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First, some comments from previous columns . . .
Jim Elek from Sterling Heights, MI My two cents on the Money and Federation thing: Although I like your final comment in the 10/10 column, I must disagree with most of the rest. I think that it all comes down to Adam Smith (who could be considered the "godfather of capitalism") and his assumption that humans are greedy. I think this assumption is accurate and it explains why capitalism works so well. The question then becomes: What if humans weren't so greedy?
I think that Gene Roddenberry and those that followed him try to answer this in Star Trek. I'll admit they haven't been terribly successful (then again, economy isn't the theme of Trek), but it is a difficult concept to fathom for both the writers and the audience (who have been born and raised on capitialism and are taught that it is good and communism is evil.) In the end, one has to make stories that the audience can understand which is why we end up with discrepancies and more questions than answers.
Personally, I'm willing to imagine that in 400 years humans evolve to be less greedy for material things and become greedy for more intelluctual and spiritual pursuits. 400 years is a long time. In your response, you state that humans will *never* have a collective goal unless there is a world-wide threat. I think you're forgetting your Trek history here. From what we know, there was the Eugenics Wars (I know they may not have happened, but let's assume they did,) World War III, interstellar space travel, and contact with alien races. While these aren't all threats, they certainly are world-wide and would have an enormous impact on the way of life on Earth. Keeping those in mind, it perhaps becomes less of a stretch to imagine some wholesale changes in the way humans think and behave.
Phil: Um . . . so if we are all going to outgrow our greed, what happened to Vash? ;-) Is she a throwback? And what about the Picard Vineyard? I'm going to go around the barn with this subject so stay with me!
I had the privledge of growing up in the Republic of the Philippines. It was my experience that the Filipino culture was much less possessions-oriented than American culture. For instance, if I would walk into a Filipino's home and comment on the beauty of a vase, he or she might give it to me. (With the understanding that if he or she walked into my home, I would be expected to do the same!) Also, we had a continual problem on our Bible college campus with our fruit trees. When they fruit was in season, anybody and everybody would wander onto our land and pick the fruit because the culture was much more communally oriented: Everything belonged to everybody. Having grown up with this mindset--happy go lucky, live for today, save all year and then have a community-wide open house where you blow all your savings--I feel like I have seen a less greedy society in operation and it's not the type of society that we see in Trek. (It's actually not that difficult to imagine what a society without greed would be like because there are plenty of communal societies still at work in the world today.)
As you have said, the attitudes in Trek are very much in line with American capitalism--despite the lipservice to "communalism". Which brings us back to the vineyard. The Picard Vineyard can exist because there is a feeling of possession. It belongs to the Picard family. It's pretty difficult to make wine when everyone feels justified in wandering onto your property and picking your grapes! In addition, the vineyard can only produce so much wine. That means there is a limited supply. If the wine is any good at all, there is going to be more demand for the wine than there is supply. Then what happens?
There is a larger issue here, however, because knowledge is a possession. Part of what drives our culture and advances our technology is a "greed" to know. Many of the Filipinos that I knew were content to sit under and trees and strum their guitars. Life proceeded at a much slower pace. The Filipinos were much more relaxed about achieving status and wealth. There is nothing wrong with that. We could probably use more of that attitude in our culture. I just have a hard time understanding how warp drive comes about in that setting!
Now, as far as the "400 years is a long time" thing goes. If we look backward 400 years, I don't see that we've made that much progress with the core human attitudes. We have a technological veneer over it but people are still people. In fact, I just finished reading an interesting book called "Dark Nature." The guy was a naturalist attempting to explain in natural terms why there is evil in the world. (Which made it an interesting proposition in the first place but moving right along . . .) He concluded that "evil" was woven directly into the fabric of our existence. Of course, he wanted to end the book on a positive note so he gave everyone an unfounded pep talk about how we can all learn to do better than our dark tendancies but I didn't find that very convincing because for the human race to ever "grow up" it will require that everyone make a concerted effort to live above self. In my opinion? Ain't gonna happen!
