# Star Trek inaccuracies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted, star-trek-paramount\ **Created:** [September 19, 2022, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-inaccuracies/971862 "2022-09-19T23:05:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2022, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-inaccuracies/971862/21 "2022-09-20T00:19:05Z")
IIRC when they set a phaser to explosive overload, they dive for cover behind an object that should also be intangible to the explosion. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2022, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-inaccuracies/971862/22 "2022-09-20T00:20:10Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > (I’ve also noticed that he’ll say ‘degrees Kelvin’ or ‘Kelvins’ instead of just ‘Kelvin’.) That part’s probably quite accurate, people are often sloppy with this type of thing, even people who know better. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2022, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-inaccuracies/971862/23 "2022-09-20T00:28:28Z")
‘Not “degrees kelvin”’ was hammered into us in Chemistry. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2022, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-inaccuracies/971862/24 "2022-09-20T00:47:14Z")
It was acceptable a couple of decades ago. Who knows whether it might be acceptable a couple decades hence? ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2022, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-inaccuracies/971862/25 "2022-09-20T01:27:14Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > > [@Bullitt](#): > > > > I think that warp drive warps the space-time continuum and so it ‘folds’ faraway places so that they’re close together. > > [Warp drives: Physicists give chances of faster-than-light space travel a boost | Space](https://www.space.com/physicists-give-warp-drives-a-boost) A cool article, thanks. Now all we need are experiments that start backing up the mathematical models. What did Einstein call the models? Thought experiments, right? Gedankenexperiment! ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2022, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-inaccuracies/971862/26 "2022-09-20T01:51:31Z")
You mean human beings aren’t descended from spiders? ---
**Author:** ![Pavelb1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pavelb1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavelb1)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2022, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-inaccuracies/971862/27 "2022-09-20T05:51:12Z")
I’ve mentioned it before but…if your ship can go warp 9.975…and warp 10 is everywhere in the galaxy at once (and why not the universe??)…you need a new fucking warp scale. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2022, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-inaccuracies/971862/28 "2022-09-20T05:58:06Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > In the TNG episode “Starship Mine” the _Enterprise_ has to be evacuated to undergo a “baryon” sweep. All atoms are made of baryons so a sweep that got rid of _them_ wouldn’t leave much left of the _Enterprise_. I always thought they were sweeping _with_ baryons, not _for_ baryons. But I doubt it makes much more sense my way than yours. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2022, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-inaccuracies/971862/29 "2022-09-20T11:09:03Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > At least they didn’t come in speaking of making the Kessel run in 12 parsecs 😃 How do you know that parsec is not a unit of time long ago and in a galaxy far away? I wonder why they bother to aim phasers instead of sweeping the energy beam back and forth. ---
**Author:** ![LoneRhino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lonerhino/32/1311_2.png) [@LoneRhino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LoneRhino)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2022, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-inaccuracies/971862/30 "2022-09-20T11:53:31Z")
The universal translator has always bothered me. A translator would translate what was being said. It wouldn’t make the other person appear to be speaking your language. I don’t mind it as a way to make the show comprehensible. It’s when they use it as a plot device like blending in with the local population that bothers me. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2022, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-inaccuracies/971862/31 "2022-09-20T12:13:37Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > The TNG episode “The Next Phase” -Geordi and Ro are phased out of sync with the rest of the universe due to a teleporter accident. They can see everyone else but nobody can see them, And they are intangible and can walks through walls and other solid objects. The episode that always bothered me was the classic Trek episode “Wink of an Eye”, where people are moving at superspeed, but they have no problem with air resistance. And if a day is passing on the normal ship, then wouldn’t years be passing for the accelerating people? I also thought they should have kept a supply of superspeed potion on board in case of emergency. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2022, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-inaccuracies/971862/32 "2022-09-20T12:17:09Z")
Sound does not travel in space. There is no fixed orientation in space (space ships facing off against each other are always on the same plane, not askew to each other). Just because a planet has a breathable atmosphere doesn’t mean ‘no spacesuit needed when beaming down’-- there may be dangerous space bacteria or viruses or high solar radiation or poisonous pollen or any one of a million possibly dangerous things. ---
**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:** [September 20, 2022, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-inaccuracies/971862/33 "2022-09-20T12:29:49Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I wonder why they bother to aim phasers instead of sweeping the energy beam back and forth. I wonder what happens to all the photon torpedos that miss - at some point they are going to hit something. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2022, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-inaccuracies/971862/34 "2022-09-20T12:52:35Z")
> [@simster](#): > > I wonder what happens to all the photon torpedos that miss - at some point they are going to hit something. Probably just like submarine torpedoes, which detonate at “end of run” if they don’t find a target. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2022, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-inaccuracies/971862/35 "2022-09-20T13:38:05Z")
Agreed. There is a DS9 episode where Quark, Rom and Nog accidentally time warp back to 1950s Roswell NM. Somehow their universal translator implants get damaged, so they are unable to understand the hoo-mans until Rom gets them fixed. But once they are repaired, not only can they understand the hoo-mans, the hoo-mans can understand them as well, which makes no sense. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2022, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-inaccuracies/971862/36 "2022-09-20T13:39:06Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > In “Court Martial,” Kirk has the ship’s auditory sensors boosted “on the order of 1 to the 4th power” in order to find the heartbeat of a guy. And somehow, the sound of Finney’s breathing and moving and farting and digestive noises don’t also get amplified to the fourth power, not to mention I hope Spock turned the gain down once Kirk and Finney started talking, and fighting. Otherwise they’d blow out the eardrums of everyone on the bridge. > [@DocCathode](#): > > Han is just speaking gibberish to snow what he sees as two country yokels who won’t know better. And yet, in _Solo_ they made an (totally unasked-for and unheeded) explanation that the 12 parsec quote was exactly correct. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2022, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-inaccuracies/971862/37 "2022-09-20T13:48:13Z")
Any of you folks who spent your homework hours dealing with temperature in kelvin ever encounter the Rankine scale? ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2022, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-inaccuracies/971862/38 "2022-09-20T13:49:32Z")
The thing that always bugged me about TOS “Court Martial” episode is, what was Finney’s plan after Kirk got court martialed and lost command? He couldn’t hide on the ship forever. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2022, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-inaccuracies/971862/39 "2022-09-20T14:28:26Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > Any of you folks who spent your homework hours dealing with temperature in kelvin ever encounter the Rankine scale? It was mentioned, but no one serious uses it, as far as I know. Choosing between Fahrenheit and Celsius for everyday temperatures is a matter of preference. But once you’re switching to an absolute scale anyway, why not use the standard unit? ---
**Author:** ![LoneRhino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lonerhino/32/1311_2.png) [@LoneRhino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LoneRhino)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2022, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-inaccuracies/971862/40 "2022-09-20T15:28:15Z")
There are quite a few instances where they do this but this one of the more blatant uses. My favorite is when Sisko, O’Brien, and Odo (this is during the period when he wasn’t a shapeshifter.) get surgically altered to look like Klingons but nobody seems to notice that they’re not actually speaking Klingon. In spite of that I like the episode. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-inaccuracies/971862.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-inaccuracies/971862.md?page=3)