#but we haven't seen this in humpbacks

[florida3exclamationpoints]

. (Content warning in the tags : whale SA ?)

[curioscurio]

[Short Story]

80 Percent

One day, we developed the technology to completely map out and visualize every single living creature and object in the ocean. The machine had been running for a few years and received an extraordinary amount of funding from scientific organizations around the world.

When it finishes its job, the results are to be instantly shared around the world.

On the final day of the countdown, everyone started getting giddy with excitement and curiosity while waiting for the results.

"This is really magnificent. Who knows what incredible forms of life we're going to find?" An intern in New Zealand bounced with nervous energy and smiled.

"I hope it's hiding epic and delicious sea monsters, like in hollywood movies!" A lighthearted seafood chef in Spain jokes.

"There could be a sponge out there with the cure to cancer!" A sick child in America coughs out to their nurse.

Oil and fishing industries everywhere were hosting company parties; celebrating the new abundance of supply to support the crushing weight of demand.

A salaryman in Hong Kong playfully groans. "Anything but the same old boring fish we see all the time. I'd love to see something like a never-before seen creature with octopus-like intelligence!"

"It's nice to know that, despite all of mankind's careless neglect of the ocean, there's still an abundance of nature still untouched by humanities pollution." An environmental activist in India comments.

Deep in the middle of the Atlantic, a scientific research boat sits filled with passionate marine biologists.

Someone hastily bought a cake to celebrate the hard work everyone had put into the project over the years. The team didn't know what kind of discoveries they'd run into, so it was decided that a baby shower themed cake would have to do. On the top, in blue frosting, was written: "Congratulations! It's a____!"

Presumably, the blank was to be filled in once the data from the machine was compiled.

The machine beeps once, echoing throughout the research vessel, and everyone races to the screen as fast as their legs will take them.

They read the results.

No one says anything.

"That can't be right. Someone go and reset the device and run it again." The head scientist sighs, confident that they had run into an error.

Another twenty minutes go by.

The machine beeps once.

The updated model is largely the same as the previous one.

"...maybe it's not done loading." Someone shatters the silence, and the crowd of scientists flinch, but no one dares take their sights off the screen. Nobody breathes. It's the same outcome on the third try, as well.

The visual simulation on the computer screen shows a complex 3D model of all the life in the entire ocean.

There are whales gliding between continents, sharks feasting on squids, and squids feasting on sharks. Gorgeous and intelligent octopus that can change the color of their skin at will. A pod of humpback whales could be seen off the coast of Antarctica. All of the diverse and colorful life living in the ocean swim before their eyes in a transparent globe of digital seawater.

It looks just like a modern map of the ocean as we know it.

"I don't understand. It looks exactly the same." Someone whispers.

"Exactly. Humankind has only been able to explore around 20 percent of the entire ocean on planet Earth." The head scientist gulps, eyes still hooked to the glassy screen.

"So," someone's voice begins to waver. "You're saying that the other 80 percent..."

No one answers. No one blinks.

"It's... empty. It's not detecting any life signs that we haven't already discovered. It's empty." Someone says.

Someone thinks about pollution.

Someone thinks about shark fin soup.

Someone thinks about the stock market.

Someone thinks about a pet store; shelves lined with dozens of fish that float upside-down and belly up at the top of their tanks.

"... we're all that's left." Someone says.

[thecolorblockcurator]

have you seen any cool critters recently? yesterday I saw a turtle in a creek! and a chipmunk while on a walk. :•]

I haven't seen any lately- other than crows which are always cool. But I have seen a lot of cool animals in the wild in my life. In undergrad my wife & I saw a wolverine!! It was by the densely wooded ravines at our school & it was walking by the trash compactor. No one believes us - but we looked it up & that's exactly what we saw! I've seen a jaguar walking like 20 feet from us in Mexico that was so scary & no one but my wife & I seemed concerned or interested. I've seen black bears, a mountain lion, deer, wild turkeys, raccoons, coyotes crossing the road. Oh! I saw a bald eagle just sitting on a stump on the side of the road it was huge.

