# Hey! I just thought of a big plot hole in Star Trek 6
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-i-just-thought-of-a-big-plot-hole-in-star-trek-6/679084
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [January 17, 2014, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-i-just-thought-of-a-big-plot-hole-in-star-trek-6/679084 "2014-01-17T18:25:28Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2014, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-i-just-thought-of-a-big-plot-hole-in-star-trek-6/679084/1 "2014-01-17T18:25:28Z")
(Naked spoilers ahead)
I don’t know why I was thinking about this (probably prompted by the “worst TOS episode” thread), but I just thought of a pretty huge plot hole.
(and no, it’s not the obvious one regarding the mix-up of Sulu’s mission (“charting gaseous anomalies”) and the Enterprise’s).
OK, so the Klingons meet with the Enterprise. Gorkon and his crew (including Chang) are traveling together. Then, all hell breaks loose - the Klingon ship is fired upon, presumably by the Enterprise. Turns out, there’s _another_ ship - a Klingon ship that can fire when cloaked. Later on, the cloaked ship and the Enterprise get into a battle.
Who’s commanding the cloaked Bird of Prey?
_Chang_.
OK - how did he get on that ship, and why didn’t any of the crew of the Ambassadors’s ship ask where he went?
---
### Author:  [@Yodalicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yodalicious)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2014, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-i-just-thought-of-a-big-plot-hole-in-star-trek-6/679084/2 "2014-01-17T18:54:04Z")
Not really sure this a plot hole. However, I assume Chang got on the cloaked ship via a teleporter. As to what he told the crew of Ambassador’s ship? Does it matter? He told them a lie and they believed it.
---
### Author:  [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2014, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-i-just-thought-of-a-big-plot-hole-in-star-trek-6/679084/3 "2014-01-17T18:56:53Z")
Pitch that for the next reboot movie
---
### Author:  [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2014, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-i-just-thought-of-a-big-plot-hole-in-star-trek-6/679084/4 "2014-01-17T18:58:45Z")
Chang, the undiscovered Klingon.
---
### Author:  [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2014, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-i-just-thought-of-a-big-plot-hole-in-star-trek-6/679084/5 "2014-01-17T19:00:47Z")
There is no reason to believe that Chang needed to be on the inviso bird of prey during the first attack - and after that proved successful, there was plenty of opportunites for him to join that crew in time for the final assault.
not a plot hole or even inconvenience.
---
### Author:  [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2014, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-i-just-thought-of-a-big-plot-hole-in-star-trek-6/679084/6 "2014-01-17T19:10:21Z")
A bigger hole is, why are a bunch of geriatrics beamed down to stop the assassination of the Federation President?
Here’s an actual one…what is the Klingon conspirators plan after the Accords break down? They NEED peace to happen. They are going to turn into the USSR if they can’t reform.
And what if the assassin saw Kirk at the last second (“what the”) and didn’t fire? Leaving Kirk to tackle Kurtwood Smith and everyone from The Enterprise looking like idiots. Sulu beams down, sees what happened…promptly beams back up and starts writing his report to say:
“Uhhh…I saw the Enterprise in a fight and rushed to her aid. I didn’t know we were destroying a priceless prototype that had been assigned to protect the conference.”
The Klingons leave, the bad guys win. Way to break it heroes!
---
### Author:  [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2014, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-i-just-thought-of-a-big-plot-hole-in-star-trek-6/679084/7 "2014-01-17T19:31:55Z")
> [@simster](#):
>
> There is no reason to believe that Chang needed to be on the inviso bird of prey during the first attack - and after that proved successful, there was plenty of opportunites for him to join that crew in time for the final assault.
>
> not a plot hole or even inconvenience.
If you believe that ALL the crew was disloyal to the Chancellor, than sure.
But, the movie seemed to imply that this was a limited conspiracy…
---
### Author:  [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2014, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-i-just-thought-of-a-big-plot-hole-in-star-trek-6/679084/8 "2014-01-17T19:43:01Z")
> [@beowulff](#):
>
> If you believe that ALL the crew was disloyal to the Chancellor, than sure.
>
> But, the movie seemed to imply that this was a limited conspiracy…
They just had to be loyal to Chang - they may not have know the plot was to assassinate the Chancellor - they saw it as an opportunity to bring down Kirk and the Enterprise crew.
---
### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2014, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-i-just-thought-of-a-big-plot-hole-in-star-trek-6/679084/9 "2014-01-17T20:48:07Z")
I guess I assumed Chang had beamed over to the cloaked warbird after the awkward dinner party, knowing what he did of the Chancellor’s ship’s defensive capabilities, and led the brief attack, then returned in time to confront and arrest Kirk and McCoy right after Gorkon’s death. Or he needn’t have left at all - an encrypted transmission of his orders to the cloaked ship would’ve sufficed.
