tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190858632011-12-29T10:47:23.952-05:00Ruminations on various aspects of the Star Trek universe<br>alien races, technology, random thoughts . . .G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.comBlogger581100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-55087368688022449142009-05-15T23:59:00.006-04:002009-05-16T00:41:42.012-04:00

I finally saw the new Star Trek movie tonight. While I take time to collect my thoughts on the new film as a whole let me comment on one little aspect of it - matters of translation.Interestingly the credits mention a Romulan and Vulcan Language Supervisor (or Consultant or some such title). However after my first viewing of the film I have to say I didn't notice any Vulcan being spoken, and I

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-65360279763278390862009-04-28T22:53:00.010-04:002010-01-06T16:32:25.074-05:00

Drex Files tipped me off to a great CSI episode, "A Space Oddity." (Considering that blog's much wider readership you probably got the tip too. Old news. Old News . . .)I've long been a fan of CSI and it's various incarnations, but recently have fallen out of the habit of watching it. But that clip motivated me to catch the episode onDemand. If you're a fan of CSI, Star Trek, or both it's an

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-84394266480696172402009-04-07T06:09:00.004-04:002009-04-07T06:18:28.964-04:00

"Busy?""Uhura is busy, I am monitoring . . ."- McCoy and Spock in Star Trek IV: The Voyage HomeBusy, monitoring busy, space-time anomalies - suffice it to say I have had very little time to give attention to my blog lately. Fortunately others have had time to give it some attention. It is perhaps embarrassing to say that after more than four years I have only just now received my very first

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-45888839241150997462009-02-02T20:56:00.006-05:002009-02-15T21:44:47.314-05:00

In the past I've commented at length on the plausibility of the Drayan, a species the ages in reverse in the episode "Innocence" (VOY). Recently Earthweek featured an article on an 'immortal' jellyfish called turritopsis nutricula. As explained below this little animal is not just biologically immortal, but is actually capable of reverse aging. Turritopsis nutricula - That is the scientific name

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-11684149352208184562008-12-13T18:03:00.006-05:002009-02-08T21:20:50.689-05:00

To update an older discussion - I came across one more glimpse of Utopia Planitia that predates the Voyager episode "Relativity." In the seventh season TNG episode, "Parallels" there is an image of Utopia Planitia taken by the Argus Array (see the image in the lower right of the display). Admittedly this is the Utopia Planitia from a parallel universe, but "our" Worf didn't identify any major

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-74959908678303868912008-12-07T14:39:00.009-05:002009-02-15T01:16:08.134-05:00

I'm definitely not the first to say it, but watching Deep Space Nine now, it's amazing to see how stories about toppled regimes, provisional governments, terrorists and freedom fighters, political and religious corruption have become even more meaningful now than when they were first written. I thought something similar about the socio-economic issues dealt with in "Past Tense." Re-watching this

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-14303265894566007042008-10-10T23:14:00.008-04:002009-02-27T16:17:14.469-05:00

Tuvok and Neelix have been the obvious odd couple on the ship since Neelix first tried to hug "Mister Vulcan" in the pilot episode. "Riddles" may be the strongest and most touching episode in the Tuvok-Neelix arc. Here the true depth of their friendship is established. Really, it is probably this episode which carries the emotional weight of Tuvok's "dance" for Neelix when he departs at the end

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-25684318772441956282008-08-14T13:38:00.008-04:002009-05-16T00:40:25.900-04:00

“The Devil in the Dark” is basically the early prototype for Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Of course, “The Devil in the Dark” doesn’t have time travel or all of the fish-out-of-water gags of the movie, but at the core these are both stories about communication—and of the conflict that can grow out of a lack of communication. In his book, I Am Spock, Leonard Nimoy makes a direct link between his

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-11463209012523513272008-08-05T15:06:00.006-04:002008-09-05T20:39:33.443-04:00

Reflecting on the role of translation in the Star Trek movies brings us to Star Trek: Insurrection. Now in this film, translation plays no role whatsoever, and therein lies the problem.One of the difficulties of this movie is explaining the revelation that the Son'a are really the Ba'ku. This raises a lot of questions about where they got their ships, how they have represented themselves as an

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-12041410751441569452008-05-10T22:56:00.013-04:002008-08-05T15:40:53.964-04:00

While Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country wove issues of translation and communication into the story, in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home issues of translation and communication are the story. More than any of the other movies, and more than all but maybe a handful of episodes, the drama of this story grows directly out of the complexities of communicating with alien life-forms.In his book I Am

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-61800932499935187852008-04-18T23:20:00.008-04:002008-05-11T00:18:13.495-04:00

Let us take a moment to revisit the idea of scanning brain activity to guide the translation process. I suggested that the UT may be able to detect thought patterns that correspond to certain categories of words - such as nouns, verbs, or specific kinds of nouns (people, animals, food, numbers). I recently came across an interesting book that indicates that the human brain actually does work that

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-57492902703487308552008-02-06T15:53:00.001-05:002008-04-19T00:09:15.568-04:00

“Little Green Men” (DS9) gives us insight into the Ferengi Universal Translator, and in the process illustrates some of the logistical problems with any such device. According to this episode, Ferengi have their UTs implanted in their ears. This echoes the Babel Fish of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. (There’s a slightly more serious, in-ear device in the Michael Crichton novel Timeline,

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-18271145308838973702008-02-03T00:37:00.001-05:002009-05-15T23:59:10.269-04:00

"We must respond personally. The Universal Translator would be recognized." - Pavel ChekovThere is no doubt that this scene is mostly played for laughs, and seeing Starfleet officers frantically searching through books and speaking Klingon badly is an entertaining sight. But it's problematic if you think it through. At the same time, Chekov's statement highlights a significant issue for the

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-72385830968522844022008-01-09T18:31:00.001-05:002008-01-09T18:42:36.789-05:00

Maybe you've already seen this before. It's the smallest of silly footnotes to my ongoing discussion of the Universal Translator, but I just came across this post about the physical prop used for the UT on Enterprise ("Terra Prime"). Turns out they used a "mineral magnet toilet cleaner."Hey Hoshi, Translate This! (Have Phaser, Will Travel)

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-89678134980043813662007-12-27T20:27:00.000-05:002007-12-27T20:43:02.121-05:00

Well, it started when I saw a sign warning of a "Speed Bump" that I sent over to The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks. So I had a link back to my blog, and the next thing I knew I'm getting traffic from a strange place I had never heard of: Blogshares.It's a fantasy blog stock market. And evidently people are buying "stock" (unnecessary quotation marks or not - you decide) in Star Trek

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-17447588884109216252007-12-16T17:11:00.000-05:002008-02-03T16:59:53.884-05:00

Up to this point we have analyzed the inner workings of the Universal Translator—how pattern analysis and neural analysis might allow the device to work. Now, let’s discuss the outer workings of the device—how users would interact with it.Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country does a nice job of showing translation at work, with out letting it get in the way of the story. In the process there are

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-46987125936568465682007-12-08T00:16:00.000-05:002007-12-27T20:47:21.187-05:00

I think I always considered “True Q” one of the least consequential Q episodes of TNG. Q is most interesting when he is directly facing off with Picard—whether it is something as sweeping and menacing as introducing the Borg (“Q Who?”), or something as quiet and personal as letting Picard revisit his youth (“Tapestry”).Which isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy this episode. It has some great moments:

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-23977630088458709152007-11-17T17:03:00.001-05:002008-12-14T21:07:23.322-05:00

“Metamorphosis” (TOS) gives us another significant detail about how the Universal Translator (UT) functions: it scans brain activity. As far as I know, this concept is not mentioned in any other episode (but please correct me if I’m missing something). The idea that the UT can scan a person’s thoughts might help solve some of the translation problems based on pure pattern recognition and

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-46329439849265277102007-10-04T23:15:00.000-04:002007-11-17T17:29:42.050-05:00

There are a number of episodes of Enterprise (such as “Vox Sola”) that describe the Universal Translator (UT) in terms of analyzing patterns in the spoken word. Few details are given regarding the process, but we can draw some reasonable conclusions. First, let’s start with the easiest task—translating between two known languages. There are already computer systems that can recognize written

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-53309211137573337692007-09-25T08:25:00.000-04:002007-09-26T00:10:37.568-04:00

