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First, some comments from previous columns . . .
Pete Zelinski, Cincinnati, Ohio: It is no longer possible to watch DS9 in the Cincinnati viewing area. Our local affiliate apparently chose not to renew the show this year. Now, I must admit, my wife and I both miss it. We want to see what else will happen to Sisko, Quark, Odo -- and of course, Garak.
Murray Leeder: There was something else regarding Rom's first wife. In one episode... perhaps it was "Bar Association", Quark refered to Rom's first wife as "X's daughter" (I can't remember the name), and stated that he paid her father to marry him simply because he wanted a child. If I remember correctly, that is...
Daniel Tyman: Dukat On DS9 During "Favor The Bold": If I were Dukat, I would stay on the station. What chance does the Federation have of defeating them? What chance do they even have of getting there? Obviously, they will, but, in Dukat's ego filled mind, the Federation has no chance. And, it would pay to stay there. It is the most important piece of real estate in the quadrant, and if a battle does ensue, it needs good command. Dukat believes he is Cardassia's, and the Dominion's, best. Him being there could be crucial in his pompous opinion.
Daniel Tyman: The Name Of The Cardassian Empire: Well, empires often have many different names. Their was the Soviet Union, the USSR, Russia, and I am sure it was called many other things. So, the Cardies might be called the Cardassian Union and Cardassian Empire. Of course, now they would just be called Dominion puppets but....
Ronan: I have a reference to B5 [of sorts]:
In the B5 episode "Za' ha ' dum", Sheridan dies and is reborn after falling into an immense pit at Za' ha ' dum. In the book "Lord of the Rings", Gandalf dies and is reborn after falling into an immense pit at a place called Khazad'dum !
Intresting bit of trivia!
Phil: Before any of you write, I'm sure that Ronan knows "Lord of the Rings" was around a long time before B5!
Daniel Tyman: As much as many would like to see Brash Reflections for DS9(although I wouldn't) it is highly unfeasible. I know people who watch the show on Mondays. I watch the same show Sunday, almost a week later. That would create too many problems to allow this to be done.
Phil: While this is another difficulty, the main reason I don't do it is that I don't have the time! ;-)
Paul Lalli of Feeding Hills, MA: I'm almost positive that the ST Enclyclopedia states that Sargon was voiced by none other than James Doohan. Doohan also provided the voice for many, many other non - humaniod aliens in ST. If the voice of Sargon is the same as the Guardian (been a long time since I've seen TOS episodes) then I'm sure Doohan provided the voice for it as well.
Phil: That piece of information does sound familiar but I didn't have time to look it up last week!
Brian Lombard: The answer to Jason Barnes question is "Mirror, Mirror". Kirk and Scotty argue over who has to stay behind to operate the transporter.
Phil: Thanks to Jim Elek, Matthew Chiappardi, Shane Tourtellotte, Tom Elmore, Richie Vest for sending in this information as well.
Todd Newell of Oshkosh, WI: Shouldn't Seven of Nine be called "Seventh of Nine"? After all, in (TNG) "I, Borg" Hugh's designation was Third of Five, not "Three of Five"! One would think the Borg would be more consistent in their naming scheme, considering how efficient they claim to be.
Phil: It's the consistency of chaos!
Derek Moffitt: In "I, Borg", Hugh's designation was "Third of Five", and he was one of a group of five Borg that crashed on a planet/moon/something. So the "Five" probably is a count, although I don't think anything in the episode absolutely implies that it doesn't mean "Scout Ship Number Five" or something.
On the other hand, Seven's designation was much longer; she said something like "Seven of Nine, tertiary adjunct to section Zero-One-One" (not verbatim). The added information possibly reflects the fact that she was on a big cubeship rather than a small scout ship. (Given the supposedly non-hierarchical Borg command structure (confirmed in "Scientific Method"), something like "6942 of 9701" might have been more expected, but we can rationalise that certain drones are assigned to certain areas of the cube, in order to increase efficiency by cutting down on walking-across-the-ship time.) If that assumption is true, then the "Nine" probably refers to the number of drones assigned to section 011 or whatever she said.
