So name a Star Trek moment that you just didn't "get".

[Nightdiamond]

Commander Shelby whining about Riker's career choices, in a turbolift, while the Enterprise is hiding from the Borg in some gas cloud.

It would be a better time to worry about how to beat an unbeatable enemy that just severely damaged you, and is sitting waiting for you to come to out, so they can finish you off.

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

^What's more, I thought Riker (who could be an ass at times) showed commendable restraint in dealing with Shelby, whose behavior crossed the line between assertiveness and insubordination more than once during that mission.

--Sran

 

[Cyke101]

These days I get taken out of the show whenever someone in an Away Team says something like, "Commander! You better take a look at this."

I mean, wouldn't it be easier and probably more urgent to say, "We got a dead body here!" or "I found them!" or "Sir, there's a forcefield blocking the path!" I know it's a standard TV trope to save the revelation for both the character AND the audience, but Trek is so big and this trope happens so often that it just becomes repetitive, and loses dramatic impact and/or visual momentum.

 

[Orphalesion]

A little cheat here, but I don't get moments where on any show they are looking at a computer screen of the boundary to space of another species, like for example Romulans and say that's it and they can't cross it.

Ahhhhh ... space is three dimentional. We are only seeign a flat surface image. It doesn't sbow you the boundaries completely, which could be totally different from different angles than that flat image. Can you go over it? Under it?

Apparently Khan isn't the only one who wasn't thinking three dimentionally.

Well that's the problem with nearly all the ST-related star charts in and out of universe and why I accept none of them as canon. I can see two possibilities:

1) The "borders" are really like bubbles surrounding the territories of the Federation, the RSE, the KE etc and the various "Neutral Zones" are just were the "bubbles" touch and the line represents where the boundary lies on the position on the galactic "y-axis" which the Enterprise currently inhabits.

2) Those boundaries really cut right through the galactic disk and are about just as effective as the first version of the Treaty of Tordesillas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Tordesillas
In this case the border might just denominate "spheres of influence" (again with the treaty of Tordesillas comparison.

 

[tharpdevenport]

It's worse than that now that I think of it. Space is huge -- a solar systems aren't just right next to each other, they can be off kilter, below, above, so why don't any of these charts ever show boundaries that intersect eachother when looking at a flat map, but don't actually exist in the same region? It's amazing, I was looking at a chart of the species from Trek and the system and their boundaries are all coincidentally apart from each other by a bit.

 

[Nightdiamond]

^What's more, I thought Riker (who could be an ass at times) showed commendable restraint in dealing with Shelby, whose behavior crossed the line between assertiveness and insubordination more than once during that mission.

--Sran

He even gave her the promotion to first officer. She crossed a lot of appropriate lines in that episode.

Like giving orders on the bridge (minor), to taking Data and beaming off the ship without telling Riker-- or Picard (major).

Or announcing to Riker she's out for his job, what a way to start a working relationship

In the end they both came around to deeply respecting each other, which is cool, but notice that Shelby kept the promotion Riker gave her (Riker gave up his after rescuing Picard)


Going even further in to the episode, the part where Data puts the the Borg to sleep and it exploding doesn't make sense to me.

After the Borg starts to regenerate, Shelby suddenly announces the entire ship is about to explode, which it does.

Why would it need to explode like that, just because it was regenerating.

Very convinent-- otherwise they would have to wonder what to do with a sleeping Borg ship that is still in earth orbit.

 

[fireproof78]

^What's more, I thought Riker (who could be an ass at times) showed commendable restraint in dealing with Shelby, whose behavior crossed the line between assertiveness and insubordination more than once during that mission.

--Sran

He even gave her the promotion to first officer. She crossed a lot of appropriate lines in that episode.

Like giving orders on the bridge (minor), to taking Data and beaming off the ship without telling Riker-- or Picard (major).

