# 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:** 6
**Author:** ![cormac262](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@cormac262](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cormac262)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2022, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-inaccuracies/971862/101 "2022-09-21T19:55:15Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > Is that the ONLY time the artificial gravity failed? Because off the top of my head I can NOT think of another example. The loss of artificial gravity in “Star Trek VI” is the closest to accurately showing a failed artificial gravity situation. A much worse example was in “Star Trek: Into Darkness”. At the end when the Enterprise is being hammered by the section 31 uber-ship, their artificial gravity is damaged. But instead of experiencing zero gravity as you’d expect, gravity kind of goes haywire - stuff goes flying, and crewmen are “falling” in all whacky directions. ---
**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 21, 2022, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-inaccuracies/971862/102 "2022-09-21T20:03:32Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > Positronic brains not so much. The progression from “psychopath” to “emotionless but highly moral” to “so human even the android doesn’t know it’s an android,” strikes me as pretty remarkable progress in a fairly short amount of time. ---
**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 21, 2022, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-inaccuracies/971862/103 "2022-09-21T20:18:46Z")
2 things First, Data was a step back. Soong couldn’t get emotions right. So, he left them out. Second, all those advances were made by Soong. In Measure Of A Man, the Federaration’s leading non-Data expert on positronic brains wants to take Data apart hoping he’ll learn enough to put him back together. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2022, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-inaccuracies/971862/104 "2022-09-21T20:31:26Z")
Poor B4. Nobody remembers you. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2022, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-inaccuracies/971862/105 "2022-09-21T20:32:12Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I wonder why they bother to aim phasers instead of sweeping the energy beam back and forth. And if they’re so powerful that the concentrated beam can just disintegrate someone, why not just put it on “Wide” while you wave it around? You don’t need to disintegrate them, just kill them. Roasting their front off would do the trick. ---
**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 21, 2022, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-inaccuracies/971862/106 "2022-09-21T20:34:15Z")
Memory Alpha informs me that b4 is covered in Picard- being broke I don’t have any streaming services and haven’t seen it yet. ---
**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 21, 2022, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-inaccuracies/971862/107 "2022-09-21T20:47:08Z")
> [@Mr.E](#): > > but then that should be their solution for every problem. …or, alternately, a repeat problem. AND, maybe a solution. So, why exactly didn’t a bunch of people get turned into ESPer superbeings when the Kelvan took the Enterprise through the Galactic Barrier? Having someone with the power of Gary Mitchell on your side would defeat the Kelvan PDQ. It would also defeat the Borg. Maybe we as a species should just give up on this whole beings of matter thing and just send every human through the barrier. The ones that make the transition are the New Humans ™. The rest can just accept our place as the ants of the universe. ---
**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 21, 2022, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-inaccuracies/971862/108 "2022-09-21T20:49:07Z")
Trek has a long problem of great solutions/ technologies that are only used once. Plato’s Stepchildren- why not give all humans telekinesis? ---
**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 21, 2022, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-inaccuracies/971862/109 "2022-09-21T20:55:42Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > Plato’s Stepchildren- why not give all humans telekinesis? Now THAT would be useful. And the spore healing powers from This Side of paradise. Have some of them in sickbay. I bet they cure Xenopolycythemia. And pointed ears. Humans should all have pointed ears. I’m still waiting for ST:The Wrath of Vger. I want to know what happened to the Decker/(mostly)Ilia/Vger merger. Was it the next step of human evolution, or a one-off dead end? And how about Gomtuu/Tam Elbrun merged being? ---
**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 21, 2022, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-inaccuracies/971862/110 "2022-09-21T20:57:01Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I’m still waiting for ST:The Wrath of Vger. I want to know what happened to the Decker/(mostly)Ilia/Vger merger. According to at least one book, that merger was the start of the Borg. ---
**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 21, 2022, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-inaccuracies/971862/111 "2022-09-21T21:00:55Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > According to at least one book, that merger was the start of the Borg. hmm…interesting. Not that there’s any answer but I figured there is one pure machine species out there that “created” both Vger and Nomad. (I call them the R’ddN’b’rry 🙂 ) ---
**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 21, 