# Enterprise-Cogenitor **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 30, 2003, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-cogenitor/172055 "2003-04-30T02:09:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-cogenitor/172055/141 "2003-05-05T05:44:54Z")
There are worse places where one could itch. Quidditch? I’m hungry. You talked about Italian in the other thread! ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-cogenitor/172055/142 "2003-05-05T05:46:12Z")
I’m hungry too. All I had for dinner was rice and water. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-cogenitor/172055/143 "2003-05-05T05:49:18Z")
Mmmm…starch. But it sounds so sad. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-cogenitor/172055/144 "2003-05-05T05:51:40Z")
I had a tomato slice too. Yummy. It’s amazing what you can do to yourself for someone else. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-cogenitor/172055/145 "2003-05-05T12:41:46Z")
Thank G-d we don’t pay money for this. ---
**Author:** ![Kn\_ckers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/96bed5/32.png) [@Kn\_ckers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kn_ckers)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-cogenitor/172055/146 "2003-05-05T12:44:49Z")
Thanks for the spoiler, **viva**. I’ll be watching for that… Maybe in the Aw, Hell - A Damn Fool Borg Episode, this week. :lascivious smiley: ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-cogenitor/172055/147 "2003-05-05T16:47:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by vivalostwages \* > \*\*I see they cut Travis’s vocal cords again. > > Imagine the call from the set that week: “Hey, Anthony Montgomery, we need you to come to the bridge set today to shoot a scene. All we need is three minutes of your time to set it up, light it and rehearse it. Or maybe five minutes if the others flub their lines.” \*\* Not to be a nitpicker, but it’s probably more like all day. It takes an hour to get into makeup and costume (two or more if you’re an alien), an hour to establish the lighting for each camera setup (it goes slower on a movie set; for episodic TV, they’ve got a template book that gives you everything you need for nine out of ten scenes on common sets, for speed and efficiency), an hour or more to rehearse the camera moves (why? just one reason in a hundred: the boom operator needs to keep the mike out of the frame, and needs to know what the camera’s going to do), up to an hour to shoot each setup, and so on. If you’ve never done it, a shooting set is a remarkably boring place to be. The point is, it’s not like Montgomery looks at the script and says, Oh boy, I get to go surfing all week again except for Wednesday when I have to be here for half an hour in the morning. No, he gets the script and says, Oh boy, I get to go surfing all week again except for Wednesday when I have to be here all #\*&$! day with my thumb in my ass. ---
**Author:** ![Linus\_Van\_Pelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Linus\_Van\_Pelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linus_Van_Pelt)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-cogenitor/172055/148 "2003-05-05T17:03:52Z")
**Aesiron** , I assume that since I didn’t hear your scream across several states that you managed to catch the repeat? Regarding the episode (I finally got a chance to sit down and watch it): I agree wholeheartedly - this episode is _much_ better. Finally, there are some consequences for actions. Finally, the captain grows a friggin’ backbone. But… but… I want more. I want to see them take a _real_ look at the ethical delimas involved in a potential policy of non-interference. For example, is it, should it be, absolute? No matter how horrendous we (I’ll be using “we” meaning humans in general) consider the behavior of another species, we absolutely should not interfere? Does this only include intra-species behaviors? What about a species that routinely raids, tortures, and enslaves its neighbors, but promises to leave us alone? If the non-interference policy is not absolute, where do we draw the line? I think that everone would agree that Trip’s ham-handed attempt to “help” was inappropriate, but what about other means? What about diplomatic channels? The Vulcans don’t seem to have a problem “interfering” by those means. Are they being hypocrites? What if the cogenitor **had** asked for help? And there’s one more question that I think is just as important: If there should be a policy of non-intereference, why? Is it merely for practical reasons - because we just can’t judge what would happen (especially if we let any idiot who wants to “help” go off half-cocked)? Or is it for ethical reasons - we feel that we don’t have the right to interefere, despite the fact that they seem to have decided that all sentient beings have, or should have, rights. Before anyone asks, no I don’t have all of the answers. I don’t know if anyone does. But I really want to to see them ask the _questions_. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-cogenitor/172055/149 "2003-05-05T17:49:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Linus Van Pelt \* > \*\* > What if the cogenitor **had** asked for help? > \*\* S/he did ask Archer for help. