Episodes where the entire plot fundamentally doesn't work

[JonnyQuest037]

The second time will succeed if we leave no clues." As far as the crew is aware at the end of the episode, they were unconscious for 30 seconds after passing through a wormhole that just happened to throw them a few days forward in time and across the system they were investigating, they count their blessings, and carry on their merry way none the wiser.

There is absolutely nothing at the end of the episode about the Enterprise being thrown a few days forward in time. Read the transcript if you don't believe me. So you're either misremembering or you're adding in your own headcanon.

My point was that after they made the initial mistake of saying that they were out for only 30 seconds, they then made the exact same mistake at the end of the episode and said that they were only unconscious for 30 seconds when they still had more than a day unaccounted for. Here are the two relevant passages from the episode:

DATA: Careful, Captain. The stun effect from the wormhole was relatively severe.
PICARD: Apparently so. How long were we unconscious?
DATA: Approximately thirty seconds. I have scanned the entire ship and detected no life-threatening injuries among the crew.
PICARD: You were not affected?
DATA: No, sir. My positronic system is immune to the effect. This is the third unstable wormhole I have passed through during my time with Starfleet. The first was aboard the USS Trieste
PICARD: Thank you, Mister Data. Well, where the hell are we?
RIKER: Point five four parsecs from our original position. Almost a day's travel in just thirty seconds?
DATA: Sir, I should re-align the ship's clock with Starbase four ten's subspace signal to adjust for the time distortion.
PICARD: Proceed.

PICARD: What happened, Data?
DATA: The effect from the wormhole was rather intense.
PICARD: So it would seem.
DATA: Everyone but myself was rendered unconscious. My positronic system is immune to the effect.
PICARD: How long were we out?
DATA: Thirty seconds, Sir.
RIKER: Current position?
MCKNIGHT: Point five four parsecs from our previous position. Bearing two eight five mark one four seven.

The distance quoted is exactly the same. So both times they were almost a day's travel away after only 30 seconds. (And, since this is their second time around doing this, the crew has lost at least two days' worth of time now.) Yet somehow they're not suspicious about it this time around. And again, they'd discover that the ship's clocks were off as soon as they had contact with anyone else in Starfleet, which starts the entire cycle over again. The ending just doesn't work.

The hell of it is that after the second time they wake up, they'll have all these clues that they were out for a week or something.

Thank you! I'm glad someone gets what I'm saying.

 

[Takeru]

The distance quoted is exactly the same. So both times they were almost a day's travel away after only 30 seconds. (And, since this is their second time around doing this, the crew has lost at least two days' worth of time now.) Yet somehow they're not suspicious about it this time around. And again, they'd discover that the ship's clocks were off as soon as they had contact with anyone else in Starfleet, which starts the entire cycle over again. The ending just doesn't work.

The clock being off didn't bother the crew the first time around, Data called it a time distortion and Picard accepted that without further questions which makes sense considering wormholes link two places in spacetime, it was all the other stuff that made them suspicious and that stuff was fixed when they did the second attempt.

 

[Oddish]

Given that Picard and Data knew exactly what the "clues" were, they and the rest of the crew would have taken the necessary steps to cover them up.

 

[at Quark's]

Given that Picard and Data knew exactly what the "clues" were, they and the rest of the crew would have taken the necessary steps to cover them up.

The clues they stumbled over and were aware of. It doesn't preclude the possibility they would find different clues the second time after that first set was covered up.

 

[Smiley]

Re: "Tomorrow is Yesterday"

There was a Department of Temporal Investigations novel that addressed the ending of the episode. It might have something to do with entropy, inertia, and/or quantum entanglement. It definitely made sense when I read it, and I recommend the series for those who like time travel in their Trek.

 

[Vale]

There is absolutely nothing at the end of the episode about the Enterprise being thrown a few days forward in time. Read the transcript if you don't believe me. So you're either misremembering or you're adding in your own headcanon.

I'm not misremembering anything, and I've been quoting from the transcript. I know it's not actually in the episode, but it's a perfectly reasonable explanation that could have been suggested given that the entire cover story is a freak encounter with an unstable wormhole. I don't understand why you don't think it's remotely plausible given both everything we know about wormholes in Star Trek and everything else they talk about in the episode. Or do you literally need to be spoonfed everything or else you consider it a plot hole?

Thank you! I'm glad someone gets what I'm saying.

But... Picard literally says "we know what to look for this time so we'll do better next time and remove all the clues". So why do you have such difficulty believing that this time that's what happened?

