Star Trek - Space: The Final Frontier

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TOS can be rough to watch now, I would say watch the first few episodes and if you don't care for it, skip it and move to TNG or the TOS movies. Skip the first TOS movie, it wasn't very good. The first 2 seasons of TNG weren't great either, but there were some ok episodes. Find a guide.
 
I'm on episode 15 now of season 1 of DS9. Everyone trying to get into Dax's pants is extremely amusing. I like how she keeps shooting down Bashir and he just keeps coming back for more punishment. I already know she ultimately winds up with Worf, but I can't help but wonder if Julian ever gets to hit it.
 
I'm on episode 15 now of season 1 of DS9. Everyone trying to get into Dax's pants is extremely amusing. I like how she keeps shooting down Bashir and he just keeps coming back for more punishment. I already know she ultimately winds up with Worf, but I can't help but wonder if Julian ever gets to hit it.
Your information is good, but this is gonna blow your mind... Bashir actually ends up with 'Dax' in the end. I won't say why or how though, Lol.
 
Your information is good, but this is gonna blow your mind... Bashir actually ends up with 'Dax' in the end. I won't say why or how though, Lol.

Odo being trapped in a turbolift with Lwaxana Troi has literally just made this series for me.
 
Some examples from TOS: Warp Drive, Communicator, Deflector Screens, Phasers, Photon Torpedo, Tricorder, Duotronics, Dilithium. Perform a small thought experiment for me if you will. Imagine explaining what all of those words mean to someone who has never watched Star Trek, but is vaguely aware of it.

"Communicator? What could a communicator possibly be? And what about 'Photon Torpedo?' I am baffled by what that might be used for." Really?

Most of those terms are self-defining, and the level of writing on TOS was usually high enough they were used in a context where the meaning is clear. Usually Spock would hold his tricorder, stare at it for a moment, and say "The tricorder indicates..." If you seriously can't figure out what a tricorder is for after that, maybe you're not ready to watch Star Trek.

Another good one is "self-destruct." Nobody uses that in the real world; boats are "scuttled" and rockets use "range safety." I'm reasonably sure it was used in Outer Limits before Star Trek, but it would be interesting to see where it was first used. I'd seriously expect it to come from postwar science fiction.
 
And what about 'Photon Torpedo?'

I picked that example for a reason. A matter/antimatter bomb has nothing to do with photons. The term Photon Torpedo came from the assumption that the explosion would be so powerful it would only emit photons. Which I think anyone here would admit they understand is wrong these days. But the term "Photon Torpedo" sounds cooler and crucially, quicker than "matter/antimatter warhead" doesn't it? Hence why it stuck.
 
The product of an electron / positron reaction is gamma ray photons.

A "Photon torpedo" is a weapon that goes bang. Making it a matter/antimatter reaction is a post hoc explanation which has no bearing on any story I'm aware of.

I guess it goes to show that its still open to interpretation. The original idea though was that the detonation would mostly show a bunch of photons in addition to its raw explosive force.
 
Another good one is "self-destruct." Nobody uses that in the real world; boats are "scuttled" and rockets use "range safety." I'm reasonably sure it was used in Outer Limits before Star Trek, but it would be interesting to see where it was first used. I'd seriously expect it to come from postwar science fiction.

I think it might have been from E.E. "Doc" Smith but I can't find anything specific. It sounds like a Golden Age idea. I'm not sure if the term "self-destruct" itself had been used (Star Trek calls it "auto-destruct" and also had the "corbomite device" although this was an imaginary self-destruct mechanism Kirk invented as a lie).
 
I think it might have been from E.E. "Doc" Smith but I can't find anything specific. It sounds like a Golden Age idea. I'm not sure if the term "self-destruct" itself had been used (Star Trek calls it "auto-destruct" and also had the "corbomite device" although this was an imaginary self-destruct mechanism Kirk invented as a lie).
Aww man, my grandfather had the Corbomite maneuver on VHS. It was one of, if not the the first episodes I ever saw of Trek.
 
I think it might have been from E.E. "Doc" Smith but I can't find anything specific. It sounds like a Golden Age idea. I'm not sure if the term "self-destruct" itself had been used (Star Trek calls it "auto-destruct" and also had the "corbomite device" although this was an imaginary self-destruct mechanism Kirk invented as a lie).

I'm pretty sure "self-destruct" is used in Balance of Terror, but I'd need to double check both those episodes.
 
If we saturate the event horizon with warp particles . . .

https://youtube.com/watch?v=AXtBwr3pR30:31
Only thing this exchange is missing are random tachyons.

There's another great example where some scientiest shows up at the Voyager to check Neelix for some Technobabble-induced disease caused by a weapon of mass destruction that he invented, that was used to destroy Neelix' home planet. The episode in itself is pretty great, even despite being a Neelix-centred episode.
It deals with the scientist's conciousness and how much he suffers from the misery and pain that he caused, it deals with Neelix, his family and the horrors of war.
It is a very, very good episode (at least in my opinion)...

... but at some point, the scientist attempts to reconstruct a Talaxian by reassembling their body from subatomic particles, cause their DNA is imprinted on those subatomic particles.
A very complex set of molecules. That is imprinted. On subatomic particles.
Yeah. It's just plain silly.
 
For my money, Shades of Grey (Season 2 Finale, shitty clip show) is worse than any episode in Season 1.
 
I'm pretty sure "self-destruct" is used in Balance of Terror, but I'd need to double check both those episodes.

Oh yeah, that's spoken in the leadup to the scene with the nuke. Granted its not specifically a suicide device, just apparently a magazine of nukes they keep on board, but they do say the term "self-destruction".

Speaking of that scene, that is some real vintage Star Trek since the Enterprise actually gets staggered by a nuke instead of some complicated technobabble torpedo or energy weapon. I know hypothetically you can build nukes big enough to waste continents but its still kind of funny to think about the Romulans just dumping a Tsar Bomba out of the cargo bay.
 
... but at some point, the scientist attempts to reconstruct a Talaxian by reassembling their body from subatomic particles, cause their DNA is imprinted on those subatomic particles.
A very complex set of molecules. That is imprinted. On subatomic particles.
Yeah. It's just plain silly.
At least that episode ends with the scientist trying his experiment and making an ass out of himself when it doesn't work.
 
Speaking of that scene, that is some real vintage Star Trek since the Enterprise actually gets staggered by a nuke instead of some complicated technobabble torpedo or energy weapon. I know hypothetically you can build nukes big enough to waste continents but its still kind of funny to think about the Romulans just dumping a Tsar Bomba out of the cargo bay.

Even stranger, it appears the Romulan nuke was hit by phasers and set off, suggesting that either the Romulan nuke set itself off when it realized it was being shot at, or phasers incorporate fast neutrons and what we saw was a fizzle.
 
Even stranger, it appears the Romulan nuke was hit by phasers and set off, suggesting that either the Romulan nuke set itself off when it realized it was being shot at, or phasers incorporate fast neutrons and what we saw was a fizzle.

The conventional explosives inside a thermonuclear warhead are what trigger the fission, which then is hot enough to trigger the fusion. I assume phasers are hot enough that they just skipped the conventoinal explosive part and straight up triggered the fission process. Possibly even the fusion part, phasers are ridiculously powerful in some of their appearances. Maybe a nuclear nerd could correct me on this, but I figure a weapon than can blow continents off a planet can easily trip a nuclear device.
 
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