The Five-Minute Forums

The Five-Minute Forums (http://www.fiveminute.net/forums/index.php)
-   Miscellaneous (http://www.fiveminute.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=10)
-   -   Persistent, Niggling Questions (http://www.fiveminute.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1410)

Nate the Great 12-13-2020 02:44 AM

Watch it once for the connections to the rest of the MCU, but don't expect to enjoy yourself very much. Or maybe I'm just bored of fish-out-of-water plots, or amnesiac-must-rebuild-their-past-life plots, or whole-life-turns-out-to-be-a-lie plots, and so on and so forth.

Nate the Great 12-14-2020 12:55 AM

Who owns DS9?


An odd name for a video about the history of the station. After all, the answer is Bajor, of course. The Federation was only administering it, Starfleet was only protecting it.

Nate the Great 12-17-2020 10:16 PM

So I'm reading a DS9 novel and there's a named Dominion ship in it...


PNQ: Does the Dominion seem like the kind of organization that would name its ships as opposed to alphanumerical designations?


Most known races name their ships for reasons that wouldn't apply to the Dominion, right? The Jem'Hadar and Vorta aren't bred with artistic sensibilities, and the Founders wouldn't want to follow the customs of solids, would they?

Nate the Great 12-23-2020 02:31 AM

So I'm watching "Birthright" again...


PNQ: Did they do the "everyone thinks the food is awful except for Worf" joke more often than Riker's eggs and Geordi's pasta?

Nate the Great 01-13-2021 02:42 AM

I found myself pondering this question. I'll expand the parameters...


PNQ1: When/if you have children old enough to watch Trek, in what order will you introduce them to the franchise?
PNQ2: What Trek won't you show them, letting them discover it on their own if they want to?


A key issue is that the primitive (I hesitate to say "cheap") style of TOS will be a major turnoff for some. I refer you to earlier comments I've made about people not liking black and white movies JUST because they're black and white, it's the same thing.


In many ways STIV would be a good intro, it's lighter on the scifi and heavier on the humor and character work. Too bad it refers to STII and STIII events.


PNQ3: Would the bite-sized nature of TAS be a reasonable introduction, or does it rely too much on TOS lore and '70s weirdness?

Flying Gremlin 01-13-2021 10:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nate the Great (Post 82199)
PNQ1: When/if you have children old enough to watch Trek, in what order will you introduce them to the franchise?

I can answer this one really easily: I showed my daughter who she was named after first and let her make up her mind.

It probably was the wrong move, but she was curious and asked me.

(Her name's Annika, BTW.)

Nate the Great 01-20-2021 02:24 AM

I wouldn't try to introduce a child to ALL of TOS at once, but they should at least see Trouble With Tribbles, Balance of Terror, Journey to Babel, etc. towards the start.


Then TNG starting at Season Three.



I would never use TAS as an introduction to children. Yeah, it's only half an hour and it's a cartoon, but it's an OLD cartoon. Putting aside the continual references to TOS (which aren't a bad thing for older viewers who have seen TOS), it's cheaply animated and falls victim to the the old trap hole I've mentioned before: older filmmaking tech is offputting to those not used to it.

Flying Gremlin 01-24-2021 12:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nate the Great (Post 82204)
I would never use TAS as an introduction to children. Yeah, it's only half an hour and it's a cartoon, but it's an OLD cartoon. Putting aside the continual references to TOS (which aren't a bad thing for older viewers who have seen TOS), it's cheaply animated and falls victim to the the old trap hole I've mentioned before: older filmmaking tech is offputting to those not used to it.

I can agree with this.

Hopefully Prodigy is a good jumping off point for younger audiences. I hope it will be good to go when my son is old enough to start understanding that stuff.

Nate the Great 02-15-2021 08:01 PM

So STIII made the mistake of calling the Enterprise "twenty years old" when it's really forty. Whatever, the point is that Admiral Morrow called it too old to bother repairing.



PNQ1: Why did Starfleet send years to do a complete overhaul on the ship if it's going to be called out of date and useless in ten years or so?
PNQ2: Don't we see oodles of OLD Excelsior classes in TNG? Like, a LOT of them. I can't buy that the majority of them were built in the 24th century, the Ambassador-class should've overtaken them if so.

PNQ3: Building starships takes years, even in the 24th century (you have to assume that "Best of Both Worlds" made the shipyards start production full-time and never stopped due to the increased threats). If Scotty can get the ship back to spec in a few weeks, why not let him? It's gotta be cheaper to fix a ship than build a new one.

PNQ4: What's the most damage we've seen a starship suffer and still be able to be repaired to full capability? The E-D was pretty battered after Best of Both Worlds, Voyager after the Borg/8472 War, etc. Did Khan really do that much damage all things considered?

PNQ5: If you really think about it, the worst of Khan's attack would be those initial phaser hits when the Enterprise didn't have its shields up. Of course ablative armor didn't exist yet, but the damage seemed to be concentrated on the warp distribution system in order to cripple the Enterprise. Plasma conduits can be replaced, hull segments can be replaced. And Scotty was ready to do it.

Nate the Great 02-16-2021 02:48 AM

So in "The Ultimate Computer" M-5 didn't recommend McCoy for the landing party because any injured crewman could be beamed up.


PNQ: How often has a doctor been essential on a landing party because contact is lost with the ship?


