The graphic novel, Star Trek Archives Volume 2: The Best of the Borg, contains two Star Trek The Next Generation storylines. The first storyline, The Worst of Both Worlds, is alright though very contrived. The story is based on the episode "Best of Both Worlds". It takes up the majority of the book. The other storyline, Operation Assimilation, is awesome.
The comics that this book comprises were written back in 1993 before First Contact or Voyager's portrayal of the Borg. The first invasion by the Borg was great television (Televised not in universe). The Borg were unstoppable and they turned you into them. The Federation didn't stand a chance, a single Borg cube took out an entire fleet of ships and the Federation could not do anything to stop them. Sure the Enterprise won the battle in the end but it wasn't because of skill, abilities, or anything like that. They won because the Borg were massively over confident and the Enterprise crew had gotten extremely lucky.
In the first story the Enterprise is sent through a rift in space into a parallel universe where the Enterprise did not manage to get lucky and defeat the Borg and Captain Picard is still Locutus of Borg. The character interaction is pretty good between the two universe's crews. One universe crew has it as a desperate last stand with most of the Federation already conquered; the other crew had defeated the Borg and were confident that they could do so again. There is also an interesting sub plot involving O'brien who in this universe had his family die but did not in the main universe. The reason I say it was contrived and why I do not think the story to be as good as it maybe is, is because as I mentioned the first time they defeated the Borg was basically luck. In this story we are eventually told that it was Picard who opened the transdimensional rifts in attempt to find help. He was able to exert his will over the entire Borg Collectives mind net. I just do not like that he was able to do that. The Borg has trillions of drones all of which were unable to exert any will but he was able to do so. Sure it mentions that he could not do anything against the fail safes but still it is one guy managing to overcome what trillions failed to do. They attempted the exact same plan they used to defeat the Borg the first time. Amazingly it works, with minor modification. Sleep command doesn't but telling them to eat does. Evidently if all the Borg connect to the power sources at the same time it drains the ships systems to the point that they fail entirely.
The second story is in Second Person format which usually is not very good. It is difficult to write stories in second person (you, you're, and your) and most are bad. That said it is an excellent story. This story is about a Romulan commander out in the boondocks who is upset with her place in things. Shows that the Romulans are in many ways similar to the Borg but the Borg are even scarier because they consume you; mind, body, and soul. This story does the Borg real justice as an unstoppable horrific force and the book is worth getting for this story alone.
Showing posts with label Star Trek. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Star Trek. Show all posts
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Star Trek Archives The Best of Peter David
Star Trek Archives The Best of Peter David is a collection of Star Trek the original series comics written by Peter David. The book contains three stories originally contained in 5 comic books. Peter David is one of my favorite authors so it is no surprise that I would enjoy this book.
The first story titled Retrospect is about Monygomery Scott's (Scotty) love of his life, other than his even stronger love for ship engines, Glynnis Campbell. The story starts with her dying (a surprise to Kirk and McCoy who did not even know of her existence) and then goes backward in time showing their relationship. In the story 5 and 10 year marriage contracts are mentioned (they were married at one time with a five year contract and then she mentions extending it for another five years or maybe splurging on a ten year contract). The idea behind termed marriage contracts makes sense to me, given the number of and increase in divorces, but still disturbs me somewhat. I am of the opinion that marriage should not be entered into without considerable thought put into it and should be for life. I am also of the opinion that marriage is mainly a religious rite. Civil/legal marriages have little meaning to me.
The second story, The Return of the Worthy, is about a group of insufferable geniuses whom were found cryogenically frozen for a little over 300 years on a planet. The group is cocky and boastful as all hell but they really are as good as they believe themselves to be. They were specifically chosen for their abilities and had saved and influenced many cultures before being tossed across the galaxy by Apollo (Greek God seen in the original series) and forced to freeze themselves to survive. On their planet of origin, Karimea, there is a legend that they, The Worthy (the name they were given prior to their departure from their world), will return in the time of their greatest need. This appears to be the case since things on their homeworld have gone bad in the intervening years. Sadly they arrive too late their entire civilization has destroyed itself. The last part of this story criticizes the Federations noninterference law known as the Prime Directive (the Karimea had told the Federation to go away and leave us alone). In the end Kirk tricks the Worthy into continuing their original explorations and helping species the Federation can't or, more accurately, won't.
