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38 votes
5 answers
71k views

Is the "Space, The Final Frontier" quote "in universe"?

Probably everyone reading this recognises the most famous split-infinitive in (science) fiction: From Star Trek TOS: Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. ...
24 votes
4 answers
5k views

What are the chase lights under Star Trek viewscreens for?

Under the viewscreen on many Federation starships, there are a series of lights that constantly run through a chase or 'marching ants' pattern. What's the reason for these lights? Are they status ...
17 votes
2 answers
9k views

Could Captain Kirk have lived long enough to meet Picard?

I guess I should say SPOILER ALERT if you haven't seen Star Trek Generations or the reboot films. In the movie Star Trek Generations, Captain Kirk and Captain Picard meet to defeat Soran. According ...
32 votes
6 answers
22k views

What political system does Star Trek's Federation operate under?

I've watched all of the Original Series and The Next Generation, and bits of Deep Space 9 and Voyager, all of the movies, but none of the more recent series, or the books. In all of the material I've ...
5 votes
2 answers
9k views

How can ship crew walk in USS Enterprise?

Has there been a scientific explanation for ship crew walking in spaceships in Star Trek? I know rotating stations can create artifical gravity but USS Enterprise does not rotate, at least not enough ...
3 votes
2 answers
185 views

Do energy creatures come in various sexes?

Other than the Q (who can change their appearance at will, so it's hardly convincing), it seems that "male" and "female" only appear to be functions of physical beings in the Star ...
8 votes
2 answers
876 views

Why are Remans telepathic when Romulans are not?

Are Romulans, Vulcans and Remans the same race? I know that around the 4th century Vulcans who rejected the teachings of Surak (whom they call The Dissembler) left Vulcan to go to Romulus, but who are ...
29 votes
11 answers
4k views

Why Did Scotty Not Go Insane?

On the question about the transporters in Star Trek on whether the original person dies in the transporter, I provided this answer based on the text of the Writer's Guide for the series Star Trek: The ...
3 votes
2 answers
281 views

Where is a call for security initially directed aboard a Starfleet vessel?

Throughout the Star Trek franchise, we see someone call out for security. It may be Kirk punching those ubiquitous hallway buttons, someone tapping their combadge, or simply someone shouting at the ...
15 votes
1 answer
10k views

How does a sonic shower work?

What is the mechanism behind a sonic shower in the STU? A shower with water does various things, namely; get rid of odors, raise body temperature, acts as a disinfectant, has a soothing massage ...
7 votes
5 answers
4k views

How many sentient bio-ships have been shown in the Star Trek universe?

We're introduced to an amazing creature, a living bio-ship named Gomtuu (called 'Tin Man' by Starfleet) who was observed while orbiting Beta Stromgren in TNG 3x20, 'Tin Man'. Through first contact ...
43 votes
14 answers
17k views

Is Starfleet a military or civilian organization?

If they are civilian in the common sense, why then do they wear military style uniforms, have a military hierarchical command and military rank structures; have a Starfleet Command and a Starfleet ...
27 votes
7 answers
12k views

Why was Enterprise on a five-year mission in TOS?

There is a small difference between intro texts in TOS: Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek ...
6 votes
1 answer
762 views

Which TOS characters do we see in TNG-era canon?

I recall seeing Spock and McCoy on TNG, but which other TOS regular bridge crew do we see in TNG-era canon i.e. TNG, DS9, VOY and the TNG movies.
5 votes
1 answer
417 views

Do Borg have different collectives depending on which reality they exist in, or are all Borg across all realities part of the same collective?

Similar, but not what I'm after. In TNG Parallels, one of the alternate Enterprises consists of a Riker who claims that: The Borg are everywhere! So there's Borg in at least two universes, probably ...
6 votes
1 answer
39k views

What's the most money actors earned for Star Trek in each era? [closed]

This means: most per episode in the TOS era? most per episode in the TNG era (incl. DS9, Voyager and Enterprise)? most for a TOS film? most for a TNG film? most for an Abrams-verse film? most in the ...
54 votes
5 answers
10k views

Starship Enterprise: Always flying left-to-right?

I am watching Star Trek together with my wife. We just finished the three seasons of The Original Series1, and are now mid-way into Star Trek Next Generation. I don't think I have seen the Enterprise ...
65 votes
4 answers
67k views

When did the red shirt careers change to yellow shirts in Star Trek and why?

In the original Star Trek engineers and security officers wore red shirts but in ST:TNG engineers and security officers wore yellow shirts and command officers wore red shirts. Was it ever explained ...
9 votes
3 answers
570 views

Star Trek TOS-TNG crossover novel

I have been searching for the title of a TOS-TNG crossover novel for some time. I believe it was published in the early 1990s, as I do not remember Voyager or DS9 being on TV. It was also before ST:...
18 votes
2 answers
951 views

Which TNG actors were TOS fans?

Were any of the The Next Generation actors self-professed fans of The Original Series before being cast as characters in TNG? (Or did they all think it was just fairy tale rubbish?) I'm only ...
7 votes
1 answer
523 views

Can the strength of photon torpedoes be adjusted?

The strength of a phaser blast can be adjusted, at least on the Enterprise-D (and probably the other ships with which we're familiar). In "Galaxy's Child," for example, the space entity is shot with a ...
3 votes
1 answer
4k views

Was Riker based on Kirk?

I have noticed that, regarding character, both Kirk and Riker have some similarities - both are womanizers and can be cheeky. There are certainly differences, such as Kirk being much less formal than ...
16 votes
9 answers
63k views

What year is ‘Star Trek: The Original Series’ set in?

Wikipedia notes that ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ was set in 2364 (and beyond), and that that’s “about 100 years after the original series timeframe”. However, the Wikipedia article on The ...
9 votes
4 answers
3k views

Why does the USS Enterprise always have the same registry number?

Is there any in universe explanation as to why the Enterprise always gets to keep its 1701 registry number? Also I don't recall any other starships from the TNG, DS9, Voyager time period that had ...
11 votes
2 answers
805 views

Helm vs. Engineering (changing of speed)

The vast majority of the time, the helm officer plots the new course and speed (Warp 7 at heading 141 mark 11). Sometimes, though, Engineering is asked to change speed/put the ship into warp. Such a ...
8 votes
1 answer
4k views

What produces the sound of transportation? (Out-of-Universe)

This question asks what in-universe phenomena produces a sound when transportation occurs. This is interesting, but it brings up another interesting question - what produces the sound, out-of-...
29 votes
3 answers
7k views

Do they still use days of the week or months in the era of Stardates?

I understand how the stardate system works in Star Trek and it doesn't really lend itself to casual conversation ("see you on star date 41645", as opposed to "see you on Monday") or recurring events ...
8 votes
4 answers
1k views

How different biologically are Remans, Romulans, and Vulcans?

How different biologically are Remans, Romulans, and Vulcans? According to the question How are Vulcans and Romulans different from each other?, when Beverly Crusher tried to heal a Romulan with a ...
9 votes
2 answers
1k views

Star Trek Shield Shape, inconsistencies?

According to the answer on Why do shields in Star Trek "wear out"? the TNG technical manual says the Defense Shields are basically form fitting. And this aligns with what I remember of TOS, ...
24 votes
5 answers
3k views

When did our universe and the Star Trek universe diverge?

Note that my question assumes as a given that Star Trek is in an alternate universe which diverged from ours at some point in history. That seems really, really obvious and undeniable to me. So the ...

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