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7 hours agoThe other good thing about Chain of Command is it gives important context for DS9 without having to stare at scrolling text.
data1701d (He/Him)
“Life forms. You precious little lifeforms. You tiny little lifeforms. Where are you?”
- Lt. Cmdr Data, Star Trek: Generations
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Cake day: March 7th, 2024
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Well, this is from Cast Your Pod to the Wind, which is full of rejects from The Else and random podcast tracks - granted some of them are really darn good rejects like “Brain Problem Situation”.
I think my taste is also skewed towards the weird semi-experimental tracks in general - I am a big “If Day for Winnipeg”.
I could understand a few across the city, but I’d say 50 miles of parkland around a city is a little excessive.
You could also probably at least partially pull off “lush” with more native species, which they don’t seem to do.
Additionally, I imagine there’s some people still enjoying desert off-roading or a newer equivalent in the 23rd and 24th century (probably with regulations, of course).
Granted, I’m a bit biased, considering I live in the Southwest and am a fan of some of the more beautiful deserts. I do hate the climate change-induced annual shattering of heat records, though. Never fun when it’s 110s out, especially when you have to walk to classes…
I think it is in Menageries, but I’ll have to check.
I agree weather controls exist - in fact, they’d probably be needed to solve extreme heat and drought in the city.
However, I don’t think terraforming Mojave is the same thing as terraforming a planet - most planets they colonize that aren’t already suitable for human life don’t have a native ecosystem to begin with. What the pilot seems to depict is the elimination of an existing ecosystem and many habitats, which I feel doesn’t seem very Trek-esque. While they would modify the local environment to improve living conditions, I don’t think they would be inclined to do this much environmental damage.
2·2 days agoWhile the VOY crew themselves still wear what you mentioned, we do see their Alpha quadrant counterparts are wearing First Contact Uniforms.
I’ll revise to make it clearer who I’m talking about.
EDIT: Clarified that in Endgame, I was talking about alpha quadrant Starfleet officers.
For your first question, I’d agree with others that it was a possible future that just didn’t happen in the Prime Timeline - there is a timeline out there where “All Good Things” didn’t happen and so that’s the future there. It was the future until Picard saw it.
As for your second, I would say it was still a false positive. It’s just we didn’t have enough Borg shenanigans in the TNG era alt future timelines for anyone to care about the difference, combined with Jack Crusher probably never being born.
For the uniforms, my overall theory is that what we saw as the the early 2380s uniform and mid-2380s badge design process started in the mid-to-late 2370’s. The overall more peaceful nature of each of the three timelines with the alternate future uniform meant that either the TNG uniform (for “All Good Things” and “The Visitor”) or First Contact uniform (“Endgame”, for Alpha quadrant personnel) lasted into roughly the late 2380s or early 2390s. This gave more time for the concept for what would have been the prime 2380s uniform to develop before rolling out much later in about the mid 2390s, slightly changing the uniform shape and getting rid of the black area on top. This uniform design was very persistent against temporal interference, but it was no match for the timeline alterations by Voyager’s early return, which caused a faster design cycle and early rollout for what became the early 2380s uniform and Starfleet uniforms in general.
I especially see it in this comparison:
Here’s some deeper analysis if you want it, contained in spoilers to keep post length down (lots of nitpicking and rants about Klingon-Federation relations):
“All Good Things”
spoiler
Without a lot of temporal interference, this uniform arises. I think we can infer by Beverly still being in Starfleet that this is a relatively peaceful timeline to, meaning that influential uniform designers have lower change of death or being gripped by despair and making DS9-style uniforms.
There is the breakdown in Klingon relations, but that seems to be a common motif (like in “The Visitor”), and it’s more of a cold war status than a Borg, Dominion, etc. kind of threat.
Otherwise, we don’t have enough information on this timeline to firmly establish events. However, I infer this might be a timeline where the Dominion War was averted (or delayed) and Martok never became chancellor, as that event was sort of like another Narendra and if it didn’t happen, a relationship deterioration with the Empire.
Evidence of this is in LD with Ma’ah’s opinion that the Federation “earned its toduj” in the Dominion War, suggesting that event swayed his opinion on the Federation and likely others. This coculd be countered by the actions of Dorg and Bargh, showing that the views aren’t universal. However, I think the relative level-headedness Bargh’s fellow council members suggest that the brother’s views are not a mainstream political view in the empire, at least in the 2380s.
