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The coolest and most ridiculous things that shape Star Trek as we know it.
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00:00Star Trek lore is so expansive that it's easy to get confused or surprised at times, even for hardcore fans.
00:06From weird Federation lores that you may not know of, to mind-bending scientific discoveries that are widely ignored,
00:13to cool details of Starfleet life that most people don't think of,
00:16this list will be looking at all of Trek history and counting down 10 of the most important aspects of Star Trek lore that people barely ever talk about.
00:24And so, with that in mind then, I'm Ellie with Trek Culture, here with 10 important Star Trek details that are almost never mentioned.
00:31Number 10. The Genetic Manipulation Ban
00:34Anyone who isn't familiar with the history of Star Trek may be confused by the lack of any advancements in genetic manipulation,
00:41considering the fact that we're actually very close to making it a reality in present day.
00:46However, if you look into the lore, especially the backstory of Khan, the stunted development of this technology actually makes a lot of sense.
00:53Khan, along with many other individuals, were genetically enhanced at the end of the 20th century and turned into genius super soldiers.
01:00This started the Eugenics War, one of the most brutal conflicts of Earth's history,
01:05during which augmented troops took control of huge parts of the planet and nearly plunged humanity into another Dark Age.
01:11After this war, humanity decided that the risks of genetic engineering far outweighed the benefits,
01:16and subsequently banned all DNA manipulation except to correct life-altering ailments.
01:22Genetic engineering is still practiced through a black market, which is how Dr. Bashir was able to get his enhancements as a child,
01:28but it is highly illegal, frowned upon, and hard to come by.
01:32Number 9. Earth's Planetary Government
01:34You may have noticed that when visiting Earth, characters are able to travel anywhere on the planet instantly,
01:41using public transporters as we saw in Star Trek Picard, without the need for any passports or hassle at all.
01:46Additionally, all of Earth in Star Trek seems to have the same or similar laws regarding freedom of speech,
01:52anti-discrimination, and a universal standard of living.
01:55The reason for this is that Earth was actually united under a one-world government sometime during the 22nd century,
02:02largely as a result of the cultural shift towards cooperation following first contact.
02:06As we've seen from the mirror universe, a one-world government can be dangerous,
02:11because if not properly democratic, it concentrates power in the hands of very few and can quickly turn authoritarian.
02:17But in the prime universe, the world government, known most commonly as United Earth,
02:21serves only to enforce basic human rights and protect the planet.
02:25Individual countries like Canada, China, and France are all allowed to keep their names and cultural identities,
02:30but all countries simply committed to working towards mutual prosperity.
02:34The change was due to many factors, such as the invention of limitless energy in food,
02:38the near-extinction of humanity due to war in the past,
02:41and the good example given by the Vulcans of a successful one-world government.
02:46Number 8. Starfleet Microscopic Identification Codes
02:50The Voyager episode Distant Origin showed us something very interesting about Starfleet's uniforms during the time period.
02:58Two Voth scientists found one of Voyager's uniforms along with the skeleton of a member of the crew,
03:03and used these findings to locate Voyager in an effort to prove that the Voth and humans shared a common ancestor and came from the same planet Earth.
03:11Later in the episode, we learn that this theory is actually true.
03:14The Voth were descended from dinosaurs who escaped the extinction event millions of years ago,
03:19who went on to evolve and become one of the most powerful empires in the galaxy.
03:23What's interesting is that when examining the uniform,
03:26the Voth scientists located what he called a Microscopic Identification Code.
03:31It's likely that this is a form of military dog tag for Starfleet officers,
03:35as a way to identify them in the event of their death.
03:37The ID shows the name of their ship, the USS Voyager,
03:41and some numbers that are likely a custom identification number assigned to everyone in the crew.
03:45It's interesting that Starfleet still uses something similar to dog tags,
03:49but apparently on a microscopic level, probably to hide the information from enemies.
03:54Number 7. The Disappearance of Movies and Television
03:57TV shows and movies remained on top of the entertainment market into the 21st century,
04:03and even during Star Trek Enterprise, movies were popular.
04:06The crew had a movie night, but at some point after Enterprise and before The Next Generation,
04:11TV and film fell out of fashion.
04:13The most likely explanation for this is the invention of the holodeck.
04:17With holodeck technology, you don't merely watch the story unfold,
04:20you are actually part of it, playing a character that you usually have to research beforehand.
04:25This was a logical evolution of entertainment,
04:28comparable to when television replaced books as the most common media format.
04:32We saw in Voyager that some history buffs, like Tom Paris,
04:35liked to make or collect vintage TV sets to watch old movies on,
04:39but at this point it was mainly a novelty reserved for people with a passion for historical storytelling,
04:44much like modern people who like to collect vinyl records.
04:47Number 6. Longer human lifespans.
04:50It comes as no surprise that due to centuries of medical advances,
04:54the human lifespan has drastically increased by the 22nd century and beyond.
04:59This came in large part due to the eradication of common causes of death like cancer and starvation.
05:04During the time of Star Trek Enterprise, the 22nd century,
05:07humans could expect to live around 100 years on average,
05:11compared to around 73 years in modern times, according to the United Nations.
05:15In the next generation, the 24th century, this expectancy rose to around 120 years,
05:21with some individuals even reaching beyond 130,
05:24such as Leonard McCoy, who visited the Enterprise-D in Encounter at Farpoint at 137 years old.
05:31Some humans were able to live much longer through the use of illegal genetic manipulation,
05:35cryostasis, or other methods.
05:37But apart from these exceptions, McCoy is the oldest person we've seen on screen so far.
05:43Number 5. Borg Assimilation of Starfleet Secrets
05:47As most fans know, the Borg can never invent or learn.
