Persistent, Niggling Questions

[Nate the Great]

Today I got my first "you've been selected to be included in our Who's Who book!" spam/phishing email.


PNQ: Seriously, how are these companies still making money and why aren't the laws stricter about penalizing them?

[Nate the Great]

Someone on Facebook complained that we saw the Delaney Sisters onscreen, saying that they were more interesting when we just heard about them secondhand...


PNQ: Opinions?


I think the Facebook poster is a little uptight. The Delaney Sisters weren't built up to the point where any performance would be a letdown, like Norm's wife Vera (odd that this is the same day as the George Wendt post, huh?) or Maris on Frasier. They were only mentioned previously in the episode "Time and Again" when Tom was trying to set up a double date. Their only subsequent mention was in "Muse".



Where they seriously dropped the ball is not showing the Delaney Sisters MORE. Harry giving up on Libby deserved more mentions, and eventually deciding to start dating again would've made a nice subplot. Then again, this subplot would've needed more Paris appearances, and between Kes and Torres he was kept pretty busy.

[Nate the Great]

On Reddit I saw a meme image of Siskos statue on Bajor with DS9 in one hand and the Defiant in the other…

PNQ: Why the Defiant? Wouldn’t an Orb case be more appropriate?

[Nate the Great]

This comes from an Adam Savage YouTube video where he addresses the question...


PNQ: Are the titles "scientist" and "engineer" dependent on having a degree, or can they be self-applied?


Personally I feel that occupation titles like this don't depend on having a specific degree, they depend on something more fundamental: are you being paid to do the work of a scientist, engineer, etc.?

[Nate the Great]

Since there seems to be a rash of Facebook images of random fictional characters as Hogwarts students...


PNQ: What Trek main characters would you put in each House?


As a primer for those less familiar with Harry Potter (like me)...


Gryffindor: Known for bravery, courage, nerve, and chivalry.

Hufflepuff: Valued for hard work, loyalty, patience, and fairness.

Ravenclaw: Known for intelligence, learning, wisdom, and wit.

Slytherin: Associated with ambition, cunning, resourcefulness, and leadership.

I'll start with TOS...


Grypphindor: Kirk, McCoy, Sulu
Hufflepuff: Scotty, Chekov
Ravenclaw: Spock, Uhura
Slytherin:


Opinions? It's interesting that if I have to put SOMEONE in Slytherin, it would be Sisko and Janeway.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by Nate the Great

On Reddit I saw a meme image of Siskos statue on Bajor with DS9 in one hand and the Defiant in the other…

PNQ: Why the Defiant? Wouldn’t an Orb case be more appropriate?

The real question is, why put DS9 in his hand when it should clearly be on his head?

[Nate the Great]

Inspired by a Facebook post...


PNQ: What character from the episode "Lower Decks" would've worked best as a main character in Voyager, like some of the rumors said?


Exclude Taurik/Vorik, of course.


I liked Ogawa, but Kes and Doc had the medical aspect locked down. Sure, Ogawa would've been useful as a recurring character but would the actress have agreed to continue for seven more years as only a recurring character?


Lavelle and Paris would've been redundant. Then again, it would've been a useful growing experience for Tom to see the younger, more immature version of himself.


Ben and Neelix wouldn't have meshed well, plus I'm sure Voyager is too small to need a waiter. Then again, it would've been interesting to see the perspective of a non-Starfleet Federation citizen. Would the Maquis have tried to sway him, would the memory of Sito have colored his opinion?


Sito would've been very useful. How betrayed would she feel learning that Seska was really a Cardassian?

[Nate the Great]

Inspired by a Reddit post...


PNQ: If you were being shot by many phasers set on stun simultaneously, how many would it take to be lethal?


The Undiscovered Country says that a phaser on stun at close range can kill, but I'm talking normal phaser range, say a dozen feet.


It stands to reason that phaser power dissipates with distance, but how fast?


My gut says about a dozen stun beams is fatal.

