u/Torlek1

On paper, the written Torah stipulates the death penalty for many offenses. That is, execution is called for, on paper.

Although this doesn't quite jive with modern sensibilities or contemporary theology based on them, from the perspective of source criticism, things aren't as straightforward.

[Competing Torah schools that they were, regarding the single correct version of Divine revelation](https://zeramim.org/past-issues/volume-iii-issue-3-spring-summer-2019-5779/contemporary-jewish-theology-in-light-of-divergent-biblical-views-on-revelations-content-david-frankel/), the Elohist School ("Rabbi E"), the Priestly School ("Rabbi P"), and the Deuteronomic School ("Rabbi D") nonetheless all agreed that the death penalty ought to be applied for particular offenses. This requirement is indeed one (*) of the 140 or so commandments that are majority opinions or the majority view, to borrow from Talmudic debates. This commandment is indeed one of the 140 or so that were agreed upon by two or more competing Torah schools.

It is in the details wherein one can find only seven (seven!) offenses for which applying the death penalty was the majority opinion:

1. Whoever turns to the worship of other gods and bows down to them (E, P, and D);

2. Whoever strikes one's own father or mother (E, plus an application of D's harsh "rebellious son" law to this more blatant case);

3. Whoever insults one's own father or mother (E, plus a second application of D's harsh "rebellious son" law to this more blatant case);

4. Whoever has carnal relations with a beast (E, P, plus a mere curse in D);

5. Whoever is an adulteress or adulterer, any married woman and any man not her husband having carnal relations together (P and D);

6. Whoever is a murderer (E, P, and D); and

7. Whoever kidnaps another Israelite, enslaving or selling the latter (E and D).

(*) - The various stipulations calling for the death penalty have been counted as a single commandment, to borrow from Maimonides and Nachmanides.

Could a larger cast have worked out for TNG long term? 9 or 10 characters?

I would argue yes, but with three changes from the beginning:

Worf should have been the first Chief Security Officer. We all know Crosby wanted out early, so Tasha Yar should have been Chief Tactical Officer.

La Forge should have been the first Chief Engineer.

Wesley should have started with the Ensign rank. He is the one who steps in when a senior officer goes on an away mission.

Chief Operations Officer should not be merged with Science. This should be the backup security person if the main one is off the ship.

This is one ship station lesson that VOY learned well, when Seven of Nine became Voyager's new de facto science officer and left Harry Kim in the background.

Chief Tactical Officer should not be merged with Security.

There are some exhausted "fans" who have argued that Star Trek is a tired franchise now, and has especially become unoriginal.

TOS has 3 recycled plot episodes out of 79.

In turn, only 19 TOS episodes were reused in the Berman Era.

TNG has 13 recycled plot episodes out of 176.

DS9 has 8 recycled plot episodes out of 176.

VOY has at least 31 rehash episodes / recycled plots / copycats out of 172.

ENT has at least 16 rehash episodes / recycled plots / copycats out of 98.

There was still a high degree of originality in the older shows.

Newer Star Trek shows are still mostly original.

Many of us don't like the Lost "mystery box" writing format that was introduced in Discovery and Picard, but that controversial writing style appears to have minimized the number of recycled plots. Both shows are at least 90% original.

Lower Decks is mostly original, due to its introduction of animated comedy into the franchise.

Prodigy appears to be mostly original, as well.

Strange New Worlds gets more interesting.

There is a tendency in Strange New Worlds to split its episodes between over the top campy humor, on the one hand, and homage episodes to "greatest hits" TOS and even TNG episodes, on the other.

Unlike VOY and ENT, however, the producers are at least transparent on this online in their post-streaming interviews. Furthermore, at least 30 years have passed; if these episodes had aired 10 years ago, they would have been panned under the Recycled Plot trope.

Of the 46 planned episodes, no less than 10 are 1:1 retelling stories of "greatest hits."

The SNW retcon of phaser firepower turns out to be reasonable. Specifically, it makes DS9's The Die Is Cast reasonable.

Star Trek phasers can destroy Jedha in a single shot (DS9: The Die Is Cast). Star Wars conventional plasma "turbolasers" cannot.

What does it mean for torpedoes, though?

0.5 g of real antimatter reacting with one half gram of ordinary matter (one gram total) results in 21.5 kilotons of TNT.

It takes 4652 half-grams of real antimatter, or 2326 full grams of real antimatter to produce Tsar Bomba without nerfs: 100 megatons.

