(Also available from Starland mirror site)
First, some comments from previous columns . . .
John Bibb of Garland, TX: In the New Edition of the Star Trek Encyclopedia, there is no rank insignia for Commodore or Fleet Captain. After Captain come five different ranks of Admiral, from One Star (er, pip) Admiral to Fleet Admiral (five star). The ranks of Commodore and Fleet Captain DID last through the movie era, though (even though we didn't see them).
Erin Hunt of High Point, NC: According to the "Star Trek Chronology", the rank of Commodore was abolished sometime between the end of the series and the first movie, which is how Kirk jumped straight from Captain to Admiral.
Derek Moffitt: My personal favorite idea for a fifth Star Trek series would be one that focuses more on life on board ship rather than the whole "seeking out strange new worlds" end of things. In other words, make an entire series along the lines of "Lower Decks" (TNG), where the main characters are a collection of lieutenants and ensigns. I have two reasons for liking this idea: one, I'd just like to know what all of these people *do* all day; and two, since none of the ship's senior staff would be in the credits, they'd actually be allowed to die, be transferred, accept promotions, etc. (Do you realise that Kes and Ziyal were the first "significant" characters to leave Trek series in *ten* seasons? That is, unless you consider Wesley to be significant....)
Mike Ash: I was reading this week's Ask the Chief and was intrigued by Travis McCord's suggestion to have a series based on some sort of rebellion. He then suggests that it be set in the mirror universe.
My suggestion: We don't need the mirror universe, all the elements for this show are already in DS9. It's continually been shown and told to us (most recently and notably in "Statistical Probabilities") that the Dominion still has a good chance of winning. So.... let them win! Then you have a conquered Federation, and the perfect setting for a rebellion. You could even have a few races help the Dominion once things become hopeless, and the other races would resent them, etc. etc.
Dave Andrews: I don't agree at all with the idea of putting a future show in the past of the current series. I agree, it'd cut down on the techno-babble a bit, but the thing is, we'd always know what was going to happen, in broad terms. Either that, or main characters in the "present" would suddenly have to start mentioning events that have never been referred to before - which would give you enough material for another trilogy, but that's not really the point!
Dave Andrews: As far as the infamous warp-drive limit is concerned, I'm of the opinion that the creators rather shot themselves in the foot with it. I'm sure it seemed a good idea for a bit (see, our heroes are environmentally concious), but then the creators realised it was also a big pain having everyone pootle along at warp 5 (the equivalent of going by public transport as opposed to driving...) and just quietly forgot about it. Unfortunately for them, no-one else did.
Murray Leeder: Sisko speculated that Eris (a Vorta) was a Founder, but he had no basis for that speculation, and we know now that it wasn't true.
Mike Cheyne: I agree with Joshua Traux. A 007 Nitpicker's Guide would be superb. And there is a fan market--just check the net, it's swarming with Bond web pages. I love James Bond, and I love the Nitpicker's Guides, so--how about it--that's 2!
Nick Oven of Greenfield,WI: I was just wondering if you could influence dell to publish different guides (Josgua Truax asked about a 007 guide, and you said it would be in a Movie Guid if you made one)... If you showed Dell letters from us, saying what kind of guides we would buy, would that influence them any?
Phil: Only if I had letters from 20,000 people who guarenteed they would buy it! I appreciate the interest but you have to understand that books get published either because they are a "sure bet" or because someone is passionate about them. Passion is subjective. Therefore--discounting the "sure bet"--all books get published based on the subjective feelings of an editor. Now, if you don't particularly like the idea of a Bond Guide, will it do any good for me to say, "Well, I've got ten (or twenty, or two hundred) people who say that they'll buy the book"? ;-) (Tis a strange thing this beast we call the publishing business.)
Karen Barker: I got a big charge out of the note from the person who suggested taking on 007. I guess it just goes to show that great minds . . .
Patrick Sweeney: About Les Kennedy's question, and your response on ships meeting ships at odd angles, there is proof that there is computer controlled orientation correctors. In the TNG episode "Genesis" Picard and Data return to the E-D in a shuttle to find out that the computer was out, and everyone had deevolved. They also find the ship at a wierd angle, and Data has to manually control the shuttle angle to make into the shuttlebay. This goes to show that without a computer, or helmsman, the ships tend to be drifting and rotating.
Bill Kruse: Corey Hines asked "Why don't we ever hear anything of the Beta Quadrant?" Maybe it's because they're still testing it, heh-heh!
On to the questions . . .
(Note from Phil: This first one's a long one but we've needed to have this discussion for a while!)
