Star Trek’s scariest episode secretly answered fans’ oldest complaints

Written by Chris Snelgrove | issued 53 seconds ago

Star Trek is a long-running series full of tropes, some more annoying than others. For many fans, the silliest metaphor is that there is only one ship that can save Earth from some kind of apocalypse. Questions always arise. Why isn’t the Federation’s home base better protected? Indeed, it feels like a planet this important should have its own fleet to protect it, rather than warping to a long-range ship like the Enterprise to save the day.

But it looks like Star Trek’s scariest episode may have secretly answered fans’ oldest complaints about the series. On Reddit, user u/Wallname_Liability presented a compelling theory. Star Trek: The Next Generation The two-part series “The Best of Both Worlds” collects Starfleet ships lost in the battle against the Borg at home base Wolf 359. This theory helps explain that Earth was better protected than we usually imagine, and why there were fewer ships to protect it in later movies and shows.

Borg friends are back (and trouble ensues)

in Star Trek: The Next Generationmost of the adventure takes place in deep space. Because the intrepid crew has an ongoing mission to explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations, and (come on, we know we’re saying it out loud already) boldly go where no one has gone before. However, in “The Best of Both Worlds”, the Borg cube begins heading directly towards Earth. The crew of the Enterprise attempts to develop a weapon that can defeat this relentless enemy, who seems nearly unstoppable after assimilating Captain Picard. Meanwhile, Starfleet fleets converge on Wolf 359 for a final stand against the Borg.

Unfortunately, that fleet was wiped out. The Borg arrive on Earth, but the Enterprise manages to stop the bionic villains after rescuing Captain Picard. Data exploits Picard’s connection to the Collective and puts the cube into “sleep”, which explodes shortly after. While Picard and his crew mostly get a happy ending, the same cannot be said for the crew of the ship that fought on Wolf 359. All ships are lost and only a few people survive, including Benjamin Sisko and Liam Shaw.

resistance was futile

According to this Redditor’s theory, the fleet assembled on Wolf 359. It was A home fleet tasked with (among other things) protecting Earth. Some of the ships may have already been on Earth (perhaps undergoing repair or refurbishment), and others may have been near old human colonies. But everyone would have needed to get close enough to Earth to immediately warp to Wolf 359, a real star system just eight light-years from humanity’s home planet.

Why is the idea that this was the Home Fleet so important? In various Star Trek episodes and movies, there was often only one ship (usually the Enterprise) that was close enough to save Earth. in Star Trek: GenerationsFor example, the Enterprise-B is on shakedown cruise and is the only ship close enough to save the El Auria refugees from the Nexus threat. in Star Trek: The Motion Pictureonly the Enterprise can intercept V’ger. in Nemesisthe Enterprise is the only Starfleet ship capable of stopping Shinzon from killing everyone on Earth.

Best of Trope World

This analogy can get frustrating when you start comparing Starfleet to, say, the U.S. Navy. How crazy would it be if an entire nation had to continue to rely on one ship to save us from a grave existential threat? Star Trek repeatedly asks us to believe that there is only one ship that can handle this crisis, just a short distance from the entire solar system. It’s totally unbelievable, but this Wolf 359 home fleet theory can help make these frustrating moments more meaningful.

There is a good chance that Star Trek: The Original Series and its spin-off movies It wasn’t like that Home fleet. Starfleet at the time was much smaller. Remember, the original Enterprise was one of only 12 Constitution-class ships. However, both movie and The Voyage Home Earth was being attacked by a seemingly unstoppable alien force. In both cases, James T. Kirk was the only one who could stop things, but Starfleet must have known he wouldn’t be around forever. So, a while ago, next generation In the premiere, they develop a homegrown fleet capable of defending Earth from overwhelmingly powerful alien attackers.

Worst massacre in Starfleet history

Or so they thought. The Borg wiped the floor with a fleet of Wolf 359s, which helps explain why the Admiralty needed to build an older fleet with Wolf 359s. first contact. They were still rebuilding from early losses, and most of their spare ships would probably have been ordered to areas of interest, as the Dominion War was approaching. Come to think of it, that war was most likely the reason why the Enterprise was the only ship that could rescue them. Nemesis. The film takes place four years after the end of the Dominion War, and Starfleet would have needed time to fully rebuild its fleet again.

Of course, these are just theories, but they are convincing ones. It’s no surprise that Starfleet learned the lessons from Viger and the alien probes and developed a home fleet, only to be destroyed by the Borg on Wolf 359. Then, the next major Borg attack and the Dominion War destroyed many ships, while requiring the existing fleet to be thinned out considerably. Fortunately, Earth was safe. No matter how bad the war with the Dominion gets, Captain Sisko and Admiral Ross… everytime One or two fleets were close enough to protect Paradise even from those pesky Breen.