# Star Trek tech features that logically should exist but didn't seem to **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted, star-trek-paramount\ **Created:** [March 18, 2021, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tech-features-that-logically-should-exist-but-didnt-seem-to/938193 "2021-03-18T16:30:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Bootb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@Bootb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootb)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2021, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tech-features-that-logically-should-exist-but-didnt-seem-to/938193/182 "2021-04-10T03:24:14Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > ST I is an underrated movie. If you saw it when you were young, give it another try as a grownup. You’re going to have to explain why and how slightly modified thermal underwear is an appropriate choice for uniforms. ---
**Author:** ![abcdefghij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/43a26b/32.png) [@abcdefghij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abcdefghij)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2021, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tech-features-that-logically-should-exist-but-didnt-seem-to/938193/183 "2021-04-10T04:26:52Z")
It was cold? ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2021, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tech-features-that-logically-should-exist-but-didnt-seem-to/938193/184 "2021-04-10T04:28:26Z")
It is very cold in space. The best temperature to serve up revenge. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2021, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tech-features-that-logically-should-exist-but-didnt-seem-to/938193/185 "2021-04-10T04:34:50Z")
The revenge was not in ST I, though. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2021, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tech-features-that-logically-should-exist-but-didnt-seem-to/938193/186 "2021-04-10T04:50:03Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Then there is that troublesome scene… where a kitchen pot is vaporized without damaging or even toasting the dough? meringue? within… After the pot goes bye-bye, the contents just sit there, holding up a large whisk. Anything with the ability to do that is too thick to be using a hand-held whisk on. No, no. First off, it’s a blancmange. And second, it _was_ nice and silky… _until some idiot zapped it with a phaser._ Disintegrated the pot and instantly coagulated the proteins in the cream-and-gelatin mixture. If you prefer, it just accelerated it from “It’ll be ready when it’s ready” to “Damn, overdone again! No more weapons in the kitchen!” ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2021, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tech-features-that-logically-should-exist-but-didnt-seem-to/938193/187 "2021-04-10T05:01:12Z")
A phaser is truly a terrifying weapon. A blast from it can almost _burn a blancmange_! ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2021, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tech-features-that-logically-should-exist-but-didnt-seem-to/938193/188 "2021-04-10T13:01:06Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > The revenge was not in ST I, though. That’s because Khan was still stewing on Ceti Alpha V. It wasn’t cold enough 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:** [April 10, 2021, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tech-features-that-logically-should-exist-but-didnt-seem-to/938193/189 "2021-04-10T15:43:11Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > The revenge was not in ST I, though. That was Nomad’s Revenge. > [@Bootb](#): > > You’re going to have to explain why and how slightly modified thermal underwear is an appropriate choice for uniforms. What’s really sad about that is, I believe in one of the World of/Making of Star Trek books, they quoted someone on staff as saying “no matter how they describe the uniform of the future, it always sounds like long underwear.” And what do we get in the first return of Star Trek? Sheesh. Though I found the security uniform, with the wrestling headgear, to be even more silly. And as for costume choices, McCoy should have worn underwear when he beamed on board, just sayin’. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2021, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tech-features-that-logically-should-exist-but-didnt-seem-to/938193/190 "2021-04-10T15:49:32Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > > [@eschereal](#): > > > > The revenge was not in ST I, though. > > That was Nomad’s Revenge. I believe the correct title for that movie was “Star Trek: Where Nomad has Gone Before”, right? > [@](#): > > … McCoy should have worn underwear when he beamed on board, just sayin’. Well, Spock did stroll onto the Enterprise wearing a bathrobe. ---
**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:** [April 10, 2021, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tech-features-that-logically-should-exist-but-didnt-seem-to/938193/191 "2021-04-10T16:15:13Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Well, Spock did stroll onto the Enterprise wearing a bathrobe. Well, his robe was big and fluffy, like he stole it from the Beverly Starfleet Hilton. McCoy’s trousers, to quote Iris Mountbatten, " left nothing… to the imagination. Everything was perfectly outlined." > [@eschereal](#): > > I believe the correct title for that movie was “Star Trek: Where Nomad has Gone Before”, right? HA! We should all be happy for getting The Revenge of Nomad, because Roddenberry’s choice of story for TMP was that the Enterprise meet God. Thank goodness we never got THAT movie! Oh wait… ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2021, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tech-features-that-logically-should-exist-but-didnt-seem-to/938193/192 "2021-04-10T16:41:04Z")
The transporter could be used to solve every medical problem. You could just create save points like on windows, and if you get sick or injured you just transport and when you arrive it rearranges you as you were back when you were healthy. Even if you don’t have a save point, the computers are advanced enough they can rearrange your atoms into a version of you that is healthy. Also androids like Data are far far more competent than any of the humans on the ship. Androids should be the only crewmen on the ship. ---