Derek Moffitt: Ever since the Year That Never Happened, there have been disagreements over what if anything in the first three-plus seasons of Voyager can still be legitimately used to pick nits. Is there an official ruling on this?
I've been looking at the situation this way: Since the Krenim time-weapon erases an object not only in the present but also from all past and future times as well, every use of the weapon creates an *entire* new timeline, extending from the distant past to the distant future. Even if the weapon is used twice in rapid succession, the timeline that exists between those two uses is "full-length", as it were; it does not merely cover the brief period of time during which it was the "real" timeline from the Krenim's perspective.
In each of these timelines, the Voyager exists (since it was never erased), but in each of them its history might have been quite different. So we need to determine what timeline(s) the 75 episodes prior to "YoH" took place in. There are two logical ways this could have been done.
One: the episodes were always in the timeline that the Krenim considered "real" at the time. This would mean that no continuity between (or for that matter, within) episodes would be expected, since a timeline change could have occurred at any time (remember, the Krenim have been using their time-weapon for 200 years).
Two: all the episodes were set in the same timeline, and no "unannounced" changes in the timeline took place before "YoH". This would mean that the first 75 episodes would be expected to be internally consistent and consistent with each other. They might or might not be consistent with anything *after* "YoH", depending on whether or not episodes 78ff. take place in the same or a different timeline.
I believe it's safe to say that from a televison producer's viewpoint, option number one is ridiculous; after all, what's the point of a series that can't be expected to have any continuity at all? Also, since no Krenim have attacked the ship in the episodes since "YoH", it's safe to assume that the timeline changes shown in that episode aren't happening. (Remember, "YoH" covered the same period of time as the current episodes.) Therefore, option two must be the correct one, and the first 75 episodes can still be used to nitpick each other. The only remaining question is as to whether there is any implied continuity between them and the episodes after "YoH".
This point is a bit shakier, but I make two observations. First, no observable timeline changes took place on DS9 at the time of "YoH", so that entire series is taking place in one timeline: the "new" Voyager timeline, in which the Krenim time-weapon never existed (remember, it was erased). Second, the first 75 episodes of Voyager took place in the same timeline as DS9, since the Voyager was docked there in one of those episodes (namely "Caretaker"). Therefore, since both the "old" Voyager timeline and the "new" Voyager timeline are the same as the DS9 timeline, they are in fact one and the same.
And finally, this implies that "YoH" itself (except for the final scenes of Part II) took place in a different timeline from all other Trek episodes, since the Krenim time-weapon did not exist in the "main" timeline. This eliminates most of the Kes nit, leaving only the question of why Janeway was not more alarmed by the presence of the Krenim in the final scene of "YoH2". And even that nit is easily cleared up: she *was* in fact alarmed by the Krenim's presence, which is why she immediately detoured around their space, rather than barging through it as she had done in the alternate timeline of "YoH1", in which (apparently) Kes had never warned Voyager about the Krenim.
The upshot of all of this is that the entire Voyager series, except for "YoH", still happened and is still legitimate nitpicking material. At least, that's my interpretation of the evidence.
Whew, that was confusing. I'm going to stop there before all of this temporal mechanics gives me a headache.
Phil: Well . . . we'll still nitpick it but given the creators use of "irrational time" (See "Time and Again" for an example or my discussion of irrational time in the DS9 Guide under "Visionary"), I'm not sure that we can say conclusively that option one (i.e. no continuity between episodes) is something that the Trek creators would abhor! Obviously, we would like the episodes to have continuity but I haven't found the creators of Trek to be staunchly opposed to breaking their own continuity when it suits their purposes!
Rob Orton: We all now why Worf transfered onto the station, but why did Michael Dorn choose to got to DS9? Did the creators ask him to go on or was it him pitching the idea of Worf going on?
Phil: My understanding is that Dorn was approached by the Trek executives about the part. They felt they needed something to breathe some life into the series. (Much like Seven of Nine has done for Voyager.)
Gina Torgersen: What is the real-world reason Tasha Yar was killed off in the first season of TNG? I am curious because I watched "Diagnosis Murder" the other day and I am sure I saw her playing a television producer or something who was upset because an actor was leaving her show to do a movie.
Phil: Someone is having a bit of fun! I believe Crosby left the show to do movies because she had so many offers pouring in.
Patrick Sweeney: Did anyone else spend the money to buy the new Encyclopedia (Print and computer) and feel that the later was not worth it with the book being so good? I think that between the new book and the old software, you have the perfect combo of resources. Plus, the new ency came with a copy of the TNG episode guide, which came with the gift pack! Silly reduncdancies.
