one thing I never understood.
if the replicator can take stuff and turn it into energy (see that rant after… year of hell? with the stopwatch.) why the fuck did they never just find an empty system somewhere with some rocks floating around and scoop them up for the replicators to “recylcle”?
They run on energy, and they didn’t have a place to refuel, so they had to ration their energy use.
I remember they babbling about some reason (preserving their deuterium reserves, I think). But it’s not one that makes sense.
Because plot contrivance is a Star Trek writer’s prime directive
My headcanon is that only replicated things can be reabsorbed like that, bc otherwise you’re right and almost everything can be recycled. maybe it’s not efficient enough to do with random rocks, but if that’s the case then I don’t see how a stopwatch could be a meaningful amount of energy
I think it would take much more energy to grow the food they need than to just replicate it. That said, if I was stuck for 7 years in space, fresh fruits and vegetables would be the cheapest form of therapy.
