# "Star Trek" fans: Loose threads/unanswered questions? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 21, 2010, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-fans-loose-threads-unanswered-questions/533268 "2010-03-21T21:09:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-fans-loose-threads-unanswered-questions/533268/61 "2010-03-24T16:10:40Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > …I have come to hate Q, then be intrigued by him, then to find him annoying and then back to “hate” (more like impatience, although the actor is good). I do like Troi’s mother (Nurse Chapel in another incarnation. I mean Majel Barret). I urge you to read _Q in Law_ by Peter David, one of the funniest ST books I’ve ever read, in which Q meets Amb. Lwaxana Troi, Deanna’s mom. Good stuff. **YogSosoth** , Wesley shows up in a deleted scene of _ST: Nemesis_, which you can see on the special edition DVD. He’s at Troi’s and Riker’s wedding. He’s a Starfleet lieutenant and will be serving on Riker’s new command, the USS _Titan_, as an engineer. No mention of the Traveler. I confess I liked several VGR episodes, too, although the ratio of sucky:good was far too high for that series. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-fans-loose-threads-unanswered-questions/533268/62 "2010-03-24T16:13:39Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > **YogSosoth** , Wesley shows up in a deleted scene of _ST: Nemesis_, which you can see on the special edition DVD. He’s at Troi’s and Riker’s wedding. He’s a Starfleet lieutenant and will be serving on Riker’s new command, the USS _Titan_, as an engineer. Is it explained how he got his comission despite having dropped out of (or was he expelled from?) the Academy? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-fans-loose-threads-unanswered-questions/533268/63 "2010-03-24T16:27:59Z")
Nope. He’s just there. I imagine he got academic credit for his extensive, uh, field work with the Traveler. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-fans-loose-threads-unanswered-questions/533268/64 "2010-03-24T16:58:24Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Do female and male Vulcans have humanoid style sexual plumbing? According to David Gerrold, “Not only green, but forked.” ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-fans-loose-threads-unanswered-questions/533268/65 "2010-03-24T17:06:49Z")
> [@AWB](#): > > Nope, TAS never returned to Iotia. It was [considered](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Piece_of_the_Action_(Star_Trek))as a storyline for _DS9_, but they made _Trials and Tribble-ations_ instead. (see “Notes”) ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-fans-loose-threads-unanswered-questions/533268/66 "2010-03-24T18:24:22Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > _snip_ > > What kind of civilization created that probe in “The Inner Light”? Where was this world located? The civilization that created the probe was the one Picard experienced in the episode. They created it as a memory of their world so their world would not be forgotten. > [@](#): > > Speaking of the Traveler, one of the episodes once had some kind of weird malfunction, catapulting the Enterprise to a place billions of light years away from the Alpha Quadrant. It looks like they were inside giant crystals. What the hell is that?? It was actually the traveler who got the ship out that far and not a ship malfunction. They ended up in a section of space where thoughts could be made manifest and the traveler noted that they were not yet ready for such a thing yet. > [@astro](#): > > Do female and male Vulcans have humanoid style sexual plumbing? This was intimated but never confirmed. > > _snip_ In one episode of Enterprise T’Pol and Tripp had sex so they are at least compatible enough. In the same or different episode Dr. Phlox told Tripp and T’Pol that Human and Vulcan DNA are perfectly capable of combining to make a healthy baby. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-fans-loose-threads-unanswered-questions/533268/67 "2010-03-24T18:33:26Z")
> [@Pushkin](#): > > [Quote=FordTaurusSHO94] > > I’ve mentioned this in another thread, but we never saw why Q feared Guinan when they met on The Enterprise. They really left it dangling, but I got the impression that she annoyed him more than instilled fear. Perhaps he’d met someone who could out debate him like Picard? [/quote] The problem with that scene (I also just saw this one) is that first of all, when Picard entered Ten Forward, suddenly all of the people that were in there were gone and it was empty. Then Guinan emerged from behind the bar, like she used some power to prevent Q from making her disappear. Worse than that, after Q saw her and stepped back a little, Guinan adopted some sort of defensive pose, and held her hands up like she was making claws and was about to shoot some magic weapon at him. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-fans-loose-threads-unanswered-questions/533268/68 "2010-03-24T18:37:08Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Do female and male Vulcans have humanoid style sexual plumbing? This was intimated but never confirmed. > [@Tahssa](#): > > In one episode of Enterprise T’Pol and Tripp had sex so they are at least compatible enough. In the same or different episode Dr. Phlox told Tripp and T’Pol that Human and Vulcan DNA are perfectly capable of combining to make a healthy baby. Well Spock was half-human, half-vulcan: so we already knew that. Unless it was assumed that Spock was an IVF baby I guess. ---