(You could probably use STO stuff as counter to my argument, but I think the timeline of that game is motivated by a desire for a plot amenable to gameplay. I’m primarily going with alpha canon.)
As I said before, we can be certain that the “All Good Things” timeline was averted by Picard being aware of it, and that all timelines after are not that timeline.
“The Visitor”
spoiler
The fact that the uniform still pops up in this different timeline suggests that it’s rather pervasive and takes a lot of temporal interference to get rid of it. Of note is the fact that it appears in 2422, 20-30 years later than either “All Good Things” or “Endgame”, which might suggest this uniform becomes the 24th/25th century equivalent of the monster maroons.
Notably, Commander Nog appears with a TNG uniform and DS9 combadge… in 2389. This suggests that this timeline at least skipped First Contact, early 2380s, and mid-to-late 2380s uniforms, opting to keep the TNG uniform in for decades. This is kind of weird considering “Endgame”, which I’ll reconcile later. Anyhow, perhaps uniform designers had been toying with something like the prime early 2380s design; due to its longer time for development, when it was finally rolled out much later than prime, it manifested differently from its closest prime counterpart.
I think we can infer once again that the Dominion War was averted. For one, there’s the reasons I provided above. I also think DS9 would sort of be sacred ground for the Klingons and it would feel almost wrong to them to take it outright if the Dominion War had happened like prime. The suggestion is further made by the fact that the Federation withdrew from DS9 in 2374, which would have been during the Dominion War in the prime timeline; this never would have happened with the wartime Alpha Quadrant alliance.
Additionally, we can tell the war never happened like prime because the Defiant was never destroyed - we can tell because they needed the ship to be basically the same to replicate the accident, and it was, judging by Jadzia’s nostalgic reaction in the episode. If it were the second Defiant, there would have been differences as noted in DS9’s “The Dogs of War”.
Thus, basing on the first two timelines, it would seem like this uniform tends to arise when there are few mysterious threats, only regular ones.
“Endgame”
spoiler
“Endgame” is unique in that it is the only timeline where the uniform appears and the Dominion War did happen, based on the chronology. What makes it weird is that this timeline did have the First Contact uniforms (for the Alpha quadrant personnel, not the Voyager crew, of course), meaning a possibly different design lineage for the future uniforms here.
To reconcile, it might be possible that in this timeline, the First Contact uniform roughly replaced what would have been the expanded life span of the TNG uniform (with error bars of a few years or so due to butterfly effect) instead of being slowly phased out in the early 2380s. Once again, the uniform concepts for what would have been the prime early 2380s uniforms were festering in the designers’ heads as early as the mid-to-late 2370s and went through a similar development cycle to “The Visitor”'s timeline.
The state of Klingon relations in this episode is further evidence pointing to the role of the Dominion War in Federation-Klingon relations - B’Elanna’s role and influence as a Klingon liason (based on Janeway’s request) as well as Janeway’s initially relatively easy dealings with Korath suggest relations are in a good state in this timeline with the Dominion War.
Despite the Dominion War happening, this timeline seems like it’s also somewhat peaceful (only based on vibes, not canon analysis), considering that everyone on Voyager is either still in touch or dead - if this was one of those Picard-y timelines, at least would be a moody vigilante ex-Starfleet officer in some far off corner of the quadrant where no one can contact them.
I’d also say the anti-Borg/acquired Borg technology in this timeline might give an explanation for why the other timelines are so peaceful: the more organic technological development improved Fed security in all of them.
The fact that this uniform never appears again after this timeline suggests the early return of Voyager was the final straw for this uniform. We can’t pinpoint exactly what happened, but I can think of a few different scenarios. The most likely one is something about Voyager’s early return triggered a shorter design cycle of the future uniforms, leading instead to the early 2380s uniforms. Perhaps the early introduction of Borg defense tech to the prime timeline through Voyager’s return caused a sudden leap followed by stagnation that either weakened Starfleet defenses in the long term, or Starfleet just wasn’t ready to handle this stuff in 2378. Alternatively, maybe some key designers of that uniform got butterflied into a shuttle accident, or the timeline got so depressing that they decided to pump out DS9-looking uniforms instead.
I agree he’s not the best Captain Kirk, but I did enjoy his performance in the time travel episode (might have just been the writing and La’an performance like you said, though).
