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Largely forgotten moments from Star Trek that we'd like to see a conclusion to.
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00:00Star Trek has a habit of introducing some truly compelling plotlines that sadly end
00:05up getting forgotten about in order to move the main story along. Whether it's drama between the
00:11characters that gets immediately forgotten in the next episode, or discoveries that should have
00:16really altered life in the Federation, or even characters just being completely discarded,
00:22many of the entries on this list may well be resolved in future Trek shows.
00:26Given the number of references to Trek history and the return of old characters from shows like
00:33Lower Decks and Picard, though most, it's fair to say, will probably be left in obscurity.
00:39So with that in mind then, I'm Ellie with Trek Culture and here are the 10 Greatest
00:44Unspoken Star Trek Plot Points. Number 10 – The Fate of Paris and Janeway's Alien Children
00:52The infamous Voyager episode Threshold has a number of ridiculous, headache-inducing plot points,
00:59but perhaps the most outrageous comes at the end of the episode. Lieutenant Paris had just passed the
01:05warp 10 barrier using a new engine modification. Travelling at warp 10 is meant to be infinite
01:10velocity, a speed at which one would occupy every point in space simultaneously. However,
01:16his journey had the unfortunate side effect of mutating Paris into a half-human, half-lizard
01:22monster, apparently speeding up his evolution for some reason. Surprisingly, the scientific
01:27illiteracy of the episode isn't even the worst part. As Paris began to mutate, he kidnapped Janeway
01:33in a shuttlecraft and jumped to warp 10 again, this time mutating both him and Janeway. By the time
01:39Voyager found them on some alien planet, Paris and Janeway had turned completely into lizards and even
01:45mated. The crew found them as well as a number of baby-human-lizard hybrids and decided to take
01:50their captain and lieutenant back to reverse the process, but left the babies on the planet.
01:56Paris and Janeway's children were now left on some planet in the Delta Quadrant to fend for themselves
02:01and were never spoken about again, apart from the appearance of a similar lizard in the background
02:06of the Lower Decks episode Much Ado About Boimler. Number 9 – Guinan's History
02:13Guinan's history remained a shrouded mystery throughout Star Trek The Next Generation and the
02:19movie Star Trek Generations in which she appeared. We only know a few bits and pieces. We know that she
02:25belongs to a long-living alien species known as the Ellorians, whose homeworld was destroyed by the
02:30Borg in the 23rd century. Guinan and her family were safe from this catastrophe due to being off-world,
02:36in fact we see in the episode Times Arrow that Guinan was actually living on Earth as far back as
02:42the
02:4219th century, far before First Contact, hiding from her father. We also know that Guinan has some
02:49mysterious history with Q, who tells Picard that wherever she goes, trouble always follows. Q even
02:56claims that Guinan is not her real name and calls her an imp. We can only speculate on Guinan's history
03:01with
03:02Q, but surprisingly, Q almost seems somewhat afraid of her in the episode Q Who, which does
03:09make one wonder what could make such a supreme being afraid. Number 8 – Equinox
03:15crew adapting to life on Voyager One of the most interesting episodes of
03:20Voyager was Equinox, where the crew encounter another Starfleet vessel, the USS Equinox, that
03:26was pulled into the Delta Quadrant by the Caretaker just as they were. The Equinox was a much smaller
03:31ship than Voyager and thus suffered more from starvation and fatigue on their journey back to
03:36Earth. In order to survive, they decided to capture and drain alien lifeforms for power, causing Janeway to
03:42step in and correct things. In the ensuing battle, the Equinox was destroyed along with its captain,
03:47Captain Ransom, and most of the rest of the Equinox crew transported to Voyager to integrate
03:52into its crew. It would have been fascinating to see this hardened, traumatised crew integrate into
03:58life on Voyager after years of struggling to survive. Sadly though, after this episode,
04:04we don't get any sort of follow-up and are just left to assume that they integrated perfectly.
04:08But this is unfortunate though, because their struggle to adapt to normal life and their
04:12shame for exploiting aliens would have been some interesting themes to drive some drama on the ship.
04:19But this all seems to have happened off camera.
