Thank you for recalling that, 1001001! Interesting point you have about the spacesuit, too.
Logical inconsistencies within Star Trek episodes
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Thank you for recalling that, 1001001! Interesting point you have about the spacesuit, too.
TOS: "Mirror, Mirror" Why did each set of Kirk, Uhura, McCoy, and Scotty end up with their counterparts' clothing?
TNG: "A Matter of Honor" So every KDF officer in the TNG era has to learn English in school to deal with the Federation and 24th century Starfleet combadges can't translate Klingon?
DS9: "The Jem'Hadar" Jadzia Dax defiantly tells Talak'talan that they can't stop Starfleet from exploring the Gamma Quadrant. What's wrong with not violating Dominion space?
VOY: "Future's End" Why did the Temporal Integrity Commission deploy a temporal shuttle to destroy Voyager and not something like a temporal destroyer? If the Aeon couldn't destroy Voyager within 5 seconds, then I think that is predictable enough to call for heavier armaments.
ENT: "Harbinger" The alien is clearly in pain. Why won't Captain Archer just return him to the anomaly so that he doesn't have to suffer?
TNG: "A Matter of Honor" So every KDF officer in the TNG era has to learn English in school to deal with the Federation and 24th century Starfleet combadges can't translate Klingon?
DS9: "The Jem'Hadar" Jadzia Dax defiantly tells Talak'talan that they can't stop Starfleet from exploring the Gamma Quadrant. What's wrong with not violating Dominion space?
VOY: "Future's End" Why did the Temporal Integrity Commission deploy a temporal shuttle to destroy Voyager and not something like a temporal destroyer? If the Aeon couldn't destroy Voyager within 5 seconds, then I think that is predictable enough to call for heavier armaments.
ENT: "Harbinger" The alien is clearly in pain. Why won't Captain Archer just return him to the anomaly so that he doesn't have to suffer?
Bodily functions like heartbeat, breathing, digestion, and the sleeping-waking cycle don't require knowledge, learning or consciousness. In fact, they don't involve the higher brain centers at all.
Still, Nomad could have been just a tad imprecise in its choice of words. Good thing it didn't perform a "Secure Empty Trash" on Uhura!
Because Uhura looked so damn hot in that abbreviated uniform!
I think this example is a good one to call out, but should be called out in a different way - rather than the future needing a more powerful ship, I think it's completely illogical for Voyager to defeat the Aeon in the first place. The Aeon is six-hundred years more advanced, and really it should've been like an Apache attack helicopter vs. the Black Pearl. Any amount of technobabble that Voyager could muster should have been treated like musket shot or out-of-range cannon, really. And it's capable of maneuvering in a dimension that Voyager can't, just like an Apache vs. the pirate ship.
Speaking of which, another logical inconsistency: Braxton saying there's no time to explain, and proceeds to fire. He's in a time machine -- he has all the time in the world! Even Marty McFly planned ahead with the DeLorean (but then it ran out of gas, thus defeating the purpose).
I, Mudd
SPOCK: We are, and we must direct our attack to the heart of the matter. Obviously this many androids cannot operate independently. There must be a central control system which guides the entire android population.
...
SPOCK: This would seem to be a simple relay center. Are all of you controlled through this device?
...
SPOCK: Captain, I've just had a most fascinating meeting with Norman, and I'm convinced I've discovered a very important inconsistency.
...
SPOCK: Yet the device that Norman claims to be their central control is totally inadequate to the task of directing more than two hundred thousand of them.
and then:
SPOCK: There are a large number of Alices and Trudies, Maisies, Annabels, and according to my research, a Herman series, an Oscar series, a whole plethora of series in fact. But only one Norman.
KIRK: Norman. When I told one of the Alices that the Enterprise was a lovely lady and we loved her, she said, Norman, co-ordinate. Why Norman? Unless
SPOCK: To function as they do, each android mind must be one component of a mass brain linked through a central locus.
KIRK: Named Norman. Forming one gigantic, highly intelligent mind. And the glowing badges, they indicate the mind in operation.