**Author:** ![ReticulatingSplines](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@ReticulatingSplines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReticulatingSplines)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-fans-loose-threads-unanswered-questions/533268/69 "2010-03-24T18:37:41Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > What kind of civilization created that probe in “The Inner Light”? Where was this world located? Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but was it not the point of the entire episode to answer this question? ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-fans-loose-threads-unanswered-questions/533268/70 "2010-03-24T18:44:16Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > Well Spock was half-human, half-vulcan: so we already knew that. Unless it was assumed that Spock was an IVF baby I guess. The only time they ever mentioned two humanoids having difficulty making a baby, to my knowledge, was when Jadzia and Worf were planning to have kids and Jadzia mentioned she was having some sort of genetic treatment to make it possible for them to conceive together. ---
**Author:** ![Todderbob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@Todderbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Todderbob)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-fans-loose-threads-unanswered-questions/533268/71 "2010-03-24T18:45:02Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > The problem with that scene (I also just saw this one) is that first of all, when Picard entered Ten Forward, suddenly all of the people that were in there were gone and it was empty. Then Guinan emerged from behind the bar, like she used some power to prevent Q from making her disappear. > > Worse than that, after Q saw her and stepped back a little, Guinan adopted some sort of defensive pose, and held her hands up like she was making claws and was about to shoot some magic weapon at him. I seem to remember either a fankwank, or a producer talking about all that… What they said was something along the lines of… We know the Q used to be corporeal beings (some episode in VOY confirmed), and they became non-corporeal. According to what I remember: the Q used to be the same race as Guinan, but the Guinan’s appreciated life and thought immortality and eternity would make it all trivial. As such, the only significant difference between Guinan and Q is that Guinan will eventually grow old and die… ---
**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:** [March 24, 2010, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-fans-loose-threads-unanswered-questions/533268/72 "2010-03-24T19:05:20Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > The only time they ever mentioned two humanoids having difficulty making a baby, to my knowledge, was when Jadzia and Worf were planning to have kids and Jadzia mentioned she was having some sort of genetic treatment to make it possible for them to conceive together. Actually, IIRC, Keh’leyr (Alexander’s mother) was half-human/half-Klingon, and I THINK it was Troi who expressed surprise that that particular combination worked. Also IIRC, Keh’leyr said that her parents had undergone a procedure (probably the same procedure Jadzia did) to be able to conceive her. On the other hand, I don’t remember ever hearing B’ellana Torres mention this about her conception on Voyager. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-fans-loose-threads-unanswered-questions/533268/73 "2010-03-24T19:28:51Z")
Were there any “good” female Klingons who were not half-human? The only other major female Klingons I can think of were the Duras sisters, or old ladies. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-fans-loose-threads-unanswered-questions/533268/74 "2010-03-24T19:34:05Z")
There were some “good” female Klingons on the warship that Riker served aboard as part of an exchange program, and aboard other ships during the Klingon Civil War, too. None of any particular prominence, though. Er, plotwise, that is. ---
