7 Best Star Trek Characters At Speaking Techno Babble

Star Trek‘s dialogue is often riddled with technobabble, and certain characters have mastered the delivery of this science jargon more than others. The term technobabble refers to the language used to describe the science and technology of Star Trek’s far future and how that technology works. While some of the technobabble is at least somewhat based on real contemporary science, much of it only makes sense within the context of the Star Trek universe. As Starfleet engineers and operations officers deliver these complex lines, they often have to provide clarification for their less science-minded colleagues.

Technobabble is not unique to Star Trek, as many other science fiction television shows and movies create their own technological terms, but the phenomenon is most associated with the Star Trek franchise. From phase inverters to tachyon beams to EM radiation, a lot of technobabble includes actual scientific terms and principles. Most Star Trek shows have employed a science consultant who ensures that the majority of the science has its roots in reality, although sometimes things fall more into the fiction category of science fiction. Regardless, Star Trek wouldn’t be Star Trek without a healthy dose of technobabble and there’s something undeniably endearing about the sometimes nonsensical jargon.

7
Spock (Leonard Nimoy, Zachary Quinto, Ethan Peck)

Star Trek: The Original Series, J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek Movies, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Although Star Trek: The Original Series did not contain as much technobabble as later Star Trek series, Spock was the character who delivered many of the most jargon-filled lines. As the Science Officer on the USS Enterprise, Spock provided his Captains, Christoper Pike (Jeffrey Hunter, Anson Mount) and James T. Kirk (William Shatner) with accurate and objective explanations for the various problems and anomalies the ship encountered. Still, TOS tended to keep things simple and did not always provide technical explanations for the solutions Spock or Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott (James Doohan) came up with.

Always the logical Vulcan, Spock would often provide exact figures and detailed responses in the name of accuracy. Every version of Spock has had this trait, although the Spock of J.J. Abrams’s Star Trek films was a more emotional version of the character. Star Trek (2009) and its two sequels focused more on action than technical lingo, but again, when a technobabble line was required it was often Spock delivering it. Ethan Peck’s Lt. Spock has his fair share of technobabble lines, too, and he even got to sing some of them in the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds musical episode.

6
Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner)

Star Trek: The Next Generation

With his android positronic brain, Data could perform mathematical equations and process information much faster than any human. Because of this, Data delivered many of the most technobabble-heavy lines in Star Trek: The Next Generation. As the operations officer of the USS Enterprise-D under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), Data was one of the most essential crew members on the ship. Not only did his superior abilities and resistance to disease save the Enterprise on multiple occasions, but he could also remember and recite massive amounts of information.

Much like Spock, Data also tended to provide extremely accurate answers, providing a time frame down to the second, for example, much to the amusement or annoyance of those around him. Brent Spiner was always great as Data, and he made even the most technobabble-filled lines sound natural (for an android, that is). In TNG season 5, episode 18, “Cause and Effect,” for example, the Enterprise got stuck in a time loop. As the crew worked to find a solution, Data posited that: “If the dekyon emission is modulated correctly, it will set up resonances in my positronic subprocessors.” He clarifies that this would allow him to send himself a message through the time loops on “a subconscious level.”

5
Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton)

Star Trek: The Next Generation

Beginning in Star Trek: The Next Generation season 2, Geordi La Forge served as the Chief Engineer on the Enterprise-D, and he quickly developed a reputation for being able to solve almost any engineering problem. LeVar Burton’s ability to make almost any line of technobabble sound conversational came in handy, as La Forge often had to report on the state of the Enterprise’s engines and other systems. Geordi understood the Enterprise-D’s engines and systems better than anyone, and it often came down to him and his best friend Data to save the day.

In TNG season 3, episode 7, “The Enemy,” Geordi found himself trapped on a dangerous planet with a Romulan named Bochra (John Snyder), and he had to reconfigure his own VISOR to find a way off the planet. As Geordi could not see, he coached Bochra through the process, with lines like: “Make sure the scanner select limiter matches the Visor output range” and “Now, place the neural output pods in contact with the tricorder scanner heads.” La Forge made these lines and many others sound perfectly logical.

