Star Trek...

[HannibalX]

I have been watching a lot of DS9 and TNG lately. A few things that are bothering me.

1.) Fully developed planets are usually described as having millions of people, not billions. I would think that in the future planets would have larger populations. If we have six billion people here on Earth now wouldn't it be conceivable that similar sized planets and even larger planets would have as many or more people?

2.) Almost every planet Star Fleet encounters (including Federation planets) is a dictatorship, a monarchy, or ruled by a "council" of supreme leaders usually less than 10 people. I can't decide if this was done simply because creating a grand government for each planet would cost to much to produce into the show or if it was intended to be anti-democratic in nature.

3.) There are no mega-cities or metro areas on the show. Every planet visited seems to be a collection of small villages of less than 1000 people. There are no cities similar in size to say Chicago or Tokyo. Cities have no mass transit and seem to be living at the progress level of 15th century Earth with a few computers thrown in here and there.

4.) Weird events happen every show having to do with altering space/time, government's being created/overthrown, and science experiments going awry threating the entire galaxy - yet every show this surprises the hell out of the crew.

5.) There are no commodes. In fact I have never seen a shot filmed with a commode. No one ever has to leave sudden from a discussion to go to the commode.

6.) No government trains their soldiers or citizens to use a weapon. The energy weapons in the show, unlike our modern firearms, have a completely straight path to their target and arrive almost instantaneously, yet no one can hit a damn thing.

I'm tired. I don't know why I made this thread.

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

Originally posted by: Pale Rider
I have been watching a lot of DS9 and TNG lately. A few things that are bothering me.

Luckily you have me to answer them all.

1.) Fully developed planets are usually described as having millions of people, not billions. I would think that in the future planets would have larger populations. If we have six billion people here on Earth now wouldn't it be conceivable that similar sized planets and even larger planets would have as many or more people?

The further the planets are from earth, the longer it took Darwin to reach them with his solar-power inflatable dingy.

2.) Almost every planet Star Fleet encounters (including Federation planets) is a dictatorship, a monarchy, or ruled by a "council" of supreme leaders usually less than 10 people. I can't decide if this was done simply because creating a grand government for each planet would cost to much to produce into the show or if it was intended to be anti-democratic in nature.

Cause those are the planets with the best space hookers. Nothing like an oligarchy to ensure good state run brothels.

3.) There are no mega-cities or metro areas on the show. Every planet visited seems to be a collection of small villages of less than 1000 people. There are no cities similar in size to say Chicago or Tokyo. Cities have no mass transit and seem to be living at the progress level of 15th century Earth with a few computers thrown in here and there.

Aliens prefer pastoral imagery. It's why they leave crop circles in corn fields instead of strip malls.

4.) Weird events happen every show having to do with altering space/time, government's being created/overthrown, and science experiments going awry threating the entire galaxy - yet every show this surprises the hell out of the crew.

They have an idiom in 2420 that goes , "Ion emissions don't strike twice to the 9th power."

5.) There are no commodes. In fact I have never seen a shot filmed with a commode. No one ever has to leave sudden from a discussion to go to the commode.

Have you seen how the teleporters work? Nuff said.

6.) No government trains their soldiers or citizens to use a weapon. The energy weapons in the show, unlike our modern firearms, have a completely straight path to their target and arrive almost instantaneously, yet no one can hit a damn thing.

The governments don't train their soldiers to shoot straight.....they train them to dodge really fast.

I'm tired. I don't know why I made this thread.

NEVER apologize for creating a Star Trek thread.

And thanks to you I now need to set my alarm clock ahead another five minutes so I can at least get 4 hours of sleep tonight.

 

[lyssword]

Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor

Originally posted by: Pale Rider
I have been watching a lot of DS9 and TNG lately. A few things that are bothering me.

Luckily you have me to answer them all.

1.) Fully developed planets are usually described as having millions of people, not billions. I would think that in the future planets would have larger populations. If we have six billion people here on Earth now wouldn't it be conceivable that similar sized planets and even larger planets would have as many or more people?

The further the planets are from earth, the longer it took Darwin to reach them with his solar-power inflatable dingy.

