In the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Elementary, Dear Data” (S2E3) it is revealed that the ship’s computer and holodeck are capable of literally creating sentient, intelligent life. While the character Moriarty reappears later in the series, that ability does not.
In the ST: TNG episode “Up the Long Ladder” (S2E18) it is revealed that Geordi La Forge can literally detect lies with his visor. Somehow this never comes up again in the series.
In Star Trek: Into Darkness Khan’s blood can seemingly literally cure death.
What are other incredible powers revealed in the Star Trek universe that are used once as a plot convenience, then are never seen again?
Terrible episode but you’d think even the dim bulbs running the Starfleet would recognize that they are dealing with a technology capable of creating and reproducing its own sapience. This is obviously an unintended side effect of creating a ship powered by a computer that is clearly manufacturing ‘complications’ to keep the crew occupied.
Speaking of Vulcans, did pon farr ever get mentioned again in any Star Trek series or movie after its first appearance in an episode of the original series? It was supposed to affect every Vulcan every seven years, so we should have seen several examples of it in the canon.
In the first JJ Abrams movie, Scotty figures out a trans-warp transporter system allowing them to transport to the Enterprise which is presumably many lightyears away from them at the time.
There are several with the transporter. In one episode, some members of the TNG crew are turned into children but are restorted at the end of the episode thanks to their pattern being stored in the transporter or some such nonsense. Uh, why can’t you just repair any injury that way?
Hell, in Voyager the crew figures out how to teleport anywhere in the entire universe instantaneously by breaking the Warp 10 barrier, and it never comes up again. Granted, it turns you into a giant salamander, but the Doctor was able to figure out how to completely cure that with absolutely no lingering physical or mental side effects.
In which it is subtly implied that Saavik is impregnated by the pubescent Spock. Ugh.
The less said about that unironic remake of Galaxy Quest, the better.
Say what you will about Enterprise or Discovery, but the real nadir of the Star Trek franchise was Voyager just in purely dire plotting and continuity.
The one that bothered me as a kid was the super-speed/invisibility water from the original series episode “Wink of an Eye”. Why not keep a jug of that around in case of emergencies?
I always liked the bit where Nomad floated into engineering and did some tweaks (telekinetically, or whatever) and suddenly the Enterprise was going warp a zillion, and it freaked out Mr. Scott, so Kirk tells Nomad to put it back the way it was. And no one ever took a minute to check out what kind of changes Nomad made. What the hell will-was-be wrong with those people?
To be fair, this is one they don’t actually want to repeat. It makes sense they put in precautions to try and stop it. Not that it always works: sentient holograms do show up again. The Doctor in Voyager and Vic Fontaine both gain sentience, and Voyager winds up with a whole town of largely self-aware people.
When the character Moriarty reappears later in the series, doesn’t he repeat the feat for Regina?
MORIARTY: “If you loved a woman like this, Lieutenant, would you be content to let her remain a simulation?”
BARCLAY: “You — You gave her consciousness?
MORIARTY: “Yes, just as it was given to me.”
BARCLAY: “Well I’m not so sure that’s a good idea.”
MORIARTY: “Nonsense; it was the only thing to do.”
I think this one transcends the rest. It shows that reality itself is, well, flexible.
I just rewatched Remember Me, in which Dr Crusher creates her own entire universe, based in her thoughts. If she’d have had a bit more imagination, and not made her universe disappear along with Dr Quaice, she could have lived there forever. And she’d have never known.
Combine that with Yesterday’s Enterprise, Tapestry, and All Good Things…, and one can see reality as we know it is fragile and can be changed on a whim. AND that reality is determined by conscious thought.
This has large implications for understanding the nature of the universe.
Wasn’t it inside an unstable “warp bubble” that was collapsing though? I may be misremembering as you’ve certainly watched it more recently than I, but was the bubble itself within her control, or just what happened within it?
Yes, I believe it was Jean-Luc Picard who opined that their reality may be very much like the one in the holodeck: all of it may just be an elaborate simulation running inside a little device sitting on someone’s table.
