Star Trek peeves

[Commishsleer]

In the Binar episode in TNG Picard just hits his comm badge and is talking to a Starfleet Base or something. Were the Comms badge always able to operate like this , allowing the crew to talk to anyone in the Galaxy. Or was this just a one off for this episode?

Also on TOS they would get on the internal communication devices (on the wall) and say something like bridge to Captain Kirk and somehow it would be directed to wherever Captain Kirk was. If he was in the Gym or walking through a corridor. If the internal sensors on the ship were good enough to always know where Captain Kirk was surely they would know that Finney was still on the ship or where various aliens were on the ship at all times (Klingons, Khan, etc).

Don't start me on the doors (opening/closing) in TOS...

 

[FormerLurker]

Every member of the military enlists when they swear in. Doesn't matter if they're enlisting as a grunt, or swearing in at the beginning of Academy training, or entering Officer's Candidate School, they still swear in, and that is enlisting.

 

[The Wormhole]

In the Binar episode in TNG Picard just hits his comm badge and is talking to a Starfleet Base or something. Were the Comms badge always able to operate like this , allowing the crew to talk to anyone in the Galaxy. Or was this just a one off for this episode?

Presumably it's the Enterprise's communications systems contact the starbase and routing the transmission through Picard's comm badge. We see something similar in STID when Kirk is using his communicator to talk to Scotty on Earth while the Enterprise is out along the Klingon border.

 

[T'Girl]

Every member of the military enlists when they swear in.

Wrong terminology, potential academy cadets apply for aappointment. Later they are commissioned. Officers don't enlist.

 

[FormerLurker]

When you raise your right hand and say "I solemnly swear to uphold - " (I don't know the rest of it, I admit), you're enlisting. I have family in the military, and that's what they told me.

 

[2takesfrakes]

In the Binar episode in TNG Picard just hits his comm badge and is talking to a Starfleet Base or something. Were the Comms badge always able to operate like this , allowing the crew to talk to anyone in the Galaxy. Or was this just a one off for this episode?

11001001 is not my favourite episode, as Riker is shown to fall for a holodeck woman, knowingly. So fascinated by her life-like qualities. Desperate to understand and/or realise how "far" their relationship can go. And then whining to his commanding officer when reality takes hold. These are concerns more adroitly applied to Barclay, or perhaps, LaForge. I must also confess to not having given much thought to the range and abilities of the TNG communicator. But there is a very healthy discussion about this very topic on memory-alpha, which I was not formerly privy to ...

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Talk:Combadge

 

[Xelo]

During my re-watch of VOY I've noticed something in the last couple seasons that drives me crazy:

Whenever Seven calls to Janeway on the bridge, she always says something like, "Please report to astrometrics..." When most of the time she could just tell Janeway whatever it is over the com. I realize it is probably a device to get Seven some screen time but it just seems silly for the captain to have to report to Seven in person all the time.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

In the Binar episode in TNG Picard just hits his comm badge and is talking to a Starfleet Base or something. Were the Comms badge always able to operate like this , allowing the crew to talk to anyone in the Galaxy. Or was this just a one off for this episode?

Weren't they docked at a Starbase for repairs for most of that episode? So I doubt the communication would be going much further than it ordinarily would. Or is it the direct line to the Starbase that you're having trouble with?

 

[The Wormhole]

During my re-watch of VOY I've noticed something in the last couple seasons that drives me crazy:

Whenever Seven calls to Janeway on the bridge, she always says something like, "Please report to astrometrics..." When most of the time she could just tell Janeway whatever it is over the com. I realize it is probably a device to get Seven some screen time but it just seems silly for the captain to have to report to Seven in person all the time.

Been re-watching some TNG recently and this sort of thing happens there a lot too, one of the other characters will get in contact with Picard or sometimes Riker and say "I got something you need to see" and then Picard or Riker will go check it out without further explanation.

It supposedly makes the show more exciting, I tell you, some of the bosses I had over the years, if I called them up and said "I got something you need to see" and didn't elaborate any further they'd tear into me pretty terribly when they showed up.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I just noticed something in Progress.

They use this Bajoran unit of measure, 'Tessapates', in two situations.

One: "I can give you seven tessapates of land".
Two: "You could see for tessapates!"

So in this episode, the tessapate is both a measure of area and one of distance.

Bear in mind, this isn't some writer six years later not remembering what a tessapate was. This is two separate uses of the word in the same episode.

