The coolest and most ridiculous things that shape Star Trek as we know it.
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00:00Star Trek lore is so expansive that it's easy to get confused or surprised at times, even
00:05for hardcore fans.
00:07From weird Federation lores that you may not know of, to mind-bending scientific discoveries
00:11that are widely ignored, to cool details of Starfleet life that most people don't think
00:16of, this list will be looking at all of Trek history and counting down 10 of the most important
00:20aspects of Star Trek lore that people barely ever talk about.
00:24And so, with that in mind then, I'm Ellie with Trek Culture, here with 10 important
00:28Star Trek details that are almost never mentioned.
00:31Number 10.
00:32The Genetic Manipulation Ban
00:35Anyone who isn't familiar with the history of Star Trek may be confused by the lack of
00:39any advancements in genetic manipulation, considering the fact that we're actually very
00:43close to making it a reality in present day.
00:46However, if you look into the lore, especially the backstory of Karn, the stunted development
00:50of this technology actually makes a lot of sense.
00:53Karn, along with many other individuals, were genetically enhanced at the end of the 20th
00:57century and turned into genius super soldiers.
01:00This started the Eugenics War, one of the most brutal conflicts of Earth's history,
01:05during which augmented troops took control of huge parts of the planet and nearly plunged
01:09humanity into another Dark Age.
01:11After this war, humanity decided that the risks of genetic engineering far outweighed
01:16the benefits, and subsequently banned all DNA manipulation except to correct life-altering
01:21ailments.
01:22Genetic engineering is still practiced through a black market, which is how Dr. Bashir was
01:26able to get his enhancements as a child, but it is highly illegal, frowned upon, and
01:30hard to come by.
01:329.
01:33Earth's planetary government
01:35You may have noticed that when visiting Earth, characters are able to travel anywhere on
01:39the planet instantly using public transporters as we saw in Star Trek Picard, without the
01:44need for any passports or hassle at all.
01:46Additionally, all of Earth in Star Trek seems to have the same or similar laws regarding
01:51freedom of speech, anti-discrimination, and a universal standard of living.
01:55The reason for this is that Earth was actually united under a one-world government sometime
02:00during the 22nd century, largely as a result of the cultural shift towards cooperation
02:05following first contact.
02:06As we've seen from the Mirror Universe, a one-world government can be dangerous because
02:11if not properly democratic, it concentrates power in the hands of very few and can quickly
02:16turn authoritarian.
02:17But in the Prime Universe, the world government, known most commonly as United Earth, serves
02:22only to enforce basic human rights and protect the planet.
02:25Individual countries like Canada, China, and France are all allowed to keep their names
02:29and cultural identities, but all countries simply committed to working towards mutual
02:33prosperity.
02:34The change was due to many factors such as the invention of limitless energy and food,
02:38the near extinction of humanity due to war in the past, and the good example given by
02:43the Vulcans of a successful one-world government.
02:468.
02:47Starfleet microscopic identification codes
02:51The Voyager episode, Distant Origin, showed us something very interesting about Starfleet's
02:56uniforms during the time period.
02:58Two Voth scientists found one of Voyager's uniforms along with the skeleton of a member
03:02of the crew and used these findings to locate Voyager in an effort to prove that the Voth
03:07and humans shared a common ancestor and came from the same planet Earth.
03:11Later in the episode, we learn that this theory is actually true.
03:14The Voth were descended from dinosaurs who escaped the extinction event millions of years
03:19ago, who went on to evolve and become one of the most powerful empires in the galaxy.
03:23What's interesting is that when examining the uniform, the Voth scientists located what
03:28he called a microscopic identification code.
03:31It's likely that this is a form of military dog tag for Starfleet officers as a way to
03:35identify them in the event of their death.
03:37The ID shows the name of their ship, the USS Voyager, and some numbers that are likely
03:42a custom identification number assigned to everyone in the crew.
03:45It's interesting that Starfleet still uses something similar to dog tags, but apparently
03:49on a microscopic level, probably to hide the information from enemies.
