An immersive experience in itself, the Holodeck is one of the many creature comforts that help bring comfort and entertainment within the life of a starship years from home that not only acts in creating a live action gaming environment, but as a useful tool for educational simulations, experiments and the occasional Hirogen nightmare!
The holodeck is a complex device. Essentially a simulated environment generator, the holodeck is usually a vast room that used a combination of forcefields, matter replication and visually manipulative holographic systems to create an immersive environment that one or multiple people can use to not only see and hear, but physically interact with.
Able to replicate anything from historical settings to an entirely original landscape, the holodeck ios Knightmare in ultra high resolution without a headset or guide, but a physical interaction with a created world that surrounds the user completely. Not only that, it’s fully interactive. If you run through a field of wheat, the wheat moves. If you verbally spar with an antagonist in a play, they’ll respond; all dependant on whether the environment you create or access is a simple projection of a sophisticated emotively reactive program.
Login to Continue
Full access to Q2 Relay and other elements are restricted to members of Q2. Please login to continue. Not a member? Find out more.
About the author
A Fistful of Spooky Encounters
Since it's inception Star Trek hasn't just been a sci fi show, but a show that used it's science fiction setting to tell a variety of stories from a large pool of themes and styles. And since we're officially in 'Spooky Season' on the countdown to Halloween, why not take a look at some of Star Trek's best dives into darkness? EMPOK NOR DEEP SPACE NINE, SEASON 5 Deep Space Nine is falling apart and thanks to the war, O'Brien can't exactly ask the Cardassians for spare parts. But he has a plan. Along with Nog and Garak, O'Brien leads an engineering crew to another abandoned Cardassian station to salvage what they can. Only problem is... there's a reason it was abandoned... Possibly the most straight forward horror story in the series, Empok Nor was host to an experiment gone […]
Delta Quarter Promotions & Citations: September 2026
Throughout it’s entire existence SFC has grown, evolved and thrived due to the commitment and passion of our officers and crew. Keen members can make a huge difference within their unit or the fleet as a whole, and we like to ensure members are rewarded and recognised for all they bring to the organisation. Starting this year, we're opening every new period within the fleet celebrating those who have made an impact and engaged in being a positive influence in their unit or in Q2 overall. And while we're getting in a little bit earlier, we'd like to introduce our Delta Quarter awards. While promotion is one of the most visible awards available to members, one of the most vital are our commendations. Commendations are a formal recognition awarded to members of Quadrant 2 who have shown commendable service and […]
Wibbly Wobbly, Timey Wimey: ‘Tomorrows Enterprise’, Strange New Worlds S4E10
Focusing on two timelines, Tomorrows Enterprise leads with Uhura of the present linked to her future as the two work together, manipulating the timeline to their advantage to solve the mystery of an undecipherable alien message, and a certain Scottish engineer who seems to have vanished from the timeline in the future... Writers: Henry Alonso Myers & Robbie Thompson. Director: Chris Fisher. In the present, there's some weirdness for Pike's Enterprise as they investigate a White Hole thats giving off some weird signals and an energy pulse that causes a temporal shift that directly effects Uhura after she hears strange sounds over comms. As she begins to hear things, such as Scotty screaming for help, her future self is going through some oddities of her own. A year in the future, the Enterprise is on the other side of […]
What If…. the Whales Were Never Extinct?
Fondly remembered as the lightest, more comedic entries in Star Trek's film offerings, The Voyage Home is the story of an alien probe coming to Earth to talk to it's whale pen pal, a little bit miffed that they've not had a letter in a while. In the 21st century, those pen pals – Humpback Whales – had been hunted to extinction. Meanwhile, Kirk and his disgraced crew were on the way home to stand trial and through some time warp shenanigans, take a stolen Bird of Prey back to the 20th century, kidnap some whales, and take them to the 23rd century to save the day. The charges against Kirk were a fairly big deal. Previously Kirk had stolen a soon to be retired Enterprise, went against orders and along with support from his long standing command crew barged […]
It’s a Kind of Magic: ‘Once La’an A Time’, Strange New Worlds S4E09
Developed by an alien tapping into the mind of M'Benga's daughter, turning reality into her favourite book, the Elysium Kingdom is now more reality than fantasy. Having morphed from a surreal experience to a flat-Earth like planet replica floating through space, the Elysium Kingdom lives on with it's evil queen continuing dream up new schemes. But the Kingdom's purpose has shifted with it arriving to unsubtly help one of the Enterprise crew... Writers: Onitra JohnsonDirector: Sydney Freeland Not quite by chance, the Enterprise runs into the 'unknown flat planet', a disc-shaped world moving through space with it's own power, air and life. Beaming down, Pike, Spock, Pelia and La'an find themselves in a fairy tale world. Complete with real fairies. And a fairy castle. After running into King Ridley, the part played by M'Benga in the season one episode, they […]
[Retro Review] The Doomsday Machine
Responding to a distress call from the USS Constellation, the Enterprise race to the rescue but they arrive too late to save the day. Coming under fire from an alien entity, the Constellation has been heavily damaged and with only one survivor within it's charred shell; Commodore Matt Decker... Still in shock from the attack, Decker isn't able to say if it was an alien ship, or a creature that tore his ship apart. It doesn't take long to track the aliens flight path. It's not from around these parts, entering the Galaxy and on course towards populated areas that would undoubtedly be next in it's devastating path. Beaming on board with an away team, Kirk aims to try and get whats left of the ship back up and running while getting Decker to safety. But during the transit, the […]
Related
[Treknology] Shields Up! Red Alert!
