Biggest 'Why don't they...' in Trek - Page 2

Mr. Laser Beam · December 16 2012, 04:21 PM

JirinPanthosa wrote:

1) Why don't they always set the phaser on wide beam?

Maybe they don't want innocent people getting hit?

2) If somebody is about to die but need to get proper medical equipment, why don't they just start them going at .9999999c without a warp field, effectively freezing time for them, then collect them when they are able to get the medical supplies? Relativistic stasis!

IIRC, full impulse power is limited to about 1/4 lightspeed.

Takeru · December 16 2012, 06:27 PM

Mr. Laser Beam wrote:

Maybe they don't want innocent people getting hit?

why not? That's why you have a stun setting, if I was a hostage in the trek universe I'd pray for someone to stun us all as soon as possible and get me out of there, I don't want to hear to Picard yapping about not hurting hostages etc. for hours. What if a bad guy decides to murder me to make a point?

MacLeod · December 17 2012, 12:34 PM

Well I do recall Reed once stunning T'Pol who was being held hostage to get at the person who was using her as a shield.

BillJ · December 17 2012, 12:49 PM

MacLeod wrote:

Well I do recall Reed once stunning T'Pol who was being held hostage to get at the person who was using her as a shield.

I believe that's from season three's North Star.

datalogan · December 18 2012, 04:21 AM

It’s funny, I was just thinking about this topic idea recently. Here’s some things from my list of things that have been established in Star Trek that they just don’t do when they should.

The spores in TOS "This Side of Paradise" fix all medical problems. Sure, they are a bit of a mind control, but we know how to stop the mind control now. So we could “infect” injured people with the spores in a controlled environment, let the spores heal their body, then cure them of the spores.

The water on Scalos in TOS “Wink of an Eye” could speed up regular people to super-human speeds. And there was a ready antidote. So, why not have some Scalosian water (and antidote) around for emergencies when you need to move quickly?

they should have used the rubindium subcutaneous transponders from TOS "Patterns of Force" more often

The food on the planet in TOS "Plato's Stepchildren" was able to give normal humans instant telekinetics. Why didn’t they develop that more?

Drug-based Fountain of Youth in TNG "Too Short a Season"

Fountain of Youth by transporter (ie ability to “de-age” anyone just based on their transporter trace/DNA scan) in TNG "Unnatural Selection"

Ability to transfer consciousness into a machine in TOS “What Are Little Girls Made Of?”, TOS “I, Mudd”, TOS “Return to Tomorrow”, TNG "The Schizoid Man", TNG “Brothers”, and sortof VGR “The Thaw”

Dimensional shifting transporter in TNG “The High Ground”. Sure, it killed people, but it could still be used to send supplies/bombs without problem

Metaphasic shielding in TNG "Suspicions" and TNG "Descent, Part II"

Phasing cloak in TNG "Pegasus"

Personal force fields in TNG "Fistful of Datas"

Geordi's probe in TNG "Interface"

Trilithium star bombs in ST:Generations and DS9 "By Inferno's Light"

Computer ports in people's heads in DS9 "A Simple Investigation" and DS9 "Honor Among Thieves"

Borg nanoprobes ability to bring people back from the dead in VGR "Mortal Coil"

adaptive shielding in VGR “Dreadnought” (and the Borg)

Arpy · December 18 2012, 09:41 AM

^ to name but a few.

Re phasers/torpedoes: don't be such apologists. They often SHOULD have used higher settings or even wide beam stun settings...hell TOS Enteprise fired stun phaser from orbit. And when you're attacking an enemy ship about to destroy you, yeah, you go for the full uber-nuke setting. Not talking targeted attacks on weaker ships here. And I doubt the Klingons or Jem-Hadar would be as hesitant to use them.

No there are lots of places Trek has gone the Flash Gordon pew pew weapons way.

Finn · December 19 2012, 05:03 AM

datalogan wrote:

The spores in TOS "This Side of Paradise" fix all medical problems. Sure, they are a bit of a mind control, but we know how to stop the mind control now. So we could “infect” injured people with the spores in a controlled environment, let the spores heal their body, then cure them of the spores.

The water on Scalos in TOS “Wink of an Eye” could speed up regular people to super-human speeds. And there was a ready antidote. So, why not have some Scalosian water (and antidote) around for emergencies when you need to move quickly?

Probably has serious side effects.

The food on the planet in TOS "Plato's Stepchildren" was able to give normal humans instant telekinetics. Why didn’t they develop that more?

They weren't Humans
.

Drug-based Fountain of Youth in TNG "Too Short
a Season"

Why would they? It killed Jameson.

