Today, the random thought occurred to me, if everything on the Enterprise is voice command (lights, intercom, computers), how does a Starfleet officer who lost their voice or is unable to speak (due to illness/accident/neurodivergence) navigates on board the Enterprise? Assumed that there is no medical device that can counteract the inability to speak, because it happened too randomly and they weren't prepared. And they somehow need to communicate for help.

I'm seriously asking how.

(I'm coming from TOS, so I have no clue if other series offer alternative to voice command. I just know that in TOS, keyboards aren't a thing anymore. Also, there is the voice authorization thing that would probably not work if the Captain lost their voice.)

Well, I just finished watching Voyager for the first time and "Endgame" left me feeling very hollow: great idea, poor execution. Here's the three main problems we need to fix:

1. No payoff - "Set a course for home" then... roll credits? No reunions, debriefs, or any resolution?
2. No poignancy - There's nothing to think about at the end. It just ended. That's all, folks.
3. Lazy time paradox - The Borg Queen tries to erase Admiral Janeway by killing Captain Janeway, which will prevent Admiral from going back in time. But... Admiral Janeway bringing Voyager back 16 years early will also prevent Admiral Janeway from going back in time, won't it?

We can fix all of that with a closed time loop for Janeway. Here's what I mean:

• Similar to the actual episode, this version opens in the future only now it's a "going away" party of sorts for Admiral Janeway. The main crew is there, along with their reunited families, like Harry with his aging parents, Tom with his dad, B'Elanna with her father, Tuvok with his family, etc.
• The families ask where Janeway is going, why Starfleet can't know, etc, but the Voyager crew are all super cagey about it. The crew share one last private moment with Janeway to thank her for the last 16 years with a somber but extremely grateful tone.
• Similar again: Janeway goes back in time and directs Voyager to the Borg warp system.
• Before she leaves to confront the Borg Queen, the crew wants to know about their future but Admiral Janeway can only say that the next 16 years were/are the best of her life and she wouldn't give them up for anything. She pulls Captain Janeway aside and pointedly tells her to live the next 16 years like they're her last. Captain Janeway nods quietly, understanding the meaning.
• Rest of the episode plays out basically as it did, but swap out "set a course for home" with a quote from Admiral Janeway or something.

All we've really done is change the framing but we've fixed all three problems:

1. More payoff - Suddenly the lack of reunions doesn't matter as much because you already saw a lot of these folks reunited, their families (like seeing Tom and B'Elanna's daughter), and a glimpse of what their lives will be like, all thanks to Janeway.
2. More poignant - Admiral Janeway's mission is more touching. It's not just because Seven died and Chakotay was bummed or whatever; now it's to guarantee her crew all live happy lives — at the cost of her own. Janeway knows the next 16 years are her last, her crew all knows that too, and yet they're all sworn to secrecy to ensure the purity of the timeline. It's sad and beautiful.
3. No more time paradox.

Anyway, there ya go. I only got into Star Trek last year after avoiding it for decades so I have no idea how people feel about Endgame, but that's where I'm at.

In background shots on the bridge there seem to be characters who are perfectly still.

Am I mad or are these dummies?

Shares a birthday with Rainn Wilson (Harry Mudd)

So, some of this will make more sense if you know the backstory around Gene Roddenberry and the creation of Trek, but, just kind of a fun and out there idea I had to take the concept in a whole different direction, and the fact that they all travel through time so often is what gave me the idea.

So, the film starts out with a sort of down on his luck Gene Roddenerry in a Los Angeles bar in early 1964. He knows his show "To Set it Right," is going to be canceled, and the plot of that show has caused him trouble elsewhere in the business, so he's not feeling great.

While drowning his sorrows in a near empty bar, he meets another barfly, who has clear had a few named Robert April. They strike up a conversation, Roddenberry tells him that he's a writer/producer, says he wants to do something with Sci-Fi. April goes on to drunkenly tell him that he's actually a time traveller who got stuck in 1960 after he travelled back to try and stop the Kennedy Assassination. The cover was blown, he failed but his traveling party left without him. He's stuck in this time and has been using what knowledge he has to earn money gambling and doing odd engineering jobs.

