Star Trek: Discovery

[Jester]

So replicated food is made of what now?

Gross...

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Jester

So replicated food is made of what now?

Gross...

Kind of makes VOY make a little less sense. Like, we already knew after you eat a meal from the replicator, you can put the empty dish and empty glasses back in the replicator and it reabsorbs/reclaims them for replicator energy/matter. We know that because they told us that, on DS9, too. But nothing about replicators reclaiming waste/poo/pee. Presumably this was why they had to institute "replicator rations" on Voyager to keep their replicator energy/matter reserves at sustainable levels.

[Jester]

Yeah I joked with my non-Trek-loving wife that it gave Voyager's replicator rations a whole new spin...maybe 9nly distant future replicators do(odoo) that.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Jester

Yeah I joked with my non-Trek-loving wife that it gave Voyager's replicator rations a whole new spin..

Well, as long as everyone on the ship was on top of their game by putting back all plates and glasses into the replicator and pooping and peeing only on the ship in areas where it gets similarly broken down to the replicator, VOY would never have ever needed to institute replicator rations.

I mean, even if 2 crewman took a dump on some random planet or station. That would mean the ship's replicators are only out the contents of 2 meals. Presumably this could be covered by stuff like the waste from Neelix's cooking (stuff like potato skins, nut shells, etc) being shoved into the replicator for reclamation.

Ergo, it couldn't have been made from poo on VOY.

[neatoman]

Believe it or not but this was actually a subplot on a Swedish Sci-Fi show for children. When the characters found out what the replicated food was made of, they tried to stick to emergency provisions because they were too grossed out.

[Jester]

Is it a sci-fi comedy?

[neatoman]

Originally Posted by Jester

Is it a sci-fi comedy?

Vintergatan 5A. Yes, it has a very fourth wall leaning tone and there are live segments in which children were allowed to call in speak to the characters.

The plot is about a bunch of teenagers tasked by an alien to collect various life-forms from other planets.

Spoiler:

And at the end the alien decides to that the pet goldfish one of them took with them by accident was the ideal host body to fly off in.

[Jester]

Sounds interesting...maybe even better than Discovery.

[Galactus]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

I honestly don't even think I can bring myself to watch (let alone even bother to pirate) the newest episode of STD. Apparently the cause of the Burn is revealed, and it's just some random alien that got super emotional and blew up all of the dilithium in the galaxy because of some kind of Force-like emotional outburst? And then sent an encrypted distress signal? That doesn't even make sense. And apparently Saru lets Tilly be captain because he decides it might help her emotional state?

I just... I can't.

It was always going to be something lame like that. It's like last season with the Red Angel and everyone had cool fan theories that related back to old TOS episodes and then it all added up to bub-kiss. I get it though after all this show is primarily aimed at new fans why would you base an entire seasonal arc around an episode of the 60s show and not even one of the good or memorable ones. Still it's disappointing and a sign that this new 'angle' the show seems to have every season needs more thought into it.

Kind of makes VOY make a little less sense. Like, we already knew after you eat a meal from the replicator, you can put the empty dish and empty glasses back in the replicator and it reabsorbs/reclaims them for replicator energy/matter. We know that because they told us that, on DS9, too. But nothing about replicators reclaiming waste/poo/pee. Presumably this was why they had to institute "replicator rations" on Voyager to keep their replicator energy/matter reserves at sustainable levels.

Voyager was complete nonsense anyway. Treating Deuterium like an ultra rare thing you had to mine moons and asteroids for when it can be found almost anywhere. To this day I think the writers thought it was a fictional substance they made up as opposed to a real world thing.

I always thought that the whole replicator rations was more a case of conserving the Replicators energy. Even recycling it there is probably some diminishing returns. Then again this is a show that made power conservation a thing but a confirmed huge power hog like the holodeck was used frequently for the crew to sex it up.

Still it was Voyager that established that the ship recycles everything in the fifth season premier. We can assume that includes their urine and feces or we would if we'd ever see a toilet in the future. I believe it was Enterprise that established that they did indeed recycle their waste "a poop question". Unseemly as it may be it's probably how real life long term space travel would pan out.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Galactus

Still it was Voyager that established that the ship recycles everything in the fifth season premier. We can assume that includes their urine and feces or we would if we'd ever see a toilet in the future. I believe it was Enterprise that established that they did indeed recycle their waste "a poop question". Unseemly as it may be it's probably how real life long term space travel would pan out.

Hm, did they? As energy? If so why continue replicator rations? Their energy retention would be 1:1.

[Galactus]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Hm, did they? As energy? If so why continue replicator rations? Their energy retention would be 1:1.

It was the fifth season premier 'Night' Torres explains it to the unscrupulous Malon dumping toxic waste in the star-less region of space. She basically says that the ship literally recycles everything and even offers to show the Malon how to alter their ships to do the same...which strikes me as a pretty big violation of the Prime Directive but whatever.

Most stuff in Star Trek is made on the fly usually as the plot requires it. I guarantee you up until that episode no one on the Voyager writing staff put much thought into how Starfleet ships were powered and no one cared after. I was making a joke before but the holodeck was a good example of this. In one of the early episodes it's mentioned that the holodeck has it's own independent power source so it wasn't easy to shut it off from outside or transfer power from it to other parts of the ship except in times we saw them deactivate it remotely or transfer power from it to other systems like in that horrible Fair Haven episode or Body and Soul when Tuvok was about to have sex with a holographic recreation of his wife.