Phil: I don't have a copy of the new encyclopedia but I love the old one! Fabulous work!
Danny Wiese, El Cajon: Do you think that Kirk was over reacting just a little bit in ST:2 when Spock allowed that vulcan(can't remember the name but she was played by Kirsty Ally(sp?)) to tell Sulu to go out of space dock, all she did was tell Sulu to go forward, it's not like she was piloting the thing, if they were about to crash I'm sure Sulu would have made the proper course corrections. And yet in ST:6 when Valaris was actually piloting the Enterprise (and throught a tighter fit through the space doors), Kirk didn't give it another thought, he even told her to go faster!
Phil: Yup! Always thought that scene was a bit goofy! The character name--by the way--was Saavik.
Matt Cotnoir: What do you think about the, uh, campy attitude X-Files has had since the first two episodes this year? Not that I mind...I like campy, it just not X-Files
Phil: Personally, I enjoyed the episodes. Of course, I enjoy all the episode where the creators relax a bit: Humbug, War of the Coprophages, Jose Chung's From Outer Space, Small Potatoes . ..
Andy Love: I was watching "Night Terrors" the other night and I noticed a plot deficiency that I hadn't seen before (unless I missed some key bit of dialogue). As you recall the crew of the USS Brittain couldn't dream and therefore went mad and killed each other - all except the Betazoid member of the crew, who, terrorized by nightmares, was eventually reduced to a comatose state. Why wasn't the Betazoid killed by the maddened other crewfolk? Of course if he had been, he wouldn't have been available to be one of the clues that saved the Enterprise, but the crew of the Brittain certainly didn't know that. If the Betazoid became comatose before the rest of the crew died, he would have been easy fodder for the others in their bloodlust; if he remained conscious for much of the period that the other crew was going mad, his remaining sanity and skill would have singled him out as "strange" and a potential threat to everyone else aboard. To this, we can also add the effect of latent xenophobia on the diminishing cognitive skills of the crew - "Kill the outsider" (the one Betazoid on what appeared to be an otherwise all human ship) would likely have become a popular cry. What do you think?
Phil: If I recall correctly, the Enterprise crew did find the guy behind a door. Perhaps he "hid in the closet" and everyone else was so busy killing themselves they didn't notice?!
D. S. Winning: Is the new guide out in coming out in Britain? In all previous years the guides have come out at the same time in the USA and Britain, but none of the major book stores have it? Do I have to order it from America?
Phil: While I cannot go into a great deal of detail about this, suffice it to say that Titan Books did want to publish the Guide. There were extenuating circumstances that precluded that option.
Shereen Elkadem of Prince Edward Island: I wanted to know if I should be expecting a Voyager nitpickers guide, of all the series' to date, Voyager i think lacks something, and a majority of there episodes have plotholes that I could drive a truck, or a shuttlecraft through. Its kinda like the original trek in the way that every week its another race with new problems, and a danger to the ship that tightly , if not believably fixes itself in 60 minutes, I just think that Kirk, Spock, and McCoy did it better.
Also I wondered if anybody knew why DS9 took such a pounding in the 4th season finale, mentions were made about improved shields, I remember the vorta making a comment about there shields and they shouldnt be taking the punishment, but past this nothing is ever said again. What do you think?
Phil: We are watching the show's ratings. If it can generate the appropriate excitment, I'd love to do a Voyager Guide. As far as DS9 shields go, there was a massive improvement, wasn't there? ;-)
Murray Leeder: Ever considered getting a personalized license plate? Maybe "NITPICKR"?
Phil: Nope! Just not into the whole personalized license thing.
Clay: If science says that matter can't be created or destroyed then how does a cell reproduce? It seems to me that unless I'm missing a vital part of the process, more matter would have to be created for this new cell to come into existance. Please ask that friend of yours about this for me. I might have stumbled onto something interesting or just a dumb thought that comes out of my own ignorance. Either way I would like to find out if I can about this.
Phil: As far as I know, cells reproduce by absorbing nutrients and reconfiguring them to construct cell materials. It's basically the same process as eating. We take in mass, we digesting it--converting it through a chemical process into mechanical energy--and then rid ourselves the useable portions. It really is a amazingly complex and beautifully balanced system. However, while we are rearranging the mass we injest, we are not causing it to disappear from the universe. It still exist in the universe if only in the form of low-grade heat.
John Latchem: Has everyone heard that scientists in England I believe it was successfully transported a photon? The local news accompanied this report with generous TOS footage of people transporting.
Phil: Hadn't heard that!
Have a great weekend, everybody!
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Copyright 1997 by Phil Farrand. All rights reserved.