this post was submitted on 04 Aug 2026
124 points (97.7% liked)
TenForward: Where Every Vulcan Knows Your Name
7296 readers
428 users here now
/c/TenForward: Your home-away-from-home for all things Star Trek!
Re-route power to the shields, emit a tachyon pulse through the deflector, and post all the nonsense you want. Within reason of course.
~ 1. No bigotry. This is a Star Trek community. Remember that diversity and coexistence are Star Trek values. Any post/comments that are racist, anti-LGBT, or generally "othering" of a group will result in removal/ban.
~ 2. Keep it civil. Disagreements will happen both on lore and preferences. That's okay! Just don't let it make you forget that the person you are talking to is also a person.
~ 3. Use spoiler tags.
Use spoiler tags in comments, and NSFW checkbox for posts.
This applies to any episodes that have dropped within 3 months prior of your posting. After that it's free game.
~ 4. Keep it Trek related. This one is kind of a gimme but keep as on topic as possible.
~ 5. Keep posts to a limit. We all love Star Trek stuff but 3-4 posts in an hour is plenty enough.
~ 6. Try to not repost. Mistakes happen, we get it! But try to not repost anything from within the past 1-2 months.
~ 7. No General AI Art. Posts of simple AI art do not 'inspire jamaharon'
~ 8. No Political Upheaval. Political commentary is allowed, but please keep discussions civil. Read here for our community's expectations.
Fun will now commence.
Sister Communities:
Want your community to be added to the sidebar? Just ask one of our mods!
Creator Resources:
Looking for a Star Trek screencap? (TrekCore)
Looking for the right Star Trek typeface/font for your meme? (Thank you @kellyaster for putting this together!)
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
The crew can be offered shore leave anytime the ship is docked at a space station or a friendly planet so long as operational requirements allow. Hell, there was an episode where Picard basically forced Riker to take leave along with about half of the crew because they "wouldn't require a full ship's complement" for that mission. So it seems to be almost entirely up to the captain. Individuals (at least from senior staff, not sure about the lower decks) could take personal leave at the captain's discretion as well (worf travelling to his tournament, geordi attempting to attend a symposium on warp fields, etc).
Yes, that is how it works on Star Trek. My question is if it's a realistic way to run a space fleet, or even if it's in-universe consistent. Seems like random events happen all the time and you always want to be prepared.
It seems the makers of Star Trek wanted to have a comfortable middle class academic life for its characters, but also the adventure of TOS. There was always a weird tension there. I only resolved it by creating a head cannon where planetary life is so existentially vaccuous, that people would rather risk their lives and the lives of their children on a space ship than live safer lives on the ground.
I mean... https://listofdeaths.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation
Keep in mind also that we only see little snippets of time portrayed in the show. Even individual episodes can have gaps of days or weeks between scenes! The show wouldn't be very exciting if every other episode was just them lazily cruising to their next mission and filling out crew reports or whatever.
Edit: Yeah, I could see planetary life being pretty unfulfilling. Like.. what are you gonna figure out that hasn't already been figured out? Gotta go out into the great unknown to solve a new mystery.
Yeah, basically, I think Star Trek never resolves the existential void that would come at the end of capitalism.
https://magnus919.com/2026/03/the-suppression-engine-what-zapffe-reveals-about-why-post-capitalism-is-hard/
Instead it replaces it with the striving that is depicted in The Burnout Society.
Edit: Actually, that is the answer. Instead of money, people look to accomplishments for social status and distraction.
That's canon, established in the uhh season 1 finale I think it was? They unfreeze some people from the 21st century and the one rich guy is questioning what the point of it all is if money isn't around anymore.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard: This is the 24th century. Material needs no longer exist.
Ralph Offenhouse: Then what's the challenge?
Captain Jean-Luc Picard: The challenge, Mr. Offenhouse, is to improve yourself. To enrich yourself. Enjoy it.
Yes, though I remember the Futurama episode more clearly. My only regret... is... that I have... boneitis.
But I guess this why I find TNG sort of spiritually hollow for me. It reflected all the attainment-striving of imbued to the 1990s by capitalism but sans the capitalism. Like I think underneath it might be an anxiety, "if nobody works, does it mean people will be lazy? No! Instead they will WORK HARD at being the BEST THEY CAN BE but in the most 1990's liberal arts way possible." How different is getting into Star Fleet and getting a commission on a starship really that different than getting into an elite university and getting a job with a major company? TNG-era trek is the same existential treadmill but with a slightly different carrot.