We lived nomadically so I've also seen some cool animals like road runners, and baby wild boars (although I am deathly afraid of pigs/boars) iguanas, alligators, & humpback whales!! that cool. & tons of cool birds.

[idril-la-wiccan]

Mermay 2023 - 4th Week and last three days

Day 22 - Zodiac

Well, with a prompt like this one, it was a little too easy to go with the Aquarius for Mermay. But... the thing is I have a certain attachement for this astrological sign in particular.

Day 23 - Tradition

And here is "Mahu", the dumbo octopus merfolk from day 21, once more ! I had vaguely alluded to it, but "Mahu" won't be their name, even if this is what I had planned initially. I'll explain why.

You've probably noticed that all of the merfolks I made for Out of the Abyss are strongly inspired by polynesian cultures, the most obvious ones being Hawaiian and Maori. And "Mahu" is in itself a concept of the Hawaiian culture : a third gender of which the name translates litteraly to "in the middle". Mahu people had an important role in Hawaiian society. They taught spiritual and social traditions, which included, among other things, teaching the hula.

And so, for me to have the idea of naming them "Mahu" to begin with, you've probably figured out that it's because this is what they are, traditionally speaking. But as I thought about it, I realised naming them by what they are would be like naming a cat, well, "Cat". It's a bit dumb.

Basically, I want to give them a new name. I'll certainly keep a two syllables name to at least keep things simple.

Hmm... In fact, maybe I could find them a name that has something to do with traditions ?

Day 24 - Zaddy

I made this character on the spot as I wasn't really inspired by the prompt. But I think I managed well with it nonetheless.

Day 25 - Food

No matter his form, Humphrey will always be a big glutton. (Even if, thankfully, he doesn't have the same voracity as when he used to be an actual whale.)

Day 26 - Jewel

"Shiny... For me... ?"

Day 27 - Halle Bailey

Ok, I'm not gonna speak on the matter of the Disney remakes as I believe everybody knows and that everybody roughly agrees about it.

No, here, the subject is Miss Bailey. I think no one can deny it, her voice is magnificent. And no matter the state of the movie, if she took pleasure in playing Ariel's role, then I am gald for her. And I also wish her a good continuation in her career.

Day 28 - Sailor

Alright, I might be cheating a bit with this prompt here. But the idea had been floating in my head for a while now and I finally had an excuse to put it on paper.

I don't know if I was the only one to have this idea, but I saw no one imagine the Captain Caviar ending up with a merman form as a result from being cursed by Black Pearl.

And yet, I saw many people draw him as a merman, so I'm surprised I haven't already seen this idea roam around...

Day 29 - Barbie

I loved the Barbie movies when I was a kid, especially the Fairytopia series. Here, I drew Elina, main character of this movie series, who takes on a mermaid form for a good part of the movie "Mermaidia".

Day 30 - Blue

I had mentionned this on day 21, but I'll have to reiterate it for this prompt. Leviathan is a blue whale merman.

It's in fact for this same reason he's the tallest amongst his peers : blue whales are the biggest mammals known in the world. Even Humphrey, a little humpback whale merman in comparison, is no match.

Well, perhaps that under his original form, Humphrey could have surpassed Leviathan.

Day 31 - Good night

I never would have guessed that I needed to see Dino-sour be a father figure to a half dinosaur baby cookie in my life.

Yes, the previous sentence makes no sense out of context.

I no longer play Ovenbreak ever since... well, ever since even before what happened with Yogurca (the less we talk about it, the better), but I'm still trying to follow the stories on YouTube. And honestly, I think that Pond Dino is the best thing to have happened to the "Rise of the Blue Dragon" update. I get how their design bothers some (it's rather overloaded, let's admit it), but... Just...

