Star Wars / Star Trek Discussion (SciFi In General)

[DeadPoolX]

Of the first five ST shows, DS9 is my favorite by far.

It really finds its groove in later seasons, where there are much longer, continuous story arcs across numerous episodes or an entire season. It's turned out to be perfect "binge TV" now -- made in the 1990s before such a thing even existed -- but it also made it difficult to "jump into a random episode" at the time, since you had to know what has been happening before and leading up to the episode...

(...and hope that televised reruns were shown in the correct order.)

Fortunately that issue with continuous story arcs isn't a problem on streaming platforms. Most people just binge watch nowadays anyway.

[Tawmis]

Happy Star Wars Day! May the 4th Be With you!

[Rath Darkblade]

And to you too!

Hmm, that first one looks a bit like Gandalf. Who is that?

Also, the pup with the orange light sabre ... is that Odin? It looks a little like him.

[Tawmis]

And to you too!
Hmm, that first one looks a bit like Gandalf. Who is that?
Also, the pup with the orange light sabre ... is that Odin? It looks a little like him.

I am not sure how to take it - the "one who looks like Gandalf" is indeed me. (Taken May 4th, 2021)

And the husky is indeed Odin (RIP) - circa 2017/2018.
The corgi is my other dog, Moxie May (taken May 4th, 2021).

[Rath Darkblade]

Ah, OK. Your beard is looking a little bit gray in the photo, but that's probably because the light sabres are so bright that they're reflecting on your beard! That's why I was thinking about Ian McKellen as Gandalf.

In Moxie May's first picture, one of her eyes is very red. But that's probably, again, the reflection of the light sabre!

Odin doesn't look too impressed with the light sabre.

[Tawmis]

Ah, OK. Your beard is looking a little bit gray in the photo, but that's probably because the light sabres are so bright that they're reflecting on your beard! That's why I was thinking about Ian McKellen as Gandalf.
In Moxie May's first picture, one of her eyes is very red. But that's probably, again, the reflection of the light sabre!
Odin doesn't look too impressed with the light sabre.

Rest assured - the last year and a half has turned my beard very grey.

[Rath Darkblade]

Ah ... well, it happens with age. I used to have shoulder-length hair in my twenties, which is all gone now.

Heredity's a ... [word censored for the sake of not giving this thread an R rating]

[Tawmis]

Ah ... well, it happens with age. I used to have shoulder-length hair in my twenties, which is all gone now.
Heredity's a ... [word censored for the sake of not giving this thread an R rating]

Same.

[Rath Darkblade]

I don't know, I thought TV shows and movies were a wonderful guide to how scientific gadgets DON'T work. Am I wrong?

(I'm not including the 60s "Star Trek" in this. The old "Star Trek" managed to predict some inventions we have now, like automatic doors and so on).

[Rath Darkblade]

All right, I'm curious: is there anything that the original Star Trek predicted that we have now?

(Just swinging slightly out of topic again)

[MusicallyInspired]

Cell phones.

[notbobsmith]

From TOS: The computer disks they used look kind of like 3.5" floppies. We can talk to computers reasonably well, and the voice sounds a lot better. Real-time translation of text or even speech works pretty well like the Universal Translator. Video conferencing. Big screen TVs.

TNG: Tablet PCs.

[Rath Darkblade]

Video conferencing. Big screen TVs.

You're kidding. TOS predicted Zoom meetings?

Star Trek TOS would be much different if the Klingons had to say "Can't hear you, Jim! Speak up!", or if Captain Kirk said "Hold on a minute, call of nature".

... and that brings up another thing: not many of the various incarnations of the U.S.S. Voyager has a toilet, a bathroom or a laundry). Kirk, in Star Trek V, has a pop-out toilet in the brig. Janeway in TNG has a tub. Everyone has sonic showers. But how do they keep their uniforms sparkling clean? And how did they do it during the TOS-era? I can't recall any of those conveniences back then, but I suppose that comes under 'suspension of disbelief' ...

[notbobsmith]

... and that brings up another thing: not many of the various incarnations of the U.S.S. Voyager has a toilet, a bathroom or a laundry). Kirk, in Star Trek V, has a pop-out toilet in the brig. Janeway in TNG has a tub. Everyone has sonic showers. But how do they keep their uniforms sparkling clean? And how did they do it during the TOS-era? I can't recall any of those conveniences back then, but I suppose that comes under 'suspension of disbelief' ...

Yeah, most of these things are never seen in the shows. I think Star Trek VI mentions a laundry.

[DeadPoolX]

Video conferencing. Big screen TVs.

You're kidding. TOS predicted Zoom meetings?

I think the first video conferencing system was actually introduced in 1936 in Germany. It was a closed-circuit system and required the use of special booths (so you obviously couldn't do this at home). Naturally, the image quality was poor, but this was also before TV was widespread.

Television, as we know and understand it today, was actually invented in 1925, but it wasn't until the consumer-driven post-war era of the 1950s that the technology had become commercially viable.

... and that brings up another thing: not many of the various incarnations of the U.S.S. Voyager has a toilet, a bathroom or a laundry). Kirk, in Star Trek V, has a pop-out toilet in the brig.

I don't know about you, but I have no desire to see anyone on-screen dropping a deuce.

Janeway in TNG has a tub.

As far as I know, Kathryn Janeway was never on TNG. She was in VOY (and one of the TNG-related films later on).

Yes, there's a TNG episode (Season 6, Episode 3 to be exact) called "Man of the People" where an Ensign Janeway does appear, but she was not played by the same actress and she's not meant to be the same character as the timeframe wouldn't make sense. This episode takes place in 2369 and VOY begins in 2371. There's no way anyone could reasonably go from the rank of Ensign to Captain in just a couple of years.

Everyone has sonic showers.

The bridge officers we see have en-suite sonic showers in their rooms. I imagine the NCOs and general crew members are forced to share not just rooms, but also facilities like sonic showers.

Sonic showers actually make sense. If you're in an enclosed environment with potentially limited resources for a set period of time, using renewable energy from the ship's warp core to power sonic showers instead of carrying and constantly recycling water is a good idea. Plus, it's a great way for the characters to have cleaned up without needing to get the actors wet.

But how do they keep their uniforms sparkling clean?

Remember, any show or movie from TNG forward has replicators. Half the time the show just has people create new items for whatever purpose is necessary via a replicator, so who's to say that they don't break down clothing and then have replicators recreate the uniform instead of laundering them?

And how did they do it during the TOS-era? I can't recall any of those conveniences back then, but I suppose that comes under 'suspension of disbelief' ...

No, during TOS (and ENT) there were no replicators and no holodecks. I have no idea about sonic showers, though, as they may have not shown them.