Stupendous Stupidity in Science Fiction (open spoilers)

[Irishman]

Thanks, muldoonthief, for finding my cites for me.

Because that’s the message I remember from Starship Troopers - that citizenship requires sacrifice, and sacrifice breeds motivation.

Shot From Guns said:

Here’s my question: did they reference the old Bones nickname, or did they reintroduce the nickname with the new explanation? I haven’t seen the movie since it was in the theater, but it’s my recollection that they just made the passing “Bones” reference–I don’t think Kirk or anyone else referred to McCoy as Bones after that.

I don’t specifically recall Kirk calling McCoy “Bones” a lot, though I’m fairly certain he did a couple of times.

More specifically, though, I am tying this in with the original episodes. This was not a “reboot” in the sense of Batman Begins, where the story is started over and a new creation story is made, the history tweaked. This is a timeline reboot, which is still technically in the same universe as the original stories, and all the original stories happened somewhen. So it is reasonable to conclude that if Kirk calls McCoy “Bones” in both timelines, he does so for the same reason. While it is not impossible for there to be two separate reasons that coincidentally have the same result, it is highly unlikely. So if the “reboot” explicitly shows the assignment of the nickname, then that is assumed to be the reason for the nickname in both timelines. Which makes Kirk a major ass to his best friend*.

---

• Give or take Spock.

[Kobal2]

I just realized something : in Star Wars : A New Hope, when they’re on the Death Star, Artoo does quite a lot of hacking : stopping trash compactors, opening and locking doors & elevators and such. Which means that the Empire’s most high-tech, super secret military project’s systems were shoddy enough that a 30 year old obsolete navigation bot could make them its bitch, and from a random socket in the hangar at that.

I’m thinking some IT guy really needs a Force choke.

[Lumpy]

@Kobal2

I just realized something : in Star Wars : A New Hope, when they’re on the Death Star, Artoo does quite a lot of hacking : stopping trash compactors, opening and locking doors & elevators and such. Which means that the Empire’s most high-tech, super secret military project’s systems were shoddy enough that a 30 year old obsolete navigation bot could make them its bitch, and from a random socket in the hangar at that.

I’m thinking some IT guy really needs a Force choke.

I’d always presumed this was possible only because Artoo had the full Death Star plans in his memory, including security codes, datacomm protocols, etc.

[carnivorousplant]

@Lumpy

I’d always presumed this was possible only because Artoo had the full Death Star plans in his memory, including security codes, datacomm protocols, etc.

Ah! Good point.

[Chronos]

And here I always figured that Artoo was Just That Good, that he was his universe’s equivalent of a 10th or 15th level rogue-- Remember, he’s already been through a lot by that point. Now that you mention that he already had the plans, it almost sort of weakens that for me.

Then again, a high-level rogue wouldn’t hesitate to use any unfair advantage he had, and conveniently forget to point out anything that made him look less impressive, so I suppose it works.

[Trepa_Mayfield]

@Chronos

And here I always figured that Artoo was Just That Good, that he was his universe’s equivalent of a 10th or 15th level rogue-- Remember, he’s already been through a lot by that point. Now that you mention that he already had the plans, it almost sort of weakens that for me.

Then again, a high-level rogue wouldn’t hesitate to use any unfair advantage he had, and conveniently forget to point out anything that made him look less impressive, so I suppose it works.

Plus, he’s also a hopeless munchkin.

[Kobal2]

@Lumpy

I’d always presumed this was possible only because Artoo had the full Death Star plans in his memory, including security codes, datacomm protocols, etc.

You mean to say that while tall, dark and Vador knew full well that the Rebellion had stolen the plans-including-security-codes, nobody even bothered to *change the bloody codes *?! Screw Force choking, somebody’s getting zapped

[Uzi]

@Lumpy

I’d always presumed this was possible only because Artoo had the full Death Star plans in his memory, including security codes, datacomm protocols, etc.

IIRC, he was also hacking doors on Bespin (even though he couldn’t tell a power socket from a data port initially) and was tasked with opening the back door to the shield generator.

[Unintentionally_Blank]

@Uzi

IIRC, he was also hacking doors on Bespin (even though he couldn’t tell a power socket from a data port initially) and was tasked with opening the back door to the shield generator.

Talk about a gaping hole in building codes there! See! Star Wars is what happens when you don’t have litigation!