Or announcing to Riker she's out for his job, what a way to start a working relationship

In the end they both came around to deeply respecting each other, which is cool, but notice that Shelby kept the promotion Riker gave her (Riker gave up his after rescuing Picard)


Going even further in to the episode, the part where Data puts the the Borg to sleep and it exploding doesn't make sense to me.

After the Borg starts to regenerate, Shelby suddenly announces the entire ship is about to explode, which it does.

Why would it need to explode like that, just because it was regenerating.

Very convinent-- otherwise they would have to wonder what to do with a sleeping Borg ship that is still in earth orbit.

That would be an interesting cliff hanger. Having them have a ticking clock for when the Borg wake back up, and needing that time to dismantle or destroy the cube.

That said, the idea of all of them beginning a regeneration cycle was suggested to cause some sort of overload, like too much power, or someone left the stove on or something.

 

[urbandefault]

After reading the TOS Writer's Guide (revision 3, 1967), I don't understand any of the spinoffs ... except maybe DS9.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

After the Borg starts to regenerate, Shelby suddenly announces the entire ship is about to explode, which it does.

Why would it need to explode like that, just because it was regenerating.

Must have been some kind of critical malfunction triggered by the forced induction of sleep mode. Kind of like a Borg 'kernel panic'.

 

[Nightdiamond]

Must have been some kind of critical malfunction triggered by the forced induction of sleep mode. Kind of like a Borg 'kernel panic'.

That would be an interesting cliff hanger. Having them have a ticking clock for when the Borg wake back up, and needing that time to dismantle or destroy the cube.

That said, the idea of all of them beginning a regeneration cycle was suggested to cause some sort of overload, like too much power, or someone left the stove on or something.

Good idea-- or devote an episode to it-- to show that the threat isn't over yet. Now they have to figure out how to get rid of the Borg.

I always assumed with the Borg being as advanced as it was, they would have had all types of fail safes and warning systems to prevent that from occurring.

I'm not an engineer, but they never heard of the fuse-- a simple device that prevents this very thing from happening?


Now when explained that way, it sounds a bit more rational.

But when you watch it, especially for the first time, it looks like this:

Shelby and Worf beam over to the Borg Cube. Worf says his tricorder is showing fluctuations. Riker is listening.

Shelby instantly (through techno babble) concludes the ship is about to self destruct. Then she offers to disarm it (where did she learn that?)

Then Crusher who overheard her, already concludes the ship is going to be destroyed and worries about Picard.

(Cue serious, urgent sounding music)

Then Riker suddenly gets urgent and tense, tells Data to step away from Picard (what does that accomplish and why such a rush to do it?) and then tells everyone to hurry back and lets get out of here right now before everything explodes !!!!!

(Cue tense music now)

All of the sudden, the Borg ship starts exploding, and the Entreprise is rushing to get away and escapes just in time as the Borg ship erupts in a huge explosion.

Just in time! No more Borg and earth is safe!


Ok, it doesn't actually look like that, but from memory, that's how it looks

 

[fireproof78]

After the Borg starts to regenerate, Shelby suddenly announces the entire ship is about to explode, which it does.

Why would it need to explode like that, just because it was regenerating.

Must have been some kind of critical malfunction triggered by the forced induction of sleep mode. Kind of like a Borg 'kernel panic'.

The Borg are no match for the power of THE BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH!

That needs to become a thing

Must have been some kind of critical malfunction triggered by the forced induction of sleep mode. Kind of like a Borg 'kernel panic'.

That would be an interesting cliff hanger. Having them have a ticking clock for when the Borg wake back up, and needing that time to dismantle or destroy the cube.

That said, the idea of all of them beginning a regeneration cycle was suggested to cause some sort of overload, like too much power, or someone left the stove on or something.

Good idea-- or devote an episode to it-- to show that the threat isn't over yet. Now they have to figure out how to get rid of the Borg.

I always assumed with the Borg being as advanced as it was, they would have had all types of fail safes and warning systems to prevent that from occurring.