Somehow, in spite of all my reading of Star Trek reviews, the Star Trek Chronology, and the like, I managed to stay insulated from what happens in "The Mark of Gideon," so I was able to enjoy seeing it without any real expectations - without knowing what was really going on. That alone made it enjoyable, as these days it is increasingly hard to find unfamiliar Trek.The story starts with a great

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-6132238323885111322007-09-21T22:47:00.000-04:002007-09-22T19:32:47.024-04:00

Well, the Bynars stopped by and helped me make some enhancements. Okay, so really I just finally took the time to finish upgrading my blogger account. Beyond the aesthetic change, the newer archiving feature should make it easier to navigate older posts.The article "Where Have all the Star Trek Sites Gone?" over at Ex Astris Scientia was exciting for me to read for the self-serving reason that

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-64640583545064747692007-09-12T17:55:00.009-04:002009-05-16T00:38:20.024-04:00

Index of "Lost in Translation" ArticlesCommunication with Aliens in Star Trek (this page)Verbal Pattern AnalysisScanning Brain ActivityStar Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country"The Universal Translator Would Be Recognized" Men, Ferengi, Countrymen, Lend Me Your LobesUm . . . Disfluencies and TranslationThere Be Whales Here (Star Trek IV)They Sure Don't Sound Like Son'a to Me (Star Trek: Insurrection

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-13211531223852517202007-08-29T15:08:00.001-04:002008-02-22T17:34:53.669-05:00

As I was re-watching the Xindi arc recently I stumbled upon a nice bit of continuity.As the episode "Exile" begins it seems that Hoshi is hallucinating. Of course, we know she's not crazy. She's being contacted telepathically by an alien named Tarquin. Interestingly, Phlox tells her that for Denobulans, hallucinating is the sign of healthy mind - it's a healthy release for the subconscious. He

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-24140269085270989302007-07-30T17:34:00.000-04:002008-01-17T23:25:52.673-05:00

No, this isn't a discussion of the more sweeping Klingon forehead problem. This is simply a problem with Duras' forehead in the episode "Judgement" (ENT).There is a very strange discrepancy between the flashback sequences where he is on board his ship, and the courtroom scenes. In the flashback sequences his forehead looks normal. The distinctive family ridge that runs around the outside of his

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-59209468401007746332007-07-14T22:32:00.001-04:002007-07-18T23:38:46.451-04:00

I can't personally comment on how "I, Mudd" compares to the first episode featuring Harry Mudd, but the comic overtones in this episode seem right on target. Not only is there some great banter between Mudd and Kirk, but the solution to overload the androids involves some all-out silliness that's plain entertaining.(In fact this episode contributes some great footage to the "Python's Camelot

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-25654282728796898712007-07-09T23:09:00.000-04:002007-09-12T18:14:07.442-04:00

I recently saw "The Changeling" for the first time. I had read summaries of it before, and basically knew what to expect - V'Ger-lite - but I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of its execution. When Scotty was pronounced dead and it cut to a commercial my attention was captured. Sure, I knew Scotty would come back somehow, and I could guess that Nomad would be the one to bring him back,

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-61063349496941393512007-06-08T23:16:00.000-04:002007-11-04T23:43:37.225-05:00

This review of "The Smallest Choices" from Strange New Worlds 9 contains some major spoilers.There are stories in the Strange New Worlds 9 collection with incredible cosmic scope, fantastic amounts of StarTrek trivia woven into the story, or just plain creative story-telling methods. But the story that resonated the most with me emotionally was this one: "The Smallest Choices" by Jeremy Yoder.To

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-30673052272378339422007-05-31T18:22:00.000-04:002008-02-08T22:13:12.209-05:00

It’s light on philosophical pondering, heavy on eye-candy, and throws in a cliché or two, but for me it’s still one of the most entertaining installments of Voyager. “Renaissance Man” starts by creating a suspenseful atmosphere. Bodies are piling up in the morgue as the Doctor renders the senior staff unconscious one by one. We feel the tension rise as he juggles impersonating more and more

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-64220853838495375402007-05-21T19:18:00.000-04:002008-02-04T01:18:51.357-05:00

Earlier, while discussing the fractal-like organization of the Borg collective, I raised the following issue:On the Matter of Unimatricies - The term Unimatrix has been thrown around as a unit or division within the collective. Each unimatrix is a miniature collective, much as I have described above. We know that the Unicomplex is called Unimatrix 001. Beyond that, I am not certain if the term