Baby... <3

Baby that sleeps like an otter. <3

*****

*~ Third week ||

Like my art ? You can commission me !

Buy me a coffee ?

[victoriousscarf]

I've seen this post several times now but looking through the notes I haven't seen anyone clarify what's going on or add cool whale song facts so I guess I'm gonna:

Probably the most important thing about this video is that this humpback whale is not the one singing. Someone in the notes added that this sounded like very generic whale song that was added in later, which is possible! But even if the song was recorded at the same time as the video, mama isn't the one singing.

And that's because only humpback males sing! They also sing with their nose pointed down toward the sea floor and stay in the same spot for their whole song (usually 20-40 minutes, sometimes quite longer). All humpbacks make noises of course, but again only the males sing.

However whale song can travel for miles underwater so you could hear it this clearly even if you weren't next to the whale actually singing. In fact in the spring in places like Maui where the whales are at the breeding grounds, there are certain beaches where you can hear the whale song at the surface of the water (say if you're snorkeling you don't even have to dive, you can be floating at the top with your ears under water and you'll hear it)

(Was one of the most magical moments of my entire life watching a sea turtle slowly swim it's way back out into the ocean while listening to whales sing? Yes absolutely. Transcendental stuff).

One of the coolest things about humpback whale song though is it's always changing! But also as soon as it changes /all/ the males of one area will make the change too. No one is singing last seasons song, and as populations meet on different migrations they will share the changed songs with each other! This is an insanely fast process that's not usual in the wild, and super cool.

Also we don't really know why they sing. They do it around mating time but we're not actually sure that's what it's about.

Whale talk… a mother and her calf/baby. The best sound you can hear while diving close to whales. Mesmerizing.

[is-the-whale-video-cute]

Out of curiosity, is whale watching problematic or is it okay when done through good companies/organizations? I've done dolphin watching twice (once was I think in Cali, the other was a few years before covid in Virginia beach and the tour company was associated with an actual like aquarium or conservation center I can't remember which), and we're thinking of doing our vacation this year over in New England and we're hoping to do whale watching. (Idk which state we'd do it in, or what species will be around at the time, vacation is still a long way off so we haven't done full research yet) but I've started wondering if whale watching is bad because it involves going out searching for them.

On a note of cetacean spotting that was 100% ethical, one our last day in Virginia beach we looked out our hotel balcony as we packed up and in the distance we saw a ton of dolphins swimming in the sunrise!

Whale watching can definitely have an impact on whales but as long as certain guidelines are followed, it can be a safe, ethical experience.

Basic guidelines that should be followed include:

Not actively approaching within a certain distance of whales (in the US, you cannot go within 100 yards of any large whale by boat, but the exact distance varies by species and location)

Only observing an individual or group for less than 30 minutes

Putting the boat’s engine in neutral if whales approach

Never approaching whales head-on

Leaving if whales are showing excessive signs of disturbance

Do your research about any whale-watching company you choose to travel with, and make sure they’re committed to following these guidelines and any marine life viewing laws in your area (some places have stricter laws than others). Read about others’ experiences, and keep an eye out for red flags. There are plenty of good, reputable whale watching companies out there.

I’ve been fortunate enough to go whale watching in New England, and I hope you get a chance to do it. The best time to do so is during the summer, but there are whales around in spring and fall as well. You’re most likely to see humpback, fin, and minke whales, but there are other less commonly seen species in the area too.

That sounds like a wonderful experience, and I’m glad you got to have it.

[ballet-symphonie]

The Little Humpbacked Horse sounds like such a fun ballet. I read about it's roots and it sounds like a lovely fairy tale. However I don't like Mariinsky's version of it. I truly dislike the costumes and the lack of scenery... It's just not my thing. The Vaganova put up such a wonderful production of a part of it, I wish they had staged the entire thing. I wonder if there's another staging of it we could watch? I know The Mikhailovsky has done a revamp with new costumes but I've not seen enough videos of it.

