#star trek: discovery

[tinderbox210]

Star Trek: Discovery - 05x05 Mirrors

ISS Enterprise NCC-1701

[itberice]

[thagomizersshow]

I love when sci-fi/fantasy writers throw in a random fact about a fictional species that actually has big repercussions for that species' biology.

Like, there is a species in Star Trek called Saurians who are adorable dinosauroid looking dudes. They've had very little revealed about them despite having been mentioned as early as the original series by way of "Saurian brandy" — a drink that is so strong it can put a Klingon on their ass in one swig.

Other than that, most of what we know about them comes from snippets involving a reoccuring character on Discovery named Linus, who is mostly a comic relief character. Now the reason I bring them up is that in one episode there's a scene where Linus is eating bamboo of all things, and I'm not sure the writers realized how telling this is about Saurian biology.

Bamboo is a damn hard food to eat, and us humans can only eat the shoots of a few species. Even then, raw consumption of shoots can lead to cyanide poisoning if you aren't careful. We still don't know how exactly a lot of animals that eat a lot of bamboo (bamboo lemurs, red pandas, bamboo rats, elephants, gorillas) are able to digest so much of it without getting cyanide poisoning. There is some sort of neutralization process in giant pandas involving the rhodanese enzyme that turns cyanide into the non-toxic thiocyanate that they just pee out, but the process is still poorly understood in other species.

Bamboo is also hard to digest for the same reason all grasses are; their plant wall cellulose is hard as hell to break down. Like, your choices are:

a) you do a poor job of digesting it and just spend all day eating (giant panda, red panda, bamboo lemur)

b) you grow really big and have a big gut (elephants, gorillas)

c) you only eat the parts of the plant that are easier to digest (bamboo rats)

On top of that, bamboo is loaded with silica phytoliths that are like microscopic bits of glass. These evolved to make their tissues even harder to chew and metabolize.

It's hard to make out in the scene, but it looks like Linus is eating raw bamboo leaves. Just picking them up with his fingers and munching on them like it's nothing. That means his teeth and/or jaws would need to be very powerful (maybe hypsodont? or maybe tooth batteries?) AND, because he's eating it raw, he'd have to be immune to the cyanide in some way.

One explanation could be in the Star Trek Adventures TTRPG, where Saurians are said to have an ability called "Enhanced Metabolism" where they recover from toxins faster than other species (my guess is this was meant to reference their brandy being so strong). BUT, that's not the same thing as the immunity real bamboo eating animals seem to have. My head canon is that Saurians have a diet similar to red pandas, where bamboo-like plants are their main diet on their homeworld, but they'll eat other stuff too when it's available, AND they've evolved some way to convert cyanide into a harmless chemical they excrete, like a giant panda.

All of these whacky biology shenanigans stem (hehe) from the casual writing decision to make a supporting alien character seem weird by eating a weird thing.

[anthonysperkins]

David Ajala as Cleveland Booker Star Trek: Discovery (2017 – 2024) 5x04: "Face the Strange"

[righthandedleftturn]

Star Trek a.k.a. GAAAAAAYYYS IN SPAAAAAAAACE.

[whatelsecanwedonow]

You don’t trust us, I get that. And from what I know about you, I wouldn’t expect you to.

STAR TREK: DISCOVERY S5E04 | Face the Strange

[celestialvoid-fanfiction]

There is one thing from Star Trek: Discovery that sticks with me. It's the one crewmember in a wheelchair.

Why? Because in a future where almost any medical condition is curable, being disabled or using a wheelchair isn't seen as something that needs to be fixed.

Does he have a name or a backstory? No. But unlike Pike (ToS), Emory Erickson (Enterprise), or Admiral Jameson (Next Generation), he's not in the wheelchair because of some tragic accident or illness that left them scarred, paralysed, and/or disabled. He's not made the centre of a story of struggle and pity like Melora Pazlar (Deep Space 9).

There's no story of him trying or needing to be "fixed", "healed" or "cured", there's no story of him trying to adapt, there's no story of him getting in the way or being a burden. He's not seen as a tragic victim. He's not seen as unfit for duty or disabled.

He's just a guy in a wheelchair and a member of the crew.

[lesspopped]

the problem with contemporary trek is that it’s not horny enough. star trek should be horny. discovery s1 is the only time contemporary trek has been appropriately horny. lower decks tries, bless it, and it has its moments, but for the most part, since the first season of discovery ended, the horniness has been missing from star trek.

[marthaskane]

I can't believe you did this for me. I actually get to go home.

STAR TREK: DISCOVERY (2017- ) ↳ 4.13 Coming Home

[lady-sci-fi]

Which main Starfleet Doctor would you most want/trust to save your life and take care of you?

[jasonisaacs]

Happy Star Trek Day! (8th September)

[itberice]

Star Trek: Discovery I "Face the Strange"

[burnhamandtilly]

STAR TREK: DISCOVERY (2017-2024) S05E01, RED DIRECTIVE

[m0rbs]

Disco Spock is destroying my autism today for some ungodly reason. Someone kill me I desperately need to put him in a salad spinner

[betashift]

STAR TREK: DISCOVERY | 2.08 "If Memory Serves"

[whatelsecanwedonow]

STAR TREK: DISCOVERY S5E04 | Face the Strange