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-31387440692639500422007-05-18T00:01:00.000-04:002007-11-04T23:47:45.658-05:00

This is a review of the Grand Prize winner from the Strange New Worlds 9 collection. It is therefore more thorough and contains significant spoilers. One of the draw backs of many episodes of Star Trek is that in the end our heroes fly off into the galaxy and completely leave behind the alien/planet/problem-of-the-week never to be heard of again. The grand prize winning stories picks up one of

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-67025079415001722582007-05-05T00:29:00.000-04:002007-05-05T00:53:06.253-04:00

Ex Astris Scientia's list of links was recently updated. I was thrilled (and surprised) to find my little blog on that very selective list (down at the bottom under "Personal Sites"). I consider that a real honor. Bernd - thanks for adding me to your list.

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-84740050293778473862007-04-29T16:56:00.000-04:002007-09-22T19:48:58.240-04:00

Reviews of stories from Strange New Worlds 9 may contain minor spoilers."Staying the Course" is an excellent story about Worf and Alexander by Paul C. Tseng. The episode "Firstborn" (TNG) gave us a glimpse into a possible future where Alexander became a Klingon diplomat (a seeming contradiction of terms), but came back in time to make himself more of a warrior, believing this could prevent his

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-53969901388506040932007-04-26T22:34:00.000-04:002007-06-02T00:20:38.503-04:00

Reviews of stories from Strange New Worlds 9 may contain minor spoilers.At least three stories deal with Earth's formative years that paved the way for Starfleet and the United Federation of Planets.The Enterprise episode "Carbon Creek" introduced the character Mestral, a Vulcan science officer who elected to stay on Earth in 1957. "Mestral" by Ben Guilfoy takes place a century later. The

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-42892286092195804552007-04-21T22:18:00.001-04:002009-02-21T23:21:09.113-05:00

"All these ships were called Enterprise," Decker said to Ilia. The mysterious ship with the hoop-shaped warp drive has hovered around in non-canon Trek lore ever since. It even made a brief appearance on Enterprise in the episode "Home." (Look for it toward the end of the episode Archer has his last conversation with Soval. On the wall of Forrest's office, behind Archer's head, there is a

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-56136792528155895592007-04-18T09:47:00.000-04:002007-09-22T18:08:43.037-04:00

Reviews of stories from Strange New Worlds 9 may contain minor spoilers.Two stories in this collection are worth reading not only because of the stories themselves, but becuase of the unique ways that they are told."Book of Fulfillment" by Steven Costa is written in an excellent approximation of King James vintage Old Testament prose. It begins with a nice tip of that hat to The Next Generation

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-28062805109553302432007-04-16T17:34:00.000-04:002007-09-22T18:11:30.194-04:00

Each year brings another Strange New Worlds anthology. And for eight years I have looked at them on the shelf, thumbed through them, but never picked one up for myself. This year I finally bought one and was delighted by theses stories written by fans who have little if any work professionally published before. While I am not planning on reviewing every story in the book, I do want to

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-5729379161673485472007-04-09T15:13:00.001-04:002009-02-21T23:07:43.425-05:00

100 Years Young: Part I: Musings About the Drayan Life-Cycle Part II: Is Aging an Inevitable Biological Fact?Part III: Can an Organism 'Grow' Smaller and Younger?Part IV: The Drayan CivilizationComing to terms with reverse aging is one thing. Accounting for the Drayan's death customs is another. While the episode reveals very few specifics regarding their aging process or their history, what

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-27771155178908102332007-04-07T00:22:00.000-04:002007-12-05T18:11:15.730-05:00

As I mentioned before, I've been re-watching a lot of Enterprise episodes on the Sci-Fi channel. Recently I saw the episode "Judgment" again. I was pleasantly surprised to realize it was more enjoyable than I remembered, but I was again struck with some of its unrealized potential.Speaking as the AdvocateFor me, seeing the Klingon court again was great. That may have something to do with my

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-23308488684226572542007-03-17T23:46:00.000-04:002007-04-15T15:22:24.572-04:00

