Star Trek inconsistency?

[her209]

In the Silicon Avatar episode, the crew on the Melona Four gets attacked by the crystaline entity and they take cover in a cave. The crew on the Enterprise attempt to contact the crew hiding in the cave but can't. Picard tells Worf to increase to warp 9 and asks how long it will take to get to Melona Four. Worf replies "6 hours!"

Wait a minute. Warp 1 is equivalent to the speed of light right? So they can communicate with each other in real time at presumably speed of light communication methods but it'll take them 6 hours (at warp 9) to get to the colony???

 

[Beev]

Do communications systems work like that, or do they beam communications?

 

[Gibsons]

subspace communication
http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Subspace_communications

 

[PingSpike]

subspace communication
http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Subspace_communications

Its been deleted!

But yeah, the magic of subspace is the answer.

 

[Ketchup]

There are inconsistencies in just about every episode and star trek episode and movie. Just look past it and enjoy the show.

 

[sdifox]

ST and reality do not mix.

 

[Gibsons]

Its been deleted!

But yeah, the magic of subspace is the answer.

Wow, it has...

oh well

 

[her209]

Uh ok, so why can't the ships travel at subspace communication speed?

 

[Jeff7]

Uh ok, so why can't the ships travel at subspace communication speed?

It's easier to push a data stream into subspace than it is for a starship.

And some ships in the Star Trek universe can move pretty damn fast. The Voth cityship had transwarp drive capability that was very fast, and the Borg used their transwarp corridor network to hop all around the galaxy.

Lots of transwarping going on.

 

[manimal]

I think they texted the information.

 

[PingSpike]

There are inconsistencies in just about every episode and star trek episode and movie. Just look past it and enjoy the show.

One of the stupidest star trek writing pieces that sticks in my mind was a deep space 9 episode where Miles O'brien and Julian Bashir were helping destroy a store of biological weapons for some other race that had just ended a civil war. Their deaths are faked for some reason or another and Miles' wife and the rest of the crew is reviewing footage of their apparent death. Miles' wife points out he doesn't drink coffee in the afternoon like he is in the footage proving that the footage is doctored, presumably using some early footage as a stand in.

For some bizarre reason the writers had another character ask, "couldn't he be drinking tea?" To begin with it is an unnecessary question to move the story along that should have just been edited out. Regardless there are several explanations for why that couldn't be that Kieko could use. He doesn't like tea, there's no tea bag in the footage and Miles always leaves it in, or even more convoluted ones like there is sugar next to the cup or he spilled some on the console and its the color of coffee. Nope, this is star trek, not 20th century trek. So what is her explanation? The footage includes a chemical spectral analysis of everything in the scene and that data indicates its not tea, but coffee. WHAT. THE. FUCK. In addition to using the "magic science fiction plot advancer" hammer to smash the story forward for no reason at all, this makes the footage ridiculous in its scope and by nature that much harder to fake but it still doesn't change the fact that the only proof is a wife's intuition. Miles could have just been drinking in the afternoon out of character that day.

 

[Dr. Zaus]

One of the stupidest star trek writing pieces that sticks in my mind was a deep space 9 episode where Miles O'brien and Julian Bashir were helping destroy a store of biological weapons for some other race that had just ended a civil war. Their deaths are faked for some reason or another and Miles' wife and the rest of the crew is reviewing footage of their apparent death. Miles' wife points out he doesn't drink coffee in the afternoon like he is in the footage proving that the footage is doctored, presumably using some early footage as a stand in.

For some bizarre reason the writers had another character ask, "couldn't he be drinking tea?" To begin with it is an unnecessary question to move the story along that should have just been edited out. Regardless there are several explanations for why that couldn't be that Kieko could use. He doesn't like tea, there's no tea bag in the footage and Miles always leaves it in, or even more convoluted ones like there is sugar next to the cup or he spilled some on the console and its the color of coffee. Nope, this is star trek, not 20th century trek. So what is her explanation? The footage includes a chemical spectral analysis of everything in the scene and that data indicates its not tea, but coffee. WHAT. THE. FUCK. In addition to using the "magic science fiction plot advancer" hammer to smash the story forward for no reason at all, this makes the footage ridiculous in its scope and by nature that much harder to fake but it still doesn't change the fact that the only proof is a wife's intuition. Miles could have just been drinking in the afternoon out of character that day.

It turned out he DID drink coffee in the afternoon.

 

[SagaLore]

One of the stupidest star trek writing pieces

Out of all the scenes in the series, that's the stupidest one for you?

I forget which episode exactly, but in STNG, I think in season 2 or 3? Near the end of the episode some old guy (planetary diplomat?) gets pushed down during a struggle, and lands onto a glass coffee table, which breaks, and they rush him to sickbay. He dies from his injuries.

Think about that for a moment.

Its a starship. It gets tossed around all the time. Why the F is there a glass coffee table in the middle of the room? Why the F does the glass shatter? He should have simply bounced off of it. But fine, it must be some kind of antique replica, so he cuts himself up pretty bad. How the F does medical treatment not instantly fix him? W T F? "I'm sorry Mrs. Diplomat, your husband died from a tragic incident with glass furniture out in space".

