Star Trek Canon Database
Displaying 1 to 7 of 7 records.
Database started: 1999-07-27
Page generated: 2013-05-21
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TNG Season 3, Ep# 60: "The High Ground" PICARD VO: Captain's log, Stardate 43510.7. The Enterprise has put in at Rutia Four to deliver medical supplies following an outbreak of violent protests. Although non-aligned, the planet has enjoyed a long trading relationship with the Federation. |
Culture: the Federation engages in trade with non-aligned worlds without looking too deeply at their internal affairs. This isn't particularly surprising; both the Soviet Union and the United States did this during the Cold War, and both Russia and the United States continue to do it today. However, given the Federation's incessant claims of moral superiority over its 20th century predecessors, this is still quite interesting. |
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TNG Season 3, Ep# 60: "The High Ground" RIKER: People don't just appear and disappear... there has to be some way to track her. DATA: We have been unable to detect the signal from her communicator. It has either been deactivated or she is being held in a shielded location. |
Sensors: most of their ability to track individual movements comes from tracking comm badge signals. When that signal is deactivated or shielded, they are helpless to even know where to look. |
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TNG Season 3, Ep# 60: "The High Ground" ALEXANA: Perhaps if we found ourselves in possession of some of that advanced Federation weaponry of yours it would shift the balance of power back to our favor. PICARD: That we cannot do for you. ALEXANA: No, of course not. |
Culture: the Federation refuses to sell advanced weapons technology to non-aligned worlds. That in itself is not surprising or objectionable, but one must ask why Rutia couldn't purchase those weapons from the Ferengi. One could spin around for a while trying to invent explanations, but the most straightforward theory is that the Ferengi in "The Last Outpost" was telling the truth: the Federation obstructs trade, even between third parties. Small wonder that there's hostility between the Ferengi and the Federation. |
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TNG Season 3, Ep# 60: "The High Ground" BEVERLY: How can you have such a casual attitude toward killing? FINN: I take my killing very seriously, Doctor. You are an idealist... BEVERLY: I live in an ideal culture ... there is no need for your kind of violence... we've proven that. |
Culture: Beverly refers to her culture as "ideal". I had no idea that there was a such thing as an "ideal" culture. What strikes one person as "ideal" may strike another as hell on Earth, and vice versa. The fact that Federation citizens are almost unanimous in their praise of their own culture is compelling evidence that true cultural diversity is almost nonexistent. |
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TNG Season 3, Ep# 60: "The High Ground" GEORDI: Explosive charge on the main warp chamber... PICARD: Transporter room three, lock on the explosive device and energize. ENGINEER: It's scrambling the sensors, Captain... I can't pinpoint it. |
Transporters: the bomb couldn't be transported because the sensors couldn't pick it up, even though we could see it perfectly. Geordi had to slap his communicator onto it and then have the transporter chief lock onto the comm badge signal. |
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TNG Season 3, Ep# 60: "The High Ground" FINN: Captain, there's a lot to admire in the Federation, but there's a hint of moral cowardice in your dealings with non-aligned planets. You do business with a government that's crushing us. And then you say you aren't involved. But of course you are. You just don't want to get dirty. |
Culture: Finn sees clearly what many Trekkies do not: the Federation's high-minded Prime Directive is just a euphemism for moral cowardice. They deal with governments and turn a blind eye to their domestic issues. Real-life governments do this as well (many world governments deal with China despite its horrific human rights abuse record), but they don't claim it as some sort of morally superior position! It's obvious to everyone that it's a simple matter of Machiavellian expediency and economic incentive, not morality. If a politician tried to claim that it would be "immoral" to interfere in the internal affairs of China regardless of its human rights record, he would be laughed out of office. But when a Federation starship captain says the same thing on TV, it's lauded as proof of Star Trek's "depth". |
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TNG Season 3, Ep# 60: "The High Ground" (After tracking Finn through another dimension-jump) WESLEY: Got it. ... WESLEY: We've pinpointed the Ansata base some three hundred kilometers from the city, on the southern tip of the continent. DATA: Sensors indicate it is located thirty meters below ground, implying a cave or cavern-like dwelling. |
Sensors: until they managed to track the Ansata terrorists' movements, they couldn't locate Dr. Crusher despite the fact that she was a mere 300 km away from the place of her abduction and only 30 m underground. Moreover, we know that the underground cavern was just that: a simple cavern, with no shielding or jamming equipment of any kind, because they were able to scan it and even transport inside it once they knew where to look. Without an approximate location as a starting point, their vaunted sensors couldn't find her. Even after getting a precise fix on her location, they still couldn't differentiate between her and the Rutians through the 30m thick rock, so they had to rescue her in a commando raid. |
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