Different writers, directors and plot points paint Starfleet as multiple and occasionally conflicting things. Both a military and exploratory force, there's many layers to the fleet and how it operates. Handling everything from border defence to mapping unknown territories, even the most mundane mission in peace time can be a risky one. Especially as not every new person you meet will want a cup of tea and a chat, and accidentally dropping into someone's back garden doesn't always go down well.So when the shooting starts, you have to be ready to defend yourself, and in a world of weaponry that could burn an entire planet into ashes, sticking some armour on your hull just isn't going to cut it. One of the most vital systems always ready on stand by, deflector shields help to keep a ship and it's crew […]
[Treknology] Yes Captain, I can Hear You! The Universal Translator.
Communication has always been a vital part of Star Trek. It's foundational to finding peaceful coexistence and basic common ground between hundreds of worlds and civilisations across the galaxy with different cultural norms, traditions and an uncountable variation of foreheads. But with an infinite number of ways to evolve, learn and construct a way to communicate, every language is different. Even here on Earth we have places like Nigeria and Papa New Guinea with hundreds of language variations and even discounting the multiple local dialects and slang within the United Kingdom, we're always a short flight away from a wildly different national language. Within a wider galaxy of influences and evolutionary origins, the difference between Gaelic and Hangul will seem inconsequential to a Vulcan stuck in a lift with a Cardassian. For all the might of phasers, the wonders of […]
[Treknology] Clearing The Way: The Deflector
Over the decades the technologies of Star Trek have become so popularised and well known that even someone who's never seen an episode knows what a phaser is, or that warp drive goes really, really fast. Even if someone couldn't tell you what a transporter does, “Beam Me Up” is still a phrase you can say and people will just know what it means.But when you look at ships like the Enterprise, there's one big feature built into every design since that might not be as well known as the saucer, the bridge or the glowing warp nacelles, but is one of the most vital parts of any and all starships flying from planet to planet. When you think of space, you imagine this big empty void of nothingness. But while there is a huge expanse of distance between locations […]
[Treknology] Tea On Demand. The Replicator.
Trekking across the universe needs powerful engines to traverse the vastness of the Galaxy, devastating weapons to survive perilous territory, and all the trinkets to explore every inch of the unknown while making new friends among new civilisations. But the future Star Trek creates isn't just shaped by the tools of the trade for Starfleet and it's various allies and enemies. Some of the more incredibly technologies come from the mundane day to day necessities. Unlike a lot of Trek tech, the Replicator took a while to develop. In the original series food synthesisers were a simple hole in the wall system. Put a card in, open the door and it's dinner time! By the time the Next Generation took over, the hole in the wall had a more appealing visual look and functions that would carry through nearly every […]
[Treknology] Beam Me Up!
Step into the transporter and with the touch of a few buttons and sliders you're whisked away to an alien landscape ready to explore. As synonymous to the Star Trek lore as phasers and tricorders, the transporter is one of the most vital tools within Starfleet, letting officers and crew travel instantaneously between environments without the need for time consuming shuttle trips or finding a starship-sized parking space to land in. Developed as a narrative tool, the transporter lets the story move along swiftly without breaks in the action and in a budget friendly manner. All you need to film is someone stepping into the large chamber, paste over some special effects, then pick up in another filming location. Aside from the creative benefits, it also showed the enhanced technological nature of the 23rd century. How it works is fairly […]
[Treknology] Tricorders: The Essential Starfleet Companion.
As essential tool in the world of Starfleet, the tricorder is a multi-functional handheld instrument used to scan, analyse and record data to aid in a number of tasks or duties. Another of the iconic pieces of equipment in the Star Trek Universe, the compact tricorder would come in many forms over the years as an all in one tool for data gathering and analyse whether you were trying to understand your surroundings on an alien world or in need of a guided breakdown of pats during a tricky repair. Star Trek Picard Model Originally designed by artist and designer Wah Chang, the Tricorder was first introduced in Star Trek's debut episode The Man Trap and has been a staple of Starfleet tech ever since. The original was a boxy design with a small display and hidden compartments for full […]