4
Chief Miles O’Brien (Colm Meany)

Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Chief Miles O’Brien may be Star Trek’s everyman, but he could deliver technobabble with the best of them. O’Brien served as the transporter chief on Star Trek: The Next Generation before transferring over to become Chief of Operations on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and both roles often required him to spout complex technological jargon. Very few characters could make a line like the one below sound like a normal conversation, but Chief O’Brien managed to pull it off. When discussing what happened to the away team in DS9 season 3, episode 11, “Past Tense, Part 1,” O’Brien says:

The temporal surge we detected was caused by an explosion of a microscopic singularity passing through this solar system. Somehow, the energy emitted by the singularity shifted the chroniton particles in our hull into a high state of temporal polarization.

This line prompts a confused look from Major Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor), before she asks, “Which means what?” O’Brien clarifies that the transporter beam passed through polarized particles and transported the away team to a different time period. Considering neither time travel nor chroniton particles exist in our world, O’Brien’s explanation to Kira was very much appreciated. Throughout his time on DS9, O’Brien kept the station up and running, often without access to the state-of-the-art technology he was used to on the Enterprise-D.

3
Lt. B’Elanna Torres (Roxann Dawson)

Star Trek: Voyager

Since the USS Voyager was stuck light years away from home, the crew often had to come up with unconventional solutions to any problems they faced. Because of this, Star Trek: Voyager likely contained the most technobabble out of any Star Trek show, and Chief Engineer B’Elanna Torres was often the one delivering the most jargon-filled lines. Still, many members of Voyager’s crew often pitched in to help when solving problems, sometimes joining in on the technobabble conversations.

The technobabble on Star Trek: Voyager began early, when the ship got trapped in a singularity in only the series’ second episode, “Parallax.” The solution to escape involved warp particles and a dekyon beam, as well as rerouteing “the port and starboard plasma flow to the main deflector.” Several Voyager officers participated in this particular exchange, including Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), who was also pretty adept at delivering technobabble.

2
Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green)

Star Trek: Discovery

As modern technology and scientific understanding have continued to advance, Star Trek’s technobabble has also become more solidly based in actual science. Star Trek: Discovery, in particular, has some of the franchise’s best technobabble, and Sonequa Martin-Green excels at delivering even the most complicated lines in a believable way. With its fast-paced, more action-oriented approach to storytelling, Burnham often has to come up with solutions on the fly, and Martin-Green can deliver rapid-fire technobabble like no other.

The crew of the USS Discovery is made up of geniuses and experts in their respective fields, and Burnham served in the position of Chief Science Officer for a time. Having been raised on Vulcan and attended the Vulcan Science Academy, Michael has an analytical and logical mind (much like her foster brother, Spock). She began her Starfleet career on the USS Shenzhou as a xenoanthropologist, and her knowledge of alien cultures proved useful on numerous occasions.

1
Commander Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp)

Star Trek: Discovery

Commander Paul Stamets focused his study on alien fungi, so he has a better understanding of the USS Discovery’s spore drive and the mycelial network than anyone. As one of the smartest officers on a ship full of geniuses, Stamets excels at math and science and often comes up with out-of-the-box solutions to the problems Discovery faces. Stamets, Michael Burnham, and Lt. Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman) regularly bounce ideas off of one another, in dialogue exchanges full of technobabble. Anthony Rapp has a particular gift for delivering those jargon-filled lines and making them sound believable.

After Discovery arrived 900 years in the future in Star Trek: Discovery season 3, the ship’s crew faced entirely new sets of problems. Despite being 900 years behind, Stamets and the crew caught on quickly, and their knowledge, experience, and skills helped reinvigorate the Federation of the future. Regardless of whether the science holds up in the real world, Star Trek’s technobabble has always depended on internal logic. Technobabble helps make the universe of Star Trek feel a little more realistic and lived in, and makes that ideal version of the future feel a little more possible. And remember, when all else fails, try reversing the polarity of the deflector array and rerouting power from the auxiliary systems to the plasma manifold.

All of these Star Trek shows are streaming on Paramount+.