posted
I just happened to see the beginning of TNG: "The Masterpiece Society". The genome colony on Moab IV was established "200 years ago", which would be around 2168, and was obviously isolated since. The people there (albeit otherwise technologically advanced - they know what a tractor beam is!) have never heard of the transporter, and they are even more astonished when the Enterprise away team appears out of thin air.
-------------------- Bernd Schneider
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Well, when did the original colonists leave Earth and how long did it take them to find and travel Moab IV? It's conceivable that the colonists left Earth when the transporter was still in the prototype/design/testing phase for cargo applications when they left Earth.
Another possibility is that some of the original colonists may have known about the transporter but this knowledge was simply lost to the ages. As Geordi said in that episode, "Maybe necessity really is the mother of invention." Living in an insulated and utopian society, I can't imagine the colonists having a need for the transporter since we've only really seen them in use for transporting people and cargo over really long distances. The colony was fairly small, so I doubt the colonists would take the trouble to build one or use one. The information may have not been passed on, or the information did survive in the databanks but was never reviewed or anything for the colony's lack of needing it.
A third alternative is that it's possible that Starfleet developed the transporter and kept the project largely underwraps for a while. Look at how nervous all of the Enterprise's crew is at using it for bio-transport at their point in time. A bit of proof to offer for this is that Starfleet always seems to have the best transporter systems with the best scanning resolution. Sisko made a comment to Yates about the newest version of the transporter system and how she should upgrade to it from her current one. This implies to me that either Starfleet R&D led and leads the development of the transporters, or that a corporation with a lucrative government contract and many ties to Starfleet is doing that.
As for the tractor beam, my impression has always been that the scientists weren't making improvements to a tractor beam but were inventing it from the ground up as a possible way to combat the problems from the stellar core fragment. Sounds like she was doing a lot of tinkering in her spare time with near impossible ideas since she admitted herself that she'd have no way of powering her tractor beam.
-------------------- The philosopher's stone. Those who possess it are no longer bound by the laws of equivalent exchange in alchemy. They gain without sacrifice and create without equal exchange. We searched for it, and we found it.
quote:Originally posted by Bernd: I just happened to see the beginning of TNG: "The Masterpiece Society". The genome colony on Moab IV was established "200 years ago", which would be around 2168, and was obviously isolated since. The people there (albeit otherwise technologically advanced - they know what a tractor beam is!) have never heard of the transporter, and they are even more astonished when the Enterprise away team appears out of thin air.
Finally, for the first time, an Enterprise continuity issue that is actually an issue!
Luckily, it's not insurmountable. The time span is well into that nebulous zone where inaccuracies of even thirty years wouldn't be all that big of a deal... to borrow a frequent example, I could say that the United States was founded 200 years ago without any historians complaining, when it's actually 225. The policy of assuming all year references are exact is nothing more than a timelining convention because, if we don't do it, we have nothing to work with!
Brace yourselves: Enterprise did indeed break continuity by a few decades. Never thought you'd hear it, did you?
capped
I WAS IN THE FUTURE, IT WAS TOO LATE TO RSVP
Member # 709
posted
I agree.. i knew something bugged me about the transporter, but I couldnt place the source, so i didnt have a valid 'continuity' argument without getting flamed for being mean to everyone's new favorite show.
Another thing that bugged me is that they said the last reported case of transporter psychosis (caused by your neural net not being put back together right) was about fifty years after enterprise. Doesnt this mean that before that, bad things like that probably happened to quite a few people before they refined the transporters more?. Just the impression i got.. the should be careful about how often they use the thing
-------------------- "Are you worried that your thoughts are not quite.. clear?"
posted
Perhaps the medical community first *acknowledge* there was something called 'transporter psychosis', or Starfleet didn't really want to acknowledge the fact that their super-cool technology causes sickness (much like the alleged Gulf War nerve gas thing).
posted
Actually, I think the explanations presented here already pretty much fix this issue. As mentioned, the "200 years" wasn't exact, so all we can really say is that colony was founded relatively soon after ENT. At the time of ENT, transporters are still new, so they would only be slightly less new when the colony was founded. Take into account the travel time, and the colonists probably left when transporters were just being invented. Therefore, they probably never heard of them, or, if they did, it was just a passing thing that wouldn't get passed down over time.
