data1701d

I’ve made a bizarre observation: commemorative plates tend to be associated more with Star Trek or Star Wars more than other franchise (Stargate seems to have some, too.), and I kind of wonder why.

Obviously, they’re not actually that popular anymore and have faded into kitsch, as the only plate that seems to have come out since DS9/VOY era is the Lower Decks Tom Paris plate - there are no DSC, PIC, Kelvin, or even ENT plates, while newer Star Wars plates don’t seem all that common as well unless you want paper plates.

I’m wondering if it has to do with 2 factors, still somewhat true today but especially in the 1990s:

• Both Star Wars and Star Trek are decently large fan bases with large proportions of very passionate fans that are more likely to make purchases based on their fandom.
• Both tended to attract (and still do) an upper middle class to upper class demographic (Somehow, Bezos can call himself Trekkie 🤦‍♂️) with more disposable income to spend on collecting.

These would have made the plates commercially viable, meaning to both inside and outside observers, plates became a stereotype of the fandoms.

Anyhow, what are your thoughts?

P.S. Wow, this is starting to feel like a meta version of Daystrom.

Let's say we have a certain Trill symbiont with a host. What would happen if the symbiont was duplicated under the condition that:

• The host and symbiont were transporter cloned. (2 Jadzia Daxs)
• A person from an alternate timeline with the same symbiont ends up permanently marooned in the prime timeline. (Larry Dax from a timeline where Curzon didn't reinstate Jadzia coexisting with prime Jadzia)
• A past host comes back from the dead with a version of the symbiont a la Spock or Shaxs, or even something similar to Doctor Who's concept of an extraction chamber (Jadzia got bored in Sto'Vo'Kor and decided to climb the Black Mountain, meaning her and Ezri exist simultaneously)

I imagine in all of them, the commission would at least let the duplicate live for the rest of the lifespan of the original host, much like the Federation at large treats transporter clones.

However, what happens when it comes time for the symbiont to be transferred? I can't imagine the commission's ideology would smile upon duplicate experiences under much of the same rationale against re-association: there would be a duplication of experiences rather than the acquiring of new ones.

I think in the first case at least, it is reasonable to assume that they'd begrudgingly transfer both symbionts, as both have the equally valid claim to being the original and randomly killing one is straight-up murder, which I imagine the rest of the Federation would dislike.

They might also do so in the second case, as at least our Larry boy has some different experiences even if some are duplicate with prime Dax.

The third one is where it gets very muddy. The nature of souls in general is a muddy subject - twofold when there are two beings involved. For the sake of argument, we'll say the Jadzia in Ezri's symbiont accessible by Zhian'tara is a "backup" of Jadzia up to her death and that a separate Jadzia Dax went to Sto'Vo'Kor^1^. What then?

1: I make this assumption because a) Ezri doesn't have Jadzia's memories of Sto'Vo'Kor and b) it was the combination of Dax and Jadzia that engaged in Klingon ritual and "just" Jadzia would not be the person that participated. Of course, this starts getting into the more mystical parts of the franchise, and it's probably good they keep it vague even through it makes canon discussion like this a nightmare... a FUN nightmare.

Okay, the title may be a bit of comedic overstatement. What I really mean is I love the Lower Decks soundtrack and think Westlake may have been meant for Star Trek. I don't know what it is, but it truly evokes TNG era background music but on steroids.

I can't wait for the second volume. RIP Lower Decks - may the next few years prove to be the "Search for Lower Decks" (minus the butchering of a good Vulcan character, the pointless death... okay, maybe that wasn't the most apt comparison).

In other words, is that dog technically an augment dog? How is Tendi not dismissed from Starfleet and sent to a penal colony?

I have an odd question that will probably never be answered now unless they decide to bring this species to other Trek shows: why are members of Merp’s species called “Big Merp”, “Sleepy Merp”, or just “Merp”?

Obviously out of universe, they’re likely just a parody of the Smurfs.

My personal favorite theory that would be that Merpkind (or whatever they are called) doesn’t actually have a native concept of individual names. However, they’ve got to put something on the Federation paperwork, so they typically just do whatever and stick with it.

Alternatively, fitting more with the Smurf thing, Merp communities identify each other via adjectives or roles much like the Smurfs.

What’s your ten cents?

EDIT: Thinking on it, it could be a combination. No one has a set name - some might call their spouse “Mate Merp”, while that spouse might be referred to by a boss as “Strong Employee Merp.” When doing Federation paperwork, Merps typically choose which descriptor they’re more fond of. For instance, Sleepy Merp may have been referred to as that by a parent.

What’s your eulogy for Lower Decks?

Here’s mine: I wasn’t sure about Lower Decks for a well - I’d never been into the adult animation genre, and when I first heard of it, I had initially seen it as the wrong direction for Star Trek.

Finally, in late 2023, I watched it for the first time and was surprised to enjoy it.

