Ever Wondered? After the episode

[Tricky]

BBC America is showing TOS (the remastered with some improved effects version); Watched "Who Mourns Adonis" and "The Changeling" today.

Who Mourns Adonis: I know Lt. Palamas had a kid in one of the Trek novel series, but I guess the Olympians leave some questions. Was it only the handful of Greek gods all of their race? That doesn't seem right. Imagine that Apollo and the other Olympians were just a small group of their species? I know that gets into Stargate SG1 territory, but what if the Greek gods was just a bunch of con-artists of their culture? Someday, the people of Earth will meet the rest of the Olympian culture and be repeated apologized to for what Zeus and his band of thugs did to our culture.

The Changeling: All the scenes of Nomad with crewmen on the Enterprise; if it wasn't space happy, and a planet killer, could a sentient alien probe join a starship crew? Like Illea, could something like her V'Ger made clone become a member of your crew? I mean you don't want something as powerful as Nomad, but could some sentient piece of alien tech become a member of Starfleet? Before you answer, remember: technically, Data joined Starfleet as equipment, and was declared a lifeform after YEARS of service.

[The Tatterdemalion King]

BBC America is showing TOS (the remastered with some improved effects version); Watched "Who Mourns Adonis" and "The Changeling" today.

Who Mourns Adonis: I know Lt. Palamas had a kid in one of the Trek novel series, but I guess the Olympians leave some questions. Was it only the handful of Greek gods all of their race? That doesn't seem right. Imagine that Apollo and the other Olympians were just a small group of their species? I know that gets into Stargate SG1 territory, but what if the Greek gods was just a bunch of con-artists of their culture? Someday, the people of Earth will meet the rest of the Olympian culture and be repeated apologized to for what Zeus and his band of thugs did to our culture.

I've been mulling that over, especially given that the timeline for their visit was far before what we recognize as 'ancient Greek culture' existed ("We knew your Earth well, five thousand of your years ago."). It would make more sense for them to evoke older versions of those deities; or, if you take ancient conceptions of deity more seriously in this case, they could be 'masks' worn by their inner, inexpressible beings.

In terms of their organization, maybe the Olympian/Asgardian/Celestial/whatevers were a small subset of their species which successfully achieved their trans-human state, the few remaining after the Titanomachy devastated their numbers, or just that (a la BSG's 12 models of humanoid cylons) the god-forms are 'archetypes' which they've factored out into after existing for millennia.

The Changeling: All the scenes of Nomad with crewmen on the Enterprise; if it wasn't space happy, and a planet killer, could a sentient alien probe join a starship crew? Like Illea, could something like her V'Ger made clone become a member of your crew? I mean you don't want something as powerful as Nomad, but could some sentient piece of alien tech become a member of Starfleet? Before you answer, remember: technically, Data joined Starfleet as equipment, and was declared a lifeform after YEARS of service.

Well... That brings up the question of whether there's a 'prove you're not a tricorder' test for admission to Starfleet. Or rather, given that Data could walk into an office and say, "I would like to join Starfleet," he probably passed that test in the Academy's eyes already.

[WaveMan]

Reanimating thread....
I liked the Sheliak, and would love to have gotten a better look at them (they look like someone hiding under a blanket), and loved that they were a non-humanoid species that considered us irrational vermin, even though we had starships and whatnot.

Star Trek Renaissance had the Sheliak attack the Federation (in a full blown boarder war) a few years after the Dominion war.

"In the years following the defeat of the Dominion, the Federation had several border skirmishes with various powers, eager to try to take a bite out of the weakened Federation. One of these powers was the Sheliak Corporate. These self-important beings thought of all other species as vastly inferior. The Sheliak Corporate got the opportunity they were waiting for to drive the Federation into war when the Tellarites’ home system of Tellar inexplicably translated itself several light-years across the Sheliak border. The Federation tried desperately to reach a peaceful solution to reclaim Tellar, but the Sheliak insisted that it was rightfully theirs, despite the extenuating circumstances. This left the Federation Council little recourse but to declare war. This only served to further shake up the war-weary Federation. This costly conflict was a bittersweet victory, having cost the lives of tens of thousands of Starfleet’s finest. It became clear that the Federation would require a specialized Rapid Reaction Force of starships was needed to defend the Federation’s interests and citizens. The Phoenix Class Project was initiated to create a starship that would be the first of this new breed of starship, and to be the pioneer of several technologies included in other Rapid Reaction Force starships."

[The Tatterdemalion King]

SyFy channel was actually showing NG episodes today; First season even!
Watched the end of "The Last Outpost". I had forgotten that the Guardian of the Portal went back to sleep at the end of the episode to "wait until I am needed again."
I sure hope someone woke this guy up at some point; just from a historical viewpoint he'd be a valuable resource. And he seems to have a lot of technological toys at his disposal too. Makes you wonder what T'Kon empire tech/bases are just sitting around?
Oh, and the Fereghi in this episode are just stupid.

The last scenario I ran featured a hidden Tkon installation; I should probably write it up somewhere...