# 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:** 9
**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, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-about-star-trek/782109/161 "2017-03-15T21:27:27Z")
I noticed the other day when rewatching TOS:The Deadly Years…Chekov turns off his tricorder and wanders into a dark room fumbling around. Meanwhile 300 years earlier, MY little handheld computer has a flashlight built into it. ---
**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, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-about-star-trek/782109/162 "2017-03-15T21:42:15Z")
My bone of contention with later continuity was the assertion beginning in the movie series that TOS took place in the 23rd century. That’s way too early in my opinion. The original show never mentioned specific dates but seemed to imply centuries of backstory- lost ships and colonies for example. In The Squire of Gothos, an away team member mentions that Trelaine’s concept of Earth (roughly Napoleonic era) seemed to be based on what would observe through a telescope watching Earth “900 light-years away”. ---
**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, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-about-star-trek/782109/163 "2017-03-15T22:00:51Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > My bone of contention with later continuity was the assertion beginning in the movie series that TOS took place in the 23rd century. That’s way too early in my opinion. The original show never mentioned specific dates but seemed to imply centuries of backstory- lost ships and colonies for example. In The Squire of Gothos, an away team member mentions that Trelaine’s concept of Earth (roughly Napoleonic era) seemed to be based on what would observe through a telescope watching Earth “900 light-years away”. I’m pretty sure “Space Seed” and “Tomorrow is Yesterday” established ~200 years in the future as the setting, though there’s some wiggle room. And I agree that’d be way too short a time for all the backstory they tried to cram in, and “Squire of Gothos” is completely anomalous. At the very least, even if he could see (with an impossibly powerful telescope still limited by the speed of light) 19th-century Earth, how does he know what a harpsichord _sounds_ like? ---
**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, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-about-star-trek/782109/164 "2017-03-15T23:55:58Z")
> [@leahcim](#): > > “Tea, Earl Grey, Hot”. _Current_ computers can already remember how you like your tea and which kind. Picard should just say “Tea”. What if he wanted iced Pekoe tea with sugar and lemon for a change of pace? :dubious: ---
**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, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-about-star-trek/782109/165 "2017-03-15T23:59:01Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > I’m pretty sure “Space Seed” and “Tomorrow is Yesterday” established ~200 years in the future as the setting, though there’s some wiggle room. Nowadays they dispense with the Star Date altogether and say something happened in 2267 or 2345. The whole point of using Star Dates in the first place was to avoid attaching significance to any particular year in terms of events or technological developments. ---
**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 16, 2017, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-about-star-trek/782109/166 "2017-03-16T00:07:09Z")
> [@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. On _ **TOS** _, it was the job of the Story Editor and Producer to ensure continuity. Dorothy Fontana and Gene Coon did it admirably. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2017, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-about-star-trek/782109/167 "2017-03-16T00:18:40Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > What if he wanted iced Pekoe tea with sugar and lemon for a change of pace? :dubious: Then he’d state that as an option, but the Earl Grey would be the default if he just said “tea.” Jeez, my iPhone can remember shit like that without me doing a thing. The Enterprise computer has to have repeated directions? ---
**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 16, 2017, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-about-star-trek/782109/168 "2017-03-16T00:24:12Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Then he’d state that as an option, but the Earl Grey would be the default if he just said “tea.” Jeez, my iPhone can remember shit like that without me doing a thing. The Enterprise computer has to have repeated directions? Then wouldn’t he have to say “Tea, default”? :dubious: Doesn’t seem like much of an improvement to me. ☹ ---
**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:** [March 16, 2017, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-about-star-trek/782109/169 "2017-03-16T00:30:56Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Then wouldn’t he have to say “Tea, default”? :dubious: Doesn’t seem like much of an improvement to me. ☹ Couldn’t the computer recognize Picard’s voice pattern and remember that his default tea was “Earl Grey, hot,” if he didn’t say anything else in addition to “tea”? ---
**Author:** ![AndrewL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@AndrewL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndrewL)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2017, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-about-star-trek/782109/170 "2017-03-16T00:47:03Z")
I can’t make the population demographics on planet Ba’ku work. According to the movie Insurrection, and some of the secondary associated material, the planet was settled about 300 years earlier by a group of about 500 people. The planet has a magical radiation field that makes everyone on it young and healthy forever. This does not cause sterility or a lack of desire to reproduce, and we see that there are plenty of children among the population. Yet during the time of Insurrection, the population of the planet is only about 600. That makes no sense. Even assuming a fairly low reproduction rate, there should be hundreds of thousands of people, not only 600. The only way to make the numbers add up would be to assume that 99 out of 100 children are being sacrificed to space gods or eaten by bears or something before reaching the age where they could have kids of their own. ---