**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:** [March 24, 2010, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-fans-loose-threads-unanswered-questions/533268/75 "2010-03-24T19:38:00Z")
Wasn’t Azetbur (the chancellor’s daughter) in _Undiscovered Country_ the one who carried on her father’s peace plans after his assassination despite the conspiracy to torpedo them? And IIRC it was the female VULCAN in that movie who was part of the bad guy conspiracy. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-fans-loose-threads-unanswered-questions/533268/76 "2010-03-24T19:39:38Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > Worse than that, after Q saw her and stepped back a little, Guinan adopted some sort of defensive pose, and held her hands up like she was making claws and was about to shoot some magic weapon at him. I assumed it was some sort of space-fu, like the strange moves Decker and the ensign made when fighting in The Doomsday Machine. > [@Skammer](#): > > Were there any “good” female Klingons who were not half-human? The only other major female Klingons I can think of were the Duras sisters, or old ladies. The only other one I can think of was the Klingon who married Quark. In a DS9 episode her husband was accidentally killed in Quark’s bar. After satisfying all sorts of Klingon ritual (including shagging her) she is able to take her husband’s place as head of her house. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-fans-loose-threads-unanswered-questions/533268/77 "2010-03-24T19:42:11Z")
> [@Pushkin](#): > > Which was that? There was an episode where he beams down two crewmen, but then finds out their position over a planet was an illusion ([And the children shall lead](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_the_Children_Shall_Lead)) and they’ve been beamed into space. There were two redshirts already on the planet. They beamed down two new redshirts to take over for them. They tried to beam up the first two redshirts… oops, they’re not in orbit any more. They never did say what ever became of those first two guys. ---
**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:** [March 24, 2010, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-fans-loose-threads-unanswered-questions/533268/78 "2010-03-24T19:44:51Z")
> [@Pushkin](#): > > The only other one I can think of was the Klingon who married Quark. In a DS9 episode her husband was accidentally killed in Quark’s bar. After satisfying all sorts of Klingon ritual (including shagging her) she is able to take her husband’s place as head of her house. [Grilka](http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Grilka). She appeared in two episodes, _House of Quark_ and _Looking For Par’mach In All The Wrong Places_. ---
**Author:** ![Leiko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Leiko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leiko)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-fans-loose-threads-unanswered-questions/533268/79 "2010-03-24T19:46:26Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Actually, IIRC, Keh’leyr (Alexander’s mother) was half-human/half-Klingon, and I THINK it was Troi who expressed surprise that that particular combination worked. Also IIRC, Keh’leyr said that her parents had undergone a procedure (probably the same procedure Jadzia did) to be able to conceive her. > > On the other hand, I don’t remember ever hearing B’ellana Torres mention this about her conception on Voyager. When Torres was pregnant there was at least one episode about the necessary and not-so-necessary gene therapy that the Doctor needed to do/could do to her baby. I just checked Memory Alpha and it looks like Miral would have been born with a deviated spine if Doc hadn’t fixed her up, but they don’t say if that’s a side-effect of Klingon/Human interbreeding or just something that runs in Torres’s or Paris’s family. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-fans-loose-threads-unanswered-questions/533268/80 "2010-03-24T19:49:55Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > There were two redshirts already on the planet. They beamed down two new redshirts to take over for them. They tried to beam up the first two redshirts… oops, they’re not in orbit any more. They never did say what ever became of those first two guys. Also, that raises a point of transporter protocol, as pointed out in [the Agony Booth recap](http://www.agonybooth.com/recaps/Star_Trek/the_original_series/And_the_Children_Shall_Lead___.aspx): > [@](#): > > Spock and Kirk head to the transporter room and Kirk briefs the two Redshirts. He has them beamed down, then tells the transporter operator to beam the other two guys up. Just like that, huh? Wouldn’t he want to get in touch with those guys first, you know, to actually tell them they’re about to be beamed up? Those guys could be doing anything. I mean, they could be sitting on the crapper right now for all Kirk knows. Or perhaps tenderizing the tube steak. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-fans-loose-threads-unanswered-questions/533268.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-fans-loose-threads-unanswered-questions/533268.md?page=5)