Finally, with respect to the "world-wide" threat, it was not my intension to say that the threat would never exist but to observe that the only time humans would have a collective goal would be in the face of such a threat. Take America, for example. During WWII, the country--for the most part--was one. There was an enemy, a true evil enemy, that had to be defeated and we geared up and did it. But after the war, all the GI's came home and the collective goal subsided into a lot of little individual goals once more.
Phil: Checked Spock's quote this week and he does say "Weight: 500 kilograms" which is a problem since grams are a measure of mass not weight!
Mike Cheyne, Kent City Michigan: In response to the Trek parodies (started by the "Animaniacs" thing), I've got a really good one which I hope nobody has submitted yet. "Seinfeld"--last season premiere: George's fiance has died, and Jerry trying to be helpful, talks to her parents, quoting "WRATH OF KHAN", by saying "She's not really dead, as long as you remember her." (or something to that effect) They take his advice and start a trust fund in her name, saddling George with operating this (which takes up a hefty chunk of his time). George, becoming extremely irritated, lets out a Shatneresque "KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!" as the camera does a spiral upwards ala Trek II.
Will Phillips: I noticed that someone commented about the CGI show ReBoot. Well, you might want to add that that show (Where No Sprite Has Gone Before) was written by DC Fontana!
Murray Leeder: "The Critic" also once had "I'm William Shatner and this is....... celebritiy autopsy!"
Jim Elek from Sterling Heights, MI: As for the Tribble in As the Bough Breaks, that's easy. First of all, why are we assuming that Klingons wiped out every last Tribble everywhere in the Alpha Quadrant? They might have wiped them out on their planet of origin, but one or two must've escaped the genocide somewhere (in Cyrano Jones's closet perhaps.) And where there's one, there's more...
Why do we only see a single Tribble? Perhaps after 70+ years of research, scientists have found a way to breed Tribbles that are not born pregnant or they discovered some other solution to their overactive reproduction.
Murray Leeder: James Cromwell may be a semi-big name these days, but the fact remains that he can act circles around Glen Corbett! So I stand behind Rick Berman on that one.
Dewitte Baisch: There's a really good reason why Rick Berman (and the rest of the Powers That Be) didn't hire Glenn Corbett to play Zefram Cochrane in First Contact. Glenn Corbett has been dead for many years; so it wasn't a dig at fans as one of the contributers would like to believe.
Phil: I agree! That would be a good reason not to have Corbett play the part.
John Weiss: Pardon me if this has been asked before, and I grovel for forgiveness if it has been asked ad nauseum, but are you planning on barnching out, as it were, into "Babylon 5"? I know that many Trekkers have it out for B5, and the feeling works the other way in many cases. However, there are many more of us who love *both* shows.
Actually, B5 might be a really serious challenge. They tend to have much better continuity and the universe is much more cohesive. I am already starting my compilation of nits, and I'd love to share them. (and, yes, I am a hard-care DS9 addict as well as a must-watch-B5-or-may-explode B5 fan).
Phil: I know many people who watch both shows! And yes it would be fun to do a B5 guide but B5 simply has to have better market presence first. Most of the people involved in the process of getting a book to the bookstore shelf are not fans of sci-fi. They *must* to be convinced that the book will sell in order for the book to make it to the shelf in the first place and be reordered once the stocks run out in the second place. That means that the media has to be constantly bludgeoning people over the head about how great the show is for all those people who stand on the "bucket-brigade" to be enthusiastic about the product! And that's why a Xenite Guide is a possibility! ;-)
Murray Leeder: I'd imagine that under that circumstance, the Borg would erect those personal force fields we've seen from time to time. The problem on the holodeck, I'd imagine, is they just didn't have time enough.
Phil: Hmmm. Not sure why but I find this answer vaguely dissatisfying.
Matthias Roth: When I remember correctly there were in early stages of "Perry Rhodan" some real bad guys with extreme strong personal shields which could totally block either beams or projectiles but not both weapons at the same time. The heroes therefore constructed a gun which fired beams and bullets alternately. The baddies could not adapt their shields so fast and were...surprised. Maybe this is a way to defeat the Borg! Other funny titles for ST8: "Machinegun-Picard vs. Ma Borg" or "Dirty Jean-Luc"
Schuyler Hauser: Thank you for saying what I've felt for so long about the TV ratings! Back when the original age-based ratings came out, I saw people on TV complaining that the ratings didn't give enough information so that the parents could decide what was and wasn't appropriate for their kids. Here's a crazy idea: how about watching the show first (most homes have VCRs these days, right?) and then deciding whether it's right for the kids? What's an excessive amount of violence or language isn't the same for every community or household. Or better yet, maybe parents could actually sit down with their kids and watch the show together, and then talk about any material which the kids could have a problem with?