 

[JonnyQuest037]

I know it's not actually in the episode,

So in other words, it's just your headcanon.

 

[Gepard]

The clues they stumbled over and were aware of. It doesn't preclude the possibility they would find different clues the second time after that first set was covered up.

There's the seed of a pretty funny story in that, told from the perspective of the Paxans, about this annoying ship that keeps showing up over and over and over and over...

 

[Oddish]

There's the seed of a pretty funny story in that, told from the perspective of the Paxans, about this annoying ship that keeps showing up over and over and over and over...

And finally, it occurs to them that if the rest of the Federation is as hapless as these guys are, they're probably not a threat after all. It ends with the opening of diplomatic relations between the two.

 

[Tiberius]

But... Picard literally says "we know what to look for this time so we'll do better next time and remove all the clues". So why do you have such difficulty believing that this time that's what happened?

The clue was that the first time Data said that they had been unconscious for 30 seconds, and then they found things like Worf's healed injury which showed otherwise. That evidence would still be there (if Crusher could remove all evidence, why didn't she do it the first time?), so they're going to find it again. The only way would be if Data said they were out for a week (or however long it had been since they first encountered the Paxans) but he doesn't.

 

[Oddish]

Regarding Worf's injury, Crusher probably just healed it the first time, never mind erasing all traces of it. Worf's not the galaxy's most cooperative patient, after all. The second, Picard would have insisted that he stay in Sickbay until Crusher had erased all traces of the injury, and eliminated all pain.

 

[Orphalesion]

I would say "the Outrageous Okona"
...but does that one even have a plot?
Though I all seriousness if your plot concept involves some sort of "space rogue" be sure to at least give him/her some roguish elements.

 

[Tiberius]

Regarding Worf's injury, Crusher probably just healed it the first time, never mind erasing all traces of it. Worf's not the galaxy's most cooperative patient, after all. The second, Picard would have insisted that he stay in Sickbay until Crusher had erased all traces of the injury, and eliminated all pain.

Let's say that Crusher could do that and ignore the question of why she didn't do it the first time. What about the other things? Crusher's moss experiment? How are they going to fix that?

 

[Takeru]

The clues they stumbled over and were aware of. It doesn't preclude the possibility they would find different clues the second time after that first set was covered up.

Right but apparently they were very thorough and there were no other clues, at least not ones big enough to be noticed.

Let's say that Crusher could do that and ignore the question of why she didn't do it the first time. What about the other things? Crusher's moss experiment? How are they going to fix that?

Put the moss in a stasis chamber, have Data take it out before he wakes the crew up.

 

[at Quark's]

Put the moss in a stasis chamber, have Data take it out before he wakes the crew up.

Funny thing is that the Paxans already placed everyone aboard in a stasis field.

DATA: They are xenophobes, sir. Isolationists. The Paxans terraformed a protoplanet in this system in order to better conceal their whereabouts. The apparent wormhole we experienced is actually a trap designed to keep out invaders. The energy field stuns everyone on board the invading vessel and places them in a state of biochemical stasis.
LAFORGE: That explains why our beards didn't grow.

Since the Paxan's won't know what kind of species to expect, that stasis (field) should work on most lifeforms. Just apparently not on that pesky Diomedian scarlet moss ...

 

[Silvercrest]

There's the seed of a pretty funny story in that, told from the perspective of the Paxans, about this annoying ship that keeps showing up over and over and over and over...

My "joke" ending to that episode has Picard arguing with the Paxans about this being a dry run and needing to get it right this time — and the reply is "That's what you said the last three times. Destroy them!" BA-BOOM End of show.

 

[Paul Weaver]

That's what you said the last three times. Destroy them!

Best of seven?

Damn right!

 

[Silvercrest]

I couldn't recognize the image for a bit + was wondering what it had to do with the topic + was trying to figure out why Luther Sloan looked so cadaverous (and when he appeared on TNG).

Then it hit me.

 

[MAGolding]

I couldn't recognize the image for a bit + was wondering what it had to do with the topic + was trying to figure out why Luther Sloan looked so cadaverous (and when he appeared on TNG).

Then it hit me.

??????????

 

[Silvercrest]

??????????

It's a picture of Death from "Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey", repeatedly losing at board games and moving the bar every time.

• "Best two out of three?" (which is presumably the connection to my post)
• "Best of five?"
• "Best of seven?"

It doesn't help him.

The kicker is that he's played by Sloan's actor William Sadler, which connects him with Trek if not with TNG.