Ent: The Breach

[Madner Kami]

Say, has anything in Trek ever explained how tribbles manage to get into food supplies as quickly and easily as they seem to do? They've only ever been shown as barely wriggling, from what I remember.

Are they lightning fast but only when nobody's looking? Are they just fuzzy balloons, blasting gas to hurl themselves through the air and deflating enough to squeeze into small cracks? I'm honestly trying to think of something that fits what we've seen on screen, and that's the best I've got.

They procreate via spores.

[FaxModem1]

I don't remember anything about this episode. I know I've seen every episode of every Star Trek until Discovery... but this is a total blank. Is it because the episode itself is so forgettable, or because I've just mentally deleted anything focused on Phlox or the Denobulans? Or both?

And how is Tucker both unfamiliar and disgusted with a personal waste extraction device? It seems like that should be included in any space explorer's basic training.

What Mayweather is referring to is Caving and mountain climbing etiquette with that package. Any time you poop, you box it up so that you aren't making a mess of where you are. That's quite different from going on the space toilet and having machines recycle it, same way that I assume you don't personally box your fecal matter, and instead flush it down the toilet.

[CrypticMirror]

I don't remember anything about this episode. I know I've seen every episode of every Star Trek until Discovery... but this is a total blank. Is it because the episode itself is so forgettable, or because I've just mentally deleted anything focused on Phlox or the Denobulans? Or both?

And how is Tucker both unfamiliar and disgusted with a personal waste extraction device? It seems like that should be included in any space explorer's basic training.

What Mayweather is referring to is Caving and mountain climbing etiquette with that package. Any time you poop, you box it up so that you aren't making a mess of where you are. That's quite different from going on the space toilet and having machines recycle it, same way that I assume you don't personally box your fecal matter, and instead flush it down the toilet.

Both improvised latrines and curating your waste are covered in SERE training today. It should be covered in space exploration training too. Your sci-fi lavatories might not always function, you might get stuck on an alien planet which you don't want to contaminate with your gut bacteria (little lifeforms we've come to understand are more resilient and invasive than we ever thought, just a little bit of science there), or to avoid being found by the angry lifeform hunting you after whatever latest stunt your captain pulled ticked them off. There are a lot of reasons that Trip ought to be familiar with the principle of pooping in a bag, not to mention all the redneck ones too.

[FaxModem1]

I don't remember anything about this episode. I know I've seen every episode of every Star Trek until Discovery... but this is a total blank. Is it because the episode itself is so forgettable, or because I've just mentally deleted anything focused on Phlox or the Denobulans? Or both?

And how is Tucker both unfamiliar and disgusted with a personal waste extraction device? It seems like that should be included in any space explorer's basic training.

What Mayweather is referring to is Caving and mountain climbing etiquette with that package. Any time you poop, you box it up so that you aren't making a mess of where you are. That's quite different from going on the space toilet and having machines recycle it, same way that I assume you don't personally box your fecal matter, and instead flush it down the toilet.

Both improvised latrines and curating your waste are covered in SERE training today. It should be covered in space exploration training too. Your sci-fi lavatories might not always function, you might get stuck on an alien planet which you don't want to contaminate with your gut bacteria (little lifeforms we've come to understand are more resilient and invasive than we ever thought, just a little bit of science there), or to avoid being found by the angry lifeform hunting you after whatever latest stunt your captain pulled ticked them off. There are a lot of reasons that Trip ought to be familiar with the principle of pooping in a bag, not to mention all the redneck ones too.

And do you think they covered the boxing of poop part for the guy who is supposed to be in Engineering all day, repairing the machinery? Not everyone in the US military service gets SERE training, and even those that do, don't live like that on a daily basis. They welcome the chance to use the toilet, same as the next person. This is why bases have latrine duty. No one exclaims, "Oh boy, we get to scoop our poop today."

That's why Trip is reacting, because Mayweather is being gung ho about doing everything the proper caving way, including the fact that they have to box their poop.

[Ranchoth]

Truly, Enterprise carries on the proud Voyager tradition of "spend all the budget on decent special effects, leave nothing for regular supporting cast playing crew members who'd logically exist"!

("Babylon 5: CGI rendered on two Amiga 2000s, but at least we can hire a guy to play the station ATC!")

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

This closeup shooting for 85% of the scenes is jarring.