Somehow during the original run of Enterprise I missed "The Catwalk." Now that the episodes are showing on the Sci-Fi Channel I finally was able to see it. I'm pretty sure it's the only episode that I have never seen before, so on one level I just enjoyed getting to see a new episode of Enterprise for the first time in a long time.There's also the novelty of the idea of living in a nacelle in the

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-10537688962259138112007-03-15T22:22:00.000-04:002007-03-15T22:28:08.073-04:00

It seems like it has been an eternity since I’ve made any updates. I did have two new, substantial entries almost ready to go when my computer suffered a “fatal error.” And of course I hadn’t made any back-ups of the files in question. So unless Scotty himself works some miracle on my behalf, I will likely have to reconstruct them from memory. In the meantime, here’s a quick addition to my

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-1164080562976033322006-11-20T22:41:00.002-05:002009-02-15T17:11:25.565-05:00

100 Years Young: Part I: Musings About the Drayan Life-Cycle Part II: Is Aging an Inevitable Biological Fact?Part III: Can an Organism 'Grow' Smaller and Younger?Part IV: The Drayan CivilizationIf you're ready to accept, or at least consider, that aging isn't a biological necessity, accepting the idea that things might grow smaller over time should be a relatively simple matter. At the same time,

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-1162595205043698782006-11-03T18:06:00.000-05:002007-05-07T11:35:36.919-04:00

100 Years Young: Part I: Musings About the Drayan Life-Cycle Part II: Is Aging an Inevitable Biological Fact? Part III: Can an Organism 'Grow' Smaller and Younger?Part IV: The Drayan CivilizationRegarding this first point, let me begin with the assertion that what we know as the aging process is not the fundamental truth we presume it to be.I recently came across an intriguing short story called

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-1161921304651900422006-10-26T23:26:00.000-04:002007-07-18T18:32:32.611-04:00

Today I came across this interesting story: "'Tower of Babel' translator made." This is an innovative approach to creating a real-time, audio translator - something akin to the Universal Translator.The article explains, in part:Electrodes are attached to the neck and face to detect the movements that occur as the person silently mouths words and phrases. Using this data, a computer can work

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-1158518656125785992006-09-17T14:17:00.000-04:002007-09-21T21:24:10.566-04:00

100 Years Young:Part I: Musings About the Drayan Life-Cycle Part II: Is Aging an Inevitable Biological Fact? Part III: Can an Organism 'Grow' Smaller and Younger?Part IV: The Drayan CivilizationReverse aging. It's one of the most intriguing concepts in xenobiology introduced into the Star Trek universe. A quiet little episode of Voyager called "Innocent" features a Delta-Quadrant race called the

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-1157774219052838302006-09-08T23:43:00.001-04:002008-07-25T16:31:11.087-04:00

It has been far too long since I have posted anything. I didn't fall of the face of the planet, I just went to the other side - I took a two week trip to Poland. I intended to post something before I left, which became as soon as I get back, and weeks later I’m still trying to finish what I started before I left . . . So in the meantime, I thought I would share something from my trip and one

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-1149878731022116472006-06-09T14:21:00.000-04:002007-02-18T23:06:49.512-05:00

In my entry "The Thing About Being a Hologram . . ." I discussed some of the oversights and inconsistencies involving the nature of holodeck characters, in particular sentient holodeck characters. But a number of episodes have inconsistencies revolving around holodeck "matter" leaving the holodeck. It has been elsewhere stated the holodeck "matter" cannot do that.The Nitpicker's Guide for Next

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-1148676607565544552006-05-26T16:21:00.001-04:002007-05-21T19:59:01.765-04:00

Fractal - n. "In colloquial usage, it denotes a shape that is recursively constructed or self-similar, that is, a shape that appears similar at all scales of magnification and is therefore often referred to as 'infinitely complex.'" (Wikipedia) The Borg collective exemplifies this colloquial definition of a fractal - the idea of something that is the same at all levels of magnification. In effect

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-1142908461371822852006-03-20T21:31:00.000-05:002007-04-07T00:30:07.071-04:00

Starting with The Next Generation, the holodeck became as much a part of the Star Trek universe as the transporter and warp drive. One outgrowth of the holodeck concept was the creation of sentient holograms, most notably Professor Moriarty (TNG: “Elementary, My Dear Data” and “Ship in a Bottle”) and the Doctor (VOY: “Caretaker” et. al.). The concept of a sentient, living hologram is intriguing

