10 Greatest Unspoken Star Trek Plot Points
Largely forgotten moments from Star Trek that we'd like to see a conclusion to.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00 Star Trek has a habit of introducing some truly compelling plotlines that sadly end
00:05 up getting forgotten about in order to move the main story along. Whether it's drama
00:10 between the characters that gets immediately forgotten in the next episode, or discoveries
00:15 that should have really altered life in the Federation, or even characters just being
00:20 completely discarded. Many of the entries on this list may well be resolved in future
00:25 Trek shows. Given the number of references to Trek history and the return of old characters
00:32 from shows like Lower Decks and Picard, though most it's fair to say will probably be left
00:38 in obscurity.
00:39 So with that in mind then, I'm Ellie with Trek Culture and here are the 10 Greatest
00:44 Unspoken Star Trek Plot Points.
00:47 10. The fate of Paris and Janeway's alien children.
00:52 The infamous Voyager episode "Threshold" has a number of ridiculous, headache-inducing
00:58 plot points, but perhaps the most outrageous comes at the end of the episode. Lieutenant
01:03 Paris had just passed the Warp 10 barrier using a new engine modification.
01:08 Travelling at Warp 10 is meant to be infinite velocity, a speed at which one would occupy
01:13 every point in space simultaneously. However, his journey had the unfortunate side effect
01:18 of mutating Paris into a half-human, half-lizard monster, apparently speeding up his evolution
01:24 for some reason. Surprisingly, the scientific illiteracy of the episode isn't even the worst
01:30 part. As Paris began to mutate, he kidnapped Janeway in a shuttlecraft and jumped to Warp
01:35 10 again, this time mutating both him and Janeway. By the time Voyager found them on
01:40 some alien planet, Paris and Janeway had turned completely into lizards and even mated. The
01:45 crew found them, as well as a number of baby human-lizard hybrids, and decided to take
01:50 their captain and lieutenant back to reverse the process, but left the babies on the planet.
01:56 Paris and Janeway's children were now left on some planet in the Delta Quadrant to fend
02:00 for themselves and were never spoken about again, apart from the appearance of a similar
02:05 lizard in the background of the Lower Decks episode "Much Ado About Boimler".
02:10 Number 9 - Guinan's history. Guinan's history remained a shrouded mystery
02:16 throughout Star Trek The Next Generation and the movie Star Trek Generations in which she
02:21 appeared. We only know a few bits and pieces. We know that she belongs to a long-living
02:26 alien species known as the Elorians, whose homeworld was destroyed by the Borg in the
02:31 23rd century. Guinan and her family were saved from this catastrophe due to being off-world.
02:37 In fact, we see in the episode "Time's Arrow" that Guinan was actually living on Earth as
02:41 far back as the 19th century, far before first contact, hiding from her father.
02:47 We also know that Guinan has some mysterious history with Q, who tells Picard that wherever
02:52 she goes, trouble always follows. Q even claims that Guinan is not her real name and calls
02:58 her an imp. We can only speculate on Guinan's history
03:01 with Q, but surprisingly Q almost seems somewhat afraid of her in the episode "Q Who", which
03:08 does make one wonder what could make such a supreme being afraid.
03:13 Number 8 - The Equinox crew adapting to life on Voyager.
03:18 One of the most interesting episodes of Voyager was "Equinox", where the crew encounter another
03:23 Starfleet vessel, the USS Equinox, that was pulled into the Delta Quadrant by the caretaker
03:28 just as they were. The Equinox was a much smaller ship than Voyager and thus suffered
03:32 more from starvation and fatigue on their journey back to Earth. In order to survive,
03:37 they decided to capture and drain alien lifeforms for power, causing Janeway to step in and
03:42 correct things. In the ensuing battle, the Equinox was destroyed
03:46 along with its captain, Captain Ransom, and most of the rest of the Equinox crew transported
03:51 to Voyager to integrate into its crew. It would have been fascinating to see this
03:55 hardened, traumatised crew integrate into life on Voyager after years of struggling
04:01 to survive. Sadly though, after this episode we don't
04:04 get any sort of follow up and are just left to assume that they integrated perfectly.
04:07 But this is unfortunate though, because their struggle to adapt to normal life and their
04:12 shame for exploiting aliens would have been some interesting themes to drive some drama
04:17 on the ship. But this all seems to have happened off camera.
04:21 Number 7. Picard's connection to the Borg Collective
04:26 After being assimilated by the Borg in the Next Generation episode "The Best of Both
04:30 Worlds", Captain Picard was forever changed, even after having the cybernetic parts removed
04:35 and his body healed. As we see multiple times in Star Trek VIII
04:39 First Contact, Picard was sometimes able to hear faint whisperings of the Collective when
04:44 he was near them. This was how he was able to target the correct spot on the Borg Cube
04:48 to destroy it. The fear of intruding Borg voices was a terrifying
04:52 reality that Picard had to live with every day. Picard barely got any time to cope with
04:56 his trauma at the hands of the Borg, and shortly after rejoined the Enterprise-D with most
05:01 of his recovery happening off camera. In Star Trek Picard, we finally get to witness
05:06 Jean-Luc moving past his fear of the Borg a bit, but it will surely always haunt him.
05:11 Still, the idea that at any time Picard could be telepathically invaded by Borg voices is
05:17 horrifying. But it is probably safe to assume that the
05:20 Borg technology in his brain was completely removed after the events of the Star Trek
05:25 Picard Season 1 finale.
05:27 Number 6. The fight for freedom for sentient artificial intelligence.
05:32 The iconic Next Generation episode "The Measure of a Man" portrays a legal battle where Data
05:38 must prove that he, as a machine, is sentient and not merely the property of Starfleet.
05:44 The writing in this episode is incredible, and both sides make some interesting points,
05:49 but in the end Data is victorious and given the right to free choice. Sadly, this was
05:54 only done on an individual basis, with Data specifically in mind.
05:58 In the Voyager episode "Author, Author", we see that discrimination against sentient
06:02 artificial lifeforms is still very much prevalent when a holonovel publisher attempts to steal
06:07 the holographic Doctor's story that he programmed and wrote on the grounds that it was not created
06:13 by a person and thus no one can own it. Though the Doctor eventually wins his case,
06:17 just as with Data, the same cannot be said for all the EMH Mark I's, the same model
06:23 as the Doctor, who were discontinued from their starships and forced to work in the
06:27 mines, as we see in the end of the previously mentioned episode.
06:31 One has to wonder how many AI lifeforms are being taken advantage of throughout the Federation.
06:38 Number 5. Tuvok and Chakotay's conflict One largely forgotten storyline from Voyager
06:43 is Tuvok's betrayal of Chakotay. Prior to being lost in the Delta Quadrant with the
06:48 Voyager crew, Chakotay, B'Elanna and the other former Marquis were serving aboard the
06:53 Vaujon, a Marquis raider that Voyager was pursuing for crimes against the Federation
06:57 and the Cardassians. Many forget that Tuvok was aboard the Vaujon for quite some time
07:02 on an undercover infiltration mission to gather intelligence about the Marquis and eventually
07:07 turn the Vaujon crew over to Federation authorities. When Chakotay learned of this deception in
07:12 the pilot episode "Caretaker", he was initially frustrated, but quickly regained
07:17 his composure when he learned how serious their situation was.
07:21 The conflict of these two resolving their issues would have been interesting to see,
07:25 but after the pilot, Chakotay seems to have moved on entirely, perhaps content with the
07:30 position that Janeway gave him as First Officer, a position that Tuvok expressed initial distaste
07:36 for in the episode "Twisted". Chakotay seems satisfied with the fact that he was
07:40 given the role over Tuvok, despite him being the obvious next in line. Still, it would
07:44 have been nice to see these two resolve their past more on screen.
07:48 Number 4. The discovery of a Dyson Sphere In the Next Generation episode "Relics",
07:54 the crew of the Enterprise-D encounter something truly breathtaking. An abandoned, or seemingly
08:00 abandoned, Dyson Sphere. A Dyson Sphere is a theoretical megastructure sphere that would
08:05 surround an entire star. The inside of the sphere would be livable land, just far enough
08:10 away from the star to get perfect sunlight at all times, possibly allowing it to harness
08:16 the entire energy output of the star. Starfleet, the Klingons, the Vulcans and even the Borg
08:21 have never been able to create megastructures this massive. Whoever created the sphere was
08:26 likely more powerful than any known empire in the galaxy, rivaled perhaps only by the
08:32 few. It's a shame that we never get to see any further research done on the Dyson Sphere.
08:36 I mean, it's likely that Starfleet classified its existence so that they could keep its
08:40 insanely powerful technologies for themselves, but audiences were left wondering who created
08:47 it, how many planets were consumed just for the materials and are there any other massive
08:52 structures hidden throughout the galaxy?
08:54 Number 3. The fates of the many humans brought from the past
08:59 Throughout the history of Star Trek, a large number of humans have been brought from the
09:03 past to the 23rd and 24th centuries. Of course there was the infamous Khan, but less well
09:09 known were the cryogenically frozen crew from the Next Generation episode "The Neutral
09:13 Zone". They were all frozen in the late 20th century because they had incurable diseases
09:18 that they hoped could be cured in the future when they woke. Luckily for the three survivors,
09:23 they were right. The three visitors from the past were all wealthy individuals who were
09:28 very shocked to learn about how much Earth has changed since the 1900s.
09:32 Unfortunately, at the end of the episode, the three of them left the Enterprise and
09:36 we never saw them again, but it would have been nice to see how well they adjusted to
09:40 life in the 24th century. The same goes for Gillian Taylor, the marine biologist who was
09:45 brought to the 23rd century in Star Trek IV "The Voyage Home". She hopped aboard a science
09:50 vessel to catch up with all the information she'd missed in the past few centuries and
09:54 immediately got to work helping Starfleet with its new whale operations. But again,
09:59 we never get to see much of her reaction to Starfleet or the future in general.
10:04 Number 2. Lieutenant O'Connor's ascension. In the Lower Decks episode "Moist Vessel",
10:09 Lieutenant O'Connor invites a few crewmates over to watch the conclusion of his spiritual
10:14 ascension. According to O'Connor, through years of meditation and ritual, one can become
10:19 a higher form of life and transcend the limitations of humanity. Tendi accidentally destroyed
10:25 his sand mandala that was supposedly meant to lead to his ascension, causing him to spiral
10:31 into depression before finally admitting to Tendi that his ascension was all fake, merely
10:36 a way to make O'Connor stand out and seem interesting.
10:39 Crazily though, this admission, coupled with the pride of saving Tendi from a ship-wide
10:43 disaster, was apparently enough to conclude the rituals O'Connor was working on, and
10:48 he began to ascend right before Tendi's eyes. Unfortunately for O'Connor, this wasn't
10:53 a very pleasant experience. His skin was burning as he floated into the air and began glowing
10:58 from his eyes, transforming into a being of pure energy. He cried out in pain, overwhelmed
11:04 from the terror he felt from witnessing all of creation at once. Then, right as he was
11:10 about to reveal the meaning of life, he disappeared. Despite spiritual ascension now being a proven
11:15 fact, we never get to see the end result of it. Is O'Connor still out there somewhere
11:20 in the cosmos watching over the crew? And what are the origins of this mysterious spirituality?
11:27 And how did O'Connor come to learn of it?
11:29 1. The switch to cleaner warp travel In a parody of the harmful effects of fossil
11:35 fuels, the Next Generation episode "Force of Nature" introduced us to a Hikaran scientist
11:41 who proved definitively that warp travel was slowly damaging the fabric of space, and that
11:46 if nothing was done, warp travel would soon become impossible. Although initially in the
11:51 episode, the Federation imposed strict speed limits in their space to no higher than warp
11:56 5 unless in emergency, Starfleet seems to have somehow engineered a solution to the
12:01 problem since then. Considering that these laws were never enforced on screen, and we
12:05 routinely saw Starfleet ships exceed warp 5 whenever they pleased in Deep Space Nine,
12:10 many fans theorised that Voyager's folding nacelles were made to be a more eco-friendly
12:15 form of warp travel, but this was never confirmed in canon, only suggested in an unreleased
12:21 Star Trek Voyager technical guide. Because this guide was never published, it cannot
12:25 be included in canon. And Voyager seems to be the only ship equipped with this ability.
12:30 But then we are left wondering what Starfleet did since Force of Nature to seemingly fix
12:35 the problem? Did they merely just cover it up? Either way, these would make for some
12:41 interesting plot lines. And that concludes our list. If you can think
12:45 of any other examples, then do let us know in the comments below. And don't forget to
12:49 like and subscribe and tap that notification bell. Also head over to Twitter and follow
12:53 us there, and I can be found across various social medias just by searching Ellie Littlechild.
12:58 I've been Ellie with Trek Culture, I hope you have a wonderful day and remember to boldly
13:03 go where no one has gone before.