The last story in the book, Once a Hero, is about the death of a security officer. The story starts with Captain Kirk trying to compose a eulogy for the recently deceased officer who died saving Kirk's life. The Captain is having a very difficult time doing so because he knows next to nothing about the officer; he had to query the computer just to learn his first name. He goes around asking crew members about the deceased officer but no one on board knows much about him either. He ends up starting with the generic Star Fleet recommends for cases like this then goes off tangent and talks about how they are just words. You can't really honor someone whom you do not know and that he was just another nameless security guard. I found this one pretty interesting because of the question 'What would you say about someone who gave their life for you and you didn't even know them?' is an interesting topic.
The first story titled Retrospect is about Monygomery Scott's (Scotty) love of his life, other than his even stronger love for ship engines, Glynnis Campbell. The story starts with her dying (a surprise to Kirk and McCoy who did not even know of her existence) and then goes backward in time showing their relationship. In the story 5 and 10 year marriage contracts are mentioned (they were married at one time with a five year contract and then she mentions extending it for another five years or maybe splurging on a ten year contract). The idea behind termed marriage contracts makes sense to me, given the number of and increase in divorces, but still disturbs me somewhat. I am of the opinion that marriage should not be entered into without considerable thought put into it and should be for life. I am also of the opinion that marriage is mainly a religious rite. Civil/legal marriages have little meaning to me.
The second story, The Return of the Worthy, is about a group of insufferable geniuses whom were found cryogenically frozen for a little over 300 years on a planet. The group is cocky and boastful as all hell but they really are as good as they believe themselves to be. They were specifically chosen for their abilities and had saved and influenced many cultures before being tossed across the galaxy by Apollo (Greek God seen in the original series) and forced to freeze themselves to survive. On their planet of origin, Karimea, there is a legend that they, The Worthy (the name they were given prior to their departure from their world), will return in the time of their greatest need. This appears to be the case since things on their homeworld have gone bad in the intervening years. Sadly they arrive too late their entire civilization has destroyed itself. The last part of this story criticizes the Federations noninterference law known as the Prime Directive (the Karimea had told the Federation to go away and leave us alone). In the end Kirk tricks the Worthy into continuing their original explorations and helping species the Federation can't or, more accurately, won't.
The last story in the book, Once a Hero, is about the death of a security officer. The story starts with Captain Kirk trying to compose a eulogy for the recently deceased officer who died saving Kirk's life. The Captain is having a very difficult time doing so because he knows next to nothing about the officer; he had to query the computer just to learn his first name. He goes around asking crew members about the deceased officer but no one on board knows much about him either. He ends up starting with the generic Star Fleet recommends for cases like this then goes off tangent and talks about how they are just words. You can't really honor someone whom you do not know and that he was just another nameless security guard. I found this one pretty interesting because of the question 'What would you say about someone who gave their life for you and you didn't even know them?' is an interesting topic.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Ranma/Star Trek Voyager
I like Star Trek and I like Ranma so I have thought about writing a crossover involving the two series. Figuring out how to bring Ranma into the Star Trek universe is extremely simple considering things like time travel, Q, the Preservers, sleeper ships, holodecks, etc. This, for example, would work: Spatial anomaly opens up in engineering stopping the entire ship and spitting out Ranma. Ranma had been looking for another cure for his curse activated some ancient magical/technological item and somehow ended up there.
I liked the idea of Seven of Nine, but not the implementation. I did not like that she got paired with Chakotay. I did not like how the crew treated her. There is actually a lot about Star Trek Voyager I did not like. That is in part why I want to introduce Ranma into the series, basically so I can have him force a change in things, particularly in how the crew thinks.
I would like a Ranma/Seven of Nine pairing. As such, the first thing I need to set up is a reason for Ranma to be around Seven of Nine. This fic would be set shortly after Seven of Nine is brought on to the ship, a time when she had very poor social skills, and was sorely lacking in knowledge in many things (she did not know how to sit or eat because of her Borg upbringing). The means I'm considering using to keep Seven of Nine and Ranma in close proximity is to have Ranma's aura interfere with the ships sensors and more importantly the Bioneural gel packs (similar to how several aliens were affected strangely by the sensors and how some spores that Nelix acquired messed with the gel packs). To prevent his aura from interfering with the ships systems, a Borg technology is needed to neutralize the effects forcing Ranma to stay within a certain radius of Seven.
