Star Trek Just Spoiled Its Best Alien Race, And The Explanation Makes No Sense
By Chris Snellgrove | Updated
The fourth episode of Starfleet Academythe “Vox In Excelsio,” made major changes to the most popular alien race in all of Star Trek: The Klingons. The biggest change (and watch out for some warp core-sized spoilers, this is just your warning!) is that the Klingon homeworld of Qu’onos has been completely destroyed because the Burn (introduced back in AdoptionSeason 3) caused all of the planet’s dilithium reactors to explode. However, based on everything we know about dilithium from over 60 years of franchise history, this should have been a complete impossibility!
First, some context: from the days of Star Trek: The Original Serieswe’ve seen stars move through the galaxy because of the dilithium crystals that power their warp cores. After the crew of the USS Discovery jumped into the 32nd century, they discovered that both interstellar travel and the Federation had been destroyed by an event called the Burn. The Burn caused dilithium throughout the galaxy to move, and this caused countless star explosions because these crystals controlled the antimatter reaction needed to achieve warp speed.
Avoiding Future Mistakes, Today
Once the crystals are inside, matter and antimatter collide in any ship with an active warp drive. This just results in the last thing any Starfleet captain wants to deal with: a warp core breach. Because of this, the Federation is still rebuilding at the end of the Star Trek: Discoveryagain Starfleet Academy it’s about training the next generation of cadets who will make the galaxy a safer place as the various planets and space empires continue to recover.
That brings us to the most recent episode Starfleet Academy“Vox Excelsius,” where a reporter bluntly states that the Klingon homeworld of Qo’noS has been destroyed by the Burn. How did this work, mechanically speaking? The only explanation we get (besides the debunked “they blew themselves up” conspiracy theory) is that “Burn caused dilithium explosions on Qo’noS and other worlds.”
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At first glance, this probably makes sense. After all, we know that the Burn affected dilithium in a way that caused stars to explode throughout the galaxy. Dilithium is both mined and stored on various planets, so a reporter’s breezy comment might make you think that dilithium just exploded with enough energy to either outright destroy the Klingon homeworld or make it completely uninhabitable.
However, the starships destroyed by the Burn were only lost because the inert dilithium caused an immediate warp breach. While Starfleet Academy it doesn’t really explain what a “dilithium reactor” is, it’s fair to assume that the Klingon homeworld wasn’t trying to travel anywhere at warp speed. The reactor is thought to be intended to be the power source for the Qo’noS, but at no time in Star Trek history has matter/antimatter been used to power anything other than a warp drive.
Therefore, it only makes sense (Spock would be proud) to conclude that Paramount corrupted the Klingons because the writers forgot how the Burn worked, which was established in the show Starfleet Academy came out of. This is not a case of the writers forgetting an obscure factoid presented in it The Original Series or even The Next Generation. Instead, they ignore a major story element that was introduced a few years ago, a mistake made worse by the other logical problems of this odd plot point.
Almost All Klingons Die For No Reason
For example, even though the Klingons are stupid according to the word of God, why would they rely on dilithium as a source of energy? Even if we were to expect the idea (which flies in the face of established belief) that dilithium serves as the planet’s energy source, Adoption It was previously established that dilithium had become scarce years before the Burn happened, which is why the Federation was researching other ways to gain warp speed other than dilithium crystals. Faced with the same shortage of dilithium, the Klingons could easily trade their dilithium reactors to supply the planets with combined or solar power, both of which the Federation relied on. about a thousand years ago.
Now, before the Star Trek fans come at me, I’ll admit it Starfleet Academy may explain all this in a future episode. Maybe we’ll find a technobabble explanation of how dilithium reactors work, or we’ll find a universal reason why the Klingons never switched to another, more accessible energy source when dilithium has become incredibly rare. Well, we might even get an explanation for why the Klingons have these reactors on every planet in their empire, something that seems like it would be too difficult for smaller, more distant colonies.
At the moment, however, none of this makes sense, which is bad news for the success of Star Trek as a whole. The writers just ruined the franchise’s main race, and they did it with a plot point that proves it see they weren’t looking Adoption. You should act accordingly, when this kind of narrative stupidity gets you unlisted from Paramount+, don’t forget to list “explosive features” as the reason you’re leaving.
You don’t think the Skydance Corporation would believe that? Hope: if they buy Paramount, these guys will anything else.