03:54Number 7.
03:55The disappearance of movies and television
03:58TV shows and movies remained on top of the entertainment market into the 21st century,
04:03and even during Star Trek Enterprise, movies were popular.
04:06The crew had a movie night, but at some point after Enterprise and before The Next Generation,
04:11TV and film fell out of fashion.
04:13The most likely explanation for this is the invention of the holodeck.
04:17With holodeck technology, you don't merely watch the story unfold, you are actually part
04:21of it, playing a character that you usually have to research beforehand.
04:25This was a logical evolution of entertainment, comparable to when television replaced books
04:30as the most common media format.
04:31We saw in Voyager that some history buffs like Tom Paris liked to make or collect vintage
04:36TV sets to watch old movies on, but at this point it was mainly a novelty reserved for
04:41people with a passion for historical storytelling, much like modern people who like to collect
04:46vinyl records.
04:47Number 6.
04:48Longer human lifespans
04:51It comes as no surprise that due to centuries of medical advances, the human lifespan has
04:55drastically increased by the 22nd century and beyond.
04:59This came in large part due to the eradication of common causes of death like cancer and
05:03starvation.
05:04During the time of Star Trek Enterprise, the 22nd century, humans could expect to live
05:09around 100 years on average, compared to around 73 years in modern times, according
05:14to the United Nations.
05:15In the next generation, the 24th century, this expectancy rose to around 120 years,
05:21with some individuals even reaching beyond 130, such as Leonard McCoy, who visited the
05:26Enterprise-D in Encounter at Farpoint at 137 years old.
05:31Some humans were able to live much longer through the use of illegal genetic manipulation,
05:35cryostasis, or other methods, but apart from these exceptions, McCoy is the oldest person
05:41we've seen on screen so far.
05:43Number 5.
05:44Borg assimilation of Starfleet secrets
05:48As most fans know, the Borg can never invent or learn.
05:50They only evolve by stealing information and technology from other cultures through assimilation.
05:55When someone becomes a Borg drone, their entire mind and all their memories get shared with
06:00the Collective.
06:01It should come as no surprise, then, that after all of the Starfleet officers and starships
06:05assimilated by the Borg, the Collective has access to a lot of Starfleet's greatest secrets.
06:10For example, the Borg assimilated Captain Picard in the next-generation episode,
06:14The Best of Both Worlds.
06:15This means that they would know all of his security codes, every top-secret mission he
06:19has ever been part of, and basically every secret shared with Starfleet captains, such
06:24as the Federation's policy on Omega molecules.
06:27In the Star Trek Picard episode, Penance, we learned that the Borg, or at least the Borg
06:31from the altered timeline, are aware of Q.
06:34It's not confirmed, but they could have learned about the continuum from Picard, as he was
06:38assimilated long after first encountering Q.
06:41Number 4.
06:41Starfleet's death penalty
06:44Starfleet and the Federation have reputations for being very humane with prisoners.
06:48They do not practice torture and usually prefer to rehabilitate violent people through therapy
06:53rather than locking them up.
06:55Despite this, there remains one crime we know of that was once punishable by death in the
07:00Federation.
07:00After Captain Pike's visit to Talos IV in the original series pilot episode, The Cage,
07:06Starfleet deemed the powers of the Talosians too powerful to be public knowledge and classified
07:11them under General Order 7, which simply stated,
07:14"...no vessel under any condition, emergency, or otherwise, is to visit Talos IV."
07:19The punishment was death.
07:21Starfleet feared what people would do to the Talosians to harness their ability to make
07:25dreams reality, and also what the Talosians would do to them in return.
07:29Because of this, they thought a highly severe penalty of death would be a good deterrent.
07:33However, the only time Starfleet found someone to be in violation of General Order 7,
07:38Spock, in the episode The Menagerie, they decided to let him off.
