# A Stupid Thing in Star Trek That Has Annoyed Me For Years (Add Your Own!) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 14, 2008, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-stupid-thing-in-star-trek-that-has-annoyed-me-for-years-add-your-own/456414 "2008-07-14T09:53:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 19
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-stupid-thing-in-star-trek-that-has-annoyed-me-for-years-add-your-own/456414/361 "2008-07-25T23:33:09Z")
[QUOTE=essell] _No security Cameras_ Duh. Internal Sensors. [/QUOTE] The internal sensors that could, if I recall, be fooled by just putting your commbadge on the floor in one episode. Me, I’d have them memorize and track any non-Federation being on the ship AT ALL TIMES. Also, the sensors couldn’t tell if you were just walking, or just walking with a machete and a funny smile. Cameras could. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-stupid-thing-in-star-trek-that-has-annoyed-me-for-years-add-your-own/456414/362 "2008-07-26T00:26:44Z")
[QUOTE=Zebra] Yeah and did you ever notice that where ever Angela Landsbury went, somebody got murdered? [/QUOTE] Hence, the title of the MAD Magazine parody of that show: “Murder, She Hopes”. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-stupid-thing-in-star-trek-that-has-annoyed-me-for-years-add-your-own/456414/363 "2008-07-26T01:38:36Z")
So, who would be more dangerous to have as a friend? a) Angela Landsbury b) Jonathan & Jenifer Hart ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-stupid-thing-in-star-trek-that-has-annoyed-me-for-years-add-your-own/456414/364 "2008-07-26T01:57:50Z")
[QUOTE=essell] _“That doesn’t make scientific sense!”_ You think you know more than a academy graduate four hundred years in the future? Ha. Get over yourself. [/QUOTE] I’m prepared to categorically state that, in four hundred years, we will not learn that man actually [evolved from spiders.](http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Genesis_(episode)) ---
**Author:** ![Full\_Metal\_Lotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df705f/32.png) [@Full\_Metal\_Lotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Full_Metal_Lotus)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-stupid-thing-in-star-trek-that-has-annoyed-me-for-years-add-your-own/456414/365 "2008-07-26T03:28:07Z")
Not so much an anoyyance as a bug… I would have loved to see a point of view shot of what it was like to use/go through the teleporter. What does the user percieve… does one scene (teleporter room) fade/disolve to the new location or what? In none of the various incarnations of the shows/movies did I ever see that. FML ---
**Author:** ![MacSpon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@MacSpon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacSpon)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-stupid-thing-in-star-trek-that-has-annoyed-me-for-years-add-your-own/456414/366 "2008-07-26T03:35:23Z")
[QUOTE=Full Metal Lotus] Not so much an anoyyance as a bug… I would have loved to see a point of view shot of what it was like to use/go through the teleporter. What does the user percieve.. does one scene (teleporter room) fade/disolve to the new location or what? In none of the various incarnations of the shows/movies did I ever see that. [/QUOTE] Actually, I’m pretty sure that there was a TNG episode – the Barclay one when he was afraid to use the transporter – that did exactly that. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-stupid-thing-in-star-trek-that-has-annoyed-me-for-years-add-your-own/456414/367 "2008-07-26T07:19:49Z")
[QUOTE=MacSpon] Actually, I’m pretty sure that there was a TNG episode – the Barclay one when he was afraid to use the transporter – that did exactly that. [/QUOTE] No. The episode where we followed Barclay through the transporter and he saw giant killer squigglemonsters never happened. Never ever ever la la la. ---
**Author:** ![phil417](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6bbea6/32.png) [@phil417](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phil417)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-stupid-thing-in-star-trek-that-has-annoyed-me-for-years-add-your-own/456414/368 "2008-07-26T09:42:01Z")
I’ve been trying to follow this thread since it was only three pages long, but time (& my work schedule) haven’t always allowed me to add my comment. What I haven’t cared for, since the 1960’s is that the various captains have been allowed to hit on/have their ways with their opponents in order to advance the episode’s plot. Back in the late 1960’s, (I was a young female), it made me uncomfortable that Capt. Kirk could get his way & advance the confedation’s wishes by sleeping with some planet’s queen. Sorry, folks, I was never good with that. Love, Phil ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-stupid-thing-in-star-trek-that-has-annoyed-me-for-years-add-your-own/456414/369 "2008-07-26T17:50:20Z")
[QUOTE=phil417] Back in the late 1960’s, (I was a young female), it made me uncomfortable that Capt. Kirk could get his way & advance the confedation’s wishes by sleeping with some planet’s queen. Sorry, folks, I was never good with that. [/QUOTE] You must have really loved the TOS episode “[Miri](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miri_(Star_Trek))” then 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-stupid-thing-in-star-trek-that-has-annoyed-me-for-years-add-your-own/456414/370 "2008-07-26T20:02:29Z")
[QUOTE=Love Rhombus] Me, I’d have them memorize and track any non-Federation being on the ship AT ALL TIMES. [/QUOTE] And automatically beam them into the brig during Red Alert. Beam them into space…and chew vaccuum for a few seconds…if they give you any lip. ---
