Exactly. There's no reason they *both* can't be "true".
Underappreciated TrekLit
- Thread starter Mage
- Start date
Except it's not just MU continuity that Dark Mirror and canon disagree on. For one thing, DM treats the events of "Mirror, Mirror" as classified information revealed only on a need-to-know basis, but "Crossover" established that Bashir had learned about it at the Academy. DM also posits that if a substantial (starship-sized) amount of mass from one timeline remains permanently in another, it would lead to a catastrophic instability that would destroy most of the galaxy. That's disproven by both "In a Mirror, Darkly" (with the Defiant) and ST 2009 (with the Narada). If that were a law of physics, then it would be true in every alternate timeline.
Oh, no question. We don't read stories because they "fit," we read them because they're enjoyable. Lord of the Rings doesn't "fit" with A Tale of Two Cities, but that doesn't mean that either of them is not worthwhile. Continuity is a bonus, not a priority.
Or, even more to the point, the Tim Burton BATMAN movies don't fit with Christopher Nolan BATMAN movies, but we can enjoy them both as different takes on the same idea, even thought they don't fit into the same seamless continuity . . ..
According to MB, Dark Mirror took place in 2367, and Bashir was at the Academy at this time. If the events of Dark Mirror were the trigger that caused Starfleet to declassify the original incident, then there's still time for Bashir to learn about it at the Academy before he graduates.
... I've got nothing.
Law of *whose* physics? Maybe that effect between the DM universe and "our" universe is the result of something peculiar about the essential physics of the DM universe - that doesn't apply to the MU we saw in DS9?
And... yeah. You have to try too hard to make it work. Oh, well, like you said, doesn't have to be consistent to be enjoyable. Once again, though, I am left preferring Diane Duane's writings to what we saw on screen afterward. (Stupid Remans
)Also, it's kind of dumb that they would teach about the MU specifically at the Academy, don't you think? That IS what Bashir said, so obviously they do, but good grief that is a glaring security issue.
The so-called "universes" are really alternate timelines of the same universe. They have the same stars and planets and life forms and individuals, just differing histories. A universe with even slightly different physical laws than our own would probably not have stars or planets or life as we know it at all.
Bashir said they learned about Kirk's transporter accident. It was probably studied as a matter of interdimensional physics. The confirmed existence of alternate timelines, and the discovery of a means to travel between them, is an enormously important scientific breakthrough. I don't know what "security issue" there could be that would outweigh that.
Plus it wouldn't be a bad thing to tell the cadets in general - "So, we have confirmation of the existence of parallel timelines, and that it is possible to cross between these timelines and our own. In the event this may happen to you, be aware of the following protocols in how to handle this situation..."
Both a DS9-R novel and Q & A confirmed there are different mirror universes. Memory Beta likes to differentiate by saying, "in one permutation of the mirror universe..."
In the novels, we have Sisko and the ISS Enterprise-E serving Terran Empires that never fell.
In the novels, we have Sisko and the ISS Enterprise-E serving Terran Empires that never fell.
Well, Memory Beta tends to conflate multiple incompatible continuities into a single article, so one can't really take that as meaningful. They mean in one permutation of the fictional concept of the Mirror Universe.
On one hand, you're both correct... but on the other hand, it seems like you're ALSO freely handing out the info that the Federation could potentially be destroyed at any time by monkeying around with the transporters in certain ways and bringing through an MU invasion force. Not exactly something you want cadets discussing at the bar with agents of Federation adversaries potentially sitting at nearby tables - or that you would want a disgruntled ex-cadet like Nick Locarno knowing about.
Maybe they tell them about the parallel universes, but leave the technical details classified?
A civilization could be destroyed at any time by an asteroid or a supernova or a plague. That doesn't mean you make it illegal to study them. On the contrary, hiding information is absolutely the worst, stupidest, most self-defeating way to deal with a potential threat. People can't defend against it if they don't know about it.
Besides, there are a couple of things we know from "Mirror, Mirror." One is that the crossover was a freak event occurring because of a rare weakening in the dimensional "barrier" between universes caused by the ion storm. It wasn't the transporters alone that made it possible.
The other, more important thing is that the characters already had a theoretical understanding of the situation. Kirk was able to deduce what was going on and how it had happened before he even consulted the computer. The idea of a parallel universe wasn't some shocking, unprecedented idea, but something that a non-scientist could recognize and accept easily. The mirror computer already had the necessary information to tell Scotty how to recreate the accident. Kirk and Scott already had the theoretical knowledge to speak handily about the "field density between universes" (whatever that's supposed to mean). Understanding the situation came easily; their obstacle was merely one of dealing with the Mirror crew long enough to carry out an otherwise routine procedure. That tells us that 23rd-century science already had sufficient theoretical knowledge to take a visit to a parallel universe in stride.
So, really, what is there to keep secret? Federation science as of "Mirror, Mirror" clearly already understands that parallel universes can exist (naturally, since the theory would be centuries old by that point) and grasps the physics and engineering principles behind a crossover. The discovery of the Mirror Universe's existence and a mechanism for making the crossing would merely be confirmation of existing theory.
We also know from the episode the field density was increasing, and if the landing party didn't return soon, they wouldn't be able to get out in "a century". So possibly Starfleet thought it didn't really matter who knew, since no one would be able to get to that particular universe anyway.
When they (initially) crossed over in DS9, it was using a completely different method.
My memory is fuzzy, but that kinda reminds me of Stargate SG-1, which had something similar as an excuse to prevent evacuation in their first parallel universe episode - which was later entirely ignored.
No, that actually still came up fairly regularly in later cross-universe travel; often as a handwave for why it wasn't a concern this time, but they at least acknowledged it regularly. Stargate was really good at not forgetting its own technobabble as things progressed. It was called "entropic cascade failure"; basically if you had a living counterpart in the parallel universe you went to, you'd start to fall apart at the cellular level.
It wasn't the first one, though, but the second, where the parallel Carter and Kozinski [Kawalski] came to the main universe. Kozinski [Kawalski] was fine, but Carter was dying because her counterpart was still alive. (Wasn't an issue in the first, when Daniel crossed universes, because his counterpart was apparently dead already.)
It wasn't the first one, though, but the second, where the parallel Carter and Kozinski [Kawalski] came to the main universe. Kozinski [Kawalski] was fine, but Carter was dying because her counterpart was still alive. (Wasn't an issue in the first, when Daniel crossed universes, because his counterpart was apparently dead already.)
Last edited:
^That's Kawalsky, not Kozinski.
Similar threads
