# Another Star Trek question: What about the Organians? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 4, 2000, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-star-trek-question-what-about-the-organians/43955 "2000-12-04T16:24:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DRY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@DRY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DRY)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2000, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-star-trek-question-what-about-the-organians/43955/21 "2000-12-05T06:28:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DSYoungEsq \* > **I recall a comic book in which the Organians end up going head to head with the rock creature that conjured up Lincoln, Surak, et alia to conclude whether good or evil is inherently better (I mercifully forget the name of that quite forgettable episode, perhaps it was “The Savage Curtain”?).** Your memory is better than you think. It was indeed “The Savage Curtain” “Help me, Spock. Help me, Sp-ock!” “Now do Lincoln.” “Help me, Kirk. Help me, Kirk!” > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by GKittridge \* > **I can think of two episodes after _Errand of Mercy_ which had the Federation and the Klingons at war. The first was the one (I can’t remember titles anymore) where they find these nice peaceful people who are being attacked by the bad guys from the other side of the hill with weapons being supplied by the Klingons, so they give these people the same weapons, and Kirk gets a speech saying how this is the right thing to do, just like it was with the brush wars on Earth in the 20th century in a not-well disguised polemic supporting the war in Viet Nam.** A Private Little War (I think) \*\* > [@](#): > > The second had the Klingons boarding the Enterprise and the crew fighting each other with swords, but no one dies and there are always the same number of Federation types and Klingongs with equal weapons because some alien entity thrives on the warfare between these two beings in a not-well disguised polemic opposing the war in Viet Nam. > \*\* Day of the Dove “In the heart. In the head. I won’t stay dead. Next time, I’ll do the same to you…while some _thing_ laughs at us.” ---
**Author:** ![nOmega](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nOmega](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nOmega)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2000, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-star-trek-question-what-about-the-organians/43955/22 "2000-12-05T12:18:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chronos \* > \*\*Don’t forget the Prophets, either. In some ways, at least, they’re doubtless more powerful than the Q, who are still somewhat limited by time. \*\* Wasn’t there an episode of _Voyager_ when Q took the ship back to the Big Bang? I read a good piece of fanfic about this once, involving the Q all being disabled by a single rogue Organian. ---
**Author:** ![Arken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@Arken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arken)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2000, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-star-trek-question-what-about-the-organians/43955/23 "2000-12-05T13:52:57Z")
Religion is, for the most part, not discussed in Star Trek, partially because of Gene Roddenberry’s atheism… but you have to wonder what sort of crazy religions the proles are coming up with when there are so many gods out there. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2000, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-star-trek-question-what-about-the-organians/43955/24 "2000-12-05T16:35:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by astro \* > **Beyond “Q” the ascendant superbeings in the STNG universe were who?** Kes, from Voyager. Steve Collins and the Deltan girl in ST: The Motion Picture. Don’t know that they were superbeings, but they did ascend… ---
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2000, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-star-trek-question-what-about-the-organians/43955/25 "2000-12-05T19:51:36Z")
You guys are missing out on one of the big continuity/structural problems in the Star Trek universe. In TNG (I forget the episode), the crew of the good ship Enterprise discover that warp travel is polluting space. A civilization living near an important inter-stellar route (the soxmic Route 66, I suppose) complains to the Federation that their warp travel is damaging the corner of the galaxy. This is a great shock to everyone and taken quite hard by LaForge. He has trouble believing that the beautiful technology he has studied (or worshiped) his entire adult life can be so devastating. Anyway, Starfleet Command considers the Enterprise’s report and issues a directive that all starships will refrain from speeds above Warp 5 (I believe) unless in dire emergency. This rule is iggnored not long after this episode, because the new speed limit makes the travel over great distances impossibly long for good storytelling. What would have taken days to travel, now takes decades. Personally, I never understood why starships travel anything less than their absolute best possible speed. It seems to me that I would always want to get where I am going as soon as possible. Even in my car, I travel at the best speed it will safely and legally travel. Why go slower??? Wow. This post got much longer than I meant for it to be. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2000, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-star-trek-question-what-about-the-organians/43955/26 "2000-12-05T20:26:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Drum God \* > \*\*You guys are missing out on one of the big continuity/structural problems in the Star Trek universe. In TNG (I forget the episode), the crew of the good ship Enterprise discover that warp travel is polluting space. A civilization living near an important inter-stellar route (the soxmic Route 66, I suppose) complains to the Federation that their warp travel is damaging the corner of the galaxy. This is a great shock to everyone and taken quite hard by LaForge. He has trouble believing that the beautiful technology he has studied (or worshiped) his entire adult life can be so devastating. > \*\* “Force of Nature” And yes, the Warp 5 speed limit went the way of Shatner’s youth not long afterward. Supposedly, _Intrepid_-class ships (_Voyager_, for one) have a special warp nacelle design that negates the problem. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2000, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-star-trek-question-what-about-the-organians/43955/27 "2000-12-06T05:58:36Z")
This isn’t canon, but it sounds good to me. Supposedly the bottleneck isn’t the maximum output of the engines, but the fuel supply. Starships scoop up interstellar hydrogen as they go, and convert part of it (? how is never said) into antimatter, which is stored in the antimatter pods. Apparently this can only be done so quickly; at any speed above warp 4 TOS, or warp 7 TNG, the ship is dipping into it’s antimatter reserves. Voyager is maintaing an longterm average of warp 8 (counting stops and such) but even then they’re constantly short on fuel, and looking for deuterium and other enriched energy sources. ---
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2000, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-star-trek-question-what-about-the-organians/43955/28 "2000-12-06T14:19:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lumpy \* > \*\*This isn’t canon, but it sounds good to me. Supposedly the bottleneck isn’t the maximum output of the engines, but the fuel supply. > > Starships scoop up interstellar hydrogen as they go, and convert part of it (? how is never said) into antimatter, which is stored in the antimatter pods. > > Apparently this can only be done so quickly; at any speed above warp 4 TOS, or warp 7 TNG, the ship is dipping into it’s antimatter reserves. > > Voyager is maintaing an longterm average of warp 8 (counting stops and such) but even then they’re constantly short on fuel, and looking for deuterium and other enriched energy sources. > \*\* Oooooooooohhhhhhhhh. That makes sense (in a Star Trek sort of way). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-star-trek-question-what-about-the-organians/43955.md?page=1)