10 petatons is 100 million times more powerful than Tsar Bomba without nerfs.

It takes 232.6 million full kilograms of real antimatter and an equal amount of grams of matter to produce 10 petatons. That's over 2 times the mass of an aircraft carrier... times two.

Therefore, it takes 901.225 million full kilograms of real antimatter and an equal amount of grams of matter to produce 38.75 petatons. That's over 9 times the mass of an aircraft carrier... times two.

Does it mean that phasers are a lot more powerful than torpedoes now?

The Universe Class starship design by Doug Drexler, as seen in ENT, should be retconned as coming from no earlier than the 29th century.

Personally, I think Rick Berman should have set all far future hijinks 300 years further into the future, whether it was ENT or VOY.

The Sphere Builder Invasion battle from ENT should have been in the 29th century.

The Future Guy from ENT should have been in the 31st century.

The Relativity from VOY should have come from the 32nd century.

The pre-Discovery Daniels from ENT should have come from the 34th century.

That would leave way more space for pre-Temporal Trek stories.

Instead, we have only 200 years to play with now. Then it's all 32nd century onwards.

Can this far future before the Burn be retconned?

First, SNW introduced a retcon to the timing of the Eugenics Wars and WWIII. The logic of this real-world change should apply.

Next, because the Prime Timeline was altered big time in Endgame, there's no incentive for the current Admiral Janeway to utilize this new method of time travel. Whether it's the Janeway of Prodigy or the Janeway of a rumored Star Trek: Janeway TV show, there's no incentive.

Further out, should the Sphere Builder battle still happen? 50000 light year radius of a transdimensional disturbance is a bad reset button.

200 more years out, should Future Guy still come from the 28th century, or can he be retconned one or two centuries?

Last, but not least, should the Relativity guy still come from the 29th century, or can he be retconned by a century?

Compress 600 years of temporal shenanigans into 200 or less!

And separate the Enterprise-J from the Universe Class, too!

Could Legends destroy a city in one shot with conventional weapons?

Is there a conventional weapon in Legends novels or Legends comics that could destroy a city using only one shot?

According to recent literature, Star Wars plasma "lasers" fire in the gigatons and perhaps even the teratons (10v12), despite live action visual evidence being just under 10 kilotons (The Empire Strikes Back).

Compare this with the Death Star destruction of Jedha (Rogue One).

According to recent shows, Star Trek phasers fire in the petatons (10v15 per SNW), not in the 30 megatons intended for NEM.

I repeat: Star Trek phasers can destroy Jedha in a single shot (DS9: The Die Is Cast). Star Wars conventional plasma "turbolasers" cannot.

That being said:

The evil android Lore from Star Trek: The Next Generation would do well in the Star Wars galaxy, the Galaxy Far Far Away.

He would be better utilized by the Galactic Empire as a starship developer, a far more knowledgeable and competent version of Director Krennic.

Just like Khan, he studied the technical stuff of the Enterprise of his time. Unlike Khan, however, he studied the technical stuff of the TNG era.

Lore can "invent" phasers for the Empire.

He can "invent" photon torpedoes for the Empire.

He can "invent" ST shields for the Empire.

He can "invent" antimatter "warp" cores for the Empire.

He can "invent" warp drives for the Empire.

He can "invent" transporter beams for the Empire.

Unlike Khan, the subject of a recent Star Wars thread, Lore can "invent" for the Empire both TNG-era food replicators and TNG-era industrial replicators. The latter were used extensively during DS9's Dominion War.

According to recent literature, Star Wars plasma "lasers" fire in the gigatons and perhaps even the teratons (10v12), despite live action visual evidence being just under 10 kilotons (The Empire Strikes Back).

Compare this with the Death Star destruction of Jedha (Rogue One).

According to recent shows, Star Trek phasers fire in the petatons (10v15 per SNW), not in the 30 megatons intended for NEM.

I repeat: Star Trek phasers can destroy Jedha in a single shot (DS9: The Die Is Cast). Star Wars conventional plasma "turbolasers" cannot.

That being said:

The evil android Lore from Star Trek: The Next Generation would do well in the Star Wars galaxy, the Galaxy Far Far Away.

He would be better utilized by the Galactic Empire as a starship developer, a far more knowledgeable and competent version of Director Krennic.

Just like Khan, he studied the technical stuff of the Enterprise of his time. Unlike Khan, however, he studied the technical stuff of the TNG era.

Lore can "invent" phasers for the Empire.

He can "invent" photon torpedoes for the Empire.

