Bolian's Fixation with Plumbing?

[Kadratis]

I've noticed in that several Voyager episodes that the Bolians are fixated with plumbing. Anybody know of a logical reason as to why?

JANEWAY: "I've gone through dozens of histories written about twenty first century Earth, all of them biased in one way or another. The Vulcans describe First Contact with a savagely illogical race. Ferengi talk about Wall Street as if it were holy ground. The Bolians express dismay at the low quality of human plumbing."

NEELIX: "Replicators aren't the only systems of convenience offline. We've only got four functioning lavatories for a ship of a hundred and fifty people."
JANEWAY: "I see."
NEELIX: "Needless to say, lines are beginning to form. If we don't get unstuck soon we may have a serious problem on our hands. Especially with the Bolians."

 

[raleighrob]

I don't think there's a fixation on plumbing. I think alot of what we heard over the years and different series was that Bolians have a very different digestive system than ours. They eat highly acidic, corrosive food, and thus, release similar through waste. (Which would certainly be why Neelix was worrying about the insufficient facilities!) Therefore their comment on early Earth plumbing would probably indicate that it would not be able to handle Bolian waste at all.

 

[Sci]

I've noticed in that several Voyager episodes that the Bolians are fixated with plumbing. Anybody know of a logical reason as to why?

JANEWAY: "I've gone through dozens of histories written about twenty first century Earth, all of them biased in one way or another. The Vulcans describe First Contact with a savagely illogical race. Ferengi talk about Wall Street as if it were holy ground. The Bolians express dismay at the low quality of human plumbing."

NEELIX: "Replicators aren't the only systems of convenience offline. We've only got four functioning lavatories for a ship of a hundred and fifty people."
JANEWAY: "I see."
NEELIX: "Needless to say, lines are beginning to form. If we don't get unstuck soon we may have a serious problem on our hands. Especially with the Bolians."

Actually, the sophistication of a culture's plumbing system is arguably one of the best measurements of that culture's technological and cultural development. After all, a technologically primitive society won't have good plumbing -- and a society with the capacity for good, sanitary plumbing (and, thus, good public health) that refuses to invest the resources necessary for good plumbing probably has some serious political defects.

 

[Colbtron]

I've noticed in that several Voyager episodes that the Bolians are fixated with plumbing. Anybody know of a logical reason as to why?

Maybe they poop a lot.

 

[Timo]

a society with the capacity for good, sanitary plumbing (and, thus, good public health) that refuses to invest the resources necessary for good plumbing probably has some serious political defects.

Or then has decided that "out of sight, out of mind" is not a good way to deal with waste after all. Eliminating all plumbing might be a necessary step towards true sanitation on those worlds that have erred on water closets.

I doubt Bolians are fixated on plumbing, though. Rather, humans are fixated on Bolians, and tell stereotypical (or, rather, stereoatypical) jokes about them. It's the equivalent of saying that the French are fixated on surrendering.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[at Quark's]

How many Bolians were on Voyager, anyway? The only two I seem to find in a quick search are crewman Chell and ensign Golwat ...

(I'm asking because of that Neelix quote about lines beginning to form and problems especially with the Bolians. If there were only two I'm sure it shouldn't be too hard to come up with a temporary way of waste disposal for them)

 

[T'Girl]

The Bolians express dismay at the low quality of human plumbing."

Perhaps this was the Bolians commenting upon our internal plumbing, and not our toilet facilities.



+

 

[hux]

Didn't I already do this thread? Just when you think you've had an original idea for a thread, turns out it's already been done ten years ago.

It's almost as if we're all just regurgitating the same questions and thoughts over and over again and wasting our entire lives.

No, that can't be right. That sounds like something sad, sci-fi geeks would do... but not us.

 

[1001001]

Maybe they poop a lot.

Maybe.

Anyway...please don't bump long dead threads. This one hasn't had a response in over 7 years!!

Thanks. Welcome to the board.



"Hailing Frequencies Closed"