Star Trek fan theory


Guest Mores
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Guest Mores

In an early episode of ST:TNG, Riker is given the powers of Q.  At the end of the episode, he realizes that the ability to do anything always has consequences that even an omnipotent being can't seem to get around.

The thing is that nowhere and nowhen does anyone say that Riker ever lost his powers.  It was merely assumed.

What if he did not?  What if, as a god, he simply realized that this power didn't change anything about right and wrong or how the universe was supposed to unfold?  He realized that keeping to his plain old human abilities was the best way to move forward with life?

Or what if he actually did use his powers to simply play with probability just a bit.  Always leaning in the Enterprise's favor.  A bit of Deus ex machina--almost literally?

That would explain how they seemed to always just barely get out of tight situations in the nick of time.

Edited by Mores
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I felt... the presence of a Star Trek thread...  Must... respond...

Interesting theory, and it is a fun way to explain the way the Enterprise keeps beating the odds.

That said... If I were looking to poke holes in the theory, I'd point out that:

  • Riker is made to fall in love with Amanda, a young woman who turns out to be a Q later in the series.  That wouldn't be possible if Riker were still a Q. 
  • For that matter, Guinan would certainly recognize the Q power in him, as she has the ability to sense the presence of the Q. 
  • Finally, in Voyager, Riker is brought to the Delta quadrant and aboard Voyager to help arbitrate the matter of the Q who wanted to be allowed to die.  Afterward, he was returned to the Enterprise and his memory erased.

So it is a fun theory, but it doesn't really hold up long...

I have a Star Trek theory of my own...

Ever notice how Data's cat Spot keeps changing species and sex?  (He's usually male, but in one 7th season episode, she had kittens.)  Sometimes he's an orange tabby, and in at least one episode he was an angora.  Why?

Because it isn't the same cat.  Data's cat Spot dies occasionally because of the dangers and events the Enterprise encounters, and each time it happens Data just gets a replacement cat and keeps the same name.  This is my own personal head canon.

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21 minutes ago, unixknight said:

Data's cat Spot dies occasionally because of the dangers and events the Enterprise encounters, and each time it happens Data just gets a replacement cat and keeps the same name.  This is my own personal head canon.

The Simpsons had that episode where they went from Snowball II, to like Snowball XI in one week, so they decided to just forget them all and reset to Snowball III.

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11 hours ago, Mores said:

In an early episode of ST:TNG, Riker is given the powers of Q.  At the end of the episode, he realizes that the ability to do anything always has consequences that even an omnipotent being can't seem to get around.

The thing is that nowhere and nowhen does anyone say that Riker ever lost his powers.  It was merely assumed.

What if he did not?  What if, as a god, he simply realized that this power didn't change anything about right and wrong or how the universe was supposed to unfold?  He realized that keeping to his plain old human abilities was the best way to move forward with life?

Or what if he actually did use his powers to simply play with probability just a bit.  Always leaning in the Enterprise's favor.  A bit of Deus ex machina--almost literally?

That would explain how they seemed to always just barely get out of tight situations in the nick of time.

Confirmed:😵

 

Edited by Emmanuel Goldstein
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Guest Mores
22 hours ago, unixknight said:
  • Riker is made to fall in love with Amanda, a young woman who turns out to be a Q later in the series.  That wouldn't be possible if Riker were still a Q. 
  • For that matter, Guinan would certainly recognize the Q power in him, as she has the ability to sense the presence of the Q. 
  • Finally, in Voyager, Riker is brought to the Delta quadrant and aboard Voyager to help arbitrate the matter of the Q who wanted to be allowed to die.  Afterward, he was returned to the Enterprise and his memory erased

As for guinan, who said she didn't notice it and merely kept his secret?

As for other Q having power over him, including Amanda, that's because his power was at a secondary level, automatically subbordinate to a true Q, whose powers are innate.  For example, Riker's intelligence wasn't raised to 3000 as Q mentioned about himself when his powers we're stripped and became mortal. But based on Amanda's accomplishments, she did have that elevated intelligence.

Edited by Mores
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2 minutes ago, Mores said:

As for guinan, who said she didn't notice it and merely kept his secret?

As for other Q having power over him, including Amanda, that's because his power was at a secondary level, automatically subbordinate to a true Q, whose powers are innate.

Also, how do we know his memory was erased in the third?

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20 minutes ago, Mores said:

As for guinan, who said she didn't notice it and merely kept his secret?

As for other Q having power over him, including Amanda, that's because his power was at a secondary level, automatically subbordinate to a true Q, whose powers are innate.  For example, Riker's intelligence wasn't raised to 3000 as Q mentioned about himself when his powers we're stripped and became mortal. But based on Amanda's accomplishments, she did have that elevated intelligence.

Well, Guinan wasn't exactly friendly when it came to the Q, so she would have absolutely no motive whatsoever to keep quiet.

And as for Amanda... Nah she didn't suddenly have that level of intelligence.  She botched Dr. Crusher's experiment because she didn't understand the goal of the experiment.  At no time in the episode did she appear to suddenly become smarter than she had been before.  She was already exceptionally smart,  yes... but not beyond what a human could have.