He can "invent" ST shields for the Empire.

He can "invent" antimatter "warp" cores for the Empire.

He can "invent" warp drives for the Empire.

He can "invent" transporter beams for the Empire.

Unlike Khan, Lore can "invent" for the Empire both TNG-era food replicators and TNG-era industrial replicators. The latter were used extensively during DS9's Dominion War.

The heavy discussion on the Battlestar Galactica scenario applied to Star Trek calls for a kitbash design. It isn't sexy, but it should have plenty of utility, including shuttlecraft carrying capacity and especially runabout carrying capacity.

Enter the Galactica Class starship family.

Saucer Shuttlebays

The first component is based on the saucer of the Galaxy Class starship and even the Ross Class starship (but more Galaxy, and certainly no Sovereign elements). The "Carrier Class" starship wasn't well-received even in the early 2000s by the RPG community, so another approach is required.

It is the basic shape of the Galaxy saucer that is kept, not that of the Ross saucer. The former is upsized to surpass the length of the latter. The former incorporates the latter's circular warp nacelle for saucer separation.

The saucer might be anywhere from one to four decks taller. That is because an upside down Constellation saucer is taken into account, even after the end of the Enterprise-D saucer crash sequence in Star Trek: Generations.

With an upside-down Constellation saucer comes its very large forward shuttlebay. It is at least three decks high. It might be as high as five decks. This shuttlebay is more than large enough to carry a runabout. It is certainly not a budget shuttlebay.

The Galactica Class starship family has three Constellation-style large shuttlebays along the forward part of the saucer, has one Constellation-style large shuttlebay further aft from the port edge, and has one Constellation-style large shuttlebay further aft from the starboard edge.

Thus, the saucer has six shuttlebays, including the Galaxy-style main shuttlebay.

Galactica Stardrive

The Galactica stardrive combines an almost-unarmed weapons pod of the Nebula with an upsized secondary hull of the Probert Ambassador, the Narendra Class starship.

The neck is based on the Narendra, but is noticeably taller and is without any impulse engines or budget shuttlebays. It connects to both the engineering hull below and the almost-unarmed weapons pod.

The pod is at the same level as the neck, and is supported by a thick beam running through the engineering hull. One large shuttlebay is located there on the aft side, half the size of a Sovereign-style main shuttlebay. Two budget shuttlebays are also located there, also on the aft side.

Since the almost-unarmed weapons pod is at the same level as the neck, it has only two phaser arrays, one port-facing and one starboard-facing. On top of it are Challenger-style thick nacelle pylons and Venture-style warp nacelles with their own phaser arrays.

This starship design would have two burst-fire torpedo launchers facing forward instead of one, due to their placement below the neck instead of on it.

This starship design would have two burst-fire torpedo launchers facing aft instead of one, due to their placement on the ventral side of the secondary hull.

The tenth shuttlebay is the traditional aft shuttlebay coming from the Narendra. Since it is upsized and not a budget shuttlebay, it has the potential to match the capabilities of a Sovereign-style aft shuttlebay.

Last, but not least, the Galactica stardrive would be equipped with Intrepid-style impulse engines and Intrepid-style warp nacelles flanking the aft shuttlebay. This would echo the Nebula Class starship variant with two much smaller warp nacelles.

How many more shuttles and runabouts can be carried aboard a Galaxy Class starship?

For a point of reference, DS9 has six landing pads that can carry runabouts.

Some have argued that the Galaxy can carry a maximum of three runabouts in the main shuttlebay.

Others have argued that the Galaxy can carry only two in the main shuttlebay despite dialogue stating that the Enterprise-D transferred three runabouts to DS9.

If only two runabouts can be carried in that one location, then how many DS9-style landing pads could the saucer be refitted with?

Alternatively, how many large shuttlebays could the saucer be refitted with?

For another point of reference, the Constellation Class starship is the only older starship class that has a shuttlebay large enough to fit a runabout.

The Kelvin Timeline was created, along with the rest of the reboot JJ movies, with the Narada going through the black hole.

Could DS9 create something like the Kelvin Timeline?

Playing God is a DS9 episode in the middle of the second season. It is right before the "Murderer's Row" of solid episodes.

The ending of this episode sees the return of the protouniverse to the Gamma Quadrant.

Could this return lead to the creation of a new parallel timeline, another reboot?

Personally, I think Rick Berman should have set all far future hijinks 300 years further into the future, whether it was ENT or VOY.

The Sphere Builder Invasion battle from ENT should have been in the 29th century.