The answer is: A LOT! While I could certainly argue that you don't need the CMO on every away mission, someone trained in medicine should whenever they're going into an unknown environment. And in the episode this is the first time anyone from Starfleet will be visiting this planet, who knows how many exploding rocks or salt vampires or dikronium clouds or mugatos or whatever else could be down there? Unless they really do treat the redshirts like mineshaft canaries on purpose, a doctor will always be necessary.

Nate the Great 02-25-2021 06:49 PM

I found myself wondering the following...


PNQ: Which Star Trek captain actor was most well-known before joining Trek?


To the general TV-watching audience, I mean. I don't want to get into the intricacies of who might've seen Shatner or Stewart on stage.



It seems that it would be Bakula, but am I missing something?



As for which actor I knew best before they appeared on Trek it would be Bakula of course (my parents were HUGE Quantum Leap fans). However, I did see Chris Pine in Princess Diaries 2.



As for ALL Trek actors, in terms of sheer popularity across the spectrum, could it be LeVar Burton? Between Roots and Reading Rainbow I think he had his place in pop culture solidified.



Mention must also be made of the 1988 movie Roots: The Gift. It features LeVar Burton, Kate Mulgrew, Avery Brooks, AND Tim Russ.

Nate the Great 03-01-2021 04:41 AM

In "Rascals" Guinan refers to a planet as "the most beautiful in the quadrant"...


PNQ: Given the range of species in the Federation (assume we're just talking about the Federation), could they really agree on one planet as "the most beautiful?"


Yeah, Guinan was using hyperbole, but it makes you think. Most of the humans irrationally consider Earth the most beautiful, but what about other races? It's noted that Trill can handle the cold easier than most races, Ferengi don't like bright light, Klingons seem to prefer forests, Cardassians love the heat, etc. There are even humans who don't like nature at all and love to stay inside.



This of course opens other questions relating to internal clocks and other nuances of biology. I wonder how long it takes for a 26-hr/day Bajoran to get used to a 24-hr/day, it probably took Sisko and crew weeks to get used to it. Frankly it made sense for DS9 to match a Bajoran day when the station was in orbit, but now that it's in deep space and the planet is a three hour trip away, a different "time zone" seemed to be indicated.


Then again, did everyone in Bajoran space agree to follow a 26-hour day system to facilitate trade? Is the entire DMZ operating on a 26-hour day? It makes you wonder.

Nate the Great 03-03-2021 02:29 AM

So I'm watching "Descent" again, and I note that when the holodeck shuts down it removes the characters before removing the room itself.



PNQ: While it stands to reason that the "puppets" require a lot more processing power than a simple "set". But could it be that each category of projection has its own category of projectors?



Think of sprite comics. The artists put down a "backdrop", then put sprites on top of it on a different "layer". What if holodecks also have different "layers"? You could imagine the illusionary food being its own layer. Perhaps when musical instruments are present they have to be on a layer that's more "real" than ordinary props, an almost-but-not-quite replicated layer.

Nate the Great 03-05-2021 02:44 AM

Following on from a YouTube video...


PNQ: .gif-is it "jiff (jiffy without the y)" or "giff (gift without the t)"?


I use the former, it's just easier to say.

Nate the Great 03-18-2021 07:29 PM

How commas have affected government/legal matters.


PNQ: Do you use the Oxford comma?


That is, the comma before the "and" at the end of a list.


X, Y, and Z or X, Y and Z?

NAHTMMM 03-21-2021 08:06 PM

jiff and of course I use the Oxford comma, it is best practice.

Nate the Great 03-25-2021 11:59 PM

So I stumbled upon the old saying "a boat is a hole in the water that you throw money into" again...


PNQ: If you had the money for storage, maintenance, etc. for a recreational vehicle, what kind would you want?



By "recreational vehicle" I'll cast a wide net. RVs, ATVs, canoes, sailboats, dirt bikes, hang glider, whatever. We'll also assume that you have the time and opportunity to actually use the thing on a regular basis.



If you already have one, you have to choose something in a different category.

Nate the Great 03-26-2021 01:08 AM

PNQ: Vulcan mind-meld vs Jedi mind-trick-who wins?


An interesting question. It depends on the mental training of both sides. Spock vs. Obi-Wan? Are we talking at a distance, or within the mindscape of a mind-meld? Does Spock get to use the Stone of Gol?



Give each of them the weapon of the other (lightsabre and lirpa, say the lirpa is lightsabre-proof)? I think Spock is more trained in traditional weapons, he'd win.



I think if Spock managed a mind-meld, he'd win. Jedi don't look like they deal with direct mind manipulation, that's a Sith thing.



Can Spock be tricked with a mind-trick? Also an interesting question. A casual "you want to go home and reevaluate your life", not a chance. A directed "see what I want you to see", possibly. Then again, I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility that Vulcans can train themselves to see through illusions like that.



So after achieving near-Kolinar on Mount Seleya, I think Spock would win.

NAHTMMM 03-28-2021 03:09 AM

I'm sure KJ would like a little ~4-person fishing boat to putter around in.

Nate the Great 03-28-2021 02:12 PM

PNQ: In "Best of Both Worlds" did Guinan know that Picard would be saved because she knows that he hasn't gone back in time to meet her in "Time's Arrow" yet?


Because it's an interesting question. El-Aurians can sense changes in the timeline, so is it possible that they know that their knowledge of future events can be changed, or can be fulfilled by alternate timeline versions of people?


All times are GMT. The time now is 02:09 AM.

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.2
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.