04:21Number 7. Picard's connection to the Borg Collective
04:25After being assimilated by the Borg in the Next Generation episode The Best of Both Worlds, Captain
04:31Picard was forever changed, even after having the cybernetic parts removed and his body healed.
04:36As we see multiple times in Star Trek VIII First Contact, Picard was sometimes able to hear faint
04:43whisperings of the Collective when he was near them. This was how he was able to target the correct spot
04:48on the Borg cube to destroy it. The fear of intruding Borg voices was a terrifying reality that Picard had
04:53to live with every day. Picard barely got any time to cope with his trauma at the hands of the
04:58Borg,
04:58and shortly after rejoined the Enterprise D with most of his recovery happening off camera. In Star Trek
05:04Picard we finally get to witness Jean-Luc moving past his fear of the Borg a bit, but it will
05:09surely
05:10always haunt him. Still, the idea that at any time Picard could be telepathically invaded by Borg voices
05:16is horrifying. But it is probably safe to assume that the Borg technology in his brain was completely
05:23removed after the events of the Star Trek Picard season 1 finale. Number 6. The fight for freedom for
05:30sentient artificial intelligence. The iconic Next Generation episode The Measure of a Man portrays
05:37a legal battle where Data must prove that he, as a machine, is sentient and not merely the property
05:43of Starfleet. The writing in this episode is incredible, and both sides make some interesting
05:49points, but in the end Data is victorious and given the right to free choice. Sadly this was only done
05:55on an
05:55individual basis with Data specifically in mind. In the Voyager episode Author Author we see that
06:01discrimination against sentient artificial life forms is still very much prevalent when a holonovel
06:06publisher attempts to steal the holographic Doctor's story that he programmed and wrote on the grounds that
06:12it was not created by a person and thus no one can own it. Though the Doctor eventually wins his
06:17case,
06:17just as with Data, the same cannot be said for all the EMH Mark I's – the same model as
06:24the Doctor – who
06:24were discontinued from their starships and forced to work in the mines, as we see in the end of the
06:30previously mentioned episode. One has to wonder how many AI life forms are being taken advantage of
06:36throughout the Federation. Number 5. Tuvok and Chakotay's conflict. One largely forgotten storyline from
06:43Voyager is Tuvok's betrayal of Chakotay. Prior to being lost in the Delta Quadrant with the Voyager
06:49crew, Chakotay, Bellana and the other former Marquis were serving aboard the Valjean, a Marquis
06:54raider that Voyager was pursuing for crimes against the Federation and the Cardassians.
06:59Many forget that Tuvok was aboard the Valjean for quite some time on an undercover infiltration mission
07:04to gather intelligence about the Marquis and eventually turn the Valjean crew over to Federation
07:10authorities. When Chakotay learned of this deception in the pilot episode Caretaker,
07:15he was initially frustrated, but quickly regained his composure when he learned how serious their
07:20situation was. The conflict of these two resolving their issues would have been interesting to see,
07:25but after the pilot Chakotay seems to have moved on entirely, perhaps content with the position that
07:31Janeway gave him as First Officer, a position that Tuvok expressed initial distaste for in the episode
07:37twisted. Chakotay seemed satisfied with the fact that he was given the role over Tuvok,
07:42despite him being the obvious next in line. Still, it would have been nice to see these two resolve
07:47their past more on-screen. Number 4, the discovery of a Dyson Sphere.
07:52In the Next Generation episode Relics, the crew of the Enterprise D encounters something truly
07:57breathtaking. An abandoned, or seemingly abandoned, Dyson Sphere. A Dyson Sphere is a theoretical
08:04megastructure sphere that would surround an entire star. The inside of the sphere would be liveable
08:09land just far enough away from the star to get perfect sunlight at all times, possibly allowing
08:15it to harness the entire energy output of the star. Starfleet, the Klingons, the Vulcans,
08:20and even the Borg have never been able to create megastructures this massive. Whoever created the
08:26sphere was likely more powerful than any known empire in the galaxy, rivaled perhaps only by the Q.
08:32It's a shame that we never get to see any further research done on the Dyson Sphere. I mean,
08:37it's likely that Starfleet classified its existence so that they could keep its insanely
08:41powerful technologies for themselves, but audiences were left wondering, who created it? How many
08:48planets were consumed just for the materials, and are there any other massive structures hidden
08:53throughout the galaxy? Number 3, the fate of the many humans brought from the past.
