Exploring The Federal Writers' Project, 1936-40 Analysis Of One: Fill & Download for Free

The Milky Way of Star Trek is divided, like a pizza cut into four slices, into four quadrants: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta. These are the first four letters of the Greek alphabet. The Alpha Quadrant is bordered by the Beta and Gamma Quadrants, and kitty-corner to the Delta Quadrant.There are two barriers in the Milky Way; one prevents access to the galactic core, while the other prevents leaving the galaxy. So I guess it's more like a bagel pizza cut into four slices. Whatever.A complicating factor: The boundaries between quadrants are something like longitude lines on Earth: they are systematically determined, but based on an arbitrary line drawn by political considerations. On Earth, the arbitrary line is the Prime Meridian, and it was drawn based on the location of the observatory doing the astronomy used for longitude calculations in the greatest sea power of the time, the British Empire.In Star Trek, the arbitrary line is the Alpha/Beta Quadrant border, which runs through the Federation, not far from Earth. The exact location and origin of the border is unclear. Some fans believe that Earth's solar system is the dividing line; others think that it reflects some rough border between the combatants in the pre-Federation Romulan War. Whatever the source, in TOS the Enterprise is often "the only ship in the quadrant" during some emergency, so the Federation must have some holdings in the Beta Quadrant but not very extensive ones. (Or, y'know, the TOS writers didn't have any idea what they were doing. Which is true.)It's not clear if the Federation's neighbors accept this definition or have their own ways of dividing the galaxy; it seems highly unlikely that more distant powers like the Borg or the Dominion use it except in their dealings with the Federation. Perhaps the Universal Translator understands each culture's system and knows how to translate between them.In any case, since the Alpha/Beta border runs through the Federation, this means that the power structure around the Federation is arbitrarily divided into two quadrants. This is particularly obvious in DS9, where dialog often refers to "the Alpha Quadrant" even when Beta Quadrant powers like the Klingons and Romulans are involved.The Alpha Quadrant is where much of the action of Star Trek takes place. It appears that the near-Alpha Quadrant included more unsettled or independent systems than the near-Beta Quadrant, and so the Federation has had more success expanding into it, and is primarily an Alpha Quadrant power. Major Alpha Quadrant powers include:United Federation of Planets: a post-scarcity, democratic, multicultural society emphasizing exploration and diplomacy over military actionCardassian Union (and various other Cardassian governments over the course of DS9): a militaristic, nearly fascist cultureAlso present but less prominent:Ferengi Alliance: a culture founded on unrestrained and often dishonest tradeBreen Confederacy: little is known other than that they were willing to join the DominionTholian Assembly: an isolationist powerThough the Klingons and Romulans are in the Beta Quadrant, they're adjacent to the Alpha Quadrant and are a major consideration in its power structures. All of these powers are more or less on a par with one another in terms of military technology, and seem to be advancing at a similar pace.An important feature of the Alpha Quadrant is the mouth of the Bajoran Wormhole, which lies in a system near Cardassian space. The Bajorans, formerly occupied by the Cardassians, are now independent, but are on friendly terms with the Federation, who help them defend the wormhole.In sum: The Alpha Quadrant is characterized by a set of powers who have similar high and rapidly advancing levels of development. Though they are very different from one another, these powers are capable of peaceful coexistence, and usually choose to do so.The Beta Quadrant is the other place where most of the Star Treks occur. Nearby powers include:Romulan Star Empire, a secretive and somewhat paranoid power characterized by its powerful intelligence apparatusKlingon Empire: a warrior culture obsessed with gaining "honor" through battleThe Federation has a smaller presence in the Beta Quadrant than the Alpha Quadrant, but still has significant holdingsThe Romulans and Klingons appear to hem in the Federation, limiting its expansion into the Beta Quadrant, and Voyager found a shortcut home that bypassed the entire Beta Quadrant, so information on what lies deeper in the quadrant is limited. But we do know of two Delta Quadrant powers that have a presence in the Beta Quadrant:The Borg have some holdings deep in the Beta Quadrant, including System J-25, where Starfleet made first contactThe Hirogen once had a presence in the Beta Quadrant too, although they are dwindlingIn sum: The Beta Quadrant is, despite its proximity to the Federation, the least well-explored quadrant (at least from the viewer's perspective). We don't really know what's out there, but some of what we do know is rather troubling.The Gamma Quadrant is adjacent to the Alpha Quadrant, but far from the Federation. The other mouth of the Bajoran Wormhole is in the Gamma Quadrant. Since Voyager decided it would be quicker to fly home directly instead of heading for the Bajoran Wormhole, we may assume that the Gamma Quadrant mouth is probably closer to the Alpha Quadrant than the Delta Quadrant, and far from Voyager's starting point.The only significant power known in the Gamma Quadrant is:The Dominion, a sort of evil twin to the Federation—a single, technologically advanced political entity comprised of many diverse species, but held together by force rather than friendshipIt's hard to overstate the influence of the Dominion in the known Gamma Quadrant. Alpha Quadrant ships exploring the Gamma Quadrant have discovered many species, but most of them seem to either be part of the Dominion or live in fear of it. A few Dominion member species have even been genetically engineered to take on certain roles, like soldiers (Jem'Hadar) and administrators (Vorta). And considering how quickly they invaded the Alpha Quadrant, it's likely that the Dominion aggressively subjugates any power it comes into contact with—and since they've had a long time (something like 2,000 years) to do so, they've probably spread far and wide.Nevertheless, the Gamma Quadrant has not been open to Federation exploration for very long. We have no idea what might lie deeper in the quadrant, far from the Bajoran Wormhole.In sum: The Gamma Quadrant, to the extent it's known to us, is dominated by the Dominion, which imposes order through a "carrot and stick" approach—one where the stick is more like a Louisville slugger with a bunch of rusty nails in it.The Delta Quadrant is the region farthest from the Federation and is the area explored by Voyager. Delta Quadrant powers include:Borg Collective: an expansionist power comprised of trillions of cybernetically-enhanced drones forming a hive mind, which forcibly assimilates useful individuals and societies, and ruthlessly exploits everything elseHirogen: a nomadic hunter culture, once a powerful empire in their own rightVidiian Sodality: once a peaceful and artistic culture, two thousand years of being ravaged by a disease called the Phage has left them with few scruples about stealing organs from unwilling living donorsKrenim Imperium: a species that developed powerful time-altering technology which could completely erase a target from existence; the use of this technology would alter the past, however, sometimes with unpredictable effects, and so their power would vary between timelinesKazon: a nomadic warrior species divided into various sects, which squabbled over resources and past slightsThe list above ignores many individual planets and small societies in a variety of circumstances, ranging from worlds in abject misery to extremely advanced civilizations that put Voyager's technology to shame.In sum: The Delta Quadrant appears to be a tough place to live, with many failing and fallen empires, perhaps due to the pressure of Borg expansion; however, there are some very advanced species peppered amidst this sea of suffering.Overall: There are two superpowers in the galaxy: the Dominion and the Borg Collective. The Alpha Quadrant (and the part of the Beta Quadrant nearest it) has a local system of great powers who can mostly cooperate. The Delta Quadrant probably used to have a similar system, but the presence of the Borg is slowly destroying it.There are signs, though, that the near-Alpha/near-Beta Quadrant system is becoming unstable too. The 24th-century series seem to show most of these powers slowly unraveling: over twenty or so years of the Star Trek universe, we see significant changes in the Klingon Empire, tectonic shifts in the Ferengi Alliance, a revolving door of Cardassian governments, and the utter collapse of the Romulan Star Empire. Things are falling apart for the Federation's neighbors.Why? My guess is that the ultimate cause of these changes is that they simply can't keep up with the pace the Federation is setting. Most of these powers are much older than the Federation, and yet the Federation quickly caught up with them and continued to improve its technology level at the same pace, so its neighbors must have had to up their game to keep up. Perhaps their old political systems can't handle this rapid advancement. In other words, the Federation is rapidly ascending to superpower status, and like Britain and France in the Cold War, the other powers in the region just don't have what it takes to match that.Fortunately for them, if they can swallow their pride and adopt more egalitarian political systems, the Federation would be happy to accept their neighbors as members with at least large portions of their old cultures intact.I suspect that, within a couple hundred years, the Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians, and Ferengi will have seats on the Federation Council. Then the Federation will join the Dominion and the Borg on the galactic stage. And what happens from there is anybody's guess.

