The Terror On The Plane Of Oblivion!

[griffonwing]

Looking into the gates, my eyes beheld the greatest evil to be unleashed upon Tamriel....

 

Through the Gates of Oblivion

[Dilvish]

You make this sound like a spoiler. Is it a spoiler? Is it just fun to make the forum members worry about spoilers?

Not cool.

[Marxist ßastard]

Actually, he's not as far off as you seem to think. At the request of Patrick Stewart, the Oblivion main quest takes after the plot of Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes 5x16, 5x17, and 5x18 (title: "Ethics, Parts One through Three"), where a disgraced Klingon council member -- played by none other than Paul Rueubens (of "Pee-Wee's Playhouse" fame) in heavy face makeup -- secretly aids a Borg invasion of the beta quadrant, planning to then regain the honor and respect that he garnered in his youth by betraying the Borg and launching a futile, but ultimately glorious attempt at repelling the invaders. Starfleet is alarmed at the sudden Borg activity, and sends ships through some of the Borg wormholes closest to the alpha quadrant in hopes of stopping the encroachment, or at least gaining some intelligence.

 

The Enterprise is assigned to be the lead vessel of one of the smaller expeditionary forces, sent out to travel through one of the quieter wormholes in a stealth mission. En route, they encounter a planet with an explosive atmosphere that was curiously left untouched by the Borg. Ignoring this anomaly, and Counselor Troi's concerns that there is a peculiar psychic energy emanating from the planet's surface, Captain Picard chooses to pay no attention to the planet, and keeps going directly toward the wormhole. It is obvious that Picard is highly troubled by this situation, and wants nothing more than to complete the formation's mission in Borg space as quickly as possible. However, during episode 5x17 (title: "Ethics, Part Two"), they encounter Borg resistance, and Picard proves himself no longer capable of commanding the vessel when, distracted by a disturbing hallucination prompted by his time in the collective, he forces all vessels in the formation to attempt a risky fighting retreat, to the complaint of Security Chief Worf. The Enterprise takes heavy damage, while the other two ships are destroyed. With almost no shields, a broken warp drive, and dwindling weapons capability, tensions mount in the ship. First Officer Riker seizes command of the Enterprise just in time, and devises a brilliant maneuver that gets the ship out of the Borg cube's firing range. However, it is not enough, and Riker loses control of the Enterprise as the cube continues its pursuit, gaining on them. Just as the cube is about to fire, the vessel enters the explosive atmosphere of the planet that the Borg previously neglected. As the Enterprise's crew brace for the cube's impending attack, it mysteriously powers down its weapons and turns away. Riker asserts that the Borg vessel thought that the Enterprise was more badly damaged than it actually was, and assumed that it would either quickly ignite the planet's atmosphere or continue careening out of control and crash. Picard, regaining his composure, assures the crew that something more devious is afoot. Suddenly, one of the other expeditionary formations sends out a garbled transmission confirming that they, too, had sustained heavy casualties, but found out that the Borg are only able to sustain the wormholes with the help of a Klingon on the surface of the planet that the Enterprise is helplessly circling above.

 

In October of last year, Stewart was invited to playtest the game, but, upon completing the main quest in a continuous four-hour sitting, expressed that he was vehemently opposed to the game's ending not following that of episode 5x18 (title: "Ethics, Part Three"), where it is discovered that the disgraced Klingon council member (whose name is not revealed) is cohabitating the planet that the Enterprise is circling above with an advanced race of sentient fungi that the Borg could not assimilate. Captain Picard is faced with the most difficult decision of his life as he contemplates his orders of eliminating the invasion's Klingon provoker by destroying the planet (which was presumed to be barren, or assimilated as part of the Borg invasion). At Stewart's insistence, the game, which at that time was complete and being written to Gold master, was put back into development, and a delay announcement was made. In December, Stewart made a number of other suggestions which were promptly implemented, despite their strange interactions with some of the game's features. Over the next few months, the AI was simplified dramatically; many skills and the "levitate" and "jump" spell effects were removed; an extensive crafting system was cut from the title entirely; and the engine's object shadows, impressive water effects, and antialiased HDR lighting were all disabled in a series of technical compromises to preserve Stewart's vision for the game.

 

When asked about the game's villains, Gavin Carter said in an interview to expect "surprises -- a very special actor was called in to do the voice for a disgraced Orc with a familiar face you'll meet in the endgame. We won't tell you who it is, or what significance he has in regards to the main quest; you'll have to play the game to find out!"

[Ancalagon]

Come on in, and pull yourself up a chair (like Chairry!)

Let the fun begin, it's time to let down your hair!

Pee-Wee's SO excited,

'cause all his friends have been invited (that's you!)

To go wacky, at Pee-Wee's Playhouse!

 

There's a crazy rhythm, comin' from Puppetland (what that?)

Dirty Dog, Cool Cat, and Chicky Baby are the Puppet Band (yeah!)

He's got a couple of talkin' fish,

and a genie who'll grant a wish -

Golly, it's cuckoo at Pee-Wee's Playhouse!

 

Globey's spinnin', Mr. Window's grinnin',

'cause Pterri's flyin' by (hello!)

The Flowers are singin', the Picture Phone is ringin',

and the Dinosaur family goes, "Hi!"

Mr. Kite's soarin', Conky's still a snorin',

there's the flashing Magic Screen,

The Cowntess is so classy, Randy's kinda sassy -

A nuttier establishment you've never seen!

Spend the day with Pee-Wee and you'll see what we mean! (Come on!)

 

Get outta bed, there'll be no more nappin'! (Wake up!)

'Cause you've landed in a place where anything can happen -

Now we've given you fair warnin'!

It's gonna be that kind of mornin' -

For bein' wacky!

For getting nutty!

Golly, it's cuckoo!

At Pee-Wee's Playhouse!

 

good god, Faust was right. Hell is measured on the Kelvin scale...

[griffonwing]

You make this sound like a spoiler. Is it a spoiler? Is it just fun to make the forum members worry about spoilers?

Not cool.

 

Hrmm.. It's an attempt at light-hearted humor, not to make anyone worry. If there was a spoiler, I would definately have put "WARNING!! SPOILER ALERT!!" in the title somewhere, or risk being kicked off the forums.

 

Just relax and let ye hair down. It's all cool here :)