I don't have kids, and may not ever have them, and I don't think that as an adult my viewing choices should be limited by what's appropriate for children. I do agree that there are things on TV that kids shouldn't see, but the whole ratings thing seems to be a complete hypocrisy, making parents feel good that they're controlling what their kids watch while allowing them to shirk responsibility off on someone else.
Phil: That's basically how I feel about it. And I think it's fairly easy to get a feel for the basic bent of a series. Although, I must add that I do appreciate the "warning labels" if I'm unaware that something I'm watching on broadcast television is going to get intense. (i.e. "This program contains graphic content. Some scene may be unsuitable . . .")
Murray Leeder: OOPS! Well I guess Tex Guinan is a woman! I didn't know it was a pseudonym...
Phil: No problem!
Tom Elmore: Texas Guian was a woman, though calling her a "lady" is a very loose use of the term. She ran one of the most popular and sucessful speakeasys in all of New York during prohibition. She cheated and swindled her customers, ala Quark, but not enough to keep them from returning. In fact she herself was a major reason people came. Her personality and the ambiance her place had were two of the Big Apple's biggest attractions during that time.
Matthias Roth: It is the Mintakan tapestry Picard got in "Who Watches the Watchers?". It can be seen very clearly hanging over his chair behind Picards head.
Phil: Thanks to Beau Landaiche for sending this information along as well.
Patrick Sweeney of Torrington, CT: In repsonse to Merritt Stone's question and your response: I remember reading somewhere that Jeri Ryan didn't really get to sit down to much in the "grey suit", so she just kind of leaned against things when off camera, and when you needed to "take care of business" it was a big ordeal, and everyone had to help ;-P.
Phil: A few weeks ago Matt Nelson reported on a story he heard during an interview with Jeri Ryan on Talk Soup. According the Matt, the actress stated that the suit was so tight that she get into it or out of it without help. It takes a costumer twenty minutes to dress her. Also, whenever she needs a restroom break, everyone takes a restroom break because it will take at least twenty minutes to get her back into the suit!
John Myers: I had assumed that Commodore Decker had made all attempts at communication before taking the Constellation into battle against a foe many times her size.
In any case when did Kirk get the chance to talk, he was on the crippled Constellation when the Doomsday Machine reappeared and so Decker was able to continue the fight. This would make the Doomsday Machine regard the Enterprise as a threat, if it hadn't already made that assumption.
Kirk has tried talking (to Apollo or to "god" in ST:V for example) before breaking out the weapons. Kirk has spared enemies if the possibility of a misunderstanding exists(the Horta, the Gorn...). If the Doomsday machine had exhibited any signs of being more than a robotic weapon than Spock would have noticed and made Kirk aware of the possibility, he didn't.
Phil: Actually . . . my comments were intended more as a joke than anything else! ;-)
Jason Barnes: Murray Leeder commented on Kirk's firing on the planet killer in "The Doomsday Machine" instead of hailing it. Now Scotty says that even in his day in "Relics" that hailing was standard procedure. Well, first, Kirk didn't fire on the planet killer. Decker did! Kirk was on the Constellation! (pick, pick, pick, pick) Also, radiation from the planet killer was interfering with communications until Uhura was able to break through. Plus, Spock said that the planet killer was "essentially a machine." Even Picard has never tried to hail what they classified as a machine.
Bill Kruse: Someone was asking whether you considered the above pair to be in the realms of sci-fi. You replied that they were speculative fiction. Um. I'd say myself that they were clearly the sub-genre of fantasy known as sword-and-sorcery. No?
