MovieChat Forums > Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) Discussion > I just saw "Relics" last night

I just saw "Relics" last night

posted 8 years ago by Hanz-Willhelm2
24 replies | jump to latest

The one where Scotty from the original is recovered from 75 years in a transporter beam.

I'm new to the series. I've seen Scotty once now and Bones. They've found a way to write in 2 characters that should have died off from old age.

Are there any other episodes where the old cast makes an appearance?

BTW that gigantic metal sphere around the star, that was impressive. It doesn't seem possible there would even be enough metal to build such a thing.

Was ist der Sinn des Lebens?

[–] Tolyngee 8 years ago

Yes.

Although you did ask, I put in spoiler tags. (it only directly answers your Q)

Spock and his father

[–] Hanz-Willhelm2 8 years ago

Interesting, do you know the name of the episode so I can attempt to look for it and DVR it. How do they live so long, especially the father?

Was ist der Sinn des Lebens?

[–] Tolyngee 8 years ago

Unification 1 & 2

I wasn't sure if you wanted that info, so I left it out earlier.

Please appreciate I am trying to not spoil more than you ask for?

[–] Nexus71 8 years ago

And Spock's father (Mark Lenard) also appears in TNG episode Sarek

[–] cjh8504 8 years ago

Toly being civil. Look at that, Nex.

Movie Theater: Young Frankenstein 10/10. RIP Gene Wilder. One of the funniest people of all time.

[–] moonglum9 8 years ago

How do they live so long, especially the father?

because Vulcans live 200 plus years and TNG is set only about 80 years after the original series.

[–] foebane72 8 years ago

There is an appearance by an old cast member in the very first TNG episode - I won't tell you who it is, however.

Why are you here if you haven't seen the movie yet?

[–] Tolyngee 8 years ago

OP said:

I'm new to the series. I've seen Scotty once now and Bones. They've found a way to write in 2 characters that should have died off from old age.

Can't you read?

[–] foebane72 8 years ago

Oops, guess I missed that, I was too focused on Scotty. I was just wondering why no-one else mentioned Bones is all.

Why are you here if you haven't seen the movie yet?

[–] Nakitaakita-1 8 years ago

I hate how they had Geordi treating Scotty in the episode.
It's mainly only in the beginning if I recall correctly.
It makes me want to reach into the TV and whack him upside his visor.

She deleted 33,000 e-mails AFTER congress' subpoena for them !

[–] seldon913 8 years ago

I agree completely. It's sometimes tempting to skip straight from when he beams back to the Enterprise to when he beams back to the Genolan.

It wouldn't happen because of cost, but I'd love to see a version of that episode where Barclay is around, knows exactly who Scotty is and what he's done. That could have made for a great conversation since it was just two episodes after Barclay had rescued the four scientists from the transporter buffer.

[–] Tolyngee 8 years ago

Are you saying that Scotty wasn't in suspended animation basically that entire time?

Been a long time since I've seen the ep, but I just figured he was unconscious the entire time.

If he was alert or in some dream world like the Nexus or something... that ep just got a creepy vibe for me. It'a the ppl who are trapped in a coma for years...

[–] seldon913 8 years ago

Nothing of the sort. However, Barclay could mention the fear he'd had of the transporters and how the thought of 30 seconds had terrified him, let alone 75 years. I'm sure he could have told the story of his transformation in 'Nth Degree' too.

[–] Tolyngee 8 years ago

Oh, I was thinking of the four scientists who were still alive and floating around in the transport beam in that ep. I don't rem it exactly, but y, they were definitely conscious.

I was thinking you meant he could relay with Scotty about those scientists.

I understand now what you meant, and I imagine you understand what I meant as well.

(Were those scientists alive in the buffet then, or just kinda floating in space but only observable when something odd happens with the beam? IIRC it wasn't Barclay in particular, but something odd that happened with his beam while he was beaming, no? IIRC also one bit him, and that part of his body was now phased or had micro-something on it or something)

Fun ep, just been too long since I've seen it to rem exactly what it was.

Hard to believe Barclay was only a handful of eps (6?), his are so memorable.

[–] Nakitaakita-1 8 years ago

---that ep just got a creepy vibe for me. It'a the ppl who are trapped in a coma for years...---

I was in a coma when I was 11. But only for 2-3 days. I'd say that you remember some stuff but mostly you don't remember stuff.
So I don't think that would be that bad.
I think it would be worse to be awake and floating there for 75 years. I'd take a coma over that for sure.

She deleted 33,000 e-mails AFTER congress' subpoena for them !

[–] cjh8504 8 years ago

He was awake, I'm pretty positive. There was no indication he was in a coma or such.

Movie Theater: Young Frankenstein 10/10. RIP Gene Wilder. One of the funniest people of all time.

[–] seldon913 8 years ago

If I had to guess, Barclay experienced the passage of time because he wasn't completely converted to energy, more of a partially dematerialized state. Scotty was fully dematerialized and converted to energy, so he didn't experience the passage of time. This would fit with one TOS episode where some Klingons had their weapons trained on Kirk and demanded to be beamed up to the Enterprise with him. Scotty created a 10 second delay on their materialization, giving security time to get ready and having the Klingons completely off guard.

[–] cjh8504 8 years ago

Sounds interesting, Seldon.

Movie Theater: Young Frankenstein 10/10. RIP Gene Wilder. One of the funniest people of all time.

[–] ozz969 (367) 3 years ago

There were sufficient comments to the OP on the old cast. I am more interested in hearing what others thought about the Dyson sphere. Whenever I see this episode I think of the novel Ringworld by Larry Niven. Not a sphere, but a ring. Fascinating book. Anyone else see similarities even with the plot?

[–] r5d4d2 (683) 3 years ago

Re-watched this episode a few days ago. Love that TNG brought up the concept of a Dyson Sphere. If the ST Discovery crew encountered a Dyson Sphere, they would blow it up.

[–] Wuchak (8305) 3 years ago

Whenever I see this episode I think of the novel Ringworld by Larry Niven.

Molly Ringwald was not in this episode!

[–] JoWilli (16921) 3 years ago

haha thought it was Molly Ringworm?

[–] Otter (24464) 3 years ago

As for getting enough metal to build a metal sphere around a star... remember, the vast majority of the Earth's core is iron, same for the other the inner solid planets, and the asteroid belt. I if a civilization had the technology to melt down whole planets and asteroids belts and turn them into a solar-system sized sphere, instead of just you know living on the planets, I suppose... well I don't say that it's theoretically possible to build something like that.

I just think there might be enough metal kicking around the galaxy.

[–] Costumer (1803) 3 years ago

Old posts, but a couple of things.

One, why McCoy is portrayed as quite aged, and likely could be, consider that 400 years from now medicine has advanced an an age of 132 might not be considered unusual. Lengthening lifespans is a logical, if not guaranteed, result of medical advancement.

Second, those are called Dyson Spheres. This is the way they are usually portrayed, though there are physicists who believe that such a structure would be inherently unstable. I haven't read the papers, and I'm not physicist/engineer enough to be able to rationally agree or disagree with their conclusions, but those types of studies often base their conclusions on current engineering principles. There is good reason for that, of course. Predicting physics/engineering advancements is the realm of science fiction. There is no accurate way of predicting what will actually be developed.