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TLDR; Is PRO TNG or PIC era? Do Trek eras as we know them even matter anymore?

Edit: Fixed TOK to be TWOK era. My 2 brain cells had failed me there.

Before I give my problem, here's what I find the conventional Star Trek eras to be (including some common sub-eras that some might consider distinct):

• ENT era: 2150s-2160s
• TOS era: 2250s-early 2290s
  • TWOK era: 2270s-early 2290s
• Lost era: 2290s-roughly 2330s
• TNG era: 2340s-early 2380s (I count Enterprise C as roughly the start of the TNG era. At the very least, the shuttle for the Hansen's ill-fated trip in the 2350s has the trappings of the TNG era).
  • DS9/VOY/TNG film era: 2370s, maybe early 2380s
• PIC era: mid 2380s-early 25th century (I think the Utopia Planetia in 2385 is my cutoff)
• DIS era: 32nd century

I think most newer series have obvious placements, e.g:

• DIS starts in the TOS era, then starts its own era.
• SNW is in the TOS era (I'd argue it's straight up canon, based on LD).
• LD is TNG era, based on LCARS designs and the story conventions it parodies/pastiches.

However, the main thing that is ruffling my feathers is that PRO's placement in my framework is very confusing. It exists on an awkward border between TNG and PIC.

On one hand, some of its storytelling conventions fit better with PIC, not to mention the fact that the Utopia Planetia attack occurs at the end of PRO.

On the other hand, PRO continues some TNG era characters that aren't yet elderly versions of themselves.

This goes back to the initial question: Do we place the vast majority of PRO in the TNG era (and have like the last five minutes of season 2 [hopefully not the show] in PIC era), or do we extend the Picard era backwards to 2383 to include PRO in its entirety?

The 2383 solution might work, as that leaves 2382 in the TNG era for the 5th season of Lower Decks.

I have a random guess about the problem with the alternate, bearded Boimler: he’s actually William Boimler, who killed (or imprisoned) Bradward and took his place on that Cerritos for mysterious Section 31 reasons.

That Boimler even says, “nobody deserves to be replaced by their own double.”

EDIT: I forgot to add a screenshot. Here it is.

While re-watching DS9 S1:E19 "Duet", I noticed this okudagram around 6:21 and got a bit curious.

Some of these images just look like aliens they would have already had pictures of. However, two stand out as potential easter eggs - the picture on the middle left looks unmistakably like Spock, and the human on the bottom left looks like they could be a production worker or a favorite musical artist.

However, Memory Alpha and a simple Google Search don't seem to turn up anything. I'm intrigued to know what history, if any, is behind this graphic.

Is Federation sun screen just that good? Does the standard Federation checkup include un-tanning? I am at a loss for any explanation.

I pick it up again every once in a while. I just had a slate of particularly miserable emeritus short losses, including one where 9 of the 13 Klingons left were in one sector. I was docked in a Starbase adjacent to that sector, and I could have sent an armed probe. Instead, to not get any more planet loss points, I decided, "I'm just gonna take em with phasers." I got killed immediately.

Note that Bashir is not yawning, but doing that weird wall shuffling-screaming thing that no one understands, probably not even Siddig or the director at the time of filming.

Now MOOOOVE ALOOOOOONG HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOEM! (Whacks those weird wood sticks together.)

Edit: Okay, a few more fans than I expected, a pleasant suprise.

If you haven't watched Over the Garden Wall, you should give it a try and watch every episode, especially if you're looking to get into the Halloween spirit. The whole miniseries isn't that long - about the length of a feature film in total.

Also, my gosh, it was so miserable to put Bashir's skinny pointy little face onto Greg's big round chonker! But bird Garrak was worth it in the end.

Note: "EEEEE...EEEE!" is meant to convey my hard-to-contain excitement of having Wesley randomly pop up. Also, though, I couldn't resist posting that face.

Half of these exist because I was bored once.

The Windows 10 and MacOS ones are GPU passthrough enabled and what I occasionally use if I have to use a Windows or Mac application. Windows 7 is also GPU enabled, but is more a nostalgia thing than anything.

I think my PopOS VM was originally installed for fun, but I used it along with my Arch Linux, Debian 12 and Testing (I run Testing on host, but I wanted a fresh environment and was too lazy to spin up a Docker or chroot), Ubuntu 23.10 and Fedora to test various software builds and bugs, as I don't like touching normal Ubuntu unless I must.

The Windows Server 2022 one is one I recently spun up to mess with Windows Docker Containers (I have to port an app to Windows, and was looking at that for CI). That all become moot when I found out Github's CI doesn't support Windows Docker containers despite supporting Windows runners (The organization I'm doing it for uses Github, so I have to use it).

Seriously, though. In my opinion, V is by far the worst TOS film, if not the worst of any Star Trek film (Yes, including Kelvin), yet it somehow nailed the ending.

Not to say I hated V that much. I think there's some charm of Kirk, Spock, and Bones breaking out the brig, but the plot is catastrophically bad. I was also annoyed with that one scene with Uhura where they have her seduce some acolytes, which I feel is a disgrace to the character.

I think the Vau N'Akat seen in Prodigy have a lot of "biological and technological distinctiveness" to be added to the collective's own. My question is whether or not the Borg could take advantage of the Vau N'Akat's abilities, and whether they'd be all that helpful.

For instance, could assimilated Vau N'Akat use their heirloom powers to manipulate materials in order to pump out at least the shells of Borg Cubes like nobody's business?

I think this depends on how heirloom material actually works and is made. Its utility to the Borg probably depends on whether or not it's a limited resource or actually some sort of alloy that could be constructed anywhere in the galaxy.

In truth, we can't know that, as in the current state of canon Vau N'Akat lore, it's basically just space magic to us. If I had to take a wild guess, I have two theories:

1. Maybe Vau N'Akat have detachable nanobot-esque cells that communicate with the brain over an electromagnatic signal, allowing the quick assembly of structures at a relatively precise level, especially with the one specific material. (Perhaps all that blue dust stuff that happens at death are these cells freaking out as communication ceases and, for lack of orders, devouring the body.)
2. The Vau N'Akat have organs that essentially very precisely accelerate exchange particles. (This theory makes the above one seem comparatively more plausible.)

Another question is whether or not Vau N'Akat drones could use all that "your will is mine" stuff to aid the assimilation of other Vau N'Akat and/or create one super drone.

Going with theory 1, maybe the "Your will is mine" stuff is actually a weak ability to lend extra cells to the desired person that builds up when a lot of people are doing it, strengthening healing and immune responses as well as any use of that person's detached cells, thus explaining that whole scene.

If this is the mechanic by which it works (and assimilation doesn't somehow bork the mental facilities for this), this could be a very powerful ability for the Borg. It almost sounds too powerful, as those cells could be used as essentially an assimilation virus or a bioweapon, which I think would break the balance of power in the ST universe in a way that I think writers really wouldn't want to.

Overall, as I have said before, just as I find it very fun to try to theorize how the Vau N'Akat work, I also find it very difficult due to both its status as a very new species and their general uniqueness (almost un-Trekiness, not to insult them) as a species. I do think Prodigy does some good things with the Vau N'Akat, and it's nice to have a species that's a bit more than just forehead ridges and a fatal flaw (if they even bother with the forehead ridges - looking at you, Betazoids). However, similar to some of the complaints with Prodigy in general, I can't deny that the space magic aspect feels more Star Wars than I can say I like in Star Trek.

So, what are your thoughts?