Semisimian

So, we are continuing the ‘is it legitimate that an elite Red Squad exists in egalitarian Starfleet’ argument? All signs point to no. Still, Nog, you go on with your bad self.

When we talk about time travel in fictional universes, almost all of the narratives follow one of three “truths:”

1. Time is one linear thread. What you do now will have consequence X and if you do something different it will have consequence Y. A simple illustration is the movie Sliding Doors. But the same can be said for Back to the Future or Bill and Ted’s. If you make a change to the prime timeline, it will ripple into the past/future. Your cousins will disappear from the 3x5 photo!

2. Time has branches, a truly infinite number of universes and possibilities. Really, as far as I’m concerned, the best example of this idea is Rick and Morty. That show has the freedom to both cook our brains about the concept and also hold a mirror to its ridiculousness. You also see it more famously in the MCU, with their multitude of Lokis and such, though the TVA is still hell-bent on a prime timeline. But the multiverse is the natural order, with only 80s inspired bureaucracy to keep it in check.

3. Time is a combination of the two, which leads us to Trek. Time is linear, so Jake Sisko can tell his dad to dodge a beam that travels at light speed. But time is also non-linear, so… I dunno… most of Voyager. When Seven came aboard with her temporal node all bets were off as far as what could even be considered a prime timeline.

Moreso, the mirror universe is a parallel to our own, marching along at the same pace and whose characters are developing at the same rate as the prime timeline. So, there is no prime timeline, and no multiverse. Just the clean-shaven and the goatee universes.

And to answer your question: yes, I think Trek trends toward a “prime” timeline. It’s honestly the way our brains work. With all the posturing of the wormhole aliens, we just don’t work in a non-linear fashion. And maybe more importantly, good stories don’t work that way either, Kurt Vonnegut aside. Time travel is wearing plot armor in EVERY movie and show because no one has a handle on it.

Thank you for bringing this up. It’s something I think about too much.

I think it would take much more energy to grow the food they need than to just replicate it. That said, if I was stuck for 7 years in space, fresh fruits and vegetables would be the cheapest form of therapy.

“How is our young doctor?” …“Young.”

I know what you mean, but I immediately heard it different. It’s something we should be asking daily, just to make sure they have what they need. Are trans women okay? Are trans men okay? What do you need? I have a sympathetic ear and bourbon; how can I help?

I just started my DS9 rewatch today, having just completed Voyager, Enterprise and SNW in my “COVID then RSV then ENT infection” couch-misery marathon. I saw the Q episode with Vash just hours ago - loved O’Brien’s reaction when he recognized Q.

I think they developed Voyager and DS9 to be two halves of the Star Trek whole. Voyager was flung so far that almost every species was new, so right from the start it highlighted the awkward first handshakes the Federation had to endure. DS9 included (mostly) known species and highlighted the increasingly awkward second handshakes, and third, and on and on: the real work of diplomacy beyond first contact. It’s a political drama, The West Wing in space. Q has no patience for such intricacies, though that is what he often says he values so much in humanity.

I’m still waiting for SNW to make the Gorn interesting. I know they’re trying to retcon them as intelligent and threatening space explorers, technical marvels, etc. But the writers aren’t selling the leap from xenomorph ripoff to mature Star Trek species.

I love the show and get what they’re doing, playing with every genre of storytelling. The Gorn are obviously the horror genre, but again, how the hell are they a spacefaring species?

And you reveal a cloaked ship that is collecting your effluence for fuel. Ew.