As for the Mariinsky version of it I've watched, Vladimir Shklyarov is such an amazing dancer he totally sold it.

Little Humpbacked Horse is such a cute, charming ballet, one that I wish was more popular. Unfortunately, it really isn't packaged as nicely as it could be, and I also haven't seen substantial clips of the Mik production, only MT. I wish MT would invest in a better production for this ballet and several others in their repetoire. Lavrosky's R&J is also lovely but ruined with the MT's terrible costumes and drab sets. Both are particularly unappealing on film, and I don't suspect that they're much better in person.

I agree that Vaganova's staging was excellent. Tsiskaridze has really done an excellent job of securing the funds necessary for costumes. The new Paquita, Gioconda, and Little Humpbacked Horse all left fabulous impressions.

The only Russian company that's doing costuming better in recent times is the Mikhailovsky in my opinion, particularly for their newer Duato productions. Coppelia and La Bayadere - both stunning. Whoever he uses for his costumes truly has a gift.

[tristinleighhh]

✨☀️ my heart & soul are so full.

This was truly the best experience of my life. Envision is something else. I danced and sweat out every negative energy that I had stored away before I came here. I feel like a new person..

🌊 I loved the whole vibe of the Uvita area. Everyone was so nice. I've missed the salty air in my hair and on my lips. Being surrounded by the jungle and the ocean is a euphoric feeling. 🐟 I ate a lot of good fish outside the festival and I am definitely missing it. I loved the fresh fruits and coconuts everywhere 🥥🌴🍍🍌🍓

🏕️ our air b&b was just a couple minutes away from the festival and our host Jose was the nicest human ever. He was constantly making sure everything was perfect for us and coming back to get sleep in the ac was prime. I'm very glad we did that. Cabinas yuriel 💛💚❤️☁️

🐳 we went on a whale watching tour and we're blessed to see a male and a mama and her baby playing around! Humpback whales are my flavorite animal and I haven't seen them since I was in Hawaii so it was an epic treat.

🌄Then Dan and I watched our last Costa Rican sunset for the trip and took a nice stroll home. On the way we saw a sloth in the tree, a crazy poisonous snake and a gnarly looking centipede. 🐍🌙

I have fallen in love with envision and everything it stands for and for the beautiful country of Costa Rica. I will be back there's no doubt about that. I want to explore everything. Thankful for this trip and all the lessons learned and friends I met along the way. Until next time 🥥✨ Pura Vida ✨🥥

✨ Top Envision Moments & Music ✨

🔥 the sunset and fire spinners on the beach with the drum circle. I had hoped to spin some fire down there but I'll be a little more prepared next time.. you walk up the path onto the beach and you are met with various vendors with cool bones and jewelery, cheap beer and food as you emerge into a sea of people on the sand. The sky was on fire and the vibes were hiiiigh. The drum circle was tribal and euphoric. Looking around me being surrounded by jungle and ocean and beautiful people was straight bliss.

•

🍄 seeing Paul staments talk about mushrooms. I only caught one but it was so cool to hear him share his stories and experiences with us.

•

🍽️💦the dishcoteque

The waste at this festival was pretty much non existent. It always makes me sad how people can leave a place so destroyed and covered in trash. I had to pick up no trash from the ground and all the volunteers who were picking up trash barely had anything in their buckets. When you got food at any vendor here you received an actual dish, bowl, silverware or cup. When you were done you'd bring it to the "dishcoteque" and recieve a voucher for your next one. No plastic at all barely any paper products besides some paper straws .. the bathrooms also did not have toilet paper in them.. you had to get it from the outside and bring it with you so they were not overflowing with paper and and overuse of products.

•

✨🎨✨ the art & the stages

There was so much phenomenal art. I was blown away by the murals everywhere and the art gallery was bursting with talent and creative energy.