Fountain of Youth by transporter (ie ability to “de-age” anyone just based on their transporter trace/DNA scan) in TNG "Unnatural Selection"

It would be pushing it, but it may have to do with the illness Pulaski had. It might not work on someone who's already old. I'm guessing a Doctor with a medical tricorder would be able to tell that Pulaski isn't as old as she looks.

Ability to transfer consciousness into a machine in TOS “What Are Little Girls Made Of?”, TOS “I, Mudd”, TOS “Return to Tomorrow”, TNG "The Schizoid Man", TNG “Brothers”, and sortof VGR “The Thaw”

You cited several episodes here. No reason for them to use that plot more...

Dimensional shifting transporter in TNG “The High Ground”. Sure, it killed people, but it could still be used to send supplies/bombs without problem

Why was it dangerous to people? It may have an effect on inanimate objects as well...

Metaphasic shielding in TNG "Suspicions" and TNG "Descent, Part II"

How do you know it wasn't used again...? They don't have to say "metaphasic" every time they use it.

Phasing cloak in TNG "Pegasus"

It's Illegal...

Trilithium star bombs in ST:Generations and DS9 "By Inferno's Light"

Why would they?

Computer ports in people's heads in DS9 "A Simple Investigation" and DS9 "Honor Among Thieves"

Why would they??

Mojochi · December 19 2012, 11:35 AM

Why do they need to run warp engines constantly to travel? In Space, momentum is such that a burst of the engines to attain their desired speed should propel them indefinitely, or until gravitational forces from passing stellar objects effects their speed, at which time they can compensate

The Enterprise should be more like a sailing vessel than a locomotion one, as I see it

MacLeod · December 19 2012, 11:51 AM

^With regards to Warp Drive, without they would still be bound by the laws of physics in that nothing can go faster than the speed of light.

As for the Warp Core itself, no doubt as well as providing power to the warp drive it also provides power to the rest of the ship.

Deimos Anomaly · December 19 2012, 09:15 PM

The warp core needs to constantly maintain the warp bubble I think.

Warp FTL travel is non newtonian... based on our understanding of the concept, I think the drive needs to continually maintain compressed spacetime (or an uphill of warped space) behind the ship and rarefied spacetime (a downhill of warped space) ahead of it.

Or something like that...

loki41872 · December 20 2012, 04:05 AM

The Borg never seemed to be the least bit concerned about Starfleet personnel beaming onto their ships at will with weapons.

Why didn't they just beam a photon torpedo into the center of every Borg Cube they encountered, and call it a day?

Also, we've seen what happens when there's a Warp Core breech. When the Borg attacked Earth (both times) nobody EVER thought to sacrifice one starship by rigging the warp core to blow, setting a collision course, and beaming off the crew?

Mr. Laser Beam · December 20 2012, 04:37 AM

loki41872 wrote:

Why didn't they just beam a photon torpedo into the center of every Borg Cube they encountered, and call it a day?

The Borg can repair damage like that.

KamenRiderBlade · December 20 2012, 07:19 AM

Mr. Laser Beam wrote:

loki41872 wrote:

Why didn't they just beam a photon torpedo into the center of every Borg Cube they encountered, and call it a day?

The Borg can repair damage like that.

The one time in VOY they did do that, the Borg vessel was smaller than Voyager, so they were completely destroyed.

scotpens · December 20 2012, 09:32 AM

Finngle Bells wrote:

The food on the planet in TOS "Plato's Stepchildren" was able to give normal humans instant telekinetics. Why didn’t they develop that more?

They weren't Humans

I suggest you re-watch the episode.

Mr. Laser Beam · December 20 2012, 12:37 PM

^ Maybe the substance from Plato's Stepchildren is toxic if taken in quantities that are too large. The people on the planet adapted to it, but Kirk and company could not. I'd buy that explanation.

Or, it could be for the same reason Alexander refused to take it: They don't want to become like the Platonians. Having power like that is inherently corrupting. If it went into wide use, there'd be a lot more people acting like the Platonians, and no one wants that.

KamenRiderBlade wrote:

Mr. Laser Beam wrote:

loki41872 wrote:

Why didn't they just beam a photon torpedo into the center of every Borg Cube they encountered, and call it a day?

The Borg can repair damage like that.

The one time in VOY they did do that, the Borg vessel was smaller than Voyager, so they were completely destroyed.

In Q Who, the Borg cube was shown to repair damage very quickly.

December 17 2012, 12:34 PM	#18
MacLeod Vice Admiral Location: Great Britain	Re: Biggest 'Why don't they...' in Trek Well I do recall Reed once stunning T'Pol who was being held hostage to get at the person who was using her as a shield. __________________ On the continent of wild endeavour in the mountains of solace and solitude there stood the citadel of the time lords, the oldest and most mighty race in the universe looking down on the galaxies below sworn never to interfere only to watch.