Phil: Yes but then again, I have never considered fantasy to be science-fiction! ;-) It's fantasy. Not that there's anything wrong with it but I can't figure out where the "science" part is in it. (Unless you want to invoke Clarke's Thrid Law about sufficiently advance technology and magic.)
Schuyler Hauser: Regarding Worf's possible decompression in "First Contact": Remember the scene in "2001" where Bowman spends several seconds in space without a helmet before he can close the airlock? Some scientists assert that it is possible to survive in a vacuum for a very short time (your body won't explode, though it may swell, and the greatest danger comes from possible damage to your lungs, although holding your breath will help prevent this). It's conceivable that the leak in Worf's suit allowed him enough time to repair the damage before he lost consciousness (and even then he would probably not die if he was returned to a pressured environment soon enough).
Phil: Yes. And we have covered this before so we don't really need to go into any more detail.
Jason Barnes: Liz Ling last week was wondering how the Enterprise went to warp without a deflector dish. Wouldn't the HAVE to have fixed it?? Going to warp without a deflector dish is a disaster waiting to happen. A small asteroid could rip a hole straight through the ship if they didn't.
Phil: Seems like it to me!
Chris Cook: About a question initially regarding Worf's torn spacesuit, but going on to ask how the big E could operate at the end of First Contact with its deflector in itty bitty pieces over Alaska: I believe the response said something like "maybe they have a spare", which may have been sarcastic or serious (I'm a bad judge of such things without seeing a face). Intrepid class (Voyager) and Galaxy class (Enterprise-D) ships both have auxiliary deflector arrays. On my models, the E-D's aux deflector is a series of four window-like indentations in a bank on the lower side of the saucer, directly in front of the big numbers. Voyager's is the wierd little thing on the top of the leading edge of the saucer, below the sensor stuff, like a cut-out section of the hull. On the E-E, there are two banks of window-like lights on the lower front of the saucer, but because themain deflector lights up (on the picture I have) bright white I can't tell if either of these are windows or aux deflector. While we're on deflectors, I've got a question: The Enterprise refit and E-A (old movie ship) has the main dish (big blue glowy thing), with three small gizmos on its outer side, right, left and below, extending about halfway from the edge of the 'main' hull to the rim of the dish. Easiest way to find them is that the left and right ones happen right in front of the 'pennant' running down the sides of the hull. My point (and I do have one) is, are these the deflectors, or the dish itself? The Reliant (ST2) has two of these, on top of the saucer either side of the bridge dome about halfway to the edge, but it has no piece that looks like the dish on the big E. Seeing as how a starship needs a deflector, might these be the things? Or am I just being to picky? No, wait, I've read your books, I'm not too picky.
Murray Leeder: A XENA GUIDE?!?!?!? I'm gonna go hang myself now. (JUST JOKING OF COURSE!)
Scott McClenney: Just read the comments about possible Xenite guide. Considering the huge popularity of the show as well as the fact that there are a lot of both male and female Star Trek fans that enjoy Xena as well this would definitely be a bestseller.:) By the way isn't this the same wife who frowned on your suggestion of doing a Baywatch guide a few years ago? [By the way,] Spectrum magazine includes nits of the shows they review in their episode guides and anyone interested in a Xena guide should check out issues #s 5-7 for year one and 10-11(I think) for year two.
Daniel Tyman, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: As for the fleet in A Time to Stand being bigger than BoBW, that is not a nit at all. You must keep in mind, that was only Starfleet. The Seventh Fleet likely included numerous Klingon ships. Also, they likely included the smaller Maquis style ships seen in the opening scene. These would hardly have been included when figuring the size of StarFleet. Also to consider is that the Federation is probably churning out the ships now a days. They know they need to be beefed up, and they probably churn them out now. The primary goal of StarFleet has changed. Before Wolf 359, StarFleet was more exploration than military. They took decades to make big Galaxy class ships. But after the destruction of the Oddysey, StarFleet would seem to have turned to defense first. Now, they pop out Defiant class ships in a few months. This would result in the Seventh Fleet totaling more ships, but not being a higher percentage of the Fleet.
