# Star Trek: Most annoying contradictions **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 3, 2001, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-most-annoying-contradictions/79491 "2001-09-03T05:36:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2001, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-most-annoying-contradictions/79491/101 "2001-09-06T20:21:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by carnivorousplant \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by jab1 \* > > \*\* how a red-blooded woman gave birth to a green-blooded baby? \*\* > > A character in a non-canon novel answered that question thusly: > > “In vitro, actually.” \*\* In the movie _ST5: The Embarrassment_, Spock’s half-brother showed Spock’s birth, which appeared entirely natural. (In fact, it happened in a cave and it didn’t look like his mother used anesthetic!) So the only reasonable explanation appears in a novel that is NOT considered canon! (Some have said that #5 wasn’t really canon, but I think that’s a desperate attempt to pretend the movie doesn’t exist!) ---
**Author:** ![TheeGrumpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@TheeGrumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheeGrumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2001, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-most-annoying-contradictions/79491/102 "2001-09-06T21:29:16Z")
Just because Spock may have been conceived _in vitro_ doesn’t mean Amanda couldn’t carry him to term. Although allowing such a complicated pregnancy to climax in a cave, of all places, is definitely illogical. Don’t they have hospitals on Vulcan? (Come to think of it, have we ever seen any modern facilities on Vulcan?) This points to a more subtle inconsistency regarding Vulcan logic. My favorite moment is in ST:TMP when Spock, having achieved Kolinahr, is about to be given the “symbol of total logic.” Spock protests. Is it because he has just sensed a wave of emotion from an interstellar probe? NO! It’s because bestowing symbols is illogical! It is also illogical to keep one’s “biology” a secret, and to be ashamed of it. For that matter, it is illogical to suppress emotions in all circumstances, when expressing them can be done in a healthy manner. I used to idolize Vulcans. Now they just seem like dorks. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2001, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-most-annoying-contradictions/79491/103 "2001-09-06T21:42:20Z")
TheeGrumpy wrote: > [@](#): > > Just because Spock may have been conceived _in vitro_ doesn’t mean Amanda couldn’t carry him to term. … assuming Vulcan fetuses have a placenta. And assuming a Vulcan placenta could extract the nutrients needed by a growing Vulcan embryo from the blood supply of a human uterine wall. ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2001, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-most-annoying-contradictions/79491/104 "2001-09-06T21:43:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TheeGrumpy \* > **Just because Spock may have been conceived _in vitro_ doesn’t mean Amanda couldn’t carry him to term.** Amanda has red, iron-based blood. Spock has green, copper-based blood. So exactly how could she have carried him? ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2001, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-most-annoying-contradictions/79491/105 "2001-09-06T21:54:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Some have said that #5 wasn’t really canon, but I think that’s a desperate attempt to pretend the movie doesn’t exist! We’re doing the same thing with _The Phantom Menace_. > [@](#): > > Amanda has red, iron-based blood. Spock has green, copper-based blood. So exactly how could she have carried him? He had a phase-patterned thoron-burst quantum-flux umbilical cord? With a side order of fries? ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2001, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-most-annoying-contradictions/79491/106 "2001-09-07T01:05:10Z")
To be fair to baby Spock, though – it is NOT true that a pregnant human mother and her developing fetus share blood supplies. Oxygen, nutrients, carbon dioxide, and waste products are **exchanged** via the placenta, but the mother’s blood doesn’t mix with the fetus’s blood. (This is because the mother and the fetus may not have the same blood type, in which case mixing them together would have disastrous consequences.) It is theoretically possible that a Vulcan placenta – if it existed, and if it worked in a manner similar to a human placenta – could exchange oxygen, nutrients, carbon dioxide, and waste products with a human mother’s blood supply. Even though the Vulcan fetus’s blood only has the copper-based analog of hemaglobin. ---
**Author:** ![NeutronJack](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/neutronjack/32/4134_2.png) [@NeutronJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NeutronJack)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2001, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-most-annoying-contradictions/79491/107 "2001-09-07T03:00:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TheeGrumpy \* > \*\*In fact, in “Amok Time,” Kirk receives a message and points the monitor right at his crotch. I always wondered what exactly Sulu was looking at at that moment. \*\* The captain’s log? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![PlanMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/2bfe46/32.png) [@PlanMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlanMan)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2001, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-most-annoying-contradictions/79491/108 "2001-09-08T02:15:21Z")
Related to the OP of a search for conradictions… In “Wrath of Khan” (which is on TNN right now), on the exile planet, Khan says he remembers Chekov. Not possible. Chekov didn’t join the crew of ST:TOS until after the Khan episode. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2001, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-most-annoying-contradictions/79491/109 "2001-09-08T03:41:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by PlanMan \* > \*\*Related to the OP of a search for conradictions… > > In “Wrath of Khan” (which is on TNN right now), on the exile planet, Khan says he remembers Chekov. Not possible. Chekov didn’t join the crew of ST:TOS until after the Khan episode. \*\* “Space Seed” (the TOS episode STII:TWOK was based on) aired on 2/16/1967. The episode was stardated _3141.9_. “Catspaw” (Chekov’s first on-screen appearance) aired 10/27/1967. The episode was stardated _3018.2_. So even though Walter Koenig didn’t join the cast until the second season, Chekov was on the Enterprise before 3141.9. He was probably assigned to some other section when the incident with the _Botany Bay_ occurred. But since Khan’s people took over the whole ship, and Khan did memorize quite a lot of information, the STII inconsistancy can be explained. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2001, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-most-annoying-contradictions/79491/110 "2001-09-08T03:49:33Z")
