# Dogma 2001 and Star Trek **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 24, 2001, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogma-2001-and-star-trek/69946 "2001-06-24T05:31:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2001, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogma-2001-and-star-trek/69946/21 "2001-06-24T20:27:40Z")
Yeah, yeah, I know. That’s also why everybody in the galaxy looks just like us, except with a weird looking forehead or funny ears. How about “magnetic boots”? That would be pretty cheap. Just get some big clunky shoes and have the boarding party walk funny. ---
**Author:** ![kasuo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8c91f0/32.png) [@kasuo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kasuo)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2001, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogma-2001-and-star-trek/69946/22 "2001-06-24T20:30:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SPOOFE \* > \*\* > A better idea would be to have the slugs built with a magnetic containment field and a small supply of anti-matter… > \*\* Hey, why not just use a Point Singularity Bullet like that from **Andromeda**? 😃 Damn, I mean even though creating a mini black hole would take immense amounts of energy, actually having one just kinda tear through anything would be DOPE. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2001, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogma-2001-and-star-trek/69946/23 "2001-06-24T20:40:32Z")
You’re never going to get real science or real scientific explanations as long as you’ve got hack hollywood writers writing the series. It’s not just that they are lazy, it’s that they literally don’t know any better. Most of these guys are so ignorant of science that they think the gobbledygook they make up is really just as good, or at least that no one will be able to tell the difference as long as they make it sound ‘techy’. Get some real SF writers writing the episodes like many of the original and best TOS episodes, and you might get somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2001, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogma-2001-and-star-trek/69946/24 "2001-06-24T22:45:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sam Stone \* > **Get some real SF writers writing the episodes like many of the original and best TOS episodes, and you might get somewhere.** Or ask Lawerence Krauss. He wrote a neat book on the Physics of Star Trek. Seriously though I wish Paramount would take a leaf out of some other SF series’ books. They seem too married to older style special effects and big ordinary sets instead of some CGI help. I know that part of the way through DS9 they started bringing in CGI but outside of the big battles you’d be hard pushed to see the influence. Voyagers Species 8472 was a CGI race but they looked a poor cousin to B5’s Shadows. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2001, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogma-2001-and-star-trek/69946/25 "2001-06-24T23:04:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Enderw24 \* > \*\*1) Never bring Geordi into bright light. > 2) Never get Data wet > 3) Never ever feed the Romulans after midnight. > > 1. Never get into a space war in the Delta Quadrant, but only slightly less well known is this: > 2. Never go in against Species 8472 when death is on the line. > \*\* Lets give Enderw24 some credit here. Nice use of _Gremlins_, and fantastic use of _The Princess Bride_ references. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2001, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogma-2001-and-star-trek/69946/26 "2001-06-24T23:33:38Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by SPOOFE \* \*\* > [@](#): > > Correction: The complete absence of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism should be explained. In the Federation, there’s still any number of mysticism religions and cults running around. \*\* “I can tell you from personal knowledge that Gene was very much a secular humanist in his later years and felt very strongly that human religions had vanished by the time of TNG. Again, this was a very important part of the Trek universe to Gene.” – Ronald D. Moore, Co-Executive Producer of DS9 Guess a human wide conversion to atheism is as plausible as a conversion from no gods, to many, to one. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2001, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogma-2001-and-star-trek/69946/27 "2001-06-25T01:14:54Z")
This is for Paramount: You didn’t buy _Lost in Space_, you bought _Star Trek_. Don’t write the series as if it’s a bunch of families, with crews that are unbreakable units. Promote old regular characters, & bring new ones in. It’s set in the military, for crying out loud! Let’s see some rotation! None of which need apply to ST:Voyager, natch. But isn’t it ironic that that series, which was “Lost in Space”, is the only Paramaount incarnation of ST to add a character to its opening credits? Oh, wait, they added Worf to DS9. But he was in TNG. OK. But Garak wasn’t added to DS9’s opening credits, O’Brien wasn’t added to TNG’s, they never replaced Tasha Yar, and, and– –WHY THE FLYING F%$^@ WAS A 60-YEAR-OLD HIKARU SULU STILL CHAUFFERING JIM KIRK AROUND! HE SHOULDA HAD HIS OWN COMMAND 15 YEARS EARLIER!!! ::foams at the mouth:: ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2001, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogma-2001-and-star-trek/69946/28 "2001-06-25T02:36:53Z")
