[Wishfire]

I just watched Captain's Holiday again today, in which two Vorgons from the 27th century came back to the 24th century to recover the Tox Uthat, a weapon the was designed in the 27th century and had the power to stop all nuclear fusion in a star. These Vorgons seemed to think that this weapon was extremely useful and unique. But in Generations, just a few years later, Dr. Tolian Soran created a trilithium device that does the same exact thing. True, the trilithium device was considerably larger than the Tox Uthat, but still, by the 27th century such a device is old news.

So why were the Vorgons so eager to get the Tox Uthat? Why couldn't they just build something like it themselves?

[ussacclaim]

My only explantion is the obvious one that since Generations occurred several years after Captain's Holiday was written the writers just forgot.

But, since the Vorgons were supposed Security Officers maybe they were there to take the Tax Utat back to prevent it from being used in our time period, perhaps they were to confiscate it and lock it up somewhere. I can't remember if they were established as having insidious plans for the Utat or not.

[Wishfire]

The Vorgons were the very people that were trying to steal the Uthat, forcing it's creator to hide it in the 22nd century. When they showed up in the 24th century to get it from Picard, they merely claimed to be security officers. But Vash pointed out that the Vorgons matched the description of the people trying to steal the Uthat, so Picard destroyed the Uthat.

[Takara_Soong]

Dr. Soran's research went up in flames with Lursa and B'Etor and his device didn't survive as well. They did say in Generations that trilithium was a very unstable explosive that the Romulans had worked with but could never stabalize. You may also remember that the very unstable explosive in Starship Mine was trilithium resin so we saw first hand there how dangerous it could be. So the idea of making a weapon using trilithium may be old news but being able to actually create a weapon that was "safe" for the user is not.

As for making another Tox Utat, if the scientist who created it hid it in the past then he most likely destroyed his research on how to make it. If you could use time travel easily it seems much easier to send someone back in time and get it from the person who finds it than to do the research again.

[MrPsychic]

Another thing about the Tox Uthax was that it was handheld, Soran's weapon was huge. A handheld weapon of that magnitude could be used for anything, like the Stone of Gol for Vulcans.

[Wishfire]

Another thing about the Tox Uthax was that it was handheld, Soran's weapon was huge.  A handheld weapon of that magnitude could be used for anything, like the Stone of Gol for Vulcans.
[right][snapback]304923[/snapback][/right]

On the other hand, the Uthat was several centuries more advanced than Soran's trilithium missile. It's a well known fact that over time technologies get smaller and more effecient. Look how small computers have gotten since their creation. Imagine the advancement over a course over 300 years.