Star Trek

Yes, I know it's Gene Roddenberry in our world, but in the TOS episode The Man Trap, Sulu says this to Yeoman Rand:

"May the great bird of the galaxy bless your planet!"

You can see it in this clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lk3tM4Ns3LY

There is also this Okudagram that appeared in two TNG episodes (The Naked Now and Conspiracy) and was clear enough on-screen to make it less than just a joke:

So it appears that there is something known as The Great Bird of the Galaxy, it has a human head, possibly a Starfleet delta, and it's used in a saying that may or may not be an actual blessing.

So what was it? Was it an Academy joke? Was it a real religion? Obviously it was more than just something Sulu made up since there's an entry for it on the Enterprise D's computer (which seems like an odd thing to have if it's an in-joke).

Obviously the answer is "Because then the show would end" but what in universe?

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/12779586

With the dwindled population and organization of the Romulan Star Empire near the end of the 24th century, who will step up as the next big player? The Federation generally expands by diplomacy and comradery. The Klingons have had time since their civil war to get their shit together. The Orion Syndicate typically stays on the outskirts, but the opportunity is there. The Dominion had been a non-player since the treaty, but then who actually expects them to ignore the situation? The Borg as we know them in that time period are gone. (Insert new faction/random Delta Quadrant race) appears to mix things up. I'm not familiar with any Beta Canon or STO lore, so if any of this gets addressed, I'm curious to hear of it.

I get it: Voyager was about Voyager's voyage and there's a strong case to be made that it ended exactly when it should have.

But on the other hand, every time I watch "Endgame" it strikes me how incredibly abrupt the actual ending feels. Do you think the show should have spent some time depicting the crew's experiences of arriving home?

Source: https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/star-trek-movies-from-1979-to-2016-domestic-box-office-actual-and-adjusted-for-inflation.306345/

I find it fascinating that the cheaper the movie was to make, the better it did at the box office. The Kelvin movies leaned heavily on the CGI trap, and it doesn't seem to have worked.

What should Trek movies of the future do differently? What did the old movies do so well? What did the newer movies do wrong? (and vice versa).

Rewatching Kelvin movie 2 (Into Darkness) — Is it ever explained why part of the Klingon homeworld has an uninhabitable zone that looks like it’s going through nuclear winter?

When we first see Dr. M'Benga (chronologically), he is the Enterprise's chief medical officer. When we see him again, he is still on the Enterprise, but working under Dr. McCoy's command and, if he was on the ship at the time, under Dr. Piper's command as well (Dr. Piper was CMO in Where No Man Has Gone Before).

So why do you think he was demoted to a secondary position? Was it something to do with his actions as the Butcher of J'Gal or his killing of Ruh? You would think he wouldn't be on the Enterprise at all if so. Did Pike demote him? Did Kirk demote him? Was it on orders from Starfleet Command?

What do you think was the reason why McCoy became his superior officer?

Hey all! Just found out that this place was a thing again after posting around in Ten Forward. Thought I'd contribute to content™ with a quick writeup blathering on about a moment in ST I really appreciate but haven't heard talked about. Will this become a recurring thing? Iunno, maybe.

(Also hoping that I didn't double or triple post this because Lemmy World's kinda being weird rn. apologies in advance to the mods if I screwed something up.)

The scene in question is from Star Trek Prodigy, specifically s1 ep. 14 Crossroads, spoilers ahead obviously. The premise is pretty simple-- the kids have hidden Protostar and need to find passage to Starfleet so they can warn them of the danger the ship poses. Main main character Dal meets a Starfleet officer and has the perfect opportunity to cut the series short by 6 episodes. He uh... kinda screws up.

On the surface it's easy to be annoyed at the show for falling into the trope of people being unable to properly divulge information so the plot can happen. If this were main characters from any of the other 10 Star Trek series, I probably would be super annoyed. But I think here it works precisely because Dal is a child. He's overwhelmed by a bout of hero worship and the short scene is masterfully composed to put you in his shoes and make the viewer feel that too.

The first few shots as the two meet have Janeway turned around or out of frame. Instead, the camera focuses in on Dal's darting eyes before pulling us into his view. Dal's POV shot starts at Janeway's legs and pans up to her head-- he's looking up to her in a quite literal sense. The soundtrack does a heroic little swell to emphasize the living legend that is ~~Captain~~ Vice Admiral Kathyrn Janeway.

You'll notice that in the ensuing conversation between the two characters Dal is framed with a lot of close shots of his face, while Janeway has these sort of neutral, medium shots. I think this is an effective way to contrast the two's mental states-- Dal has a lot of emotions boiling to the surface as he meets the woman of whom his trusted mentor is just a pale shadow. Janeway, meanwhile, is shown in a steady, confident stance (and, as before, we are looking up at her).

Brett Gray's performance in this scene is great. He really sells Dal's earnestness in wanting to not screw up while meeting his hero. It makes sense why he would quite literally lose the plot after a few disarming words from Admiral Janeway.

If I had to pick a theme for Prodigy (at least as of this writing), I would say it's about legacy. The heroes of yesteryear cast a long shadow, but it's always a worthy cause to follow their example. Gotta start somewhere! That's why I really appreciate this scene-- it's a suitably grand moment as we bridge the gulf between the boy who fled to the stars and the legend he wants to become.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/12621746

Proof that Trekkers are the best.

I've been wanting this game for a while but the Playstation prices are fucking outrageous. Gonna try and grab this on sale if possible. Woo being poor. Where's my utopia, Qdammit?

