# Star Trek 4 Sounds Like it Was Pitched By A Crazy Person **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** star-trek-paramount\ **Created:** [November 9, 2024, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-4-sounds-like-it-was-pitched-by-a-crazy-person/1010001 "2024-11-09T22:33:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2024, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-4-sounds-like-it-was-pitched-by-a-crazy-person/1010001/101 "2024-11-11T01:44:11Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > You can’t order your own toppings for a slice (maybe there is some place that can do that but that would be unusual). You can in my neck of the woods (Philly area), and it’s not unusual. You just have to wait while they heat it up. I just had two slices with olives and anchovies the other night, made to order. But, yes, there’s only whatever size they offer, usually cut from a large pie. Most places cut their whole pies for sale into 8 slices, but cut the single slices for sale from pies cut into six slices. But that’s definitely variable. Sci-fi movies that get this wrong definitely lose me. Do your research people! ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2024, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-4-sounds-like-it-was-pitched-by-a-crazy-person/1010001/102 "2024-11-11T02:19:49Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Food replicators only make individual portions. That brings to mind a scene that’s existed in my head for several years. I don’t know if Star Trek has ever done it, but it could probably be adapted to most versions of the show, and if I ever had the chance to write a Star Trek script I’d include it. Near the beginning of the episode, Spock visits McCoy in his office to discuss a minor issue and finds him at his desk, unhappily eating a plate of food while six identical portions sit around the table. Spock comments that he can contact maintenance if the replicator is malfunctioning, but Bones explains that when he was a boy his grandma made the best darn home cooking you ever tasted, and he’s been longing for her chicken and dumplings, but the replicator just can’t get them right. Spock comments that he finds humans’ nostalgic attachments to food fascinating, but before McCoy can complain about being studied like a lab rat, plot starts happening and they’re both called to the bridge. Later in the episode, while the Enterprise is dealing with its problem of the week, Kirk asks for a systems update, and in between technobabble Sulu mentions that the replicators on Deck 17 have been drawing an unusual amount of power. Later, in the final scene, Spock is joining McCoy for a meal. McCoy goes to order but Spock insists on ordering for both of them - and gives the replicator a lengthy description of the food he wants, including measurements in grams and milligrams and specific lengths of simulated cooking time, and seconds later the replicator spits out two plates of chicken and dumplings. McCoy says something like “Now what in the Sam Hill was that?” Spock responds “Following our previous conversation on the subject of chicken and dumplings, I consulted several texts in the ship’s database regarding primitive Earth cooking and ingredients and methods traditional to the American South. Using this information I replicated 837 variations of chicken and dumplings in an attempt to identify the optimal combination of ingredients, proportions, and cooking methods that would comprise what you refer to as ‘the best darn home cooking you ever tasted’. I believe you will find this permutation satisfactory.” McCoy lectures Spock that he doesn’t get it and true home cooking comes from the heart and not a computer, but Spock insists he try it. He does so and a grudging smile comes over his face. “I think grandma used more pepper,” he says, “but this isn’t half-bad either. What do you call it?” “During trials I referred to this permutation as Specimen 28-Delta.” “That’ll never do. How about chicken a la Spock?” “If you insist, Doctor.” ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2024, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-4-sounds-like-it-was-pitched-by-a-crazy-person/1010001/103 "2024-11-11T02:55:07Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > It was two mushroom pepperonis and a beer. Why is this in a foreign language for the subtitles? > [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Never ordered a slice? Really? Many times, but from a counter, never a waiter. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2024, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-4-sounds-like-it-was-pitched-by-a-crazy-person/1010001/104 "2024-11-11T03:49:38Z")
That’s improbably close to a scene from _The Restaurant at the End of the Universe_, when Arthur Dent, tired of the Nutro-Matic delivering a beverage that was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea, spends a great deal of time explaining the history, concept, taste, experience, etc. of tea to the Nutro-Matic. It winds up taking over the ship’s computer to help it figure out how to make tea, leaving the Heart of Gold defenseless when they’re attacked by the Vogons. At the end, after a brief seance with Zaphod’s great-grandfather it delivers a pot of the best tea Arthur has ever had. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2024, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-4-sounds-like-it-was-pitched-by-a-crazy-person/1010001/105 "2024-11-11T03:58:57Z")
Hmm. I read that book when I was 13 or so but I don’t remember that scene. Not surprising that someone has had the same idea before. If anything I was thinking of Picard’s struggle to get a good cup of tea, Earl Grey, hot. I’m just gonna go off now and imagine a headcanon where, alongside his other achievements, Spock went on to design hundreds of replicator recipes for Starfleet, and as a result Captain Janeway came to hate Tuesdays because that was chicken a la Spock day in the Starfleet Academy cafeteria and she never really cared for it. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2024, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-4-sounds-like-it-was-pitched-by-a-crazy-person/1010001/106 "2024-11-11T17:21:59Z")
> [@Pavelb1](#): > > And come on…that claymation during the time travel is bonkers. I love the bold choice but its a weird sell. It wasn’t claymation - it was (then) state-of-the-art CGI. By the way, “Claymation” is a registered trademark of Will Vinton studios. It isn’t really a synonym for animation of clay (actually, in most cases, plasticene) figures. And even Vinton studios used arnatures inside the clay. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2024, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-4-sounds-like-it-was-pitched-by-a-crazy-person/1010001/107 "2024-11-11T17:28:01Z")
