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The native Medusans have demonstrated vastly advanced scientific abilities and possess telepathic capabilities far more advanced than any other Federation member race.

Medusans have developed interstellar navigation into a fine art and are extraordinary starship navigators. Their talent is the result of their radically different sensory systems. One theory holds that they are able to electromagnetically indentify and lock onto thousands of guide stars simultaneously, including those beyond deep sensor range.

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So with a description like that, I was thinking that this character could be my Mr. Sulu-like expert navigator and helmsman and Mr. Spock/Deanna Troi-like telepath/empath explainer. I really didn't want to introduce yet another Vulcan or Betazoid character in my stories for this plot purpose, so in an effort to be different, I decided on a Medusan. Plus with the exoskeleton, the character would have the strength of Cmdr. Data.

The problem that I have is that I don't think that there is much of a character in the anti-gravity containment box shown in the TOS episode "Is There in Truth No Beauty?" or the Medusan Electromagnetic Container, which is a box with octopus-like manipulator arms, created by Shane Johnson in the previously mentioned book The Worlds of the Federation.

After watching Saturn 3 and Robocop 2 again, I was thinking what if the Medusan Electromagnetic Container was housed inside the chest cavity area of a bipedal exoskeleton that was roughly 2 to 2.5 meters tall and was topped with a humanoid-like mechanical head that could show facial expressions? This exoskeleton would need to be flexible enough to sit at the Conn station at the bridge and have arms ending in multiple digit hands with an oposable thumb capable of pressing buttons at the Conn station and using tools such as tricorders and phasers. It also could be no taller or wider than the doors we have seen in starships.

So here is my design challenge. Design for me a Medusan Electromagnetic Container and then an exoskeleton that I call a Medusan Bipedal Conveyor.

The Medusan Electromagnetic Container would be, for example, a large cylinder about the size of a 5 gallon bucket of paint. It would be white, silver, or titanium colored and have decals all over it. In large letters it would say: "Medusan Lifeform Container" and then there would be Danger and warning symbols all over it such as "Eye shields required before opening." I would also like to have a lighted bar indicator, in blue or green, that displayed the strength of the electro-magnetic containment field.

The exoskeleton or Medusan Bipedal Converyor would be designed by Cmdr. Bruce Maddox and his team at the Daystrom Institute of Technology. The Medusan Electromagnetic Container would be housed in the torso or chest cavity area of this exoskeleton body.

For the design of the body, I was thinking of something very similar to Briareos from Appleseed, Hector from Saturn 3, or a combination of Robocop and Robocop 2. Although my requirement is that the body have dextrous hands and not pincers because I want the character to be able to use standard tools.

It doesn't need to have humanoid-like legs, but I want the character to be able to walk on uneven terrain and be able to walk up and down stairs.

There should be an area of the body painted the same shade as Command/Conn red like the duty uniforms. The rank of Lieutenant should also appear.

The body should also be painted with the 2371-2390 Starfleet isignia, the DS9, Voyager, and Nemesis arrow, on the left breast area. The story takes place after the events of Nemesis.

For the head I was thinking of something like Lucifer from Battlestar Galactica or the T-X, without flesh, from Terminator 3. The head doesn't even need to look human. I just want something that would show some facial expressions, such as approximations of anger, irratation, amusement etc, and would more or less light up in the mouth area, or had a mechanical mouth and lips that moved, when the character talked.

The eyes could be two orbits that moved to "look" at things, but this would be just for the benefit of the persons he was interacting with, because the Medusan himself could not use the data sent to him from the mechanical eyes.

The prize for this design challenge is my admiration, the admiration of other fans on this Web site, and a mention of your design efforts on the title page of my stories. Thank you for your time and attention.
 

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Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
 



 

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Posted by Austin Powers (Member # 250) on :
 
*LOL*
 

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Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
 
Harry! What is that from again!?!

What has been described just sounds like Bender from Futurama!
 

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Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
 
KRANG!! I was just thinking of him! Or the alien that had the galaxy in "Men In Black."
 

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Posted by Cartmaniac (Member # 256) on :
 
"What is that from again!?!"

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, man... for shame you aren't up on your classic cartoons. B)
 

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Posted by Middy Seafort (Member # 951) on :
 
A Medusan bipedal conveyor would be interesting. Somewhat similar to the Vorlon encoutner suit of Babylon 5; or more like the original description of the Vorlon encounter suit with arms and hands.

I can see the lost scene from "Is There No Truth in Beauty?":

Spock (to McCoy)

I have looked upon the face of the Medusan and nothing is the same anymore, Doctor. Nothing.
 

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Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
 
The simplest and most elegant design that I can think of would be a Soong-type android body sans the head. Around the neck would be a silvery collar which projects a holographic head that the Medusan can use to communicate.
Of course unlike Data or Lore the body wouldn't be "fully functional" ( ) but would have the extra thumb you described (possible at the request of the Medusan.)