The Future Guy from ENT should have been in the 31st century.

The Relativity from VOY should have come from the 32nd century.

The pre-Discovery Daniels from ENT should have come from the 34th century.

That would leave way more space for pre-Temporal Trek stories.

Instead, we have only 200 years to play with now. Then it's all 32nd century onwards.

Can this far future before the Burn be retconned?

First, SNW introduced a retcon to the timing of the Eugenics Wars and WWIII. The logic of this real-world change should apply.

Next, because the Prime Timeline was altered big time in Endgame, there's no incentive for the current Admiral Janeway to invent this new method of time travel. Whether it's the Janeway of Prodigy or the Janeway of a rumored Star Trek: Janeway TV show, there's no incentive.

Further out, should the Sphere Builder battle still happen? 50000 light year radius of a transdimensional disturbance is a bad reset button.

200 more years out, should Future Guy still come from the 28th century, or can he be retconned one or two centuries?

Last, but not least, should the Relativity guy still come from the 29th century, or can he be retconned by a century?

Compress 600 years of temporal shenanigans into 200 or less!

Which Phase II scripts could have become Voyager episodes?

It has been argued that part of why Voyager is viewed much more favorably now is because the show is seen as the true spiritual successor of the TOS writing style.

Could Phase II scripts have the potential to be rewritten to become VOY scripts?

Blog Series

There's a media critic blog series on Phase II. They started to introduce B plots, but these B plots were less like Michael Piller's B plots on TNG and more like the B plot of TOS Paradise Syndrome.

u/4thofeleven posted on the scripts themselves.

> They're almost all Kirk-focused. Decker seems to be barely used, and the secondary cast get no more development than they had in the original series. I wonder if the problem is, having lost Nimoy, they decided they needed to do everything they could to ensure Shatner didn't walk too, and so inflated his role even more.

.

Recycled Plot Scripts

VOY has at least 31 recycled plot episodes out of 172, at least 18.0% of its episode total. Fans of other Trek shows tend to call out VOY in relation to specific TNG episodes.

However, because more time in production years passed in real life, there was more wiggle room to recycle at least 9 stories from TOS. All Our Yesterdays, Spock's Brain, The Enemy Within, I, Mudd, The Ultimate Computer, Amok Time, The Changeling, Space Seed, and Wink of an Eye were the episodes that were ultimately reused. In addition, the show reused 4 stories from TAS.

The same critic slack isn't cut for Phase II. A number of the Phase II scripts are recycled plot copycat episodes themselves.

Tomorrow and the Stars is a recycled plot copycat episode of TOS The City on the Edge of Forever.

The War to End All Wars is a recycled plot copycat episode of TOS A Taste of Armageddon.

Lord Bobby's Obsession might have borrowed some features from TOS the Squire of Gothos, but ultimately it is a recycled plot copycat episode of TOS Space Seed.

Savage Syndrome is a recycled plot copycat episode of TOS Day of the Dove.

Bixby Scripts

According to a post elsewhere, there are 8 scripts not mentioned on the wiki. All but one were written by Jerome Bixby:

The Darker Side - by Jerome Bixby

Lords Of Limbo - by Jerome Bixby

Marla - by Jerome Bixby

Only A Mother - by Jerome Bixby

Pandora's Planet - by Jerome Bixby

The Prisoner - by James Menzies

Skal - by Jerome Bixby

(Features Klingons)

Small War - by Jerome Bixby

(Features Klingons)

Original Scripts

The following scripts are original scripts:

Cassandra

Practice in Waking

Deadlock

Are Unheard Melodies Sweet

To Attain the All

So, which Phase II scripts, whether recycled plots or original stories, could have become Voyager episodes?

Only 19 episodes of TOS became recycled plot copycat episodes throughout the Star Trek shows of the Berman Era: TNG, DS9, VOY, and ENT.

TNG:

The Naked Time, Amok Time, Arena, The Squire of Gothos, A Piece of the Action, The Devil in the Dark, The Deadly Years, Court Martial, Elaan of Troyius and The Paradise Syndrome were all the episodes that were ultimately reused.

That's a total of 10 episodes.

DS9:

The Naked Time and Court Martial were the only two episodes that were ultimately reused. Both were reused twice due to DS9.

VOY:

All Our Yesterdays, Spock's Brain, The Enemy Within, I, Mudd, The Ultimate Computer, The Changeling, Space Seed, and Wink of an Eye were all but one of the episodes that were ultimately reused.

