This article is part of a directory: Game Rant's Ultimate Sci-Fi Guide
Table of contents

The universe of Star Trek is one that never stops expanding, with a lot happening since the late 1960s when the show was first created. There have been some drastic changes, like the shift (both politically and visually) of the Klingons, who have gone from the main villains of the show to brash friends of the Federation. There's been plenty of ebb and flow in alpha quadrant politics as well. The show has never tried to shy away from tacking topical issues head on, using futuristic allegory to deal with societal problems such as racism, sexism, warfare, and even consumerism. While they often deal with the big issues, there is one that began with great expectations, but got lost and forgotten: a deep-rooted environmental warning. So what happened with this forgotten plotline?

The episode in question came near the end of the critically acclaimed The Next Generation series, season 7 to be exact, and was titled “Force of Nature.” Here, scientists discover that the frequent use of high warp is having negative effects on the fabric of subspace, the landscapes of the universe. They notice that some areas of space that saw a lot of warp activity had begun to wear thin, and it is becoming increasingly hard for ships to form or maintain a warp bubble and achieve faster than light travel in these places. This could become dangerous for ships traveling in these vulnerable subspace pockets, their warp bubble destabilizing while traveling, and likely ripping their ship into pieces. While devastating on this small scale, it would also spell disaster for interstellar civilizations who relied on such travel to survive. Trade routes would be devastated, and the galaxy would have plunged back into pre-warp sparseness.

RELATED: Star Trek: When Traveling At Warp, How Do Ships Avoid Collisions?

The episode was a fairly thinly-veiled metaphor for the then-growing issue of environmental damage being wrought through the use of fossil fuel, something that still poses a threat today. The episode concluded with the notion that a Federation-wide limitation would be put into place. Starships were not allowed to travel faster than warp 7, a solution that would help slow the effects of the subspace damage, but not entirely cure it. Like today, the necessity of warp drive/fossil fuel is too great. Instead of cutting it out completely, limitations are put into place and regulations are made to hold back the storm, and quell the damage being done to the environment.

Star Trek: force of nature

While the intention behind the episode was good, it did very little to actually change anything. It came at a time when TNG was reaching its end, so there was very little time for the show to properly explore this idea. It is mentioned once afterwards in the series, but only in passing, when they are given permission to break the warp regulation and travel at full warp to deal with whatever issue the USS Enterprise D was facing that episode. Afterward, though, it continued to go unmentioned, and the idea was dropped.

The ruling that was made had good intentions, but no writers wanted to deal with it after the episode wrapped, especially by a whole new team of writers in the following shows. Voyager touched on the idea, though not explicitly, suggesting Starfleet found a way to negate the damage by installing variable warp field engines. Presumably, these were not only more efficient, but help nullify the damage caused. This was it, however. It remains to this day the only subtle mention to this lost plot.

Star Trek Warp

There are plenty of reasons that the show could explain away and ‘fix’ the warp problem. These include Voyager's possibility of newer ships being fitted with new engines that stop the problem. Alternatively, it's possible that the Dominion war, which began shortly after the new warp 7 rule, wiped everyone’s mind to the necessity of being good universe dwellers, as they were forced to just focus on surviving. It’s unlikely that during the war anyone was worried about keeping to a low warp, especially as there seems to have been only one instance of a subspace wear that affected warp in the entire franchise.

It’s a shame that, within all the many political and topical narratives found within Star Trek, there have not been more that dealt with environmental issues such as fossil fuels. It is referenced occasionally, but this was a perfect opportunity to showcase the option humans of the future putting their own comfort and convenience aside, all for the greater good of the environment. The Federation took the issue seriously, and put measures into place to stop it from happening, no matter what the cost to themselves. By ignoring this plotline, the writers missed a perfect opportunity to highlight the very topical issue facing mankind today. If there is not something more drastic done to save the environment, it might be too late.

MORE: Star Trek: Exploring The Legacy Of Lieutenant Commander George Kirk