This would be the easiest (easy read cheep) design to depict and it's what they'd probably do on the show if they had a regular Medusan character.
 

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Posted by Triton (Member # 1043) on :
 
I guess that the Soong-like android body with the holographic head would be the most elegant solution Reverend. But I was trying to get away from the actor with gold tinted mime face paint look of Brent Spiner's Data. Maybe if it was stripped of the outer skin covering and you could see the blinking lights, hoses, ODN cable, motors, and gears. I would prefer to make the body more Borg looking, than Brent Spiner looking.

Droids, mechanoids, or silver metal men are absent from the Star Trek universe. (With the exception, of course, of the Captain Proton holodeck sequences in Voyager.)

Now I am thinking does it really need to look human-like at all. What if the mechanical body was constructed by an alien member race of the Federation. Like the battledroids in Star Wars Episodes I and II.

Am I wrong in my original thinking that there isn't much of a character in a silver-colored anti-grav container with medusa-like mechanical arms? If you saw it in a TV series, or movie, would you guys think it was cheesy looking? It's Mr.Box on the bridge.

I also didn't want to have an obvious copy of Commander Data, Lore, or B4. Its new and improved Mr. Data. If you saw it in a TV series or movie, would you guys think it was a rip-off of Data?
 

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Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
 
Well something completely non humanoid would be my first choice since I rather think that the Medusans could probably design a conveyor themselves.
 

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Posted by Triton (Member # 1043) on :
 
They probably would design it themselves if they are true to their description of possessing "vastly advanced scientific abilities." Consider the Bruce Maddox and the Daystrom Institute of Technology idea dropped. Unless, of course, the Daystrom Institute of Technology had Medusan scientists who manufactured the bodies there. Sounds to me like the Medusan homeworld would be too hostile to the materials and they would decompose or melt in their Class C homeworld "blanketed by dense clouds of super-heated carbon dioxide." I believe that their mechanical bodies or containers would need be manufactured off-world.

Starfleet would most certainly build an orbital space station or outpost for this member world. Large dumb-bell shaped starbase like Star Base 1?
So why don't I make this space station the place of manufacture of the Medusan Electromagnetic Containers and any supporting material or mechanisms. Consider the Daystrom Institute of Technology idea dropped as well.

PS -- Thanks for not shooting this down as a terrible idea.
 

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Posted by Triton (Member # 1043) on :
 
To add yet another creative wrinkle, what if in addition to a bipedal mode, it would have a quadra-ped mode like AMEE from Red Planet and a telescoping neck that could bring the head to humanoid eye level when it was in this mode? Then it could cover terrain quickly and move like a big cat.
 

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Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
 
I was actually thinking of the AMEE robot, although with six limbs instead of four to give it a slightly more alien look and to make it more adaptable.
As for the face I'd use a blank mimetic-alloy face plate that can just mould itself into basic expressions.
 

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Posted by Triton (Member # 1043) on :
 
The bio-mimetic alloy face idea would work well. Are you thinking of the liquid metal of the T-1000 in "Terminator 2" that could be shaped into faces like those shown on the water device in "The Abyss"? Of course, at no time would it look like real human flesh or hair.
 

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Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
 
That's the basic idea, yeah.
Most of the time it would be just a blank reflective orb but it can smoothly transition into a theatrical mask type face depending upon the emotion that the Medusian wishes to convey.
No moving lips though, the voice should be somewhat eerie like that of the Vorlons on B5.
 

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Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
 
I'm not sure why it should have to be. Surely the Federation contains whole armies of industrial designers. They probably burn through art movements like we do the ozone layer. So, I mean, not that cool and mysterious is not, well, cool and mysterious, but what about personable and user-friendly? Design a Medusan conveyance that not only gets the job done, but that's on the top of every kid's winter holiday wishlist on 200 planets. Surely that would be important to a species who apparently want to be friendly and open and part of the interstellar community, but suffer from, to put it politely, a bit of an image problem. A Medusan enviro-garment worthy of marching down the absolute trendiest runways in the galaxy would be my goal.
 

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Posted by Triton (Member # 1043) on :
 
Sol System:

What design do you propose that is "personable and user-friendly", "on the top of every kid's winter holiday wishlist on 200 planets", and "worthy of marching down the absolute trendiest runways in the galaxy"? What would you consider to be user friendly? I am not trying to put you on the spot here, my goal is to get more design ideas and create a character that people think is cool, not lame.
 

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Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
 
I don't think trendy and user friendly are particularly good directions to go here.
The reason I suggested that the expressions be simple (other than the cool mysterious factor) is that I assume that it'd be very difficult to translate the exacting emotional state of a non-corporeal being into a humanoid face.
Also the very concept of a face would be as alien to a Medusian as a cloud of brain searing intelligent vapour is to up, so if it was designed by the Medusans then it would have to be very simple.
Like Odo's face in a way, not necessarily the look of Odo just the face that it's more of an approximation of a face to aid communication and case of the Medusians, it'd give the humanoids they're interacting with a point of focus, something very important to corporeals.