No cutesy kids who save the fucking ship every goddamn week!! Cutesy kids (if any appear on the show), are to be used solely for the purpose of target practice for the enemy. This show should be strictly about adults who go out and kick alien ass, not about how some annoying little pantywaist is actually smarter than an entire shipload of highly trained individuals. Got it? ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2001, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogma-2001-and-star-trek/69946/29 "2001-06-25T03:09:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Drastic \* > \*\*“Fountain of youth” thing: there was at least one episode in ST:tNG where the crew contracted a disease that aged them all very rapidly. They were cured by rewiring the transporter with the deus ex socket wrench, which beamed them up, then beamed them back down, only rearranging their pattern to match what it was before they got the disease. I would think there would have been some memory loss from brain structure changing, but apparently they adjusted that parameter with a deus ex phillips screwdriver \*\* While we’re at it, \*Deal with the consequnces of your technology. That’s what science fiction \*IS! For example: Why don’t people make weekly transporter backups of themselves? I’d be willing to lose a week of my life if the alternative is to die a redshirt’s death. You’re out of dilithium? Feed the damned stuff into the transporter and duplicate it. Y’know that hunk o’ anti-matter that makes the ship go real fast? Ever considered beaming inside the Borg ship? For that matter, why aren’t there transporter relays across the galaxy? Allegedly, outside of the special effects, transporters are instantaneous, so set up “bouys” that pass on transporter information across space and it’s as easy to go from Earth to Ceti-Alpha 5 as it is to go to the corner 7-11. etc… Frankly, I’d be all in favor of a galaxy-wide “space storm” that makes all transporters inoperable for ever. While we’re at it, since wacking a ship into the edge of the galaxy turns psychics into God-Like Beings, why didn’t the Romulans or the Klingons just take barge-loads of nice, obedient red-shirts, put them in transports, and fling them at the galaxy wall? One of 'em would become a God and all you have to do is point him at the Federation. Yeah, he might be a threat someday, but until then… Fenris ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2001, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogma-2001-and-star-trek/69946/30 "2001-06-25T03:42:40Z")
Damnit **Fenris,** you don’t pay attention to what you write do you? Here’s how they deal with anyone that becomes a god: stall him until the end of the show, and promptly forget about him. Write him off, pretend it never happened. Ta da! Problem solved. And speaking of ideas that come up once and are dropped, can anyone say Picard Manuever? I don’t know which is worse: that it was never mentioned before that show, that it was never mentioned after that show, that no one in Starfleet could ever devise a counter to it ever…except for Data, or that Data could apparently react faster than the speed of light. Also, Voyager had ample opportunity to introduce new characters, to rotate characters even. They had an entire ship full of strangers because they refused to include anyone but the core characters doing anything. If they had introduced a new person it was because it was that person’s time to save the ship and then never be seen again. Why can’t someone be introduced as Lt. Schmoe who doesn’t do anything? Then, every so often, we see him in the background, or helping out with a problem? I mean, it’s not that wacked out of a concept. Take Nurse Ogawa. She’s was Dr. Crusher’s helper in sickbay. She never saved the ship. She was never a crucial character of the plot. She probably never had more than 5 lines in any episode. But she was always there, to use if need be. We recognized her and it added reality to the show, knowing that Crusher didn’t man sickbay 24-7. If the writers think it would get too complicated for us to keep track of all these new characters…well, they just don’t have faith in Trekkers. ---
**Author:** ![Chocobo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@Chocobo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chocobo)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2001, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogma-2001-and-star-trek/69946/31 "2001-06-25T05:20:26Z")
Use your technology for logical purposes. Replicators = food and tools only. While maybe a ship-replicator isn’t energy effective, how about replicating a few thousand Datas? Then you could have waves of Datas dying instead of redshirts! Equip ships with backup propulsion. This way, if the impulse engines go offline you can use something OTHER than thrusters (which probably shouldn’t be able to move a starship any faster than 1 mph anyway). Time travel is generally bad, but entertaining if done correctly (i.e. Star Trek IV, All Good Things…) Rip-offs of former time travel episodes/movies (i.e. Voyagers’ version of Star Trek IV) are very bad. BTW Ender, in Voyager, they did have a recurring, non-main character. He was an engineering guy named Hogan. He was in the background and had a few lines now and then. Eventually, he got eaten when the ship was captured by the Kazon and the crew was sent to live on a planet without technology. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2001, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogma-2001-and-star-trek/69946/32 "2001-06-25T07:23:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kasuo \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Max the Immortal \* > > \*\*Virtually every Sci-fi setting can be made more interesting with the existence of 867 lb. rail-shotguns. Ten points for the first person to name the fictional model of gun I’m referring to. > > \*\* > > Um, mass driver? \*\* I’m referring to a weapon that is specific (name etc.) to a certain fictional setting. Mass drivers exist in many sci-fi settings. Sorry. ---
**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:** [June 25, 2001, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogma-2001-and-star-trek/69946/33 "2001-06-25T07:23:20Z")
Plus, there was that one alien on DS9, that always was in Quarks bar? Never had any lines, but always there in the background. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2001, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogma-2001-and-star-trek/69946/34 "2001-06-25T10:13:20Z")
Fenris… > [@](#): > > While we’re at it, since wacking a ship into the edge of the galaxy turns psychics into God-Like Beings… G’huh? Wha…? I must’ve missed that episode… elaborate? Chocobo… > [@](#): > > in Voyager, they did have a recurring, non-main character. Actually, with Voyager, I think they tried to use the same background extras as often as they could. In Engineering, for example, you’d always see the same people in the background… they were never acknowledged, of course, but they were there. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2001, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogma-2001-and-star-trek/69946/35 "2001-06-25T11:54:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SPOOFE \* > \*\*Fenris… > > > [@](#): > > > > While we’re at it, since wacking a ship into the edge of the galaxy turns psychics into God-Like Beings… > > G’huh? Wha…? I must’ve missed that episode… elaborate? > \*\* \