P.S. - “Catspaw” also offers an unguarded view of James Doohan’s (Scotty) missing right middle finger. In one scene, he is hypnotized by Sylvia and holding a phaser pistol on Kirk. On the butt of the pistol, he is using only his pinky and ring fingers. (His index finger is on the trigger, and his thumb of course is in opposition to the other 3.) Throughout the series, whenever they showed a closeup of Scotty’s right hand, it was actually a stand-in. P.P.S. - “Catspaw”, “The City on the Edge of Forever”, and “The Alternative Factor” were the only episodes shown _after_ “Space Seed” that had a stardate _before_ the aforementioned 3141.9. P.P.P.S. - Hi, Opal. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2001, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-most-annoying-contradictions/79491/111 "2001-09-08T07:10:04Z")
Star Trek money? The United Federation of Planets indeed do have credits, which individuals can buy or sell services (products are replicated, of course). But the credits are electronic debit/credit…there is no physical currency. BTW…apparently, Bajora is the plural of bajoran singular. ---
**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 9, 2001, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-most-annoying-contradictions/79491/112 "2001-09-09T21:25:35Z")
> [@](#): > > P.S. - “Catspaw” also offers an unguarded view of James Doohan’s (Scotty) missing right middle finger… Throughout the series, whenever they showed a closeup of Scotty’s right hand, it was actually a stand-in. I wonder why they did that? It would have fit perfectly with the character. When you’re as hands-on an engineer as Scotty, you’re bound to lose a finger or two somewhere along the line. ---
**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 9, 2001, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-most-annoying-contradictions/79491/113 "2001-09-09T22:34:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chronos \* > \*\*I wonder why they did that? \*\* Perhaps he felt that it would harm his chances of landing other roles. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2001, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-most-annoying-contradictions/79491/114 "2001-09-10T19:02:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chronos \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > P.S. - “Catspaw” also offers an unguarded view of James Doohan’s (Scotty) missing right middle finger… Throughout the series, whenever they showed a closeup of Scotty’s right hand, it was actually a stand-in. > > I wonder why they did that? It would have fit perfectly with the character. When you’re as hands-on an engineer as Scotty, you’re bound to lose a finger or two somewhere along the line. \*\* Having read Doohan’s biography a while ago (“Beam Me Up, Scottie,” co-written by Peter David), I believe it’s because he’s always been reticent to show his missing finger on television. Aside from the stunt-hand-close-up-shots, if you watch him in medium- or long-range scenes, he always tries to keep that hand relatively hidden from the camera. ---
**Author:** ![naughty\_wicked\_zoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@naughty\_wicked\_zoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naughty_wicked_zoot)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2001, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-most-annoying-contradictions/79491/115 "2001-09-10T20:10:59Z")
ok, this isn’t really a nit-pick, but i always wondered, in “wrath of khan”, at the end, when the genesis device explodes, where did the planet come from? ---
**Author:** ![diamud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@diamud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diamud)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2001, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-most-annoying-contradictions/79491/116 "2001-09-10T20:36:58Z")
So many years advanced from us and yet on none of the series did anyone think of the seatbelts? From ST:TOS to ST:Voyager, everyone on the bridge/shuttlecraft, etc. goes flying everytime they hit a bump, sometimes being seriously hurt. How safer and more believable it would have been if the captain could say that the ride is going to get bumpy, better strap yourself in. ---
**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 10, 2001, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-most-annoying-contradictions/79491/117 "2001-09-10T21:11:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by naughty wicked zoot \* > \*\* where did the planet come from? \*\* It was there “a lifeless planetoid” Remember Enterprise hiding from Reliant behind it? The genesis device creted life there. ---
**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 10, 2001, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-most-annoying-contradictions/79491/118 "2001-09-10T21:13:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by diamud \* > \*\* think of the seatbelts? \*\* An old one, but watch the new series. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2001, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-most-annoying-contradictions/79491/119 "2001-09-10T23:36:56Z")
Born in Canada, he served in World War II as a member of the Royal Canadian Artillery. He was one of the many Allied soldiers who stormed the beaches at Normandy, where a stray bullet took off his right middle finger. His right hand can be seen clearly in his only TNG episode, “Relics,” in the scene where he’s drunk on Aldebaran whiskey and about to enter the Holodeck to see a re-creation of the Bridge of the TOS _Enterprise_; he’s holding his glass with that hand and the whiskey bottle in the other. In 1991, when the TOS cast put their handprints in cement in front of the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, at the premiere of _Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country_, he used his right hand. I was there, across the street. ---
**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 10, 2001, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-most-annoying-contradictions/79491/120 "2001-09-10T23:54:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jab1 \* > \*\* > I was there, across the street. \*\* Now \* that \* is cool! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-most-annoying-contradictions/79491.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-most-annoying-contradictions/79491.md?page=7)