# Nitpicking the science in Star Trek **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 7, 2001, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitpicking-the-science-in-star-trek/80178 "2001-09-07T03:20:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2001, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitpicking-the-science-in-star-trek/80178/101 "2001-09-15T19:21:35Z")
I guess you missed the part where I said “What if you had highly extensive scientific and engineering knowledge, access to all the examination, design, and manufacturing tools that you’d need…?” ---
**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 15, 2001, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitpicking-the-science-in-star-trek/80178/102 "2001-09-15T19:40:08Z")
Benjamin Franklin had those things fpr his time period. Give him a toaster from 1940 and he’d probably break it trying to figure it out. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2001, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitpicking-the-science-in-star-trek/80178/103 "2001-09-15T20:01:28Z")
Another thing that really really bothers me is when someone (usually the captain) asks the chief engineer something like ‘can’t we create a inverse warp bubble by transfering power from the food replicators through the plasma core and rerouting this plasma conduit to the main deflector dish.’ which always works and saves the crew from some dire situation. Brings up 3 issues: 1 How the F%$# does the captain think of that when you have highly trained engineers working on the problem. 2 Why do they have ANY other weapons other then that main deflector dish - it seem that it can do everything w/ it (they probabally don’t even need the food rep’s as long as they have the main deflector). 3 Hi Opal! ---
**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 15, 2001, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitpicking-the-science-in-star-trek/80178/104 "2001-09-15T20:09:00Z")
1. The Captain is the star. 2. It is a plot device, the Deux e Machina (sp) [1} 3. Who the Hell is Opal? [1] It’s Latin, aha, for “Deflector from a machine” ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2001, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitpicking-the-science-in-star-trek/80178/105 "2001-09-15T20:40:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by k2dave \* > **Yes since the transporters converted mass to energy to mass couldn’t it just shave off a pound or two to make up it’s energy consumption?** Dr McCoy: Scotty, into the transporter!! ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2001, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitpicking-the-science-in-star-trek/80178/106 "2001-09-15T21:21:34Z")
> [@](#): > > Benjamin Franklin had those things fpr his time period. Give him a toaster from 1940 and he’d probably break it trying to figure it out. Big difference between the two. Voyager has proven that they’re capable of analyzing and figuring out the technology. The fact remains that _they know how it works_. The Doctor’s holoemitter is NOT a new technology to them… just a highly miniaturized version of current technology. A better analogy would be if you took a Pentium-4 processor back in time five years. Would our engineers be capable of figuring it out? Most definitely. ---
**Author:** ![BigGiantHead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b4bc9f/32.png) [@BigGiantHead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigGiantHead)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2001, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitpicking-the-science-in-star-trek/80178/107 "2001-09-16T08:27:24Z")
Oh, please, **plant**. Almost a year and a half on the boards, nearly 1600 posts, and you haven’t seen “3)Hi Opal!” yet? Please tell me you’re kidding. Please please please. Better yet, befriend the Search feature. [Here.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=56696) ---
**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 16, 2001, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitpicking-the-science-in-star-trek/80178/108 "2001-09-16T14:31:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BigGiantHead \* > \*\*Oh, please, **plant**. Almost a year and a half on the boards, nearly 1600 posts, \*\* Thanks for noticing. ---
**Author:** ![Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/df788c/32.png) [@Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ben)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2001, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitpicking-the-science-in-star-trek/80178/109 "2001-09-16T17:15:57Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by carnivorousplant \* 2) It is a plot device, the Deux e Machina (sp) [1} [QUOTE] You mean “Deus ex machina,” meaning “God from the machine.” “Deux e Machina” is “Two and the machine,” a popular 23rd century sexual position. -Ben ---
**Author:** ![TheeGrumpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@TheeGrumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheeGrumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2001, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitpicking-the-science-in-star-trek/80178/110 "2001-09-16T18:38:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SPOOFE \* > **Voyager has proven that they’re capable of analyzing and figuring out the technology. The fact remains that _they know how it works_. The Doctor’s holoemitter is NOT a new technology to them… just a highly miniaturized version of current technology.