Headscratchers / Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Character Greeting

• When La'an and M'Benga greet each other, they both trace under their eye with their finger. Is this something from a human culture IRL? I've never seen it done before.
  • It doesn't seem to be from any real-life culture. Maybe it'll be explained later on.
  • It's probably meant to be an inside joke between the two of them, helping to establish that we are joining a crew that have already gotten to know each other and have been on adventures together instead of, say, Deep Space 9 where the crew was assembling for the first time.

Problem with so-called Augments

• Am I Missing Something: one of the problems La'an Noonien Singh had growing up was that she was always associated with her ancestor Khan. And that she was an "Augment." Can someone explain something? McCoy mentioned in "Space Seed" that the Eugenics Wars was the result of "selective breeding," not artificially enhancing the individuals, like Julian Bashir. How did these two points get mixed? Since La'an is a few generations away from Khan, and the "selective breeding" program was ended, shouldn't she be closer to a "normal" human?
  • She is a normal human, at least as far as we can tell. She was bullied as a child because of her last name, because Kids Are Cruel and Khan's name is infamous enough that anyone who shares it likely suffered similarly.
  • That she is a normal human, like Khan was, I get. When did the "Augments" get equated with the genetic "supermen" and mistaken for those who were artificially enhanced?
  • Augments being selective breeding has been retconned, I think; now, Khan and his friends were also artificially enhanced like Julian, which led to the banning of doing exactly that. OK.
  • It's alternately referred to as eugenics and genetic engineering even in TOS, so the distinction appears to be largely academic. Whether you're recombining DNA or selectively breeding, you're futzing with genetics in a way that is prohibited by law in the Federation.

La'an's Name

• La'an's name is "La'an Noonien-Singh", and was once actually called just "La'an Noonien", as a sign she was related to Khan Noonien Singh. But unless Khan Noonien Singh had two last names and no first name, "Noonien" would've been a first name (since Khan is a title), so why would La'an end up with it? And why wouldn't they change it, if it's so clearly linking them to Khan? Why does it clearly link them to Khan, considering that "Singh" isn't that rare?
  • "Khan" isn't just a title, it's also a fairly common personal and family name.
  • One wonders why her family would even *keep* the name.
    • In "Space Seed" itself, Spock was surprised that Kirk and the others had positive comments to say about Khan, which indicates there was some level of grudging admiration for him. Combine that with examples from real life of people admiring actual dictators, and it's entirely possible that some of her ancestors were proud of being connected to him, and eventually some of his descendants just kept the name.
    • Genghis Khan and Vlad the Impaler are both national heroes in their respective home countries and Napoleon has monuments all over Europe and is very well regarded among French. Is indeed not so hard to picture people who would rescue Khan's figure in the future.
  • Regarding the two last names, it's not unheard of for people with compound last names to go by either their full last name or an abbreviated form depending on the circumstances.
  • I don't know if is the case of India, but in many Eastern cultures you tend to use two last names (China for example), is very common in the Spanish and Portuguese speaking world and it has recently being popularized in the US specially because a lot of people considered the practice of the "maiden name" (a woman taken the husband's last name) to be sexist. Considering that Star Trek happens in the future and a very progressive one is not that difficult for Khan to have two last names. Aside from that the name "Singh" (meaning lion) is mandatory for Sikhs which caused some problems in some countries with large Sikh migration thus in some cases was mandate for Sikhs to have two last names to help differentiate them. In general terms, is not a stretch by any situation that indeed Khan had two last names.

Vulcan Mind Meld

• Has anyone noticed that Spock seems a little too free on using the Vulcan Mind Meld? When it was first introduced in "Dagger of the Mind", Spock said that it was an intensely personal experience and that they (Vulcans) didn't speak of it often with "off-worlders." Now, it seems that they throw it in as a plot device. Anyone else think this is so?
  • Not in this instance, considering that the crew were racing against the clock, were outgunned, and the entire fate of Enterprise and her crew were in jeopardy. And even then, Spock looked distinctly uncomfortable with doing the Mind Meld with La'an, and it seemed that he wanted to give her and himself an out. Additionally, when La'an is getting hints of his internal sorrow and turmoil over Burnham's fate, he abruptly terminates the connection, and doesn't offer any explanation for what La'an experienced.
  • It's a problem, but it's by no means a new problem. Trek writers have been using mind melds as an almost mundane plot device as far back as the second season of TOS. And I only say "the second season" because it's not entirely clear what he did to that random guard during the jailbreak in "A Taste of Armageddon;" but it certainly looked like some kind of mind meld.

Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach

• What do you mean you can't find anti-grav technology? If you can build star ships with their own gravity, then surely either the Majalans or the Federation itself can build a strong enough Anti-grav generators to float as much land as they need?.
  • It seems fairly reasonable to say that keeping huge continents floating far above the surface of a planet is orders of magnitude more difficult than generating a bit of gravity in a relatively small ship. And for all that Alora claims they looked for other options and feel bad that they couldn't find one, they seem perfectly content to keep their system going as it is. We know for a fact that they have the capability to colonize other planets, there's really nothing stopping them from saying "no more child sacrifices" and just migrating off Majalis.
  • There's clearly a cultural and religious aspect keeping them there.
  • They probably wouldn't accept Federation help anyway. "We tried to fix it, we failed, therefore nobody can fix it." I mean, the Elder was one of the "good ones" and even he sneered at the idea of Starfleet technology being useful compared to their own.
  • They also have distinctly primitive starship technology, the one colony is barely functional and their method of searching for a fix apparently does not include asking for help. Like, they're in contact with a civilization that contains some of the best engineers in the galaxy and if they were upfront with "our ancestors set up this awful system, please help us fix it", the Federation would almost certainly have gladly gotten involved. They want to see themselves as superior, but all they have for themselves is their medical tech and a machine they don't understand that obviously doesn't work the same way as normal antigrav.

Dr. M’Benga’s book.

• Is the story Dr. M’Benga reads to his daughter a preexisting story, or was it made for this show?
  • It was made for the show. In-universe, the book was written by Benny Russell from Deep Space Nine.

Gorn birth

• In Star Trek Into Darkness McCoy mentions that he helped a pregnant Gorn to give birth once to octuplets which makes sense as creatures with complex brains as sapient beings will would unlikely by oviparous and would require a womb, but in SNW Gorn are shown to reproduce not by normal pregnancy but by infect others Xenomorph style so... which one was it?
  • Could be a difference in the timelines, or that they CAN reproduce via more normal means, but the "infecting" is preferable, as it ensures both food and possibly genetic diversity
  • There's several possible options, one theory is the Gorn shown in TOS and mentioned by McCoy in Into Darkness are different types of the same species, one of which is a parasitoid and the other isn't, another is that McCoy is severely underplaying to Carol Marcus the absolute horrific details of Gorn birth and that "performing a C-section" was more having to rip creatures out of a human host or the third option, which is that he's lying through his teeth to impress a pretty woman because no one knows anything about the Gorn anyway so he can make anything up to seem cool.
  • Is is possible that Bones needing to preform a C-section might indicate that the Gorn in question wasn't giving birth naturally? Or, rather, that the parent themself was acting as the host, and a Cesarean delivery prevents the offspring from eating the parent alive during the birthing process?

Blatantly evil Gorn

• Since when have the Gorn been beings of pure evil? They were initially antagonists because of a misunderstanding. Now they utterly monstrous savages.
  • Yeah, that's a pretty blatant Cerebus Retcon, which does not fit with their characterization in "Arena." Though visiting the pages for TOS will show that there's some confusion about how the Gorn could be really sympathetic when it was made clear they ignored surrender messages when they apparently understand human communication well enough to fake a deliberate lure for Enterprise, it's long been assumed that the Gorn are at worst Blue-and-Orange Morality leading to violent conflict, not that they are, as the writer who brought them into SNW claims, "pure evil."
  • However this is difficult to reconcile with the Gorn depictions in Star Trek: Lower Decks were they're generally friendly (as long as you don't crash their weddings) showing Gorn chefs working on Federation stations and in Star Trek: Prodigy were they're outright mention as allies and helping Federation citizens escape their damaged ships. Unless something happens between SNW and the later two shows that makes a BIG change on Gorn conduct.
  • It may be that the Gorn that La'an escaped and the ones that have been threatening the Federation are a rogue faction which the Gorn Hegemony don't think are worth reigning in. So far, the only Gorn that have been shown on-screen were infants without adult supervision, which may explain why they were so feral.
  • The second season's finale seems to imply that there is more complexity to the Gorn than previously portrayed and that they might not actually be pure evil.

Pike's rank in alternate timeline

In "A Quality of Mercy", Pike is shown as the captain of the Enterprise in the alternate timeline shown by Future Pike, who is wearing an admiral's uniform. In the original timeline (and in TOS, Discovery, and SNW), Pike was a Fleet Captain and no longer captain of the Enterprise. However, in the alternate timeline, Spock says that the training accident happened six months ago, with no casualties. Does this mean that Pike sending the letters to the cadets made him less likely to take risks, and thus leave the captaincy of the Enterprise, only to do so after Spock died?

• The likelihood is that, if Starfleet is losing so badly, they need someone who was there at the beginning of the war to try and lead the charge against the Romulans. Kirk never would have taken it, but Pike, feeling responsible for the whole thing, would have done so in case he goofed up again. The man does have a very strong guilt complex.

"Serene Squall" and Federation Space

• This episode explicitly states that Starfleet doesn't like it's ships leaving Federation space. Shortly after this is the title sequence that has the standard 'explore Strange new words, seek out new live and new civilation and boldly go where no-one has gone before' blurb, even the show is named after it. How do you explore Strange New Worlds without leaving Federation space?
  • This is probably dependent on the situation. Starfleet has just finished up a war with the Klingons (one that they almost lost) and is facing aggressive action from the Gorn. Most of the fleet, especially the Constitution class ships that are the jewels of Starfleet and are among the most powerful ships in the whole fleet, are likely being kept within Federation space barring very specific exploration and diplomatic missions in case of trouble flaring up.
  • Federation space still has unexplored worlds and uncontacted civilizations within it. That's because its borders are defined by treaties with other galactic powers rather than member worlds. In Federation space, Federation starships are free to travel and explore uncharted territory, and make deals with the civilizations it meets. So the Federation wants its ships to stay in those borders rather than leave and risk confrontation with other galactic powers.

La'an and Gorn spit

• Did La'an know that Hemmer was infected when he got sprayed with Gorn venom, or did she deduce it afterwards once he showed signs of infection?
  • She deduced it afterwards. She would have quarantined him immediately had she known.

Una in the alternate time line

• Considering the Alternate timeline seen in the end of Season 1 only changed with Pike avoided his accident and commanded the Enterprise longer then he otherwise would, which happens after the time frame of this episode. How come Una was locked up as an augment there and free here?
  • In that timeline, Pike had taken step as early as the Season 1 finale to change the future. It's possible he may have still been on the Enterprise when La'an's call came in and was thus prevented from convincing Neera to take the job. Without Neera, Una would have been stuck with Starfleet appointed council, who had already demonstrated a disinterest in properly defending her, thua leading to the 20 sentence.
  • Pike's efforts to change the future at the stage amounted to sending letters to the cadets. There's no immediately obvious causal link between doing that and the Enterprise's refit schedule, La'an's message arriving or Pike defending Una changing.
  • Pure speculation, but in the 'original' timeline where Pike never saw the future, he may have been less pushy with Neera and/or more willing to trust the Starfleet defense attorney appointed to Una. Knowing that in the other timeline Una was sentenced to prison, he may have fought harder on it.

Setlik II and the Temporal Prime Directive

• Boimler says that by his time, Setlik II is a long established colony, but Pelia says that without the grain that Enterprise gave the Orion ship, the colony would have to be disbanded. At the end of the episode, the Orions still had the grain, with nothing saying they would return it. Did the Setlik II colony just get wiped from history by Boimler's screwup?
  • Wasn't the deal that the Orions returned the grain in exchange for getting credit for discovering the time portal? Boimler's presence was supposed to be of the Stable Time Loop variety.
  • Boimler offered to exchange the grain for the portal to prevent any changes, but in the end the Orions depart after Pike agrees to note that they were the ones who discovered the portal. No mention of the grain was made in the final conversation with the Orions.
  • I think the implication is that they honored Boimler's deal. The Orion's got credit for the discovery and gave back the grain.

Una saying she outranks Pelia?

• In "Lost in Translation" Una snaps at Pelia because Pelia is too laid back and disobeys orders, and says "You've been in Starfleet since before I was born but I outrank you, why do you think that is?" all reasonable except Una is only a Lieutenant Commander, while Pelia is a full Commander, technically Pelia is the higher rank. While Una IS first officer of Enterprise if Pelia had never volunteered to take over as chief engineer and was still an instructor at the academy she would clearly still outrank Una right?
• Una effectively outranks her in position of the ship, but not in absolute hierarchy.

M'Benga's private life?

• Pike mentions he and M'Benga have known each other for years. How did he not know that Joseph was a single father in Season 1? M'Benga doesn't seem to have any co-parent for his daughter, and presumably he has some sort of cover story for why he's not at home with his daughter (we are nearly a century before Starfleet allows whole families on their ships). Did Pike know about her and just never brought up that M'Benga seemed like an absent father?
  • Given the secrecy around having his daughter in the transporter buffer, it's likely that M'Benga simply told everyone that she had died from her condition to avoid any awkward questions.