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ElderWendigo, in Where Are All The Bicycles??

They’re scientists that are exploring. You can’t see the forest for the trees when you’re barreling down a trail at 15-30kmh. You’re going to see a lot more hiking methodically through kilometers of new alien landscape than you would on a bike. If they want more range or speed they can shuttle, transport, or send a drone. When I explore a new city these days, I take a smart device and a wallet wearing my contemporary version space PJs, jeans and a T-shirt; either walking, ubering, or public transporting where I need to go. I’d miss a lot of interesting stuff by biking because my focus would be on biking, and less on the landscape around me.

porthos,

Interesting, for me unless I am riding a road bike with a really heads down sitting posture, I find leisurely bicycling around to be a fantastic way to see explore a place and notice things (as long as the place is bike friendly… which in the US…). Far more than getting around by car.

insomniac_lemon,
@insomniac_lemon@kbin.social avatar

I can't go very fast even on my (small/cheap) ebike and have definitely noticed (even with not-the-best-eyesight) plants/animals, flooding, nearby infrastructure/locations, smells etc. on the trail. I wouldn't say 15kmh is "barreling" and is my average comfortable speed. Slowing down or stopping to walking around a bit is also incredibly easy (and a thing already you stop to rest/drink/eat anyways), but you can still make up for lost time if needed.

In the context of a show, I could see a lot of angles to this. From somebody remembering something they briefly saw to 1 person in a group investigating something (staying behind, rushing ahead, taking a sample etc), also successfully evading chases and camp-y rock ambushes.

Personally I'd also say that biking long distances just seems easier than walking/hiking. Maybe mechanical advantage (esp. w/derailleur) or the speed, maybe health issues, or maybe there's just something about the feel of it that's boring/taxing to me. I can't imagine walking 20 km but is something I've done a few times on my weak ebike.

rah, (edited ) in question about "synchronic displacement" in TNG 'Times Arrow'

You won’t be able to make sense of it because the idea is just some nonsense words made up by writers as a means of allowing the story they wanted to tell to be told. It doesn’t make sense because it’s writing, not science.

Edit: fascinated by the downvotes.

williams_482,
@williams_482@startrek.website avatar

As other posters have pointed out to you, blithely dismissing OP’s question because they are asking about the meaning of “nonsense words made up by writers” is completely missing the point of this community. We all know Star Trek is fiction constructed by writers; pointing that out while adding nothing else of interest is both pointless and boring.

We don’t expect or require all answers to be from an in-universe perspective, but we do expect everyone to engage in discussion politely and seriously. If this is all you have to say on the subject, don’t comment.

rah,

we do expect everyone to engage in discussion politely and seriously

My response was both serious and polite. No idea what you’re talking about.

emeralddawn45,

There’s a lot of made up nonsense in star trek, sure, but there’s also a reason they call it ‘science’ fiction. I guess my question had two points. Firstly to see if anyone more knowledgeable than ne could either confirm that it’s nonsense or give me a way that it’s actually potentially possible based on some legitimate scientific theory, or secondly, like the other person said, just to see how people could use their creativity to explain away the inconsistency in universe.

rah,

if anyone more knowledgeable than ne could either confirm that it’s nonsense or give me a way that it’s actually potentially possible based on some legitimate scientific theory

Ah, an actual answer.

Lumidaub,
@Lumidaub@feddit.de avatar

The downvotes are because what you wrote is pointless. We all know it’s made up and in the end there is no actual, definitive, real answer. That’s not what we’re here for. We are here for the creative exercise of finding an answer that fits the universe of the show and episode. You just shut down that creative process.

rah,

We all know it’s made up and in the end there is no actual, definitive, real answer

We are here for the creative exercise of finding an answer that fits the universe of the show and episode.

OP’s question gives the impression that they’re here for an actual answer.

half_built_pyramids, in question about "synchronic displacement" in TNG 'Times Arrow'

Here’s a shot at the balloon filling up with water explanation:

It’s like two cars driving down a highway at night. You see the headlights from the car ahead of you illuminating the scenery, but you never catch up to them.