** Again, I protest the nitpicking of “treknology” in this thread when there are so many errors in _actual_ science on the show. But I’ll point out that, in the case of Doc’s portable emitter, it is _already_ a bit of reverse-engineering. IIRC, the 2-parter “Future’s End” shows Ed Begley Jr. jump-starting the PC revolution with a 26th/27th Century timeship which crashed in the late 1960s. One of the doo-hickeys he jerry-rigs is a portable emitter for Doc (in order to take him prisoner). Keep this in mind. Also remember that by the 26th/27th Century (don’t recall which), such devices might be ubiquitous – not an example of the state-of-the-art for the era. Like CRTs in TV sets today, say. Why, the holoemitter might even be based on Captain Braxton’s personal holo-Walkman. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2001, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitpicking-the-science-in-star-trek/80178/111 "2001-09-16T22:17:37Z")
> [@](#): > > IIRC, the 2-parter “Future’s End” shows Ed Begley Jr. jump-starting the PC revolution with a 26th/27th Century timeship which crashed in the late 1960s. 29th century, but yeah, you got it right. And I think it just proves my point. If someone who has _no idea_ about how the technology works can figure it out (remember, he also figured out shields, transporters, warp drive, and deduced how to operate the time-ship), then surely people who A: have _some idea_ about the technology, and B: have far greater diagnostic and engineering tools should be able to figure it out. ---
**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 16, 2001, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitpicking-the-science-in-star-trek/80178/112 "2001-09-16T23:26:30Z")
It’s a plot device. If they cannot build another one, then it is ‘dangerous’ for the Doctor to go on an away mission. If The Leonardo Da’Vinci (did I spell that right?) hologram steals it, it is a big deal to the Doctor. It also keeps the Doctor unique in that he is the only hologram free to move about. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2001, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitpicking-the-science-in-star-trek/80178/113 "2001-09-17T09:29:22Z")
Well, yeah, it’s a plot device. That’s my point… they sacrifice so much of the show’s integrity for “plot devices”. Is it too much to ask for internal consistency? ---
**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 17, 2001, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitpicking-the-science-in-star-trek/80178/114 "2001-09-17T12:42:08Z")
It’s a TV show. Lighten up. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2001, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitpicking-the-science-in-star-trek/80178/115 "2001-09-29T20:40:28Z")
My nitpick is directed towards _Enterprise_. The ship is supposed to be able to go at warp 4.5-5.0. That was originally supposed to be about 100X lightspeed. Now that sounds like a lot but it isn’t, really. The pilot episode said they expected to travel to the Klingon homeworld in 8 days? At 100 lightspeeds they would travel a little over 2 light years- half the distance to Alpha Centauri. Maybe in the Next Generation era, with ships that can go 1000X lightspeed, you can go to the nearest system by supper time, but at 100X? Forget it. You’re talking weeks, months or years to get anywhere at all. Secondly, there just **aren’t** that many stellar systems that close to Sol. I looked it up once, and there are precisely 59 stellar systems within 20 light years of us; and about two thirds of those are red dwarf stars that are very unlikely to have habitable planets. All the adventures in _Enterprise_ would have to be taking place, comparitively speaking, in Earth’s backyard. I just love how there are **dozens** of alien races right next door, who all waited for centuries until we had warp drive and went to meet them. And will our tiny local neighborhood also be chock full of spatial anomolies? Again, the writers could get away with this in a 1000 lightyear radius sphere, but not 100 lightyears. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2001, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitpicking-the-science-in-star-trek/80178/116 "2001-09-30T18:34:22Z")
> [@](#): > > And will our tiny local neighborhood also be chock full of spatial anomolies? Again, the writers could get away with this in a 1000 lightyear radius sphere, but not 100 lightyears. No, see, that’s the thing. They don’t need to be chock-full of spatial anomolies, they only need one, populated by timeless entities who want to know about baseball, which instantly takes the ship to the Epsilon quadrant, which is chock-full of anomolies, so they have to spend 70 years getting home to prove themselves to a being who, despite being omnipotent, couldn’t wipe his own butt if he had instructions, but since they can’t have this anomoly stick around to be available in the later centuries of the other series, they destroy it in the series finale, except that it turns out that that was actually when it was created, by them. ---
**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 30, 2001, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitpicking-the-science-in-star-trek/80178/117 "2001-09-30T18:50:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chronos \* > \*\* prove themselves to a being who, despite being omnipotent, couldn’t wipe his own butt \*\* Gosh, how exciting! Have you seen the script? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitpicking-the-science-in-star-trek/80178.md?page=5)