As it happens, I was watching Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country earlier, and in the opening scene, people on the bridge of a Star Fleet vessel are thrown out of their seats by a massive shock wave. That’s what reminded me of this.
In the first Abrams Trek, when new-universe Kirk says “buckle up”, that’s got to be a callout to this peculiarity.
What?! You want to be strapped in when the console explodes in your face?!?! 
Also, this deleted scene from Star Trek: Nemesis
Why would they need seatbelts? I know that this is a fairly common criticism, but it doesn’t really stand up once you begin thinking about the situation.
Star Trek technology, with the inertial dampers and so forth, has superseded seatbelts. Sure, it breaks down sometimes under extreme situations (such as when in combat), but that’s no reflection on it.
We can see a real-life example of this in our times. Car tire technology has advanced to the point where it usually takes something fairly rare or extreme, such as a nail, or hitting a massive pothole, to get a flat. Most people will go years between getting a flat. And, therefore, some cars are designed to not include a spare tire.
And yet in Star Trek III, The Excelsior has restraints.
Writing in this 2021 with the prevalence of smart phones with cameras and video surveillance it surprising to me in the lack of similar technology in Star Trek.
Speaking of Star Trek technology creating plot holes— the existence of artificial gravity on the ships. All the times star ships have been battered and destroyed --we rarely see the artificial gravity fail and the ship’s crew floating weightlessly in Zero gravity of outer space. The only time I can remember it happening was Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country and that was onboard a Klingon ship. And all that did was raise questions about why the artificial gravity doesn’t fail more often.
(I am aware the real behind the scenes reason for this is the cost of depicting a Zero G environment on screen.)
I posted a similar comment in a similar thread a while back but I think I would re-iterate my point here.
But combat is when you need inertial dampers the most. It’s like having a parachute. “Well, it packs just fine but when you try to use it half the panels rip a seam and you plummet to earth anyway.”
By the same token, Picard had in his ready room half-models of every Enterprise throughout history mounted on the wall. For some odd reason they didn’t include CVN-80.
In the cannon there are defiantly things that for whatever reason can’t be replicated, most famously latinum which is used as a form of currency for that very reason. Also you maybe able to cut down on the number of spare parts onboard with a replicator but you can’t cut them out entirely since in an emergency the replicators might not be working. Particularly embarrassing if the system that’s broken IS the replicators and you don’t have any spare parts.
Because they regularly get thrown around. It’s so common that the way they implemented it is iconic. They shake the camera, and people pretend to be jostled by the ship, with the occasional stunt man throwing themselves when there’s supposed to be an injury.
So it’s clear that any tech on their ship isn’t sufficient to replace seatbelts completely. It’s just bit of disbelief we have to suspend, like the fact they run so much power through every console and seem to lack any type of surge protection.
Can you? I recently watched the TOS episode “A Piece of the Action,” and as Kirk and Spock are beaming down, one of the gangsters says, “They can’t move until they stop sparklin’.”
In TOS theeffects required them to use a freeze frame, but they later carry on a conversation while transporting in the movies, and at least move around in TNG. However, I didn’t realize the effects had been acknowledged in-universe. Let me check the script:
[Transporter room]
SPOCK: Mister Scott, though we hope to avoid interference, I suggest you set one of our phaser banks on a strong stun position.
SCOTT: Aye, sir.
MCCOY: Now you’re beginning to make sense.
SPOCK: I trust we shall not have to use them, but it is best to be prepared. Energize.[Oxmyx’s office]
OXMYX: You know what to do.
KALO: Don’t worry, Boss. They can’t do nothing till they’re through sparkling.
OXMYX: Just the same, you be careful. They’ll have heaters on them. (to his girl) Now you watch this.
(Spock and McCoy arrive, and are promptly taken prisoner.)
I read that as saying they can’t shoot until the transport finishes, which makes sense. I was only saying they could move and talk to one another. I wasn’t saying they could interact with the world outside before they stopped “sparkling.”
Confirmation bias. In truth, they hardly ever get thrown around. The reason it seems (to us) to be common is that those are the most interesting historical records. From their perspective, they can be travelling for a long time without such incidents.
In The Wrath Of Khan, Kirk and David are talking during transport about how hot damn clever Kirk is. It’s like Kirk (or the running time) just couldn’t wait ten seconds for transport to finish.
And of course Barclay not only talks, moves, and, most importantly, worries, but also rescues some strange fish/human trapped in transport.
That one that always gets me is how they seem to have forgotten email. How many times on TNG/DS9/Voyager have we seen someone turn in a report by walking in to the room and physically handing someone a PADD? I think the most egregious example was in Voyager when Federation scientists found a way to transmit short messages to the Voyager crew all the way in the Delta Quadrant, but once they reached the ship Neelix had to walk around distributing PADDs containing people’s letters from home.
Each season covers a year, and they have such an incident in every other episode. I would not consider 13 times a year to be a small amount.
But, even if it were very rare, the same is true for seatbelts in real life. Very rarely are they actually needed when we drive or ride in a car. But when we do need them, they save lives.
The only tech that seems to possibly make it okay are the intertial dampeners (which apparently are not the only thing that reduce the inertia of the ship). But they can go offline right during the times they need them most. A seatbelt (or other device to hold them in place) won’t.
Geez, guys, the reason they don’t have seat belts on the bridge chairs is because it would disrupt the diphlebotinum matrix and cause the ship to veer wildly out of control. This was clearly discussed in Episode 83, “Return to Tomrrow’s Yesteryear” in a discussion between Lt. Kyle and En. Chekov in the background of the officer’s mess while Kirk ordered a cheeseburger but got a ham sandwich instead, and Spock raised his eyebrow, causing Uhura to sigh wistfully into her coffee.
Did you guys even watch the show?
Stranger
I may have missed that episode.
I remember that episode. You forgot how Scotty saved the day by reversing the polarity on one of the plasma conduits so the dilithium crystals woudn’t destabilize and cause the warp core to breach.