Difference between revisions of "Kobayashi Maru scenario"

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:''See [[Kobayashi Maru (disambiguation)]] for related links.''
 
 
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[[Image:Kobayashi Maru scenario bridge.jpg|thumb|The Kobayashi Maru simulator in 2285]]
 
[[Image:Kobayashi Maru scenario bridge.jpg|thumb|The Kobayashi Maru simulator in 2285]]
  
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The '''''Kobayashi Maru'' scenario''' was an infamous no-win scenario that was part of the curriculum for command-track [[cadet]]s at [[Starfleet Academy]] in the [[23rd century]]. It was primarily used to assess a cadet's discipline, character and command capabilities when facing an impossible situation as there is no one answer to the problem.
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The '''''Kobayashi Maru'' scenario''' was an infamous no-win scenario that was part of the curriculum for command-track cadets at [[Starfleet Academy]] in the [[23rd century]]. It was primarily used to assess a cadet's discipline, character and command capabilities when facing an impossible situation as there is no one answer to the problem.
  
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In the scenario, a cadet was placed in command of a [[starship]] on patrol near the [[Klingon Neutral Zone]].  The starship would receive a [[distress signal]] from the ''[[Kobayashi Maru]]'', a civilian freighter that had been disabled in the zone after having struck a [[gravitic mine]].  If the cadet chose to enter the [[neutral zone]] in violation of treaties, the starship would be confronted by three [[Klingon]] {{ShipClass|K't'inga}} [[battle cruiser]]s.  The test was considered a no-win scenario because it was impossible for the cadet to simultaneously save the ''Kobayashi Maru'', avoid a fight with the Klingons and escape from the neutral zone with the starship intact. A cadet's choice of how to handle the rescue operation gave great insight into his or her command decision-making.
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In the scenario, a cadet was placed in command of a [[starship]] on patrol near the [[Klingon Neutral Zone]].  The starship would receive a distress signal]] from the ''USS Kobayashi Maru'', a civilian freighter that had been disabled in the zone after having struck a [[gravitic mine]].  If the cadet chose to enter the [[neutral zone]] in violation of treaties, the starship would be confronted by three [[Klingon]] {{ShipClass|K't'inga}} [[battle cruiser]]s.  The test was considered a no-win scenario because it was impossible for the cadet to simultaneously save the ''Kobayashi Maru'', avoid a fight with the Klingons and escape from the neutral zone with the starship intact. A cadet's choice of how to handle the rescue operation gave great insight into his or her command decision-making.
  
 
In the [[2250s]], [[James T. Kirk]] became the first (and only known) cadet to ever beat the no-win scenario. After taking the test and failing twice, Kirk took the test a third time after surreptitiously reprogramming the [[computer]] to make it possible to win the scenario.
 
In the [[2250s]], [[James T. Kirk]] became the first (and only known) cadet to ever beat the no-win scenario. After taking the test and failing twice, Kirk took the test a third time after surreptitiously reprogramming the [[computer]] to make it possible to win the scenario.
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A similar simulation was later used in the [[24th century]].  It involved a damaged [[Ferengi]] ship as well as [[Romulan]] {{ShipClass|D'deridex}} [[Warbird]]s, instead of a civilian freighter and Klingon battle cruisers, and was performed on the [[holodeck]].
 
A similar simulation was later used in the [[24th century]].  It involved a damaged [[Ferengi]] ship as well as [[Romulan]] {{ShipClass|D'deridex}} [[Warbird]]s, instead of a civilian freighter and Klingon battle cruisers, and was performed on the [[holodeck]].
  
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==Alternate Reality==
 
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[[File:Kobayashi Maru scenario, 2258.jpg|thumb|left|James T. Kirk during the ''Kobayashi Maru'' test.]]
 
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In an [[alternate reality]], the Kobayashi Maru test was programmed by {{alt|Spock}} between [[2254]] and [[2258]]. Its purpose was to cause the cadets to "experience fear in the face of certain death" and learn to remain in control of themselves and their ship, despite that fear. In the simulation, [[Starfleet Command]] specifically orders the {{USS|Kobayashi Maru}} to be rescued from attacking [[Klingon warbird]]s.
 
