Star Trek: Dolphin and Whale as Crew Members were Supposed to Join the Force in TNG’s Enterprise

Star Trek

The show does not majorly highlight it but Star Trek: The Next Generation employs crew members from the sea world. Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Enterprise has sea animals to use for them for their department of navigation. The U.S.S. Enterprise has forever been a fast-paced work environment. In Star Trek’s original series, Spock opened up the path for Vulcans in Starfleet, making a tough choice that would make his father frown.

This leads him to make a choice of career that was frowned upon by his father and makes him really upset. Under the captaincy of Jean-Luc Picard, the enterprise was much greater and way more diverse. Picard’s most trusted crew members are the unnatural beings labeled as Data and the captain fights to protect his right as a progressive workplace environment. Under the captaincy of Jean-Luc Picard’s, the Enterprise was even greater and contained a mix of varied species. Picard’s synthetic being known as Data was one of Picard’s most trusted crew members and the captain fought to defend his rights as a living being. Whereas Worf’s employment in Starfleet followed the same old grudgeful relationships between the Federation and the Empire of Klingon.

Anyways, the employees on the Next Generations Enterprise go beyond being simple Humanoids and get the capability of going deep down into the ocean. In Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Kirk’s Enterprise crew time travel and go back to 20th century Earth with the job of attaining two whales. The plan is to bring extinct animals back from the past into the future so that they can go and fight a very distressing calamatic situation on Earth. Much later (or much earlier, depending on how you perceive the film), Star Trek: Discovery’s titular ship is powered by a spore drive, which uses a type of fungi that is pretty tiny and helps navigate and travel through space in an instant. As per evidence, there is a long long back story of the Starfleet using multiple life forms and animals on their space-traveling expeditions.

One thought that often comes to mind is that what were the workings of The Next Generations Enterprise as they used Dolphins and Whales. The producer Aaron J. Waltke pointed out, that the 1991 manual of the Enterprise did have a reference of “Cetacean Navigation Lab,” as well as an OPS room, along with life-saving boats for the beings in the event that any emergency arises. As per the manual, there were 12 bottlenose dolphins that were brought on board on the Enterprise. Furthermore, it also contained two Takaya’s Whales who were supposed to supervise and handle the other beings may be an alert if they took too long to eat.

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Although the Enterprise’s ocean navigation team was never seen on-screen in The Next Century, there are a few references, including a door sign reading “Tursiops Crew Facility” in “We’ll Still Have Paris.” and During “The Perfect Mate,” Geordi La Forge asks Fenergi Par Lenor if he’s “seen the dolphins.” In addition, a scene in season 3’s “Yesterday’s Enterprise” features a crew member being ordered to report to “Cetacean Ops.” Cetacean Ops isn’t actually triggered by the story’s time travel because it takes place in an alternate universe, as shown by allusions to dolphin crew members elsewhere. Finally, an aquatics lab onboard the Enterprise is mentioned in season 7’s “Genesis.”

Whales and dolphins are known for their navigational and communication skills in the natural world. Dolphin echolocation enables the animals to “see” through a highly advanced long-range sonar system, and numerous military forces have sought to exploit these natural advantages for their own purposes. While The Next Generation never delves into the dynamics of its sea-faring crew members, it’s not impossible that Starfleet may have found a way to change dolphin echolocation for use in space rather than the ocean.

whaleinspace star trek

In theory, this would allow Starfleet’s Galaxy-class ships to detect oncoming ships, asteroids, and other objects that aren’t visible to the naked eye. The dolphins may have also been able to identify disguised enemy vessels using only sound.

Unfortunately, due to the difficulties of depicting the Enterprise’s Cetacean device on film (as well as the concept’s strangeness), these possibilities have remained mostly unexplored throughout the Star Trek universe. However, the next time you think Discovery’s mushroom-fueled teleportation is ridiculous, note that Picard’s Enterprise employed dolphins and whales.

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Mohid Moosani

Moosani is a night owl who is either binge watching his favorite shows or scribbling on his notebook writing short stories. Often showing up late at work and gulping down 6-7 cups of coffee is his usual practice.

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