So, given the ENT timeline for transporters, it actually makes more sense for the colonists to be unaware of transporters, than if they had known about them.
posted
The inaccuracy argument makes sense. If the people (there were always supposed to be scientists among them) really have no idea of it, they would have started their journey years before 2151 when the transporter didn't even exist in theory. It would also mean that the transporter is not an old Vulcan technology. Even if our pointed friends had avoided to show it to the humans, sooner or later someone would have discovered that they have something like that.
-------------------- Bernd Schneider
Registered: Mar 1999
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quote:Originally posted by CaptainMike: Another thing that bugged me is that they said the last reported case of transporter psychosis was about fifty years after enterprise.
"Realm of Fear" (TNG) said that the first diagnosed case of transporter psychosis was in 2209, not the last.
posted
Another non-issue. "200 years ago" and an uncertain journey-time makes it possible for the colony to have left before transporters (which I noted in "Broken Bow" aren't called just 'transporters' anyway) were invented or became commen knowledge. Maybe they heard of a matter-transmission device, but only initial reports that it might now be possible to transport people at all.
Relax, chaps, when Enterprise decides to violate continuity big-time, you won't need to refer to obscure eps of TNG or DS9 (or even, as if it mattered, TOS or Voyager). Sooner or later they'll feature a Ferengi or Romulan. . . 8)
posted
Actually, I think TNG and DS9 ruined continuity with the Ferengi ages ago. Quark was on Terak Nor for years before "The Last Outpost". Vash was partners with a Ferengi (who looked nothing like Rom. No, he didn't. Shut up) years before "The Last Outpost". And other stuff that I can't remember. And yet the Federation still managed to have no contact with them? Was Starfleet ignoring them on purpose? Or, to put it scientifically, were they just a bit shit at the diplomatic meeting stuff?
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Quark on Terek Nor only proves that the Bajorans and the Cardassians had contact with the Federation. The Federation did have information on the Ferengi, perhaps from Bajoran milita groups.
Vash might have been a Federation citizen, but she never really seemed to me the type of girl who liked keeping the authorities abreast (so to speak) of what she was doing and who with.
capped
I WAS IN THE FUTURE, IT WAS TOO LATE TO RSVP
Member # 709
posted
So no members of Starfleet ever saw a Ferengi before 2364, or if they did it wasnt reported or explicitly desribed for the rest of Starfleets benefit (it seems likely the Federation was concerned about the Ferengi as a military rival.. some might have seen them and then classified the data until it was deemed necessary to reveal it after they had been assessed.. similar to the Hansens being contracted to study the Borg ten years before 'Q-Who')
The Cardassians knew of them and did business with them. The Cardassians really didnt share much data with Starfleet after that big war they had just fought. Bajorans who were in contact with Starfleet might have described the new species. That might be how we knew of the name of this new species before we even met them.
Obviously, by Encounter at Farpoint the general knowledge of Ferengi was scuttlebutt.. it was rumored they ate their business partners..
[ October 22, 2001: Message edited by: CaptainMike ]
-------------------- "Are you worried that your thoughts are not quite.. clear?"
Registered: Sep 2001
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posted
Ok, now explain how they went from terminally silly to occasionally respectable? And why did they have such bad posture at one point in history? Religious practice? Genetic tampering? Lowest-bidder problem with the beds?
Registered: Mar 1999
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capped
I WAS IN THE FUTURE, IT WAS TOO LATE TO RSVP
Member # 709
posted
Well, it has to do with the teraphasic field generated by certain stars, such as Delphi Ardu (in 'Last Outpost') and Xendi Sabu (in 'The Battle'). It seems that, for fourlobed being with green pyrocytes in their blood, it causes severe retardation and bad directing
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