17 minutes ago, Emmanuel Goldstein said:

Also, how do we know his memory was erased in the third?

It was a Season 2 episode, so they couldn't have Riker going back to the Alpha Quadrant with knowledge of Voyager.  When Janeway and Riker first meet, she explicitly tells him and the other 2 characters Q brought in that their memories will be wiped.  This was something Q agreed to so he could being these witnesses in.

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8 minutes ago, unixknight said:

It was a Season 2 episode, so they couldn't have Riker going back to the Alpha Quadrant with knowledge of Voyager.  When Janeway and Riker first meet, she explicitly tells him and the other 2 characters Q brought in that their memories will be wiped.  This was something Q agreed to so he could being these witnesses in.

Or he just understood the problems he would create if he intervened. 

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9 minutes ago, Emmanuel Goldstein said:

Or he just understood the problems he would create if he intervened. 

Nah, he was surprised and outraged to be there, and unceremoniously sent back.  If he really had the power to avoid a memory wipe, he would have.

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  • 3 months later...

GAAAAH!  

Curse you, CBS All-Access-Pay-Monthly-to-watch-TV!   Curse you with something very Klingon!

StarTrek: Discovery (moving into season 3)
StarTrek: Picard (now with sassy 7 of 9 finally not in her bodysuit)
StarTrek: ShortTreks (like ST, but short)
StarTrek: Lower Decks (new animated show, will it stink?)

Fine.  You win.  I'll pay your stupid monthly subscription thing in order to watch all this.  I am not happy.

Edited by NeuroTypical
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On 7/21/2019 at 8:05 PM, NeuroTypical said:

GAAAAH!  

Curse you, CBS All-Access-Pay-Monthly-to-watch-TV!   Curse you with something very Klingon!

StarTrek: Discovery (moving into season 3)
StarTrek: Picard (now with sassy 7 of 9 finally not in her bodysuit)
StarTrek: ShortTreks (like ST, but short)
StarTrek: Lower Decks (new animated show, will it stink?)

Fine.  You win.  I'll pay your stupid monthly subscription thing in order to watch all this.  I am not happy.

Don't do it!  Don't encourage this behavior!

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Guest Mores
On 7/25/2019 at 3:26 PM, unixknight said:

Don't do it!  Don't encourage this behavior!

On the contrary, I encourage cursing in Klingon.  In the Klingon language, curses are considered a high art form.  Social status is often determined by how well one can curse.

(I'm guessing you already know that.  But for the benefit of others...)

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On 7/29/2019 at 8:30 AM, Mores said:

On the contrary, I encourage cursing in Klingon.  In the Klingon language, curses are considered a high art form.  Social status is often determined by how well one can curse.

(I'm guessing you already know that.  But for the benefit of others...)

No, I meant for @NeuroTypical to not encourage the behavior of CBS being yet another streaming service in a world where streaming services are EVERYWHERE.

I will say this, and make a note.  I predict that within the next couple of years you'll start being able to buy streaming services as a bundle to save money.  So you might pay, let's say $30/mo and get Netflix, Hulu, CBS All Access and Starz, for example.

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Guest Mores
2 minutes ago, unixknight said:

No, I meant for @NeuroTypical to not encourage the behavior of CBS being yet another streaming service in a world where streaming services are EVERYWHERE.

I will say this, and make a note.  I predict that within the next couple of years you'll start being able to buy streaming services as a bundle to save money.  So you might pay, let's say $30/mo and get Netflix, Hulu, CBS All Access and Starz, for example.

I know.  I was being ironic, or... something...

Edited by Mores
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  • 2 weeks later...
On 4/5/2019 at 10:34 PM, NeuroTypical said:

You'd think that a god could somehow manage to be, I dunno, a tad more upwardly mobile?   Seven seasons, zero new pips?

Riker-Young.jpg.3ac9671a8d81f21f8a0cb7bf81d8f026.jpgRiker-Old.jpg.839fac11b4d2a53885e20343dfc53642.jpg

I get the impression Starfleet XO is sort of like Texas Lieutenant Governor; plenty of power and more freedom to act, because you still get to kick the really tough stuff up the ladder to someone else. 

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On 7/21/2019 at 7:05 PM, NeuroTypical said:

StarTrek: Picard (now with sassy 7 of 9 finally not in her bodysuit)

You have to admit, though, the tailoring on her bodysuit was impressive. With her build, anything not perfectly fitted would have looked awful. 

Interesting side note, Julia Nickson got the rather awful distinction of being one of the few to appear on TNG with a completely non tailored uniform. They hadn't taken into account that she'd be 8 months pregnant by the time they filmed Arsenal of Freedom, so they had to grab a bigger one and safety pin it up everywhere but the belly. 

Edited by NightSG
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1 hour ago, NightSG said:

You have to admit, though, the tailoring on her bodysuit was impressive. With her build, anything not perfectly fitted would have looked awful. 

Heh.  In one interview, she mentioned that it took over 15 minutes to get into that thing.  Every time she had to use the bathroom, everyone had to take a 1 hour break.

One of the most blatantly transparent bits of fanservice I've ever witnessed.  (Two bits, if you want to be technically accurate.)

Edited by NeuroTypical
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