2.) Almost every planet Star Fleet encounters (including Federation planets) is a dictatorship, a monarchy, or ruled by a "council" of supreme leaders usually less than 10 people. I can't decide if this was done simply because creating a grand government for each planet would cost to much to produce into the show or if it was intended to be anti-democratic in nature.

Cause those are the planets with the best space hookers. Nothing like an oligarchy to ensure good state run brothels.

3.) There are no mega-cities or metro areas on the show. Every planet visited seems to be a collection of small villages of less than 1000 people. There are no cities similar in size to say Chicago or Tokyo. Cities have no mass transit and seem to be living at the progress level of 15th century Earth with a few computers thrown in here and there.

Aliens prefer pastoral imagery. It's why they leave crop circles in corn fields instead of strip malls.

4.) Weird events happen every show having to do with altering space/time, government's being created/overthrown, and science experiments going awry threating the entire galaxy - yet every show this surprises the hell out of the crew.

They have an idiom in 2420 that goes , "Ion emissions don't strike twice to the 9th power."

5.) There are no commodes. In fact I have never seen a shot filmed with a commode. No one ever has to leave sudden from a discussion to go to the commode.

Have you seen how the teleporters work? Nuff said.

6.) No government trains their soldiers or citizens to use a weapon. The energy weapons in the show, unlike our modern firearms, have a completely straight path to their target and arrive almost instantaneously, yet no one can hit a damn thing.

The governments don't train their soldiers to shoot straight.....they train them to dodge really fast.

I'm tired. I don't know why I made this thread.

NEVER apologize for creating a Star Trek thread.

And thanks to you I now need to set my alarm clock ahead another five minutes so I can at least get 4 hours of sleep tonight.

Lol, nice

 

[DangerAardvark]

I hate that every single planet in every sci-fi show or movie ever is populated by a single homogeneous race and ruled by a single planetary government.

 

[Canai]

:laugh:

 

[HannibalX]

Originally posted by: DangerAardvark
I hate that every single planet in every sci-fi show or movie ever is populated by a single homogeneous race and ruled by a single planetary government.

There is an episode of TNG that has a planet with multiple continental governments. I can't remember the episode. The Federation denies them membership until they form a single planetary government.

 

[HannibalX]

Originally posted by: lyssword

Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor

Originally posted by: Pale Rider
I have been watching a lot of DS9 and TNG lately. A few things that are bothering me.

Luckily you have me to answer them all.

1.) Fully developed planets are usually described as having millions of people, not billions. I would think that in the future planets would have larger populations. If we have six billion people here on Earth now wouldn't it be conceivable that similar sized planets and even larger planets would have as many or more people?

The further the planets are from earth, the longer it took Darwin to reach them with his solar-power inflatable dingy.

2.) Almost every planet Star Fleet encounters (including Federation planets) is a dictatorship, a monarchy, or ruled by a "council" of supreme leaders usually less than 10 people. I can't decide if this was done simply because creating a grand government for each planet would cost to much to produce into the show or if it was intended to be anti-democratic in nature.

Cause those are the planets with the best space hookers. Nothing like an oligarchy to ensure good state run brothels.

3.) There are no mega-cities or metro areas on the show. Every planet visited seems to be a collection of small villages of less than 1000 people. There are no cities similar in size to say Chicago or Tokyo. Cities have no mass transit and seem to be living at the progress level of 15th century Earth with a few computers thrown in here and there.

Aliens prefer pastoral imagery. It's why they leave crop circles in corn fields instead of strip malls.

4.) Weird events happen every show having to do with altering space/time, government's being created/overthrown, and science experiments going awry threating the entire galaxy - yet every show this surprises the hell out of the crew.

They have an idiom in 2420 that goes , "Ion emissions don't strike twice to the 9th power."

5.) There are no commodes. In fact I have never seen a shot filmed with a commode. No one ever has to leave sudden from a discussion to go to the commode.

Have you seen how the teleporters work? Nuff said.

6.) No government trains their soldiers or citizens to use a weapon. The energy weapons in the show, unlike our modern firearms, have a completely straight path to their target and arrive almost instantaneously, yet no one can hit a damn thing.

