It’s Tuesday… a fourth of July week, because we are all planning on taking a four day weekend. Many of us are climbing the walls. Thus we are flipping tables, screaming at the monitor, and deleting accounts in horrible fashion.
So I decided it was time to put ‘Perspectives’ to good use and propose a question. Before we get to that I want to explain. I was watching a re-run of Star Trek: Lower Decks the other day. This episode had featured the star ships Cetacean Ops. This part of the ship is operated by the “other” Earthly inhabitants… the Beluga whales. Now the whales speak in ‘whale’, which we know is something of a mystery to us now. While some of you may wonder why this is even a thing?
Beluga whales are somewhat different than other mammals. Their brains may be equal or greater to humans. They don’t have the ability to manipulate tools, or operate computers quite the same as we do. In the movie Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, we found trope after trope of new jokes that would be remembered for the ages. Everything from Scotty talking to a mouse, or the invention of transparent aluminum, and of course… that you should always turn down your stereo when on public transportation. But this movie broke all the rules.
This is a movie that has 81% on Rotten Tomatoes viewers ratings… People loved the story line, and with that it became canon. The plot to Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, involved the Enterprise crew going back to 21st Century San Francisco to bring back humpback whales to save future earth from an alien ship that would only speak in humpback whale tongue.
With only a few mentions of dolphins on board the ship, Star Trek The Next Generation would avoid allowing viewers know too much about their Cetacean Ops.
ST: TNG S5E21 – timestamp 7:28
LENOR: in return for the exclusive rights to transport all Kriosian products to the Valt system.
PICARD: May I suggest that you arrange to meet at another time, after the ceremony?
BRIAM: Perhaps that would be best.
LENOR: But, but
(Briam and Picard enter a turbolift as Geordi hustles Lenor away)
LAFORGE: Listen, have you had a chance to see the dolphins yet?
https://screenrant.com/star-trek-whales-earths-mammals-have-been-important-to-starfleet-for-37-years
There May Have Been Whales Aboard Star Trek: The Next Generation’s USS Enterprise-D
Although they were never actually seen in Star Trek: The Next Generation, there were dolphins and possibly whales aboard the USS Enterprise-D. The Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual described and mapped out Cetacean Ops, a section of the starship where 12 bottlenosed dolphins served as the USS Enterprise-D’s navigational specialists and help steer the starship.
Cetacean Ops was referenced in TNG season 3 and Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) even once offered to take a passenger to “see the dolphins,” but Cetacean Ops was never actually seen on the show. Star Trek: Lower Decks revealed that it’s actually Beluga whales aboard the USS Cerritos, and this may retcon the TNG Cetacean Ops to include whales as well as dolphins.
Star Trek: Discovery Introduced Space Whales
Star Trek: Discovery season 1 introduced Gormaganders, whales that live in the vacuum of space. In the Star Trek: Discovery episode “Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad,” Harcourt Fenton Mudd (Rainn Wilson) came aboard the USS Discovery by hiding inside a Gormagander, which he claimed he was given by the Klingons. ‘Penetrating a space whale’ is a crime in the United Federation of Planets, which Harry Mudd was charged with among numerous other felonies.
Although technically not a marine mammal, Gormaganders are popularly described as “space whales.” Gormaganders are hunted and eaten, particularly by the Orions and the Klingons. In the 32nd century of Star Trek: Discovery, Gormaganders were known as the species that spent the longest on the Federatuon’s Endangered Species List.
Star Trek: Lower Decks Has Whales On The USS Cerritos
Cetacean Ops finally debuted Star Trek: Lower Decks season 2. Lieutenants, junior grade Kimolu and Matt are Beluga whales who serve on the Cerritos in Cetacean Ops. In Star Trek: Lower Decks season 2’s finale, Kimuolu and Matt help Ensign Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid) save the Cerritos and the USS Archimedes, and the Beluga whales also rescue Boimler, who nearly drowns from swimming through tunnels and hatchways beneath Cetacean Ops. Unlike other whales seen in Star Trek, Kimolu and Matt are able to communicate, albeit in whale speak, and Matt is particularly interested in human Starfleet Officers skinny-dipping with the whales.
So my question to you…
Do you think whales are actually smart enough to operate next to humans as equals?
Do you believe they may actually be space capable creatures as apparently Gene Roddenberry intended… but likely never got to go further into?