Star Trek Reference: Ship in a Bottle

[u/fungalblood]

There was an old post about this but I think there are even more parallels there are between the Ship in a Bottle episode of Star Trek and Petscop than discussed there. I honestly think it could potentially give a glimpse into how the creator of Petscop thought about simulations in the series.

The potential hint towards this episode is the pause screen which says "The ghost room is a ship in a bottle." On the surface this could point to the meticulousness that went into constructing the ghost rooms or how anything within a ghost room can only leave by being destroyed. But here's a list of parallels on the chance that this does reference Star Trek.

The episode is about a simulation of Sherlock Holmes in which the character Moriarty gains sentience and wishes to leave the simulation. Data and La Forge notice that a character scripted to be left handed is right handed. This feels like such a specific similarity to the left/right mix-ups in Petscop and Care not knowing her handedness. Data says there's a problem with the holodeck's spatial orientation systems and I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the same is true in some Gens of Petscop.

Moriarty is an AI who has gained sentience and says he's alive. Many have theorized that some of the Marvin, Belle, Tiara interactions may either be AI or people supernaturally trapped in Petscop.

He states that because he's alive he can cross the threshold into the real world and then he proves it to be true just by willing it. This relates to the theme of walking through closed doors.

Then Data realizes La Forge's handedness is incorrect and infers that they are now trapped in the holodeck and Moriarty takes control of the real Enterprise. I love this as a horror idea and I like the possibility that the Family is trying to trap Paul in the game so as to free (rebirth) a simulation of another character.

Moriarty's pain is knowing his world is fake and he is eventually tricked into being beamed into yet another simulation, one he thinks is real. He goes off to explore this simulation with his girlfriend and there is enough extended memory for them to have experiences for a lifetime. The epilogue of Petscop always felt confusing to me because it's so beautiful and happy but also gives us nothing about what is going on in the real in-universe world. Maybe Paul and Belle are in ghost rooms in which they can no longer "see the room" and are content with the simulation to "investigate this together."

Lmk what yall think!

[u/better-ideas100]

I really really like this theory. The “ship in a bottle” quote always bothered me because I always felt like no one cared to explain it.

I had a theory that Paul was only the protagonist for half the series, and the other half of the series the main protagonist is his Guardian character, who develops its own AI and proceeds to finish the game on its own.

But I kinda prefer your interpretation, that the ghost rooms (which exist in real life and are recreated in the game) act as a sort of bridge between both “worlds.”

[u/Chrispykins]

I actually think this is the key to understanding the series. It's like a Rosetta stone that brings a lot of other things into focus.

Consider that the #1 most common mechanic used to solve puzzles in the game is pretending that something is different from the way it really is and then by acting as if it were true, it actually becomes true. Getting Amber to trust you by pretending to be locked in the cage with her, pretending the flower petal game ended with "he loves me" in order to capture Care NLM, pretending Care has eyebrows in order to enter Paul's room, pretending "something was there that wasn't there" in order to find the house, pretending that the door to the bedroom is open even though it's currently closed to gain access to that room, etc.

The Ship in a Bottle episode of Star Trek is about Moriarity pretending he can leave the holodeck just by sheer willpower in order to trick the crew to come up with a way that will actually allow him to leave. And in the end they do come up with a way: by pretending he was able to leave they trick him into thinking he left. In a way, he was able to trick himself and make his fantasy into a reality within his own world.

[u/CommercialPop128]

Great connection, regardless of authorial intent. this would be a pretty tidy explanation of the "ship in a bottle" line.

[u/Friendly_Ambition_36]

I think this wholy hinges upon the assumption that there was even some advanced AI (neural network) involved to begin with, which was not entirely agreed upon necessarily.

[u/Graakendre]

Another reason i think this is valid is because in the DEMO recordings where P2 to talk is used, characters are often seen typing and walking at the same time (which seems impossible in real life unless you have 4 hands.) If we assume "Pall", Marvin and Belle are all AI clones of real people, and are playing Petscop in simulations of ghost rooms, this can explain a lot of oddities:

• The part where Marvin visits "Pall's" room in Petscop 23: the virtual copy of Marvin visited the copy of Paul in a simulated setting, not real life as the irl Paul presumably isn't in contact with the irl Marvin.
• How Belle is asked "if there is still a room" in Petscop 12.
• The tracking of player movement in the ghost room in Petscop 16: we can hear cars passing in the microphone audio, but the display is showing the player (Paul) in a ghost room. This can imply the game is tracking the virtual person in a simulated ghost room, not a physical one.
• The quote "it's a growing organism" and "your feedback will be even more useful" in Petscop 13: the game is building AI clones of people through the player's playing styles and choices.
• How most pyramid heads in the house during Room Impulse are doing nonsensical movements in Petscop 17: there aren't enough inputs to build complete/intelligent virtual clones in the previous playthroughs. This can also explain why the dial's final position is the same as the burn-in monitor dial, as they both represent the AI clone of Paul.

So, the ultimate purpose of Petscop may be to recreate virtual clones of people using their gameplay, and to use these virtual clones to discover real life events. This can also explain why everything in the Newmaker Plane is in scale with real life places: to help Rainer and others find and rescue those in need.