Maybe. DS9 saw a lot of creative migration between it and TNG and VOY, shows it overlapped with. DS9’s format was unique for Trek in that it was highly arc driven and was not about exploration. Yes, it was Trek and had exploration of races, issues and some of the Gamma Quadrant. On the whole, DS9 was a show about a transcendent human straddling two worlds while a war between two super-powers waged on around him.Trek has never explored such dark issues. TOS and TNG were mostly stand-alone episodes about a utopian society exploring the cosmos. In DS9, there was genocide, war, combat, assassinations, torture, plots within plots and a lot of other dark themes. Case in point, there were stories about Federation secret rogue government agencies assassinating leaders and manipulating the events of the Alpha Quadrant. There was a conspiracy by Captain Sisko to murder one of the Romulan Senators, blame the Dominion all in the name of saving the Federation. Trek was never originally about these things. But it worked and I loved it.

Without a doubt, my go to chill out episode(s) is(are) “Redemption Parts I & II.”* from Star Trek: The Next Generation. I've watched the cliffhanger about the Klingon Civil War at least a dozen times—I taped both parts off my local station when they aired in the early ’90s for repeat viewings.The two-parter is high-octane for the generally low-key TNG, as newly christened Chancellor Gowron, faces a challenge to his leadership from the duplicitous Duras Family, known associates of the Romulan Empire (why does that sound oddly familiar?).Worf leaves his home ship, resigning his Starfleet commission to fight alongside the rightful leader of the Klingon Empire. Picard walks the line, knowing full well the Romulans are involved somehow, but his hands are tied because the Federation won't interfere with internal cultural affairs.It's also filled with battles and intrigue and espionage:Worf gets captured.Worf's brother Kurn is a badass captain.Picard p0wns the Duras Sisters.Data gets his first command (not well received by some, either), allowing for a meaningful side-debate about the merits of AI leadership.Guinan p0wns Worf in phaser practice.And, to top that all off, the writers introduced recurring fan-favorite villain, Commander Sela, the daughter of Tasha Yar and a Romulan.“Redemption” also further explores the Klingons' tricky alliance with the Federation and their contentious relationship with the Romulans, as well as the Federation's stake in the Alpha Quadrant.There's so much great character development and so many exciting moments, it's impossible not to get sucked into the 24th century while watching “Redemption.”*Technically, I'm cheating by listing two shows, but I really consider them one very tasty, comforting 2-hour episode.