[Meushell]

While Phlox throwing a tribble in his pet velociraptor cage could have probably been less problematic in a different episode, and preferably later in said episode, I think having the scene of a Denobulan casually kill a defenseless creature, then nonchalantly brushing it off as "well they're just pests, there's more where they're coming from" scene as the teaser to an episode where the main topic of discussion is whether or not the Denobulans were guilty of genocide/xenocide in their past... no... just no.

agreed this was the wrong ep to put that in a night in sick bay would have way been better and it not be alive, and i see tribbles as an ecological menace off their home planet and i am also looking forward seeing a klingon wearing a tribble fur coat at some point. that just sounds like something they would do.

Archer: *Cooing over tribble as he worries about his dog.*
Phlox: You need to put the tribble down now. I need it.
Archer: *Puts the tribble down and sees Phlox put a needle into it.*
Phlox: Don’t worry. It won’t feel a thing.
Archer: Does it contain some medicine for Porthos?
Phlox: Nope. *Pets tribble.* There. There. Go to sleep.
Archer: What’s wrong with it?
Phlox: Nothing. *Tosses tribble into mini raptor cage.*
Archer: *Looks horrified as Phlox walks off.*

[CrypticMirror]

I don't remember anything about this episode. I know I've seen every episode of every Star Trek until Discovery... but this is a total blank. Is it because the episode itself is so forgettable, or because I've just mentally deleted anything focused on Phlox or the Denobulans? Or both?

And how is Tucker both unfamiliar and disgusted with a personal waste extraction device? It seems like that should be included in any space explorer's basic training.

What Mayweather is referring to is Caving and mountain climbing etiquette with that package. Any time you poop, you box it up so that you aren't making a mess of where you are. That's quite different from going on the space toilet and having machines recycle it, same way that I assume you don't personally box your fecal matter, and instead flush it down the toilet.

Both improvised latrines and curating your waste are covered in SERE training today. It should be covered in space exploration training too. Your sci-fi lavatories might not always function, you might get stuck on an alien planet which you don't want to contaminate with your gut bacteria (little lifeforms we've come to understand are more resilient and invasive than we ever thought, just a little bit of science there), or to avoid being found by the angry lifeform hunting you after whatever latest stunt your captain pulled ticked them off. There are a lot of reasons that Trip ought to be familiar with the principle of pooping in a bag, not to mention all the redneck ones too.

And do you think they covered the boxing of poop part for the guy who is supposed to be in Engineering all day, repairing the machinery?

I think anyone being part of the one single spacecraft exploring the frontier would have no matter their position, plus in Desert Crossing Tucker is explicitly said to have undergone survival training, so he has. So Trip is being dumb and complainy on two counts here.

[FaxModem1]

I don't remember anything about this episode. I know I've seen every episode of every Star Trek until Discovery... but this is a total blank. Is it because the episode itself is so forgettable, or because I've just mentally deleted anything focused on Phlox or the Denobulans? Or both?

And how is Tucker both unfamiliar and disgusted with a personal waste extraction device? It seems like that should be included in any space explorer's basic training.

What Mayweather is referring to is Caving and mountain climbing etiquette with that package. Any time you poop, you box it up so that you aren't making a mess of where you are. That's quite different from going on the space toilet and having machines recycle it, same way that I assume you don't personally box your fecal matter, and instead flush it down the toilet.

Both improvised latrines and curating your waste are covered in SERE training today. It should be covered in space exploration training too. Your sci-fi lavatories might not always function, you might get stuck on an alien planet which you don't want to contaminate with your gut bacteria (little lifeforms we've come to understand are more resilient and invasive than we ever thought, just a little bit of science there), or to avoid being found by the angry lifeform hunting you after whatever latest stunt your captain pulled ticked them off. There are a lot of reasons that Trip ought to be familiar with the principle of pooping in a bag, not to mention all the redneck ones too.

And do you think they covered the boxing of poop part for the guy who is supposed to be in Engineering all day, repairing the machinery?

I think anyone being part of the one single spacecraft exploring the frontier would have no matter their position, plus in Desert Crossing Tucker is explicitly said to have undergone survival training, so he has. So Trip is being dumb and complainy on two counts here.

SERE more often has you do things when you're without supplies and equipment. So one would bury the poop in such a situation, so as to not leave a trail, and for hygiene reasons. Or how to survive with limited tools and resources. Caving and mountaineering has to do with coming completely stocked with little boxes to put poop in, because they don't want to ruin the experience for their fellow hikers and not damage the area. Don't conflate the two.

Mayweather is making them do all the crap that cave climbers do, not survival trained military members. Do you react with joy at dealing with poop? Mayweather does. Tucker doesn't.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

I thought that whole scene was just showing them something else they had to deal with. I never got the sense that they didn't know how to do it or anything, just that now you have to box your own excrement instead of dumping it from the shuttle craft because the aliens were over territorial like that. It was more about how anal the aliens were and not how much a predicament it is.