Zetetic Elench

Q both created and manipulated the Borg. They/He did this in order to prevent the version of the Federation in the Mirror Mirror  universe from coming to power. Without the Borg , the events of Star Trek:First Contact  would never have happened and the United Federation of Planets would become the Terran Empire. The Borg also made an alliance between long-time Federation adversaries the Romulan Star Empire. This allowed the Borg to invade Federation space by passing through Romulan space (the first time round) and is the reason for the Enterprise-E being ordered to the Romulan border  in  Star Trek:First Contact . Elder Romulan politicians and officers who opposed the alliance were ousted (and probably assimilated) in a coup, allowing ambitious officers like Sela to come to the fore. It makes a weird kind of sense for the Romulans to ally with the Borg, if only to keep the Federation on its toes. This means that the "Shatnerverse" is real, with William Shatner's

Star Trek's  Data had a field commission before attending Starfleet Academy. This website points out that    Data  joined Starfleet shortly (2341 CE) after being rescued but was still at the academy in 2378*. If both dates** are correct then perhaps Data didn't become a officer until 2278 because he joined as an enlisted man. At some point either he was required to serve on the bridge or as part of an away team. Both require an officer's commission to participate so I would imagine that Data was given a field commission by his commanding officer (the captain of the Trieste?) in order to do so. To be promoted further Data then had to attend the academy. It is possible that Miles  O'Brien went through the same process but that he declined academy attendance in order to take the position of Transporter Chief on the USS Enterprise-D. On closer inspection I appear to be wearing loafers. *The first series of Star Trek: The Next Generation actually begins in 2364.

Rebooting The Lord of the Rings. Perhaps just for the fun of it but Wood Elves like Legolas should have a more rustic appearance, perhaps to the point where they look almost Ent-like with tree bark as armour and possibly skin. Orcs should be of two distinct types: the cursed descendants of Men who aided Morgoth in the First Age and were bred with Fallen Elves, and those Elves who aided Sauron in the Second Age. This latter type are a lot smarter and retained their excellent night vision. Denethor and Boromir are more like giants then men, although the latter is somewhat implied in the novels. Gondor is populated by a mixture of these giants and High Elves plus some dwarves. Correction: let's say the elves named the dwarves thus ("stunted men") because the elves themselves are remarkably tall, or at least two and a half meters tall. As time went by the High Elves stayed very tall while the Wood Elves's stature lowered to roughly that of Men and Dwarves. However