December 18 2012, 04:21 AM	#20
datalogan Lieutenant Commander Location: Seattle, WA	Re: Biggest 'Why don't they...' in Trek It’s funny, I was just thinking about this topic idea recently. Here’s some things from my list of things that have been established in Star Trek that they just don’t do when they should. The spores in TOS "This Side of Paradise" fix all medical problems. Sure, they are a bit of a mind control, but we know how to stop the mind control now. So we could “infect” injured people with the spores in a controlled environment, let the spores heal their body, then cure them of the spores. The water on Scalos in TOS “Wink of an Eye” could speed up regular people to super-human speeds. And there was a ready antidote. So, why not have some Scalosian water (and antidote) around for emergencies when you need to move quickly? they should have used the rubindium subcutaneous transponders from TOS "Patterns of Force" more often The food on the planet in TOS "Plato's Stepchildren" was able to give normal humans instant telekinetics. Why didn’t they develop that more? Drug-based Fountain of Youth in TNG "Too Short a Season" Fountain of Youth by transporter (ie ability to “de-age” anyone just based on their transporter trace/DNA scan) in TNG "Unnatural Selection" Ability to transfer consciousness into a machine in TOS “What Are Little Girls Made Of?”, TOS “I, Mudd”, TOS “Return to Tomorrow”, TNG "The Schizoid Man", TNG “Brothers”, and sortof VGR “The Thaw” Dimensional shifting transporter in TNG “The High Ground”. Sure, it killed people, but it could still be used to send supplies/bombs without problem Metaphasic shielding in TNG "Suspicions" and TNG "Descent, Part II" Phasing cloak in TNG "Pegasus" Personal force fields in TNG "Fistful of Datas" Geordi's probe in TNG "Interface" Trilithium star bombs in ST:Generations and DS9 "By Inferno's Light" Computer ports in people's heads in DS9 "A Simple Investigation" and DS9 "Honor Among Thieves" Borg nanoprobes ability to bring people back from the dead in VGR "Mortal Coil" adaptive shielding in VGR “Dreadnought” (and the Borg)

December 18 2012, 09:41 AM	#21
Arpy Rear Admiral	Re: Biggest 'Why don't they...' in Trek ^ to name but a few. Re phasers/torpedoes: don't be such apologists. They often SHOULD have used higher settings or even wide beam stun settings...hell TOS Enteprise fired stun phaser from orbit. And when you're attacking an enemy ship about to destroy you, yeah, you go for the full uber-nuke setting. Not talking targeted attacks on weaker ships here. And I doubt the Klingons or Jem-Hadar would be as hesitant to use them. No there are lots of places Trek has gone the Flash Gordon pew pew weapons way.

December 19 2012, 11:35 AM	#23
Mojochi Fleet Captain	Re: Biggest 'Why don't they...' in Trek Why do they need to run warp engines constantly to travel? In Space, momentum is such that a burst of the engines to attain their desired speed should propel them indefinitely, or until gravitational forces from passing stellar objects effects their speed, at which time they can compensate The Enterprise should be more like a sailing vessel than a locomotion one, as I see it

December 19 2012, 11:51 AM	#24
MacLeod Vice Admiral Location: Great Britain	Re: Biggest 'Why don't they...' in Trek ^With regards to Warp Drive, without they would still be bound by the laws of physics in that nothing can go faster than the speed of light. As for the Warp Core itself, no doubt as well as providing power to the warp drive it also provides power to the rest of the ship. __________________ On the continent of wild endeavour in the mountains of solace and solitude there stood the citadel of the time lords, the oldest and most mighty race in the universe looking down on the galaxies below sworn never to interfere only to watch.

STAR TREK

CSI

ABOUT US

December 19 2012, 09:15 PM	#25
Deimos Anomaly Rear Admiral Location: Hiberniae Septentrionalis	Re: Biggest 'Why don't they...' in Trek The warp core needs to constantly maintain the warp bubble I think. Warp FTL travel is non newtonian... based on our understanding of the concept, I think the drive needs to continually maintain compressed spacetime (or an uphill of warped space) behind the ship and rarefied spacetime (a downhill of warped space) ahead of it. Or something like that... __________________ I had a friend once, but the wheels fell off. Sad, very sad.

December 20 2012, 04:05 AM	#26
loki41872 Cadet	Re: Biggest 'Why don't they...' in Trek The Borg never seemed to be the least bit concerned about Starfleet personnel beaming onto their ships at will with weapons. Why didn't they just beam a photon torpedo into the center of every Borg Cube they encountered, and call it a day? Also, we've seen what happens when there's a Warp Core breech. When the Borg attacked Earth (both times) nobody EVER thought to sacrifice one starship by rigging the warp core to blow, setting a collision course, and beaming off the crew?