The bars and booths were all made from the materials surrounding them. Everything was made from the earth. The Sol stage was surrounded by a beautiful design with a big screen in the back that had really awesome visuals on it

The lapa stage was filled with house n deep techno vibes all day and night. It felt like something out of an epic movie in there with all the mist and the lights. The entrance to the beach was right there too. It was a great place to go to just dance and chill out.  And finally... The Luna stage. W o w. The most incredible stage I've EVER seen in my life and I've seen quite a few cool stage setups. It was a huge tower of Earth and wood and vines and beauty. There was a portal where people danced behind. The lighting was a1 from the lasers to the mapping on the funktions. It was truly other worldly there.  I will be riding the high of that stage for a long time. There was water refill stations in all the right spots which made staying hydrated in the jungle heat so easy.

•

🌮🍓🍦🥑🥙 the food

It's usually hard for me to eat at festivals lately because I don't eat meat anymore. Chicken fingers was always a go to for me but I've sadly become very picky. Everyone was pretty accommodating to my needs ( I wish I thought about asking for no cilantro before the last day 😞 I hate that shit )and everything was so nourishing and healthy. I have not been eating well lately and I feel so nice and full after all the smoothies and juicy goodness I ingested over the weekend.

•

🕷️ the huge tarantula like spider that happened to wander through the crowd of people dancing with the bass vibrating the floor and onto our blanket. It was SO BIG how did you even make it through the crowd?! Stealthy dude. That was wild.

•

☕🍵The tea party!

I went to the bathroom and I came across a tiny but huge tea party. Everyone had tea cups along a very small rectangle table/stool and they were singing jungle tea time jungle tea time and cheersing to life it was so cute

•

🎭🤸‍♀️🔥💃 the performers...

Wow. I haven't seen performances like that ever. Every collective blew my mind they all had a vibe of their own and absolutely slayed it on stage. Serious inspiration

•

🎶🔊 the music

Every set was so good. Nothing was like oh that was cool .. everything i was was so we'll put together and everyone definitely out out jungle vibes.

•

I'll just put this first in case you don't want to read all the way cause this was my flavorite part 💓

👽 Tipper 👽

This was my 30th show.. in the jungle...and the Luna stage couldn't have been any better. He played so many fat unreleased tracks and vips I have never heard before. Serious deep jungle vibes. I can honestly say that was my flave set I've seen by him so far. There were no visuals but I was so okay with that. the lights were so on point and the performers were so freaking good and well paired with what he was putting out. I am sooooo freaking thankful for that experience and to have had it with all my tipper family. This community has Brought me all over the country and now out of the US. I am constantly overstimulated and it's just getting more intense as I get older so traveling can be difficult for me. The high energy if the airport is a lot for me. Music festivals are even a lot for me but I eventually get comfortable..I just love the epic moments of euphoria through music and these experiences that I'll push myself through the rest of it. The way tippers music makes me feel is so worth trooping through a sea of energies to get to that moment. It's truly beautiful for me and I know others feel the same. Blessed to be alive for the making of tipper music

•

Thursday

✨ the first real full set of music we saw was jpod.. someone ive never listened to and I'm so glad I know about him now. It was so fun I found all my friends and it was the perfect way to kick off the weekend.

✨Naughty princess was someone I didn't know as well and she threwwwww down a dirty heavy dubstep set. It was proper as fuck and she looked like a boss in the dj booth.

✨Honerable mention to Govinda and an-ten-ae

✨🔮Clozees first set on Friday night was so surreal. Seeing her live is a true experience. It got so heavy and blissful it was by far my flavorite set I've seen from her. She's so humble and cute and beyond excited to be doing this for us. When she plays she emmits such a powerful feminine vibe. The high that gave me was super intense.