Jim Elek from Sterling Heights, MI: I think there are many story-related reasons in addition to your real-world reason. First of all, the Federation during the time of Best of Both Worlds was mostly at peace. Therefore, they could get by with a small fleet. However, since that time the peace has deteriorated considerably. The Dominion has been a threat for years now, there was a war with Cardassia, then the Maquis, then the Klingons, and even another Borg attack before this current conflict with the Dominion. So, despite obvious losses during these campaigns, it's logical to assume that starship production and the size of the fleet also increased otherwise the Federation would have been overrun by now. Secondly, it seems to me that Starfleet has been making more smaller ships than larger ships. I think that this is evidenced in the two armada scenes (from the cliffhanger and the season opener.) Even the Enterprise was downsized! Finally, remember that the fleet was a combination of Federation and Klingon vessels. That's a good way to double the size of the fleet.
Phil: Thanks to John Myers and Andre Rayfield for sending along similar information.
On to the questions . . .
Jordan Wolfe: Okay, I was really bored one day and all of a sudden wondered about the turbolifts. Can you or anyone else point out an episode where the turbolifts were actualy *seen* moving horizontally though the light panel in the background. (The light moving side to side instead of top to bottom or vice versa.) A few people I have asked seem to think there have been episodes with this but couldn't exactly pinpoint one.
Phil: This was more common in Classic than NextGen. I do recall an instance from "Contagion." During La Forge's wild ride in the turbolift, the lights move side to side.
Stephen Mendenhall: I think I asked before, but, maybe you've heard something new. Will [Voyager] ever encounter the Swarm, or those nasties from "Before and After" or from "Scorpion"? Or any of the TNG characters or races again?
Phil: I think it's safe to say that NextGen characters--aside from Riker's walk on in "Death Wish"--will not appear on Voyager. (Money, money, money, mon-ey). As to the other, I just a poor wayfaring watcher like everybody else. I rarely know about anything until it hits my TV screen!
Michael King, Eugene, Oregon: I just moved into college, and haven't been able to watch any new episodes of DS9 up to October 10. Since I won't be able to see these first episodes for several months, can you fill me in on what has happened?
Phil: Spoiler Alert! I've only seen "A Time To Stand" (Episode 1 of Season Six). Big war. Going bad for Federation. Sisko and company use a confiscated Jem'Hadar vessel to sneak in and destroy the main facility for White--the drug that the Jem'Hadar need to continue to function--in Cardassian territory. Suprisingly enough, it's not very well fortified! Their ship is damaged and the story continues. (In case you didn't know, I believe that this season is going to open with a six episode plot arc.)
Daniel Tyman Philadelphia, PA: My question comes from the recent DS9 episode, "A Time to Stand." We see the crew complaining about the design of the Jem'Hadar ship. No chairs, no replicators, no viewscreen, and no medical facilities. Well, seeing that the Jem'Hadar don't need to sit, and how it would keep them battle ready if they are standing, I can understand no chairs. Since the Jem'Hadar don't eat (although the Vorta do) I can understand no food replicators. And because they really don't care of the Jem'Hadar die, medical facilities aren't neccesary. But why no viewscreens? I was hoping someone in the guild could help explain that one.
Phil: The Jem'Hadar are authority driven. We've seen instances where one disobeyance of an order results in death. In this context, it seems reasonable to me that the operation of the ship, expecially in battle, would funnel through one individual and that person would wear the headset and be occupied with seeing the view outside the ship. Everyone else just does their jobs!
From Someone Only Identified As MWooge: How many shuttles does the Voyage have? They've lost seveal, but as of the last show stil had at least two. I wouldn't think they'd have the facilites or power to build more.
Phil: Voyager has as many shuttle as the creators decide to destroy. ;-)
Chris Ng: Anyone know where the Excelsior's shuttlebay is? Some people say it's that weird thing behind where the warp pylons meet, with a sort of curved E-A shuttlebay door on it. I've also heard that the shuttlebay is this strange opening on the back of the Engineering Hull, about the same level as the navigational deflector, that vaguely resembles a mouth. (At least, the way I drew it! 8) And before you ask where I got that, it was on the instructions for the model kit. I know you're not supposed to trust those instructions, but...
Phil: No idea! Anybody?
