Zalkonian Force Choke from 'Transfigurations"

Darth Fanboy · Post by **Darth Fanboy** » 2003-10-03 06:19pm

Somehow these Zalkonian guys used some sort of weapon that literally choked everyone on the enterprise, the only thing that saved them was the amnesiac alien on the verge of evolution, who used some energy manipulation thingermajigger.

Episode Name is "Transfigurations"

Any thoughts as to what the hell was up with that? there were no physical effects on the ship or life support systems, everyone just fell over unable to breathe.

Solauren · Post by **Solauren** » 2003-10-03 10:45pm

Bad Writing?

Actually, you have to wonder if it was some kind of technobabble 'energy field' that caused there throat muscles to contract

Darth Fanboy · Post by **Darth Fanboy** » 2003-10-03 11:09pm

well the Zalkonians had a ship that according to Worf has similar armaments, and could go at least as fast as Warp 9 (9.76 IIRC).

suddenly everyone on E-D is choking.

Thats the setup.

Agent R · Post by **Agent R** » 2003-10-03 11:56pm

Could it have been a transfigured Zalkonian working for them?

I don't remember what the government did to the evolutionaries. Did they get executed or brainwashed into working for the government?

Darth Fanboy · Post by **Darth Fanboy** » 2003-10-04 01:11am

Agent R wrote:Could it have been a transfigured Zalkonian working for them?

I don't remember what the government did to the evolutionaries. Did they get executed or brainwashed into working for the government?

Hunted down and killed. I only brig this up because I jsut wateched the Ep on TNN/Spike Tv today.

Patrick Degan · Post by **Patrick Degan** » 2003-10-04 12:17pm

It was definitely a device the Zalkonians used. At a guess, I'd say it transmitted some sort of signal which interfered with the autonomic nervous functions of the brain; in essence cutting off the signals which control the breathing reflex. Which is about as far as I'm able to speculate. Suffice to say, there are several major problems with this concept as scripted.

paladin · Post by **paladin** » 2003-10-04 03:57pm

Maybe they had a Sith Lord working for them.

Darth Fanboy · Post by **Darth Fanboy** » 2003-10-04 05:06pm

Well thats a very interesting device, now im sturggling to remember if the E-D had its shields up. It should have had them upseeing as how and equally armed ship had its weapons aimed at them and primed with its own shields up.

Plot holes and problems notwithstanding it sounds like a great weapon.

Ted C · Post by **Ted C** » 2003-10-15 06:08pm

IIRC, the Zalkonian commander pressed a control on one of his ship's panels, and that triggered the "choke" weapon. It certainly appears to be a technological effect. The Zalkonian government was deathly afraid of their "evolutionary" transformation, anyway, so there wouldn't be any transformed Zalkonian citizens on their ship.

I think the Enterprise was in defensive posture with shields up, although I can't confirm that now. If true, we see yet another new weapon that completely ignores Federation shields (i.e., they once again fail to perform when confronted with something they haven't seen before).

It really is difficult to imagine how such a weapon might work. I remember having a huge "WTF?" feeling when I first saw that incident. It turned John Doe into a huge deus ex machina to wind up the story. Some kind of energy field that causes neuromuscular paralysis is as plausible an explanation as any.

Death from the Sea · Post by **Death from the Sea** » 2003-10-15 06:18pm

But the John Doe is able to stop the choking effect by using his healing powers, how could he stop a device with his healing powers?

Darth Fanboy · Post by **Darth Fanboy** » 2003-10-15 08:47pm

Death from the Sea wrote:But the John Doe is able to stop the choking effect by using his healing powers, how could he stop a device with his healing powers?

He stopped the Effects of the Device, probably not the device itself.

"Effects of the device"

good name for a band.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-10-15 09:38pm

Unfortunately, once an organic lifeform undergoes this common Star Trek "evolutionary transformation" into an "energy being" (holy fuck, the number of stupid scientific distortions in that single sentence are enough to fry the brain), the writers seem to treat it as a god.