SPOCK: That would seem logical.
KIRK: Yes, logical. That's what it is. And that in turn gives us a weapon that we can use against them. We must use wild, insane, irrational illogic aimed right at Norman!
Mr. Spock, Mr. Spock, Mr. Spock [Oscar, Oscar, Oscar]...:shaking head::
If that console was too small/inadequate, how is Norman large enough to be adequate?
And shame on you too, Captain. A dazzling display of illogic, to borrow and alter a phrase.
SPOCK: We are, and we must direct our attack to the heart of the matter. Obviously this many androids cannot operate independently. There must be a central control system which guides the entire android population.
...
SPOCK: This would seem to be a simple relay center. Are all of you controlled through this device?
...
SPOCK: Captain, I've just had a most fascinating meeting with Norman, and I'm convinced I've discovered a very important inconsistency.
...
SPOCK: Yet the device that Norman claims to be their central control is totally inadequate to the task of directing more than two hundred thousand of them.
and then:
SPOCK: There are a large number of Alices and Trudies, Maisies, Annabels, and according to my research, a Herman series, an Oscar series, a whole plethora of series in fact. But only one Norman.
KIRK: Norman. When I told one of the Alices that the Enterprise was a lovely lady and we loved her, she said, Norman, co-ordinate. Why Norman? Unless
SPOCK: To function as they do, each android mind must be one component of a mass brain linked through a central locus.
KIRK: Named Norman. Forming one gigantic, highly intelligent mind. And the glowing badges, they indicate the mind in operation.
SPOCK: That would seem logical.
KIRK: Yes, logical. That's what it is. And that in turn gives us a weapon that we can use against them. We must use wild, insane, irrational illogic aimed right at Norman!
Mr. Spock, Mr. Spock, Mr. Spock [Oscar, Oscar, Oscar]...:shaking head::
If that console was too small/inadequate, how is Norman large enough to be adequate?
And shame on you too, Captain. A dazzling display of illogic, to borrow and alter a phrase.
In a "staged" scenario where theoretically anything is possible Spock feels "history cannot be changed", but as the icon of logic yet feels it can be done with real history?!?
As a matter of fact, events both in "City on the Edge of Forever" and "Assignment: Earth" played out exactly as they should according to Novikov's self-consistency principle.
Of course, for the audience they needed to suggest differently to keep it interesting.
Bob
Kirk, Soran and the others who entered the Nexis were all wearing regular clothing and none a spacesuit. Possibly just as with a spacecraft, a spacesuit being a piece of technoloy would have been destroyed.
By redirecting the nexis, Soran would have bee able to reenter it with only regular clothing.
Spock never said anything about the size of the central control. Spock was (apparently) speaking to Norman's complexity, not his physical size.
Kirk, Soran and the others who entered the Nexis were all wearing regular clothing and none a spacesuit. Possibly just as with a spacecraft, a spacesuit being a piece of technoloy would have been destroyed.
By redirecting the nexis, Soran would have bee able to reenter it with only regular clothing.
Spock never said anything about the size of the central control. Spock was (apparently) speaking to Norman's complexity, not his physical size.
How does he know that the console isn't complex enough, then, if he isn't basing his judgment on physical capacity alone (which does have importance)? He didn't do more than look at it.
Cue a slightly updated, but still cheesy matte painting of the neverending cavern of a Fed repository where the Ark of the Covenant is stowed?
Notwithstanding, among other things, the laughably ridiculously short travel time between Earth and Qo'noS, how could Kirk and his team get all the way into Qo'noS's atmosphere without being detected? This is the capital planet of the Klingon Empire! Where are the orbital defenses? Where are the orbital sensors? Where are the home system's assigned battle cruisers?
The plausibility of educated, sophisticated, though regimented folks such as those that people TOS era starships would willingly eat and sustain themselves on pastel colored cube shaped food blobs as one saw on episodes such as Any Other Name!! I know, I know we did see other comestibles, like the chicken soup the random Air Force sergeant was given by Kyle. But still, how long is the crew expected to tolerate food whose form looks like it belongs on a vintage Nickelodeon splat production?