[Nate the Great]

PNQ: Suppose you had the job of naming TNG but you couldn't call it "The Next Generation", what would you do?


I assume that "The Next Generation" was derived from "Phase II", but that name made sense when it was a continuation of TOS, not so much for a new cast.


I admit that I don't have a good alternative. The best I can come up with is "Star Trek Odyssey" if they stuck to the original premise that the E-D was going to be outside the Federation for twenty years.

[Nate the Great]

Inspired by a Reddit post...


PNQ: Suppose you could try to date any Trek character, which would you choose? Presume that both of you are 25 and single and you're in the year that they'd be 25 in the chronology.


Note that I say date, as in courting as a possible prelude to marriage. I don't mean a one night stand. A romp in the hay with Jadzia might be fun, but would you really want to date her?

[Nate the Great]

Inspired by a YouTube video...


PNQ: Can you tell the difference between pop made from cane sugar and pop made from corn syrup?


I can. Totally. But the guy in this YouTube video couldn't.

[Nate the Great]

Inspired by the Steve Shives review of "Starship Mine"...


PNQ: So the "baryon sweep" is a ridiculous idea because all atomic nuclei are made of baryons, but what would be a more plausible excuse to evacuate the ship?


I'm not sure I can come up with one.

[Nate the Great]

PNQ: What "era" of Star Trek history would you want to live in?


I'll let you pick one era assuming you're a Starfleet officer and one era assuming you're a civilian. I'll also say that you don't have to worry about the big threats like Borg or Dominion. If you choose to live on the border or in Starfleet you still have to worry about Romulans, Cardassians, etc. depending on the era.


Would you want to be a colonist knowing that there are doomsday machines and Crystalline Entities and dikironium clouds flying around?

[Nate the Great]

Inspired by a review of STTMP...


PNQ: Kirk was only a captain for five years. Is that really enough for promotion to admiral? Pike was captain for eleven years and only got promoted to Fleet Captain! For that matter, how did Kirk skip the rank of Commodore?


A lot of this would've been solved by having a second five-year mission offscreen between TOS and STTMP and having Commodore Kirk in STTMP.

[Nate the Great]

Inspired by a YouTube video...


PNQ: Which movie car do you think had the best reveal: Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang or the DeLorean time machine?

[Nate the Great]

Inspired by Reddit...


PNQ: What if one of the '37s had joined the crew as a recurring character?


I'd never thought of this one before.

[Nate the Great]

PNQ: Suppose you lived in the 24th century, what job would you want? For more interesting answers I'm excluding Starfleet and shipboard civilian specialists as options.


Would you want to live like Jacob Sisko, running your own small business (or I suppose I should say "operation" since money wouldn't be involved) on Earth?


Would you want to be a colonist? If so, would you live like ordinary Federation civilians or would you live in a simpler manner like the Bringloidi?


Would you live on the frontier where money still exists?

[NAHTMMM]

I'd want to live on an established planet doing some sort of science. Maybe a little more "out there" planet where we're studying the local technobabble would be fine, but still somewhere safer from random threats than the average outpost.

[Nate the Great]

I found an interesting question on Reddit that I've never thought of before...


PNQ: What TNG episodes are the "most TNG"? Not necessarily the best in terms of general quality or entertainment value, but the best at expressing what TNG is as opposed to the other series?


For example, only Picard could do "The Drumhead" or "Darmok." Only Worf could do "Sins of the Father." Only Troi could do "Face of the Enemy". And so forth. Other Trek characters could do the basic plot, but the outcome would have to be completely changed.

[Nate the Great]

René Auberjonois has died.


PNQ: Favorite non-Odo Auberjonois role? (You can say Colonel West if you want to)


I had forgotten about his role in Batman Forever, he did a good job.


I had to be reminded about his role in Inspector Gadget as well, I had forgotten that he was in that movie.


And of course his voice work in Little Mermaid must be mentioned as well. Especially since several YouTubers haven't forgotten, and made comments to the video where he helps Sisko cooks.