 

[her209]

Out of all the scenes in the series, that's the stupidest one for you?

I forget which episode exactly, but in STNG, I think in season 2 or 3? Near the end of the episode some old guy (planetary diplomat?) gets pushed down during a struggle, and lands onto a glass coffee table, which breaks, and they rush him to sickbay. He dies from his injuries.

Think about that for a moment.

Its a starship. It gets tossed around all the time. Why the F is there a glass coffee table in the middle of the room? Why the F does the glass shatter? He should have simply bounced off of it. But fine, it must be some kind of antique replica, so he cuts himself up pretty bad. How the F does medical treatment not instantly fix him? W T F? "I'm sorry Mrs. Diplomat, your husband died from a tragic incident with glass furniture out in space".

Should have been made from tempered glass too.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

In the Silicon Avatar episode, the crew on the Melona Four gets attacked by the crystaline entity and they take cover in a cave. The crew on the Enterprise attempt to contact the crew hiding in the cave but can't. Picard tells Worf to increase to warp 9 and asks how long it will take to get to Melona Four. Worf replies "6 hours!"

Wait a minute. Warp 1 is equivalent to the speed of light right? So they can communicate with each other in real time at presumably speed of light communication methods but it'll take them 6 hours (at warp 9) to get to the colony???

Their communication technology is faster than light -- it is called "subspace" communication so I think that's something the writers invented for instantaneous communication.

Though, it is worth nothing, that in a couple of episodes (at least in TOS), they do mention that their communications would take at least 2 weeks to reach a starbase.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Its a starship. It gets tossed around all the time. Why the F is there a glass coffee table in the middle of the room? Why the F does the glass shatter? He should have simply bounced off of it. But fine, it must be some kind of antique replica, so he cuts himself up pretty bad. How the F does medical treatment not instantly fix him? W T F? "I'm sorry Mrs. Diplomat, your husband died from a tragic incident with glass furniture out in space".

I think this goes in the same file as "Why haven't they cured male pattern baldness by the time Picard is born?"

 

[The Boston Dangler]

1 gram of matter is roughly equivalent to the energy released in the nagasaki bomb (88 terajoules or 21,000 u.s. tons of tnt). think about that the next time you see someone replicate some dinner.

 

[waggy]

I love Sci-fi shows. but hell you have got to turn off the brain at times.

 

[dainthomas]

1 gram of matter is roughly equivalent to the energy released in the nagasaki bomb (88 terajoules or 21,000 u.s. tons of tnt). think about that the next time you see someone replicate some dinner.

Wouldn't that also apply to reassembling someone from 1s and 0s every time they are transported? In fact, why don't they just keep a backup of everyone when they're transported so if they're killed they can just create another one?

 

[PingSpike]

Out of all the scenes in the series, that's the stupidest one for you?

Its one of the stupidest, but mostly its one that sticks in my mind. Plenty of times episodes end with Deus ex machina and magical technologies are invented for every episode when the writers paint themselves into a corner. But that was was like they searched for a corner to sit in and immediately painted around themselves before they even started. The temptation to use that BS to move the story forward is insurmountable and I don't blame them for giving in for a plethora of reasons time and again...but anyone should have been able to avoid it in that scene!

Your glass table thing is stupid but stupid stuff like that does happen. And maybe the alien diplomat's race was unusually dense and heavy allowing the human calibrated table to be shattered under his immense weight and his race has a natural allergy to earth glass.

 

[Beev]

I think this goes in the same file as "Why haven't they cured male pattern baldness by the time Picard is born?"

Per Gene Roddenberry (regarding Picard being bald): "In the future, no one will care."

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Per Gene Roddenberry (regarding Picard being bald): "In the future, no one will care."

Yes, I know. The same reason he made men wear those dresses in the first season.

 

[SillyOReilly]

I wish they setup quantum entanglement as a form of communication so it would be instant across any space.

 

[PingSpike]

Wouldn't that also apply to reassembling someone from 1s and 0s every time they are transported? In fact, why don't they just keep a backup of everyone when they're transported so if they're killed they can just create another one?

The likely could resolve many diseases and injuries using the "back up" as well. Why does picard have a mechanical heart when they should be able to just replicate a perfect new one?

If you think about the transporter technology and holodeck you realize the entire show makes no sense. Not just the situations they encounter in different episodes but the entire way the world works and how people interact with each other. All the emphasis on resource gathering and work and everything should be totally different due to the existence of that technology alone. They have a lot of problems in episodes that shouldn't even exist and people care about things that should basically be free. The show basically plays out as the age of piracy with magic set in space, but the entire culture should be different.

Its important to note the concept of beaming only exists in star trek because the shuttle craft sets were not ready when TOS was filmed.

 

[SillyOReilly]

And all of you people questioning the science, it is science fiction after all.

You should all also read "The physics of Star Trek"