Of course, if that's true, then calling her just "Seven of Nine" is highly imprecise. This creates a problem, because she herself told Janeway and Tuvok to call her just "Seven of Nine", but later objected to being called just "Seven" because *that* was imprecise. Her preference would seem to imply that "Seven of Nine" is sufficient to identify her; perhaps she really *is* drone #7 of group #9, and all that "tertiary adjunct" stuff is just a description of her duties. (Analogy: "Lieutenant" could be anybody; "Lieutenant Tom Paris" is a specific officer; "Lieutenant Tom Paris, alpha shift conn officer of USS Voyager" is more complete but unnecessary in almost any situation.)
In other words, I've just rambled on for two screens without reaching any definite conclusions whatsoever--and I haven't even mentioned the difference between the Hugh's ordinal number "Third" and Seven's cardinal number "Seven". My guess is the writers didn't think anybody would be worrying about this so much and let a little inconsistency slip in. Naw, that'd be absolutely unprecedented....
Murray Leeder: From what I've heard, "meddling mother-in-law" refers to Martok's wife. But since Worf is called "brother of Martok" not "son of Martok", you'd think that'd be "sister in law"! Just another complexity of Klingon house politics.
Phil: And, she was, in fact, Martok's wife and it was a fun episode. Thanks to Daniel Tyman, David Craig, David Williams, Adam Farlinger, Rob Orton for sending along this information as well.
On to the questions . . .
Vince Hamilton of Fresno, CA: You may have already been asked this one, but I thought I'd mention it anyway. When I visited the Dell website (www.dbb.com) I looked at its page for your DS9 guide. Much to my surprise, when they showed a picture of the book it had the "Defiant" AND the station on it. The book I have only has a picture of the "Defiant". Why is that?
Phil: It's a long story but the cover with the Defiant and the station was the original cover and I liked it alot better and, in fact, it is the cover that is used by Titan for publishing the book in England.
Brian Dominguez, Oswego NY: I must say that Deep Space Nine is starting of this season with a BANG!!! I've loved every episode so far. I just wonder, did I miss the episode last season that described why Nog is doing all this stuff at DS9 and on the Defiant? I thought he should be back at school. For now, I'm guessing he's on internship.
One last question. I think I mentioned this in Brash Reflections before, but I think it's time that they STOP killing off crew members on Voyager. Unless having a skeleton crew is a long-term plot device, killing off a crew member would seem detrimental to the show. I mean, who's gonna run the ship? What do you think? Do you know of a site somewhere that is keeping count of Voyager crew and shuttle loss?
Phil: There was nothing said as far as I know to explain nog's increased presence on the station this year. I believe there was a comment last season about an intersession break from the Academy and one could presume that with the war, everyone and anyone who could be sent to the front lines was sent to the front lines!
Concerning Voyager's crew, they will run out of bodies eventually! But the decision to kill off crewmembers rests solely in the hands of the creators so I don't have much to say about it! As far as statistics go, I know of two nitpickers who are keeping lists. In fact, their lists are right here at NitCentral. Scott Vogt's Star Trek: Voyager Statistics and Rick Kuzma's Star Trek: Voyager Statistics
Jeff Flowers of Southfield, MI: Does it bother anyone else that TPTB won't give even a token reference to the Enterprise on DS9? I mean, bringing a character or two would be costly I know, but is simply stating, "Picard's fleet defeated the Jem' Hader" or the,"Enterprise will lead the assault" on some battle we will never see too much to ask for? It doesn't ruin any story possibilites for the next movie because we know the entire crew will be there, and it doesn't reveal too much (actually reveals nothing!) Again, is that too much to ask? Just a nibble, a bite, SOMETHING! Please! I'm begging them!
Phil: Well . . . this is sort of like inviting your handsome, older brother to meet your new girlfriend. (Not that DS9 is unattractive, it just hasn't held the attention of the fans as much as NextGen did and does.)
Christopher L Querry: Why is Kirk a Captain in "Generations"? Even though he was demoted, I believe that officers are retired at the highest rank achieved. Also, can you explain the legal difference between Data and the EMH program? Why does Data have rights, but not the EMH? Picard's concerns about slavery have come to pass ("The Measure of a Man").
