Mistakes that pull you out of a story

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Inspired by the thread about references that pull you out of a story, this one is about mistakes, factual erors, and discontinuties with apast event (particularly a past event that is directly references, and not assumed, something more particular then say, the approximate start time of the Earth-Romulan War) that had pulled you out of a story, even for a moment, forcing you to rethink what you know was correct?

I'll start:

ST: TNG: Rogue: Claimed that Lily/ Picard argument happened in the ready room. I remember the movie... it happened in the Observation Lounge.

DS9: Stitich in Time: The best book for ST I have ever read. Though I'm not sure about the timeline of the station flashbacks, when Sisko made the offer to Garak to join him in the war.

Also, not a mistake, but there was a introductory quote from In the Pale Moonlight that was NOT in the filmed episode!

 

[HIj'Qa]

Mention of the Ferengi in books set before the first season of TNG. They were a big unknown to Picard and the flagship of the Federation. Starfleet should have kept them better informed, considering the number of times others encountered them.

Inclusion of a Yridian or two in anything set before 2370 or so.The Federation previously thought they were extinct.

The comments by Orions and Klingons in Forged in Fire about Romulans. Sure the Klingons and the Orions might have had dealings with Romulans during the time of Sulu's childhood [and ENT and Good that Men Do deals with that] but there were some casual comments that should have made young Sulu jump up and run to tell his parents.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Inspired by the thread about references that pull you out of a story

Being "pulled out of a story" implies that a book is somehow always meant to keep you so engrossed that it's bad if you start thinking of the writing process. It's not something that worries me.

I'd been looking forward to the rumoured return of Arex and M'Ress (of TAS), which ended up being in the novel "Gateways: New Frontier: Cold Wars", but Peter David and John Ordover misremembered the date of the explosion of Ceti Alpha VI. PAD had the explosion timed, not for "six months after we were left here [in "Space Seed"]" (Khan, ST II), but for about six months before the events of ST II.

Unfortunately, this meant that there was no way to count PAD's Arex and M'Ress issues of DC Comics TOS Series I, which showed Arex and M'Ress signing on to the Enterprise-A after ST IV, as part of M'Ress's backstory. PAD is using storylines he originally intended for them in the comic, so I was surprised he seemingly botched the date!

KRAD eventually corrected the date for a NF timeline (in "No Limits") and she now disappears unexpectedly from the 23rd century in 2294, long after DC TOS Series I - a nice parallel to her sudden disappearance from the DC Comics before Series II.

 

[Csalem]

Well this is more of a spelling/word mistake but Vulcan's Soul III Spock thinks Ross works for Sector 31.

 

[JoeZhang]

Ship of the line has a big one in that a central conversation (between Picard and Gul Madred) falls to pieces because the author thinks that chain of command occured before best of both worlds.

 

[Rosalind]

I can't remember which book it was, it was a speech by Picard (I think) before some ship race, he was discussing about danger and said "(ancient sailing race) from Sydney, Australia to Hobart, Tasmania" I just went Grrrrrrrrr!, Tassy is part of Australia!

I think the book came out a few years after the biggest disaster on the Sydney-Hobart race when several lives were lost, so it was nice to see it mentioned in the book. BUT, Tasmania is not a country on its own!

 

[RoJoHen]

I can't remember which book it was, it was a speech by Picard (I think) before some ship race, he was discussing about danger and said "(ancient sailing race) from Sydney, Australia to Hobart, Tasmania" I just went Grrrrrrrrr!, Tassy is part of Australia!

I think the book came out a few years after the biggest disaster on the Sydney-Hobart race when several lives were lost, so it was nice to see it mentioned in the book. BUT, Tasmania is not a country on its own!

Weird. I always assumed it was.

I learned something today!

 

[Geoff]

ST: TNG: Rogue: Claimed that Lily/ Picard argument happened in the ready room. I remember the movie... it happened in the Observation Lounge.

