One thing has always bothered me about the Ceti Eels--how did they get to Terrell and Chekov's brains without totally destroying their inner ears?
Ceti Eel question
- Thread starter Carpathia86
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They didn't. Remember all the blood when the one in Chekov climbed out? The next time we see Chekov he has this pink bandage plugging his ear. McCoy must have done some special 23rd century space surgery to save his hearing.
That must have been the case. What I'm interested in is how they would have gotten past the inner ear, at all. I imagine some combination of acidic saliva and/or powerful mandibles would have allowed them to get past the eardrum and connecting bones and thus gain access to the cerebrum.
There is an actual connecting tunnel where the nerves go through. All it needs to do is dig in there and follow the nerves to the brain. It may not even do much damage beyond pretty much destroying the eardrum. It's the grown ones that do the real damage as they climb back out. They may not even use the ear, they may dig out through the nose or the roof of the mouth.
I imagine it would be. Even if the Ceti Eel only chewed through the eardrum, it probably still did a number on the other little bones and/or the cochlea.
Nasty little buggers, Ceti Eels are. I was also reading in the Wrath of Khan novelization that Terrell and Chekov weren't the only ones he used eels on. Apparently, he used them on the Reliant's engineering crew, too. I imagine that none of them were as lucky as Chekov. I was also wondering what it is that the eels do to the brain to make people vulnerable to suggestion.
That would have been fun to see. Is it on any home video releases?
going in they were just little young things so could probably get into the brain easy. but coming out would be a different story.. ive often wondered why the eel came out of chekovs ear at that point..
-Chekov's resisting Khans orders created a 'brain stress' that made the eel leave (which is also possible for Terrell - it sounded like the eel was coming before he killed himself)
-theyd grown to full capacity (bit of a coincidence they would do that then though)
-McCoy's medical thing made it evacuate (although it seemed to be on its way out anyway after Chekov passed out.)
the pain mustve been excruciating pain for both men - I guess that's why Terrell chose to kill himself as the pain mustve intensified when he resisted khans order to kill kirk, and he had to kill himself to avoid killing kirk. but Chekov luckily passed out
-Chekov's resisting Khans orders created a 'brain stress' that made the eel leave (which is also possible for Terrell - it sounded like the eel was coming before he killed himself)
-theyd grown to full capacity (bit of a coincidence they would do that then though)
-McCoy's medical thing made it evacuate (although it seemed to be on its way out anyway after Chekov passed out.)
the pain mustve been excruciating pain for both men - I guess that's why Terrell chose to kill himself as the pain mustve intensified when he resisted khans order to kill kirk, and he had to kill himself to avoid killing kirk. but Chekov luckily passed out
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Still...they must not have had much in the way of earwax at that point. I can't imagine the pain of one of those little things getting past the eardrum. No wonder they screamed like that.
Yep, they cut a quick shot of McCoy injecting chekov and well, you know how fast his injections work.
Vintage movie mags had quite a few stills of McCoy working on Chekov in sickbay and McCoy arguing with him a little later. But Paramount is very stingy with actual deleted scenes -- I doubt we'll ever see all the deleted scenes.
Vintage movie mags had quite a few stills of McCoy working on Chekov in sickbay and McCoy arguing with him a little later. But Paramount is very stingy with actual deleted scenes -- I doubt we'll ever see all the deleted scenes.
Really? You'd think that they would like to offer more content in order to charge more for a product that's been out on the market for decades. If they had it, I would assumed that they would want to monetize it.
You'd think, right?
But the 50th anniversary is soon behind us and they didn't show a frame of deleted scenes on the new documentaries in the set. I thought that was going to be our best shot at seeing any.
So we have four original cast Trek movies that have been released a dozen times and they haven't ever had a single official deleted scene.
But the 50th anniversary is soon behind us and they didn't show a frame of deleted scenes on the new documentaries in the set. I thought that was going to be our best shot at seeing any.
So we have four original cast Trek movies that have been released a dozen times and they haven't ever had a single official deleted scene.
Oddly enough watched TWOK earlier today and was wondering how many of the Reliant crew may have been “eelified”. Certainly although Khan had read detailed schematics of the Enterprise and knew much about the operation of a starship, he’d had no experience in the twenty-years of technological advancements since Space Seed, and his ability to give practical instruction on modern starship operations to his followers would have been extremely limited during their exile on Ceti Alpha V.