I want to use Ranma for this fic because he is significantly different than the other humans; in many ways he is more alien than the aliens.
I want Ranma to point things out that I thought about that never really seems to be thought about in the Star Trek universe (an example: Combadges lost, why don't they ever use sub-dermal tracking devices for emergency beam outs?). Simple solutions to complex problems they would not think about since they prefer complex solutions involving lots of technobabble.
I want Ranma to point out differences between his world (in some cases our world) like why are interspecies babies so easy to produce when chimpanzee have around 99% the same DNA as humans and they can't breed together whereas aliens that have evolved on entirely different worlds can. Ask why people do not have jet packs or power armor since both existed in his time (both are seen in the manga).
Things that will not happen:
Ranma suddenly knowing how the technology works (he will learn the rudimentaries, so as to function in that society but he won't know the details - basically he will be taught how to drive a car but not how the car works, how to do anything but the most common fixes for the car, or how to build a car).
I'm still just brainstorming and this idea is no where near fully formed. There are all kinds of details that this is lacking in current form and all kinds of things to add. Could have Ranma train with the Holodeck, have them build him a gravity belt, Ranma be like a supped up Jem Hedar/ genetically engineered person (in Enterprise the humans who were genetically engineered were resistant to phaser blasts), could have Ranma learn new techniques for example how to travel via warp speed without a ship (like the alien known as the Traveler did and taught Wesley Crusher in Star Trek TNG).
I liked the idea of Seven of Nine, but not the implementation. I did not like that she got paired with Chakotay. I did not like how the crew treated her. There is actually a lot about Star Trek Voyager I did not like. That is in part why I want to introduce Ranma into the series, basically so I can have him force a change in things, particularly in how the crew thinks.
I would like a Ranma/Seven of Nine pairing. As such, the first thing I need to set up is a reason for Ranma to be around Seven of Nine. This fic would be set shortly after Seven of Nine is brought on to the ship, a time when she had very poor social skills, and was sorely lacking in knowledge in many things (she did not know how to sit or eat because of her Borg upbringing). The means I'm considering using to keep Seven of Nine and Ranma in close proximity is to have Ranma's aura interfere with the ships sensors and more importantly the Bioneural gel packs (similar to how several aliens were affected strangely by the sensors and how some spores that Nelix acquired messed with the gel packs). To prevent his aura from interfering with the ships systems, a Borg technology is needed to neutralize the effects forcing Ranma to stay within a certain radius of Seven.
I want to use Ranma for this fic because he is significantly different than the other humans; in many ways he is more alien than the aliens.
I want Ranma to point things out that I thought about that never really seems to be thought about in the Star Trek universe (an example: Combadges lost, why don't they ever use sub-dermal tracking devices for emergency beam outs?). Simple solutions to complex problems they would not think about since they prefer complex solutions involving lots of technobabble.
I want Ranma to point out differences between his world (in some cases our world) like why are interspecies babies so easy to produce when chimpanzee have around 99% the same DNA as humans and they can't breed together whereas aliens that have evolved on entirely different worlds can. Ask why people do not have jet packs or power armor since both existed in his time (both are seen in the manga).
Things that will not happen:
Ranma suddenly knowing how the technology works (he will learn the rudimentaries, so as to function in that society but he won't know the details - basically he will be taught how to drive a car but not how the car works, how to do anything but the most common fixes for the car, or how to build a car).
I'm still just brainstorming and this idea is no where near fully formed. There are all kinds of details that this is lacking in current form and all kinds of things to add. Could have Ranma train with the Holodeck, have them build him a gravity belt, Ranma be like a supped up Jem Hedar/ genetically engineered person (in Enterprise the humans who were genetically engineered were resistant to phaser blasts), could have Ranma learn new techniques for example how to travel via warp speed without a ship (like the alien known as the Traveler did and taught Wesley Crusher in Star Trek TNG).