Actually, I really liked **Star Trek IV** it had much more of an ensemble feel than any other Star Trek movie, and it gave all the cast things to do. Nicholas Mayer co-wrote the screenplay (He’d done ST II, as well as Time After Time. He’s also the King of TV Movies, for reasons I’ve given elsewhere). The plot, I have to admit, reminds me of the typical student-written stories that one of my Writing course professors bemoaned (long before this movie came out), where the young hero aligns himself with the cause of Eco-action and even Eco-Terrorism, Saving the Whales (or whatever) and often hurting or killing people in the process. In this case, at least, No Humans Were Harmed. Not even the Scandinavian whaling crew. The story is told with a light touch, and plenty of humor. It has its moments – I particularly like Scotty, Sulu, and Checkov gathered around the Klingon console trying to figure out which button did what – it rang true, as too often things don’t. ---
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2024, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-4-sounds-like-it-was-pitched-by-a-crazy-person/1010001/108 "2024-11-11T17:36:54Z")
Totally unrealistic plot. Why didn’t they just contact the mice? They’re the ones in charge. [Mouse (The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) | Alien Species | Fandom](https://aliens.fandom.com/wiki/Mouse_(The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy)) Oh, and on the West Coast, pizza by the slice is not as common as on the East Coast and, in my experience is more of a downscale restaurant thing. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2024, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-4-sounds-like-it-was-pitched-by-a-crazy-person/1010001/109 "2024-11-11T19:58:23Z")
> [@peccavi](#): > > Oh, and on the West Coast, pizza by the slice is not as common as on the East Coast and, in my experience is more of a downscale restaurant thing. Hmm, yes. Of all the things in the movie, that seemed to be the most outlandish. Wait a minute – Kirk and Gillian ordered a whole pizza – not by the slice. > [@](#): > > [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIQJg5KaoM8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIQJg5KaoM8) ---
**Author:** ![Pavelb1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pavelb1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavelb1)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2024, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-4-sounds-like-it-was-pitched-by-a-crazy-person/1010001/110 "2024-11-11T20:14:31Z")
I like how being captured, in a time travel story, by US armed forces has become a Trek Tradition. See also Tomorrow is Yesterday and Little Green Men I havnt seen the SNW ep, or the ENT Vulcan ep. And I don’t think it happens in the VOY ep. I think they were too smart to let it happen. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2024, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-4-sounds-like-it-was-pitched-by-a-crazy-person/1010001/111 "2024-11-11T20:25:43Z")
In 1986, the idea of having a movie heavily dependent on a “Save the whales” message really was not as weird as it sounds today. That was a BIG issue back then that got people worked up. (“Lethal Weapon II” has a reference to dolphin conservation meant to show how Murtaugh is out of touch with modern times.) It was a much bigger deal, one very fraught with emotion and a degree of nationalist anger at countries that kept killing whales. In 1986, humpbacked whales were severely endangered, hence the movie’s assumption that their extinction was a foregone conclusion. Now they aren’t even considered endangered anymore, because conservation efforts worked. Like acid rain or the ozone layer, the efforts to fix the problem were so successful that we’ve forgotten they used to be hot button issues. ---
**Author:** ![mozchron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@mozchron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mozchron)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2024, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-4-sounds-like-it-was-pitched-by-a-crazy-person/1010001/112 "2024-11-11T21:27:03Z")
I gotta say, I’ve been in a funk since the election. This thread cheered me up a bit. I love this movie btw. ---
**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:** [November 11, 2024, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-4-sounds-like-it-was-pitched-by-a-crazy-person/1010001/113 "2024-11-11T23:46:27Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > That’s improbably close to a scene from _The Restaurant at the End of the Universe_ But precisely how improbably close? ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-4-sounds-like-it-was-pitched-by-a-crazy-person/1010001/114 "2024-11-12T00:15:02Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > And this thread is obsessed with whether the pizza order made sense, whether they would know where Alameda was, and whether Chekov would have been in a military hospital, rather than a civilian hospital. It is not surprising to me—back in the 90s they published four books entitled The Nitpicker’s Guide to Star Trek–one for the Original Series, two for the Next Generation and one for Deep Space Nine. I kind of wish they continued the books with the latter Star Trek series. There used to a dedicated board called Nitpicker Central but it appears to defunct. ---
**Author:** ![Pavelb1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pavelb1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavelb1)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-4-sounds-like-it-was-pitched-by-a-crazy-person/1010001/115 "2024-11-12T00:36:00Z")
I had those books! ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-4-sounds-like-it-was-pitched-by-a-crazy-person/1010001/116 "2024-11-12T03:13:57Z")
If you like these kinds of books as much as I do, you might also like William Shatner’s _Star Trek Movie Memories_. It reads like he has some grievances that he wanted to air, especially about ST-V (which he directed; it was his"turn" after Nimoy directed the two previous films). If you think Star Trek IV had a weird plot, give the fifth movie in the series another look. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-4-sounds-like-it-was-pitched-by-a-crazy-person/1010001/117 "2024-11-12T03:18:58Z")
What are you talking about? there was no 5th movie - they went straight from 4 to 6 in that series. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-4-sounds-like-it-was-pitched-by-a-crazy-person/1010001/118 "2024-11-12T03:35:40Z")
That’s how I remember it! ---
**Author:** ![Pavelb1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pavelb1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavelb1)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-4-sounds-like-it-was-pitched-by-a-crazy-person/1010001/119 "2024-11-12T05:52:57Z")
I’m glad. At several points in this thread and on some reddit threads, I found myself thinking, “Well…we can always talk about Star Trek.” ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-4-sounds-like-it-was-pitched-by-a-crazy-person/1010001/120 "2024-11-12T12:23:27Z")
> [@simster](#): > > What are you talking about? there was no 5th movie - they went straight from 4 to 6 in that series. You must have lost your memory of it when you bumped your head on an unexpectedly low doorway and went unconscious. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-4-sounds-like-it-was-pitched-by-a-crazy-person/1010001.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-4-sounds-like-it-was-pitched-by-a-crazy-person/1010001.md?page=7)