For example, the Federation’s founding members (Tellarites, Andorians, Vulcans, Humans) were the subject of fan theories and “fanon” for many years before the ENT writers made it official. One of the interesting (and fun) aspects of this recent wave of series has been seeing the writers increasingly add nods to fan theories and pieces of fanon lore over the years. What are some good examples of this?
And relatedly: what’s a fan theory, or piece of fanon, that you suspect the current writers believe, even if they haven’t explicitly stated it on-screen?
I’m really happy they included Cetacean Ops in LD. I’d love to see more of them.
I also adore that we got to see it, but technically it was already canon - it was mentioned in the alternate universe bridge chatter in TNG: “Yesterday’s Enterprise” and Geordi asked if Briam “had a chance to see the dolphins yet”.
I saw this pointed out in an episode reaction thread, but I’m pretty sure “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” marks the first time the Federation has been explicitly, on-screen referred to as “socialist”. Fans, of course, have been calling the Federation socialist/communist for a long time. I think it started kind of crystalizing in 90’s Trek, particularly on DS9 and with Picard’s little speech about not using money in First Contact.
It’s kind of a throwaway moment in the episode, but it feels big to actually use the word? I suppose modern audiences are much more comfortable with the word than they would have been in the 90’s.
but it feels big to actually use the word?
I felt the same way. This reminded me of Discovery’s Admiral Vance openly admitting to ending capitalism being a goal of the Federation.
That the temporal cold war was responsible for certain changes in canon, such as the Eugenics War happening in the 21st century rather than the 1990’s. That’s been a popular theory on Daystrom since long before last week’s SNW.
Star Trek has always talked about Starfleet and the Federation as organizations that are worthy of trust. But practically every series has had examples of badmirals and evil bureaucracy, typically with ‘our’ heroes being the ones to fight against it. From stealing the Enterprise in TSFS to The Drumhead to Section 31 to petty theft Archer to Control and the Zhat Vash to the Illyrians, being and/or fighting against a compromised or infiltrated or just simply bad Starfleet has been a long recurring theme. That’s why I loved when they turned that theme on its head in Lower Decks, with an entire episode based around fighting the evil Starfleet ended up superfluous because Starfleet was actually a fundamentally good organization and, as it turned out, the system actually works. I feel like the writers of Lower Decks are the only ones who really believe that…everybody else seems to want to scratch at the surface to see what they feel really lies beneath. Although, having said that, they ended the same season with a badmiral, so idk.
Lower Decks is such a great show. You’re spot on about it not being cynical about the Federation, etc.
I feel like some of the writers finally came around- for example In Discovery S3 the emerald chain wants to co opt the name of the Federation because the Federation is still viewed very highly.
I also appreciate that we see the motivation behind being a badmiral
Seven being gay (or at least not straight) is a good one- I think it’s something a lot of people had as a bit of a fan theory but it’s something you would never see on Berman Trek.
That the warp drive functions through the expansion and contraction of space.
There were many possible fan explanations for how TOS’ warp drive would work, with Miguel Alcubierre developing the Alcubierre drive as his own attempt at making warp drive real, but the in-show explanations never really delved beyond a “the warp engines make the ship go fast to a certain point, but too much, and they fly off the ship”.
TNG’s explanation only amounted to saying they worked by pushing on subspace, which pushed back and propelled the ship, like a detergent-powered paper boat being dragged along, and can be responsible for subspace funkiness depending on how you use it.
DS9 seemed to imply that they altered the mass of the ship in some way, in conjunction with the deflector systems. TNG only implied that the warp field could alter the laws of physics within its area of effect.
But at some point the “contraction and expansion of space” explanation for how a warp field works seems to have stuck, sometime after Enterprise(?). Ask any random Star Trek person about how warp drive works, and they’ll give a similar explanation. The writers almost certainly operate under similar beliefs.
In the new shows, they actually call the mirror universe the mirror universe, which is something that they don’t do in previous appearances- in DS9 they always call it the alternate universe.
Bashir and O’Brien did not just have what the official startrek.com website refers to as a “homosocial” relationship.