08:58Throughout the history of Star Trek, a large number of humans have been brought from the past
09:03to the 23rd and 24th centuries. Of course, there was the infamous Khan, but less well known were the
09:10cryogenically frozen crew from the next generation episode The Neutral Zone. They were all frozen in
09:15the late 20th century because they had incurable diseases that they hoped could be cured in the future
09:21when they woke. Luckily for the three survivors, they were right. The three visitors from the past were all
09:26wealthy individuals who were very shocked to learn about how much Earth has changed since the 1900s.
09:33Unfortunately, at the end of the episode, the three of them left the Enterprise, and we never saw them
09:37again. But it would have been nice to see how well they adjusted to life in the 24th century. The
09:43same
09:43goes for Gillian Taylor, the marine biologist who was brought to the 23rd century in Star Trek IV,
09:49the voyage home. She hopped aboard a science vessel to catch up with all the information she missed in the
09:53past few centuries and immediately got to work helping Starfleet with its new whale operations.
09:59But again, we never get to see much of her reaction to Starfleet or the future in general.
10:04Number 2. Lieutenant O'Connor's Ascension
10:06In the Lower Decks episode Moist Vessel, Lieutenant O'Connor invites a few crewmates over to watch the
10:13conclusion of his spiritual ascension. According to O'Connor, through years of meditation and ritual,
10:18one can become a higher form of life and transcend the limitations of humanity.
10:24Tendi accidentally destroyed his sand mandala that was supposedly meant to lead to his ascension,
10:30causing him to spiral into depression before finally admitting to Tendi that his ascension was
10:35all fake, merely a way to make O'Connor stand out and seem interesting.
10:39Crazily though, this admission, coupled with the pride of saving Tendi from a ship-wide disaster,
10:44was apparently enough to conclude the rituals O'Connor was working on, and he began to ascend
10:49right before Tendi's eyes. Unfortunately for O'Connor, this wasn't a very pleasant experience.
10:55His skin was burning as he floated into the air and began glowing from his eyes,
10:59transforming into a being of pure energy. He cried out in pain, overwhelmed from the terror he felt from
11:06witnessing all of creation at once. Then, right as he was about to reveal the meaning of life, he disappeared.
11:12Despite spiritual ascension now being a proven fact, we never get to see the end result of it.
11:18Is O'Connor still out there somewhere in the cosmos watching over the crew?
11:23And what are the origins of this mysterious spirituality? And how did O'Connor come to learn of it?
11:29Number 1. The switch to cleaner warp travel
11:32In a parody of the harmful effects of fossil fuels, the Next Generation episode, Force of Nature,
11:38introduced us to a Hikaran scientist who proved definitively that warp travel was slowly damaging
11:45the fabric of space, and that if nothing was done, warp travel would soon become impossible.
11:50Although initially, in the episode, the Federation imposed strict speed limits in their space to no
11:55higher than warp 5 and less in emergency, Starfleet seems to have somehow engineered a solution to the
12:01problem since then. Considering that these laws were never enforced on screen, and we routinely saw
12:06Starfleet ships exceed warp 5 whenever they pleased in Deep Space Nine. Many fans theorise that Voyager's
12:12folding nacelles were made to be a more eco-friendly form of warp travel, but this was never confirmed in
12:18canon, only suggested in an unreleased Star Trek Voyager technical guide. Because this guide was never
12:24published, it cannot be included in canon. And Voyager seems to be the only ship equipped with
12:29this ability. But then we are left wondering what Starfleet did since Force of Nature to seemingly fix
12:35the problem. Did they merely just cover it up? Either way, these would make for some interesting plot lines.
12:43And that concludes our list. If you can think of any other examples, then do let us know in the
12:47comments
12:48below. And don't forget to like and subscribe and tap that notification bell. Also head over to Twitter and
12:53follow us there, and I can be found across various social medias just by searching Ellie Littlechild.
12:58I've been Ellie with Trek Culture, I hope you have a wonderful day, and remember to boldly go where no
13:04one has gone before.
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