SatanicNotMessianic, (edited )

I think OP is implying that time works like a film strip, so that if I’m five minutes behind you, I see where you were five minutes ago.

That’s the way time travel in Trek works. If you travel from Time B in the future to Time A in the past at a given place, you see the place as it was at that time, including the people who were there.

I think that rather being just shifted in time a la time travel, they were actually dealing with a flex in spacetime, like a curve in the road you can’t quite see around, but Diana could see their essence like light from the tail lights, as in your example.

In other words, they were caught in a time warp, again.

SpaceNoodle,

10/10

Scrof, in Where Are All The Bicycles??

Now that you mention it, yes. However it’s probably so deeply ingrained in American authors that bicycles seem like uncool garbage that’s not very useful so they don’t even think about it.

porthos,

I am so tired of sci-fi futuristic cities that just replicate a highway in the sky complete with crazy stressful traffic and all. It is kind of embarrassing how big of a flaw this is for sci-fi art when a fundamental aspect of the genre is the attempt to gaze far into real and unreal futures.

Swedneck,
@Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

trek has had at least one place where people actively reject modernity because they simply don’t like it, so there’s that.

i think the expanse is the best portrayal of the future i’ve seen in terms of this, things generally look like they do now except everything’s walkable and public transport is utterly bog standard, and they casually use holograms for shop signs.

just like how we’re basically the same as in the past, except walking around with technology in our pockets that was idle speculation 100 years ago and would be considered magic 1000 years ago

porthos,

Interesting, I have heard the expanse is good and that it is more realistic scifi than most. Honestly the reason I haven’t watched it is that people only really seem to mention the fact that the space combat is realistic in the expanse and I just don’t give two flying sh$%s how realistic a scifi universe’s space wars are… I am watching star trek for a reason and that reason is that it isn’t myopically obsessed with war and gritty dark grim universes like 99% of the rest of scifi is sigh. I am fine with space wars, I am fine with grim or dark visions of the future to a certain extent but most scifi can’t ever seem to tell stories about literally anything else. Everything is just black mirror it feels like.

On the subject of black mirror though, I really want to see a black mirror parody episode where bicycles aren’t invented until the 2020s when a techbro invents the “segway 2.0” which is just a normal bicycle. Everyone becomes so addicted to this invention that it tears apart families, society and economies (no more cars being sold??? no oil being sold?? all the car plants close and the economy crashes). Kids overthrow society because they all get bicycles and become addicted to them first and no one can stop them because they are too fast…

HobbitFoot,

ST:Picard showed that Earth basically had a public transporter network around the world. It is how Picard goes from his vineyard in France to Starfleet headquarters. So, it isn’t all car flying cities.

However, if these are the people making decisions to deploy resources, why would they think of having ground vehicles at all? The only reason why the dune buggy was in Nemesis was because Patrick Stewart wanted it. Otherwise, it doesn’t really make sense.

porthos,

I have already made my arguments about this elsewhere on this thread.

Kolanaki, (edited ) in Where Are All The Bicycles??
@Kolanaki@yiffit.net avatar

Neelix had a bicycle… On the holodeck… While being brainwashed into believing he was a French resistance fighter in WW2…

But I mean… Why would you use a bicycle when you can just instantly teleport to your destination in cities that are also incredibly walkable?

porthos,

Because bicycling is pleasant af, why walk when you can glide? Yeah, you can just teleport everywhere but that is kind of something you can say about everything in star trek.

Psynthesis, in Where Are All The Bicycles??

I never thought of that before, but I agree. Also, now all I can imagine is Riker walking up behind a bicycle and just effortlessly gliding onto the seat, swinging his leg gracefully.