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Linus Van Pelt \* > \*\* > If there should be a policy of non-intereference, why? \*\* Picard said in some episode or other that _every_instance of interference in a less developed culture had bad results. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-cogenitor/172055/150 "2003-05-05T18:08:48Z")
The Vissians or whatever were more advanced though. So the Prime Directive’s moot to begin with, even if it existed. For instance, Janeway sure didn’t care to use 29th Century technology and Borg weaponry, did she? And yes, **Linus** , I saw the episode. Es muy bien. Thanks for asking. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Linus\_Van\_Pelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Linus\_Van\_Pelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linus_Van_Pelt)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-cogenitor/172055/151 "2003-05-05T18:11:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by carnivorousplant \* > **S/he did ask Archer for help.** Yes, but not until _after_ Trip had already done his thing. When Trip protested that Archer had given them literature, Archer responded that it was different and that, besides, they had asked for it. He then asked if s/he had asked Trip for help. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by carnivorousplant \* > \*\*Picard said in some episode or other that _every_instance of interference in a less developed culture had bad results. \*\* I don’t remember that he had said that _every_ instance had bad results, just that there were bad results. But does it mean that the Prime Directive is purely practical? And assuming that’s what he said, he also specified a less developed culture. Not the case in this episode. Maybe this episode wasn’t about the eventually developed (often ignored) Prime Directive after all, but was about charging ahead without all the facts and without considering the consequences of one’s actions. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-cogenitor/172055/152 "2003-05-05T18:14:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Aesiron \* > \*\*Janeway sure didn’t care to use 29th Century technology and Borg weaponry, did she? > \*\* That’s not violating the Prime Directive; it would involve dealing with a civilization that wasn’t warp capable. The 29th century tech; you speak of the final episode? I believe that she was somewhat motivated to save Tuvok and others. ---
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-cogenitor/172055/153 "2003-05-05T18:20:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tracer \* > \*\*Although it was nice to see Malcom get an opportunity to put his hoo hoo dilly in that blonde gal’s cha-cha \*\* But that was the problem – they left us hanging on that part of the story! Did Malcolm and alien chick get busy? Or did she whack him over the head with a phase inverter and steal the schematics for the Enterprise weaponry? Or did they **try** to get busy, only to have him find out that on her world, it’s the women who have the penises? Gosh, don’t just leave us hanging!! Best line in this episode, from the chick that Malcolm was hitting on… She says, seductively, “I’m interested to see your tactical array…” Monstre: “And I’d like to see your torpedos…” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-cogenitor/172055/154 "2003-05-05T18:59:41Z")
I think the Malcolm angle was part of the “It’s OK to share literature with the aliens, it’s ok to screw them, just don’t make any judgement” concept. It served a purpose other than crude entertainment for Tars. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Kn\_ckers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/96bed5/32.png) [@Kn\_ckers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kn_ckers)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-cogenitor/172055/155 "2003-05-05T20:05:34Z")
Wait, hey, guys! It just occurred to me, in thinking about Malcolm and the alien chick - the Vissians could be horny as all hell, have sex all over the place, and (as long as there’s no Cogenitor around), they never have to worry about birth control! Horray! No unwanted pregnancies, no “Shit, I’m two weeks late!” No teenagers leaving babies in Dumpsters - these aliens have it made. I think modern medicine needs to look into working out some cogenitor-based system for humans. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-cogenitor/172055/156 "2003-05-05T20:10:32Z")
That point occured to me. It may account for the promiscuity of the lady who approached Malcolm. ---
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-cogenitor/172055/157 "2003-05-05T20:43:48Z")
No, no… she just wanted to se his tactical array… I wonder if that line would work for me in a bar… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-cogenitor/172055/158 "2003-05-05T20:55:15Z")
If I told you you had a breached warp core, would you hold it against me? ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-cogenitor/172055/159 "2003-05-05T21:01:45Z")
Eww. Use a tampon. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-cogenitor/172055/160 "2003-05-05T21:02:31Z")
And, of course, it _would_ be **Kn(nymphobabesexologist)ckers** that picked up on the casual sex issue. 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-cogenitor/172055.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-cogenitor/172055.md?page=9)