Also given that this suit would presumably be for Starfleet service then functionality has to be a priority over child friendliness.
 

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Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
 
Hey, I'm no designer. I'm just saying that I, for one, am most interested in these kinds of considerations, which seem too easily overlooked. How well can this thing interact with its organic coworkers? Does it put them at ease? Can they relate to it? These are the questions I would ask, were I a creepy noncorporeal entity wanting to fit in.
 

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Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
 
Oh, and the Federation is pretty clearly way beyond the primitive technological necessity for form to follow function. Hopefully we will not still be burdened with modernism 300 years from now.
 

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Posted by Triton (Member # 1043) on :
 
Hmmm... you bring up some good points Sol System. I can imagine that all humanoid lifeforms are scared out of their wits in the presence of a Medusan. So perhaps the Medusans would go out of their way to make a machine that would put other lifeforms at ease. They, perhaps, would want to advertise "I'm nice. Don't be afraid of me. We are not as dangerous as you may have heard."

My first impulse was to be very matter of fact and utilitarian in the design of the character. I was thinking that the Medusans would be a very form follows function type of race when it came to design. We need to move our container around, so let's build a frame with arms and legs so we can use humanoid tools and let's have a very rudimentarly face so that we can communicate.

I was also thinking that the character wouldn't understand emotions very well. There was a death, I must now look sad. But there would also be times when he would display inappropriate emotions because he misread the situation. Although I wouldn't want to make the character too much like Data in this regard.

My original idea was to make him very mysterious as Reverend suggested and thought that it was a good idea to have a design that continued to make him an enigma.

Thanks for the posts Reverend and Sol System , I'll need to think about this character some more. I would also appreciate it if any other forum readers would share their ideas if they would like to contribute.
 

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Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Triton:

Droids, mechanoids, or silver metal men are absent from the Star Trek universe. (With the exception, of course, of the Captain Proton holodeck sequences in Voyager.)

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Yes there was - see the Voyager episode from Season 2 with the Praylor and the Kravitt - forgotten the name of the episode - but it was a good one (for Voyager season 2).

Oh and about Krang - I RECOGNISED it from some DEEP dark memory - but couldn't remember it being from TMNT - maybe I've erased those memories!

All I could keep thinking is "Captain Planet". LOL

Captain Planet, he's our hero - gonna take pollution down - to - ze - ro.

LeVar Burton and Whoopi Goldberg used to do voices in that cartoon.
 

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Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Harry:

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Geez!! I laughed so damn hard at that!
Truly what a Medusan should look like.
 

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Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
 
It would probably be a good idea to rewatch, um..."Is There In Truth No Beauty?" I think it was, for Medusan reference purposes. I know it's been ages since I've seen it, anyway.
 

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Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
 
It was just a metal box on the floor with a bright light inside it.
The Medusan probably showed Spock what Diane Muldar would look like on TNG as Dr. Pulaski and he went blind from the sheer horror....
 

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Posted by Triton (Member # 1043) on :
 
I would have certainly watched it again if I had access to it Sol System. I don't have the episode in my collection and it is not available in a video store close to me. Hopefully Paramount will re-issue the original series on DVD in box sets soon. Should we start a letter campaign for 2005 after "Voyager" is released in 2004? Perhaps I can find the James Blish novelization in a used book store.

Jason, I can imagine that Spock could be driven insane by the thought that one of Miranda Jones' ancestors would look exaclty like her and act exactly like Dr. Leonard H. McCoy. Pulaski was such a rip off of, I mean inspired by or a homage to, Dr. McCoy. I never liked Diana Muldar, though she seemed to appear in Gene Roddenberry's productions quite often. Wasn't she in Planet Earth with John Saxon as Dylan Hunt.

I wonder if she was one of his former romantic conquests? He seemed like such a philanderer if we are to believe some of the stories in Star Trek: The Inside Story. He certainly was not Saint Gene, but a flawed human being.

I kept on expecting Pulaski to say "Dammit" once in a while and complain that she was a doctor not an X.
 

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Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
 
I'm suggesting a rewatch not to see what the container looked like, but to see how the Medusan acted around people. That is, if it spoke. I seem to remember that it did.
 

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Posted by Triton (Member # 1043) on :
 
Of course, I have several pictures of the box already that I have collected on the Internet. If I remember correctly he did not say anything until the second mind meld with Spock when Spock held Kollos' essence if you will. I seem to remember Leonard Nimoy with a grin on his face and he said something like you poor isolated corporeal beings, how can you live in something so small and limiting. Not a direct quote, but the gist of what he was saying. Yeah I need to go back and see the original episode some how or see if I can find the James Blish novelization somewhere. I was thinking of adding them to my collection anyway, so now is a good time to get them if I see them at the used book shops.
 

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Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
 
I liked when it jumped out of the box abd statred singing "Hello my baby...."
 

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Posted by Triton (Member # 1043) on :
 
LOL!
 

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