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Did anyone else ever wonder WHY this technology was abandoned? Just because the first test failed and MOST of the research team killed, wouldn't you think another science team would have picked up the gauntlet and gone to work? After all, the Genesis planet wasn't even an effective test, since the Genesis torp never WAS used on a lifeless planet, one "accedentally" formed from nebula gasses and free floating particles. It seems like an unfair judgement to call it a failure JUST from that. And given time, couldn't the surviving Dr. Marcus and a new team gone on to solve the protomatter problem?

It just seems like by the time of TNG, it COULD and SHOULD have been a regular fixture in Terraforming Command and Colonial Operations.

What do you guys think?

Because they're dumb.

Probably because of the stink the Klingons kicked up - Genesis simply wasn't worth going to war over.

That's about the size of it. It DID perform it's function, in creating a whole new biosphere on the Genesis planet (including a humanoid resurrection, BTW.) Sure, it was an unstable one and created tectonic havoc, but that's why you have a process of creating and refining prototypes.

And the experiment inside Regula was a success, wasn't it? So we know the base theory was sound.

Mark wrote:And the experiment inside Regula was a success, wasn't it? So we know the base theory was sound.

The small-scale experiment was, but the full-scale use of the device failed. Either because the principle was inherently flawed, and would never have worked at that scale, or because of the specific circumstances of the creation of the Genesis Planet.

It created a whole new biosphere. Calling it a failure because the details of the first full-scale prototype didn't conform with the ideal application is crazy.

So, several smaller devices on said smaller scale could have revolutionised Terraforming. Wouldn't take hundreds of years anymore. Could stratigically place them on a planet, and let them work together.

A whole new biosphere that blew up shortly later. Saavik and David Marcus seemed to believe that that failure was inherent to the design of Genesis, not a result of the circumstances of the detonation. This is not to say that they were correct, or that the problems were insurmountable given further research, but the fact is that the first full-scale demonstration of the Genesis effect failed to meet the objective of producing a stable biosphere.

And isn't that when one goes back to the proverbial "drawing board"?

Living on a Genesis planet would be a scary prospect. You won't ever know if you've stabilized the matrix for the full life of a planet. The planet could begin to fall apart in five years, ten years, 100 years, 1,000 years. How will anyone ever be sure they've created a new M-Class world that will hold itself together for the life of a real planet?

We know very little of terraforming methods. For all we know the kind of small scale application that the team did in the cave IS part of TNG era terraforming methods.

GrahamKennedy wrote:We know very little of terraforming methods. For all we know the kind of small scale application that the team did in the cave IS part of TNG era terraforming methods.

Good point. I hadn't considered that.

Moreover, why didn't Section 31 grab this tech and keep it as a WMD? I mean, c'monnnnn people!

Bryan Moore wrote:Moreover, why didn't Section 31 grab this tech and keep it as a WMD? I mean, c'monnnnn people!

That would have worked alot better in the DW that the Obsidian Order and Tal'Shiar's attempt at wiping out the founders homeworld. One cloaked ship with a Genesis Torpedeo could have done HUGE damage in the war, and Section 31 wouldn't have had any problem with using WMDs either.