# Things that bug you about Star Trek **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 13, 2017, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-about-star-trek/782109 "2017-03-13T19:08:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**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:** [March 15, 2017, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-about-star-trek/782109/141 "2017-03-15T17:23:35Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > I gather that at the time of TOS dilithium was extraordinarily scare and precious, although that might have changed after the Federation treaty with the Tellun system (“Elaan of Troyius”). In fact, did any Federation ship want for dilithium in later series? Building a fleet of starships when there’s a dearth of dilithium crystals would have been like the Royal Navy converting to steam before coal was readily available. ---
**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:** [March 15, 2017, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-about-star-trek/782109/142 "2017-03-15T17:39:15Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > Actually, I’ve always thought that the whole problem with Troi was that someone got confused about the meaning of the word “counselor.” It seems to me that it was originally intended to mean “advisor to the Captain.” Someone to give him considered advice and guidance about the tricky diplomatic situations he might run into. But then other writers began to interpret it to mean “psychiatrist,” … There’s a third meaning. Troi was actually the ship’s lawyer! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2017, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-about-star-trek/782109/143 "2017-03-15T17:44:12Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > As far as Troi, nothing screams 1980s about TNG quite so much as Troi sitting right next to the Captain on the bridge. Meet our brave crew: Here is the wise, unflappable Captain. And here is the Captain’s loyal, stalwart First Officer. And here is the Captain’s therapist… > > Actually, I’ve always thought that the whole problem with Troi was that someone got confused about the meaning of the word “counselor.” It seems to me that it was originally intended to mean “advisor to the Captain.” Someone to give him considered advice and guidance about the tricky diplomatic situations he might run into. But then other writers began to interpret it to mean “psychiatrist,” and suddenly Troi was helping the crew deal with their various emotional problems. Those are two very different kinds of “counseling.” The former might not be so strange to have as a bridge position, but because we saw so much more of the latter, that’s how we primarily think of Troi. And thus we ask things like “Why is the ship’s shrink sitting there on the bridge all the time? Does the crew really have that many psychological hang-ups?” Here’s another theory: counselor was just a euphemism. Troi was there to be the “Captain’s woman”. Her counselor’s title was just made up for administrative purposes. (Starfleet adopted the practice of assigning a woman to its captains after reviewing the records of the earlier Enterprise and realizing how often missions had been endangered by Kirk’s propensity to go chasing after women he had just met.) But Picard was such a prude he didn’t realize what Troi’s real role so he treated her like a real adviser. Troi was like a prostitute in a massage parlor who was asked to give a real massage; she had no skills in her supposed job so she just offered vague and obvious observations. ---
**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:** [March 15, 2017, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-about-star-trek/782109/144 "2017-03-15T18:09:00Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > t.) > > But Picard was such a prude he didn’t realize what Troi’s real role so he treated her like a real adviser. Troi was like a prostitute in a massage parlor who was asked to give a real massage; she had no skills in her supposed job so she just offered vague and obvious observations. I recall Enterprise being bombarded by some hellacious weapon and Troi saying, “I sense great anger, Captain.” ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2017, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-about-star-trek/782109/145 "2017-03-15T18:19:25Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Building a fleet of starships when there’s a dearth of dilithium crystals would have been like the Royal Navy converting to steam before coal was readily available. My fanwank is that the Constitution-class heavy cruisers were magnificent ships for their era but at the cost of being “dilithium pigs”, using enough for two or three lesser vessels. Considering that Starfleet could only afford twelve of them, maybe having them carry dilithium reserves on top of that was simply unsupportable. Though as I mentioned earlier, the discovery of a system where dilithium gems were so common that they were considered as cheap as polished quartz may have changed all that. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2017, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-about-star-trek/782109/146 "2017-03-15T18:19:46Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > The absolute dumbest thing about _Star Trek_ … is that after developing some revolutionary scientific solution to resolve the plot complication of the week that should completely transform some aspect of their technology or society, they conveniently forget about it, often even if it would be useful in a later episode to resolve some new plot complication, or they make up absurd reasons why their otherwise technomagical capability cannot resolve this week’s particular plot problem… Well, in order to solve that, each writer would have to know in advance what every other writer was putting in, then study all past episodes carefully. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2017, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-about-star-trek/782109/147 "2017-03-15T19:08:39Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Well, in order to solve that, each writer would have to know in advance what every other writer was putting in, then study all past episodes carefully. That’s why you need a showrunner, to oversee stuff like this. There is a place for purely episodic adventure fiction, though. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2017, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-about-star-trek/782109/148 "2017-03-15T19:24:23Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Well, in order to solve that, each writer would have to know in advance what every other writer was putting in, then study all past episodes carefully. By the time of VOY (possibly earlier), there were continuity assistants. Cite: my friend was one. Then, with ENT season 4, Manny Coto actually tried to fix some Trek universe continuity “errors.” Cite: watch season 4 of ENT . ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2017, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-about-star-trek/782109/149 "2017-03-15T19:32:27Z")
“Tea, Earl Grey, Hot”. _Current_ computers can already remember how you like your tea and which kind. Picard should just say “Tea”. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2017, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-about-star-trek/782109/150 "2017-03-15T19:36:08Z")