I'm not an engineer, but they never heard of the fuse-- a simple device that prevents this very thing from happening?

Loved your post, but shortened it for the fuse part.

Star Trek has never heard of fuses. Otherwise, the consoles would not explode so regularly

 

[Brie]

Why is it that the universal translator works on all alien races, even those whose language "is so different from our own" that it takes a few minutes for the computer to adjust to the language...YET in DS9 you meet a race called the Breen, and not once do you ever understand what they are saying. The show makes no attempt to explain why their language isn't translated nor give any indication as to why they are different. This bugged me so much.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

It didn't work on the Tholians either.

Obviously it's not set for temperature.

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

1. Why the Enterprise keeps flying past the camera during the intro for TOS/TNG.

2. Why the wormhole randomly opens during the DS9 intro?

--Sran

 

[Orphalesion]

1)To Boldly Go Where No One Has Gone Before.
2) Because the camera is pinned to the front of a space ship and it triggered the wormhole.

 

[2takesfrakes]

I didn't get the hummingbird sequence in INSURRECTION, where Anij works here wonders and casts a spell on Picard, or whatever the balls she's doing at that particular moment in time. When offered an opportunity to explain by Picard, Anij responds with, "... no questions." Haha ... you know ... the "no questions" retort would've cut it in any other situation except where it's a single, isolated, spontaneous and unrelated event, out of a clear blue sky. So what's it all about? I mean ... did she slip Picard a Mickey? Is she telepathic and could it end up giving him Alzheimer's? Have they entered some sort of a Knot in Time, where everything in your surroundings moves in Slo-Mo? You know, I'm not even sure what my response to this was supposed to be? Am I supposed to be awestruck? Is this some wink at the audience that Movies Are Magic?

 

[Captain Rob]

I think that it's supposed to be an exercise in extreme focus and concentration. To the point that you can perceive your surroundings at a much faster rate. Resulting in the slo-mo effect. Which Picard later gets Anij to use to slow down her heart rate and control her metabolism so she won't die.

But yeah. Every time I watch that scene I say B.S.
It's almost as bad as Data turning into a round flotation device....I mean REALLY?

 

[B.J.]

I dunno, the whole Anij thing kinda reminds me of The Traveler, in that they're trying to teach humans how to do something beyond the physical realm they're familiar with. I think Q was doing some of the same (especially in AGT), but he wasn't quite so nice about it!

 

[The Wormhole]

2. Why the wormhole randomly opens during the DS9 intro?

It doesn't randomly open, in the first three seasons a runabout is flying towards it, though admittedly the trajectory of the runabout is a bit off. In seasons 4-7 the Defiant is clearly flying into it. In fact, that shot even got reused in actual episodes which showed the Defiant leaving the station and entering the wormhole, Broken Link for example.

 

[2takesfrakes]

I dunno, the whole Anij thing kinda reminds me of The Traveler, in that they're trying to teach humans how to do something beyond the physical realm they're familiar with. I think Q was doing some of the same (especially in AGT), but he wasn't quite so nice about it!

I think that it's supposed to be an exercise in extreme focus and concentration. To the point that you can perceive your surroundings at a much faster rate. Resulting in the slo-mo effect. Which Picard later gets Anij to use to slow down her heart rate and control her metabolism so she won't die.

But yeah. Every time I watch that scene I say B.S.
It's almost as bad as Data turning into a round flotation device....I mean REALLY?

I thank you both for the input into this intriguing mystery. Themes on perception have always been a part of STAR TREK - indeed, since its founding, with "The Cage." Picard's own perception on matters even changed during TNG's run. In the beginning, the very beginning, actually, Picard was shown to be suitably impressed with the wonders of the universe - even with the marvels of technology. But then, as the character personalities were slowly arrived at, Picard became more Vulcan-like and rational. By the time we catch up with him, again in INSURRECTION, he seems to have rediscovered his fascination with life. And if Anij and her pointless magical powers had something to do with that, then ... so much the better and I'm all for it.