Why so little regard for the Beta Quadrant?

[Punch&Pie]

Hello all, I am new here, but an avid Star Trek Fan. I have seen about all of TNG, DS9, VOY and ENT. I've noticed over all of these series, especially DS9 and Voyager, there is almost no regard that the Beta Quadrant even exists, let alone that parts of the series take place there.

I've been wondering if anyone else has noticed, or is bothered by this. From all the data I have searched and reviewed, Earth is on the border of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. Qo'nos, Vulcan and Romulus are all in the Beta, home world of three of the most major species in the Trek universe.

Yet, throughout Voyager there is virtually no mention of the Beta. Even though, aside from the Borg Transwarp network, the last major leg of Voyager's trip back to Earth would have included their travels through the Beta.

DS9's Dominion War was supposed to have been all major powers of the Alpha Quadrant. I'll take that the majority of the war took place in the Alpha, but both the Romulan Star and Klingon Empires, two of the three major allies in the war, are both settled in the Beta. Let alone a good half of the Federation is in the Beta.

So, does anyone else find this odd? Or am I seeing something that isn't there?

 

[Admiral Shran]

A lot of the Beta Quadrant information you've probably encountered is, IMO, wrong.

There is no on-screen evidence that Earth sits on the Alpha-Beta Quadrant border. The closest that dialogue or images comes is saying that some Federation territory is, at least, close to the Beta Quadrant.

The idea that the Klingons and Romulans are from the Beta Quadrant, which is in reference works, seems to be based on the fact that Klingon and Romulan territory are always shown as being "to the left" on on-screen maps, and whenever the four Quadrants are actually seen on a map, the Beta Quadrant is always "to the left" of the Alpha.

I personally prefer to think that Earth sits in the center of the Alpha Quadrant, with the Federation extending out from it in all directions.

I also think that the whole "Earth sits on the dividing line" and "the Federation spills over into the Beta Quadrant" were created by the powers that be in order to explain away all the times in TOS when they said things like "we're the only ship in the quadrant." IMO, that shows that the powers that be don't think too highly of the audience and that have to ret-con some nonsensical explanation into the franchise.

 

[RRtexasranger]

This is probably the most accurate and official map available:

http://booredatwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Star_trek_map2.jpg

and http://ucip.org/sims/science/newmaps/quadrants.jpg

It comes from some Star Trek technical manual or something. This map shows Earth as in the middle of the two quadrants.

 

[Arpy]

I agree with the OP. Beta gets no respect, and I wonder why the hell they put Earth on the dividing line if they were never going to mention the Beta Quadrant.

They probably do it for simplicity's sake...we're in the Alpha Quadrant. Get it: A = 1 = starting point. And they're far away (past this place Alpha and a whole nother place Beta) in the Gamma Quadrant. THIRD Greek letter = C = 3 = really really far. And those other guys, hell, they're in the Delta Quadrant. The FOURTH QUADrant = forget about it how far those guys are. It's like they think we think the galaxy is a long strip cut into four segments A-B-C-D rather than a circle quartered off. And the casual viewer...who knows?

But why come up with this stuff if you're not going to use it?

And the part of making the galaxy a strip rather than a circle or spheroid: why actively misrepresent the way things are? Sometimes there's too much artifice in art for its own sake. They're just creating unreality they'll have to bitch about in art later.

 

[M-Red]

In-universe, it's best fixed by just saying that the designations were changed at some point. Out-of-universe, it's easy to see why the writers never show us a galactic map...that'd be a canonical nightmare they couldn't possibly make right.


However....by DS9, it's very clear by on-screen actions that everyone we see not from the Delta Quadrant (Starfleet, the Vulcans, Klingons, Rommies, Cardies, Bajorans, Ferengi, Betazed...everyone) considers themselves and everything they know to be a part of the Alpha Quadrant. They even call their joined fores the Alpha Quadrant Alliance.


The Beta Quadrant is completely unexplored I think...

 

[Punch&Pie]

I think Admiral Shran has the right idea here (That and I like his South Park "location"). The retcon got it all messed up. But I still think the Beta should be more major than it is.