Friday, September 26, 2008
Star Trek - The Forgotten War
The novel Star Trek - The Forgotten War by William R. Forstchen is a decent read. The plot of the book is somewhat interesting but one I have seen before. The Federation is making new contact with an alien species, Tarn, after a long period of time with no contact. Supposedly there was a short war between the Federation and the Tarn 204 years ago. A neutral zone was established and just recently both sides have been given permission to explore the neutral zone. While the starship Enterprise explores the area they find the wreck of a Federation vessel. Of course, being who they are, they explore it and eventually find out that the people had managed to escape to a nearby planet. On this planet they find that the war between the Federation and the Tarn is far from over. It still going on. Though the sides have technologically regressed (they started out with little technology and had to rebuild in a difficult situation) to between World War 1 and World War 2 weaponry. The crew of the Enterprise now have to figure out how to stop a war that has been going on for centuries, without accidentally starting an interstellar war.
There were a few plot holes in the story but they don't really take much away from the story. Going by the Star Trek canon universe there were some things that didn't fit. One thing, for example, is that this forgotten war occurred 204 years ago but makes references to things in the Star Trek universe that happened a hundred years earlier by Star Trek Timeline (mainly the Captain of the wrecked ship, Captain Lucien Murat, being a contemporary of Christopher Pike). Though there were internal plot holes/incongruities as well - for example, characters rank were listed differently in different chapters.
The aliens in this book, called the Tarn, are clearly based, at least in part, on the Japanese. While not entirely based on Japanese culture there are some things that point to them being based on it. The author tells us about how a circle (term used for clan) regained honor. It wasn't an exact retelling, 30 instead of 47, and some other details changed but it was clearly based on the 47 Ronin. The aliens had Kamikazi pilots called Tacig - The Chosen Ones of Glory. The committing of ritual suicide to clear one's honor is used by the Tarn and mentioned several times. That is most likely based on Japanese seppuku. Et cetera, Et cetera.
Some things didn't really make sense, at least to me, and took away from the story/lessened the quality of the book. The slow build up of weapons technology, 200 some years, actually makes sense to me. They start out with access to and knowledge of technology that is in advance to current technology. This would give them an advantage and allow them to build up at an accelerated rate. There are other factors like resources and practical knowledge. How many of them actually know the steps to recreating it. A person can use a gun/television/microwave doesn't mean that they know how to build it or even how it works. The thing that bothered me though is something that occurs later in the book. We are shown that the Captain from the ship had been been kept in stasis, meaning they had a power source and access to higher technology. Given the existence of higher technology from the get go, the technology, particularly weapons technology since they were fighting a war, should have built up at a much faster rate. The whole stasis thing should not have been in the book to begin with since besides that point it just didn't make any real sense.
While engrossed in a story you often have to take at face value many things you wouldn't believe in real life. This is called a willing suspension of disbelief. We do it all the time for a lot of things, but some things, even in story, are just too much beyond belief to accept. The thing that happened in this story that I found too unrealistic is that a starship with a crew of thousands of people only has one transporter pad. Weird isn't it what we would accept and what we wouldn't. I have no problem accepting human like aliens, interplanetary travel, transporters, et cetera but a little thing like only one transporter on such a big ship is too illogical for me to accept and distracts me from the story.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Species 8472 vs Borg
The Borg are powerful but are lacking in tactics, though they should have the collective tactics of thousands of species. The Borg were having trouble fighting Species 8472 because their primary tactic of assimilation did not work. We see Species 8472 destroying Borg worlds but what kind of damage was the Borg really capable of doing to Species 8472's universe. The Borg wanted to use nanoprobes reprogrammed by the doctor to end the war, but in my personal opinion they really did not need them. They needed them to be able to assimilate species 8472 but not really to win the war. The reason I say this is the Borg have WMD's. They wanted to use a multikinetic neutronic mine with a 5 million isoton yield capable of destroying an entire solar system with shockwaves that would scatter the nanoprobes over a 5 light year radius (Voyager episode Scorpion).
Species 8472 most powerful attack was destroying Borg planets. There were several other technologies in the Star Trek Universe that the Borg had come into contact and should have assimilated. Some WMD's that the Borg should have are trilithium warheads that cause suns to go Nova (assimilated federation ships), genesis device which mass terraforms planets incredibly fast (again assimilated ships that would have info on this), large quantities of antimatter (have a lot and it would be capable of destroying most things), and time travel (assimilated Federation ships, used time travel in movie, and assimilated Kremlin -people who in year of hell episode were wiping species out of existence one of personalities 7 of 9 had in another episode was one of them). Considering the massive amount of WMD's the Borg have if they were also attacking Species 8472 in fluidic space Species 8472 would be in a worse position than the Borg were. Destroying a billion Borg or hundreds of Borg worlds should not matter since they can always get more and the individual doesn't matter. Though a question does come about can species 8472 destroy the Borg faster than the Borg can assimilate other species (particularly if they begin assimilating species considered inferior and not worthy of assimilating) while the Borg also attack their dimension?