2022, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-inaccuracies/971862/112 "2022-09-21T21:08:01Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Not that there’s any answer but I figured there is one pure machine species out there that “created” both Vger and Nomad. (I call them the R’ddN’b’rry 🙂 ) It was after they jettisoned the M5 that they came to realize their mistake. ---
**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 21, 2022, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-inaccuracies/971862/113 "2022-09-21T21:09:49Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > First, Data was a step back. Soong couldn’t get emotions right. So, he left them out. Data didn’t murder a colony full of civilians. That’s a step forward. Also, the Vulcan delegation would like to file a formal complaint over the idea that removing emotions counts as a step backward. > [@DocCathode](#): > > Second, all those advances were made by Soong. In Measure Of A Man, the Federaration’s leading non-Data expert on positronic brains wants to take Data apart hoping he’ll learn enough to put him back together. Okay, but why are we stipulating “non-Data expert?” Data’s in Star Fleet, so what he knows ought to count as part of what Star Fleet knows. And Data definitely made his own advances in the technology - Lal avoided both of the errors Noonian encountered with Lore and Data, being neither emotionless, not a mass murderer. There’s a definite progression in understanding positronic brains over the course of the show and the movies. The idea that Data was able to figure out how to bypass, and eventually remove, his emotion chip isn’t an inaccuracy, any more than Geordi showing up without a visor in _First Contact_ was an inaccuracy. ---
**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 21, 2022, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-inaccuracies/971862/114 "2022-09-21T21:22:29Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > The idea that Data was able to figure out how to bypass, and eventually remove, his emotion chip isn’t an inaccuracy, any more than Geordi showing up without a visor in _First Contact_ was an inaccuracy. At the very least, the failure to explain it was an error. Data’s emotion chip is presented as a risk and a possible great leap forward before he puts it in. Then, it gets fused in and a big deal is made of the fact that he cannot deactivate or remove it. If the change was due to advances in science, it should have been explained or commented on. ---
**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 22, 2022, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-inaccuracies/971862/115 "2022-09-22T01:14:43Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > IIRC An episode of Enterprise had a character playing around in ‘the sweet spot’ a place in the ship where all gravitational pulls cancelled out and he was weightless. The Mirror Universe episodes of Enterprises had the crew deal with a hostile Gorn simply by turning up the gravity in the corridor until he collapsed. Nobody else has ever tried it. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2022, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-inaccuracies/971862/116 "2022-09-22T01:21:20Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > Poor B4. Nobody remembers you. Speaking of that, Data died because he forgot that, as an android, he can breathe vacuum. ---
**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 22, 2022, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-inaccuracies/971862/117 "2022-09-22T01:23:43Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Speaking of that, Data died because he forgot that, as an android, he can breathe vacuum. yeah - that sucks ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2022, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-inaccuracies/971862/118 "2022-09-22T13:29:41Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I’m sure there are many people today who say “degrees Kelvin” or “Kelvins.” Who is to say that there won’t still be in centuries hence? I predict that by centuries hence, the “L” will have been dropped, and temperature will be measured in “Kevins”. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2022, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-inaccuracies/971862/119 "2022-09-22T13:44:18Z")
> [@Mr.E](#): > > Heck, instead of beaming yourself down, just beam down a transporter clone of you to do the dirty work. The TV show Dark Matter had that. Rather than being transported, a copy of your brain was made and implanted into a clone at the destination. If you stayed in the pod, and your clone returned to its origin, then it could upload the memories it made while it was deployed. But if your clone was killed, it didn’t hurt _you_ at all. They still never used it to its fullest extent. Why have a standing army when you could just have hundreds of clone pods, and clone dozens of copies of special forces teams? ---
**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 22, 2022, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-inaccuracies/971862/120 "2022-09-22T13:46:03Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > > [@Acsenray](#): > > > > I’m sure there are many people today who say “degrees Kelvin” or “Kelvins.” Who is to say that there won’t still be in centuries hence? > > I predict that by centuries hence, the “L” will have been dropped, and temperature will be measured in “Kevins”. Absolutely. We already talk about degrees from Kevin Bacon. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-inaccuracies/971862.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-inaccuracies/971862.md?page=7)