Star Trek: 40 Years of Inspiring Young Minds

AI Thread Summary
Star Trek, despite its initial unpopularity, has evolved into a cultural phenomenon over four decades, inspiring many in the fields of science and engineering. The series has influenced real technological advancements, with the name "Enterprise" being a significant point of discussion. While the USS Enterprise was commissioned before Star Trek aired, the shuttle Enterprise was named following a fan campaign, highlighting the show's impact on popular culture. The series is noted for its groundbreaking representation, including the first interracial kiss on television, which was a notable social contribution during its time. Discussions also touch on the evolution of Star Trek into more traditional space opera formats in later series, with some fans expressing disappointment over perceived inconsistencies and a lack of innovative ideas. The legacy of Star Trek continues to spark debate about its influence on science fiction and its role in shaping public perceptions of science and technology.
  • #51
Schrodinger's Dog said:
Actually what the hell is dilithium, I always wondered?:confused:
"Mechanics
Warp cores utilize a matter-antimatter reaction that is regulated by dilithium crystals. When matter and antimatter are exposed, they annihilate each other upon contact. This annihilation releases colossal amounts of energy. Dilithium crystals are used to regulate the reaction because they are nonreactive to anti-matter when bombarded with high levels of radiation. The matter used in the reaction is usually deuterium, an isotope of hydrogen, and the antimatter is usually antideuterium, the corresponding antimatter to deuterium. The matter and anti-matter reaction inside the dilithium matrix is usually referred to as the matter-antimatter reaction assembly (MARA). The MARA is surrounded by a magnetic field to prevent the highly reactive anti-matter from escaping the assembly. The energy is then transferred into a highly energetic form of plasma called warp plasma.

This warp plasma then travels to the warp nacelles via magnetic conduits. The warp coils are exposed to the warp plasma by plasma injectors, which carefully release the plasma into the coils. When exposed to such energetic plasma, the coils create an energy field called a warp bubble. The warp bubble expands space behind the vessel and contracts space in front of the vessel, and the warp bubble forms the barrier between these distortions. The bubble is accelerated while the space inside the bubble does not technically move, so the vessel does not experience time dilation, and time passes inside the bubble at the same rate as time in the other parts of the galaxy.

Warp cores can use other sources of energy besides a MARA, such as an artificial singularity. On starships, warp cores are often the main source of energy for primary systems in addition to propulsion."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warp_drive
 
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  • #52
Newbie says Hi said:
Oh please, there is no comparison! Star Trek (the original series) is 300 years into the future (from their original airdate), whereas SG1 is happening right now. I can't suspend my disbelief in the plot device that our govn't is that technologically advanced RIGHT NOW... enough to violate our current known laws of physics. The govn't isn't efficient enough to keep all that secret.

I mean, I am willing to suspend my disbelief at the impossible, but not at the improbable! (no it's not mine!)

The ancients built the stargates, their technology was much more advanced than Star Treks, is it beyond the realms of possibility that there new "quantum" theory found a way to harness energy in a way and using a clearer understanding than we have? Let's face it there are few sci fi films, series etc where you don't have to suspend your disbelief. It is fantasy after all.

Evo said:
"Mechanics
\snip

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warp_drive

Thanks for that :smile:
 
  • #53
Schrodinger's Dog said:
Now come on I didn't say that, obviously dilithium is real:rolleyes: :smile:

Actually what the hell is dilithium, I always wondered?:confused:

Oh man! Isn't it common knowledge? What do they TEACH you in school?
:-p
 
  • #54
Newbie says Hi said:
Oh man! Isn't it common knowledge? What do they TEACH you in school?
:-p

OK so I'm not as big a geek as you guys, sorry :wink:
 
  • #55
Schrodinger's Dog said:
The ancients built the stargates, their technology was much more advanced than Star Treks, is it beyond the realms of possibility that there new "quantum" theory found a way to harness energy in a way and using a clearer understanding than we have? Let's face it there are few sci fi films, series etc where you don't have to suspend your disbelief. It is fantasy after all.

OK, fair enough. But I just wish SG1 would quit borrowing MAJOR plot elements from the crackpot literature.
 
