Discovery and Star Trek

MarkB · Oct 29, 2017

Ryujin said:
Rather large. Food synthesizers create food from a store of raw materials. Replicators create matter from energy and are not limited to just food.

Well, somewhere in the middle there. Replicators don't convert energy to matter - they use transporter technology to recombine existing matter into different forms at the molecular level. You still need a matter store that contains the correct types of elements - no high-tech alchemy involved here.

What we saw in Discovery may have been a full-on replicator, or it may have been a precusor to that technology, perhaps weaving existing molecules together at the microscopic level - which is about the same tech level as TOS food synthesisers. We don't get a sufficiently detailed explanation of the technology to say for sure.

Ryujin · Oct 29, 2017

MarkB said:
Well, somewhere in the middle there. Replicators don't convert energy to matter - they use transporter technology to recombine existing matter into different forms at the molecular level. You still need a matter store that contains the correct types of elements - no high-tech alchemy involved here.

What we saw in Discovery may have been a full-on replicator, or it may have been a precusor to that technology, perhaps weaving existing molecules together at the microscopic level - which is about the same tech level as TOS food synthesisers. We don't get a sufficiently detailed explanation of the technology to say for sure.

I'll give you the statement on replicators, as it's definitely supported by in-series evidence. The TOS food synthesizers could run out of materials and so couldn't just recombine any old matter at hand.

Morrus · Oct 29, 2017

There’s loads of terminology which changed, even just within TOS. I don’t really think it means anything. Didn’t even Starfleet’s name change a couple of times according to who was writing the episode? And I’m sure warp drive did early on.

Eltab · Oct 29, 2017

Starfleet could have no/few woman Captains at the time of the TOS episode if they were letting women work their way up the chain of command. This particular woman, given her description elsewhere, might have been unable to make the cut herself and during her exile turned it into a general prohibition.

But ultimately, we have to accept that Star Trek was based on optimism and 'What if the better angels of human nature were winning?" Give the people writing 50 years ago credit for stretching themselves, and opening up new space for their descendants to think about.

Hussar · Oct 29, 2017

Having a little trouble reconciling these two points:

1. I don't like Discovery because Star Trek is supposed to be about this utopian future.

2. I don't like Discovery because there's a female captain (and Admiral!) and that breaks canon.

Umm, what kind of utopian future would restrict gender equality? I'm fairly confident in saying that the idea of utopia has changed somewhat in the past couple of decades. And, maybe, just maybe, our pop culture TV shows should reflect that.

Ryujin · Oct 29, 2017

Has anyone mentioned #2 at all?

Hussar · Oct 29, 2017

Ryujin said:
Has anyone mentioned #2 at all?

We don't like to talk about that in polite company. Light a match and open the window.

On a slightly less flippant note, which number 2 are you referring to?

Ryujin · Oct 29, 2017

Hussar said:
We don't like to talk about that in polite company. Light a match and open the window.

On a slightly less flippant note, which number 2 are you referring to?

The one in Hussar's comment, directly above mine.

Staffan · Oct 29, 2017

I have a few problems with Discovery so far:

1. For a show named Discovery, there's precious little of that going around. I think the only time we've even seen a planet surface is the pilot.

2. Evil captain. Lorca has gone totally off the reservation, and belongs with folks like Benjamin Maxwell on the list of rogue Starfleet captains.

3. The Klingon redesign. It looks way worse than TNG/DS9-era klingons - and at this point, klingons should be very human-looking on account of Enterprise-era shenanigans.

3b. Klingons speaking Klingon with one another when alone. It's a time-honored tradition to have people who speak foreign languages speak the show's main language (usually English) when alone. It is understood that they do not actually speak English, but that it's presented as such for the viewer's convenience - not to mention the actors'. I bet that the actors would feel more confident acting in English than in Klingon.