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You are here: Experts > Movies > Star Trek Fans > Star Trek: The Next Generation > Douwd
Expert: Deran McKean - 10/22/2009
Question
QUESTION: Let's say the following are having a meeting of sorts in their space or on their planet, and a Douwd appears. He starts to pace (float for the space-dwellers), arms folded across his chest.
He mutters under his breath, "I'm very disapppointed in your species..."
How would the following react to this?
(10 of each species, except for "one-only" beings, such as Armus.)
A) Organians
B) Metrons
C) Prophets
D) Paxans
E) Calamarain
F) Edo god
G) Trelane and parents
H) Pah-Wraiths
I) Guardian
J) Great Link
K) Qs
L) Apollo
M) Armus
N) Companion
O) Crystalline Entity
P) 8472s
Q) Admiral Quinn plus others
R) Data and Lore
S) Hirogen
T) Spock plus 9 other Vulcans
ANSWER: Hi John -
Do the individuals involved know the power of a Douwd?
D. -
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Do you mind writing answers for both if they know the Douwd's power, and if they don't know the power?
ANSWER: Hi John -
If they knew about the Douwd's power I doubt anyone on the list would be antagonistic towards the Douwd and would try and engage him in some sort of dialogue and figure out why he was disappointed and what (if anything could be done about it).
The Guardian might not be too, too concerned, but I doubt he/she/it would arbitrarily escalate any conflict with the Douwd (or anyone else for that matter.)
If they didn't know about his powers, here are my thoughts:
A) Organians - they seemed not to be too concerned with the thoughts/feelings of humanoids at all unless the activities of those humanoids threatened to impact their space. Unless the Douwd made an aggressive move against them, my guess is they would ignore him as they did the Klingon commander's threats against them.
B) Metrons - Pretty much the same as the Organians, unless their space/territory was directly threatened I'd imagine they would ignore the Douwd's 'disappointment.' If he did threaten them in some way I'm imagine they would react.
C) Prophets - It didn't seem to me that they took to being threatened or ridiculed too well and my guess is they would take steps to eject the Douwd from the Wormhole in a similar way as they 'spit out' the Cardassians in the pilot episode of DS9.
D) Paxans - I think one of them would try and take possession of the Douwd.
E) Calamarain - Hard to say as we don't know if they are naturally hostile, or were just really mad at Q in the singular episode in which they appeared. My guess is they would ignore the Douwd altogether unless or until he presented threat.
F) Edo God - He/She/It would probably ignore the Douwd, again, until it broke one of the laws the God had set forth, or it presented a threat to it or the Edo people.
G) Trelane - My guess is Trelane (and his parents) would laugh but, the parents would encourage Trelane to ignore the Douwd whereas their son would want to display his superiority to the creature.
H) Pah-Wraiths - I think one of them would try and take possession of the Douwd the same way one entered Gul Dukat.
I) Guardian - I doubt the Guardian would care one way or the other what the Douwd thought about him/her/it.
J) Great Link - My guess is they would order the Jem'Hadar to capture and/or contain the Douwd.
K) Qs - I think that might amuse Q and he and his cohorts would enter into those philosophical discussions Q seemed to enjoy with Picard so much.
L) Apollo - I bet he'd react with anger and possibly violence and attempt to use his abilities to 'correct' the Douwd.
M) Armus - He'd laugh and attempt to prove his superiority against the Douwd and somehow instill fear within him.
N) Companion - I'd imagine she would be kind of hurt by the comment and would try and find out why the Douwd was disappointed in her and her kind.
O) Entity - My thought was that the Entity was like an animal and I think it would try and 'eat' the Douwd.
P) 8472s - They would probably attack the Douwd.
Q) Quinn - My guess is they would probably attack, believing that the Douwd had discovered their existence and that their plans for domination of the Federation were at risk.
R) Data and Lore - Data would attempt to analyze what criterion the Douwd used to determine the characteristic of disappointment and Lore would attempt to con him and win his trust, probably by saying something like "I don't blame you, sometimes I disappoint myself..."
S) Hirogen - They would attempt to restrain the Douwd somehow (handcuffs, stasis fields, etc.) until they could take him somewhere and hunt him for sport.
T) Spock - I think they would attempt to ascertain what criterion the Douwd used to determine his disappointment, and why they fell under that characterization.
Thanks!
Deran
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Actually, in the Douwd episode, we found that the Husnock attacked despite knowing (to some extent) the Douwd's powers. The Douwd said he created illusions, and yet the Husnock were not fooled. Of course, the Husnock (probably) did not know the Douwd's full power, i.e., the ability to destroy an entire species with a thought, or else I seriously doubt they would have still attacked.
Also, I wonder why the Douwd didn't simply render the Husnock's weapons inoperable, as the Organians did with the Klingons and Federation. Maybe the Douwd can't affect technology? That seems to be the most reasonable solution, unless in the heat of the moment he simply forgot.
Do you think a Pah-Wraith could take over a Douwd, Organian, Metron, or Trelane?
You said that Trelane would try and display his superiority to the Douwd. Based on the limited evidence we have, do you believe that Trelane is superior to the Douwd, or is that just his 'arrogance' talking?
Answer
Hi John -
Those Husnock are vicious creatures and, at least to some extent, apparently not too concerned with self preservation! I doubt they knew the full extent of the Douwd's ability because even the most vicious animals (and plants) on Earth would not willingly attack something that could lead to the extinction of their species.
My guess would be that the Douwd's abilities don't affect technology to the extent that he can apparently affect living creatures. Otherwise he could have shut down the Enterprise's transporters and shuttles and prevented Picard and crew from venturing to his planet.
I think a Pah-Wraith might be able to do that! Given their ability to manifest their consciousness across multiple points in time they must be very powerful.
I don't necessarily believe Trelane is superior to the Douwd, but he did seem very arrogant and full of himself, even when confronted by the superior logic displayed by Capt. Kirk.
Thanks!
Deran
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