AboutDeran McKean Expertise I am a 35 year fan of all the incarnations of Star Trek from the original show to the newer incarnations, to the books, comics and toys. I can answer most questions regarding the storylines and characters including their non-screen histories.
Experience Thirty-five years of collecting Star Trek merchandise, pouring over the books, comics and attending a number of conventions
Education/Credentials I have a Bachelor's Degree in Sociology and an MBA
Question I have stated before that I thought Nagilum could not enter into our dimension, and could only draw ships and other creatures into the void.
However, after watching the Nagilum episode, I'm not so sure. When the Enterprise scanned the void, they found no matter or energy in it.
I find it difficult to believe that Nagilum's home dimension has no energy or matter in it. I find it more likely that Nagilum made the void without matter or energy in it.
My Star Trek Encyclopedia lists Nagilum as an
'extradimensional creature'; the prefix 'extra' in the dictionary is defined as 'outside,' or 'beyond.'
The Encyclopedia also lists Q as an extradimensional entity. (The Edo god is listed as transdimensional.) Since Q can obviously move from dimension to dimension, I think also Nagilum can move from dimension to dimension.
I do not think Nagilum has as much freedom (power) as Q when moving to other dimensions, as he obviously could not go to the Q Continuum if he wanted to.
Nagilum's true home dimension would be unknown, and, although Nagilum could have appeared amongst the stars (as Picard suggested at the end), he chose to create the void so that he could trap the Enterprise in order to do his experiment.
Based on this theory, Nagilum could fight the Edo god, provided he had the knowledge of the god's home dimensions and the power to go to them. However, since the Edo god existed in more than one dimension at once, it's probable Nagilum wouldn't have been able to win.
Anyway, those are my ideas, let me know if that sounds right.
One question about the episode itself:
When scanning the void, the Enterprise found no matter or energy. Does this mean that Nagilum is not energy or matter? Or does this mean that Nagilum's composition is something the Enterprise's computers simply cannot compute?
Answer Hi John -
You're exactly right in that the Enterprise's computers did not understand what they were seeing when the void containing Nagilum was scanned. Since whatever it is that makes up Nagilum and the void is un-identifiable, the read outs registered no matter or energy, even though both may have been present albeit in configurations the sensors could not recognize.
Your theory on Nagilum vs. the Edo God sounds reasonable to me. Since the Edo God is trans-dimensional i.e. existing across different dimensions, my thought is that he would be hard to fight as causing him massive injury would mean attacking him across differing dimensions.
Your theories are as reasonable as any others I've heard (perhaps more so!)
