# Star Trek IV minor nitpicking **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 14, 2011, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-iv-minor-nitpicking/567554 "2011-01-14T03:00:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-iv-minor-nitpicking/567554/1 "2011-01-14T03:00:00Z")
Don’t get me wrong - I love this movie. Watching it again, I noticed some really minor things that I thought I’d share. I’ll forgo the obvious geographical errors, since they’re obvious. (And since I’d already noticed them). [ul] [li] Why do the garbage men in Golden Gate Park have New York accents?[/li][li] Why did all the tourists in the group laugh when Gillian said the whales’ names were George and Gracie? I get the humor, but did the tourists not know their names already? I thought they were the star attraction, with ads on buses, etc.[/li][li] How the hell did Sulu get that helicopter? Did he just happen across the most trusting military mechanic in the US? Here’s the scene:[/li]“Hey there! Good looking ship. Is that a Huey 204?” “Right on! You fly?” “Oh, here and there, but I haven’t flown something like this since the academy days.” “Well this must be old hat for you.” ::Sulu climbs in:: Mind If I ask you a few questions?" “Shoot!” —end scene, but what must’ve happened– “Can I come back tomorrow morning and fly away with this Huey by myself and leave it somewhere in Golden Gate Park?” “Absolutely!” [li] How could they have avoided the payoff where the Plexicorp guy with his “I Quit Smoking!” button was shown the transparent aluminum, and didn’t light up a cigarette?[/li][li] Gillian sure didn’t care about driving into GGP on a footpath[/li][li] Do dog patrols really patrol Battleship corridors like that?[/li][li] After Gillian jumped onto Kirk to beam up, why didn’t they just beam her right back down again?[/li][li] How did Sarek and Yates see the Bird Of Prey heading for the bridge through that weather?[/li][/ul] Oh, and one thing I just got. When they’re in the bus, discussing the collected works of Jaqueline Susanne and Harold Robbins, Spock says “The Giants.” I thought that was the title of one of Robbins’ books. I now realize he means that in the 23rd century those two authors are considered giants of fiction. Which is way funnier. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-iv-minor-nitpicking/567554/2 "2011-01-14T03:13:36Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > Why do the garbage men in Golden Gate Park have New York accents? All garbage men, everywhere, have New York accents. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-iv-minor-nitpicking/567554/3 "2011-01-14T03:20:58Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > All garbage men, everywhere, have New York accents. 😉 It’s true. Even in rural south Texas. (This is my favorite Star Trek film.) ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-iv-minor-nitpicking/567554/4 "2011-01-14T03:27:23Z")
the tour group were laughing to be polite and to acknowledge that they indeed did get the joke. If Kirk can just bring back Gillian to the future and ignore all the possible time line problems, why didn’t he bring back Edith Keeler (whatever her name was from City On The Edge Of Forever) back to the future because she was gonna die anyway and he actually wanted to save her ---
**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:** [January 14, 2011, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-iv-minor-nitpicking/567554/5 "2011-01-14T04:49:35Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > the tour group were laughing to be polite and to acknowledge that they indeed did get the joke. > > If Kirk can just bring back Gillian to the future and ignore all the possible time line problems, why didn’t he bring back Edith Keeler (whatever her name was from City On The Edge Of Forever) back to the future because she was gonna die anyway and he actually wanted to save her That one’s easy - her death had to make the papers - and at the time, he didn’t have the ability to take her Back - to the future! (you’d need a flying car for that) ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-iv-minor-nitpicking/567554/6 "2011-01-14T14:53:00Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > Oh, and one thing I just got. When they’re in the bus, discussing the collected works of Jaqueline Susanne and Harold Robbins, Spock says “The Giants.” I thought that was the title of one of Robbins’ books. I now realize he means that in the 23rd century those two authors are considered giants of fiction. Which is way funnier. I don’t think they are really considered literary giants in the 23rd century - Spock was using sarcasm. ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-iv-minor-nitpicking/567554/7 "2011-01-14T14:58:13Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > I don’t think they are really considered literary giants in the 23rd century - Spock was using sarcasm. It’s been a while, but wasn’t Spock a little pre-sarcasm at that point still? I thought one of the main running gags of 4 was that Spock was back to the preternaturally clueless straight-man role while his brains de-fragged in the background. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-iv-minor-nitpicking/567554/8 "2011-01-14T15:06:26Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > I don’t think they are really considered literary giants in the 23rd century - Spock was using sarcasm. Spock wasn’t using sarcasm. His brain was still Swiss-cheese from being zombified in the last movie. He has no idea who they were, so he just assumed they were giants of 20th century Earth literature. ---
**Author:** ![gravitycrash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@gravitycrash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gravitycrash)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-iv-minor-nitpicking/567554/9 "2011-01-14T15:26:07Z")
Hey, I liked Harold Robbins back in the day. He was my first real access to porn in word form. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-iv-minor-nitpicking/567554/10 "2011-01-14T20:23:11Z")
> [@gravitycrash](#): > > Hey, I liked Harold Robbins back in the day. He was my first real access to porn in word form. Oh yeah. I still recall that one book where the guy slathers his cock with cocaine like his Pappy taught him. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-iv-minor-nitpicking/567554/11 "2011-01-14T20:28:15Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > If Kirk can just bring back Gillian to the future and ignore all the possible time line problems, why didn’t he bring back Edith Keeler (whatever her name was from City On The Edge Of Forever) back to the future because she was gonna die anyway and he actually wanted to save her They didn’t initiate their return - the Guardian brought them back after the timeline was restored, which was after Keeler died. As for Gillian, based on a similar situation in “Tomorrow is Yesterday,” they probably figured she knew enough so that it was safer to bring her back than leave her. They were going to keep John Christopher until Spock discovered that his as yet unborn child was going to be important. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-iv-minor-nitpicking/567554/12 "2011-01-14T20:40:43Z")
[ul] [li] Why do the garbage men in Golden Gate Park have New York accents?[/li]\*Nothing says garbage men like a NYC accent. \* [li] Why did all the tourists in the group laugh when Gillian said the whales’ names were George and Gracie? I get the humor, but did the tourists not know their names already? I thought they were the star attraction, with ads on buses, etc.[/li]\*Still cute to hear it and some of these tourist were surprised to hear whales are not fish. \* [li] How the hell did Sulu get that helicopter? Did he just happen across the most trusting military mechanic in the US? Here’s the scene:[/li]\*Dang, it is explained in the book and I can’t remember it. \* [li] How could they have avoided the payoff where the Plexicorp guy with his “I Quit Smoking!” button was shown the transparent aluminum, and didn’t light up a cigarette?[/li]\*Overkill perhaps after Scotty already got the laugh talking into the mouse? \* [li] Gillian sure didn’t care about driving into GGP on a footpath[/li]\*Got nothing on this one. \* [li] Do dog patrols really patrol Battleship corridors like that?[/li]\*No. By the way that was a carrier, it was suppose to be the USS Enterprise CVN-65 the Big “E” and was actually filmed on board my carrier USS Ranger CV-61 and we did not normally have dogs on board, even in port. \* [li] After Gillian jumped onto Kirk to beam up, why didn’t they just beam her right back down again?[/li]\*She knew too much and the did not really play up the butterfly effect for Star Trek, small changes were OK apparently. \* [li] How did Sarek and Yates see the Bird Of Prey heading for the bridge through that weather?[/li]_I thought it cleared up enough for them to see it. I have to rewatch._ [/ul] This is my favorite Trek Movie. Followed by The Wrath of Khan. I was on the Ranger when it was being filmed. That was really cool for a Trekkie like me. ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-iv-minor-nitpicking/567554/13 "2011-01-14T20:52:07Z")
