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StillPaisleyCat

@StillPaisleyCat@startrek.website

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Subspace, Real Space, Warp Bubbles and a proposal as to how *Star Trek* Warp Drive might work

In this post I’ll be proposing a model to understanding how Star Trek warp drive works. In doing so, I’ll be attempting to reconcile the way the TNG Technical Manual describes warp drive with the idea that warp drive somehow takes advantages of shortcuts through real space by warping space around the craft, yet still...

StillPaisleyCat,
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There are any number of shuttles lacking warp drive capability that have impulse drives. It seems clear that they need not be interlinked systems. Also, impulse drives still function when a warp core has been jettisoned.

StillPaisleyCat,
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I’m going to drop in again to say that Albucierre’s particular solution in his doctoral thesis was a mathematical closed form corner solution for tractability.

We shouldn’t take the features of this limited corner case as characteristic of the drive approach. Instead, we need to understand that the point of his thesis was to demonstrate cleanly that this particular solution was viable to get around the FTL problem in general relativity.

The thing is that the inertia being zero is implied one of the assumptions of the corner solution. That is, for tractability, Albucierre assumed that the ship would have no initial velocity that it would take into the warp bubble with it.

It would be mathematically messier and would require a computational approach to relax this assumption and allow the ship to have positive initial velocity, but it’s exactly what some of the folks trying to extend the model and reduce the exotic matter requirement have explored.

All to say that the elaboration of Albucierre’s approach seems likely to take it exactly in the direction of some of the distinctions the OP has noticed.

Th most significant difference that remains is that ships at warp are able observe and to receive information from outside their bubble while this seems inconsistent with a bubble in Alcubierre’s model.

StillPaisleyCat,
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Only fair to credit Treklit author (and former marine) Dayton Ward for his Kirk-fu 2020 book and for coining the term.

https://startrek.website/pictrs/image/217d4fc0-dae8-4ebf-a112-459dc35b5635.webp

Here’s an interview with Ward from the time of its release.

StillPaisleyCat,
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Yes, ‘blank-Fu’ has been used since the 70s, but as a long time fan of both Trek and HK action films, I can’t say that what Shatner was doing in TOS was referred to in that way until recently.

Is it really so controversial to say 1) Kirk Fu became current in the fandom since the book was published; & 2) the meme is a clear lift from a published work and the drawings its artist Christian Cornia, they deserve credit?

StillPaisleyCat,
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There’s a ‘Where to start’ FAQ linked in the sidebar wiki for this community. I recommend going there and taking a look.

The best place to start largely depends on your personal preferences in terms of whether shows need to be action packed, have long term serialization vs episodic, and tolerances for 60s or 80s/90s trends in special effects, technobabble, Shakespearean acting styles.

I’m an older person who has been watching since TOS was in first run, and saw the original Star Wars as a teen. Alien 1 too. All to say, I saw all of it as it came out. We were just so glad in the late 70s that someone was making sci-fi movies that weren’t post-Armageddon dreary.

Trek has held my interest more intently, but I read more than my share of the SW ‘legends’ books as they came out. I can see a wide range of offerings in both franchises, appealing to different audiences and tastes.

It rather boggles me that there are folks who have tried one but not the other. It’s like someone who is a DC or Marvel fan and has never checked out the other. You may not find anything to like, but the potential of finding another universe of stories that interest you is more than worth the risk.

A word of caution. Just about Star Trek every fan thinks that the show they first watched or their favourite show is the best place to start. They’ll argue passionately that you’ll do best starting where they did. Ignore all of it. You’re you.

Read the ‘where to start?’, check out ‘Memory Alpha’ or Wikipedia for the basic description of the main series, pick one that appeals and try the pilot. Be also cautioned that many of the shows take a while to find their groove. Checking out a ‘best of’ list for early seasons is ok if you’re not the of a completist temperament. Hope you find the Trek that’s best for you.

StillPaisleyCat,
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Shari, Lois & Bram were almost as riveting to young kids as Raffi.

And yes, the songs were intentional nonsense.

StillPaisleyCat,
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Paramount repatriated the show to Paramount+ just about everywhere.

Star Trek is even on P+ in Canada now, although we still have the shows coming in on premium cable via Media as well.

StillPaisleyCat,
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Well, you’ll need to decide which service(s) has more of what you want to see.

Many of us are rotating subscriptions at this point. The streamers fret about ‘churn’ but few households can justify a menu of services at one time any more than they could afford a half dozen premium cable channels.

StillPaisleyCat,
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I’m sure Bruce Horak would love it.

Unfortunately he’s not in the fediverse as yet to my knowledge.

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  • StillPaisleyCat,
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    New fans & returning fans are always welcome on c/risa.

    Star Trek is up to 11 different shows not including shorts & movies. Each has a core ensemble of ~ 7 characters plus recurring ones.