Considering the resources and abilities that the Borg have Species 8472 should not be able to destroy them. The Borg operate in multiple dimensions. They invaded species 8472's universe (Fluidic Space) and have been in other universes as well. Supposedly the Borg acquired autonomous regeneration sequences from species 259 which we are told come from Galactic Cluster III which is said to be a transmaterial energy plane. They likely would be sending Borg ships to other galaxies and through time itself. By evidence of the Borg technology they should be spreading through out dimensions, time, and ever outward. Though they would also be ignoring species that they do not see as having anything to offer the Borg on it's quest for perfection. Also if just a few ships manages to get away be it through time, space, or into another dimension the ship should be able to recreate the collective.
Species 8472 most powerful attack was destroying Borg planets. There were several other technologies in the Star Trek Universe that the Borg had come into contact and should have assimilated. Some WMD's that the Borg should have are trilithium warheads that cause suns to go Nova (assimilated federation ships), genesis device which mass terraforms planets incredibly fast (again assimilated ships that would have info on this), large quantities of antimatter (have a lot and it would be capable of destroying most things), and time travel (assimilated Federation ships, used time travel in movie, and assimilated Kremlin -people who in year of hell episode were wiping species out of existence one of personalities 7 of 9 had in another episode was one of them). Considering the massive amount of WMD's the Borg have if they were also attacking Species 8472 in fluidic space Species 8472 would be in a worse position than the Borg were. Destroying a billion Borg or hundreds of Borg worlds should not matter since they can always get more and the individual doesn't matter. Though a question does come about can species 8472 destroy the Borg faster than the Borg can assimilate other species (particularly if they begin assimilating species considered inferior and not worthy of assimilating) while the Borg also attack their dimension?
Considering the resources and abilities that the Borg have Species 8472 should not be able to destroy them. The Borg operate in multiple dimensions. They invaded species 8472's universe (Fluidic Space) and have been in other universes as well. Supposedly the Borg acquired autonomous regeneration sequences from species 259 which we are told come from Galactic Cluster III which is said to be a transmaterial energy plane. They likely would be sending Borg ships to other galaxies and through time itself. By evidence of the Borg technology they should be spreading through out dimensions, time, and ever outward. Though they would also be ignoring species that they do not see as having anything to offer the Borg on it's quest for perfection. Also if just a few ships manages to get away be it through time, space, or into another dimension the ship should be able to recreate the collective.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Avoiding assimilation by the Borg
A civilization knows that the Borg will assimilate them eventually. They know that the Borg's goal is to add their biological and technological distinctiveness to the Borg. They come up with a plan. Assemble a ship containing the latest technology. Put on that ship their most advanced computer containing all the collected knowledge they are able to including a complete digital version of their genetic data. Fill the ship with biological samples (blood samples, skin samples, etc..) of all species with in the civilization including a large collection of plant and animal life and make sure that the genetic material is from multiple different beings so that it contains a diverse and more accurate sampling of the genetics. Then send the ship to the Borg.
Would the Borg leave the civilization alone? The Borg were given exactly what they wanted the collected knowledge of the species as well as the biological data of the species which the Borg could be incorporated into the Borg.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Thinking on the Borg
Generally as things become more powerful they become more of a threat to others. The Borg though as they become more powerful will become less and less of a threat to other species, eventually they may reach a point in which they are not a threat to any species. The Borg's goal is perfection. In order to achieve perfection they assimilate other species technology and biology to add it to their own. If you are an inferior species they have no use for you and will leave you alone. Basically if you are not a threat to the Borg, and have nothing the Borg want, the Borg will ignore you. In Voyager it is stated that the Borg saw the Kazon as unworthy of assimilation and the were only interested in the Brunali when they saw technology they wanted. So civilizations that have nothing the Borg want either biologically or technologically are basically ignored by the Borg. What this means is as the Borg's technology advances and they get closer to perfection, more and more species will be ignored because they will have nothing to add to the Borg.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Seven of Nine crew integration
In my opinion the way they integrated Seven of Nine into the crew was stupid. Having the doctor teach her how to socialize did not make sense to me considering the doctor wasn't human or even a biological entity. No matter how well he was programed, he was not human and did not have the types of experiences a human/humanoid would have had. For example, he simulated eating and drink but did not require them in the same way that a physical being would. I know that he volunteered to teach her but him being the choice they decided upon did not make sense. There are multiple reasons why I think this but a major one would be because a lot of the crew members thought he had bad bed side manners and wasn't particularly good at socializing.