Zagorath,
@Zagorath@aussie.zone avatar

Riker would be so good at Transition 1 if he did a triathlon.

porthos,

I imagine Riker rolling up to home on his bicycle. He swoops up to Troi on his danish commuter bicycle, and in a stupendously effortless fashion goes from bicycling to standing while barely shifting his body in a reverse Riker sit that draws your eyes into those sweet, high hips if only to admire their power and charisma (that is what you tell yourself). As Riker extends his kickstand with a supple cock of the foot he he looks at the camera, rings the bicycle bell and says “Daddy’s home” with a smile.

CADmonkey, in Where Are All The Bicycles??

The thing that has always bugged me is the lack of bicycles in post-apocalyptic movies.

porthos,

It will definitely be a meme in the future that post apocalyptic US movies from the late 20th and early 21st century always have a protagonist driving around some kind of badass exotic car (?!?) that probably gets horrendous gas mileage even if you could get the gas… There is no food, medicine, water or even much oil but everybody is still driving the coolest car they can.

Meanwhile, if you raided a run of the mill bike store you could outfit probably a hundred or more people with easy to repair transportation that could transport them 40 miles in a day if need be.

Idk, I hope those future memes make fun of us good at least.

(I give the newest mad max a pass on this though since the cars are purposefully over the top and lots of people have dirt bikes at least)

Ensign_Seitler, in question about "synchronic displacement" in TNG 'Times Arrow'

My understanding of the concept was that it was something like multiple channels of data being sent along the same wire. So long as the frequencies are the right kind of different they’ll essentially exist completely independent of each other.

Maybe this requires a minimum of two time dimensions so that the variance can result in the different beings following time along different “tracks”?

I took Troi’s awareness of the beings to be a result of the intermittent overlapping bits of time where they did overlap. Like, it happened too quickly to perceive visually, but enough for the empath to have something to pick up on.

FaceDeer, in Where Are All The Bicycles??
@FaceDeer@kbin.social avatar

Spock casually flies up a mountain using hoverboots in one of the movies. Why this isn't standard issue on away missions is beyond me. They don't need bicycles, they can fly.

nova_ad_vitum,

There’s no point asking questions like this. Star Trek has routinely featured technology that is so powerful that it’s world-breaking, and then promptly ignored it. The greatest modern example is the spore drive from discovery, but TNG has several as well.

Damage,

Well the whole franchise has issues with away mission equipment. They just beam down in their pajama uniforms, when they carry a phaser and a tricorder it’s already a lot.

pufferfischerpulver,

Yup and then they constantly seem to end up embarrassed by the lack of preparation. Any EDC nerd would have more useful tools for an away mission compared to the average Star Trek explorer.

tobimai,

Also in Stargate they apparently forgot cars exist

FaceDeer,
@FaceDeer@kbin.social avatar

To be fair, most planets they went to had pretty rugged terrain with no roads near the Stargate. They did use UAVs and MALPs sometimes.

Though one thing they could have found useful going through the Stargate would be dirtbikes, that would have been a fun addition.

Swedneck,
@Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

missed opportunity for the cast to get to have fun, too

Mouselemming, in Where Are All The Bicycles??

Although you are using it and pronouncing it correctly, the correct spelling for the phrase meaning “in a whole bunch” is “en masse” because it’s stolen from French.

I never had good enough balance or left-right coordination to learn to ride a bike, so I don’t miss them. But it would add an element.

ThunderclapSasquatch,

You can’t steal something that was forced on by a conqueror.

milkisklim,

The Norman invasion was a thousand years ago. I think it’s time we forgave the French.

anonionfinelyminced, in Where Are All The Bicycles??
@anonionfinelyminced@kbin.social avatar
Zorque,

We love hoverbikes!

zaphod, in Where Are All The Bicycles??

The Expanse is the only sci-fi franchise I know that has bicycles. They’re the perfect means of transportation in a post-apocalyptic world, no need for fuel except for food that you need anyway.

Nacktmull, in Where Are All The Bicycles??

You might have pointed out one of the biggest flaws of the whole sci-fi genre here. Well done!

