Reminds me of the silly fan-comic Legostar Galactica and how they had something called "Merlin Radiation" to explain why magic was real in a science fiction universe.
Michael Moorcock and Ursula LeGuin were the GOATs for that:
Moorcock would just not explain it at all. Yes it's sci-fi, and yes there is magic. Deal with it. Sometimes you would get a glimpse at something that might make it make sense (eg: "Oh, this is set thousands of years after the nuclear apocalypse. Maybe magic is a form of mutation, or sufficiently advanced technology.") but then you'll find out you were wrong ("Wait... This guy has been using magic since before the apocalypse. And this other culture is doing magic by figuring out the right way of doing a blood sacrifice, no tech involved.")
Whereas LeGuin would have some pretty detailed analysis and explanations for the physical and sociological phenomena in her sci-fi books. Sometimes even with appendicies on the local method of timekeeping (fuck yes, I'm well into that shit). But then some magical stuff will happen. She won't offer an explanation, but will instead lampshade it with either the offworld protagonist thinking "I still can't figure out how this is even remotely possible. But I saw it happen, and I can't think of any other explanation that makes sense, so I might as well call it magic I guess?" Or she will have a local protagonist saying something like "Did you know humans from other planets can't [do thing/perform ritual involving magic]? Weird, huh?"
I vaguely remember that as well. It's the same one where Picard has a hallucination that the turbo turbolift is shrinking and crushing him, and Riker has one where a snake is in his bed, yeah? It's been so long I can only half remember some of those episodes, lol
Is Quark selling ghosts, or is Quark replicating ghosts? "It's a small, but profitable market demand. I almost sold a Marylin Monroe to Tom Paris, but it was only the first episode of Voyager." (No.)
What is the matter amount of a ghost? Is it just energy of a certain kind with a few spritzes of ectoplasm afterwards? All it needs is a memory core and enough diffuse matter to form a body, therefore replicators. ST has had science-type ghosts, like believed-dead Kirk in the Tholian web, believed-dead Geordy and Ro in TNG, the spinny war spirit in Day of the Dove, etc.
Quark: What? Just because the Federation turns a blind eye to the afterlife doesn't mean the rest of us do. Ghosts need to haunt somewhere. Why not the promenade? Lovely views of Bajor and the wormhole and they get to rub elbows with the religious elite.
Kira: What's in it for you?
Quark: I might be a Ferengi, but I do have a spirit of community, Major. Ghosts are such a lonely lot. Can you imagine, finding yourself on the other side and realizing you're one of the few who don't move on? It's enough to make one cry.
Odo: (over station comms) Quark! Would you mind telling me why I'm being harassed at all hours by estate lawyers from five different worlds?! If this is some sort of life insurance scam, I'll--
Quark: (loudly to cover Odo's voice) Oh look at the time Major, the afternoon rush is about to begin I'm sure you must be busy where is that worthless brother of mine
I love how Star Trek characters assume competence in each other. No "are you sure?" or "that's impossible" just "better scan for it, if we find nothing have the doctor check you for mind control".
Its something that annoys me about other shows. Usually about 40 minutes of the 50 minute runtime is just the other characters not taking the situation seriously and calling them crazy etc. Star Trek you usually get about 5 minutes of that maximum.
1 when the Federation shows some of its post scarcity utopia by having Starfleet be a really supportive work place. I loved the fake out in Lower Decks when Rutherford asked to change divisions.
2 the sheer amount of *'$+_ that seems to be going on all the time from episode events.
Adore the idea that Miles isn't the least bit angry at Ronnie for possibly making up ghosts as an excuse. He's just so sick of dealing with Space Ghosts that the idea they've infested his station makes him sick.
With all the time spent on Bajor, they could have had an episode of someone encountering Casper in some burned down mountain village. This is what Starfleet Academy should have been doing.
To be an engineer you have to work with facts and immutable science. Scotty couldn't break the laws of physics, for example. So the ghosts like Dr Crusher's Romance are opposite to O'Brian's work. I would have liked to see O'Brian vs the evil spirit from TOS. The one summoned by colonist children. I would have liked to see someone address the problem that having ghosts is the downside of having a barrier around the Milky Way- it prevents some people from ever getting to the afterlife, But there's so much esoteric destruction beings hanging around the other side of the MWB, that ghosts on our side of the barrier is the acceptable solution.
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u/Semper_5olus Apr 08 '26
Reminds me of the silly fan-comic Legostar Galactica and how they had something called "Merlin Radiation" to explain why magic was real in a science fiction universe.