If I were the person with the decision on how to integrate her into the crew, I would have assigned her quarters with a female crew member. I would not have isolated her by putting her in the cargo bay (or I'd have converted part of the bay see this post). I'd have given the person assigned with her orders to become her friend and help her integrate with the crew. Otherwise I'd have had her be roommates with me.
Seven of Nines upbringing with the Borg made her extremely gifted in some ways but it also left her emotionally and socially stunted. She had the body of an adult and a gifted mind but emotionally and socially she was a child. She needed someone to be with her and help guide her. Yes I know the doctor and the captain did but a more effective way would have been to pair her with someone who can be with her often and who was biological in nature. Someone who could and would know to explain to her how to sit and chew (things she did not know as shown by other episodes and things the doctor would not think about since he does not require doing either).
A similar subject also dealing with crew integration, They expected too much from her. They appeared to either treat her like a machine or expect her to act human. Both of which does not make sense. She may have been born a human and has human DNA but she was raised by the Borg. The Borg will have influenced her a lot and that influence will effect her for her entire life. Helping her along and guiding her while she finds out who and what she wants to be makes sense but expecting her to be like a normal human doesn't. The best they should expect from her is along the lines of what a human/vulcan hybrid raised on Vulcan who now lives with regular humans.
How they treated her at first after she had just been taken from the collective also didn't make sense to me. She had just been disconnected from hearing the thoughts of billions, was in a situation she did not understand, and had been forcibly taken from the only home she has known against her will. She should have had lots of counseling. Counseling given to telepaths who suddenly lost their telepathic abilities since for all practical purposes that did happen to her, she had shared her thoughts with trillions of individuals and now her thoughts were hers and hers alone. Counseling given to people who were raised by their kidnappers and now see the kidnappers as their parents. Counseling given to people raised by other species similar to the counseling given to people who are raised by wolves or apes that you sometimes hear about. Counseling for the inevitable nightmares/guilt that she will have when she realizes what she has done as a Borg. Sure the crew was under staffed but the do have holographic technology and likely have counselors programmed in. While I realize that most people would find her therapy sessions to be boring, hence the reason they would not put them on the show, they still could have alluded to them or made mention of some type. I also realize that Seven would have seen them as an inefficient waste of time, but she should still have attended them.
They treated her like a star fleet officer in that they ordered her to do things instead of asking her to do things. An example of this is that she was ordered to give her nanoprobes to save a member of species 8472 in the episode Prey. She did not want to. It was her right to deny the use of her nanoprobes because she was not a member of star fleet. A star fleet officer signed up to be a part of star fleet and has to obey the captain. I do realize that Star fleet is for all practical purposes the Federations military and that civilians have to obey the Captains of ships. The reason I find ordering her around to be unfair is because she was not part of star fleet nor a civilian who decided to be on the ship. She was a civilian taken under duress. Unlike civilian volunteers who are generally given the choice of leaving, she is not given a choice to leave the ship. The order was also unethical. They basically said we want your blood so that we can use it to help the enemies of your race. I would not be surprised that from Seven's point of view she was a slave to the Borg and now she is a slave of the Federation but where the Borg make it clear she has no choice in what she does the Federation gives her the illusion of freedom (not really what the Federation does but it is one possible point of view she could have). There were times in which she should not have been aloud to make her own decisions for her own good but there were also times in which they ordered her to do stuff where she should have been given the choice of what to do.
If I were the person with the decision on how to integrate her into the crew, I would have assigned her quarters with a female crew member. I would not have isolated her by putting her in the cargo bay (or I'd have converted part of the bay see this post). I'd have given the person assigned with her orders to become her friend and help her integrate with the crew. Otherwise I'd have had her be roommates with me.
