Star Trek’s Most Destructive Weapon Returns And It Makes No Sense
It ruled the plot of not one but two Star Trek films, made a cameo in the final season of Star Trek: Picard, and now that troublesome Genesis Device is back. In the cold open of “Parth Ferengi’s Heart Place,” the most recent episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks on Paramount+, two Ferengi find a Genesis Device among their ship’s cargo, and the way the scene unfolds doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
When the Ferengi discover the Genesis device, one of them recognizes it and explains to the other what it is — that its purpose is to terraform planets. When the Ferengi who first found the device says it couldn’t be a Genesis Device because it’s too small, the second explains it’s an “updated portable” version.
He also says, “These are used to terraform planets.”
Why, in the year 2401, would Section 31 bother hiding away a planet terraformer/destroyer less advanced than something two Ferengi randomly stumble upon in their cargo hold in 2381?
Shortly afterward, the Ferengi ship is destroyed by a mysterious ship that’s been taking out vessels all season in Star Trek: Lower Decks, and presumably the Genesis device is destroyed along with everything and everyone else.
What makes this scene nonsensical is “The Bounty,” the Star Trek: Picard episode in which Will Riker spots a Genesis Device aboard an orbiting Section 31 secret lab. It’s there along with other Easter eggs, like the corpse of James T. Kirk and some kind of weaponized Tribble.
Chronologically speaking, in terms of Star Trek’s timeline, the last we heard of the Genesis Device was in 1986’s Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home when it is mentioned during proceedings in which the Klingon ambassador to the Federation is attempting to get Kirk and his crew expedited.
So if Genesis Devices are commonplace enough in the 24th century that low-ranking Ferengi officers know what they are, what they do, their relative size, and when new versions come out, then why would Section 31 have one locked away in secret?
Back then, Genesis did not work as intended. In 1984’s Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, we learn that one of its creators — David Marcus, Kirk’s son — took unethical shortcuts. Because of this, the Genesis Planet created at the end of 1982’s Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is born and destroyed within a matter of days.
It was never canonically indicated whether or not anyone ever continued the work of Carol and David Marcus until now. The Ferengi in the most recent Lower Decks episode says “These are used to terraform planets.” The statement implies that not only did someone in the Star Trek universe perfect the Genesis Device, but that the thing has been mass produced.
So if Genesis Devices are commonplace enough in the 24th century that low-ranking Ferengi officers know what they are, what they do, their relative size, and when new versions come out, then why would Section 31 have one locked away in secret?
Not to mention that the Star Trek: Picard episode is set twenty years after the events of the Lower Decks episode, and yet Section 31’s device is called “Genesis II.” Shouldn’t it, at the very least, be “Genesis IV?”
The one Ferengi thought what he found couldn’t be a Genesis Device because it was “too small,” implying he’d seen others before, and presumably — unlike the original — the planets they terraformed didn’t eat themselves in 3 days. That, you would think, would be Genesis II. Then there’s the Lower Decks “updated portable version” which would be Genesis III.
In the most recent episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks, two Ferengi stumble upon a Genesis Device and the scene seems to contradict canon.
Why, in the year 2401, would Section 31 bother hiding away a planet terraformer/destroyer less advanced than something two Ferengi randomly stumble upon in their cargo hold in 2381?
It would be like breaking into Area 51 and finding that all the military is hiding there is a pirate ship from the 19th century. Without aliens or anything. Just old rum. Maybe Johnny Depp.
Regardless, canonical inconsistencies shouldn’t ruin the experiences of any Star Trek fan; otherwise the fandom would’ve ceased to exist before The Original Series ran its course. And who knows? Perhaps the Star Trek writers already have an explanation for us.