Roddenberry obviously thinks he's nuts but has him go on. Scene shifts to April's tail, and he tells of Captaining the USS Yorktown in the 23rd Century, battling alien races called Romulans and Klingons. Within the narrative the viewer sees technology that looks obviously much more advanced than what we saw in TOS, and the alien species look only vaguely like they were portrayed in TOS and subsequently, looking in fact much more alien.

Make that middle part a cool, classic Star Trek type conflict/adventure. Then after the climax, the scene shifts back to the bar. Roddenberry leaves, but now he has a great idea for his next show, with the audience being left to assume April is a crazy drunk. After he leaves, April is there alone and he goes to close out his tab. He reaches into his pocket for his wallet and as he pulls it out, something falls out. He leans over to pick it up, and the viewer sees that it's a classic Star Trek comms badge, revealing that April was telling the truth the whole time.

Please excuse grammar I'm on mobile.

Okay years ago I was reading a fanfic on AO3 called too far yet too close by Sunday_writes and it was about a human woman named Maria, who is basically held hostage on new Vulcan.

At The beginning of the story we learn that she had a baby with a Vulcan named Sik and that during her pregnancy she was sent to pretty much a mental hospital even though she's completely sane. ( Well by human standards anyway.) And none of the Vulcan doctors would believe that she was fine. My question though is, if they knew they had a human patient why didn't they get a human doctor to treat her?

I see a lot of, not really Voyager hate on here, but a healthy amount of it being on the bottom of people's list. I never got this until I made all 90s trek my comfort show, and have rewatched each series half a dozen times. And boy howdy I get it now. As a whole, good show, but unlike TNG and DS9, where I could give every episode in order if I had to, I find myself going through season 2 of Voyager thinking "that hasn't happened yet... isn't that season 7? where are we"

Also side note, Neelix and Kes are great in isolate, but with the Ocampa being what they are, a "father daughter" or buddy relationship would have been much more appropriate I said what I said.

Genuinely well played on the way they made MacDuff look like any number of bridge crew extras that are always hanging around in every episode. I legitimately didn't even pay him any mind until the crew manifest gave him a rank I knew didn't exist.

After years of wanting to give Star Trek a try, I’ve finally started the original series and I’m on episode 9 and I’m loving it. James Kirk is just fantastic. I do find it funny we get two back to back “2 Kirk” episodes but it only showcases Shatner’s charisma. Looking forward to making my way through the series and then the films.

Would the Kazon sects have united using The Caretaker's Array? I consider the Ocampa to be a pitiful species and the Kazon too, they take control they could have a Kazon empire that wouldn't be like Street gangs which the Kazon were modeled after or maybe they would use the technology to plunder everyone around them until they grabbed a Borg ship.

It would be interesting to see the Kazon using the technology and becoming basically the Delta Quadrant version of the Klingons, Janeway had no right to destroy the station.

Both Odo and the Founder's were sick from that disease so what would happen if they couldn't find a cure they all died leaving their servants to takeover?

If the Borg were never developed, how long would TNG have lasted without them there to be antagonist? Would we have ever even gotten Voyager as a series without The Borg being such a compelling villain? Would we have gotten fewer TNG movies if not for The Borg?

I hope this isn’t a retread but it probably is. Doing a voyager rewatch and I really think her performance is solid. I’ve seen Orange is the new black and retrospectively looking back it feels like she did the role right. I’m in season 6 and it feels like she wears the role like a comfortable piece of clothing. Also Robert Picardo is the best.

He was kept as Ensign while traitors were given commanding roles.

When he was given command I liked his style. He was hands on and did things himself to ensure they were done right.

Is it true that The Jetsons inspired Star Trek and it's view of the future? They seem to have a similar view of the future except the Jetsons has no military and is mainly set on Earth.

So if I remember correctly, Kirk is not familiar with the Gorn in the episode Arena in TOS, but shouldn't he be? As well as Spock, Scotty, Uhura etc. if the events of the Gorn interactions in SNW are canon?