Seven of Nines upbringing with the Borg made her extremely gifted in some ways but it also left her emotionally and socially stunted. She had the body of an adult and a gifted mind but emotionally and socially she was a child. She needed someone to be with her and help guide her. Yes I know the doctor and the captain did but a more effective way would have been to pair her with someone who can be with her often and who was biological in nature. Someone who could and would know to explain to her how to sit and chew (things she did not know as shown by other episodes and things the doctor would not think about since he does not require doing either).
A similar subject also dealing with crew integration, They expected too much from her. They appeared to either treat her like a machine or expect her to act human. Both of which does not make sense. She may have been born a human and has human DNA but she was raised by the Borg. The Borg will have influenced her a lot and that influence will effect her for her entire life. Helping her along and guiding her while she finds out who and what she wants to be makes sense but expecting her to be like a normal human doesn't. The best they should expect from her is along the lines of what a human/vulcan hybrid raised on Vulcan who now lives with regular humans.
How they treated her at first after she had just been taken from the collective also didn't make sense to me. She had just been disconnected from hearing the thoughts of billions, was in a situation she did not understand, and had been forcibly taken from the only home she has known against her will. She should have had lots of counseling. Counseling given to telepaths who suddenly lost their telepathic abilities since for all practical purposes that did happen to her, she had shared her thoughts with trillions of individuals and now her thoughts were hers and hers alone. Counseling given to people who were raised by their kidnappers and now see the kidnappers as their parents. Counseling given to people raised by other species similar to the counseling given to people who are raised by wolves or apes that you sometimes hear about. Counseling for the inevitable nightmares/guilt that she will have when she realizes what she has done as a Borg. Sure the crew was under staffed but the do have holographic technology and likely have counselors programmed in. While I realize that most people would find her therapy sessions to be boring, hence the reason they would not put them on the show, they still could have alluded to them or made mention of some type. I also realize that Seven would have seen them as an inefficient waste of time, but she should still have attended them.
They treated her like a star fleet officer in that they ordered her to do things instead of asking her to do things. An example of this is that she was ordered to give her nanoprobes to save a member of species 8472 in the episode Prey. She did not want to. It was her right to deny the use of her nanoprobes because she was not a member of star fleet. A star fleet officer signed up to be a part of star fleet and has to obey the captain. I do realize that Star fleet is for all practical purposes the Federations military and that civilians have to obey the Captains of ships. The reason I find ordering her around to be unfair is because she was not part of star fleet nor a civilian who decided to be on the ship. She was a civilian taken under duress. Unlike civilian volunteers who are generally given the choice of leaving, she is not given a choice to leave the ship. The order was also unethical. They basically said we want your blood so that we can use it to help the enemies of your race. I would not be surprised that from Seven's point of view she was a slave to the Borg and now she is a slave of the Federation but where the Borg make it clear she has no choice in what she does the Federation gives her the illusion of freedom (not really what the Federation does but it is one possible point of view she could have). There were times in which she should not have been aloud to make her own decisions for her own good but there were also times in which they ordered her to do stuff where she should have been given the choice of what to do.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Why wasn't Seven of Nine given her own quarters?
Why was Seven of Nine not given her own quarters or had the cargo bay made off limits to regular crew members?
If they wanted her to become an individual, she should have been afforded the right to privacy that all individuals of the crew have. By not giving her quarters they were further alienating her, treating her more like a machine than a person. Even if they couldn't give her quarters to sleep in because the regeneration chamber couldn't fit in a room they could have cordoned off a part of the cargo hold for her own living quarters (even if resources were scare they could have put up some type of divider like a wooden wall or thick curtains) or given her some quarters for her personal use even if she couldn't sleep there. Seven even complained in the season 5 episode the Drone about people walking into the cargo hold unannounced. Even though she complained to the doctor people continued to walk in and out of the cargo bay she lived in freely. While Seven of Nine most likely would have seen it as a waste of materials and not have seen a point in it at the beginning when first freed from the collective it should still have been given to her. She even expresses wanting quarters in later episodes in which she pretends to have them in the holodeck.
Friday, August 10, 2007
Few Things I wondered about on Star Trek
While watching television, I often have questions pop into my head. Here's a list of some of the things I started to think about while watching a few episodes of Star Trek Voyager.
Why does the holographic doctor stumble when the ship gets attacked? He's a hologram he shouldn't stumble.