 

[Overgeeked]

Made-up and abstract problems with made-up and abstract solutions. Basically the least engaging plot possible.

"Captain, there's an anomaly in space."

"Move closer."

"Yes, Captain... shields down, systems failing."

40 minutes later...

"Good job rerouting power to the technobabble idiot box. You saved us all."

Roll credits.

Give me concrete problems with concrete solutions any day. Aliens who want the crew dead. Space monsters. Spies. Rival factions. Moral dilemmas. Grounded problems and grounded consequences.

Fuck, even something abstract but relatable like miscommunication taken to the extreme (Darmok) is better than any space dust vs the technobabble trio episode.

 

[DS9forever]

I just noticed something in Progress.

They use this Bajoran unit of measure, 'Tessapates', in two situations.

One: "I can give you seven tessapates of land".
Two: "You could see for tessapates!"

So in this episode, the tessapate is both a measure of area and one of distance.

Bear in mind, this isn't some writer six years later not remembering what a tessapate was. This is two separate uses of the word in the same episode.

I don't remember tessipate being used twice in that episode. Have you seen it recently?

 

[Commishsleer]

In the Binar episode in TNG Picard just hits his comm badge and is talking to a Starfleet Base or something. Were the Comms badge always able to operate like this , allowing the crew to talk to anyone in the Galaxy. Or was this just a one off for this episode?

Weren't they docked at a Starbase for repairs for most of that episode? So I doubt the communication would be going much further than it ordinarily would. Or is it the direct line to the Starbase that you're having trouble with?

I'm not worried about the distance.

I'm just surprised that Picard can say something like "Picard to Ensign Smith" and the Comms automatically finds him (the only Ensign Smith) on a Starbase anywhere without missing a beat.

 

[woodstock]

They never make assumptions based on the evidence at hand, even when it is glaringly obvious what is causing the problem/crisis, it's always 'eliminate all other possibilities, however ridiculously unlikely, first'.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

In the Binar episode in TNG Picard just hits his comm badge and is talking to a Starfleet Base or something. Were the Comms badge always able to operate like this , allowing the crew to talk to anyone in the Galaxy. Or was this just a one off for this episode?

Weren't they docked at a Starbase for repairs for most of that episode? So I doubt the communication would be going much further than it ordinarily would. Or is it the direct line to the Starbase that you're having trouble with?

I'm not worried about the distance.

I'm just surprised that Picard can say something like "Picard to Ensign Smith" and the Comms automatically finds him (the only Ensign Smith) on a Starbase anywhere without missing a beat.

That's not surprising, Facebook can do it now.

@DS9Forever

When Nog and Jake trade stem bolts for land, it is measured in tessapates. Then in the A story, the old man on the moon makes a reference to 'You could see for tessapates'.

Yes, I am watching through DS9 again and I just watched that episode today.

 

[Drone]

TheGoodStuff
A few more:
3. Random bad-guys also seem to quite easily be able to lock the crew out of random, essential ship functions. Transporters, internal sensors, force fields...all can be re-routed or disabled by random people in five minutes. Hell, there is a Voyager episode where Naomi locks Harry Kim out of transporter controls!

This piqued my interest. I couldn't recall any such incident and looking through, at least, the general synopsis of those episodes in which she appeared, again saw no evidence of it having occurred. Now she did encrypt the holodeck controls so Neelix wasn't able to make changes in the program playing during Once Upon a Time. Might you be thinking of that? If not, please see if you can identify the one you're referencing as it's kind of gotten under my skin now!!

I was actually writing my post purely from memory and your request made me determined to find out just what episode it was that I was remembering. After [a wee while] of searching I can tell you that the episode is: 'Bliss'.

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Bliss_(episode)

Here is a direct quote from the page:

"On the bridge, Kim tries to remotely drop the force field, but Seven has Naomi enter a code to block the attempts. "

Yes, but Seven gave her precise instructions to view and follow, that allowed the desired action to happen. It's not as if Naomi figured it out on her own. From that standpoint, I find what she accomplished on the holodeck a bit more impressive.

11001001 is not my favourite episode, as Riker is shown to fall for a holodeck woman, knowingly. So fascinated by her life-like qualities. Desperate to understand and/or realise how "far" their relationship can go. And then whining to his commanding officer when reality takes hold. These are concerns more adroitly applied to Barclay, or perhaps, LaForge. I must also confess to not having given much thought to the range and abilities of the TNG communicator. But there is a very healthy discussion about this very topic on memory-alpha, which I was not formerly privy to ...

