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https://sfdebris.com/videos/startrek/e181.php

K'uur hut'uun!

For an organization that doesn't care much for genetic engineering, Starfleet sure seems to have a lot of top-secret research labs on the topic... Cold Stations 1 through 11 aren't just Schwan's warehouses, right?

PerrySimm wrote: ↑Sat Jun 23, 2018 5:53 pm For an organization that doesn't care much for genetic engineering, Starfleet sure seems to have a lot of top-secret research labs on the topic... Cold Stations 1 through 11 aren't just Schwan's warehouses, right?

Starfleet has a strange habit of keeping REALLY dangerous shit around for what seems no other reason then to poke it with a stick every so often.

I feel really bad for the guy that died in the chamber.

The Doctor wasn't willing to give up the codes to save his life but as soon as his pal Phlox is thrown in there, he collapses into a blubbering mound of jelly.

Which makes me think his death was totally avoidable.

Nebogipfel wrote: ↑Mon Jun 25, 2018 11:12 am I feel really bad for the guy that died in the chamber.

The Doctor wasn't willing to give up the codes to save his life but as soon as his pal Phlox is thrown in there, he collapses into a blubbering mound of jelly.

Which makes me think his death was totally avoidable.

I will make a half-hearted attempt to defend Dr Lucas and say that he believed that Soong would not allow him to die. He knew that there was a cure to the disease on hand and had seen that Soong didn't appear ready to kill. Lucas, who had kept quiet under his own torture, correctly surmised that Soong was bluffing. However in killing the Deputy Director (who, looking at Memory Alpha was never even given a name, the poor sap) Lucas saw that Soong was not as in control as he at first seemed to be. So once Phlox was put in the chamber there was no question, he would be the second of many to die painfully with Lucas watching every last one. Once the self-destruct was disabled (seems something that shouldn't be possible, but apparently those things are still finicky in the 24th century as well) it was either everybody dies and the Augments eventually get what they came for, or he gives them the code and maybe everyone still alive gets to live.

However, I agree the direction made it look much more like he only gave in because Phlox was his friend. So it's hard to say my idea of how it went down was right, he might really have just not cared all that much for his Deputy Director.

Zoinksberg wrote: ↑Mon Jun 25, 2018 1:34 pmOnce the self-destruct was disabled (seems something that shouldn't be possible, but apparently those things are still finicky in the 24th century as well)

Given that they've never existed in real life on can give Trek a pass for them probably being newly created.... and never improved upon forever after.

Revolverman wrote: ↑Sun Jun 24, 2018 10:00 pm

PerrySimm wrote: ↑Sat Jun 23, 2018 5:53 pm For an organization that doesn't care much for genetic engineering, Starfleet sure seems to have a lot of top-secret research labs on the topic... Cold Stations 1 through 11 aren't just Schwan's warehouses, right?

Starfleet has a strange habit of keeping REALLY dangerous shit around for what seems no other reason then to poke it with a stick every so often.

Well, Medical research into diseases is always a good idea. More avenues for cures are discovered, new ideas for treatments if a disease or virus evolves and becomes immune to standard treatments, new discoveries, etc. Penicillin was found in mold, after all. Who knows, maybe they find the cure for a disease by doing such research. This is why the CDC in Atlanta carries all sorts of awful things that could kill mankind. Personally, I'm glad it's on an asteroid base instead of a major city like present day. I'd prefer if that base was closer to regular Starfleet patrols, and not in the middle of nowhere, but *shrug*

And when it comes to the genetic engineering embryos, better to have and not need it, then to need it, and not have it. Imagine if the key to a cruel genetic disease was locked in genetic engineering. Well, they already have hundreds of the things to start with, instead of starting from scratch. They could discover all sorts of treatments, therapies, etc.

Maybe this is what laid down the building blocks for Miral Paris's spine treatment in the 24th century?

Zoinksberg wrote: ↑Mon Jun 25, 2018 1:34 pm Once the self-destruct was disabled (seems something that shouldn't be possible, but apparently those things are still finicky in the 24th century as well)

Counterpoint: Let's suppose the self-destruct is accidentally activated. Do you really want it to be impossible to disarm?

I thin it makes sense for the Federation to have these around. The CDC and the Vector Institute in Russia still carry smallpox. There's some controversy about it, but old containers of smallpox DNA fragments have turned up from time to time, and in 2017, Canadian scientists recreated an extinct horse pox virus to show smallpox could be re-created.

I think having deadly viral particles for study makes a lot more sense than say, the modern Federation genetically engineering Dawson cast little kids with psychic powers and Pulaski killing immune systems.