When Voyager went back in time and dealt with the 29th century technology, why didn't they sling-shot around the sun to get back to their own time instead of going back to being 70,000 light years from home? That is an established means of time traveling in the Star Trek universe.
Were surge protectors or battery operated consoles never invented? Crewmen die from consoles exploding far too often.
How do they read their hand held scanners? It gives them all kinds of information but doesn't have a real display just blinking lights.
Why do the Viidians need slaves to dig tunnels, since they have transporter technology?
Why doesn't the Federation use subdermial tracking chips since it's obvious that combadges are commonly stolen/lost?
Why are interspecies babies so easy to produce when chimpanzee have around 99% the same DNA as humans and they can't be bred together whereas aliens that have evolved on entirely different worlds can?
How is it that an alien culture thousands of light years from earth have pet dogs- a species that originated on earth (Episode ex post facto)?
In the Voyager episode Eye of the Needle, It is mentioned that there is a one in four chance of the wormhole leading to the Alpha Quadrant. Why can't the wormhole lead to somewhere else entirely like the void between galaxies or another galaxy?
In one episode the ship's crew go to a small asteroid my question is: How is it possible that a small asteroid has an earth-like atmosphere and gravity while being mostly hollow?
What purpose do the pilots serve? Couldn't the captain just tell the computer directly. Even in battles the computers would have to be doing basically everything since the ship can move and react far faster than a person could enter commands.
When they say two to beam up, how does the person manning the transporter know which two when there are more than two people present?
Why does the holographic doctor stumble when the ship gets attacked? He's a hologram he shouldn't stumble.
When Voyager went back in time and dealt with the 29th century technology, why didn't they sling-shot around the sun to get back to their own time instead of going back to being 70,000 light years from home? That is an established means of time traveling in the Star Trek universe.
Were surge protectors or battery operated consoles never invented? Crewmen die from consoles exploding far too often.
How do they read their hand held scanners? It gives them all kinds of information but doesn't have a real display just blinking lights.
Why do the Viidians need slaves to dig tunnels, since they have transporter technology?
Why doesn't the Federation use subdermial tracking chips since it's obvious that combadges are commonly stolen/lost?
Why are interspecies babies so easy to produce when chimpanzee have around 99% the same DNA as humans and they can't be bred together whereas aliens that have evolved on entirely different worlds can?
How is it that an alien culture thousands of light years from earth have pet dogs- a species that originated on earth (Episode ex post facto)?
In the Voyager episode Eye of the Needle, It is mentioned that there is a one in four chance of the wormhole leading to the Alpha Quadrant. Why can't the wormhole lead to somewhere else entirely like the void between galaxies or another galaxy?
In one episode the ship's crew go to a small asteroid my question is: How is it possible that a small asteroid has an earth-like atmosphere and gravity while being mostly hollow?
What purpose do the pilots serve? Couldn't the captain just tell the computer directly. Even in battles the computers would have to be doing basically everything since the ship can move and react far faster than a person could enter commands.
When they say two to beam up, how does the person manning the transporter know which two when there are more than two people present?
Friday, May 25, 2007
Reference to anime, including Ranma, on Star Trek
1. Oneamisu receiver a likely reference to Wings of Honneamise (Ôritsu uchûgun Oneamisu no tsubasa)
2. Season 2 episode Peak Performance has a computer display with two ships called Kei and Yuri a reference to Dirty Pair.
3. The Otomo calibration is most likely to Japanese director Katsuhiro Ôtomo.
4. In the episode The Icarus Factor the Japanese characters in the "ambo-jitsu" ring that Comander Riker are references to Urusei Yatsura (another series by Rumiko Takahashi creator of Ranma).
5. The Akira-class ships are a reference to the anime movie Akira.
There are also many references to other works besides Anime in Star Trek. For example, the TNG episode Rascals mentions the fictional elements Daffyduckium (a reference to Daffy Duck), Duckdodgers (a reference to Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century), Disneyium (a reference to Walt Disney), Groucho (a reference to Groucho Marx of the Marx Brothers), Stoogeium (a reference to the Three Stooges), and Kryptonite (a reference to Superman) amongst many others.
The picture is of the Federations flag since I do not have a screencap of one of the anime references (preferably the Ranma one). If I do acquire one I will switch it.
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