**Author:** ![Will\_Repair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a698b9/32.png) [@Will\_Repair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Will_Repair)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-stupid-thing-in-star-trek-that-has-annoyed-me-for-years-add-your-own/456414/371 "2008-09-28T19:13:55Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > They got the Ponn Farr wrong, however you spell it. However do you mean? ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-stupid-thing-in-star-trek-that-has-annoyed-me-for-years-add-your-own/456414/372 "2008-09-28T19:36:23Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I always wondered why they had to stop and aim their phasers like they were pistols. Why not just hold down the trigger and sweep the area? For the same reason they don’t seem to have any weapons that fire beyond visual range; it’s not good TV. Why don’t they have personal shield generators? Why are their uniforms so impractical? Why is the entire bridge so illogically designed? Why is it that sometimes you have to tap the communicator, and sometimes not? All good TV. Don’t try to explain it. 🙂 Even good sci-fi series struggle with this. “Battlestar Galactica” makes “Star Trek” look like Barney, and yet there’s a million logical holes. How does the Battlestar Galactica not get vaporized by a nuclear weapon every time they fight the Cylons? They get hit by missiles and shit all the time. We know the Cylons have nuclear weapons. Why don’t the Cylons _start_ with nukes and finish it off? With a good sized nuke you wouldn’t even have to HIT the ship. There’s no shields, at least none ever spoken of, in that universe. Why do they seem to have lots of supplies most of the time? Where did Lee Adama’s perfectly tailored, pressed suit come from? If Cylons are undetectably similar to humans, how do they “Download” their souls across zillions of miles of space? Wouldn’t that require a transmitter? Would be pretty bad TV if the Galactica was blown to smithereens in Episode 1, though. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-stupid-thing-in-star-trek-that-has-annoyed-me-for-years-add-your-own/456414/373 "2008-09-28T19:44:59Z")
> [@Will\_Repair](#): > > However do you mean? From the link: > [@](#): > > Spock – who is at least half-human – had his once-per-seven-years mating ritual, where he became a romantic idiot for an episode. He wasn’t a romantic idiot in _Amok Time,_ more like homicidal maniac. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-stupid-thing-in-star-trek-that-has-annoyed-me-for-years-add-your-own/456414/374 "2008-09-28T20:02:26Z")
> [@slaphead](#): > > Only if you insisted they HAD to have a non-replaceable battery and be the size of a novelty cigarette lighter. The phaser was invented by Apple? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-stupid-thing-in-star-trek-that-has-annoyed-me-for-years-add-your-own/456414/375 "2008-09-29T13:57:15Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Oh, bah! > We have plant-animal hybrids **today!** You don’t think that in 300 years we’ll be able to hybridize Humans and Vulcans? > > Besides - we are all related - there was a Next Gen episode that explained how all the major players came from a single origin. It was even more convoluted than that. The humanoid species evolved separately on different planets, but some kind of magic DNA made sure that the end results for all the separate cases would be genetically and physiologically similar. Since evolution doesn’t work like that … essentially there was a god-like “creator species.” ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-stupid-thing-in-star-trek-that-has-annoyed-me-for-years-add-your-own/456414/376 "2008-09-29T15:21:39Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > It was even more convoluted than that. The humanoid species evolved separately on different planets, but some kind of magic DNA made sure that the end results for all the separate cases would be genetically and physiologically similar. Since evolution doesn’t work like that … essentially there was a god-like “creator species.” Or, put differently: In the TrekVerse, Intelligent Design is the correct explanation for the origin of species, and, assuming he is not considered a crackpot, Charles Darwin’s work reads very differenlty. ---
**Author:** ![Jolly\_Roger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/91b2a8/32.png) [@Jolly\_Roger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jolly_Roger)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-stupid-thing-in-star-trek-that-has-annoyed-me-for-years-add-your-own/456414/377 "2008-09-29T15:35:29Z")
> [@Illuminatiprimus](#): > > To hell with that complex crap - just blow EVERYONE out of an airlock. You can never be too safe (besides, the ship only needs one person to give it orders to fly somewhere, you can live without a crew). No…in one episode of TOS (the one where the plants on some planet blew confetti on you and made you all happy) Kirk was alone on the Enterprise and said he could not pilot the ship alone. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-stupid-thing-in-star-trek-that-has-annoyed-me-for-years-add-your-own/456414/378 "2008-09-29T15:41:59Z")
> [@Jolly\_Roger](#): > > No…in one episode of TOS (the one where the plants on some planet blew confetti on you and made you all happy) Kirk was alone on the Enterprise and said he could not pilot the ship alone. I think one person could conceivably fly the Enterprise-D or Voyager solo, so long as the propulsion systems were in perfect working order and the trip were straight to a starbase or other known, not-enormously-distant destination. But I agree it could definitely not have been done with the Enterprise-no-suffix under ordinary circumstances; Scott had to install fairly extensive automation in ST:III to make it possible for just four men to handle her, and they essentially lost the battle with the small Klingon ship (whom ordinarily they would have kicked the crap out of in moments) because of it. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-stupid-thing-in-star-trek-that-has-annoyed-me-for-years-add-your-own/456414/379 "2008-09-29T15:56:34Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I think one person could conceivably fly the Enterprise-D or Voyager solo, Did Scotty do anything for Kirk to fly _Constellation_ in _The Doomsday Machine?_ ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-stupid-thing-in-star-trek-that-has-annoyed-me-for-years-add-your-own/456414/380 "2008-09-29T15:57:10Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I think one person could conceivably fly the Enterprise-D or Voyager solo, so long as the propulsion systems were in perfect working order and the trip were straight to a starbase or other known, not-enormously-distant destination. But I agree it could definitely not have been done with the Enterprise-no-suffix under ordinary circumstances; Scott had to install fairly extensive automation in ST:III to make it possible for just four men to handle her, and they essentially lost the battle with the small Klingon ship (whom ordinarily they would have kicked the crap out of in moments) because of it. Dr. Crusher was eventually the only one on board the warp bubble Enterprise-D and seemed to do OK until the walls started collapsing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-stupid-thing-in-star-trek-that-has-annoyed-me-for-years-add-your-own/456414.md?page=18) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-stupid-thing-in-star-trek-that-has-annoyed-me-for-years-add-your-own/456414.md?page=20)