No hand rails
No safety belts or ABS on the speeder bikes
Lazer swords with no guards
Battle Armor that’s taken down by teddy bears with rocks
unprotected exhaust ports

[Lumpy]

@Unintentionally_Blank

Talk about a gaping hole in building codes there! See! Star Wars is what happens when you don’t have litigation!

No hand rails
No safety belts or ABS on the speeder bikes
Lazer swords with no guards
Battle Armor that’s taken down by teddy bears with rocks
unprotected exhaust ports

“Trust the Force Luke! You can’t trust the specs!”

[CalMeacham]

Talk about a gaping hole in building codes there! See! Star Wars is what happens when you don’t have litigation!

No hand rails
No safety belts or ABS on the speeder bikes
Lazer swords with no guards
Battle Armor that’s taken down by teddy bears with rocks
unprotected exhaust ports

The New Empire – now ISO9001 Compliant!

[Lumpy]

@Kobal2

You mean to say that while tall, dark and Vador knew full well that the Rebellion had stolen the plans-including-security-codes, nobody even bothered to *change the bloody codes *?! Screw Force choking, somebody’s getting zapped

I can imagine an Imperial security officer discussing this with Darth Vader:

Security Officer: “My lord, a security breech of this level requires a full replacement of our entire firewall system.”
Darth Vader: “How long would the Death Star be inoperable?”
Security Officer: “To replace all our security codes and then confirm that all necessary and authorized personel and droids have the new codes- at least six standard days.”
Darth Vader: “Unacceptable. The Death Star must go into service immediately. I will see to recovering the stolen plans”.
Security Officer: “-” (thinks twice about arguing with Darth Vader) “As you command, my Lord”.

[Shot_From_Guns]

@Irishman

This was not a “reboot” in the sense of Batman Begins, where the story is started over and a new creation story is made, the history tweaked. This is a timeline reboot, which is still technically in the same universe as the original stories, and all the original stories happened somewhen. So it is reasonable to conclude that if Kirk calls McCoy “Bones” in both timelines, he does so for the same reason. While it is not impossible for there to be two separate reasons that coincidentally have the same result, it is highly unlikely.

You’re thinking about this too logically. The new *Star Trek *has **already **had some things happen the same as in TOS but for different reasons (e.g., Kirk becoming captain of the Enterprise). And I still want to see a cite for Kirk calling McCoy Bones in the 2009 movie (not that I’m sure it didn’t happen, but I don’t remember it happening, and it’s pretty central to the discussion here).

[carnivorousplant]

@Shot_From_Guns

And I still want to see a cite for Kirk calling McCoy Bones in the 2009 movie (not that I’m sure it didn’t happen, but I don’t remember it happening, and it’s pretty central to the discussion here).

I believe it was when they first meet, on the shuttle to the academy.

[Shot_From_Guns]

@carnivorousplant

I believe it was when they first meet, on the shuttle to the academy.

No, that was when the dialogue has McCoy himself **obliquely reference **the TOS nickname. He didn’t call himself Bones, and Kirk didn’t call him Bones.

[Icerigger]

The Interceptors from UFO. A squadron of three with one shot each, what if they miss or the aliens send more than three.

[E-Sabbath]

Artoo is just that good. He’s the only one who actually knows everything that’s going on through all six movies, you know.

Don’t forget he was Anakin’s pet starfighter droid for most of it. He probably still has most of those codes, and so on. And Anakin went everywhere.

[Pushkin]

@Icerigger

The Interceptors from UFO. A squadron of three with one shot each, what if they miss or the aliens send more than three.

Ah, there’s a blast from the past. Indeed, why not mount a couple of missiles per craft? Especially when the sea based interceptor manages to do so.

[Merijeek]

@Lumpy

I can imagine an Imperial security officer discussing this with Darth Vader:

Security Officer: “My lord, a security breech of this level requires a full replacement of our entire firewall system.”
Darth Vader: “How long would the Death Star be inoperable?”
Security Officer: “To replace all our security codes and then confirm that all necessary and authorized personel and droids have the new codes- at least six standard days.”
Darth Vader: “Unacceptable. The Death Star must go into service immediately. I will see to recovering the stolen plans”.
Security Officer: “-” (thinks twice about arguing with Darth Vader) “As you command, my Lord”.

Alternate version -

Security Officer: Well, my lord, if price is no object we can have it done tomorrow by noon.
Vader: Eeeehhh…
Security Officer: We’ll get estimates
Vader: Yeah, get estimates

-Joe

[carnivorousplant]

@Merijeek

Vader: Yeah, get estimates

Just choke the service guy before he can cash the check.