[Jester]

So an article came up on Facebook and i thought I'd look for the TNG Technical Manual like was mentioned in a comment. Found this:

Originally Posted by Section 12.5 under Waste Management

The various waste sludges recovered from the water recycling processes are a valuable resource. The organic waste processing system subjects the sludge to a series of sterilizing heat and radiation treatments. The waste is then electrolytically reprocessed into an organic particulate suspension that serves as the raw material for the food synthesizer systems. Remaining byproducts are conveyed to the solid waste processing system for matter replication recycling.
MATTER REPLICATION RECYCLING
Material that cannot be directly recycled by mechanical or chemical means is stored for matter synthesis recycling. This is accomplished by molecular matrix replicators that actually dematerialize the waste materials and rematerialize them in the form of desired objects or materials stored in
computer memory. While this process provides an enormous variety of useful items, it is very energy intensive and many everyday consumables (such as water and clothing) are recycled by less energy intensive mechanical or chemical means. Certain types of consumables (such as foodstuffs)
are routinely recycled using matter replication because this results in a considerable savings of stored raw material (See: 13.5).

Originally Posted by Section 13.5- Food Replication System

The raw food stock material is an organic particulate suspension, a combination of long-chain molecules that has been formulated for minimum replication power requirements.
When dematerialized, using a slightly modified phase transition coil chamber, the resulting matter stream statistically requires the least quantum transformational manipulation to replicate most finished foodstuffs. This "transmutation" of matter is a modern scientific miracle, but the use of this raw
material keeps the energy cost within reason.
Although the raw food stock is normally replaced at starbase resupply, osmotic and electrolytic fractioning of wastewater allows up to 82% of food stock to be reclaimed and reused. In a shortage, raw food stock can be replicated from general raw stock or waste material, but the energy cost is correspondingly higher, so this practice is to be avoided.

So it CAN be done, but it often isn't because it is taxing to the system. Again maybe in the future they ironed out all the kinks.

[Andrew NDB]

OK... that makes sense. In VOY, they are recycling poo and pee if they have to in the event of shortfalls, but even then there is a shortfall. Not 1:1. By the time of STD, it is 1:1.

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Captain Michael Burnham. Hooray.

[neatoman]

Originally Posted by CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy

Captain Michael Burnham. Hooray.

Yeah... The fact that they didn't go for Captain Tilly instead made me wonder something...

... Anybofy thinking this was written as a potential ending in case they didn't get a fourth season? Because while it was obvious that Michael was going to be promoted to Captain eventually, because that's largely what her arc seems to have been about, this felt a little rushed. She got demoted earlier on in the season because of questionable actions. In fact, she doesn't seemed to have the developed much at all towards that end goal.

This really does come across like "Whoops, are gonna get another season? Maybe? Ah well, screw it, let's just write an ending and make something up if we get more". The fact that they've mostly written her as doing things a Captain simply couldn't do is what makes me think this particular development was meant to happen way later...

... Unless the writers just think they audience will swallow what they'll tell us without showing it, that could also be it....

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy

Captain Michael Burnham. Hooray.

Shesus. They really did it. Also, they made the handicapped guy in the wheelchair part of the crew (thus checking "crippled" on their list of boxes)... I can't believe I didn't see that coming.

[IMJ]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Shesus. They really did it. Also, they made the handicapped guy in the wheelchair part of the crew (thus checking "crippled" on their list of boxes)... I can't believe I didn't see that coming.

Couldn't everyone see this coming from day one? The agenda that has @$$ raped Star Trek?

LEFTIST ALLEGORY FOR THEIR PERFECT SOCIETY: Leftists write Arrogant officer who commits treason. Treason. But officer is redeemed to become Captain because she is a POC and it's a proof-story.

LEFTIST BEHAVIOR IN REAL SOCIETY: Leftists see a protest from their opposing side. They call it treason and want arrests, death penalty and to impeach the "Captain" in a path that cannot lead to redemption. But their own riots in the streets riots "the language of the oppressed and angry" and they demand release of rioters.

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Originally Posted by IMJ

LEFTIST ALLEGORY FOR THEIR PERFECT SOCIETY: Leftists write Arrogant officer who commits treason. Treason. But officer is redeemed to become Captain because she is a POC and it's a proof-story.

It's not just that Burnham committed treason. Spock technically committed treason in "The Menegarie", hence his court martial.

And Snowden committed treason in real life. There's treason, and then there's treason.

When Burnham committed treason, she got her captain killed, her ship wrecked, and launched an interstellar war that devastated her entire civilization.

And even worse, Burnham then became the shining beacon of "NO, the Federation should be BETTER" for the rest of the show. She's always right. No one challenges her and wins.

Michael Burnham is truly the worst Star Trek character of all time. Which is a shame; the actress is pretty damn good.

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Shesus. They really did it. Also, they made the handicapped guy in the wheelchair part of the crew (thus checking "crippled" on their list of boxes)... I can't believe I didn't see that coming.

Apparently, that actor has been suffering a degenerative disease and previously appeared in Discovery as different characters (Tenavik the Timekeeper, for one). Who knows how long he'll be able to stay in acting.

So, I for one think bringing him on in a bigger role is awesome. He may not last in it for very long, through no fault of his own.

And yeah, wheelchairs a thousand years into the future is kinda silly, but Pike was in one two hundred years in the future so... still necessary for some rare debilitating conditions, I guess?

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Originally Posted by IMJ

LEFTIST BEHAVIOR IN REAL SOCIETY: Leftists see a protest from their opposing side. They call it treason and want arrests, death penalty and to impeach the "Captain" in a path that cannot lead to redemption. But their own riots in the streets riots "the language of the oppressed and angry" and they demand release of rioters.

Also, I find it very disconcerting that you call what happened a couple of days ago a "protest."

Hate on the liberal protests and agenda all you want; I respect your difference of opinion.

But don't make light of Jan 6th as a mere "protest."

[Leo656]

I know whenever I stage a "coup", I take time out to post selfies with my feet on Pelosi's desk.

Carry on.