Astronaut_M_Dexter, in In the Pale Moonlight - Theories within

Yeah, not clicking anything to rumble [dot] com.

blackredzee,

I hear that. I tried uploading to youtube about 8 times, they don’t give specific reasons for blocking video or removing it. I’m left with alternative websites =(

Astronaut_M_Dexter,

Perhaps you can summarize your theories in the post instead. “In the Pale Moonlight” is an epic episode, so it would make for a good read.

blackredzee,

There have been some theories posted here that make a lot of sense for the DS9 episode, “In the Pale Moonlight”, such as:

The bio-mimetic gel was used to make a bomb

Garek already had an optolithic data rod

Garek killed Vreenak as a promise to his father

Garek didn’t contact any of his old friends on Cardassia, they weren’t killed

The Tal Shiar were involved in Vreenak’s death, feeding information to Garek

However I would like to put forward a couple more theories:

A. Vreenak believed in Sisko’s argument during the sit down, but it wasn’t the right time to join the war. Explanation: Vreenak was part of the war plans council, he must have known about Sisko’s argument about being surrounded after. Combined with the Romulans knew how the Dominion operated, they traded use of the cloaking technology for info on the Dominion in the gamma quadrant. Part of theat info was the Dominion using the quickening on planets that defied them.

B. Vreenak bluffed Sisko in annoucning the rod was a fake. Explanation: It didn’t make sense for a highly valuable rod to be given to Vreenak, from the Federation’s perspective who knew what Vreenak would have done with it, he could have discarded it or have been secretly working with the dominion. Why not escort the rod under heavy guard to Earth or to Romulus?

And I believe there is discussion for some more controversial topics:

I. The Dominion were a force for the greater good. The alpha quadrant will go on to have endless wars, if they were to all to fall under the Dominion there wouldn’t be any wars. Explanation: Weyoun prevents Damar from reclaiming Bajor after attacking DS9 station.

II. The Alpha quadrant players are bad people that the founders need to be protected from. They tried to commit genocide against the founders.

III. The writers wrote this episode to leave room for compassion towards Sisko and how he acted. Conveniently it was Tolar the criminal that harassed the dabo girl, a cold Vreenak willing to let the Alpha quadrant fall and some nameless Romulan Guards that died. How would the audience react if the plot involved sacrificing Sisko’s son and his wife? Probably a lot more negatively. How convenient that they are bad people that we can forget about. How convenient that Starfleet blessed the plan leaving Sisko able to wash his hands of everything.

IV. Sisko is hypocritical, he sentences Garek to jail for trying to take over the Defiant and trying to attack the Dominion but does not hold himself to the same standards over this episode. Should he sentence himself to jail, should he report everything up his chain and be court martialed, why does he get to escape punishment? War time scenario make him immune or is he protecting himself?

JWBananas, in Wild theory about the Mysterious Ship
@JWBananas@startrek.website avatar

The ship also can’t be interested in these ships for their intended purposes, since there’s nothing of substance that connects them all-beyond all having disgruntled lower deckers.

Coming back to read this again, it’s a bit amusing that the actual answer was right here and was dismissed.

Wooster,
@Wooster@startrek.website avatar

Hahaha!

In my defense, McMahan and his crew always give us something extraordinary that defies expectations. Cranky Lower Deckers who never developed into anything more seemed pedestrian by comparison.

JWBananas,
@JWBananas@startrek.website avatar

It was nice to see them subvert the typical “the entire quadrant/galaxy/universe is at stake” trope.

Wooster,
@Wooster@startrek.website avatar

Lower Decks has been really good about that in general. SNW too for that matter.

Prodigy did dip into it, but there was plenty of build up and rarely dwelt in it for too long.

holothuroid,
@holothuroid@rollenspiel.social avatar

@Wooster

I very much dislike the final episode of Prodigy. We have a ship controlled by a bunch of kids, an admiral who should be in charge of any mission but this one, and timetravelling assassins.

It's a great setup for literally anything but space fleet combat.

@JWBananas

JWBananas,
@JWBananas@startrek.website avatar

And then they had the audacity to do it again in season 3 of Picard!

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