    These characters are from two different 90s era shows Deep Space 9 (Martok and Kira) and Enterprise (T’Pol and Archer).

    This instance has an FAQ and wiki that includes ‘where to start.’

    StillPaisleyCat,
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    If you don’t have the SNW boots from John Fluevog, suggest getting a pair.

    They’ve also just released a ‘Cadet’ low cut version which may be great cosplay even if they don’t show up eventually onscreen. Preorders closed in September, but one expects them to be on sale once they’ve been released to stores.

    StillPaisleyCat,
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    Fluevogs are very well made and last for years. Definitely worth it from a quality/price perspective.

    Depending on where you live in North America, there’s likely a John Fluevog location where you can try them on before buying.

    StillPaisleyCat, (edited )
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    For those struggling with the meaning of the lyrics for ‘Alouette’, there’s even a more bizarre Québécois nonsense song along similar lines ‘Mon Merle’.

    In this case, the blackbird starts by losing a body part, then getting three back in its place. Worse, the singer asks each time ‘Comment vas-tu mon Merle’, literally ‘How’s it going blackbird.’

    Here’s a rather delightful, celebrated 1958 animated short featuring the song, sung by ‘The Trio Lyrique of Montreal‘ with an English introduction . (It used an experimental cut-out animation method.)

    Dr. Miglemo would be horrified.

    https://startrek.website/pictrs/image/c98d2d60-50d9-41be-99f5-6addd6256740.jpeg

    StillPaisleyCat,
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    Kzinti are Star Trek canon.

    Niven himself wrote The Animated Series (TAS) episode ‘The Slaver Weapon’, adapted from his short story ‘The Soft Weapon.’

    https://startrek.website/pictrs/image/088e747e-e4a3-4dd9-ae76-2d42274c5b19.jpeg

    Niven sees Star Trek as a separate universe or timeline, but it shares the Kzin with his own Known Space universe.

    In Lower Decks, there is an ensign who is Kzin in addition to Dr T’Ana being Caitian.

    https://startrek.website/pictrs/image/a4e3d698-31b4-4f62-822c-daff5ae721c0.jpeg

    Also, it was Niven himself, writing on the official Star Trek website, who put forward the view that Caitians and Kzinti are cousins, with the Caitians having settled on their planet Cait, and adopting a more scientific and technologically oriented culture.

    In TAS, Lt. M’Ress was the Caitian second communications officer.

    https://startrek.website/pictrs/image/fcfa9ac5-0739-4217-9b43-2e756b414353.jpeg

    StillPaisleyCat, (edited )
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    There was a third species in TAS that some interpret as felinoid, but are more likely lemurians.

    The ancient, advanced space-faring species the Vedala was introduced in the TAS episode’The Jihad’ written by Stephen Kandel, whose other episodes featured Harry Mudd.

    https://startrek.website/pictrs/image/eb19ca7b-d3ad-4d47-9712-a4bc34af2156.jpeg

    Here are a few more images from TAS that show the breadth of sentient species that the show established

    https://startrek.website/pictrs/image/66ade32c-d0df-4b38-9707-8c6fe6f7ff9f.jpeg

    https://startrek.website/pictrs/image/860b5fcd-40c8-4ef8-bf9e-dfc61b79e537.jpeg

    https://startrek.website/pictrs/image/37e5a024-72d4-45a2-9123-d741aa031af1.jpeg

    https://startrek.website/pictrs/image/b5e88ea3-8a43-4ab1-9993-ce512575ae91.jpeg

    https://startrek.website/pictrs/image/e2642491-ff33-4011-ae91-9a3d9341eb26.jpeg

    StillPaisleyCat,
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    Erica was a young thing in a romantic triangle with a guy heading off to Vietnam in the early 70s. She became a cougar in the 80s.

    StillPaisleyCat,
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    Then gatekeeping fans will say it breaks canon, has to be an alternate timeline/universe because they didn’t need those in TOS/TNG.

    Oh, wait, that’s one of the criticisms of the environmental suits in Discovery and SNW…

    StillPaisleyCat,
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    ‘Wackier than TOS on its most TAS day’ …

    You packed an awful lot in that comparison.

    🤩

    StillPaisleyCat,
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    Ogawa was initially a nurse on TNG but decided to become a physician and medical officer.

    StillPaisleyCat,
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    Bezos was particularly jerky about it when its established fact that Shatner was one of the celebrity calls that astronauts asked to have in the early days of the space station when communication was more limited.

    So this actor, who was an inspiration for astronauts, had been asked to talk to them during their missions and hear their perspectives for morale benefits. But when he finally has his own experience, Bezos assumed no one wanted to hear it. Just tone deaf and uninformed.

    StillPaisleyCat,
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    While he was a Shakespearean actor at Stratford in Canada, and in fact was Christopher Plummer’s understudy before taking on leading roles himself, Shatner’s US career kicked off in the 1950s in film noir. He was considered a quite serious actor.

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