The governments don't train their soldiers to shoot straight.....they train them to dodge really fast.

I'm tired. I don't know why I made this thread.

NEVER apologize for creating a Star Trek thread.

And thanks to you I now need to set my alarm clock ahead another five minutes so I can at least get 4 hours of sleep tonight.

Lol, nice

LOL I love it!

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: DangerAardvark
I hate that every single planet in every sci-fi show or movie ever is populated by a single homogeneous race and ruled by a single planetary government.

"Do you speak Klingon?"
"No. Do you speak Human? Pick a language..."

Having one language for a whole planet would definitely be convenient though, and I do see it happening, eventually. Seperate languages could develop in part because people were able to be isolated on what once was a very disconnected world. As information can travel more quickly, and more people interact between more cultures, language barriers become a bigger problem.

One government? That may eventually happen, too, though there will still need to be smaller sub-governments, sort of like how the USA has multiple state governments, all under one national government.


Maybe they did visit planets like ours at some time. But of course, we as viewers were already familiar with that sort of place, so there'd be no point in having an episode where the crew visits a planet just like Earth. It'd be like watching reality TV - if reality TV actually showed reality. You can get genuine reality right in your own home, at higher definintion than any TV can offer. So why watch?

3) Yes, there are some large cities - Cardassia had very developed cities, complete with big oval-shaped screens everywhere. Otherwise, the budget was limited to whatever the painters could come up with. Later episodes of Voyager and DS9 at least had the luxury of limited use of CGI. It's a shame that the computer usage came in so late. Some of the bigger battles in DS9 could have been done up really nice.

4) Tornados and hurricanes have happened for thousands of years, yet it's always a big deal when one does hit.

5) No bathrooms? Yeah, cause the biggest problem I had with the show was that I never once got to see Worf take a Warrior-grade crap. What a damn shame.

6) The show would of course be quite boring if everyone landed a shot on the first try. Oh no! A shootout! Pew pew pew....oh it's done already.
Maybe the enemies use anti-aiming Confuso-Rays.

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

I just wish the damned DVDz weren't so expensive. $118 for each season of Star Trek Voyager. :|

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: DangerAardvark
I hate that every single planet in every sci-fi show or movie ever is populated by a single homogeneous race and ruled by a single planetary government.

Actually that is rule A, rule B is their may be two as long as those two are at war.

 

[rivan]

Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor
Luckily you have me to answer them all.

I find your ideas intriguing and would like to subscribe to your newsletter. :thumbsup:

Have you seen how the teleporters work? Nuff said.

Yeah, but what about the displaced volume? Presumably leaving a vacuum would be quite uncomfortable as it collapsed, and replacing the displaced erm.. waste with air would make one quite gassy.

Explain that one, Mr. Smarty Pants.

 

[sao123]

Originally posted by: Pale Rider
I have been watching a lot of DS9 and TNG lately. A few things that are bothering me.

1.) Fully developed planets are usually described as having millions of people, not billions. I would think that in the future planets would have larger populations. If we have six billion people here on Earth now wouldn't it be conceivable that similar sized planets and even larger planets would have as many or more people?

Why? you assume that life originated on every planet? Isnt a more likely idea that life originated in a "few" places and those other worlds were colonized by spacefaring people?
Much like the romulans came from the vulcans?

2.) Almost every planet Star Fleet encounters (including Federation planets) is a dictatorship, a monarchy, or ruled by a "council" of supreme leaders usually less than 10 people. I can't decide if this was done simply because creating a grand government for each planet would cost to much to produce into the show or if it was intended to be anti-democratic in nature.

In an ideal environment with limitless resources where money, personal greed, need, and want has been eliiminated socialistic communism would flourish. Capitalism & Democracy are for environments with limited resources which must be allocated by decision making parties.

3.) There are no mega-cities or metro areas on the show. Every planet visited seems to be a collection of small villages of less than 1000 people. There are no cities similar in size to say Chicago or Tokyo. Cities have no mass transit and seem to be living at the progress level of 15th century Earth with a few computers thrown in here and there.

