Biggest 'Why don't they...' in Trek

[Finn]

The Eggnogstic wrote:

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I suggest you re-watch the episode.

I was talking about the food. Kirk and Spock didn't do it by simply eating the food.

[KamenRiderBlade]

Mr. Laser Beam wrote:

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^ 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.

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

In Q Who, that cube was MUCH bigger than the Enterprise D.

The episode where VOY beamed over a torpedo onto the small Borg scout vessel.

The said scout vessel was smaller than Voyager.

They were destroyed in 1 shot.

I think the main info you should take away from this is if you don't kill everything on a borg ship in 1 shot, they'll regenerate.

[T'Girl]

double post.

[T'Girl]

Mr. Laser Beam wrote:

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^ 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.

Also the psychokinetic powers provided by the food might only work on (or around) the planet Platonius. Like Flint's immortality, move away from a certain planet, and the "gift" disappears.

[datalogan]

Finngle Bells wrote:

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Probably has serious side effects.

datalogan wrote:

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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?

datalogan wrote:

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

datalogan wrote:

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

Subspace weapons

Thaloron weapons

The fact that these things may/do have serious side effects would probably be reason enough to not use them during normal times. But what about serious emergencies / war? Situations where the only other probably outcome is your death anyway. I’d probably be willing to use some questionable methods in a terrible, one-sided war like the Dominion War.

Finngle Bells wrote:

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Why would they? It killed Jameson.

Jameson overdosed. Seems like it could have worked if he hadn’t taken both his supply AND his wife’s all at once. I figure somebody interested in de-aging would follow up on that. Still, it was difficult for Jameson to get ahold of, so probably not very easy to make/get. Which is a good enough reason to not see it again/much.

[datalogan]

A lot of these things weren’t done on the show just because the writers never thought about them.

Many were not done because the writers just wanted to get back to the status quo of the show and forget about the incredible thing that they accidentally revealed that our heroes could do in one episode that then made all future episodes much more difficult to write. [Transwarp long-distance beaming in 2009 Star Trek movie.]

And some of these were probably purposely not done by our heroes in episodes because they were suppose to represent a better version of humanity.

datalogan wrote:

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I’d probably be willing to use some questionable methods in a terrible, one-sided war like the Dominion War.

Maybe, but would our heroes (other than Sisko)?

[Arpy]

^ Right, because for the writers it isn't about continuity as much as concept. "What if" these characters had to face such and such a dilemma this week? Next week they're facing another dilemma and forget it that the problem discovered last week could be the solution used this week...we've moved on to another planet...science doesn't work here...it's the hajubaju particles in the lower troposphere negating the basic arithmetic of the situation.

[scotpens]

Finngle Bells wrote:

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I was talking about the food. Kirk and Spock didn't do it by simply eating the food.

Well, yes, that's correct. McCoy injected Kirk and Spock with high doses of kironide, the substance in the Platonian food that produced psychokinetic powers. (Never mind how McCoy was able to synthesize large amounts of the stuff on such short notice.) But kironide and its effects were never seen or mentioned again.

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I'm going with the explanation that long-term use of kironide is out of the question simply because nobody wants to become like the Platonians. Having that power is inherently corrupting. Nobody deserves that or should have access to it. So it is intentionally ignored. Kironide has no medical value that we can see - it doesn't heal wounds or cure disease (indeed, Parmen was going to die from a simple infection).

[datalogan]

I've never held to the belief that power inherently corrupts.

[plynch]

Go Warp 10, become salamanders, be home, and have the Doctor reverse it. Sorry if a repeat, haven't read 'em all.

[scotpens]

datalogan wrote:

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I've never held to the belief that power inherently corrupts.

Maybe not for everybody. But for us fallible humans, it's certainly a huge temptation.

[Arpy]

I've had this discussion before.

No man is impervious to temptation. We all have our breaking point. We are but mortal men in a universe far greater than us. This is not a fault, unless you think one should be as incorruptible as a Classical figure. But remember this: my Ancient Greek ancestors were no more or less human than I or any of us are. Don't base the truth of your life on the fiction of their literature.

Man's fallibility, like his mortality, may make life more difficult but like most problems, it can be dealt with.

[datalogan]

Arpy wrote:

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I've had this discussion before.

No man is impervious to temptation. We all have our breaking point. We are but mortal men in a universe far greater than us. This is not a fault, unless you think one should be as incorruptible as a Classical figure. But remember this: my Ancient Greek ancestors were no more or less human than I or any of us are. Don't base the truth of your life on the fiction of their literature.

Man's fallibility, like his mortality, may make life more difficult but like most problems, it can be dealt with.

I guess that’s sort of my point. Yes, humans have a capacity for being corrupted by power. But that doesn’t mean that it can’t be dealt with. We may be tempted to abuse, and some people may even abuse, but that doesn’t mean that the society as a whole will.

I mean, Star Trek already has some incredibly powerful stuff, most notably replicators, from which you can make almost anything. Yet, the Federation society we are presented with has not collapsed in on itself by everyone abusing the power. Although the show mostly “solves” this problem by ignoring it. We are never really told why humans don’t just live inside holdecks with their replicators and ignore the real world (which would really be a natural corruption of that power). It’s just a conceit of the show that humans have the power . . . but somehow don’t get corrupted by it.

So, if we already feel comfortable with the idea that humans have not been corrupted by the powers they already have, why can’t we also incorporate new “powers” into the universe without having to explain why the humans are not corrupted by those as well? Is telekinetics (TOS “Plato’s Stepchildren”) or super speed (TOS “Wink of an Eye”) really all that more powerful or corruptible than [almost-]all-powerful replicators?

[BillJ]

datalogan wrote:

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I guess that’s sort of my point. Yes, humans have a capacity for being corrupted by power. But that doesn’t mean that it can’t be dealt with. We may be tempted to abuse, and some people may even abuse, but that doesn’t mean that the society as a whole will.

I think what Star Trek is trying to say is that people become easily corruptible when dealing with powers they aren't ready for.

It's one thing to develop a device over the course of years and decades and then it slowly moves into the mainstream culture vs. having the power of god dropped into your lap overnight.