...and I wonder why the hell they put Earth on the dividing line if they were never going to mention the Beta Quadrant.

My guess would be a similar situation as Greenwich and the Prime Meridian. As far as never mentioning the Beta, that's my main gripe as well.

For some reason, whenever I watch an episode of any of the Star Treks I want to know where they are in relation to their mission from Sector 001. I'm like this in real life too, I always like to be able to place my current location on a map at any given time.

The whole deal with Alpha > Beta has just frustrated me over the years, but mostly during Voyager.

 

[Admiral Shran]

I also like the Greenwich/Prime Meridian analogy as well.

The thing is - that system is entirely based upon the location of London on the globe. London sits on the Prime Meridian, but the dividing line between days is the International Date Line, which is on the opposite side of the planet.

I like that idea with relation to Earth in Trek. Earth sits on the Prime Meridian of the Alpha Quadrant, and thus is in the center, like London is in the "center" of Earth.

 

[RRtexasranger]

In-universe, it's best fixed by just saying that the designations were changed at some point. Out-of-universe, it's easy to see why the writers never show us a galactic map...that'd be a canonical nightmare they couldn't possibly make right.


However....by DS9, it's very clear by on-screen actions that everyone we see not from the Delta Quadrant (Starfleet, the Vulcans, Klingons, Rommies, Cardies, Bajorans, Ferengi, Betazed...everyone) considers themselves and everything they know to be a part of the Alpha Quadrant. They even call their joined fores the Alpha Quadrant Alliance.


The Beta Quadrant is completely unexplored I think...

Here is a map shown on screen in Insurrection.

http://startrekpropcollector.com/trekauctions/items/6746

According to the cannon map, the Klingons and the Romulans reside in the Beta Quadrant and it has indeed been explored.

 

[Anwar]

The Star Charts book being used for images here actually says that "Earth really isn't at the dividing line of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. That's just our human conceit."

 

[C.E. Evans]

To me, it doesn't seem implausible that the Federation, the Klingons, and the Romulans all have territories in both the Alpha and Beta Quadrants, IMO. Qo'noS and Romulus might be in the Beta Quadrant, but the farthest reaches of their empires may extend towards Earth in the Alpha Quadrant perhaps. The same could be said maybe for the region of Federation space containing the Neutral Zone(s) being in the Beta Quadrant.

From a casual perspective, it seems that either the major powers in the Star Trek universe are fairly close to one another or that ships move a lot faster than we think they do.

 

[RRtexasranger]

Well, humans arbitrarily drew set the quadrants. They could have sent Earth as being in the middle, but they didn't. It's not like quadrants were there before people come up with it. Of course it is just a human idea.

And no matter how it boils down. Earth is in border line between the Alpha and Beta quadrant. Canon says so, so we must accept that is fact when determining why the UFP always considers themselves as being part of the Alpha Quadrant instead of he Beta Quadrant.

 

[Rom's Sehlat]

I'm no experienced Trekkie, but I was under the impression the UFP and RSE both had parts of their territories in the Beta Quadrant. It wasn't "far away" like the Delta or Gamma Quadrants, but nobody really talks about the "Beta" side of the Federation or anything.

 

[Mr Silver]

Well Sherman's Planet was on the borders of the Beta Quadrant and that was a Solar System shared by the Federation and the Klingon Empire. One might also consider that the 'Romulan Neutral Zone' is an area of Space sandwiched between Federation and Romulan territory (or it may just be that one or both sides have outposts on the rims).

Some people have proposed that Vulcan sits on the borders between the Alpha and Beta Quadrants and Earth is only a couple of lightyears away from the Vulcan. So it could be that Earth is just outside of the Alpha/Beta Quadrant borders.

We know that both the Romulan and Klingon Empires are fairly close to the Alpha Quadrant. Perhaps as short a distance as 100 lightyears (it only took the Klingons a few days to reach DS9 from Quo'nos, which is a fair distance from Earth)

 

[BillJ]

Captain Sulu and the Excelsior spent three years studying gaseous anomalies in the Beta Quadrant per Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered country.

