has it's own line of books with a starship that has never appeared on any television episode. Jeri Taylor has written a novel that is supposed to be canonical on Janeway's early years and so on and so on.
Anon: I am so confused about the borg, and why they don't understand individuality. 1. They assimilate other races. In order to even understand the concept of "other races," one (or one group) must be able to understand individuality. And these groups that have that concept, when assimilated, will pass that concept on to the borg, right? 2. Even collectives have individuals. For example, my body is one organism. I refer to myself in the singular. Yet I may still talk about the PARTS of me distinctly: my arm, nose etc. 3. Designations. Hugh was 3rd of 5. 7 is 7 of 9. What does THAT tell you? So, what's going on? Also, why don't I get previews and everyone else seems to?
Phil: Couldn't tell you about the previews, you'd have to check with your local television stations. As for the Borg not understanding individuality, it has always been my impression that they do understand individuality, they just think it's an inferior way to live!
Tomas Chan: I would like to ask if there is any episode/novel/explanation to the "new features" of STTNT:First Contact (like, for example, Geordi "natural eyes", or those strange-but-powerful new torpedoes, etc).
Phil: There's nothing canonical that I know of but perhaps in the novelization of Star Trek: First Contact?
Jack Hallard of Toronto, Ontario: Are you a Babylon5 fan? And if so do you think you'll ever do a B5 guide? (I know, like you're not busy enough as it is!)
Phil: I'm a big fan of Babylon 5. I think it is something fundamentally new and I strongly believe that once it goes into strip syndication and people can get it five days a week, they will be able to see just how "well-done" it is and it will experience the kind of fan growth that Classic Trek did in the 70s. And . . . when that happens, I'll be able to do a Guide for it!
Jason Barnes: Remember the giant spacedock we see in Star Trek III and IV and VI? Okay. Let's take a looksy at Star Trek IV. The Probe seems to shut down all power on any ship that comes in contact with it. It shut down the Starfleet vessel that first approached it. To prove the fact, a starship captain tells Starfleet that his engineer is trying to construct a "makeshift solar sail to produce power for life support." When the Probe approaches Earth, the huge spacedock shuts down and goes dark. HEY! What's keeping that thing in orbit? Wouldn't gravity yank that sucker into the atmosphere to crash and burn up upon impact? Luckily, when the Probe leaves at the end of the movie, Spacedock is still in orbit. Weird huh?
Phil: It depends. If the Spacedock is in a stable orbit, it could circle the Earth for a long time before needing an adjustment to keep in it space! If the orbit requires constant adjustment, however--perhaps due to the mass of the dock--then a loss of power would be a problem!
Jason Barnes: On First Contact, I noticed that Enterprise E may be able to seperate it's saucer section. In the shot of the Enterprise moving away from the screen just before the scene where Picard is ruining his ear drums with music in his ready room, watch closely a line that runs horizontially under where the saucer is connect to the engineering section. It looks like a seperation line similiar to the one that Enterprise D had. Does this mean the ship can seperate too? Looks like it to me.
Phil: Wouldn't surprise me a bit! It's a useful feature (even though it wasn't used that often in NextGen).
Joseph Lin: I have a question, on the back of the most recent "Journey to Babel" video jacket, it claims that the 'close up' of Spock showing McCoy how to do the Vulcan salute is not seen in this episode. Do they mean the scene with McCoy and Spock standing by the shuttlebay doors at the beginning of the episode? If so, then the video jacket setence is a nit because that scene is shown in that episode.
Phil: Tough for me to comment without seeing the actual jacket but my guess would be that the statement refers to a syndication cut. In other words, the scene might not be shown in syndication but it is on the uncut episode.
Matt Cotnoir of Coventry, RI: I have a quick question for you. Are the Voyager episode that easy to nit that is making the files so big, or are there more nitpickers now than there were in the past?
Phil: There are always more nitpickers now than there were in the past because nitpicking is the final frontier of fandom! We're going to get everyone eventually. ;-)
Mick Hogben of Luton, UK: Apologises if anyone has asked this question before, but we see in ST:FC that a machine gun, ie projectile weapons, kill Borg so howcome no one sees fit to step up to the nearest replicated and russle up some uzi's? I know these aren't as cool as a phasers but it seems in this case they are rather more practical.
Phil: Makes sense to me!
Dan Wiese: Can you or can you not transport while under cloaked? During ST:IV the transport while cloaked all the time (speaking of which, why did they decloak while still on Earth, aren't they detectible?) But in the DS9's Trubble with tribble episode they have to decloak to transport. But maybe Klingon cloak's are just more advanced then Romulan cloak's.
