Star Trek tech features that logically should exist but didn't seem to

[ParallelLines]

@Pavelb1

ENT really missed an opportunity in not having an episode where Phlox says, “Why don’t I just whip up some cloned organs tout suite and we can heal Crewman Bob here”, and of course the humans retort with some moral revulsion.

Sure did this, complete with the ethical considerations.

Similitude (Star Trek: Enterprise)

And there were several episodes about genetic manipulation during which updated augments from the Khan era were involved.

[Miller]

@Bootb

What I’ve never figured out is why the Bridge of an armed ship (even if it’s not a “warship”) is so vulnerable to attack.

Among other issues (and there are a lot) the physical layout is all wrong. I understand having the big viewscreen in the front, but that doesn’t mean that the entrance needs to be in the back, right where intruders can enter and be standing behind almost everybody. That’s a stupendously poor tactical situation

When the enemy has transporters, it doesn’t really matter where you put the doors.

[burpo_the_wonder_mutt]

Didn’t Worf get a spine transported into his back?

[Thudlow_Boink]

@RickJay

A third would be why people bother with turbolifts if they can be transported about the ship, but that may be an energy issue

I can easily believe that transporting is very energy-expensive. Maybe it takes a certain amount of time to charge the transporter before you can use it.

I’ve mainly just watched TOP, and that not recently, but I mostly remember transportation that had to start or end in the transporter room. Is this always necessary? (And if not, why have a transporter room?)

Plus, I can also imagine that the sensation of being transported is mildly unpleasant. Or that, while it’s mostly safe, it’s still at least an order of magnitude more risky than taking a turbolift.

[eschereal]

@Thudlow_Boink

I’ve mainly just watched TOP, and that not recently, but I mostly remember transportation that had to start or end in the transporter room. Is this always necessary? (And if not, why have a transporter room?)

I am fairly certain there was at least one episode in the original series in which they performed a point-to-point transport without the subject ever being on the ship. Perhaps it was The Cloud Minders?

[Pavelb1]

I seriously believe that a study could be made (in universe of course) that found, commanders who walk vs commanders who use point o point transport, make better and less hasty decisions.

[TheGunIsMightierThanThePen]

@eschereal

I am fairly certain there was at least one episode in the original series in which they performed a point-to-point transport without the subject ever being on the ship. Perhaps it was The Cloud Minders?

I haven’t actually watched this episode yet, but according to Memory Alpha it happens in the episode “A Piece of the Action”, where

In 2268, Montgomery Scott transported Tepo directly from his headquarters to those of Bela Okmyx

[terentii]

in “The Cloud Minders,” Kirk has the Grand Vizier of Stratos transported to the mines so he can see for himself the conditions under which the Trogs dig for zenite.

[burpo_the_wonder_mutt]

@terentii

… the Trogs dig for zenite.

Then they sang, “Wild Thing.”

[Steve_MB]

@eschereal

I am fairly certain there was at least one episode in the original series in which they performed a point-to-point transport without the subject ever being on the ship. Perhaps it was The Cloud Minders?

No; that was surface-to-ship-to-surface:

Scott: Beam the High Advisor down without warning, did he say?
Spock: That’s not an exact quote, Mister Scott. However, it does express the thought.
Scott: I’d like to see the Advisor’s face.
Spock: You will have that opportunity.
(later)
Spock: Beam him down to Captain Kirk immediately.
Scott: Energising, sir. He’s on his way to the captain.
Spock: Good work, Mr. Scott.
Scott: The Advisor looked mighty angry.

[Son_of_a_Rich]

@TheGunIsMightierThanThePen

@Little_Nemo

Have they ever shown transporter technology being used in a medical situation?

A few incidences that I recall:

• In the TNG episode “Unnatural Selection”, the crew of the Enterprise use the transporter to cure Dr. Pulaski of an aging disease

• In the DS9 episode “Body Parts”, it is implied, but not explicitly stated, that Bashir beamed Keiko’s unborn baby into Kira’s womb

• In the Voyager episode “Deadlock”, the EMH transports Samantha Wildman’s baby into an incubator

As to why transporters aren’t used more often for medical situations, I guess an in-universe explanation is that the doctors can’t get a precise enough transporter lock, which incurs the risk of damaging other organs.

For those who haven’t seen this:

Breaking Bad Star Trek script gets animated

[Pavelb1]

I think beaming someone into someone elses womb is the silliest one…might as well beam them into their bladder,…

A transplant i might believe but if Trek Tech is advanced enough to do what they did then the transporter is a massively underused piece oftech.

[eburacum_45]

Alastair Reynolds described an interesting twist to this conundrum in the Revelation Space series. Someone fell down a lift shaft in a mile-long spaceship;

they simply told the ship to stop accelerating, and to go into reverse, and the falling person fell back up the shaft to their original location.

[msmith537]

Or they could have just put up railings.

[Shawn1767]

I seem to recall from some technical manual or something that starship gravity is based on these spinning plates in the floor or something. When power goes out, the spinning continues for a while, but eventually they will stop spinning and the gravity will go out. So, when the ship is damaged, they still have gravity for a while until the plates stop spinning.

[RickJay]

That’s actually a rather clever fanwank. I love Star Trek technical guides.

[running_coach]

@Shawn1767

I seem to recall from some technical manual or something that starship gravity is based on these spinning plates in the floor or something. When power goes out, the spinning continues for a while, but eventually they will stop spinning and the gravity will go out. So, when the ship is damaged, they still have gravity for a while until the plates stop spinning. -

Their artificial gravity technology is based on record players?!

[RickJay]

That explains the USS Run-DMC.

[simster]

sure - they run on AC/DC

[Darren_Garrison]