• Flying SquidM
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    25 days ago

    Okay, now I am even more confused. Because it seems that synthale is not the same thing…

    One variety of synthale was called Voodai. It was Major Kira’s favorite synthale. Quark gave her a bottle as a farewell present in early 2370, after she had previously remarked jokingly that her friends could help her “cry in her synthale”. (DS9: “The Circle”)

    Quark remarked to Arjin, that Julian Bashir was sitting in his bar every other day, “crying in his synthale” about Jadzia Dax. Similarly, Arjin tried to forget his worries with a large bottle of synthale, pretending to “see his future” in a full glass of the drink. Dax commented that she wouldn’t trust a bottle of synthale to tell the future. (DS9: “Playing God”)

    https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Synthale

    So I guess it does intoxicate you? And it’s also not something you replicate?

    And to make it even more confusing, there’s a whole other kind of synthale:

    https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Telluridan_synthale

    • @[email protected]
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      45 days ago

      According to Data, synthehol’s “intoxicating effects can be easily dismissed.” (TNG: “Relics”)

      This is what I always took to be the important part, and why they use it on Starfleet ships, even though normal alcohol is obviously common and enjoyed on Earth. It’s a safety concern. Rather than having all your crew rushing to take Sober-Up™ every time there’s a red alert, they drink synthehol, because they can shake it off themselves

      • Flying SquidM
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        15 days ago

        Then they should be able to shake off smoking some syntheweed.

        • @[email protected]
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          45 days ago

          I’ve always considered the lack of space drugs to be a network TV concession. Pike uses deadly parsley to cook, I’m sure there are some wild substances you can get on just about any station, and they’ve probably made it into an art form on Earth

          • Flying SquidM
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            25 days ago

            They also still have characters like Raffi who ruin their lives with drugs. You’re telling me in the 24th century, you can create an entirely new spine for someone or make perfect clones or come up with a cure for an ancient disease in a week but you can’t cure basic drug addiction?

            • @[email protected]
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              35 days ago

              She did? I thought she was just an off-grid hippie. I didn’t find Picard particularly memorable though

              • Flying SquidM
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                25 days ago

                Yeah, that was in the first season and why she stopped being Picard’s assistant. Then there was a callback to it in the fourth season where she had to take a drug as part of her covert activities with Worf.

    • jawa21
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      5 days ago

      That’s crazy. Why couldn’t they just make the pretend alcohol substitute consistent? We demand accuracy in our made up future drugs damn it! They couldn’t even hold on to the colorful space food for crying out loud. You may have thought the writing in the 4th and 5th seasons of Discovery may have been what sent me over the edge, but no!

      Synthehol, synthale, synthahol - Pick one, you fuckers! Is it intoxicating, or just a flavor agent‽ If the latter, why the fuck did Quark open a bar and not a casino? He would try to capitalize on the addictive properties of alcohol.

      I’m just going to quote Tasha Yar here: Drugs make you feel good.