  • #56
Schrodinger's Dog said:
OK so I'm not as big a geek as you guys, sorry :wink:

Not everyone is perfect.:-p
 
  • #57
Newbie says Hi said:
Say it isn't so, Ivan! I thought mentors upheld higher standards in science! :rolleyes:

I mean, using zero-point energy as a power source? Extracting "free energy?" I hope the US Patent office isn't watching.

And where does the idea of zero-point come from? :rolleyes: Also, I don't recall one reference to "free energy". I might recall a zero-point reference but you would have to cite the episode. We do find references to Relativity, worm holes, and closed time-like curves, strings and other really exotic ideas - not to mention the infamous matter anti-matter reactors, which do react on a one-to-one mass ratio as Wesley Crusher correctly pointed out. Then we find the extroplations of technology, such as with computers.

Actually though, apparently many ideas were pulled out of thin air with the technical advisors left to figure out something to account for the plot requirements; esp in TOS.

IIRC, Alcubierre’s "Warp Drive" was inspired by Trek's warp drive. But the use of the word "warp" was still interesting, though I don't know how that one came about in TOS.
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/research/warp/ideachev.html
 
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  • #58
  • #59
jtbell said:
Has anyone visited Riverside, Iowa, the "Future Birthplace of James T. Kirk"?

I actually drove past the exit last summer, but I was with a group that was in a hurry to get somewhere else. :frown:

What was so important that they would pass up a chance to visit Riverside? Was someone in labor?
 
  • #60
I was thinking of other science referenced: TOS episode http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/series/TOS/episode/68712.html, was based on the real idea that silicon might be an option to carbon, for life.

The paradoxes of time-travel - changing one's own past, or killing your own grandfather before your father was conceived, etc - were referenced a number of times.

Back then, high energy LASERS were nothing but a pipe dream, but today we have the airborne anti-missile LASER system coming online.

Pocket sized communicators are now called cell phones

Real transporters are being used today, though only for the transport of quantum sized objects. Also the philosophical notion of an exact copy would keep me off the transporter pad.

In a sense we even see the first steps towards the replicators: We are now assembling structures like nano-motors, one atom at a time.

In many ways, computers have already surpassed Trek computers. But for getting it right, recall the little memory cards [really, more like a colored rectangular block] that held what was then considered to be a nearly infinite amount of information. We can buy them today at WalMart as memory sticks. Edit: Note that in 1966, the state-of-the-art for data storage was a tape recorder.
 
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  • #61
Silicon based life
https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=110427

...and even worse!
http://www.physics.harvard.edu/people/facpages/randall.html

In one interview, she suggested that there might be life in higher dimensions based on laws of chemistry completely foreign to our known, 3+1 dimensional part of the universe. As a physicist who specializes in higher dimensions, she thinks this might be possible -life unique to other dimensions - in the most speculative sense of course.

Or course, this is old stuff for a trekker. :biggrin:
 
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  • #62
Oh yes, got to mention the several episodes toying with the Many Worlds Theory, with two that I can think of from TOS.
 
  • #63
This is interesting, though now a bit behind the times.

The Science of Star Trek
http://ssdoo.gsfc.nasa.gov/education/just_for_fun/startrek.html
 
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  • #64
I had to laugh when I read this.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - A rare, 184-year-old copy of the Declaration of Independence found by a bargain hunter...

The opening bid is $125,000 and appraisers have estimated it could sell for nearly twice that. [continued]
http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=65357

Hmmmm, shall I buy a copy of the Declaration of Independence - an "official copy" and one of 200 commissioned by John Quincy Adams in 1820 - or a plastic model of a pretend spaceship from a 1960s TV series. Tough call...
 
  • #65
BIG NEWS: Paramount Pictures announced that the next Trek movie is going to be comming Christmas Day 2008! Woohooo :)

After the Enterprise series, I though trek had died, but if this movie turns out to be up to the par of the Original Series (or even TNG) then it will be great!

Also according to wide-spread rumors, MATT DAMON is going to be playing Cap'n Kirk in this movie [1]. I think having Damon would help the movie's appeal to non-trekkies and I think it's a great move (yeah, yeh, I know ;) ). But Adrien Brody, and Gary Sinise as Spock and McCoy? I don't know... I'll have to see it to believe it.