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Talk:Combadge

Pretty much the same thing happened to Tuvok, within parameters of course, in Alter Ego.

During my re-watch of VOY I've noticed something in the last couple seasons that drives me crazy:

Whenever Seven calls to Janeway on the bridge, she always says something like, "Please report to astrometrics..." When most of the time she could just tell Janeway whatever it is over the com. I realize it is probably a device to get Seven some screen time but it just seems silly for the captain to have to report to Seven in person all the time.

I'm not sure if she always says please, but regardless, I view it as a continuation, if perhaps only an echo, of a drone's arrogant attitude.

 

[2takesfrakes]

I've always considered VOY to be the second side of the same saga as TNG, really - which is a great draw, for me. So, Voyager's "Alter Ego" was an interesting play on 11001001, if that's, indeed, what this episode's all about. Harry Kim's always so lonely ... so desperate ... despite Garret Wang having been voted by Harper's Bazaar, or somebody, as the hottest guy on TV at the time, or whatever. And when he does find a willing female, there's always something off about it. Like when he married Tom Paris' daughter in an alternate timeline. Or, in the episode in question, he becomes possessive over a remote-controlled holocharacter. In another episode, altogether, Janeway even goes so far as to suggest that Kim's lovesickness can be medically treated! TNG even has a couple guys who can't get laid, like LaForge and Barclay. The joke is, Barclay's meant to represent the typical STAR TREK fan! Talk about "biting the hand that feeds you."

In fact, this is another peeve of mine, is how the franchise makes these unfounded generalisations of what the fans want, like more characters like this, or Mirror Universe shows, or crossover episodes. TOS was all Ham & Cheese, there's no doubt of it, but one thing it got right was in how it presented the good guys. They were larger than life and fun to watch. Barclay is not only embarrassing, to himself, but he makes the enlightened, evolved TNG crew look petty and even cruel. I well and truly hate that. This perception that more flaws and failings make a character more believable is just an excuse for lazy writing, emotional manipulation and cheap laughs, really. And once it was introduced in TNG, the STAR TREK franchise, as a whole, has never let go of it. Nor has it leg go of being self-referential, since The Voyage Home, either.

 

[TheGoodStuff]

TheGoodStuff
A few more:
3. Random bad-guys also seem to quite easily be able to lock the crew out of random, essential ship functions. Transporters, internal sensors, force fields...all can be re-routed or disabled by random people in five minutes. Hell, there is a Voyager episode where Naomi locks Harry Kim out of transporter controls!

This piqued my interest. I couldn't recall any such incident and looking through, at least, the general synopsis of those episodes in which she appeared, again saw no evidence of it having occurred. Now she did encrypt the holodeck controls so Neelix wasn't able to make changes in the program playing during Once Upon a Time. Might you be thinking of that? If not, please see if you can identify the one you're referencing as it's kind of gotten under my skin now!!

I was actually writing my post purely from memory and your request made me determined to find out just what episode it was that I was remembering. After [a wee while] of searching I can tell you that the episode is: 'Bliss'.

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Bliss_(episode)

Here is a direct quote from the page:

"On the bridge, Kim tries to remotely drop the force field, but Seven has Naomi enter a code to block the attempts. "

Yes, but Seven gave her precise instructions to view and follow, that allowed the desired action to happen. It's not as if Naomi figured it out on her own. From that standpoint, I find what she accomplished on the holodeck a bit more impressive.

I thought someone may say that however I find that argument...unconvincing. I agree that Seven helped her and she didn't do it all on her own but the fact still stands that a [7/8/9] year-old girl, with some instructions, managed to override controls from the bridge. I still find that staggeringly easy for a Federation starship.

 

[T'Girl]

On that note, there's the presumption that a lot of novels and even the Abrams movies make that in TOS the Enterprise was Starfleet's flagship, when there is in fact nothing in TOS to suggest this.

The first novel making the TOS Enterprise a "flagship" was (iirc) The Wounded Sky, published in December of 1983. Which predates TNG.

But yes, the TOS Enterprise was never shown on screen as a flagship. It would have made more sense that the ships with Decker and Wesley were in fact fleet flagships.

Even if you take flagship to mean "showpiece," would that be a older ship like the Enterprise?

 

[Paradise City]

Cadet to Captain of the flag ship in a week. Pine-Kirk is certainly an achiever. Does the US navy have that kind of promotional opportunity?