Phil (Operating in Creator Mode): Yes, you can transport through cloaks! No, you can't.
Sydney Carton: Mike Leinoff, in the reflections of Nemesis, says: " I was wondering why they rated it TV-PG, since most Star Trek episodes are rated TV-G..." I'm wondering... Who decides the ratings? Since this stuff started, I (here in Arkansas) haven't seen a Trek other than a TV-PG rating, and old STTNG, TOS, and DS9 reruns on air aren't even rated! On top of this, I've seen some stations adding little letters in addition to the standard PG/G/14. What's up?
Phil: The extra letters are supposed to give parents a better handle on what the episode actually contains. Now . . . as far as I'm concerned, all this rating stuff is just so that parents can feel like they are being responsible without being responsible! (And, yes, I realize I'm going to make some people mad with that statement.) An example: Net and Liz and I used to watch X-Files as a family. Then it started getting to be too much for my daughter--in my opinion. So, I started taping the shows, watching them and then deciding if they were suitable. No little string of letters at the start of a program could decide that for me. I had to decide it by watching the show. No matter how many add-ons the ratings tack to the general categories, the rating will never tell a parent exactly what's in the episode. So, if parents want to believe that they are being good parents by planting their kids in front of a television and allowing them to watch anything under a certain rating without supervision, that's fine but in my opinion, the important part of this sentence is that the kids are watching "without supervision." To me, "without supervision" is the main problem!
Bill Kruse: Remember how it was recently pointed out that Ferengi is very similar to farrangi, the old arabic word for trader? I was reading a John O'Hara novel, Hope of Heaven, and it is said of one of the characters that "he did a little tap-dancing in the Guinan days". What were the Guinan days, and did the character get her name from them in some way?
Phil: No idea! Anybdy?
Chet Cox: Not sure if this counts as a nit, but it sure bugs me. The Creators mentioned one of their cost-cutting measure in ST: Generations was to include a scene from an earlier movie. They boasted that no one would be able to tell what scene they'd used. I thought at first it might be the Klingon ship (which gives them an excellent reason for the doubletalk about the Sisters having a Really Used Car), but haven't read any confirmation or speculation about this. Anyone else have an idea or two on this?
Phil: I believe the footage of the exploding Bird-of-Prey comes from Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country.
Kathy Warren: I just had a very disturbing conversation with my local Fox idiots, er, I mean affiliate, and the lady told me that Paramount was taking TNG out of syndication. Have you heard anything about that, or is this just the load of bull they're dishing out to people who call to complain about their stupidity at taking it off here? If it is true, how do we get them to change their minds? TNG is the best thing they've ever done, and I thought they knew that.
Phil: Read on . . .
Karen Barker: Recently our local station in [South Bend, IN], which had been showing TNG on weekday afternoons, saw fit to stop showing it in favor of Pictionary. They seemed to feel that since they had been showing it for five years, that was enough! I am presently in withdrawal, since I had not finished taping all the episodes yet, and I can't afford to buy them ready-taped on my pay!
Phil: Not sure what is going on here but I do know that my local affiliate's syndication contract for NextGen ran out this year. I wonder if Paramount has decided to sell NextGen to the Sci-Fi Channel or even reserve it for UPN?
Karen Barker: At the very beginning of First Contact, when Picard is sitting in his ready room (I think) and has the dreams about the Borg, I can see something behind his head which looks sort of like a fragment of string hanging down from the top of his chair. I don't believe it is part of the design of the upholstery, so what is it?
Phil: I haven't purchased this tape yet so I can't check but maybe it's a production error!
Okay, one last thing . . . I have a buddy named Greg who teaches physics at a local college and he was interested in knowing where he could find dialogue in Trek that simply mentions atomic and sub-atomic particles like quarks, tachyons etc., etc. I couldn't think of very many off the top of my head but I told him that I had with wonderful, incredibly resourceful Nitpickers Guild that was absolutely amazing when it comes to stuff like this. So . . . don't make me look bad! ;-) Here's what Greg needs. He wants to digitize the characters of NextGen saying something like "The tachyon field [blah, blah, blah.]" and do that for as many particles as possible. Also, he'd like to get stuff that is related to physics. (I suggested the Heisenberg Compensators mentioned in "Realm of Fear" and he thought that was good.)
Anybody want to take a crack at this?
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.