Or English for that matter! I also always wondered if she remembered anything at all prior to Nomad's mind wipe? If not, would that not have essentially been a death of personality? It's hard to believe Uhura could go from grade school reader all the way through Star Fleet Academy training in one week!
I like this theory. 'tis logical
Here's another theory: Nomad interfaced with Uhura and wiped her knowledge base clean. We assume Nomad is now carrying Uhura's Knowledge base within his memory circuits. It is after this event that Spock performs a deep mind meld with Nomad. Once that link is broken, Spock says, "Fascinating, Captain. The knowledge. The depth." It is possible Spock could have also retrieved Uhura's memories in the process. When he becomes aware of what he possesses, Spock could have mind melded with Uhura and replaced her "memory banks" himself.
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It is interesting you should bring this up. I've done some thinking about this very subject lately. Here is what I've come up with. We learn in The Immunity Syndrome that all Vulcan's are somehow connected though something akin to The Force. (In fact, I got to wondering if Lucas didn't get his idea for The Force from Star Trek. Think about it, both Spock and Obi Wan Kenobi sense a "disturbance" caused by the sudden deaths of a large number of people and received through some unknown mental connection over a vast distance instantaneously.) This same interconnectedness most likely functions as a type of mental support system, helping all Vulcans maintain a logical, non-emotional state of mind. This force seems to have the ability to perform "spooky action at a distance", so no matter where Spock is, he is plugged in to this support system all the time. Now he goes back in time, atavachron prepared or not, and experiences a double whammy. Not only has he lost the reinforcing support to his logical state of mind, he is now tapping into a support system which is reinforcing his repressed passionate emotions, which are quickly drawn to the surface and unleashed. It was quite disorenting, if you recall Spock was not able to reason out a plan of action either.
Consider this exchange:
MCCOY: Are you trying to kill me, Spock? Is that what you really want? Think. What are you feeling? Rage? Jealousy? Have you ever had those feelings before?
SPOCK: This is impossible. Impossible. I am a Vulcan.
MCCOY: The Vulcan you knew won't exist for another five thousand years. Think, man. What's happening on your planet right now, this very moment?
SPOCK: My ancestors are barbarians. Warlike barbarians.
MCCOY: Who nearly killed themselves off with their own passions. Spock, you're reverting into your ancestors five thousand years before you were born!
SPOCK: I've lost myself. I do not know who I am.
^^ This is a fascinating rationalization. 
But is this something the Vulcans acquire through training or are they a species of natural born empaths?
This might explain some of their pre-Surak conflicts (some claim that if we had telepathic abilities there'd be more wars in our time) and in such a case Spock in "All Our Yesterdays" is "connected" to the savage empathy of the pre-Surak collective consciousness.
Bob
But is this something the Vulcans acquire through training or are they a species of natural born empaths?
This might explain some of their pre-Surak conflicts (some claim that if we had telepathic abilities there'd be more wars in our time
) and in such a case Spock in "All Our Yesterdays" is "connected" to the savage empathy of the pre-Surak collective consciousness.Bob
How could Janeway justify breaking the Temporal Prime Directive in "Endgame"? Yes, Admiral Janeway's chrono-deflector was burned-out so they couldn't just send her back. Yes, the Borg are the Federation's greatest enemy. But its a "prime" regulation!
I don't think that was a "logical inconsistency," rather a considered choice by Janeway to disregard one (or more) of the Temporal Directives.
All the hero Captains have disregarded orders, directives, laws when they (in the Captain's judgement) didn't apply, or didn't make sense.
All the hero Captains have disregarded orders, directives, laws when they (in the Captain's judgement) didn't apply, or didn't make sense.
Janeway would have blown up the freaking quadrant if it meant Voyager and Seven got through safely.
Remember she saved the entire Borg just to get her ship through their space.
Remember she saved the entire Borg just to get her ship through their space.
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