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Old 11-13-2022, 04:11 AM
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Nate the Great Nate the Great is offline
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October 26th, 1992, "True Q"

No fiver (who has this one reserved?)

The Episode

Captain's log, stardate 46192.3. We have arrived at Starbase one one two and are loading relief supplies destined for Tagra Four, an ecologically devastated planet in the Argolis Cluster.

I thought that the Argolis Cluster showed up more often than it did, but it turns out it was only in two TNG episodes and two DS9 episodes. Rene Echevarria wrote three of these. It makes a few appearances in the expanded universe.

AMANDA: Yes, sir. I still can't believe they chose me. There were lots of other people with better records.
CRUSHER: Your transcript is very impressive. She's done honours work in neurobiology, plasma dynamics, and eco-regeneration. I'd say that's pretty well rounded.

Makes you wonder how these fields are related or what "eco-regeneration" is.

RIKER: It'll take a few days before you know where everything is. If you need any help, you just use one of these comm. panels.
AMANDA: We're on deck seven, section four.

I have to wonder how anyone other than Data knows where everything is on a ship this big. Whatever happened to the wall arrows from "Encounter at Farpoint", anyway?

CRUSHER: See all these readouts? That's your heart rate, your blood pressure all your vital signs. You're in good shape. You might just live to be my age.

She's majored in neurobiology, I think she knows how to use a medical tricorder! Just skip to the next line!

AMANDA: So I should scan myself with each one to make sure all the readouts are working?
CRUSHER: Any unit that doesn't, put it aside and we'll do a diagnostic on it later.

They can't do this automatically? You can really tell that this is pre-USB, can't you?

AMANDA: It's amazing to think that they go to such lengths to clean the air instead of regulating the emissions that cause the problem.
LAFORGE: You're right. Actually, the only thing the filters can do is keep things from getting worse.

Did Trek really do an anti-pollution episode before the Malon showed up?

AMANDA: It's hard to imagine how much energy is being harnessed in there.
DATA: Imagination is not necessary. The scale is readily quantifiable. We are presently generating twelve point seven five billion gigawatts per-

And what does "12.75 billion gigawatts per whatever" mean in terms that a person can imagine? Today we can compare energy output to old-style lightbulbs, a dam, or a whole city. Furthermore, why not use 5 petawatt instead of 5 billion gigawatt? In any case, modern aircraft carriers are about a gigawatt. The TNG Tech Manual implies 5(10^18) W for the warp core at maximum output. So 12.75(10^12) W is a relatively low value for idling power.

Furthermore, you don't add a "per time unit" for power output. Power is already energy/time.

DATA: Temperature in the reaction chamber has increased by forty seven percent.

Sheesh, they're not even trying to hide the 47s at this point, are they? What the temperature inside the warp core would be is an interesting question that I could pontificate on for some time, but I won't.

(the chamber explodes, but Amanda holds out her hands and pushes the reaction back inside and seals it again)

Amanda doesn't have full access to Q knowledge yet, so I have to wonder how she knows about the construction specs of the warp core enough to rebuild the thing. And don't forget that she has to rebuild the core AND the dilithium chamber AND the confinement beam emitters AND force the matter and antimatter back into the injection systems. And probably deenergize the warp plasma all the way to the nacelles at the same time.

Q: Well, not exactly. They had assumed human form in order to visit Earth, I suppose for amusement. But in vulgar human fashion they proceeded to conceive a child. And then like mawkish humans, they became attached to it. What is it about those squirming little infants that you find so appealing?

In the Q Continuum books when Beverly finds out about Q Junior she asks about how he's different from Amanda Rogers. The implication is that Amanda's parents were fully locked in "human mode" when she was conceived, thus she was born locked into "human mode". Her powers slowly emerged, but she needed Q to unlock her into full Q mode here. Q and Lady Q didn't do that, their bodies were still in avatar mode when their energies united to create Q Junior. He was born as a real Q, looking as the Q really do. Q was nudging him into looking like a baby for Janeway's benefit.

Then again, one of the Strange New Worlds stories reveals how Dr. Selar had to act as a midwife to Lady Q, but that's a story for when I get to "The Q and the Grey."

TROI: What happened to Amanda's parents?
Q: They died in an accident.

It's not often that Q outright lies. One wonders why he didn't just say "it's a long story" and quickly moved on to the next topic.

Q: None of us knew whether she had inherited the capacities of the Q, but recently they've began to emerge, and as an expert in humanity, I was sent to investigate.
RIKER: You, an expert in humanity?
Q: Not a very challenging field of study, I grant you.

How is Q not an expert in humanity, at least by Q standards? "Death Wish" revealed that he was one of the only Q who still bothered to travel the universe among the locals.

Actually, this is another plot point that was explored in the Q Continuum novels. Q's antics were indirectly responsible for the asteroid that destroyed the dinosaurs, so the Q Continuum made him look after the lifeforms that would evolve on Earth. It's a long story.

PICARD: I want to know about her biological parents, about their death. I find it odd that any Q could die in an accident.
DATA: It is not consistent with what we know of them, sir.

No duh. It takes another Q-level species to kill a Q. There's the Calamarain, the M Continuum, 0, The One, (*), the Travelers, the Organians...

I do recommend the novel I, Q where we meet the M Continuum. Q's counterpart M is even more annoying than he is.

PICARD: Amanda, allow me to introduce, er, Q. He's er, he's an acquaintance of ours. We've er, we've known him for years.

An acquaintance? Gotta love Picard for refusing to lie even under these circumstances.

Q: Don't worry. With time you'll overcome the disadvantages you suffered as a child. No one will hold it against you for having been human. Let's go.
(Amanda sends Q flying across the room)
AMANDA: Leave me alone! I'm not going anywhere with you!

Q doesn't get his butt kicked nearly often enough. It's a shame that Guinan isn't in this episode, she would've loved this and been a useful mentor for Amanda. Then again, that would've stolen screentime away from Crusher.

AMANDA: He's so horrible.
CRUSHER: He is the only one who can help you to understand who you are.

I suddenly wonder if Quinn would've been an improvement in this scenario. Too bad he's still trapped in a comet.
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