  
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In 2258, {{alt|James T. Kirk}}, on his third attempt at the scenario, inserted a [[subroutine]] to make it winnable by eliminating the attacking Klingon vessels' [[deflector shield|shields]] and rendering them vulnerable to a single [[photon torpedo]] strike. A hearing was called in front of the entire assembly of Starfleet cadets to determine Kirk's guilt but the proceedings were interrupted by a distress call from [[Vulcan (planet)|Vulcan]], which was under attack by the time-displaced [[Nero]]. Kirk was placed on [[academic suspension]], until the Academy Council could rule on his case.
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Spock stated that he had never taken the ''Kobayashi Maru'' test, suggesting the test may have been introduced in the period between Spock's Academy training and Kirk's. However, it is also possible that, as a [[science officer]] for much of his Starfleet career, Spock was not required to take the test. It is also possible that, as in the [[alternate reality]], Spock had a role in designing the ''Kobayashi Maru'' test; he may have never taken it himself precisely because he was the program's designer. In his death scene at the conclusion of, Spock describes his sacrifice as his solution to the scenario. On the ''Star Trek'' [[audio commentary]], Orci states he imagined that Spock also programmed the test in the prime reality, and that Kirk met him the same way after cheating.
 
Spock stated that he had never taken the ''Kobayashi Maru'' test, suggesting the test may have been introduced in the period between Spock's Academy training and Kirk's. However, it is also possible that, as a [[science officer]] for much of his Starfleet career, Spock was not required to take the test. It is also possible that, as in the [[alternate reality]], Spock had a role in designing the ''Kobayashi Maru'' test; he may have never taken it himself precisely because he was the program's designer. In his death scene at the conclusion of, Spock describes his sacrifice as his solution to the scenario. On the ''Star Trek'' [[audio commentary]], Orci states he imagined that Spock also programmed the test in the prime reality, and that Kirk met him the same way after cheating.
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=== Apocrypha ===
 
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The ''Kobayashi Maru'' scenario has appeared in several novels and short stories. [[Julia Ecklar]]'s ''[[The Kobayashi Maru]]'' tells how Kirk, [[Pavel Chekov]], [[Montgomery Scott]] and Sulu each faced the problem. In the novel, Kirk won the scenario by reprogramming the simulation so that the Klingons believed he was a famous starship captain, though he was only a cadet at the time. Chekov self-destructed his ship, taking the Klingons with him; to his humiliation, his instructor pointed out that ejecting his crew in lifepods did not save them, due to the explosions of the four warp-drive vessels and the attending radiation.  Scott tricked the simulation into overestimating the effectiveness of a theoretical attack against the Klingon ships' overlapping shielding. Faced with proof that such attacks, although quite valid in theory, would not work in reality and that Scott knew this, Academy staff reassigned Scott from command school to Engineering. Sulu, given the consequences of entry into the Zone versus the slim chance of recovering the crew of the freighter, elected not to conduct a rescue operation.
 
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The origin of the ''Kobayashi Maru'' scenario was finally revealed in [[Michael A Martin]] and [[Andy Mangel]]'s ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise]]'' novel ''[[Kobayashi Maru (ENT novel)|Kobayashi Maru]]''. In it, the ''Kobayashi Maru'' is hit by a gravitic mine in the [[Gamma Hydra Sector]]. When ''[[Enterprise (NX-01)|Enterprise]]'' comes to save the ''Maru'', the Romulans attempt to use a telecapture device on ''Enterprise'' and bring in three [[D-5 class]] Klingon battle cruisers to ensure the elimination of ''Enterprise''. [[Jonathan Archer]] is faced with the decision of losing his ship and the survivors or sacrificing the survivors and ensuring the survival of ''Enterprise'', thus the no-win scenario, as Archer had been told to protect the freighter at all costs.
 
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The ''[[Star Trek: Starfleet Academy (game)|Starfleet Academy]]'' game provides the test as one of the missions in the game scenario. Imitating Kirk, the player character has the choice to reprogram the simulator and win the mission. One of the options is to make the AI-Klingons believe that the cadet protagonist is a famous captain and obey him at once.
 