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-1142482922860018462006-03-15T22:59:00.000-05:002007-02-18T23:08:46.502-05:00

If you visited the Google website earlier this week you may have seen their logo was modified as a tribute to Perceval Lowell and his studies of Mars, and the launch of Google Mars with its interactive map of the red planet.See the List of Planitia on MarsIf you follow the above link, and search through the list of plains (or planitia) on the left, you can find Utopia toward the end of the list

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-1140932139948883782006-02-26T00:28:00.000-05:002007-09-22T15:16:49.345-04:00

In the earlier post “Nothing New Under the Sun . . .” I wrote about the progressive revelation I had regarding how far back the use of the wide angle phaser setting goes. Recently I came across some additional information on a Star Trek forum. [Unfortunately the thread, and evidently the entire forum, are no longer there anymore.]To summarize the discussion: There are at least two other places

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-1139801995311287862006-02-12T22:33:00.001-05:002009-02-27T16:24:38.250-05:00

The Deep Space Nine episode “Little Green Men” presents the comical notion that Quark, Nog, Rom, and Odo were actually responsible for the infamous Roswell incident. As it turns out, it wasn’t a weather balloon at all. It was three big-lobed Ferengi and a stowaway changeling.When Quark realizes he has traveled back in time and is dealing with primitive hu-mons—hu-mons he can relate too on one

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-1137822815131608382006-01-21T10:18:00.000-05:002007-02-18T23:12:08.683-05:00

The Star Trek universe is largely populated with humanoid races - one head, two eyes, two arms, two legs – with relatively minor variations. One of the few non-humanoid, intelligent races we see on the show is the Sheliak in the episode "The Ensigns of Command" (TNG, season three). Their non-humanoid form creates an interesting backdrop for the even larger cultural and linguistic barriers that

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-1135827596682931782005-12-28T22:32:00.000-05:002007-02-18T23:13:05.095-05:00

One of the hallmarks of the bridge on the original Enterprise was the view screen with a strip of blinking lights underneath it. I don’t know if anyone really knows what those lights were supposed to do, or even if they have a specific name—they just pulsed in perfect time, like some kind of Starfleet metronome. This design/technology was carried forward on ships for a century or more, all the

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-1134760083993052772005-12-16T14:01:00.000-05:002007-02-18T23:13:59.626-05:00

As discussed in part one, the Voyager episode “Nemesis” features a unique glimpse of an alien language. But the main theme of the episode is about hatred and prejudice and how these feelings can be evoked in any of us.Unbeknownst to Chakotay, the Vori have subjected him to an elaborate system of conditioning and propaganda to teach him to hate their “nemesis”, the beast-like Kradin. Yet, to

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-1133851755304772462005-12-06T10:32:00.003-05:002008-12-14T20:50:26.079-05:00

The fourth season episode of Voyager, “Nemesis”, begins with a routine shuttle-crash opening. But thereafter it introduces some innovative—albeit somewhat manipulative—storytelling.First, consider the matter of language. The Star Trek universe depends upon the existence of the universal translator. For the most part it has to function flawlessly and invisibly so as not to bog down the drama of a

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-1132638000582856992005-11-22T00:11:00.000-05:002007-02-18T23:15:11.859-05:00

Some reviewers have criticized “Cathexis” (Voyager; season one) as a retread of alien possession clichés. Well, maybe I’m a sucker for alien possession clichés, because I thought it was one of the more interesting episodes of the first season.For one thing, I liked the sense of paranoia it created, and learning that Chakotay is the consciousness at work on the ship lets you to see the “alien’s”

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-1132295524351043982005-11-18T00:28:00.000-05:002005-12-16T14:15:57.370-05:00

For the past fifteen years Star Trek has been a growing, dynamic universe.I remember getting my first copy of Star Trek Chronology : A History of the Future, the "complete" history of the Star Trek universe . . . all the way up to TNG season five. Needless to say the book was constantly being updated and re-released. I would look at the newer editions at book stores, but could never bring myself

G.C. McDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15669162282432355416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19085863.post-58067829988690607262005-05-21T23:13:00.002-04:002009-05-21T23:28:41.207-04:00

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