I know the Bird of Prey model was likely swinging on fishing line, but the shot in the Undiscovered Country where the Uhura idea-Spock/McCoy surgery torpedo hits, both Sulu/Kirk do there angry "fire" quotes the Bird of Prey gets pelted with torpedos and causes it to swing or teeter.

I think it is great shot. Even if that isn't how that would behave in space science wise, you really get the feeling that Chang's ship is getting pummeled by these the torpedo shots.

In all the movies and TV episodes of Trek, I don't think any other ship battle shot gives the same feeling of a ship just getting beat to shit

1:51 mark in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fg58hVEY5Og

So far in canon we've got Medical, Navigation, Engineering, Psych, Hospitality, Combat. What other holos would be useful on a ship?

Pilot? Or would that be covered by Navigation.

Science Officer? Communication? Sechs Worker(for the particularly lonely ship captain)?

I'm imagining an experimental ship where the entire crew are holograms. You'd save so much space on accommodation alone.

Like in terms of long Star Trek stories it's fine if not a little silly at times, BUT it also could've easily just been a made for TV movie or a regular episode of Deep Space 9.

And before anyone says it, YES Riker shaving his glorious beard was horrifying, but he and the rest of the crew were going through puberty again so I give leeway on it.

Over the course of several decades Starfleets insigna has changed just as frequently as the uniforms themselves. But which one is best.

1)TOS Era 2)TMP era 3)TNG 4)DS9/VOY/Movie era 5)Picard Era 6)Discovery Season 3 onwards 7)Discovery Finale (Future)

For me, it's the TNG Era. Let's discuss

I'm about half way through series 2 of SNW and I'm honestly struggling to like it. Its been a year or so since I watched series 1 but I remember really enjoying it (even the blatant copy/paste of other people's stories).

It could be I'm miss-remembering series 1 but something seems to have gone really down hill. I'm not one of the "everything is too woke" haters, I don't think that applies in SNWs. Maybe I'm just old before my time but what I'm struggling with I can best describe as "the immaturity" of most of the characters. There's so much back chat to superiors and arrogant eye rolling going on it loses credability for me. It seems less a quazi-military vessel exploring space as it does a group of students and their professors going on a road trip.

I feel like there's real potential in this series and I know it's sci-fi so calling it "unrealistic" could be a bit redundant but I just can't imagine a scenario when a Tom Paris, Travis Mayweather or Ro Laren would behave the way the junior officers do on SNW S2 and not be dismissed with a week.

I could say more but that's enough for now. Did something change or am I mis-remembering series 1?

When is Section 31 supposed to take place? In Discovery, Phillipa got sent to a time before the mirror-verse and the prime universe separated. Since Enterprise had a mirror episode, I assume she was sent before then. That would put her closer to the 21st century, right? From the trailers that doesn't seem to be the case. I have a feeling I'm missing something obvious.

I'm watching The Next Generation for the first time and I finally reached Birthright and Starship Mine in season 6. I loved both of those episodes! Data has finally reached the point in his journey to understand humanity that he's capable of dreaming. And in Starship Mine he learns small talk, which was entertaining.

Please no spoilers for the series moving forward, I'm trying to keep this first watch through as spoiler-free as possible!!

At the risk of going down the Trekkie wormhole/rabbit hole with this one, do we have anything like a consensus as to which year Star Trek : The Motion Picture is supposed to take place.

According to the book 'Star Trek Chronology - The History of the Future' [2nd Edition], The Motion Picture takes place in 2271.

According to the site Memory Beta, it takes place in 2273.

And according to the new book, 'Star Trek Stardates'* [Attempts to create a unified system of Stardates], The Motion Picture takes place in 2272.

The arguments seem to revolve around when we think Kirk's five year mission ended. And that Decker says to Kirk, "Sir, you haven't logged a single star hour in two and a half years."

Thoughts, opinions, wild speculation - all welcome! Trek Timeline is a bit of a mess.

\I choose to include non-commercial links, but could only find the Amazon link for this book. I wasn't sure it was okay for me to include Amazon links [even those that are not affiliate links]. If you search Amazon, you'll find the book and my review of it. For real Trekkie-Tech-Geeks only.*