05:50They only evolve by stealing information and technology from other cultures through assimilation.
05:55When someone becomes a Borg drone, their entire mind and all their memories get shared with the collective.
06:01It should come as no surprise, then, that after all of the Starfleet officers and starships
06:05assimilated by the Borg, the collective has access to a lot of Starfleet's greatest secrets.
06:10For example, the Borg assimilated Captain Picard in the Next Generation episode, The Best of Both Worlds.
06:15This means that they would know all of his security codes, every top-secret mission he has ever been part of,
06:21and basically every secret shared with Starfleet captains, such as the Federation's policy on Omega Molecules.
06:27In the Star Trek Picard episode, Penance, we learned that the Borg, or at least the Borg from the Altered Timeline, are aware of Q.
06:33It's not confirmed, but they could have learned about the continuum from Picard, as he was assimilated long after first encountering Q.
06:41Number 4. Starfleet's Death Penalty
06:43Starfleet and the Federation have reputations for being very humane with prisoners.
06:49They do not practice torture and usually prefer to rehabilitate violent people through therapy rather than locking them up.
06:55Despite this, there remains one crime we know of that was once punishable by death in the Federation.
07:00After Captain Pike's visit to Talos IV in the original series pilot episode, The Cage,
07:06Starfleet deemed the powers of the Talosians too powerful to be public knowledge and classified them under General Order VII,
07:12which simply stated,
07:14no vessel under any condition, emergency, or otherwise is to visit Talos IV.
07:19The punishment was death.
07:21Starfleet feared what people would do to the Talosians to harness their ability to make dreams reality,
07:26and also what the Talosians would do to them in return.
07:29Because of this, they thought a highly severe penalty of death would be a good deterrent.
07:33However, the only time Starfleet found someone to be in violation of General Order VII, Spock, in the episode The Menagerie,
07:40they decided to let him off.
07:41Presumably, this law was done away with after The Menagerie, as Picard stated in the Next Generation episode Justice
07:47that Starfleet has no death penalty.
07:50Number 3. Exceptions to the Prime Directive
07:53The Prime Directive, also known as General Order I, was created by Starfleet sometime before the original series.
08:00It simply states that Starfleet personnel must do everything they can, even sacrificing their own lives,
08:05to prevent unnecessary interference in the development of alien societies,
08:10even if their interference could greatly help these people.
08:13This directive is perhaps the most important rule in Starfleet, especially when applied to pre-warp civilizations,
08:19who Starfleet are banned from revealing themselves to.
08:22If a less technologically advanced species suddenly gained access to all of the science
08:26and advanced weapons of the Federation, the results could be catastrophic.
08:30There were exceptions to the Prime Directive, however.
08:32Starfleet ships were allowed to save pre-warp societies from certain destruction by asteroids
08:37or alien invaders, but never interfered with their development or made their presence known,
08:42only prevented apocalyptic events. Another example is the beginning of Star Trek Into Darkness,
08:47when the crew prevents a massive volcano from going off and killing a pre-warp society.
08:52Number 2. Human Extrasensory Perception
08:55Star Trek is known for its realism, but there is often a fair amount of pseudo-science mixed in to keep things interesting.
09:02In the original series episode Where No Man Has Gone Before, we learned that Extrasensory Perception,
09:07ESP, is real, and that Starfleet even had tests to determine someone's level of ESP power.
09:14Extrasensory Perception basically describes someone's ability to sense things beyond the standard five human senses
09:20touch, sight, sound, taste, and smell. These abilities can include telekinesis, telepathy, and precognition.
09:26ESP is almost always very weak in humans, though there were ways to unlock the power.
09:31In Where No Man Has Gone Before, when the Enterprise traveled beyond the edge of the galaxy,
09:35an energy field activated the mental powers of Gary Mitchell and Elizabeth Denner,
09:40who slowly began turning into god-like beings, using their ESP powers to bend reality to their whims
09:46before eventually being defeated by Kurt. So, while human ESP is typically nothing than impressive,
09:52much less powerful than a Vulcan or Betazoid, it is interesting to know that these powers are present,
09:58and that Starfleet actively screens all officers to determine their ESP levels.
10:02Denner even claimed that some humans were able to sense future events,
10:06accurately guess the backs of playing cards, and even see through walls on occasion.
10:11Number 1. The Warp 10 Barrier
10:13In the 24th century, warp speed was segmented into different warp factors from 1 to 10.
10:19Warp factor 1 is light speed, and 10 is infinite velocity, meaning that the vessel would be traveling
10:24so fast that it would occupy every point in space simultaneously.
10:28Warp factor 10 was only achieved once in the Voyager episode Threshold. The technology was
10:33deemed too dangerous to use because it had interesting effects on human evolution and
10:37turned Tom Paris into a horrifying lizard, but most fans like to pretend that Threshold never
10:42happened. The speeds of warp factors increased exponentially, meaning that warp 2 is vastly faster
10:47than warp 1, and so on. Starfleet ships in the 24th century can reach above warp 9.9,
10:53and Voyager can even get up to 9.975, which may seem close to 10, but it is actually incomprehensibly
11:00slower. In the 23rd century, during the original series, Starfleet used a different scale for
11:05calculating warp speed, which is why, in many episodes, the Changeling, for example,
11:10the Enterprise traveled at warp 10, 11, or higher.
11:13And that concludes our list. If you can think of anything that we missed, then do let us know
11:18in the comments below, and while you're there, don't forget to like and subscribe and tap that
11:21notification bell. Also, head over to Twitter and follow us there at TrekCulture, and I can be found
11:26across various social medias just by searching Ellie Littlechild. I've been Ellie with TrekCulture,
11:31I hope you have a wonderful day, and remember to boldly go where no one has gone before.
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