Omega Molecule

In My Humble Opinion
1

WARNING ********* THIS IS A STAR TREK THREAD

ok, that said, doesn’t the whole deal with the Omega molecule still go against the prime directive? i just saw the episode last nite of voyager, and the fact that even in the end when 7 of 9 found a way to contain the molecule safely, proving that it could be done and they could even help the race that was trying to harness it as a source of energy, why did they still destroy it? they left a race to die, destroyed a wonderful new source of energy, and zipped off into space like everything was dandy again. This goes against all ST ethics that i recall. What source of energy was ever discovered without there being a possibility of being used as a weapon? So what’s the deal?

this may perhaps belong in IMHO, but i thought it might spark debate instead, moderators feel free to move as you please should this not go anywhere into a debate (like i need to tell you that :rolleyes: )

2

I take it that you didn’t watch the whole episode. There was the mention of a Star Fleet experiment where one molecule of Omega caused a major problem. It destabilized and destroyed subspace or something for an area of many square light years. The destruction rendered the use of warp engines useless. That is why they destroyed it. To render space travel obsolete for all was a greater risk than the problems of one species. And star fleet told its captians to destroy Omega when found.

3

no, got that part of the episode actually adam.
my point though is that there are always great risks involved when making great discoveries, and as was mentioned, 7 did find a way through her borg knowledge, starfleets knowledge, and the new races knowledge to contain the molecule safely, even having that wierd religious thing happen to her at the end. since when did ST decide to play it so safe and abandon the frontier thing?

4

This is now going to turn into a discussion on ethics. Remember when there was a “concern” that scientists where going to destroy the earth with some experiment at a particle accelerator? There was enough reasonable evidence that the experiment wasn’t going to end life, as we know it. The star trek scientist had first hand evidence that if the omega particle got out of hand that it would have changed life, as they knew it.

5

but didn’t any major discovery change life as we knew it?
so why would they in the ST world fear another great discovery changing life as they knew it. for example, couldn’t such a great source of power lead to another form of transportation? perhaps creating worm holes at will, trans-warp, i don’t know, but something other than warp, especially since sub space would be wiped out, but even if sub-space wasn’t wiped out, they would have such a huge new frontier to discover and explore there.

maybe it will turn into ethics, but i’d like to still focus on why particularly, ethics or not, this danger being so vastly different then any other. relatively, this changes the space around them, not the people.

6

Well, considering that the Omega molecule would destroy subspace and end space travel, essentially causing the fall of civilzation, it needed to be destroyed.

7

they said it would only end space travel at warp speeds, not impulse, or anything as yet undiscovered.

8

Yeah, but impulse power would take millenia to get ships from one system to another. Like I said, destroying warp travel would end Galactic civilization.

9

but the possibilities of coming up with another form of travel using this amazing source of power, am i the only one who thinks this way?

10

Trying to discern the logic in an episode of “ST:Voyager” is a fool’s errand. It is so poorly written that I no longer even consider it canon. The problems with the episode you mention, Slingo Lou, are well-taken, but you barely scratch the surface. Consider:

  1. The show regularly disregards known science; it’s a much worse offender than any other Star Trek series. For only one example, they treat deuterium, an actual substance, as something that’s rare in the galaxy, and when found, is an ore to be mined!

  2. Even when we can overlook the bad science, logical flaws abound. Starfleet was recently able to contact Voyager by extrapolating from its last known position, even though the ship had made several multi-thousand-lightyear leaps that Starfleet could not have known about. We’re told over and over that the Doctor’s program can’t be backed up, only to be given an episode starring the backup of his program!

  3. The ship seems to exist in an eternal present: today’s actions have no consequences tomorrow, and the characters act unaware of their own history. Chakotay nearly mutinies when he watches Janeway threaten to murder an Equinox crewman, yet they’re smiling it up at the end of the episode and it’s never mentioned again. Tuvok continues to be annoyed and arrogant toward Neelix, although they spent some time as the same person! Nothing interesting and lasting ever happens to the characters, unless it’s in an alternate timeline or involves a duplicate of the ship created on a Demon-class planet.

  4. Don’t even get me started on the episode “Threshold.”

And you’re concerned about one little Starfleet policy question in one episode? That’s like doing an autopsy of a shotgun victim and asking how he got an ingrown hair.

11

adam yax wrote:

SQUARE light-years?!

(I mean, I know some of the Star Trek characters seem flat and two-dimensional, but this is ridiculous. :wink: )

12

D’oh! Cubic light years just doesn’t roll off the tongue.

13

It’s a TV show, fer cryin out loud!!!

I know this is heresy, but Voyager is the only new trek I can watch. I hated all the characters on TNG (OOOH, another episode where Data tries to be human. That’s what, the tenth one this season??? And I’m sorry but Troi’s smarmy attitude drove me crazy. Worf was cool sometimes, but he wasn’t nearly enough of an asshole to be a real Klingon.) and the plot lines on DS9 dragged on and on with little payoff at the end.

On Voyager I like the tension between Janeway and 7, and I like that Chakotay has serious differences with his captain.
I like the idea of a black Vulcan, though they don’t do enough with Tuvok. The most annoying character, Harry Kim IMHO, is light years less annoying than Data, Troi, or Riker. The show strikes me as way less P.C. than TNG.