Then came the crazy month of March 2024. I got rejected from all my dream schools, putting me in a sullen mood. I returned to the show and suddenly started resonating with Boimler as someone who had ambitions - some naive, some not - that weren’t always fulfilled, while I found the Cerritos to be kind of an analogue to the state school I would end up at.

Then, at the end of that month, a close family member shared their advanced pancreatic cancer diagnosis, and they passed a month after. That was when my attachment to Lower Decks solidified - I turned to it as a comfort show and really started to appreciate it. I think I’ve rewatched it twice since then - one randomly in the summer, and one to refresh my memory for the final season that began while I was doing the (mediocre) paint job for a 3D-printed combadge for a costume:

Overall, it’s probably my second favorite show in the franchise at this point, only behind DS9. I’m sure I’ll rewatch it plenty times more, though maybe a bit more sparingly - just one more this year to cope with the emptiness of no more new episodes. 🤭

Lower Decks! Lower Decks!

I have a weird question. Some numbers of pips can have the black pip. However, the 4 captain pips have never been depicted with this.

In some ways, this makes sense; a "lower" captain wouldn't make sense, and we've seen that the highest first officers hold commander pips. It's most likely that have 4 pips with one black is totally invalid.

However, I wonder if there's ever a circumstance where the black pip would be there. For instance, let's say someone gets field promoted to acting captain, but Starfleet either takes their time making it official or it's going to take a while (a few weeks) for the ship to get back to starbase to pick up a new captain (meaning the acting captain will be a bit long-term)? Could it be used then?

I imagine most of this is speculation, but I'm wondering if there's any example in canon of a long-term acting captain that could disprove the use of this pip configuration.

I made Cathode - don’t vote for it (or at least, don’t give it a high rank, since Debian uses ranked choice). It kind of sucks, honestly; I was just having fun.

I have a feeling Juliette Taka’s going to keep being the de facto face of Debian for a long time - I ranked hers first in the voting.

I guess for the thrill, same reason that I’m attempting LFS?

When the LD SB80 episode mentioned Matt and Kimolu were infected on an away mission, it reignited some thoughts/questions about how the lives of Cetacean officers in an era of Trek where whales are beginning to become more common as crew members.

Here's the discussion that I think can be had within current canon: I can't help but notice what seems to be a difference in the quality of life between Gillian on Voyager-A and Matt and Kimolu on the Cerritos.

Sure, Matt and Kimolu don't have as flashy or futuristic-looking of an aquarium, but in addition to having each other, the pool-like design of their accommodations allows them easy interaction (a.k.a parties) with the crew. I feel like there's much more opportunity for them to have a fulfilling social life on the Cerritos.

In comparison, Gillian feels very enclosed and isolated from the rest of Voyager; there's always glass between here and the crew (as humpbacks sometimes need to surface, I image there's probably an area with some air in the aquarium), and people are shown having to wear full suits to be in the same space as her. In addition, there's no other whale with her. In fact, we don't really see a staff of officers in Cetacean ops - just Rok. It seems like a very lonely existence.

Of course, a lot of these seeming inequalities can be attributed to circumstance rather than neglect on Starfleet's part. For one, Gillian, canonically a humpback, is more than triple the size of Matt or Kimolu, belugas, so it's much harder to design any space at all for her on a starship, let alone one that gives her the freedom to safely interact with crew.

As for being the only humpback on Voyager, this is probably because there just aren't that many - her species was only repopulated less than a century ago during the whale probe incident.

Now, here's some more difficult-to-answer questions:

• How often do whales go on away missions?
• What precautions do they have to take on away missions?
• Do these missions come up organically, or is there some sort of quota?
• How does their shore leave work?
• What is the Academy like for whales? Is there an aquatic division? Do they sometimes have co-ed events with land-based cadets?
• Honestly, what is the life of a civilian Federation whale like? Do they have mobility accommodations should they e.g want to go see Vulcan or something? Do they live like 21st century whales, or are there LCARS panels in the ocean?

These questions definitely can't be answered with current lore, but I guess we can imagine and/or extrapolate from how Starfleet has accommodated other non-humanoid officers.

In Trek fandom, we often think about the badmirals. However, we never consider radmirals. With that in mind, who do you think is the best admiral? This includes commodores, vice admirals, rear admirals, etcetera.

I’m not counting main characters who got promoted after their main series e.g Picard, Kirk, Janeway, La Forge, etcetera.

After rewatching DS9: “Defiant”, I had a thought; to prevent transporter clones from impersonating each other, could Starfleet require, as a part of duty, that transporter clones receive slight genomic resequencing that changes no major traits but allows DNA scanners to distinguish them?

I can think of a few issues. One, would it break genetic experimentation laws even though there would be negligible changes to each transporter clone? Two, is this too sever a violation of personal liberties for the Federation to be allowed? Three, is the technology there to do this effectively in a starship’s sickbay?