✨ Honerable mention to

Stylust beats with the filthy dubstep set

Nico luminous

And attya to close was super smooth

•

Saturday

✨ The funk hunters played two sets. The but their Saturday night set on the Luna stage was so fire. They're so fun and energetic

✨ Random rab was so beautiful. Probably the most beautiful performance I've seen by him yet. His voice is absolutely amazing.

✨LAZY SYRUP ORCHESTRA...... If you don't know them please go listen to their sets on SoundCloud. The sun had risen and the people were vibin.. 6am set - ???? It was so freaking good ahhhh words can't even decribes

They're all so talented I want to return to that moment forever.

Going to the beach and jumping in the ocean after that was so freaking cooooooool.

✨Honerable mention to symbolico for throwing down two dope sets & moontricks on the Sol stage

•

Sunday

✨ Drrtywulvs ... Wowza. That was so fun and uplifting.. all the booty shaking..I love his music and all the noises. It always makes my body move in the weirdest of ways.

✨SUPERTASK..he's one of my flavorite artists ever and he threw downnnnnnnnn such a dope set in the jungle.

✨ SOOHAN was everything I wanted. His music makes me dance in all the best ways

✨🌄 Clozees played a sunrise set @ 545 and it was beautiful. She was very downtempo and played a lot of slower vibe songs.. it was perfect and blissful.

✨ and finally emancipator. They are forever one of my flavorites. They played at 7 am and closed out the Luna stage with the most magical morning vibes. I feel like they played a lot of new music and it was a perfect way to bring down the high energy from the night

✨Honerable mention to dirtwire on the Sol stage who pulled me out of my funk bc of the rain I love their music so much and Seeing them live is a huge treat.

If you've made it this far thanks for reading! Envision is my new flavorite place and I am already counting down the days until I can go back. ✨🥥

[dragon-of-the-night]

OK, so only six of them are continued from TOS with the original actors playing the original characters, three are "new" (the first one came out in 2009, which I count as new, but I guess they're getting on in years now) films about the TOS characters, but played by different actors and four of them are about the TNG characters (I won't talk about them, because I haven't watched any of them yet). So, the original TOS movies...

Star Trek: The Motion Picture - This is a bit of an odd one - some people like it, some people don't. I wasn't really sure what to make of it when I watched it. The plot is a bit odd, way too many minutes of the film are dedicated to long shots of the Enterprise, which can get a bit boring after a while, and the outfits are weird, to say the least. But overall, I think it's a good film that's underappreciated (and the director's cut is supposed to be better, however, unfortunately I don't own that version and haven't watched it :(). If you want to skip any of the Trek movies, I'd say this is your one to skip, it doesn't really add to the characters or later plots that much (but as a hardcore Trek fan, I think it's worth watching all of them, if anything just to make up your own opinion on the lot :D).

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - What most people consider to be the absolute best out of all of them. It's not my favourite, personally, but I understand why it's considered one of the best. For one thing, it brings back an old TOS antagonist and not only that, the actor who originally played him! There's lots of drama in this film and an ending that will leave you shocked, speechless and heartbroken. Definitely worth a watch. If you watch this one, however, it's crucial to watch the next two films, as they make up a sort of trilogy inside the six movies.

Star Trek III: The Search For Spock - My personal favourite of the lot. The emotions in this film are intense and so real you feel them along with the characters (which is perfect for me, as someone who loves angst). The plot isn't nearly as ludicrous as you might think after watching the ending of TWOK - it does actually make some sense. This is also the film that makes me really love Kirk as a character, as I usually prefer the other characters to him. But in this film, Shatner plays him perfectly. Also, Doctor McCoy gets a decent part in this film, which is always a bonus for me, as he's my favourite character ;)

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home - Goodness, where to start with this one? TVH is the comic relief movie after the intense drama and emotions of TWOK and TSFS. Not only is it hilarious and enjoyable to watch, but it also works climate change and anti-whaling messages into the plot. Basically, the plot is about saving a couple of humpback whales. A perfect movie with zero flaws!

