Skip to main content

Would Star Trek holodecks physically affect you once you exit the Holodeck?


Would Star Trek holodecks physically affect you once you exit the Holodeck?



Meaning, if someone programmed a holodeck to dump a bucket of water over you head, would you have wet hair (outside later on)?



Answer



I believe the answer depends somewhat on how the holodeck is programmed.


BUT there is a classical example of the water being "real", so it's certanly one of the feasible outcomes with right programming:


In "Encounter at Farpoint", Wesley Crusher falls some water (a river IIRC) while in holodeck, and exits holodeck later on while still being wet.


I even found a screenshot (Yay Google image search)


enter image description here


A second frequently cited example is a piece of paper held by Data in "Elementary, Dear Data":


enter image description here





Interestingly enough, this seems to be a BUG rather than a feature (e.g. contrary to canonical understanding of holodeck technology). Wiki Holodeck article has this to say:



Matter created on the holodeck ("holomatter") requires the holoemitters to remain stable and will quickly disintegrate if it is removed from the holodeck without a mobile emitter to sustain it, although this principle has been overlooked in some episodes.


Writer Phil Farrand has often pointed out how in many episodes matter from the holodeck that gets on a real person still exists when the real person exits the holodeck. In "Encounter at Farpoint", Wesley Crusher falls into a holodeck stream, but is still wet after exiting the holodeck. In "The Big Goodbye", Picard has lipstick on his cheek after encountering a holodeck simulation of a 20th-century woman. In "Elementary, Dear Data", Data and Geordi La Forge exit the holodeck with a piece of paper that originated in the holodeck.


This could be explained using replicated rather than holographic matter.



However, that last statement is unreferenced and I'm not sure that there's any canon references to holodecks incorporating replicator technology.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Did the gatekeeper and the keymaster get intimate in Ghostbusters?

According to TVTropes ( usual warning, don't follow the link or you'll waste half your life in a twisty maze of content ): In Ghostbusters, it's strongly implied that Dana Barret, while possessed by Zuul the Gatekeeper, had sex with Louis Tully, who was possessed by Vinz Clortho the Keymaster (key, gate, get it?), in order to free Big Bad Gozer. In fact, a deleted scene from the movie has Venkman explicitly asking Dana if she and Louis "did it". I turned the quote into a spoiler since it contains really poor-taste joke, but the gist of it is that it's implied that as part of freeing Gozer , the two characters possessed by the Keymaster and the Gatekeeper had sex. Is there any canon confirmation or denial of this theory (canon meaning something from creators' interviews, DVD commentary, script, delete scenes etc...)? Answer The Richard Mueller novelisation and both versions of the script strongly suggest that they didn't have sex (or at the very l...

Why didn't The Doctor or Clara recognize Missy right away?

So after it was established that Missy is actually both the Master, and the "woman in the shop" who gave Clara the TARDIS number... ...why didn't The Doctor or Clara recognize her right away? I remember the Tenth Doctor in The Sound of Drums stating that Timelords had a way of recognizing other Timelords no matter if they had regenerated. And Clara should have recognized her as well... I'm hoping for a better explanation than "Moffat screwed up", and that I actually missed something after two watchthroughs of the episode. Answer There seems to be a lot of in-canon uncertainty as to the extent to which Time Lords can recognise one another which far pre-dates Moffat's tenure. From the Time Lords page on Wikipedia : Whether or not Time Lords can recognise each other across regenerations is not made entirely clear: In The War Games, the War Chief recognises the Second Doctor despite his regeneration and it is implied that the Doctor knows him when they fir...

story identification - Animation: floating island, flying pests

At least 20 years ago I watched a short animated film which stuck in my mind. The whole thing was wordless, possibly European, and I'm pretty sure I didn't imagine it... It featured a flying island which was inhabited by some creatures who (in my memory) reminded me of the Moomins. The island was frequently bothered by large winged animals who swooped around, although I don't think they did any actual damage. At the end one of the moomin creatures suddenly gets a weird feeling, feels forced to climb to the top of the island and then plunges down a shaft right through the centre - only to emerge at the bottom as one of the flyers. Answer Skywhales from 1983. The story begins with a man warning the tribe of approaching skywhales. The drummers then warn everybody of the hunt as everyone get prepared to set "sail". Except one man is found in his home sleeping as the noise wake him up. He then gets ready and is about to take his weapon as he hesitates then decides ...

warhammer40k - What evidence supposedly supports Tau as related to the Necrontyr?

I've heard of rumours saying that the Tau from Warhammer 40K are in fact the Necrontyr. Is there anything that supports this statement, in WH40K canon? I just found this, on 1d4 chan 1 : Helping Necrons? Or are they Necrontyr descendants? An often overlooked issue is that Tau have no warp signatures, just like Necrons, hate Warpspawns and Warp in general, just like Necrons, have the exact same skull shape,stature and short lives, and the overwhelming need for Technology and beam weapons, JUST LIKE NECRONS. GW may have planned a race that simply prepares a pacified, multiracial galaxy for Necrons to feast upon, supported by Ethereals that have a C'tan phase blade. Then there is a reference of "dark seed in east" by the Deceiver, so the tricky C'tan might give Tzeentch the finger in the JUST AS PLANNED competition. Or maybe GW just has so little creativity that they simply made a new civ conforming to an Old One's standards without knowing it. Is this the connec...