Species of the week: Voth

Post by **Teaos** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 12:34 pm

Despite the fact they are just a single episode species never mentioned again to my knowledge the Voth are one of the things I remember most strongly about trek.

The reptilian species that evolved on earth 75 millions years ago who now live in the Delta quadrant.

While they do have rather strong tech it is no where near what you would expect humans to be in 75 million years time.

It is partially explained away by there very strict rules which all but out law innovation.

It also seems odd that there is no trace of them on earth at all but then again they didn't know about the Borg despite a cube frozen up north.

Post by **Tsukiyumi** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 2:42 pm

75 million years is a short time from a geological standpoint, but it's long enough that whatever traces of a civilization that old would more than likely be under the ocean floor, or inside a mountain range.

As for why they aren't even more advanced, that's a long time for a species. Maybe inbreeding limited their gene pool. Or maybe that city-ship we saw was only their 'cruiser' class. I don't remember if they mentioned that being the only 'city-ship', or even if they called it that in the episode.

Interesting that certain one-off races on Trek seem to gain huge support from fans: the Gorn, the Husnock, the Sheliak (one of my favorites), the Devore, the Voth...

Post by **Captain Seafort** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 2:53 pm

The issue of technology could well be due to the physical limitations of diosaurs - they'd have to wait until they developed opposable thumbs before they could start devloping seriously.

One of the best bits of the episode I felt was their computer technology - Fed computer security has been depicted as non-existent throughout TNG+ Trek. With the Voth, they finally discovered what a group of proficient hackers could do to their systems.

Post by **Teaos** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 2:55 pm

The issue of technology could well be due to the physical limitations of diosaurs - they'd have to wait until they developed opposable thumbs before they could start devloping seriously.

But they obviously had advanced tech at least 65 million years ago when they left earth. That still leaves 65 million years to improve their tech. But their tech doesnt seem more than a few hundred years ahead of the Federation.

Post by **Captain Seafort** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 2:58 pm

Teaos wrote:
The issue of technology could well be due to the physical limitations of diosaurs - they'd have to wait until they developed opposable thumbs before they could start devloping seriously.
But they obviously had advanced tech at least 65 million years ago when they left earth. That still leaves 65 million years to improve their tech. But their tech doesnt seem more than a few hundred years ahead of the Federation.

No they didn't - if they did there would be evidence of it lying around. I think it's far more likely that some diosaurs were transplanted from Earth (perhaps by the Preservers), to save them from the asteroid that wiped out the others, and were dumped on an uninhabited world in the Delta Quadrent. From there they continued to evolve until the Voth emerged.

Post by **Mikey** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 4:28 pm

Was it ever mentioned if they evolved and then left Earth, or if they left (were taken from) Earth and then evolved?

Sionnach Glic · Post by **Sionnach Glic** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 5:25 pm

I think (though I can't be 100% sure) that they just mentioned they had left Earth, how isn't really explained.

Monroe · Post by **Monroe** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 9:44 pm

Think they left Earth cause of the asteroid. Or that was implied.

They're one of my favorite races and one of the few races out there that aren't noncorporeal yet don't fear the Borg.

And we know that intelligence has developed in the past besides humans in our nearest relatives and Australia has a court case to see if Orca's like Dolphins and Killer Whales count as sentient species. Only problem is I don't think lizards can develop inteligence because of blood problems.

Weyoun the Dancing Borg · Mon Nov 05, 2007 11:04 pm

Captain Seafort wrote:
No they didn't - if they did there would be evidence of it lying around.

Yes, and also the Sanctury Districts would have happened, the Eugenics wars would have happened 10-15 odd years ago etc.

Obviously, in the past, it seemed "futuristic" but we've already gone past some of the Trek "history". Since what transpired in the shows never happened, it's obviously set in a parallel universe. Therefore WE wouldn't necessarily have any evidence of it.

That said, 65 million years of time moves continents, produces and removes mountain ranges. Can you give an example of what would have survived? Even nuclear waste would have decayed into carbon or what-have-you.

Wooden huts would no longer exist. Concrete buildings (our current tech) would be eroded. Metals would oxidise or similar.

This is 65 million years, here.

What could survive that, from present day?

Even our plastics and such only last a few tens of thousands/hundreds of thousands. We're talking nearly 2 orders of magnitude greater.

Harley Filben · Post by **Harley Filben** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 11:20 pm

What evidence do we have that Federation will be more advanced in 75 million years?
(Leaving aside time travel which creates more problems than it solves and it involves switching to a parallel universe anyway.)

Post by **Teaos** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 11:43 pm

If every human dropped dead now there would be shit loads of evidence about us in 75 million years. Ruins buried in the earth. Our plastic waste and some fossils.

The fact that we get better tech over time and 75 milion years is a long time it seems logical we would be rather advanced if not assended.

Weyoun the Dancing Borg · Tue Nov 06, 2007 12:24 am

Teaos wrote:If every human dropped dead now there would be **** loads of evidence about us in 75 million years. Ruins buried in the earth. Our plastic waste and some fossils.

The fact that we get better tech over time and 75 milion years is a long time it seems logical we would be rather advanced if not assended.

Can you prove that, though? Continents drifting, subduction etc... as I said, even our nuclear waste will have exhausted it's half-lives by then. What would remain?

Perhaps some fossils, but that's was the episode was built on. Suddenly the fossils vanished. To us, they were wiped out. In-Universe, they ... evolved. They had a plan... *cough*.

Post by **Teaos** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 12:46 am

There are dinosaure foot print, bones, eggs lots of evidence for their existence and they had hardly any inpact on the planet as a whole. We have nearly destroyed it however. There would be lots of evidence of random stuff everywhere.

Harley Filben · Post by **Harley Filben** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 12:51 am

Teaos wrote:The fact that we get better tech over time and 75 milion years is a long time it seems logical we would be rather advanced if not assended.

Yes we do but there is no guarantee that our technology will keep getting better indefinitely or at the same pace.

Post by **Mikey** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 7:35 am

Indeed, even in 'Trek advancement seems to have slowed down - but even considering that, in 75 million years there are bound to be a few massive breakthroughs.