About the helicopter: According to IMDB: “Sulu (George Takei) was supposed to leap into the Huey helicopter when the pilot was outside, looking the other way, and make off with it. Takei had just run the San Francisco marathon when they were supposed to shoot this scene, and was too sore to leap into the helicopter. They tried having a grip throw him in, but couldn’t get it to look realistic, so the scene was cut. In the final edit, Sulu is shown talking to the pilot, then shows up flying the helicopter a few minutes later.” ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-iv-minor-nitpicking/567554/14 "2011-01-14T20:59:36Z")
[quote=“Morbo, post:1, topic:567554”] [li] Why do the garbage men in Golden Gate Park have New York accents?[/li][/quote] Because they grew up in New York. I met a guy with a Scottish accent the other day! The human race is remarkable in its ability to move. > [@](#): > > Why did all the tourists in the group laugh when Gillian said the whales’ names were George and Gracie? I get the humor, but did the tourists not know their names already? I thought they were the star attraction, with ads on buses, etc. I can’t remember the scene exactly; but I know I slightly laughed and “George & Gracie” has no cultural meaning to me. I’m guessing there was another part of the sentence I must’ve found amusing. > [@](#): > > How the hell did Sulu get that helicopter? Did he just happen across the most trusting military mechanic in the US? Here’s the scene: > “Hey there! Good looking ship. Is that a Huey 204?” > “Right on! You fly?” > “Oh, here and there, but I haven’t flown something like this since the academy days.” > “Well this must be old hat for you.” > ::Sulu climbs in:: Mind If I ask you a few questions?" > “Shoot!” > —end scene, but what must’ve happened– > “Can I come back tomorrow morning and fly away with this Huey by myself and leave it somewhere in Golden Gate Park?” > “Absolutely!” They should have shown more, but the implication is that he was figuring out how to steal it by talking to the pilot. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-iv-minor-nitpicking/567554/15 "2011-01-14T21:03:03Z")
I always assumed that the helicopter was supplied in the same deal that Scotty and McCoy worked out for the plexiglass. But I guess most plexiglass companies don’t need a helicopter for deliveries… Thanks. Now I’ll never enjoy the movie again. Ever. ---
**Author:** ![FasterThanMeerkats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/278dde/32.png) [@FasterThanMeerkats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FasterThanMeerkats)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-iv-minor-nitpicking/567554/16 "2011-01-14T21:15:04Z")
My day is much better for this thread. Thanks, Mr. **Morbo**!! I always assumed Sulu smooth-talked his way into borrowing the helicopter. Stealing it just seems a little too rascally for him. Also, considering George’s flamboyant personality off-screen, it seems to fit more. ---
**Author:** ![BlueOhio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/439d5e/32.png) [@BlueOhio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlueOhio)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-iv-minor-nitpicking/567554/17 "2011-01-14T21:18:10Z")
I always assumed they were laughing _at_ Gillian, not with her. I would’ve. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-iv-minor-nitpicking/567554/18 "2011-01-14T21:26:48Z")
Nice people laugh at tour guides’ canned jokes. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-iv-minor-nitpicking/567554/19 "2011-01-14T21:56:30Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > Because they grew up in New York. I met a guy with a Scottish accent the other day! The human race is remarkable in its ability to move. Both of them grew up in NY, moved to SF, aspired to become garbage men, and work the same shift on the same truck? I find that hard to believe. BTW, I have no problem with time travelling to bring whales to the future to save Earth. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-iv-minor-nitpicking/567554/20 "2011-01-14T22:39:02Z")
[quote=“Morbo, post:1, topic:567554”] . [li] How the hell did Sulu get that helicopter? Did he just happen across the most trusting military mechanic in the US? [/li][/QUOTE] If you look closely, you will see a sticker on the tale of the aircraft that reads “ass, gas, or grass - nobody rides for free”. Being from the 24th century, Sulu didn’t have access to petroleum based fuel or marijuana\*, so… Much like bourbon has been replaced by “synthehol” in the Star Trek universe, marijuana has been replaced with “synthastank” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-iv-minor-nitpicking/567554.md?page=2)