See #2, with no need for capitalism & democracy, there is need for dense population areas.



4.) Weird events happen every show having to do with altering space/time, government's being created/overthrown, and science experiments going awry threating the entire galaxy - yet every show this surprises the hell out of the crew.

the federation hasnt communized the entire universe yet... they have to have something to do.


5.) There are no commodes. In fact I have never seen a shot filmed with a commode. No one ever has to leave sudden from a discussion to go to the commode.

Waste stations do appear in both Star Trek Technical Manuals. Why would you want to see picard on the toilet straining to drop a deuce, there is no need for this on camera?


6.) No government trains their soldiers or citizens to use a weapon. The energy weapons in the show, unlike our modern firearms, have a completely straight path to their target and arrive almost instantaneously, yet no one can hit a damn thing.


What are you talking about...Redshirts die all the time...


I'm tired. I don't know why I made this thread.

 

[OdiN]

A bit of trivia - there is ONE toilet on the Enterprise D.

 

[steppinthrax]

Originally posted by: Pale Rider
I have been watching a lot of DS9 and TNG lately. A few things that are bothering me.

1.) Fully developed planets are usually described as having millions of people, not billions. I would think that in the future planets would have larger populations. If we have six billion people here on Earth now wouldn't it be conceivable that similar sized planets and even larger planets would have as many or more people?

2.) Almost every planet Star Fleet encounters (including Federation planets) is a dictatorship, a monarchy, or ruled by a "council" of supreme leaders usually less than 10 people. I can't decide if this was done simply because creating a grand government for each planet would cost to much to produce into the show or if it was intended to be anti-democratic in nature.

3.) There are no mega-cities or metro areas on the show. Every planet visited seems to be a collection of small villages of less than 1000 people. There are no cities similar in size to say Chicago or Tokyo. Cities have no mass transit and seem to be living at the progress level of 15th century Earth with a few computers thrown in here and there.

4.) Weird events happen every show having to do with altering space/time, government's being created/overthrown, and science experiments going awry threating the entire galaxy - yet every show this surprises the hell out of the crew.

5.) There are no commodes. In fact I have never seen a shot filmed with a commode. No one ever has to leave sudden from a discussion to go to the commode.

6.) No government trains their soldiers or citizens to use a weapon. The energy weapons in the show, unlike our modern firearms, have a completely straight path to their target and arrive almost instantaneously, yet no one can hit a damn thing.

I'm tired. I don't know why I made this thread.

I did notice in star trek that there were never any toliets. If you watched voyager they did show balona (clingon/human) wash her face a couple of times but that's it.

A lot of the stories and plots in star trek try to describe real life situations if we were to encounter another species or in dealing with them. A good example is the Prime Directive. They also go into a little bit of philosophy, data being a good example in voyager. Data was a machine so the crew felt he shouldn't had the same rights as humans. I think it was Kes who spoke to captian janeway on many occasions. You can go on regarding the various ethical dillemas in star trek.

 

[steppinthrax]

Originally posted by: Fullmetal Chocobo
I just wish the damned DVDz weren't so expensive. $118 for each season of Star Trek Voyager. :|

I downloaded it.

 

[HannibalX]

Originally posted by: OdiN
A bit of trivia - there is ONE toilet on the Enterprise D.

The captain's ready room has a wash room IIRC, not sure if there is a toilet there.

 

[HannibalX]

And one more thing - when ships get attacked and the walls start flying apart, how come none of the plumbing pipes blow up and spew shit everywhere? Talk about a kick in the nuts - try fixing that power conduit when it's covered in brown sauce.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: Fullmetal Chocobo
I just wish the damned DVDz weren't so expensive. $118 for each season of Star Trek Voyager. :|

That's about $118 more than I'd pay.

 

[jjones]

Originally posted by: DangerAardvark
I hate that every single planet in every sci-fi show or movie ever is populated by a single homogeneous race and ruled by a single planetary government.

I haven't watched Star Trek in so long but wasn't one of the rules not to interfere with developing worlds? Is a single planetary government one of the prerequisites for contact by the Federation?