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[[comics|Comic book]] stories of the [[Star Trek (DC volume 2)]] series are based on Ecklar's scenario. Three short stories in the ''Strange New Worlds'' anthology series have also tackled it. In "The Bottom Line" by [[Andrew Morby]] (SNW III) and [[Shawn Michael Scott]]'s "Best Tools Available" (SNW VI), Cadet [[Nog]] solves it in two entirely different (and thoroughly Ferengi) ways. [[Kevin Lauderdale]]'s "A Test of Character" (SNW VII) depicts a different solution from Ecklar’s, one in which Kirk’s tampering is "cheating without cheating," since Kirk merely creates a level playing-field, where success is not guaranteed. The [[Pocket TNG]] novel ''[[Boogeymen]]'' depicts [[Wesley Crusher]]'s ''Kobayashi Maru''-type test. In [[Peter David]]'s [[New Frontier]] novel ''[[Stone and Anvil]]'', cadet [[New Frontier characters#Mackenzie Calhoun|Mackenzie Calhoun]] "wins" the scenario by destroying the freighter, disabling the attacking ships in the process, escaping with his ship and crew but killing those whom he had been attempting to rescue (he later defended his actions by claiming the scenario was clearly a trap and the freighter crew were most likely already dead). By this time, the scenario had been upgraded with holodeck technology, enabling variations on the basic theme of a starship in trouble. In the novel ''[[Sarek (novel)|Sarek]]'' by [[A.C. Crispin]], [[Peter Kirk]] beats the scenario by using a knowledge of Romulan customs unanticipated by the test's designers.
 

Revision as of 21:07, 27 June 2021

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File:Kobayashi Maru scenario bridge.jpg
The Kobayashi Maru simulator in 2285

The Kobayashi Maru scenario was an infamous no-win scenario that was part of the curriculum for command-track cadets at Starfleet Academy in the 23rd century. It was primarily used to assess a cadet's discipline, character and command capabilities when facing an impossible situation as there is no one answer to the problem.

In the scenario, a cadet was placed in command of a starship on patrol near the Klingon Neutral Zone. The starship would receive a distress signal]] from the USS Kobayashi Maru, a civilian freighter that had been disabled in the zone after having struck a gravitic mine. If the cadet chose to enter the neutral zone in violation of treaties, the starship would be confronted by three Klingon K't'inga-class battle cruisers. The test was considered a no-win scenario because it was impossible for the cadet to simultaneously save the Kobayashi Maru, avoid a fight with the Klingons and escape from the neutral zone with the starship intact. A cadet's choice of how to handle the rescue operation gave great insight into his or her command decision-making.

In the 2250s, James T. Kirk became the first (and only known) cadet to ever beat the no-win scenario. After taking the test and failing twice, Kirk took the test a third time after surreptitiously reprogramming the computer to make it possible to win the scenario.

Kirk was subsequently awarded a commendation for "original thinking" and later commented, wistfully, that his stunt "had the virtue of never having been tried." Kirk would later defend his "cheating" by arguing that he didn't believe in the no-win scenario. Ironically, Kirk also defended the test itself by suggesting, "How we face death is at least as important as how we face life."

File:Saavik and Kirk.jpg
Admiral Kirk discusses Saavik's performance with her.

In 2285, Kirk, then an admiral serving as an instructor at the Academy, supervised Lieutenant Saavik's performance in the Kobayashi Maru scenario. Former USS Enterprise, NCC-1701 crew members Spock, Sulu, Uhura and McCoy participated as "actors" in the simulation. Saavik's performance was predictably dismal; as Kirk observed, "She destroyed the simulator room and [the crew] with it."

The term "Kobayashi Maru" may be a slang term for any hopeless situation in the 23rd century, at least in Starfleet culture. Leonard McCoy considered his and James T. Kirk's imprisonment on Rura Penthe to be a "Kobayashi Maru" and told Kirk as much, on their first night at the penal mine.

A similar simulation was later used in the 24th century. It involved a damaged Ferengi ship as well as Romulan D'deridex-class Warbirds, instead of a civilian freighter and Klingon battle cruisers, and was performed on the holodeck.



See also

Appendices

Background

Screenwriter Jack B. Sowards named the scenario after the Kobayashi family who were his neighbors.

Spock stated that he had never taken the Kobayashi Maru test, suggesting the test may have been introduced in the period between Spock's Academy training and Kirk's. However, it is also possible that, as a science officer for much of his Starfleet career, Spock was not required to take the test. It is also possible that, as in the alternate reality, Spock had a role in designing the Kobayashi Maru test; he may have never taken it himself precisely because he was the program's designer. In his death scene at the conclusion of, Spock describes his sacrifice as his solution to the scenario. On the Star Trek audio commentary, Orci states he imagined that Spock also programmed the test in the prime reality, and that Kirk met him the same way after cheating.

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