[1] http://www.trektoday.com/news/270207_01.shtml
 
  • #66
A new Trek movie has been anounced and de-annouced so often that Paramount annoucning an official release date is good news to those of us who wanted another trek movie :)
 
  • #67
Newbie says Hi said:
BIG NEWS: Paramount Pictures announced that the next Trek movie is going to be comming Christmas Day 2008! Woohooo :)

After the Enterprise series, I though trek had died, but if this movie turns out to be up to the par of the Original Series (or even TNG) then it will be great!

Also according to wide-spread rumors, MATT DAMON is going to be playing Cap'n Kirk in this movie [1]. I think having Damon would help the movie's appeal to non-trekkies and I think it's a great move (yeah, yeh, I know ;) ). But Adrien Brody, and Gary Sinise as Spock and McCoy? I don't know... I'll have to see it to believe it.

[1] http://www.trektoday.com/news/270207_01.shtml

I can easily see Sinise playing McCoy, But it's a bit ironic to have an actor playing a younger version of a character who is older than the original actor was when he started the roll. (Sinise is 50, and Kelley was 46 when Star Trek debuted.

I also wonder how they are going to come up with a plausible story line that explains how all these characters happen to come together when they were younger. For instance, we know that Spock served under a different captain (Pike) before Kirk became captain of the Enterprise, McCoy is quite a bit older than Kirk etc.
 
  • #68
Janus said:
I can easily see Sinise playing McCoy, But it's a bit ironic to have an actor playing a younger version of a character who is older than the original actor was when he started the roll. (Sinise is 50, and Kelley was 46 when Star Trek debuted.

I also wonder how they are going to come up with a plausible story line that explains how all these characters happen to come together when they were younger. For instance, we know that Spock served under a different captain (Pike) before Kirk became captain of the Enterprise, McCoy is quite a bit older than Kirk etc.

Which as I said above was my problem with the whole Enterprise thing. Now don't get me wrong I am a Huge trek fan, but the history of star trek I'd built up from watching the four original series was totally destroyed and I was left disallusioned by the whole thing. If they have to go back they need to be very very careful.
 
  • #69
It will be interesting to see what they come up with, but I expect it to be a sell-out on the trek universe.
 
  • #70
Check this out. From about about the 12 to 26 minute mark, they play all sorts of out-takes - "saved from the cutting room floor" - from the original series.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1645890546093125435&q=Night+Gallery&hl=en
 
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  • #71
Ivan Seeking said:
Check this out. From about about the 12 to 26 minute mark, they play all sorts of out-takes - "saved from the cutting room floor" - from the original series.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1645890546093125435&q=Night+Gallery&hl=en

Ah, the famous (or is that infamous?) "Blooper Reel" (actually there were three, one for each season. ) They used to show these at conventions. I've got them on video tape. I particularly like the shot of the crewman shovleing coal into the Warp engines.
 
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  • #72
Janus said:
I particularly like the shot of the crewman shovleing coal into the Warp engines.

Yes, that was good!

I figured that you hard-cores already knew about this. :rolleyes: :biggrin:
 
  • #73
Ivan Seeking said:
Yes, that was good!

I figured that you hard-cores already knew about this. :rolleyes: :biggrin:

One point that I want to make is that the claim made by the video that these were shots "saved from the cutting room floor" isn't accurate. Most of these went straight from shooting to the gag or "Goodie" reel. A lot of them were shot on purpose and were stuck into the "daily's" as a joke. (The daily's were when the production crew viewed the film shot the previous day.) At the end of each season the goodie reel was edited, some extra footage added with some voice-overs and sound effects, and then shown at the season wrap party.


That is not to say that "lost" footage has not shown up. The original pilot, The Cage was cut up and parts of it used to make the twp part episode The Managerie. The parts not used were discarded, and for years, those scenes were thought lost. Then in the 80's, while clearing out some storage at Paramount they came across a complete B/W copy of the pilot. They spliced together the color footage they still had with the "missing" footage and issued The Cage on videotape. For the first time, the fans were able to see the original pilot. Later, they went back and colorized the B/W footage.
 
  • #74
ZapperZ had his disney thread, now Janus is going to have a star trek thread.

(Thanks Ivan!:rolleyes:) :smile:

Bet you $5 bucks this thread goes to page 100.

zapperz : Disney :: Janus : Star Trek
 
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