 

[StalwartUK]

"Alpha Quadrant" Is probably just the common term for the part of the galaxy that's near to Earth/Sol (Federation, Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians etc.). Whenever it was used on screen was usually to disgunish it from another part of the galaxy such as Voyager heading home from the Delta Quadrant or the Dominion invading the Alpha Quadrant from the Gamma Quadrant.

There are actually real galactic quadrants used by astronomers, however these are centered on the Earth/Sun instead of the galactic center.

 

[Arpy]

^ Earthers...

Like I said, I think Beta gets no respect, and it was idiotic to create it if they were never going to use it.

I try to reconcile the Alpha Quadrant Alliance business by thinking of it as the Federation Alliance. That is, the UFP started the thing so they got top billing. It's not PC or accurate, but it's something I guess better than "the writers don't like science or respect the audience's intelligence."

Sort of like how Russia is considered part of the West even though the bulk of it isn't, I think the Klingons and Romulans consider themselves Alpha powers. Especially in relation to the Dominion/Gamma powers. Much of the UFP (half the capital!) is in the Beta Quadrant but... Reminds me of China (definite Eastern country, right?) well they think of themselves as the Middle Kingdom.

 

[neozeks]

And no matter how it boils down. Earth is in border line between the Alpha and Beta quadrant. Canon says so, so we must accept that is fact when determining why the UFP always considers themselves as being part of the Alpha Quadrant instead of he Beta Quadrant.

But does canon really say so? I know background books (and fan speculation based on them) say so but they're not canon. The most we have from the episodes themselves is a couple of vague and blurry graphics/maps. But I take those with a huge grain of salt. They were made to look pretty, not accurate. If we unquestionably take those at face value, then we should also accept the Enterprise has a ship's duck and that all LCARS is is just a bunch of random numbers.

I'm with Admiral Shran on this one. Most of the actual canon - the dialogue and the plot of the episodes - works much better if we accept Earth is somewhere roughly in the center of the AQ (and why would it neccessarily have to be a human system? it's equally posible someone else devised it and the humans just gave their names to the quadrants). I know that's what I thought just from watching the episodes. And I was quite surprised when I saw that the background sources say otherwise.

Plus it simply seems more practical to me. AQ = designation for "near space", BQ and GQ = designation for "space at middle distance", DQ = "far away space". What's the significance of the quadrants if Earth is at the border of AQ and BQ? In that case, if you say something is in the BQ that could mean anything from "it's right next to Earth" to "it's all the way oveeeeer theeeere", it doesn't really tell you much. Same with AQ.

 

[black_dranzer]

The Beta Quadrant is where the Galactic Fight Club is located...that's why no-one ever talks about it...

 

[Xerxes1979]

I have never understood why quartering the galaxy would be remotely useful to either the in universe characters or the audience.

The Federation already had sector based spatial system since forever. Also simply stating the distance from Earth in light years has proven more than adequate on numerous occasions.

Would TMP have been better if Decker had said V'ger was from the Gamma/Delta quardrant instead of "the far side of the galaxy"?

Also why would non-federation spieces use a human-centric term in conversation where Federation ears are not present? I guess the universal translator is pretty selective for us behind the forth wall.

 

[Punch&Pie]

Lots of good ideas here.

Most of the maps show Sol on the border of the Alpha and Beta. But some good speculation says this isn't cannon, and turning the wheel 45 degrees counterclockwise, putting Sol in the center of the Alpha Quadrant, would greatly increase the accuracy of in-episode dialogue, especially in DS9 where everyone is considered an inhabitant of the Alpha.

I happen to prefer the Alpha/Beta border theory the most myself. It helps explain the Voyager trip home, and how they never entered the Beta before they hit the Borg Transwarp network. If Sol was in the center of the Alpha, the Delta/Beta border would have been closer to Voyager and they would have crossed it at some point.

Also why would non-federation spieces use a human-centric term in conversation where Federation ears are not present? I guess the universal translator is pretty selective for us behind the forth wall.

I just accept that the UT is advanced enough to give gist of what they mean. At least that is what I tell myself...Otherwise yeah, why would a Federation map key be understood by aliens?