Amok Time was reused twice.

That's a total of 9 episodes.

ENT:

Spock's Brain, Elaan of Troyius, and Let That Be Your Last Battlefield were the only three episodes that were ultimately reused.

Spock's Brain and Elaan of Troyius were reused twice due to ENT.

Rick Berman infamously wanted a shorter Dominion War, consisting of 7 episodes and ending with Sacrifice of Angels. Ira Steven Behr insisted on a longer war and, thankfully, got his way.

That said, from a DS9 fan perspective, could Berman's shorter Dominion War idea have worked in Enterprise instead?

The earlier Xindi Wars Arc had no more than 14 episodes (1 + 13). The six ENT episodes beginning with Azati Prime are where things really matter.

Could the shorter Dominion War idea have worked as the Romulan War?

​

There are a couple of problems with that war.

There's not supposed to be face-to-face contact until TOS Balance of Terror. How many times can Manny Coto's three-part Andorian arc be repeated over the course of the war? Drone war?

How many times can a Romulan War arc simply use Remans as front-line troops? This would be very similar to the front-line Jem'Hadar troops of the Dominion War.

DS9 imposed a writer restriction of the Founder appearances to just the Female Changeling. Likewise, there could be the Romulan equivalent of her and of Weyoun.

The short-lived Space: Above and Beyond has only 23 episodes.

> That series is about a war between humanity and an alien enemy in 2063 following the exploits of a squadron of USMC fighter pilots, with the exception of the last two episodes neither the characters or the viewer see what the aliens look like except for their spacecraft

​

Furthermore, the tech is supposed to be much more primitive.

Also to be considered is how Discovery did not execute well with its own Klingon War arc. The Bait is the Klingon War. The Switch is the Mirror Universe.

Last, but not least, the Lit Verse dedicated only two ENT Relaunch novels to the Romulan War, not an entire trilogy.

Which Phase II scripts could have become Voyager episodes?

It has been argued that part of why Voyager is viewed much more favorably now is because the show is seen as the true spiritual successor of the TOS writing style.

Could Phase II scripts have the potential to be rewritten to become VOY scripts?

Blog Series

There's a media critic blog series on Phase II. They started to introduce B plots, but these B plots were less like Michael Piller's B plots on TNG and more like the B plot of TOS Paradise Syndrome.

u/4thofeleven posted on the scripts themselves.

> They're almost all Kirk-focused. Decker seems to be barely used, and the secondary cast get no more development than they had in the original series. I wonder if the problem is, having lost Nimoy, they decided they needed to do everything they could to ensure Shatner didn't walk too, and so inflated his role even more.

.

Recycled Plot Scripts

VOY has at least 31 recycled plot episodes out of 172, at least 18.0% of its episode total. Fans of other Trek shows tend to call out VOY in relation to specific TNG episodes.

However, because more time in production years passed in real life, there was more wiggle room to recycle at least 9 stories from TOS. All Our Yesterdays, Spock's Brain, The Enemy Within, I, Mudd, The Ultimate Computer, Amok Time, The Changeling, Space Seed, and Wink of an Eye were the episodes that were ultimately reused. In addition, the show reused 4 stories from TAS.

The same critic slack isn't cut for Phase II. A number of the Phase II scripts are recycled plot copycat episodes themselves.

Tomorrow and the Stars is a recycled plot copycat episode of TOS The City on the Edge of Forever.

The War to End All Wars is a recycled plot copycat episode of TOS A Taste of Armageddon.

Lord Bobby's Obsession might have borrowed some features from TOS the Squire of Gothos, but ultimately it is a recycled plot copycat episode of TOS Space Seed.

Savage Syndrome is a recycled plot copycat episode of TOS Day of the Dove.

Bixby Scripts

According to a post elsewhere, there are 8 scripts not mentioned on the wiki. All but one were written by Jerome Bixby:

The Darker Side - by Jerome Bixby

Lords Of Limbo - by Jerome Bixby

Marla - by Jerome Bixby

Only A Mother - by Jerome Bixby

Pandora's Planet - by Jerome Bixby

The Prisoner - by James Menzies

Skal - by Jerome Bixby

(Features Klingons)

Small War - by Jerome Bixby

(Features Klingons)

Original Scripts

The following scripts are original scripts:

Cassandra

Practice in Waking

Deadlock

Are Unheard Melodies Sweet

To Attain the All

So, which Phase II scripts, whether recycled plots or original stories, could have become Voyager episodes?