The Mysterious Plasma Injectors

In my opinion, one of the most mysterious pieces of Star Trek technology is the plasma injectors. They are seemingly mentioned in every episode and movie of Star Trek, but exactly what their function is has never been pinned down. It has never been pinned down in any canon Star Trek sources, non-canon ones offer little more insight. The Star Trek Encyclopedia defines the plasma injectors as “a part of a starship’s warp drive” but does not state exactly what they do as to the functioning of that propulsion system. Besides this, the only other thing we know about plasma injectors is that they inject plasma, presumably the starship’s warp plasma, into something. So using this bit of information it is my personal theory that plasma injectors inject the plasma from the main reaction chamber to the warp power transfer conduits, or that they inject the energy produced by the matter anti-matter reaction into the warp plasma, “re energizing” it.
Of course a prerequisite to this would be that the plasma injectors were located very near to the warp core. However, in Enterprise, the plasma injectors are nowhere near the main reaction chamber or the warp power transfer conduits. They are located in a wall relatively far away from the warp core. Leading us back to square one – what in the hell do these plasma injectors actually do?

Star Trek Discontinunity - The Romulans

In The Original Series, the Romulans look more or less like Vulcans with pointed ears and a smooth forehead. However in subaquent series the Romulans seem to have developed two very prominent forehead ridges. I am very much at a loss to explain this, beyond “the makeup department screwed up.” Obviously the 80 to90 years between TOS and TNG is to enough time to facilitate an evolutionary shift, since Romulans are descended from a small group of Vulcans who left Vulcainus during the time of the Awakening about 1500 years before TOS. This is also not enough time for an evolutionary shift of that magnitude, therefore precluding the possibility of explaining this discrepancy by hypothesizing that there are two different races of Romulus, when Romulans did not in reality did not have enough time to evolve into two different races. Because of the fact that the Romulans did not have enough time to evolve forehead ridges, this means that none of them should have forehead ridges in the first place. However, except for those in TOS, all of the Romulans do. Once again I am at a loss to explain this because of the fact that Romulans descended form Vulcans only 1500 years ago, a blink of an eye in the evolutionary timescape, precluding the possibility of two Romulan sub-races. The only remaining explanations are preposterous. Therefore this will just have to go on being one of the unsolved mysteries of the Star Trek Universe.

DS9 - The Dogs of War

This is one of the last episodes of Deep Space Nine. There is a lot going on in this episode. Some of it was great, and some was terrible. For example, the parts of Dogs of War regarding DS9’s reception of the “new” Defiant and Damar’s resistance movement are very good. However, the part of the episode in which Rom gets crowned grand Negus is incredibly stupid, right up there with Leta marrying him; Rom is an idiot, who can’t find his ass with both hands, much less lead an entire government! Other than this one, the many different plot lines going on in the Dogs of War are quite enjoyable, and it does a wonderful job of setting up the final episode, What You Leave Behind.

Star Trek Discontinuity - Enterprise

In Enterprise, there are many encroachments on Star Trek continuity. So many, in fact, that it would probly take the next six months to name all of them individually and in-depth, each in a separate post. Since many of these infractions are of a similar type, this post will be used to mention the different types of Enterprise’s infractions on Trek continuity. First, there is the “Enterprise makes contact with a new alien race that is never heard from or even mentioned again.” The most notable of these aliens are the Sulabon, or more specifically, the Kubal. If these aliens are such a menace, then why are they never heard from in Kirk or Picard’s time? The same goes for the 50+ other “new” alien species that NX-01 encountered, none of them are featured, seen, or even mentioned in the future of Star Trek! Of course the real reason for this is that Enterprise takes place before the other Star Trek series, but was made after them. Within the Star Trek universe, however, the complete absence of any and all Enterprise aliens in subaquent time periods makes Enterprise lose some credibility. Another violation of Star Trek continuity that occurs far too often is the appearance of aliens in Enterprise that were not supposed to exist yet. Most notably, the Ferengi and the Borg were not supposed to have been known to humanity until Picard’s time. Although the aforementioned races do not mention their names, that still doesn’t make it any more credible, especially regarding the Borg, because Phlox was assimilated to the point where he was partially integrated with the hive mind. It strikes me as odd that he could have been directly in contact with the collective, and never have learned their name! The most blatant violation regards the Klingons, who, in Enterprise, are aware of humans and vice versa. However, it is stated in the original series episode Day of the Dove that first contact with the Klingons did not occur until 2218 roughly 60 years after Enterprise!

Star Trek Discontinuity: The ST:V Turbo Shaft

In Star Trek V the Final Frontier, Kirk Spock, and McCoy shoot up a turbo shaft. As they shoot up this shaft we can clearly see signs labeling the decks, increasing in number from bottom to top, with the top deck of the turbo shaft being labeled as deck 78. There are two major problems with this. First of all, the Enterprise does not have 78 decks; it has 23. The second problem is that the numbers are labeled in the wrong direction; on a starship the decks are labeled in ascending order from the top to the bottom of the ship.
However in the Star Trek V turbo shaft, the numbers are labeled in descending order from the top of the shaft to the bottom. So why is this? In the universe of Star Trek there really is no good explanation. Many other people have tried and, frankly, they all sound nonsensical, and I probably won’t be able to offer a more plausible explanation, but I’ll try anyway. The Enterprise A was refitted quickly from another Constitution class Starship, probably received a large amount of upgrades in a very short amount of time, which accounts for why half of the ship wasn’t in working order at the start of the movie. The labels in the turbo shaft are just another manifestation of this. In their haste, the two-bit technicians who probably controlled or programmed the machine that labeled the turbo shaft mislabeled it.