A bigger plot hole for me (or just a headsmack moment, I guess) was how helpless all the Klingons seemed to be when the artificial gravity failed. These are _Klingons!_ You don’t think they train in zero-G combat eight ways from Sunday?
---
### Author:  [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2014, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-i-just-thought-of-a-big-plot-hole-in-star-trek-6/679084/10 "2014-01-17T20:52:37Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#):
>
> A bigger plot hole for me (or just a headsmack moment, I guess) was how helpless all the Klingons seemed to be when the artificial gravity failed. These are _Klingons!_ You don’t think they train in zero-G combat eight ways from Sunday?
It made them sick to their stomachs.
---
### Author:  [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2014, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-i-just-thought-of-a-big-plot-hole-in-star-trek-6/679084/11 "2014-01-17T21:13:49Z")
Yeah, they must have all been sick. I remember seeing Pepto Bismo flying everywhere when the two assassins started shooting.
---
### Author:  [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2014, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-i-just-thought-of-a-big-plot-hole-in-star-trek-6/679084/12 "2014-01-17T21:29:18Z")
It was the foodpacks. Gave me a sour stomach.
---
### Author:  [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2014, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-i-just-thought-of-a-big-plot-hole-in-star-trek-6/679084/13 "2014-01-17T22:45:09Z")
Chang actually rather clearly was _not_ on the cloaked Bird of Prey during the initial attack. He hailed Enterprise from the ambassador’s ship, remember? “We came to you in peace, and you blatantly defied that peace. And for that, I will blow you out of the stars.” And the ambassador’s ship turns and prepares to fire, right before Kirk’s surrender.
---
### Author:  [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2014, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-i-just-thought-of-a-big-plot-hole-in-star-trek-6/679084/14 "2014-01-17T22:52:25Z")
> [@beowulff](#):
>
> (and no, it’s not the obvious one regarding the mix-up of Sulu’s mission (“charting gaseous anomalies”) and the Enterprise’s).
What was the mix-up?
---
### Author:  [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2014, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-i-just-thought-of-a-big-plot-hole-in-star-trek-6/679084/15 "2014-01-17T22:57:21Z")
> [@Frylock](#):
>
> What was the mix-up?
Oh -
At the beginning of the movie, Sulu is dictating his Captain’s log (he’s the captain of the _Excelsior_), and mentions that they are wrapping up their mission of mapping gaseous anomalies.
At the end of the film, Spock figures out a way to detect the cloaked Bird of Prey, by using a gas detector (inserted into a Photon Torpedo). Uhura suggests using the equipment they have onboard to catalog gaseous anomalies as a weapon since the bird of prey "has to have a tailpipe on it.”
Yeah, but she’s on the _Enterprise_!
---
### Author:  [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2014, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-i-just-thought-of-a-big-plot-hole-in-star-trek-6/679084/16 "2014-01-17T23:09:21Z")
> [@Frylock](#):
>
> What was the mix-up?
From IMDB:
> [@IMDB](#):
>
> **Plot holes** Uhura points out that Enterprise has “all that equipment” for cataloging gaseous anomalies, some of which Spock and McCoy use to modify a torpedo to find Chang’s cloaked ship. However, it was Excelsior that had been cataloging gaseous planetary anomalies in the Beta Quadrant, not Enterprise.
---
### Author:  [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2014, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-i-just-thought-of-a-big-plot-hole-in-star-trek-6/679084/17 "2014-01-18T00:18:35Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#):
>
> Here’s an actual one…what is the Klingon conspirators plan after the Accords break down? They NEED peace to happen. They are going to turn into the USSR if they can’t reform.
Chang was part of the Klingon military establishment who would stand to lose a whack of power if the constant need to defend Klingon interests against the Federation subsided. Overall , the Klingons end up better off with a peace treaty, but certain segments of the Klingon political sphere, including Chang, end up worse off.
---
### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2014, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-i-just-thought-of-a-big-plot-hole-in-star-trek-6/679084/18 "2014-01-18T00:36:39Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#):
>
> It was the foodpacks. Gave me a sour stomach.
Surely you had the fish? :dubious:
---
### Author:  [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2014, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-i-just-thought-of-a-big-plot-hole-in-star-trek-6/679084/19 "2014-01-18T00:41:47Z")
> [@terentii](#):
>
> Surely you had the fish? :dubious:
No, I had lasagna. And don’t call me Shirley!
---
### Author:  [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2014, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-i-just-thought-of-a-big-plot-hole-in-star-trek-6/679084/20 "2014-01-18T00:50:28Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#):
>
> A bigger plot hole for me (or just a headsmack moment, I guess) was how helpless all the Klingons seemed to be when the artificial gravity failed. These are _Klingons!_ You don’t think they train in zero-G combat eight ways from Sunday?
I’d still bet on the guy with the jetpack or mag boots over the guy without. Without either of these things, you can only move along predictable straight lines, giving the other guy a much easier time of shooting you.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-i-just-thought-of-a-big-plot-hole-in-star-trek-6/679084.md?page=2)