Erm, no... Assuming you're talking about the argument where Lily told him to blow up the damn ship, and Picard lost it and broke his little ships, that was in his ready room.

 

[Tino]

Erm, no... Assuming you're talking about the argument where Lily told him to blow up the damn ship, and Picard lost it and broke his little ships, that was in his ready room.

Erm, yes. I just checked at trekcore.com:

Observation lounge (with ships in background):
http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/firstcontact/ch3/firstcontact0060.jpg

Picard and Lily at said scene:
http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/firstcontact/ch24/firstcontact1204.jpg

 

[Christopher]

^^To be fair, assuming that Picard and Lily were in the ready room is an easy mistake to make, since this movie was the first time we'd seen either set, and it seems pretty natural to expect a private conversation between Picard and someone else to take place in his ready room. And it's not the first time I've seen a Trek novel confuse the ready room with the observation lounge, although I can't remember specifics.

 

[Una McCormack]

Also, not a mistake, but there was a introductory quote from In the Pale Moonlight that was NOT in the filmed episode!

That had me doubting reality for a moment when I saw it. (The quotation, I hasten to add, not this post!)

 

[The Laughing Vulcan]

I can't remember the exact books, but it's when guest ships change their names halfway through that I have a big WTF moment! It's happened once or twice in TOS. Hold on, I think it was in the Disinherited. Is that the one with Bob Wesley? Yeah, it might have been that one.

Still, annoying.

 

[Stevil2001]

Inclusion of a Yridian or two in anything set before 2370 or so.The Federation previously thought they were extinct.

Surely that's more the fault of that goofy line in "Equinox" than anything else.

The book with the name-switching ship is Double, Double. I forget what the ship was originally, but in the last few chapters, it transforms into the Dunkirk.

 

[Therin of Andor]

The book with the name-switching ship is Double, Double. I forget what the ship was originally, but in the last few chapters, it transforms into the Dunkirk.

Yep. It was supposed to be USS Hood throughout, but some chapters got missed.

There was a funny sequence of events that happened in "New Frontier" to do with a couch. First, Selar's cabin had no furniture, but suddenly her guests were sitting on a couch. Then it seemed like the same couch was elsewhere. A bbs thread had people suggesting that maybe the characters regularly had it beam around the ship in a typical PAD practical joke. Someone then noticed an oddly-placed couch in "Double Time".

 

[captcalhoun]

it's not just the couch. first there's no furniture, then there's a couch, THEN there's a couch AND a chair...

there's also the mysteriosly inflating population of the Nelkarite city - starts off at ~500,000 then becomes over 1 million! must be a shit-load of commuters!

 

[AdmiralGarak]

"Immortal Coil" had a conversation that started out in Picard's ready room and then suddenly jumped into Data's quarters without explanation. It was like one of those universe jumps from "Parallels".

 

[The Nth Doctor]

"Immortal Coil" had a conversation that started out in Picard's ready room and then suddenly jumped into Data's quarters without explanation. It was like one of those universe jumps from "Parallels".

I had forgotten about that! When I first read that scene, I thought I had lost my mind.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Just out of curiosity, I checked the shots that take place in the ready room

http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/firstcontact/ch3/firstcontact0088.jpg

http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/firstcontact/ch3/firstcontact0083.jpg

There isn't much to look at, but I also remember watching the film and seeing them enter a door behind the bridge, not along the side.

Of course, Rogue had many more problems than this simple mistake

 

[JD]

I understand people make mistakes but in Forged in Fire,

Spoiler: Forged in Fire

during Sulu's hearing back on Earth there are a male lieutenant and a female ensign in the room who suddenly change sexes. The ensign walks into a room blows a bosun's whistle as a female, and the Lt. walks in and sits down as a male, then when the ensign stands up it's a guy.

 

[Trent Roman]

Isn't there a crewperson on the Excelsior that does that? Cycle through male and female phases? I'm quite sure there was. Are we told this sex-changer is human?

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman