ALL SCI-FI

[Pow]

Some more thoughts about this episode.

The Yonada spaceship is disguised as an asteroid. We assume this is due to their not wanting to draw unfriendly attention from other spacefaring civilizations. However, it does draw the Enterprise's interest in two ways. It fires missiles at them, and it is unusual to see a lone asteroid without it being in a field of other asteroids. Another sign that would draw attention by a spaceship scanning the asteroid would be the metallic cylinders that are on the surface of the asteroid.

Ideas: Place other asteroids around Yonada via some form of tractor beam so as to make it look like a naturally drifting asteroid field. Have the cylinders below the surface, they can rise up to the surface as needed.

The firing of the missiles must have been an automated response by the ship's computers. So I cannot think how such an action could have been countered, since it appears that the habitats of Yonada are supposed to have forgotten over the centuries how to operate their ship. So you cannot rely on their judgement when and where they should, and should not, fire their atomic missiles.

I realize that a key part of the plot is that the people of Yonada have forgotten their technical skills of how to operate their ship over thousands of years. However, when the crew of the Enterprise beam down to the surface of Yonada, they're attacked by security people brandishing swords! Wouldn't they have something a little more sophisticated than that for their weapons?

In the Oracle Room we hear the voice of what must be the ship's A.I. I wonder why it was unable to ensure that the inhabitants of the ship remained educated & progressive over the course of their voyage? It is a remarkable computer system, after all. It has to be operating the entire vessel. It must be the source of light, heat, food, and water (unless the Yonada people are able to grow their own food and supply their own water).

If the people have forgotten how to run their ship, just how do they fill their days exactly? What do they do day-in & day-out with their time? Somehow they've managed not to descend into savagery. On the well done episode of Space: 1999, "The Mission of the Darians," we see an enormous space ark where many of the inhabitants have resorted to a primitive and violent tribe over time.

The Yonada people have a subcutaneous control device implanted into their temple that is called "the instrument of obedience." If they act in a way that is unacceptable to the AI, it will punish them by activating the implant and causing serious pain. In one instance it killed a man, but his advanced age may have also played a factor too. Did the AI create this as time when on during the asteroid's trek through space? Was it part of the society of Yonada in that it was created by the aliens themselves. If so, they come off as a harsh & draconian race.

How is it that this sophisticated AI operating this entire & immense spaceship was never able to run diagnostics upon itself and correct its course?

Trivia: In the James Blish Star Trek #8 book which adapts this episode, he offers this explanation for why the ship was off course. Mr. Spock, "In creating a completely natural environment for the people on this ship, its builders included many life forms----including insects. A control jet in there was blocked by a hornets' nest. I destroyed the nest. The guidance system is taking over, sir. I think we can revert to automatic controls."

[mach7]

The early Blish books (season 1) were adapted from the screenplays, but very early versions of the screenplays.
Many have plot points that never made it to the final draft.

I wonder if it was the same for the 3rd season books.

[Bud Brewster]

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I should watch this episode again, because it has so many interesting plot elements — like the incurable medical condition McCoy has, and the strange nature of this "generational spacecraft" with occupants who don't know they're living inside aside a large rock!

TOS — you gottta love it!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

Some other issues with this episode.

"The asteroid's outer shell is hollow. It surrounds an independent inner core with a breathable atmosphere---sensors record no life forms." Mr. Spock scanning the asteroid.

How are the Enterprise's sophisticated sensors able to detect that the asteroid's inner core has oxygen, but it's unable to detect the Yonadans? Some form of a high-tech cloaking capabilities?

Kirk, Spock and McCoy beam over to Yonada without any security guards. How wise it that?

Captain Kirk says that if the Enterprise is unable to alter the asteroids course so that it won't collide with Daran V, they'll have to destroy it. So the Enterprise's phasers, photon torpedoes and tractor beam working in conjunction are helpless up against this asteroid? Granted, the asteroid is enormous, but precisely how much would it take to redirect it so as not to crash into Daran V? If the Enterprise cannot do this feat alone, what about other starships joining up to assist the big E? They have plenty of time because Spock calculates the estimated time of impact will be in 396 days.

The end of the episode makes no mention of how the Federation could help Yonada now that its course has been reset so that it will not crash into Daran V. Shouldn't a contingent of engineers & technicians be posted on Yonada in order to see if any other problems arise with the 10,000 year old vessel? Will that nasty AI put up any problems with not harshly controlling the citizens? Speaking of the citizens, how well will they respond to finding out that their world is spaceship? Won't some require mental health experts in order to adapt? Will the Federation attempt to resettle the Yonadans on a planet somewhere, or leave them inside their artificial world?

It was an intriguing episode. However, it left me with far too many questions.

[Pow]

"What we say---what we think. The Oracle knows the minds and hearts of all the People."

Doesn't the Oracle of Yonada have a lot in common with Landru of Beta III in "The Return of the Archons?"

Many of the Trek episodes are about technology run amok or misused, aren't they? These 2 episodes are prime examples. Other episodes with the same theme: "What Are Little Girls Made Of?", "Dagger of the Mind," "Miri," "Court Martial," "The Squire of Gothos," "Shore Leave," "Space Seed," "A Taste of Armageddon," are some examples just from the series' first season. Interesting that we science fiction fans who are very interested in futuristic technology, as well as the riveting news of innovative breakthroughs of science in the here & now, see that technology is the villain in so many episodes of sf films and television. Some of it is due to the evil, selfish use of high-tech by humans or aliens. Sometimes it's a case of the technology evolving beyond what it once was ("The Changeling") and becoming dangerous unto itself.

The decades and decades of sf films and TV shows have covered this kind of plot device. Sometimes well, sometimes not. Do you think that the writers today have a challenging bar to rise up to, so as not to merely rehash technology equals disaster themes that have been covered so much in the past?

[Bud Brewster]

[Pow]

As we witness the misuse of technology & social media of today and its harmful effects upon society and individuals, we wonder where that positive and life affirming civilization that Gene Roddenberry first envisioned for his Star Trek? It always seems that wonderous technology can do many remarkable & good things for humans in many ways. However, there are downsides to it also.

I watched a segment on 60 Minutes about AI & its potential for human disaster. They discussed actions that could be taken on the development of AI in order to establish guardrails around it. This way we could cautiously work with it all the while making it a safe evolution. However, even the top AI scientists cannot honestly predict, much less guarantee, where AI will take us.

And what about other nations such as China or Russia. In their evil thirst and drive for power we well know they won't adhere to any safety measures for their AI. So while America and other nations may enter into this brand new technology carefully, it doesn't mean other nations that will follow.

It makes me wonder? If other worlds develop along the same lines as we have, do they then all reach this critical stage with their AI just as we have? What happened then? Did AI save them as some optimistic futurists predict for us? Did it undo those alien civilizations entirely by enslaving them, or eliminating them? Did they find a way to work peacefully & productively with their AI for the benefit of all?

I want to believe that the futurists & experts are correct that say AI will be revolutionary and bring humanity into a golden era. That it won't an evil boogeyman to fear, and the undoing of us. Remember how experts predicted that Y2K would cause horrendous and extensive havoc for us when the time came? I sure do. Nothing came of it and we breathed a sigh of relief. Let's hope & pray AI will turn out the same for our world.