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier - The one everyone hates! The worst Star Trek movie of all time! Ironically, and perhaps unsurprisingly, I love this movie. Sure, it's bad - the plot is awful and there are some terrible writing choices, but it's such a fun movie to watch, I genuinely don't understand the hate it gets! The first time I watched it, I kept waiting for it to get worse, but it just didn't. Perhaps it's because I had already seen the worst bits in edits and a few movies clips, but I just couldn't hate the film. It might also be because I'm a hardcore McSpirk shipper that I love this film - all three main characters get pretty much equal screentime, which makes a very welcome change. We get to see triumvirate go camping, roast marshmallows and sing Row, Row Your Boat together! Kirk nearly dies from falling off a vertical rockface he was climbing for literally no reason! Spock has rocket boots that are never seen again in future films! Scotty and Uhura hook up, which is also never mentioned again! I didn't even hate the character of Sybok as much as I thought I would (although I really wish they hadn't given him that character twist near the beginning - whoever had that idea should have gotten fired). You don't really need to watch this film in terms of plot continuation, but it's a really important piece of Trek history, so in my opinion, it's a must-watch.

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country - This is a film I never really see anyone talk about. I hope you like Klingons, because this one's got lots of them! I kind of have mixed feelings on this film - it's definitely not my favourite, but I in no way think it's a bad film - the tone is pretty melancholy throughout, as they knew it was to be the last TOS film. My favourite part of this film was having Kirk and McCoy stranded together. McCoy was always an underused character even though he was one of the main three and it was nice (as much as I love Spock) not to have the generic Kirk and Spock pairing in all the dangerous situations. You don't really need to watch this one either, but as the very last film with the entire cast of original characters left, I wouldn't skip it, personally.

Star Trek AOS, AKA New Star Trek TOS, AKA JJ Abram's Star Trek - The new-ish movies. I have mixed feelings on these to be honest. There's only three of them currently. I enjoyed them when I watched them, but I have a lot of problems with them collectively. For starters, I didn't find the characters nearly as compelling as the TOS versions. Even in the third film, I didn't really feel like the character relationships had developed properly. They bring back Khan in Star Trek Into Darkness (the second film), but while I like Benedict Cumberbatch overall as an actor, he definitely was not the right person to play Khan. They totally whitewashed a Mexican character. If you skip any Star Trek movies, these are the ones to ignore. They don't really bring anything to the Trek timelines (apart from Leonard Nimoy appearing in two of the films, that was pretty epic).

I hope that my accidental-Star-Trek-essay helped! I personally wouldn't skip any of the films, but if six feels a bit daunting, just prioritise watching TWOK, TSFS and TVH - they're the best and I think the most universally-enjoyed. I hope you have a fun time watching them!

I've finished star trek TOS!!! It was fun, but I think the movies will be better, at least I did until I found out there were like 13 of them! Which ones are good/ important to understand the characters and which ones can I pass? Or are all of them good??

[otterplusharchive]

Hi Rey! Sorry that things are bad but remember a lot of people love you and we think you are the best!you are the kindest and loveliest and we are very proud!!!you are never alone💕 do you know what beluga whales are? I think they are super cute ,if you haven't seen one ever I have cute pics I can submit so you can tell me what you think about them!! -N

oH I LOVE BELUGA WHALES.. my 4th grade teacher was obsessed with whales and so we learnwd all about all the types of whales and even "adopted" a humpback whale as a class through a program, belugas are so pretty they look like beautiful sea ghosts...

[foone]

Good point. I'm not up to date on my New Trek (I haven't watched trek since it stopped being 4:3), but it does make sense that it'd be more than just humpbacks and dolphins. Probably it's "all the cetacean species that have survived into the 24th century".

Personally my headcanon back in the day was that the dolphins of TNG were uplifted, ie The Federation specifically gave them sapience...

