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One question that always bugged me throughout Trek, why can humans and aliens reproduce?
That shouldn't be able to happen unless they're all the same species.

Obviously the writters just didn't have a clue, but whats the in universe explanation? (if there is one)

Rochey wrote:One question that always bugged me throughout Trek, why can humans and aliens reproduce?
That shouldn't be able to happen unless they're all the same species.

Obviously the writters just didn't have a clue, but whats the in universe explanation? (if there is one)

The TNG episode "The Chase" establishes that all humanoid life is based on DNA seeded on planets by an ancient alien race.

A stretch, yes, but at least the writers acknoweldged it.

I think the chase was an excellent episode to both establish the reason why the galaxy is filled with humanoids and a way to say to humanity something like : "hey, stop fighting, you're the same damn race."
Also it has been established that humans and vulcans need aid when reproducing because there not completely compatible genetically. Perhaps this is something necessary for all interspecies reproduction but the franchise just never went into it in detail.

One nice thing about more recent Trek is that they have addressed this somewhat by implying that such things are only possible with a good deal of medical intervention. Jadzia had to have treatment from Bashir in an attempt to have a kid with Worf, and T'Pol and Tucker only produced a kid with extensive genetic tampering IIRC.

I find it easy to believe that any time people casually mention having a kid who is half X and half Y, they spent months visiting doctors to make such a thing possible.

Still a stretch, but combined with the common ancestry of many Trek secies established in The Chase, I find it at least within the bounds of credibility.

Eh...ok.
I didn't expect there would be such an...unusual explanation.

Well, I supose the fact they recognized their error is something.

Plus it makes for good drama: For example, B'Elanna Torres being caught between two worlds, and all of that.

Argh, I've always hated when they go off with the "I'm caught between my human half and my alien half." episodes.
And it always turns out all the good qualities are from the human side.

Rochey wrote:Argh, I've always hated when they go off with the "I'm caught between my human half and my alien half." episodes.
And it always turns out all the good qualities are from the human side.

What about Spock's logic? :p

Good point.

And Worf's warrior courage?

Ah, but was he not a full Klingon? I thought he was a normal Klingon that was raised by a pair of humans. His 'parents' are both human at any rate.

Yes, but the fact Worf was raised by parents did leave him somewhat at a disadvantage when it comes to Klingonosity. He wasn't raised in the culture, so he doesn't have the same background as someone who grew up in the empire. In that sense he is half Human.

Good point. So, psychologicaly, he's half human. I'm running out of examples here!

And Odo was half Bajoran. Data was half and half by his desire to be Human...

Star trek has always had those half and half characters. They allow the character to be involved but still apart enough to allow the audience to see it from their perspective so we gain a deeper insight into the situation.

if it was a fully alien character, it would have been, "So you are married byut want to date ensign Chelsea? Well then just do it and you both keep quite." They'd just answer it from their alien perspective and that would be that.

For example, "This Side of paradise", with the spores. Spock's half human character lets us see just how potent the spores are. If he had been fully Vulcan, his human half wouldn't have been struggling to show through. if he had been fully Human, it would have been no different to everyone else on the crew.

But as a Vulcan/Human, there is that human side underneath the surface always, and since we know Spock's devotion to the Vulcan way, the fact that the spores can demolish the Vulcan mental attitudes he has worked to develop, it illustrates the power the spores has.

At least it's within reason. There's been nothing too ridiculous or improbable. I'll start complaining when I see 8472 and Ferengi crossbreed or Jem'Hadar and an Ewok. Whoops wrong universe.