this post was submitted on 03 Apr 2025
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Will SNW (or any future Trek) Retcon Mojave, California? (startrek.website)
submitted 3 weeks ago by data1701d@startrek.website to c/startrek@startrek.website
13 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

In the pilot, they depict Mojave, California as being very terraformed from a desert to a lush parkland.

However, I find this a bit antiquated... this seems to be very much rooted in an atomic age scientific idealism that thought of how we could make the world work for us and bring it to more western standards of natural beauty.

I think this is in conflict with the TNG solar punk aesthetic and the general respect for nature implied by the Prime Directive - notice how there's no desert bushes in sight as if they wiped them out. This seems to be insane damage to the ecosystem.

I wonder if they'll ever revisit Mojavo on-screen, and whether they'll retcon this so that Mojave is a gorgeous desert town where they solved the problems of drought and extreme heat plaguing the southwestern US while working in tandem with and even boosting the local wildlife, rather than just razing everything and plastering grass and non-native trees over it.

I'd bet we probably only have 3 seasons for it to happen, considering that 5 seasons has tended to be the length of most recent Trek shows (except poor old Prodigy). The only thing giving me hope is that SNW seems to be a decently successful series.

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[–] reddig33@lemmy.world 9 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Pretty sure TNG and some of the ST movies mentioned weather controls. And there have been many mentions of terraforming entire planets.

So I doubt Mojave would get retconned.

[–] data1701d@startrek.website 8 points 3 weeks ago

I agree weather controls exist - in fact, they'd probably be needed to solve extreme heat and drought in the city.

However, I don't think terraforming Mojave is the same thing as terraforming a planet - most planets they colonize that aren't already suitable for human life don't have a native ecosystem to begin with. What the pilot seems to depict is the elimination of an existing ecosystem and many habitats, which I feel doesn't seem very Trek-esque. While they would modify the local environment to improve living conditions, I don't think they would be inclined to do this much environmental damage.

[–] T156@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

TNG also brought up raising the continental shelf to create more livable space. Picard's brother was working on that.

[–] data1701d@startrek.website 1 points 2 weeks ago

This is probably the strongest counter so far, unless they've somehow found or are working on a way to do it without severely borking the marine biosphere.

[–] tiramichu@lemm.ee 6 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

If they changed this in the way you describe, I wouldn't even personally consider it retcon.

To me, "retconning" is changing some point which is kinda substantiative so that it disagrees with what was presented before. "This thing we said happened? Well it didn't."

If, as you suggest, they kept the idea of making the Mojave hospitable and pleasant but changed this so it's more respectful of the existing ecosystem, then to me that's not a retcon, it's more like updating the existing concept to be better in line with the ideals of a contemporary audience. A refresh, if you will.

It would be very much in line with what the original was trying to say and mean; that humans have this power to change the environment for the better and we are using it for the good of society, it's simply that our understanding has changed in the last several decades in a way which means the visual presentation of that concept on screen needs to change.

So I'd be totally fine with that :)

[–] skribe@aussie.zone 4 points 3 weeks ago

Isn't this from The Cage? They've had 60+ years. I doubt it's a high priority.

[–] deegeese@sopuli.xyz 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

If terraforming and weather control are “free”, I would think most people living in a desert would want a lush green park in their area.

[–] data1701d@startrek.website 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I could understand a few across the city, but I’d say 50 miles of parkland around a city is a little excessive.

You could also probably at least partially pull off “lush” with more native species, which they don’t seem to do.

Additionally, I imagine there’s some people still enjoying desert off-roading or a newer equivalent in the 23rd and 24th century (probably with regulations, of course).

Granted, I’m a bit biased, considering I live in the Southwest and am a fan of some of the more beautiful deserts. I do hate the climate change-induced annual shattering of heat records, though. Never fun when it’s 110s out, especially when you have to walk to classes… No

[–] deegeese@sopuli.xyz 2 points 3 weeks ago

Yeah I don’t think 50 miles of parkland makes sense, but even desert lovers would rather picnic on grass than sand.

[–] cattywampas@lemm.ee 1 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

It's been a while since I watched "The Menagerie" but is this scene in it? Because if this scene appears only in "The Cage" then I don't think it would be considered canon.

But in any case, it's a recreation made by psychic aliens based on Pike's memories. It might not be entirely accurate to begin with.

[–] data1701d@startrek.website 2 points 3 weeks ago

I think it is in Menageries, but I’ll have to check.

[–] skribe@aussie.zone 2 points 3 weeks ago

It's also in The Menagerie.

[–] thezeesystem@lemmy.blahaj.zone 0 points 3 weeks ago

We should instead invest into genetics and when visiting other planets we should genetically engineer ourselves foe that planet, not just destroy everything by Terra forming