But that doesn't really mesh well with the anti-augment stuff of later trek. If upgrading humans is a big no-no, surely upgrading dolphins is also verboten.

Trek seems then to imply that dolphins and humpbacks and beluga whales are already sapient and we just can't talk to them well enough to confirm that. Once we get that sorted out, they'll be happy to fly off on space missions with us.

Which I'm not sure I really buy. Yes, I think they're way smarter than most people give them credit for, but I don't think that's of the level of "it would make sense to take them into space as an equal member of the crew".

Although if you really want to push it, you could probably just barely argue that they weren't always sapient and did get uplifted but it wasn't by the modern federation: have it happen during the eugenics wars/ww3. Maybe someone was working on building something like Fallout's FEV, to make humans Better and Smarter and Stronger, and they tested it on cetaceans or it got dumped in the ocean when a boat sank. Maybe it doesn't work on everything (so we're not dealing with Smart Tuna attacking Seattle) but cetaceans were already close enough to human-level-intelligence to get affected by it, and upgraded.

Maybe that's why the Whale Probe came to earth? They got messages from the newly upgraded Humpbacks, who were under attack by the other sides of the war trying to neutralize the disruption, and just the usual problems of a humanity that wasn't managing conservation very well due to a war. They send out a subspace cry of "HELP, SMART FISH HERE UNDER ATTACK BY SOME DAMN FEATHERLESS BIPEDS" and then go silent as they die out. The Whale Probe species launches a ship to help, and it only arrives by the TOS era, to find no humpbacks and the planet infested by a bunch drylander scum.

The only problem with this theory? The two whales brought back from the past in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home shouldn't be uplifted then. Unless we assume they got uplifted by a still-present uplift-virus in the ten minutes they were in Future Earth waters, they're just plain humpbacks.

So I guess the only answer is that Trek wants to assume humpbacks have just always been sapient and able to communicate over interstellar distances.

Personally my headcanon for that one is that the Whale Probe aliens had visited Earth at some point in the distant past, ignored the land-dwelling species, and made contact with and uplifted the Humpbacks, probably because they were a similar species and wanted someone to talk to. They left some technology with the humpbacks to let them talk over interstellar distances, like a microphone network with a subspace beacon. It's not just the plain reading of the film, which is clearly meant to be "humpbacks are sapient like humans and can also just naturally talk over interstellar distances using Vibe Waves, possibly before Humans figured that out". Which I've never bought. Whales are cool but I'm don't believe that they're magical.

Although according to Diane Duane in Deep Wizardry, there are Whale Wizards, so maybe they're literally magical. Of course they can talk to powerful aliens on the other side of the galaxy... They just cast a spell.

Also, I want a follow up to Star Trek IV. Surely Starfleet tracked that probe, right? And yeah, they don't seem to care about humanoids, but as we've seen, there is Cetacean Ops: Starfleet has crewmembers who can talk to the probe! Go fly out to that probe and yell "YO DUDE WHAT THE FUCK, MAN?" at it. Because if Cetacean Ops shows us anything, it's that all of Earth's sapient species (except the Voth) are friends. They're gonna be pissed that some probe showed up and nearly killed their two-legged land-buddies.

Maybe someone should write a story set in the timeline where Kirk & Co didn't come back with a fresh set of humpbacks. Humanity (on earth at least: we've got colonies) dies, and the probe leaves. In the ashes of the heart of the federation, the Dolphins & Belugas rebuild, and plan their revenge against the Rama dickheads who blew up the humans with their communications array turned up to 11. The USS Free Willy, NCC-1844*, is armed to the teeth, and those probe punks will PAY for the demise of humanity.

*the publication year of The Count of Monte Cristo. An epic tale of revenge, but you've not truly experienced it unless you've read it in its original Dolphineese. Ee-ee-ee!

WAIT in star trek are dolphins sentient???? is it true?? are there TWO sentient species on earth and it’s just almost never mentioned?? what