We know that in the far future of Discovery, Vulcan has been renamed Ni'Var and both Vulcans and Romulans live there. We know that this was the end-result of Spock's efforts in Unification I and II, that they left the Federation, and that there is considerable political strife between the Vulcans and Romulans.

But we don't have many more details than that.

Obviously, at some point after Romulans were refugees across the galaxy, Vulcans invited them all back to their home world. But why did they do that? It couldn't be out of pure altruism, because we know that's not really how Vulcans work.

It would also be very risky for Vulcan society to suddenly invite millions of very emotional people onto their planet. It would make it a lot harder to maintain the emotional control that they work so hard to maintain. Meanwhile, the notoriously secretive Romulans, who apparently do not have Vulcan telepathic powers, would be opening themselves up to massive invasions of privacy. Did the Qowat Milat and their teachings help in that regard?

So let's talk about Ni'Var. How did Vulcans and Romulans re-unify on Vulcan without a total societal destabilization?

Please, however you personally feel, let's accept for the sake of this discussion that Ni'Var is the canonical future of Vulcan for Star Trek shows going forward.

When compared to other Enterprise classes such as the Constitution, Excelsior, and Galaxy, we've seen a surprisingly small number of Ambassador class ships, both in terms of unique vessels and on-screen appearances. What might account for the relative dearth of these ships?

Though it makes for better TV to have Picard.

News

https://www.startrek.com/ - The official website for Star Trek

https://trektoday.com/content/ - An archive of Star Trek news.

Reference

https://trekcore.com/ - Star trek images, audio, video and reviews. Huge number of screencaps of every Star Trek episode.

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Portal:Main - An extensive collaborative Star Trek wiki about 'canon' Star Trek (what is seen on-screen).

https://memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/Main_Page - Another extensive collaborative wiki about 'non-canon' Star Trek (books, comics, games, etc.)

https://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/ - Huge compendium on scientific, technical, artistic, social and philosophical aspects of Star Trek.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Franchise/StarTrek - TV Tropes Star Trek page

http://www.phasers.net/ - Everything you ever wanted to know about hand phasers

https://explaining-errors-in-star-trek.fandom.com/wiki/Explaining_errors_in_Star_Trek_Wiki - Explaining errors in Star Trek wiki

https://www.st-minutiae.com/ - As the name suggests, all about the little details in Star Trek

http://www.startrekmap.com/ - Star Trek maps

http://www.shipschematics.net/ - Sci-Fi ship schematics including Star Trek ships

https://startreksetplans.tumblr.com/ - Blueprints from Star Trek sets (not ship schematics, the actual shooting set plans).

https://roddenberry.x.io - The official Roddenberry archives. 3D navigable ship interiors.

Organizations

https://www.kli.org/ - The Klingon Language Institute

https://sfi.org/ - Starfleet International, the international fan organization

https://www.starfleet.center/ - STARFLEET, the oldest continuously-operating fan organization in the world.

https://www.trekfederation.com/ - Charity organization for fans to help with real-world problems.

Please add links below and I will edit this post. I want to avoid things like personal Twitter or Instagram pages from specific actors or this list will get ridiculously long.

Personally the Eleventh Doctor hanging out with Picard is my #1

The door controls in Ressik are sci-fi beepy dealies, as if the director realized at the last minute they needed something to visually indicate this is a space-age civilization. Because... look at everything else!

Is the anachronistic depiction of Ressik just an artistic choice, or is there some deeper meaning behind it?

I just started watching Discovery season 3. I was quite traumatized by the low quality of s02, but I decided to give season 3 a chance because I like most of the characters. Now comes the point. I do like Saru a lot nowadays, but at first I was put off a bit by his treatment of the tardigrade. Did any of you mind his lack of empathy for the animal? Or were you alright with him treating the creature as a resource without thinking twice? It feels kind of wrong to me when his own nation is treated as a resource on his home planet.

I've been wanting to get into Star Trek, but I'm not sure the best place to start. I'm sure there's a wide range of opinions.

Some shows 'get good after season 1'. I'm a little worried that I'll end up picking a star trek show with a weak start and then dropping it before the parts people actually like. I vaguely remember reading these sort of comments about TNG.

Jellico's reputation for being an ass goes beyond the hull of the Enterprise, hence Mariner's comment about being assigned a "Jellico-type" captain. But every time I watch "Chain of Command," sometimes it's hard to tell of Geordi, Riker and Troi aren't being a bunch of unprofessional softies.

Is Jellico too strict? Is Riker too casual? Is there room for both styles in Starfleet?

You've just beamed aboard /c/StarTrek - Welcome!

While this community isn't brand new (it was created 7+ months ago), it hasn't been very active lately, so the ship's lone remaining captain (/u/Tenthrow) has graciously invited a handful of Lemmy's hardcore Trek fans to the bridge to help get this vessel ready for a long voyage.

We have a large mod team (6 of us currently), whose usernames many will recognize from being highly active in Trek circles across the fediverse. Our moderation philosophy is that having a large team of very active community members allows us to be more responsive, invested in the atmosphere, and equipped to tackle difficult judgment calls as a group. It isn't easy to moderate any forum in a way that makes everyone happy all of the time, but I believe we're having the right conversations to attempt to get as close to that goal as possible.

The icon/banner art has been updated, and the sidebar now has the community rules. The rules are all pretty standard stuff, although I do want to specifically point out that there's a rule about spoilers for those watching any of the currently running series.

Our hope is that this community can serve as a more structured space for Star Trek discussion (e.g. episode posts, news, books?, etc.) that may get lost or overlooked in a fast-moving casual community like /c/TenForward.

Looking forward to seeing how this place grows! LLAP