www.ditl.org

Indeed. No Borg. Not for a while, at least.

Question: I was ruminating recently, in the shower as most people seem to ruminate, about "Red Matter" and the possible explanation for what it is. We know it can create black holes, we know it's at the very least semi-liquid. From what I gathered just for how it formed on screen (in a large red ball, and then in smaller balls that joined together), it is probably some sort of super-dense/super-massive element with powerful effects on gravity.

Hypothetical: Could Red Matter be what the Romulans use to create the artificial singularities they use to power their starships? As such, it would explain why we never heard of it before because it would probably be classified up the wahzoo (or Romulan equivalent there of).

Possibly, but even if it's super dense that doesn't really explain anything. Neutron stars are so dense that the atoms themselves have collapsed under the gravitational attraction and they still don't turn into black holes.

The Romulan connection is a possibility, but one thing argues strongly against it for me - the Romulans had to ask the Vulcans to make the stuff and save them from the supernova, when under your idea it is the Romulans who should have had all the knowledge and experience in that field.

To me, red matter is some sort of exotic material, probably a form that is simply beyond our science.

And I far prefer that they leave it that way, to be honest. "What's red matter?" "It's stuff that makes black holes, and you won't understand how until the next five scientific revolutions have gone by."

Well, did the Vulcans make the red matter or merely make the ship? My impression it was there ship. They never really explain where red matter comes from do they?

Why would they need any Vulcan involvement at all? The star must have been close to Romulus, after all, since that was the first planet it destroyed. We do see the red matter in the ship when it is on Vulcan, with Vulcan scientists fiddling with the containment chamber. There's no solid statement that the Vulcans made it, but there's equally no trace of Romulan involvement in it at all.

GrahamKennedy wrote:Why would they need any Vulcan involvement at all? The star must have been close to Romulus, after all, since that was the first planet it destroyed. We do see the red matter in the ship when it is on Vulcan, with Vulcan scientists fiddling with the containment chamber. There's no solid statement that the Vulcans made it, but there's equally no trace of Romulan involvement in it at all.

Fair point. So we're free to speculate.

I also don't mind that it was left vague. It doesn't really need to be explained unless they feel the need to do so in the next movie, but it does leave room for Fan Speculation.

Frankly the less they try to explain about it the better. It's pure technobabble given CGI graphics.

The red matter is evil, because it's red. Red stuffs can do bad things. That is all.

And it was very, VERY red, wasn't it? I mean, no normal object is that red.

Yes, but doesn't red make it go faster?

Maybe it's William Shatner's blood, it too, creates a vacuous hole in time and space devoid of anything and sucks up everything in it's vicinity, claiming quality shows like TJ Hooker, Barbara Coast and Star Trek 5, the death of a franchise, and consuming all nearby talent and acting ability.

Just a theory...

Um... It was actually mined, I don't remember where I read it, but Abrams or someone who worked on the movie said it, if only I could remember where.

Tyyr wrote:Yes, but doesn't red make it go faster?

If your an Ork.