As for homogenous, hey, they're alien, they all look alike.

 

[sourceninja]

Originally posted by: Pale Rider
And one more thing - when ships get attacked and the walls start flying apart, how come none of the plumbing pipes blow up and spew shit everywhere? Talk about a kick in the nuts - try fixing that power conduit when it's covered in brown sauce.

I assume that if they can make food out of nothing, they can make water out of nothing, and thus plumbing would be useless, because if they can create stuff like that, it should be trivial to reverse the process on poo.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: Pale Rider
And one more thing - when ships get attacked and the walls start flying apart, how come none of the plumbing pipes blow up and spew shit everywhere? Talk about a kick in the nuts - try fixing that power conduit when it's covered in brown sauce.

I'd bet the commodes just beam the waste straight into enemy vessels.

 

[OdiN]

Originally posted by: Pale Rider

Originally posted by: OdiN
A bit of trivia - there is ONE toilet on the Enterprise D.

The captain's ready room has a wash room IIRC, not sure if there is a toilet there.

Nope - there is only one. I saw it on a special on sci-fi or something where they were talking about it. They put a single one on the plans, I think just to be funny.

 

[OdiN]

Originally posted by: steppinthrax

Originally posted by: Pale Rider

I did notice in star trek that there were never any toliets. If you watched voyager they did show balona (clingon/human) wash her face a couple of times but that's it.

A lot of the stories and plots in star trek try to describe real life situations if we were to encounter another species or in dealing with them. A good example is the Prime Directive. They also go into a little bit of philosophy, data being a good example in voyager. Data was a machine so the crew felt he shouldn't had the same rights as humans. I think it was Kes who spoke to captian janeway on many occasions. You can go on regarding the various ethical dillemas in star trek.

First off it's "B'Elana".

Anyway - there are many occasions where crew members wash their hands or faces in TNG. There were a few where bathtubs were shown, and we also know that they had "sonic" showers.

And you're wrong about Data - the crew did not feel he shouldn't have the same rights as humans - in fact quite the opposite. There was a scientist who wanted to take him apart to learn and try to duplicate Soong's work and Data didn't want to and they tried to have a court battle to determine whether he had the right to refuse or if he was "property" of Starfleet.

Also there are several planets shown with large cities. Mostly the homeworlds of various species - Klingon, Romulan and Cardassian for one were all shown with large cities.

And as far as mass transit goes - why would there need to be vehicles all over the place when people had transporters?

 

[FoBoT]

dude, it is fake
make believe
just a story

that isn't reality

 

[steppinthrax]

Originally posted by: OdiN

Originally posted by: steppinthrax

Originally posted by: Pale Rider

I did notice in star trek that there were never any toliets. If you watched voyager they did show balona (clingon/human) wash her face a couple of times but that's it.

A lot of the stories and plots in star trek try to describe real life situations if we were to encounter another species or in dealing with them. A good example is the Prime Directive. They also go into a little bit of philosophy, data being a good example in voyager. Data was a machine so the crew felt he shouldn't had the same rights as humans. I think it was Kes who spoke to captian janeway on many occasions. You can go on regarding the various ethical dillemas in star trek.

First off it's "B'Elana".

Anyway - there are many occasions where crew members wash their hands or faces in TNG. There were a few where bathtubs were shown, and we also know that they had "sonic" showers.

And you're wrong about Data - the crew did not feel he shouldn't have the same rights as humans - in fact quite the opposite. There was a scientist who wanted to take him apart to learn and try to duplicate Soong's work and Data didn't want to and they tried to have a court battle to determine whether he had the right to refuse or if he was "property" of Starfleet.

Also there are several planets shown with large cities. Mostly the homeworlds of various species - Klingon, Romulan and Cardassian for one were all shown with large cities.

And as far as mass transit goes - why would there need to be vehicles all over the place when people had transporters?

You know I had my facts wrong.

I was refering to "the doctor" in Voyager. Kes was concerned because he wasen't being treated like a member of the crew. Yeah I did now remember sonic showers and bathtubs. I do believe there might of be once case where there was a toliet. Possibly in enterprise.