• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Unforgivable Trek errors by writers..

ED-209

ED-209

Commodore
Commodore
I don't mean canon mistakes or inconsistencies. But bad decisions made by the writers that still leave a bitter taste in your mouth for years to come. I'll start

The Enterprises Ds destruction at the hands of a 20 year old BoP, and that not one of the best and the brightest on the Federation flag ship thought to modulate their shields.

The complete ignoring of Datas emotion chip in Nemesis.

DSC S2 Spolier
That they didn't use that it is killing creatures in the Myceilium network as a reason to completely shut it off, so that no one could ever use it again.
Anyone get any others?
 
Last edited:
If I remember correctly, in "DataLore" there's a scene on the brigde where Picard gives his approval when the plan to kill the crystal being is explained. I don't like the idea of Picard agreeing with this, it doesn't fit in any way to his peaceful character.
 
"I do not wish to hurt commander Rikers feelings" - Really, REALLY??

That reads like some 12 year old wrote it.

"I do not wish to offend commander Riker" would surely be better?
 
Sarxus said:
If I remember correctly, in "DataLore" there's a scene on the brigde where Picard gives his approval when the plan to kill the crystal being is explained. I don't like the idea of Picard agreeing with this, it doesn't fit in any way to his peaceful character.
Click to expand...

Not quite. There is no plan to kill the creature. The plan is to force it to stop and listen, and Lore suggests scaring it by killing a tree.

That Picard nods doesn't necessarily even mean that he's okay with the killing of a tree. The rest of the scene reads as if our heroes already know it is Lore rather than Data, and are merely humoring the villain to give him enough rope to hang himself by. Picard may nod, but he also puts Worf on the android's tail, and everybody joins in shushing Wesley when the idiot kid almost gives away the fact that Lore is Lore...

But the writers could have been clearer on whether the heroes knew, saving this early gem from some critique.

Timo Saloniemi
 
DS9 not tying the Ferengi into the Dominion War. They could have been perfectly utilized as double-agents, doing business w/ the Dominion while secretly cooperating with the Feds. And it would have saved us from "Profit & Lace", "The Dogs Of War", etc...
 
Speaking of Ferengi and DS9, given how powerful the Ferengi Marauder ships were in TNG, it's interesting that they didn't appear at all in DS9. Parricularly when the Nagus appears... I would expect the leader of the Ferengi Alliance travel in a well equipped and manned starship instead of a little shuttle.
 
Timo said:
Not quite. There is no plan to kill the creature. The plan is to force it to stop and listen, and Lore suggests scaring it by killing a tree.

That Picard nods doesn't necessarily even mean that he's okay with the killing of a tree. The rest of the scene reads as if our heroes already know it is Lore rather than Data, and are merely humoring the villain to give him enough rope to hang himself by. Picard may nod, but he also puts Worf on the android's tail, and everybody joins in shushing Wesley when the idiot kid almost gives away the fact that Lore is Lore...

But the writers could have been clearer on whether the heroes knew, saving this early gem from some critique.

Timo Saloniemi
Click to expand...
I didn't mean to speak against the episode in general, I liked it. This point though annoyed me somehow, but after your explanation, I think I have to rewatch it soon, maybe I just got or remembered it wrong.
 
If memory serves me, Picard approved a plan by Lore, posing as Data, to beam an object like a tree near the Entity, then destroy the tree thus proving the Enterprise was a threat and perhaps back off.
 
How do we tell the writers' decisions apart from others (producers, directors, and in some case the actors)?
 
Although the movie has grown on me over the years, the hoary old cliche of "Spock's long-lost brother" in STV bugs me. It's hack and it prevents me from fully engaging in the story.

Janeway's line, "Of course, the whole bunch of them would be booted out of Starfleet today." about Kirk's generation of Starfleet officers in "Flashback" bugged me in 1996 and it still bugs me today. While it might've been intended as an affectionate jab, it came off as smug and condescending. I think it's the certainty of that "of course" that really irks me, as if Janeway is just taking it as a fact that her Starfleet is better than Kirk's. Even something like, "I suppose they'd likely be booted out of Starfleet today" would be better.

I also hate the early TNG habit of the crew talking about how superior they were to all those poor dumb clods in the 20th century, with talk about how "We've outgrown our infancy." It was conceited and actively insulting to everyone watching the show. You'd think that the superior humans of the 24th century would realize that modesty is virtue. Let the audience come to the conclusion that your characters are better than us, don't just say it outright.

And, as an example of something that I was initially fine with but began to bug me over time, I'm not nuts about the implication in TNG's "Relics" that Scotty constantly padded his repair estimates just so he could look good to the Captain. On TOS, he genuinely was that good.

Basically, I hate the trick of trying to build your characters up by tearing prior characters down. It's cheap and lazy.
 
Farscape One said:
Speaking of Ferengi and DS9, given how powerful the Ferengi Marauder ships were in TNG, it's interesting that they didn't appear at all in DS9. Parricularly when the Nagus appears... I would expect the leader of the Ferengi Alliance travel in a well equipped and manned starship instead of a little shuttle.
Click to expand...

Possibly the Nagus calculated it would be cheaper to use a shuttle instead of a Marauder ship.

And possibly the Marauder ships and their crews don't obey the Nagus anymore than the Cardassian military obeyed the Detapa Council.

The First Ferengi seen in TNG manning Marauder ships seemed a lot more violent and less cowardly than the funny Ferengi civilians who were under the authority of the Grand Nagus in DS9. So possibly the Marauder ship crews are part of a different subculture than the civilian Ferenghi, and possibly also a different government or government department.
 
I also find it annoying when they're trying to write themselves out of a one-episode corner, and do it by introducing an incredible magical fix that can obviously never be mentioned again, ie Seven's abilities to raise the dead in "Mortal Coil", the transporters ability to restore dying people to their last healthy backup in "Unnatural Selection", etc.
 
Sarxus said:
I didn't mean to speak against the episode in general, I liked it. This point though annoyed me somehow, but after your explanation, I think I have to rewatch it soon, maybe I just got or remembered it wrong.
Click to expand...

Farscape One said:
If memory serves me, Picard approved a plan by Lore, posing as Data, to beam an object like a tree near the Entity, then destroy the tree thus proving the Enterprise was a threat and perhaps back off.
Click to expand...

Datalore is one of the crappiest episodes in the entire TNG run.
 
JonnyQuest037 said:
And, as an example of something that I was initially fine with but began to bug me over time, I'm not nuts about the implication in TNG's "Relics" that Scotty constantly padded his repair estimates just so he could look good to the Captain. On TOS, he genuinely was that good.
Click to expand...
To be fair to the writers of "Relics" Star Trek 3 had already blown the lid off that one:

James T. Kirk: Scotty, progress report?
Montgomery Scott: Almost done, sir! You'll be fully automated by the time we dock.
James T. Kirk: Your timing is excellent, Mr. Scott. You've fixed the barn door after the horse has come home. How much refit time before we can take her out again?
Montgomery Scott: Eight weeks, sir -- [Kirk opens his mouth] -- but ye don't have eight weeks, so I'll do it for ye in two.
James T. Kirk: Mr. Scott. Have you always multiplied your repair estimates by a factor of four?
Montgomery Scott: Certainly, sir. How else can I keep my reputation as a miracle worker?
James T. Kirk: [over the intercom] Your reputation is secure, Scotty.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top