I think the writers did kind of start off with a bromance, and then the
slashfic writersfans got a hold of it, and then this game of “chicken” ensued where the innuendo got more and more explicit.There are many, many such moments: one comes from Field of Fire
O’BRIEN: The kid’s a born helmsman. BASHIR: And so say all of us. ALL: Hear, hear. ILARIO: Thanks. I’m just glad to be here. O’BRIEN: It’s the best posting in the galaxy. BASHIR: If there’s anything you want, anything at all, just ask. ILARIO: Well, there is one thing. O’BRIEN: Name it. ILARIO: Next time you two go to the holosuite, I’d like to come along. O’BRIEN: Sorry. BASHIR: Can’t be done. O’BRIEN: No, it’s out of the question. BASHIR: It’s impossible. KIRA: Don’t take it personally. They’re very serious about their leisure activities. BASHIR: It’s a good way to relieve stress. O’BRIEN: Yeah, I highly recommend it. BASHIR: Just not with us. O’BRIEN: No. You know, when you have a holosuite visit, it’s sort of a personal experience. BASHIR: He’s very particular about anybody seeing him in his coonskin cap. You understand. ILARIO: I suppose. QUARK: Gentlemen, your holosuite is ready. BASHIR: Terrific. Now if there’s anything else you need? O’BRIEN: Just let us know. (O’Brien and Bashir go up the stairs) ILARIO: Have you ever gone to the holosuite with them? KIRA: Me? Never. EZRI: I know when I’m not wanted.
The moment is even odder because we know from episodes like A Simple Investigation and Badda Bing Badda Bang that O’Brien and Bashir did go to the holosuites with others, including Jadzia Dax, for fun – but when they went alone, together, they did not want anyone else to be there.
…But to me the real finishing piece is from Extreme Measures:
O’BRIEN: I should’ve left a note for Keiko to let her what we were planning. BASHIR: Why worry her? O’BRIEN: No, I want her and the kids to understand why I had to do this. BASHIR: She’ll understand. She’ll know you did it for me. O’BRIEN: That’s what’ll upset her the most. She always said I liked you more than I liked her. BASHIR: That’s ridiculous. O’BRIEN: Right. Yeah. BASHIR: Well maybe you do, a bit more. O’BRIEN: What? Are you crazy? She’s my wife. I love her. BASHIR: Of course you love her. She’s your wife. O’BRIEN: Yeah. BASHIR: I’m just saying maybe you like me a bit more, that’s all. O’BRIEN: I do not. BASHIR: You spend more time with me. O’BRIEN: We work together. BASHIR: We have more in common. O’BRIEN: Julian, you are starting to annoy me. BASHIR: Darts, racquetball, Vic’s lounge, the Alamo. Need I go on? O’BRIEN: I love my wife. BASHIR: And I love Ezri. Passionately. O’BRIEN: You do? BASHIR: Yes. O’BRIEN: Have you told her? BASHIR: Not yet. But I will. O’BRIEN: Oh, yeah? When? BASHIR: When I’m ready. It’s just that I like you a bit more. See? There, I’ve admitted it. O’BRIEN: Yeah, well, I love my wife.
The dialogue doesn’t even really do it justice, I don’t see how you can watch that scene and conclude something other than that they had a romantic relationship.
The use of “warp bubble” as a synonym for “warp field” is a piece of fanon that only popped up in a series with the first season of Strange New Worlds.
I find this one troublesome, as this tends to be a stepping stone to treating the warp drive as an Alcubierre drive, when historically it hasn’t really been portrayed that way.
Is that true? I could swear I have a memory of Geordi describing it as a bubble at some point on TNG. Then again I also spent a lot of time looking through Rick Sternbach and Dennis Okuda’s TNG Technical Manual back in the day, so maybe I just absorbed it and incorporated it from there.
I believe the only “warp bubble” that we see in TNG is the anomaly that Wesley creates, and Bev gets trapped in, in “Remember Me”.
Warp bubbles are named in “Interface” as a type of subspace deformation.
In both cases, they’re unique phenomena.
When the Dauntless is chasing the Protostar in PRO: “Mindwalk”, Tysess gives the order to merge the “warp bubbles” of both ships, the first time we hear the term being applied to a warp field.
When the Enterprise is unable to go to warp in SNW: “The Elysian Kingdom”, Spock theorizes the nebula may be affecting the ship’s ability to create a “static warp bubble”, and from context he’s talking about the warp field generated by the nacelles.
Prior to this, the terms “warp bubbles” and “warp fields” were not used interchangeably, the former being a “static warp bubble”, previously established as a toroidal, non-propulsive subspace field which once trapped Beverly Crusher in a pocket universe (TNG: “Remember Me”) rather than the field used to enable warp speed travel.