Phil: Since we don't know the exact implementation of rank in the Starfleet hierarchy, it's tough to say for sure that Kirk should have been an admiral in "Generations." Besides, it's his fantasy and he told Picard never to let them move him out of the captain's chair so maybe Kirk wanted to be a captain in the Nexus! ;-) As far as the legal differences between Data and the EMH go, I can't see any except for the fact that Starfleet really did invent the EMH. Still, with the hazy definition that the Federation holds for "sentient lifeforms" I would think that holodoc qualifies for protection. Of course, I think you can make a can for saying the main computer on the Enterprise qualifies for protection!
Alan: Here's a real challenge for you, one that has been given to many trekkers and sites, and as yet no one can provide a solution.
I'm planning to scratchbuild, and light, the interior on the Ertl kit. Trouble is I've no usable information in my collection.
Thus, where on the 'net can I find good plans or pictures of DS9 Runabouts ? Mainly the front cockpit area, but also the rear cabin which if memory serves was seen in a TNG episode, which is my second question.
Which episode featured Picard and co trapped in the obligatory time/spatial anomaly, that had odd effects on the crew and objects in the runabout, such as turning fruit into mush ?
I hope you can help, if you can I'll send some photos of the Trek Exhibition in London's Science Museum in return.
Phil: I don't know about pictures of the interior of a runabout on the net but I can point you to several episodes that have them. (By the way, the NextGen episode you referred to is "Timescape" and as far as I can remember, it is the only scene featuring the back of a runabout--and it seemed surprisingly large!) If you would like pictures of the inside of a Runabout with the old-style layout, you can look up episodes such as "Past Prolouge" and "Melora". A bit newer layout can be found in "Whispers." (I think.) And, the complete revamp of the runabout cockpit came in the fifth season (I think) and it featured in episodes like "Ths Ascent" and "The Darkness and the Light." Anybody else have any information?
Jason Barnes: I've taken the last couple of weeks to rediscover my TOS collection and have been reminded of some old questions. In "The Changeling" (sp?), Spock mind melds with Nomad. Does that seem strange to you? He mind melds with a MACHINE? I didn't know that telepathy worked on circuits. Spock melding with a horta, yes. With a computer? Uh.... no. Nimoy did mention that in the last season of Trek, the scripts were rather bad. Was this one of them?
Phil: Well . . . "The Changeling" was a second season episode not third but concerning the mind-meld with the machine, I would guess we would have to say that Spock somehow melded with Nomad's consciousness. How? Who knows! ;-)
Ron Barker: While watching ST:Generations for about the fifth time, my son Andy and I noticed two places where we think Brent Spiner was used as the disembodied voice on an intercom. Specifically, first when the crew is on the "tall ship" and they hear, "Sir, we are receiving a message from the Amagosa observatory. They say they are under attack." That has to be Spiner's voice, but Data is right there with them on the ship, and his mouth is not moving. The second time occurs when Data and Geordi are on the observatory right before Sorin beams Geordi to the Klingon ship -- the voice on the intercom says, " Transporter Room to Bridge. I cannot locate Commander La Forge or Mr. Data." Does anyone else think Brent is doing "double duty" here?
Phil: Hadn't heard that before! Pulled my tape. Could be. There are some similarities in the consonant construction.
Tommy Lin: There's this mystery that's been bugging me ever since I knew of it. Why isn't Dr. Bashir on the 4th season DS9 promotional poster, the one with the entire cast (including Worf) on the bridge of the Defiant. It looks as though Worf has been superimposed onto Bashir's image. Does anyone knows the answer?
Phil: Not me! Anybody?
Glenn St-Germain: Does anyone know what "raktajino" is? I know that it's "Klingon coffee" -- but how do the Klingons make it? What do they make it with? Garlic? Inquiring minds want to know.
Phil: No idea!