**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:** [April 10, 2021, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tech-features-that-logically-should-exist-but-didnt-seem-to/938193/193 "2021-04-10T16:57:13Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Also androids like Data are far far more competent than any of the humans on the ship. Androids should be the only crewmen on the ship. Everyone should be more like Data. People should start off getting cybernietic implants that allow interface with computer networks. Eventually, we can all become interconnected. One mind. It would eliminate conflict. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2021, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tech-features-that-logically-should-exist-but-didnt-seem-to/938193/194 "2021-04-10T17:10:51Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > People should start off getting cybernietic implants that allow interface with computer networks. Eventually, we can all become interconnected. One mind. We could all be assimilated! ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2021, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tech-features-that-logically-should-exist-but-didnt-seem-to/938193/195 "2021-04-10T17:12:01Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I guess the pop culture of 2266 was a revival of Sparta. “Tonight’s film in the rec room will be “300”. Tomorrow’s will be “300”. Saturday there will be a double feature of “Troy” and “Spartacus”. That is all.” **Yeah! GO SPARTANS!!! _WOOHOO!!!_** 💪 ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2021, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tech-features-that-logically-should-exist-but-didnt-seem-to/938193/196 "2021-04-10T18:18:13Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > > [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > > > Also androids like Data are far far more competent than any of the humans on the ship. Androids should be the only crewmen on the ship. > > Everyone should be more like Data. People should start off getting cybernietic implants that allow interface with computer networks. Eventually, we can all become interconnected. One mind. It would eliminate conflict. But what if I resist this process? One thing I never bought about star trek was how the federation held off the Borg. The Borg would’ve wiped the floor with the entire federation a long time ago. At least in Voyager they said that Q stopped the Borg from taking over the federation. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2021, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tech-features-that-logically-should-exist-but-didnt-seem-to/938193/197 "2021-04-10T18:40:09Z")
As I recall, the Enterprise finally defeated the Borg by installing Windows 98 in their Cube. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2021, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tech-features-that-logically-should-exist-but-didnt-seem-to/938193/198 "2021-04-10T19:08:27Z")
That’s one of the biggest issues with Trek IMO, that all these separately-evolved intelligences are so evenly matched. _There should be_ a couple badass species that humans just have to learn to get out of the way of. The Borg were this for a short time, but the writers couldn’t help overusing them, and inevitably watering down their threat. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2021, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tech-features-that-logically-should-exist-but-didnt-seem-to/938193/199 "2021-04-10T19:13:42Z")
There are at least…three, I think, different methods of suspended animation/stasis available, one of which is centuries old. None of which seem to be commonly used when there’s a medical emergency, the patient is on the verge of death, and/or sickbay is short staffed. “What I think we should do is just freeze him. I mean, he’s got a disease. Why don’t we stop it where it is? He can always get to a doctor when we get back home.” Also, considering the state of prosthetics, life support, tissue regeneration, tissue cloning, etc., etc…basically anything that leaves an intact brain should be a survivable injury. And not necessarily a career-ending injury, even. (Which quietly leads into my own theory that the new agey “accept death as a part of life” philosophy of early TNG was part of a societal mechanism to check the growth of a largely non-productive population. Best Case Scenario: it’s a naturally emergent property of a prosperous, but a bit decadent civilization. Worst Case Scenario: it was engineered by Section 31.) ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2021, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tech-features-that-logically-should-exist-but-didnt-seem-to/938193/200 "2021-04-10T20:08:38Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > I believe the correct title for that movie was “Star Trek: Where Nomad has Gone Before”, right? I prefer _Star Trek: The Slow Motion Picture._ ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2021, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tech-features-that-logically-should-exist-but-didnt-seem-to/938193/201 "2021-04-10T21:24:31Z")
Star Trek: The Slow Motion Picture Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan’s Pecs Star Trek III: The Search for More Money Star Trek IV: Save the Whales, Man Star Trek V: Shatner Happens Star Trek VI: The Apology [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tech-features-that-logically-should-exist-but-didnt-seem-to/938193.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tech-features-that-logically-should-exist-but-didnt-seem-to/938193.md?page=11)