07:41Presumably, this law was done away with after The Menagerie,
07:44as Picard stated in the Next Generation episode Justice that Starfleet has no death penalty.
07:50Number 3.
07:50Exceptions to the Prime Directive
07:53The Prime Directive, also known as General Order 1, was created by Starfleet sometime
07:58before the original series. It simply states that Starfleet personnel must do everything they can,
08:03even sacrificing their own lives, to prevent unnecessary interference in the development
08:08of alien societies, even if their interference could greatly help these people.
08:12This directive is perhaps the most important rule in Starfleet, especially when applied
08:17to pre-warp civilizations, who Starfleet are banned from revealing themselves to.
08:22If a less technologically advanced species suddenly gained access to all of the science
08:26and advanced weapons of the Federation, the results could be catastrophic.
08:30There were exceptions to the Prime Directive, however. Starfleet ships were allowed to save
08:34pre-warp societies from certain destruction by asteroids or alien invaders, but never
08:39interfered with their development or made their presence known, only prevented apocalyptic events.
08:44Another example is the beginning of Star Trek Into Darkness,
08:47when the crew prevents a massive volcano from going off and killing a pre-warp society.
08:52Number 2.
08:53Human extrasensory perception
08:55Star Trek is known for its realism, but there is often a fair amount of pseudoscience mixed
09:00in to keep things interesting. In the original series episode,
09:03Where No Man Has Gone Before, we learned that extrasensory perception — ESP — is real,
09:09and that Starfleet even had tests to determine someone's level of ESP power.
09:14Extrasensory perception basically describes someone's ability to sense things beyond
09:18the standard five human senses — touch, sight, sound, taste, and smell.
09:22These abilities can include telekinesis, telepathy, and precognition.
09:26ESP is almost always very weak in humans, though there were ways to unlock the power.
09:31In Where No Man Has Gone Before, when the Enterprise traveled beyond the edge of the
09:35galaxy, an energy field activated the mental powers of Gary Mitchell and Elizabeth Denner,
09:40who slowly began turning into godlike beings using their ESP powers to bend reality to their whims,
09:46before eventually being defeated by Kirk.
09:49So while human ESP is typically nothing than impressive,
09:52much less powerful than a Vulcan or Betazoid, it is interesting to know that these powers
09:57are present, and that Starfleet actively screens all officers to determine their ESP levels.
10:02Denner even claimed that some humans were able to sense future events,
10:06accurately guess the backs of playing cards, and even see through walls on occasion.
10:11Number 1. The Warp 10 Barrier
10:14In the 24th century, warp speed was segmented into different warp factors from 1 to 10.
10:19Warp factor 1 is light speed and 10 is infinite velocity,
10:23meaning that the vessel would be traveling so fast that it would occupy
10:26every point in space simultaneously.
10:28Warp factor 10 was only achieved once, in the Voyager episode,
10:31Threshold. The technology was deemed too dangerous to use because it had
10:35interesting effects on human evolution and turned Tom Paris into a horrifying lizard,
10:39but most fans like to pretend that Threshold never happened.
10:42The speeds of warp factors increase exponentially,
10:45meaning that warp 2 is vastly faster than warp 1, and so on.
10:49Starfleet ships in the 24th century can reach above warp 9.9, and Voyager can even get up to
10:559.975, which may seem close to 10, but it is actually incomprehensibly slower.
11:01In the 23rd century, during the original series, Starfleet used a different scale
11:05for calculating warp speed, which is why, in many episodes, the Changeling, for example,
11:10the Enterprise traveled at warp 10, 11, or higher.
11:13And that concludes our list. If you can think of anything that we missed,
11:17then do let us know in the comments below. And while you're there,
11:19don't forget to like and subscribe and tap that notification bell.
11:22Also, head over to Twitter and follow us there at Trek Culture,
11:26and I can be found across various social medias just by searching Ellie Littlechild.
11:30I've been Ellie with Trek Culture, I hope you have a wonderful day,
11:33and remember to boldly go where no one has gone before.