r/StrangeNewWorlds • u/SavageVagabond • 29d ago

Theory S03 E06 - Aldentium

The Astrovore runs on a mineral call Aldentium. It's also called "The Eater of Worlds." Setting aside any references the name of the ship may make to mythology, fiction and/or history, it does like to eat. Like, a lot. Y'know what else gets eaten a lot? That's right: pasta! And what's the "best" way to enjoy said pasta? Cooking it al dente! The term "al dente" literally translates as "to the tooth." The Astrovore has a face on it, and teeth.

So, here's my theory: The writers invented a mineral to use as fuel for a whole new propulsion system which the Astrovore and, as Scotty implies, other species in the galaxy (which we fans have yet to encounter) rely on other than warp, just so they could make a food-based pun out of its name and (turn your references back on) the actual bringer of the apocalypse! Nerds 🤓

I love this series SOOOO much!

That said, i'll be eagerly waiting to hear how in two-hundred years, the Astovore crew went from not being warp capable to fielding a gravitational weapon more powerful than ever before encountered. (I assume it's cause "big ship, perversion of other tech?" But wait... then they should have warp technology. I'm confused. Anyone else have a theory?)

35 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

20

u/lefthandsore 29d ago

Basically sounds like a pakled clumpship. But with teeth.

13

u/KindaDrunkRtNow 29d ago

I was thinking the exact same thing. It even has grapplers.

6

u/Rhediix 29d ago

I was 100% waiting for the reveal to be Pakleds.

2

u/DGlennH 29d ago

I was pleasantly surprised that it was not proto-Borg or Pakleds. I wouldn’t have hated that, but I like when they give us something totally fresh and interesting.

2

u/Ice-Negative 29d ago

Not Borg. I would have been ok with Pakleds as well.

I do think it was lazy making them humans right at the end. It would have been interesting if Kirk had to give the order to destroy them if he already knew they were humans.

I saw it as a little bit of a cop-out that when he fired there was no moral issue as they were faceless villains, but that may be how he learns / learned given Pike's chat with him at the end.

4

u/SleepWouldBeNice 29d ago

I was annoyed when they were discussing having killed 7000 humans to save the ships and didn't mention the 100 million sentients on the planet that was going to be eaten next.

1

u/DGlennH 29d ago

I agree. Learning that they were human or mostly human a little earlier would have made the decision to fire a mess of torpedoes into the maw more aligned with the “Kirk makes tough choices in the Big Chair,” storyline. I still really liked this episode.

1

u/BartStationBard 29d ago

No moral issue? I thought that was beautiful. Kirk got his chops busted proper and learned a lot. He will never look at an enemy as a faceless evil again. Pike got to give him some badly needed guidance that he was too cocky to listen to before. And it was a cautionary tale for us. The way things are going, I could easily see us trying something stupid like that.

2

u/Ice-Negative 29d ago

Especially with how bulky the suits were.

1

u/ErstwhileAdranos 29d ago

They don’t go full Pakled until Edward joins them, because he is smart and not dumb.

12

u/Katiedibs 29d ago

I was waiting for them to be some kind of proto-Borg for a moment there, when they were talking about the mysterious ship that goes around devouring whole worlds.

If they didn’t develop the technology themselves, based on their general vibe of taking what they want with no mercy, I’d be assuming they stole it from someone else and adapted it to whatever was left of their original ship.

1

u/Jock-Tamson 29d ago

While they were not the actual Borg, they were a kind of proto-Borg. We all know the Star Trek Universe loves parallel evolution, and they were clearly trending in that direction. It seemed deliberate.

Honestly one reason to expect the Pakleds is that the episode was so dense with Star Trek self referencing that it could almost have been Lower Decks.

1

u/Content_Associate_62 27d ago

For a sec because of the suits, I also considered possibly the Breen!

3

u/SteveJohnson2010 29d ago

Given that Pike loves to cook pasta, I wonder if he made the connection too…

1

u/MPFX3000 29d ago

My suggestion would have been to make them a crew of “augments”. Lines up with the Trek post-WW3 narrative too, with a tweak or two.

1

u/99Pedro 28d ago

As an Italian, when they mentioned the mineral being called Aldentium I lolled hard.
WTF? Does it mean it's perfectly cooked and ready to eat? XD