Craig Cicero: What does USS (as in Enterprise) stand for? United Star Ship? (I know I've heard that, but it doesn't make much sense-Federation Ship or Starship sounds better)
Phil: As far as I know, it's United Star Ship or United Space Ship
Murray Leeder: All of the official materials call the Romulan governing body "The Romulan Star Empire". Where exactly did that "Star" bit come from? They usually just call it the Romulan Empire... was it in "Balance of Terror"?
Phil: It was identified as the Romulan Star Empire on the chart showing on the viewscreen of the Enterprise.
Elio Arteaga of Hialeah, Florida: Have you ever noticed that this "no money exchanging hands" thing is prevalent in most TV shows? When have you ever seen Sam charging Norm for beers at Cheers? On the Andy Grifith show the barber never charged Andy or Barney for haircuts. Etc., etc. Why do you think TV producers do this?
Phil: My guess would be that it's a "drama-killer". It's dead-space because--unusally--nothing of interest happens so the creators cut it.
Jonathan Klein of Bowling Green, OH: I just had a thought... a couple of episodes ago we see Voyager try to open a transwarp conduit. It doesn't work. I pointed out to a freind that in Descent, the Enterprise opened such a conduit with little trouble. He noted that perhaps Voyager was trying to create a TW conduit, wheras the Enterprise was merely opening an existing one, this being the cause of Voyager's failure. Don't the computers on Voyager contain a record of this? And if so: Seven has knowledge from her days as a Borg yet. Borg Space must have been littered with TW conduits. Shouldn't Seven know where the opening to one going to the Alpha Quadrant is? And shouldn't Voyager be able to open it with little or no difficulty?
Phil: Interesting point! The only thing I might note is that the transwarp conduit opened by the Enterprise was a conduit created by the rogue Borg. Don't know if that would make any difference.
Shinichi Evans: Why don't humans (with the exception of Chakotay) have religions in the 24th century? If any of them subsribe to one, it's sure not mentioned. I always thought it would be interesting to have Kai Winn to meet a Terran religious authority such as the Pope, the Dalai Lama or the 24th century equivalent of Billy Graham. Maybe whisk her off to a Federation religions conference and see what happens.
Phil: It was Roddenberry's belief that humans would outgrow religion after they "matured." Star Trek was his universe. He got to make the rules. (Personally, I think Babylon 5 handles religious issues with a much more even hand.)
Elio Arteaga of Hialeah, Florida: In the DS9 opening titles, just about when Armin Shimmerman's name comes on, we see three workers welding on the pylon, just above the supporting buttress and a fourth one bringing them a large package. About this time, the Defiant begins leaving its dock. Cut to a reverse angle of the pylon and the Defiant flying toward the camera. In this view the workers are not there. True, the camera angle might obscure them behind the pylon, but I think that by the time Alexander Siddig's name comes on, we should have a pretty good view of the area where the welders were working. Has anybody else picked this maybe-nit?
Phil: Couldn't tell you if anyone else has submitted it without going through the entire file but I took at look at the tape and it does appear to be a nit. If you watch carefully, the workmen appear to be located just above the second "notch" above the docking ring and when the camera angle changes that area is clearly visible.
Michael A Deeds: Do you agree with me that the storyline for "Star Trek-First Contact" would have made more sense with Sisko instead of Picard? After all, he has a believable motivation for revenge against the Borg (i.e. the death of his wife). Picard didn't seem all that upset in the episodes "I, Borg" and "Descent Part I-II" which occurred after his assimilation! It seems to me that they just wanted to make Picard more Kirk-like.
Phil: Um . . . Picard was pretty steamed in "I, Borg"! He was ready to turn Hugh into a conundrum bomb to destroy the whole collective. Remember the scene between Picard and Guinan? "It's a Borg, d*** it!" I agree that the movie could have been written for Sisko (much like almost any part in Trek could--and sometimes does--get rewritten for another character). However, there is one very good reason that First Contact would not have been written for Sisko. At this point, I doubt Deep Space Nine will ever make it to the big screen. (Unless of course, it has the season to end all seasons this year! A season unlike any other in the entire history of television.)
Have a great weekend, everybody!
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Copyright 1997 by Phil Farrand. All rights reserved.