TNG - Emergence

I’ve never met a malfunctioning holodeck episode I didn’t like. And Emergence is no exception. In this episode, the Enterprise develops intelligence, hijacks the ship’s controls from the crew, links the ship’s systems together through the holodeck, and proceeds to produce a life form. The holodeck is what makes this episode; everything in it has a metaphorical or allegorical meaning, making this episode very interesting. The life form the Enterprise creates is also very interesting and mysterious; we know almost nothing about it. I also find the point that Picard makes at the end of the episode quite interesting; that, in a sense, the Enterprise raised the life form that it created, and imparted to it the knowledge and experiences of the of the Enterprise and its crew, and if those experiences were honorable, then the life form that the starship created would not be a malevolent one. The fact that a malfunctioning holodeck plays a major role in this episode makes Emergence a very good episode of Star Trek.

Star Trek Discontinunity - The Trill Problem

Obviously the Trill in TNG look much different from the Trill in DS9 and the subsequent series and movies, both species are a joined race, consisting of a host and a symbiot. However in the TNG Trill, seen in The Host, the symbiot is in complete control of the host’s personality and body. In the DS9 Trill, the bond between host and symbiot is much different, with a completely new personality emerging from that of the symbiot, and current host and any past hosts that a symbiot may have had. Despite the name, these two varieties of Trill are very different, yet obviously are supposed to be the same species. Then why is there such a large difference between there two types of Trill? The real explanation, as far as appearance, is that in the screen tests for DS9 the old Trill make up looked terrible on Terry Farrell, so they designed a new one, with absolutely no regard for how this would adversely effect Star Trek continuity. This offers no explanation, within the Star Trek universe for why there are two completely different types of Trill, so here is one possible explanation: There are two different races of Trill, both living on the same planet. There are also two different races of Trill symbiots each only compatible with its own trill race. We have many different races of humans on earth, so why not on Trill?

TNG - The First Duty

In The First Duty, Wesley Crusher, yet another annoying character, returns in an aptly named episode. The plot of this episode is very interesting, and much of the dialogue is superb. However, the fact that Wesley spends so much time agonizing over whether he should do his duty as a Starfleet officer, and tell the truth, or stick with his team on account of a sense of misguided loyalty that their leader has instilled in the members of Nova Squad, when, as Captain Picard explains, there really is no choice, detracts significantly from the episode. Robert Duncan McNeal makes his Star Trek debut here, playing a character that is even more obnoxious than the regular character, Tom Paris, he played later on Star Trek Voyager. The First Duty’s plot is actually superfluous, however the dialogue, and much of the acting is incredible, making it seem much better than it is.

TNG - Cost of Living

In this episode, a some what depressed Lwaxana Troi, one of the most annoying characters in Trek, returns to the Enterprise, to get married to a man, she’s never met, and succeeds in getting into trouble with another annoying character, Alexander, while metal-eating parasites devour the Enterprise bit by bit. The ensuing events make for a very odd episode. Some of it is good, some of it is hilarious, and, then there are other parts that are just plain stupid. Lwaxana Troi is annoying in every episode she appears in. However, in this episode she sets a new standard. This is not a bad thing; she is supposed to be annoying. In fact, I would be disappointed if her actions didn’t make me want to throw something at the TV! Therefore her annoyingness is one of the highlights of this epsoiode. On the other hand, Alexander also sets a new high standard as far as annoyingness goes. This is not a good thing; his character is not supposed to come across as annoying, yet he bitches and moans so much about everything in this episode that he comes across as more annoying than Mrs. Troi. Most of the stuff in this episode that was intended to be humorous, comes across as being silly, lame, or stupid. Everything that goes on in the holodeck falls under this category, although one of the best Worf lines “you’re just supposed to sit here” takes place in the holodeck at the end of the episode. Another hilarious line for this episode is said by Picard “nothing would give me more pleasure than to give away Mrs. Troi,” or something to that effect. The sub-plot in this episode is actually very good, but was not given enough time in the episode, instead the episode focused mostly on the stupidity going on in the holodeck. Cost of Living had its moments but for the most part was filled with copious quantities of lame humor.

TNG - Cause and Effect

Cause and Effect is a unique episode. It involves time travel but not in the conventional Star Trek sense. This episode provides a vehicle in which to destroy the Enterprise, without really destroying it. The opening of this episode, the destruction of the Enterprise, is definitely attention-getting. While much of the episode is repetitive, each time the crew of the Enterprise travels through the causality loop, many of the same scenes are the same or very similar to the scenes from the crew’s previous travel through the loop. However, despite this, the episode does not become boring, as one might expect. Instead, the repetitive footage in the episode gets more interesting as the episode goes on, because of the subtle variations in voice inflection, dialogue, and camera angles. The same goes for the episode in general; while much of it is repetitive, instead of making this episode boring, the subtle differences in it make Cause and Effect the best episode of the 5th season.

TNG - Disaster

This episode puts most of the crew of the Enterprise in fish-out-of-water situations, placing Deanna in command, Picard in charge of children, and forcing Worf to deliver Keiko’s baby. Combine this with Geordi’s and Doctor Crusher’s attempts to avoid getting irradiated or blown up (whichever comes first), an impending warp core breach, and other aspects such as the notion of removing Data’s head. And you get a very good episode. Almost all of the substance of the episode comes from the awkward, unusual or dangerous circumstances of the crew members. It is interesting to see how they will deal with the situations they find themselves in. Because of this, Disaster is a very interesting episode solely because it explores how the crew of the Enterprise-D responds to crises other than the type that they are used to