posted
This has caught my attention when ive watched this episode and i was wondering if someone could clear this up for me.
In the episode "The inner light" when Picard is asking questions about where he is and what planet he is on, he gets the answer "the planet Katan". Later in the episode when Geordi and Data track the origins of the probe back to a system they name it the Katan system. Yet data informs that the all life was extinguished a 1000 years ago via the supernova of the systems sun. I was wondering how they could have had the exact same name for the system as the original people had. The only explanation i have for this is that maybe the name was found on some expedition to the planet in which artifacts were found, but then they would have to dicipher the language.
Could someone clear this up for me.
And please dont get impatient with me if the answer is obvious
Oh and a nitpick while im at it. How could a race that is only just beginning to send rockets into space be able to develop a probe that could do all that to Picard
-------------------- More human than human -Blade Runner
posted
Yes, one of a number of faults with this otherwise excellent episode. See some of the common nitpicks, and conjectural explanations on my site here:
Saltah'na
Chinese Canadian, or 75% Commie Bastard.
Member # 33
posted
Oh and a nitpick while im at it. How could a race that is only just beginning to send rockets into space be able to develop a probe that could do all that to Picard?
Never underestimate technology of some particular inhabitants....
-------------------- "And slowly, you come to realize, it's all as it should be, you can only do so much. If you're game enough, you could place your trust in me. For the love of life, there's a tradeoff, we could lose it all but we'll go down fighting...." - David Sylvian FreeSpace 2, the greatest space sim of all time, now remastered!
posted
Um... Isn't this obvious? If the probe could put images into Picard's mind, there's no reason it couldn't take information out, also. How else could everyone in his "dream" be speaking English? Presumably, the probe got the name "Kataan" out of Picard's mind (or even the ship's computer, now that I think about it). Also, I'm sure there was no difficulty putting a chronometer in the thing, so it would know how long it had been floating in space. It would use the information it got from Picard to convert that time into Earth years.
Registered: Mar 1999
| IP: Logged
posted
um well this could be an explanation but i have some problems with it. Why would the people of Katan make the probe do this? I mean what would be the point in planning for the probe to do that. The probes purpose was to show Picard their civilisation so it would not be forgoten. There would be no reason why their scientists would make shaw that their name for their planet would match the one Starfleet had for the system. Picard could simply correct it when he came back.
And about the years. I dont have any problem with the years so ill take into account that you picked up that point from Red Barrens site where he mentions it Thanks for the replies guys
[ July 08, 2001: Message edited by: Kosa ]
[ July 08, 2001: Message edited by: Kosa ]
-------------------- More human than human -Blade Runner
Registered: Jun 2001
| IP: Logged
posted
Easy about the name. The name could have been known from 'legend'. Or in the histories of other races that had visited Katan before they were wiped out... sorta like Guinan visiting Earth in the 19th century. El-Aurians could have even visited Katan?
-------------------- "Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica." - Jim Halpert. (The Office)
Printer-friendly view of this topic