The Science on all ST shows is pretty lame. How the transporter gets around unceartainty is beyond me, since when do holograms have appreciable mass, why are there no visual distortions when they approach c, etc. etc… The shows are written by english majors who have publicly admitted (to the Washington Post IIRC) that they don’t worry about scientific plausibility, and think science can “do anything.” (There are technical advisors, but they do little other than supply reasonably plausible techy sounding words. They must have been sleeping when the Deuterium line passed by them.)

I watch Star Trek because it’s reasonably entertaining, the effects are cool, and itsometimes makes you ponder ethical hypotheticals, as this thread is doing re the Omega molecule.

BTW, on TNG you know Picard would have destroyed the molecule and saved the civ. The dialog would have gone like this.

 Geordi: We must destroy the molecule, but that will leave this civilisation in ruins.

 Picard: Unacceptable! there must be another alternative.

 Geordi: Well we could generate a tachyon burst through

the molecules’ subspace matrix, and beam the energy to the planet in the form of Zottion Crystals. The molecule will be destroyed and the people will have the energy they need.

 Picard: Make it so!

Kudos to Voyager for a more mature ending, in which a real choice was made.

Also, which one was “Threshold”

14

Larry said:

Bah! You didn’t even mention the main deflector dish. How is Geordi supposed to generate a tachyon burst without upgrading the deflector dish with portions of his retinal circuitry?

By God man! You don’t even have Data interfacing with the main deflector dish to provide the proper telemetry!

I just thank Q that you aren’t in command of any Enterprise class vessels around my quadrant.

(and, just out of curiosity, if the universe is divided into “quadrants”, why does Voyager have to travel through two of them before it can reach earth? And just what is the logical way to split 3-dimensional space into quadrants anyways?)

15

Plus, you forgot to include the classic Star Trek conclusion to the episode.

Spock: Captain, I believe that they are using the molecule as an eternal form of energy.

Kirk: Energy?

Spock: Yes Captain, under the proper conditions this molecule could provide unlimited…

Kirk: Energy?

Spock: Yes, Captain.

Kirk: sigh

Long Pause

Spock: Captain.

Kirk: Yes, Spock.

Spock: The energy it provides would only be useful by their motorized devices, the female of the species would not be affected.

Kirk: Oh! Well then.

Kirk: Mr. Sulu, lock phasers of target!

Sulu: Aye, Captain!

short pause

Kirk: The prime directive must be upheld at all costs.

Spock: Indeed.

16

[Moderator Hat: ON]

Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to IMHO we go…

David B, SDMB Great Debates Moderator

[Moderator Hat: Handed Off to slythe]

17

Larry Borgia wrote:

And thus we see WHY Larry Borgia prefers Voyager. He has not seen “Threshold.” Either that, or his self-preservation instinct has caused him to push “Threshold” into the deepest, darkest, most inaccessible corners of his memory. For which no one can rightly blame him.

18

Even being a fan of the series, I gave up on voyager ages ago. The whole “Stuck in deep space” thing is old.

The big problem is there is no coherency in the series. Granted, I’ve got three volumes of Dr Who continuity goofs, and that ST and SW both have holes big enough for Starships.
Still… I doubt we will ever see it while Berman is in charge of the series.

I think that’s why a lot of people like B5, no obvious plot holes.

19

Oops… the omega molecule thingy…

If they’d found a way to stabilize it, I wouldn’t have destroyed it. I would have told them of the problems we’d had, but let them make the decision. It’s their civilization, after all.

yeah, I’m still waiting for StarFleet academy to process my Application. :slight_smile:

20

Soulsing, the ST:Voyager mantra seems to be The Prime Directive-When Convenient

Seriously, the only way that this show could end that would make any degree of sense is for Janeway and the rest of the crew to be stripped of rank and dragged away in chains in the final episode.

Let’s take a look at a few of the more eregious bits of anti-Federation stuff Janeway has thrown out during the series.

  1. Allowed a group of terrorists onboard a Federation military vessel. Allowed those same terrorists access to all the vessels critical systems. (Yes, it was probably a neccessity, but still grounds for a court martial, wherin all the other crap that they’ve done will come out)

  2. Altered the mental patterns (programming) of an (apparently) sentient being (the Doctor) not once, but twice during the same episode, each time without his knowledge. Apparently it was “easier” to do this than to function without a medical officer.

  3. Allowed the Borg access to federation technology. Allowed the Bord aboard a federation military vessel and allowed them access to federation computer data. (I’m sure they didn’t keep any information about shield technology, or outpost locations, or fleet strength.)

  4. This was done in the attempt to destroy an entire race of beings from outside of “normal space.” Not exactly a happy first contact situation, I would say.

  5. In “Memorial”, found a hazardous mind affecting bit of alien technology. When they finally come face to face with the insanity-beam-projector repairs the device and reactivates it to possibly destroy future travelers through the area.

  6. In “Prey”, Janeway puts the ship in quite considerable risk to protect an 8472. A species that she had previously collaborated to wipe out.

  7. In “Equinox, part 2”, Janeway threatens a prisoner with death (via alien) if he does not “tell her what she needs to know.”

  8. More police brutality in “Scientific Method”

Anyway, that’s all I could think of off the top of my rather pointed head, so I’ll be on my way. BTW, I intentionally didn’t touch the first two seasons, where I don’t believe there was even lip service made to continuity or the Prime Directive.