**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 16, 2017, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-about-star-trek/782109/171 "2017-03-16T00:50:57Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Couldn’t the computer recognize Picard’s voice pattern and remember that his default tea was “Earl Grey, hot,” if he didn’t say anything else in addition to “tea”? Gentlemen, the important thing is that someone should take Earl Grey out in the alley behind the bar with a baseball bat and have a discussion with him about what tea is supposed to taste like. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2017, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-about-star-trek/782109/172 "2017-03-16T01:25:53Z")
ST VI: The Undiscovered Country Excelsior should have been obliterated at the beginning of the film. a vessel of that size being hit that hard would break up into smithereens. ---
**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:** [March 16, 2017, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-about-star-trek/782109/173 "2017-03-16T01:28:22Z")
> [@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?” This (even the first crack. 😉 ) is actually pretty on the nose, when you check the original TNG series “Bible” [(see page 28)](http://leethomson.myzen.co.uk/Star_Trek/2_The_Next_Generation/Star_Trek_-_The_Next_Generation_Bible.pdf), where it outright states the position of “Counselor” has evolved from a psychiatry/psychology position into a sort of Interpersonal Interactions Specialist. Kind of an interesting concept at least, aside from the question of how well that would mesh with the established setting, but also at the very least not very well implemented, and fairly quickly degrading into merely “ship’s shrink,” which later Trek outings would run with with the other Counselors we see. And, badly implemented and/or ill-conceived as it might be, it does lend itself to looking like “New Age Zampolit” onscreen. “What are you doing, Counselor?” “Overseeing the feeeeelings of the crew.” “By invading my privacy?” “Privacy is not a major concern in the Federation, comrade captain. It is often contrary to the Technology Unchained Utopian good.” 😃 ---
**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 16, 2017, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-about-star-trek/782109/174 "2017-03-16T01:52:04Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Gentlemen, the important thing is that someone should take Earl Grey out in the alley behind the bar with a baseball bat and have a discussion with him about what tea is supposed to taste like. Yeah, I hate bergamot. Yeccch! :mad: ---
**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 16, 2017, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-about-star-trek/782109/175 "2017-03-16T01:55:05Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Couldn’t the computer recognize Picard’s voice pattern and remember that his default tea was “Earl Grey, hot,” if he didn’t say anything else in addition to “tea”? What if he wants something different, but doesn’t say that in time? Then he’d have to repeat the order and waste precious replicator resources! See how complicated such a simple thing as ordering tea can be? 😃 ---
**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 16, 2017, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-about-star-trek/782109/176 "2017-03-16T01:59:31Z")
The Prime Directive is actually a monopoly tea company. That’s why no one wants to violate it. ---
**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 16, 2017, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-about-star-trek/782109/177 "2017-03-16T02:07:29Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > Why do you need to carry around multiple data pads? It’s like each data pad is only capable of handling one subject… An episode of VOY had Neelix delivering what were basically emails from the Alpha Quadrant to the crew by carrying around a bucket of PADDs. :smack: > [@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… Ever seen [Hyperdrive](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperdrive_(TV_series))? Miranda Hart plays the ship’s Diplomatic Officer. She’s completely incompetent and only has her position due to nepotism (her father is a prominent ambassador). Sound familiar? ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2017, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-about-star-trek/782109/178 "2017-03-16T02:08:45Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Couldn’t the computer recognize Picard’s voice pattern and remember that his default tea was “Earl Grey, hot,” if he didn’t say anything else in addition to “tea”? Meh, he’s a Captain, used to the power trip of giving orders. Just because he likes to say the full spec doesn’t mean the computer requires it. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2017, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-about-star-trek/782109/179 "2017-03-16T02:14:40Z")
All those years he was haughtily ordering “tea, Earl Grey, hot” but all the computer ever recognized was “tea” and he’s been drinking generic Lipton’s. ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2017, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-about-star-trek/782109/180 "2017-03-16T14:57:32Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > Heh, I Just asked my Echo: “Alexa: Tea, Earl Grey, Hot.” > Her response was: “I’m not a replicator.” I would certainly like to see the Enterprise computer mouth off like that at least once. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-about-star-trek/782109.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-about-star-trek/782109.md?page=10)