Now what we need is more George Samuel leaving crumbs and annoying Spock energy. I mean, the dude’s only got 8 years or so live… Give our boy some screen time!
Part of me is like, “Seriously! Mire multiverse stuff! Can we take a break, please?”, while the other half of me is like, “If it’s as good as LD or PRO multiverse stuff, I’ll take it!”
I am a bit worried about the fourth wall breaking stuff, but I wonder if they’re doing a Benny Russell “dreamer and the dream”-type thing, which might be fun.
The Clue episode looks fun. The trailer makes it look like this season is 75% quasi-holodeck episodes, which would be quite funny but is probably not the cases.
Star Trek: The Search for Hemmer.
TLDR; I believe Generations is the best of the TNG films and easily in the top 5 classic films, even if the TNG film series as a whole falls short.
I admit that overall, I would call TOS films the better series of Trek films - Search for Spock and Final Frontier are probably the only ones I wouldn’t rewatch, meaning 2/3 overall of the TOS films are actually enjoyable in my opinion. In comparison, I am not a fan of half the TNG movies (NEM and Insurrection).
However, I disagree with lumping all the Next Generation movies as “completely null”; First Contact was at least reasonably fun. My biggest complaint might be the Guinan snub for Barclay.
Meanwhile, I feel like Generations is the rare Star Trek film that really just feels like a 2 hour episode (with TMP and maybe Voyage Home the only two other ones like it). I enjoyed the mortality commentary (almost worth the sacrifice of Picard’s entire family, but not quite), while nothing strikes me as more classically Star Trek than campily choreographed fight scenes between a bunch of old men. I also personally enjoyed Data’s arc - I feel like they made sure when it got annoying, it was purposeful, and they dialed it back right when they needed to.
Overall, I don’t think it’s fair to lump the first two TNG films into the bottom 5 like their later counterparts (which do deserve it); Generations probably joins Voyage Home for my favorite Trek films to rewatch.
Anyhow, have a wonderful evening. 🖖
I love Generations. Now disliking V is something I could get behind.
Bem better come apart, or this one will make sure someone else does.
You’ve got quite a bit - it’s in TNG S4, so you’ve still got all of TAS (if you choose. If you’re thinking about skipping, at least watch Yesteryear), the first few movies, and the first three seasons and six episodes of TNG to go before you hit this glorious staple who will last through DS9.
For some reason, I have the impulse to put this in here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkinoUGmKZ4
(Phish wanted Frakes to do a horn part for one of their tracks, but his skills were not up to the task. To honor the attempt, they made this track out of a bunch of the failed takes.)
Currently running a campaign on 1st edition. May look into this.
Oh, my gosh. Weyoun is so beautiful! And you can make him smile! Now all we need is a Lakarian City playset… a pile of ash should do.
Just give us Prodigy S3. Granted, we’d have to see how they work it out, considering they’ve hit the Picard era.
Maybe we could just have a little “accident” where Admiral Janeway is visiting the Protostar when they all get whisked into the 2430s and can’t return so they don’t have to deal with Picard crap. It wouldn’t be as radical of a future as Discovery - we’ll just have a nice, peaceful era with only the occasional threat.
The Protostar has some new worlds to explore, while Janeway struggles to reintegrate into Starfleet and catches up with her still-surviving friends, probably including elderly Mr. Tysess, Tuvok (who, even with conservative estimates, probably still have 3 decades ahead of them) Chakotay (probably not in as good health as Tuvok or Tysess, but holding on), as well as the Doctor.
Besides potentially being able to do TNG monster of the week, you’ve got at least 1 free episode plot for checking in on Solum. Besides having some plot on thea now non-destroyed Solum, we could have Ilthuran’s reaction to being reunited with Gwyn after decades as well as, at a minimum, a bit of comedy from a nice, non-fascist Ascencia (It would be even funnier if this Ascenscia at one point became a legit Starfleet officer).
I still enjoyed Those Old Scientists when I hadn’t yet watched Lower Decks, granted, I had watched TNG already and so just enjoyed it as TNG-era characters goofing around in the 23rd century.
In fact, after having watched Lower Decks, I don’t necessarily like how Boimler and Mariner are written in this episode - they feel a bit like their basic archetypes than the developed characters they were in the series.