In the brief time between Reliant being taken over and having to intercept the Enterprise I could easily see engineering personnel being pressed into service as on-the-job training for Khan’s followers, teaching them all about the operation of the intermix chambers and maintenance etc in the brief time they would have lived prior to the emergence of the eels.
I guess it is even possible that some of these people may have still been alive at the time of the Mutara battle.
You gotta suspend a degree of disbelief with this stuff. It's bloody convenient that the only species to survive the planetary apocalypse just happens to be exactly tailored to serve Kahn's designs.
I'd still like to know just how so many of them got infected by the larvae to kill that many of Khan's people to begin with?
Also, what was that control panel Khan was activating Genesis from, if the device was still on the transporter pad?
(Just saw TWOK on the big screen today, hosted by Shatner himself; it was quite awesome, but gave me a few questions on the 20th viewing... haha.)
Also, what was that control panel Khan was activating Genesis from, if the device was still on the transporter pad?
(Just saw TWOK on the big screen today, hosted by Shatner himself; it was quite awesome, but gave me a few questions on the 20th viewing... haha.)
Khan said that the eels killed 20 of his people (including Marla McGivers).
The panel and the torpedo were always separate objects. We originally see David operating the panel from the 'bridge' of the Regula I station. When Khan stole Genesis, he placed the panel on Reliant's bridge (so he could use it) while the actual torpedo was moved to the transporter room.
That's pretty much what happens in the novelization. Khan placed the Reliant's engineering crew under his control with ceti eels.
As for the eels themselves, perhaps they don't literally reach the brain and wrap around it, maybe they just secrete a substance which results in the increased suggestibility. Khan would of course want to make Chekov and Terrell squirm a bit before he controlled them, so he intentionally exaggerated the effect of the eels.
^Or he didn't know for certain. It's not like Khan was a medical expert, and he certainly didn't have the best tech to work with to make a diagnosis.
For anyone who wants to read more about the Ceti Eels...such a fun subject!...I recommend Greg Cox's To Reign in Hell. It's the next best thing to being on Ceti Alpha V when VI goes boom!
For anyone who wants to read more about the Ceti Eels...such a fun subject!...I recommend Greg Cox's To Reign in Hell. It's the next best thing to being on Ceti Alpha V when VI goes boom!
...As for them being convenient for Khan, that alone would ensure their survival: Khan would perpetuate the species in his terrarium!
Of course, we now know that the little buggers are more cosmopolitan than Khan's sales pitch would make them seem. If a Klingon town in the 2250s has them on the menu, it's a bit unlikely that they would be found on Ceti Alpha V exclusively...
Then again, said town also served fried gormagander, which supposedly is extremely difficult to come by (albeit delicious from what we hear). The food merchants might go out of their way to obtain those eels, too, despite them looking like the cheapest sort of street food on that particular street.
Or then it's all faked with early replicators or whatever they called 'em advanced protein resequencers in the 2250s.
We also meet another species with more or less identical capabilities but a different appearance and species name aboard Nero's mining ship in the 2009 film. So Khan need not be considered exceptionally lucky there. For all we know, the Trek galaxy is full of species of this sort, many of them bred by sadistic dictators for their interrogation needs and then unleashed like so many pet rabbits.
Timo Saloniemi
Of course, we now know that the little buggers are more cosmopolitan than Khan's sales pitch would make them seem. If a Klingon town in the 2250s has them on the menu, it's a bit unlikely that they would be found on Ceti Alpha V exclusively...
Then again, said town also served fried gormagander, which supposedly is extremely difficult to come by (albeit delicious from what we hear). The food merchants might go out of their way to obtain those eels, too, despite them looking like the cheapest sort of street food on that particular street.
Or then it's all faked with early replicators or whatever they called 'em advanced protein resequencers in the 2250s.
We also meet another species with more or less identical capabilities but a different appearance and species name aboard Nero's mining ship in the 2009 film. So Khan need not be considered exceptionally lucky there. For all we know, the Trek galaxy is full of species of this sort, many of them bred by sadistic dictators for their interrogation needs and then unleashed like so many pet rabbits.
Timo Saloniemi
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