Scott Vogt: Well, Phil, the war has answered one very important question for me. Namely perpetual motion. We created a bomb with a replicator that could replicate a new bomb with a replicator. If we can replicate replicators, why couldn't we get some to Bajor when Winn went after Shakaar for those soil things? And why were we sending 15 industrial-strength replicators to Carassia? Remember, the ones Eddington stole? Why waste all that space? Just send one and let'em replicate the rest, right?
Phil: Sure seems like it to me! The only thing I can figure on the self-replicating mines is that they someone drew energy from somewhere because--as far as physics understands right now--you can't make something from nothing!
Murray Leeder: Say, Phil, I know about your novels but have you ever had any short fiction or poetry published?
Phil: Haven't even tried! I'm the kind of guy who likes to go for the big projects!
Tom Bondurant: Any thoughts on what kind of series will (or should) replace DS9 when it goes off the air in May of 1999? My personal choice would be one set in the late 23rd or early 24th century, in the early years of the Khitomer Accords. I think it'd be fascinating to see the transition from "cowboy diplomacy" to the professionalism of the 2360s and 2370s. I realize that I may be in the extreme minority on what I'm about to say, but it could even star Capt. Harriman, Ensign Sulu, and the rest of the Enterprise-B crew (except maybe the one played by Tim Russ -- he might be too busy). Hey, they've already done a fair amount of preproduction and casting, and who doesn't want to hear "these are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise" again? What do you think?
Phil: Obviously, my opinion on this is worthless but if I had a choice, I'd probably go for an earlier series and knock back on the technology a bit. It gets in the way of the story telling and in too many cases, scripts end up with technobabble-as-dialogue.
Craig Cicero: Just two questions, although the second is kind of hazy and half-formed. Is "Rotarran" (General Martok's ship) a "real" Klingon word? (Oh please don't tell me it means "enterprise"!)
Do we know FOR SURE that all the Borg behave as a single mind? They can't, really, unless they have instananeous communication across a mind-boggingly vast distance! Is it possible that each Cube behaves as an individual (at least when far enough away from Borg Space for time-delays in transmissions)? Come to think of it, that's probably why the Borg have stuck to their own space! They don't want to fragment their consciousness! To be fair, I have nothing to back this conjecture up. What's your opion, Chief?
Phil: Not idea on Rotarran but I'm sure someone out there knows! As for the single conciousness of the Borg, there is soemthing wierd and undefined going on with the Borg Queen and her role as a unifying consciousness with the Borg. However, Hugh's experiences seem to indicate that the Borg have separate collectives at least part of the time. While his "self-identity" corrupted the Borg only his particular ship seemed to be affected.
Briony Coote: Why doesn't Voyager develop cloak technology? Granted, their resources are limited but on the other hand the Treaty of Algeron could hardly apply in the Delta Quadrant where they are up against Kazons, not Romulans.
What do you think? I think it could be very interesting and would certainly give them more of an edge.
Phil: Makes sense to me! (If they could pull it off but a crew that could figure out warp 10 when the entire Federation could should be able to put together a puny little thing like a clocking device!)
Mark Allen of Sydney, Australia: There was an episode, I think in series 2 , where Dr Bashir gets the hots for an alien woman from a low gravity planet. Is this the only time that an "alien" character, with a different body structure to humans has appeared in an episode of Trek. Ok so the Klingons and Bajorans look different, but why don't we ever meet someone from say a methane breathing world? Or some one who is non humanoid in appearance.?
Phil: Just had a topic a few weeks back on non-humanoid aliens on Trek. I believe it started with the 10/24/97 column. As far as breathing apparatus go, I believe both Mordok ("Coming of Age") and Mendon ("A Matter of Honor") had them!
Rodney Hrvatin: I was having a discussion with my Mum whilst watching a Voyager episode (the one where Kes goes back in time) and I thought I would pass on this question.
Given that the Alpha Quadrant is next door to the Beta Quadrant would it be safe to assume that the Delta quadrant is next to the Gamma quadrant??? If so, why don't they just find the wormhole and go through it??
Phil: In fact, the official map of the galaxy in the Omnipedia shows that the wormhole is closer to Voyager than the Alpha Quadrant!
Have a great weekend, everybody!
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Copyright 1997 by Phil Farrand. All rights reserved.