Atoz 77
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Post by Atoz 77 on Sept 8, 2009 7:46:12 GMT -6
The Enterprise calls on planet M-113 for an annual medical checkup of archaeologist Dr. Bob Crater and his wife, Nancy (she being an old girlfriend of Dr. McCoy). Right away, we see that something is wrong, because unknown to one another, Kirk, McCoy and Crewman Darnell all see a different person when they look at Nancy Crater. Moments later, after going off alone with her, Crewman Darnell turns up dead!
This was the first regular episode of Star Trek, and a great introduction to the series. Right from the beginning, we see the main characters comfortable enough with one another to joke among themselves, and so we cannot help but feel at home with them too. And there's a major mystery, before the opening credits even appear.
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Post by andrewlee on Sept 8, 2009 9:47:59 GMT -6
I remember this one. The creature that impersonated Nancy Crater was a telepathic salt eating being. It looked hideous!! It was sentient and the last of it's kind. Dr Crater Almost killed it because it killed his wife.
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Atoz 77
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Post by Atoz 77 on Sept 11, 2009 8:04:19 GMT -6
There was some debate in the Exobiology thread about whether this thing was really "telepathic". And to some degree, I'm not so sure it was sentient either. I mean, if it was really intelligent, it could have just sat and waited for the supplies to be dropped off, and there would have been no reason to reveal itself at all. And later on, it killed Prof. Crater in frustration (when Spock turned out to be not so tasty).
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Post by andrewlee on Sept 18, 2009 13:33:48 GMT -6
There was some debate in the Exobiology thread about whether this thing was really "telepathic". And to some degree, I'm not so sure it was sentient either. I mean, if it was really intelligent, it could have just sat and waited for the supplies to be dropped off, and there would have been no reason to reveal itself at all. And later on, it killed Prof. Crater in frustration (when Spock turned out to be not so tasty). I remember this! As I recall Spock didn't taste good to other human eating/feeding on aliens! It could have also just liked killing people to satisfy it self!
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Atoz 77
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Post by Atoz 77 on Sept 21, 2009 7:52:46 GMT -6
I don't think that seems likely, since it had lived peacefully with Prof. Crater for at least two years. If it was violent by nature, Crater would have seen it. I think it's more likely that, confronted with new people, it was frightened and didn't have the self-control to curb its impulse to feed.
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Post by andrewlee on Sept 21, 2009 8:08:05 GMT -6
I don't think that seems likely, since it had lived peacefully with Prof. Crater for at least two years. If it was violent by nature, Crater would have seen it. I think it's more likely that, confronted with new people, it was frightened and didn't have the self-control to curb its impulse to feed. This is very plausible! I did not think of this situation being the cause before. The Planet must have had a low salt content for it to be so starved for salt. salt is supposed to be common.
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Arkroyal
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Post by Arkroyal on Sept 21, 2009 8:25:26 GMT -6
I looked on Memory Alpha and it was stated in VOY: Prototype that it is the most common spice in the galaxy. It states that the creature was the last of its kind, the planet had run out of salt which is why it was attacking the crew of the Enterprise.
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Post by andrewlee on Sept 21, 2009 8:42:48 GMT -6
I looked on Memory Alpha and it was stated in VOY: Prototype that it is the most common spice in the galaxy. It states that the creature was the last of its kind, the planet had run out of salt which is why it was attacking the crew of the Enterprise. Thanks for the reminder! It's been awhile since I have seen this episode. If one species consumed salt on this planet, then wouldn't another metabolize salt compounds back into their original components? There could be another extinct species that died out before the salt eat creatures did from starvation!
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Luke
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Post by Luke on Sept 23, 2009 11:04:39 GMT -6
Salt is a mineral found underground. Plants pick it up dissolved in ground water, animals eat the plants and so on. Remember the area was a desert so it may not have "run out" of salt but it was just harder to extract. The vampire didnt much look like a plant eater to me.
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Post by andrewlee on Sept 23, 2009 11:11:44 GMT -6
Salt is a mineral found underground. Plants pick it up dissolved in ground water, animals eat the plants and so on. Remember the area was a desert so it may not have "run out" of salt but it was just harder to extract. The vampire didn't much look like a plant eater to me. Interesting as I did not think of the lack of water as making the salts inaccessible to the salt eating creatures. It makes sense that little or no water would leave the salts underground undissolved trapped away from them..
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Atoz 77
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Post by Atoz 77 on Sept 25, 2009 7:45:33 GMT -6
It had specialized structures for extracting salt from the blood of other animals. Whether you believe in evolution or intelligent design, this implies that there must have been other animals native to the planet which had normal amounts of salt in their bodies. I even speculate that there might have been whole herds of large herbivores (say like buffalo), which picked up excessive salt from the alkaline grass, and the salt vampire would come along and suck the salt without even harming them. Sort of a symbiotic relationship. When the buffaloes went extinct, so did the vampires because they were too specialized.
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Post by andrewlee on Sept 25, 2009 8:30:13 GMT -6
It had specialized structures for extracting salt from the blood of other animals. Whether you believe in evolution or intelligent design, this implies that there must have been other animals native to the planet which had normal amounts of salt in their bodies. I even speculate that there might have been whole herds of large herbivores (say like buffalo), which picked up excessive salt from the alkaline grass, and the salt vampire would come along and suck the salt without even harming them. Sort of a symbiotic relationship. When the buffaloes went extinct, so did the vampires because they were too specialized. I was thinking about something like this, but you have brought the idea to life! It makes a lot of sense. The planet didn't look like there were any seas where such a salt eating creature could feed.
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Atoz 77
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Post by Atoz 77 on Sept 26, 2009 7:38:26 GMT -6
That earlier post of yours set the wheels in motion. That's why I like these discussions; one idea leads to another and before you know it, you've solved a major mystery.
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Post by andrewlee on Sept 26, 2009 9:14:24 GMT -6
Thanks Atoz. I do have more thoughts about the salt eating creature. In the past it has been suggested that it could have had prey species to take salt from. They may not have taken too much salt to kill the other creatures so they would not drive them to extinction. Something must have changed for the extinctions to happen. If the planet did once have salty seas, the salt eating creators would have thrived. This is possible because the creature did eat salt tablets. They could have drank salt water. In the course of time there could be too many of the salt eating creatures beyond the carrying capacity of the planet. They could have unwittingly driven themselves to extinction.
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Atoz 77
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Post by Atoz 77 on Sept 28, 2009 7:16:21 GMT -6
Those are all very good ideas. Or the extinction may have been caused by something completely different, like a disease or a change in the climate.
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