> [@AncientHumanoid](#): > > Then, with ENT season 4, Manny Coto actually tried to fix some Trek universe continuity “errors.” Cite: watch season 4 of ENT Was that when the show started to show the proto-Federation coalescing, i.e. humans and Vulcan and Andorians and some other species starting to form military alliances? To me, that’s when the show started to get interesting (but also when I had less time to watch it) because they were finally doing away with the pointless and interminable season arcs like the Xindi and the time-bandits or whatever the hell those first-season guys were. As I vaguely recall, one of the problems with doing this is that if the show referenced a species from TOS, they’d have to pay royalties to the person who wrote that TOS episode, or something. ---
**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:** [March 15, 2017, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-about-star-trek/782109/151 "2017-03-15T19:39:17Z")
> [@AncientHumanoid](#): > > Then, with ENT season 4, Manny Coto actually tried to fix some Trek universe continuity “errors.” Cite: watch season 4 of ENT I wish he hadn’t done those bits of fan-fic. Enterprise was just beginning to become good, and those episodes got it canceled. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2017, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-about-star-trek/782109/152 "2017-03-15T19:42:20Z")
That was the reason why T’Pol was created; originally her character was supposed to be a younger version of T’Pau, but the producers didn’t want to pay royalties to the writer of Amok Time for a main character expected to in almost every episode. Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2017, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-about-star-trek/782109/153 "2017-03-15T20:13:27Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > But Picard was such a prude he didn’t realize what Troi’s real role so he treated her like a real adviser. Troi was like a prostitute in a massage parlor who was asked to give a real massage; she had no skills in her supposed job so she just offered vague and obvious observations. Well, each episode usually concluded with conflict resolution, so one way or the other Picard got his happy ending. ---
**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:** [March 15, 2017, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-about-star-trek/782109/154 "2017-03-15T20:20:01Z")
> [@leahcim](#): > > “Tea, Earl Grey, Hot”. _Current_ computers can already remember how you like your tea and which kind. Picard should just say “Tea”. Not all of them. I’ve got some work software that, if it were a replicator, wouldn’t recognize “tea” after you used it once. It would make you go all the way back to “FOOD” and tree down from there. Even if you just asked for a cup 5 seconds ago. If often complained that the software engineers that wrote that code did not graduate in the top half of their class. Maybe the Enterprise coders come from the same school. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2017, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-about-star-trek/782109/155 "2017-03-15T20:22:47Z")
> [@leahcim](#): > > “Tea, Earl Grey, Hot”. _Current_ computers can already remember how you like your tea and which kind. Picard should just say “Tea”. Heh, I Just asked my Echo: “Alexa: Tea, Earl Grey, Hot.” Her response was: “I’m not a replicator.” ---
**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:** [March 15, 2017, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-about-star-trek/782109/156 "2017-03-15T20:28:15Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > That was the reason why T’Pol was created; originally her character was supposed to be a younger version of T’Pau, but the producers didn’t want to pay royalties to the writer of Amok Time for a main character expected to in almost every episode. You want to know how bad that can get. In L&O Criminal Intent, there is a Season 8 episode “All In” that’s a direct sequel to Season 5’s “Cruise to Nowhere”, but they changed the character’s names and used different actors. I could never find out why exactly. It’s very confusing to watch the second if you don’t know to “adjust” the characters in your head to be the same ones. Otherwise you spend half the episode trying to figure out why it’s _almost_ like the other one, but it isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2017, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-about-star-trek/782109/157 "2017-03-15T20:44:16Z")
ENT put in a bunch of stuff that didn’t match up with the earlier series (that were set later.) You’d think Picard or Sisko would have mentioned that Earth didn’t have a Florida anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2017, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-about-star-trek/782109/158 "2017-03-15T21:03:25Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > ENT put in a bunch of stuff that didn’t match up with the earlier series (that were set later.) You’d think Picard or Sisko would have mentioned that Earth didn’t have a Florida anymore. I thought that was implied every time they said the future was better. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2017, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-about-star-trek/782109/159 "2017-03-15T21:20:03Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > ENT put in a bunch of stuff that didn’t match up with the earlier series (that were set later.) You’d think Picard or Sisko would have mentioned that Earth didn’t have a Florida anymore. I don’t care what the damn creators say…episode one of ENT created a brand new time stream. First Contact with the Klingons is not nearly as catastrophic as Picard makes it sound. Not to mention Picard makes it sound like Earth could have handled FC with the Klingons differently when the fact is it was thrust upon them by the time travel schenanigans featured all through the first two seasons and finally…its heavily implied that ENT-X is destroyed early into its career and only saved by Future Guy/Future Archer. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. ---
**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:** [March 15, 2017, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-about-star-trek/782109/160 "2017-03-15T21:20:10Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > ENT put in a bunch of stuff that didn’t match up with the earlier series (that were set later.) You’d think Picard or Sisko would have mentioned that Earth didn’t have a Florida anymore. Admiral Tucker had the peninsula replicated in 2181. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-about-star-trek/782109.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-about-star-trek/782109.md?page=9)