^ I think it wasn't anticipated that the soliton wave energy and speed would increase (according to the episode, by a factor of 200 before it reached Lemma II). That may have been beyond the capacity of the station on Lemma II to dissipate by the time it came into range. (in fact they say that at that energy level it could take most of the planet with it, which would mean it was extremely powerful to begin with).
Episodes where the entire plot fundamentally doesn't work
- Thread starter TommyR01D
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Repression is particularly bad.
The basis of the plot is that a Maquis reject had, prior to 2371, implanted some level of mind control on Tuvok, which in 2377 he could activate via a subliminal message hidden within a communication to the ship. This causes Tuvok to go around mind-melding with the other ex-Maquis crewmembers brainwashing them into taking over the ship.
The plan is extremely far-fetched - Tuvok has melded with other crewmembers, and had his brain examined, quite a few times by this point in the series. How was he never detected? It's also utterly pointless.
The original reason for the existence of the Maquis was dissatisfaction by Federation colonists over the terms of their treaty with the Cardassians. This is moot by 2377, as the treaty was broken by the Dominion War, which eventually resulted in the fall of the Cardassian Union as a political entity (along with the crushing of the population) as well as the total eradication of the Maquis in the Alpha Quadrant.
Even if this story had happened several years earlier while the Maquis-Cardassian conflict was still important, there's the problem of Voyager being decades away from having any effect on it.
The basis of the plot is that a Maquis reject had, prior to 2371, implanted some level of mind control on Tuvok, which in 2377 he could activate via a subliminal message hidden within a communication to the ship. This causes Tuvok to go around mind-melding with the other ex-Maquis crewmembers brainwashing them into taking over the ship.
The plan is extremely far-fetched - Tuvok has melded with other crewmembers, and had his brain examined, quite a few times by this point in the series. How was he never detected? It's also utterly pointless.
The original reason for the existence of the Maquis was dissatisfaction by Federation colonists over the terms of their treaty with the Cardassians. This is moot by 2377, as the treaty was broken by the Dominion War, which eventually resulted in the fall of the Cardassian Union as a political entity (along with the crushing of the population) as well as the total eradication of the Maquis in the Alpha Quadrant.
Even if this story had happened several years earlier while the Maquis-Cardassian conflict was still important, there's the problem of Voyager being decades away from having any effect on it.
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I would have loved it if her memory had reverted back to when that hair was from. Then that transporter trick would have only been useful in extreme circumstances due to the side effects
Now I'm imagining a whodunit where potential witnesses of the crime aren't murdered but simply beamed out and reconstituted to a date prior to when they witnessed said crime.
Explain himself? No. Listen to reason? Yes. Consider:
RIKER: I was actually going to talk to you about delta shift a little later, sir. Right now, gamma shift will be on duty when we arrive and I will tell Lieutenant McDowell about the probe.
JELLICO: Is there a problem with delta shift, Will?
RIKER: There is no delta shift yet, sir. I have spoken to the department heads about changing from three shifts to four, and they assure me it's going to cause us significant personnel problems.
JELLICO: So you have not changed the watch rotation.
RIKER: I was going to explain this to you after the ceremony, sir.
JELLICO: You will tell the department heads that as of now the Enterprise is on a four shift rotation. I don't want to talk about it. Get it done. Now that means delta shift will be due to come on duty in two hours. I expect you to have it fully manned and ready when it does. Is that clear?
Riker told Jellico that the department heads had told him that creating a fourth watch from scratch would cause significant personnel problems. Which Jellico not only ignored, but expected Riker to make mysteriously vanish in two hours. That's an unreasonable demand.
Creating significant personnel problems is not getting a ship ready. It's doing the opposite.
Most of Jellico's changes were totally reasonable: power up the phasers, run battle drills, get Troi (a bridge officer) to dress the part. The four-shift rotation was not.
He's off duty. He can wear what he wants.
This may get into the argument of whether Starfleet is a military or not, but when given an order by your superior officer you need to move towards fulfilling that order, and bring your concerns to the captain while still planning to do as asked.
If Riker believed there was a problem with moving to a 4-shift rotation, he should have immediately went to Jellico about those concerns right after he had the discussions with the department heads, instead of waiting to be questioned about it at a reception 2-hours before Jellico expected it to be in effect. But Riker basically decided not to follow a direct order he and the department heads disagreed with, waited on it, and then had to rush to get it done when Jellico insisted on doing it his way.
Yeah, I don't really get it why Riker didn't immediately go to Jellico to express the concerns he and the department heads had with Jellico's decision.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again, the only good decision Jellico made was to get Troi to wear her uniform when she was on the bridge. When she was seeing patients as a counselor, she had more leeway, and for some patients, a civilian dress probably worked better. She still wore her jumpsuits after hours, as she was perfectly free to do. Everything else Jellico did only served to antagonize the crew. Granted, commanding officers have to be able to deal with making necessary decisions, even when they're ordering people to their deaths. A captain doesn't have to explain their decisions, certainly not in emergencies. But Starfleet officers are very intelligent as a rule, and a captain who can get their subordinates to buy into their decisions will be a more effective leader than someone who pulls rank all the time. The shift change was an unnecesary decision that Jellico made just to show the crew that he was the boss.
Jellico was probably too busy hiding in his quarters reading his kids letters or redecorating his office to listen to his crew.
Riker's actions were at worst a failure to report a potential problem in a timely manner. Jellico's actions, by comparison, put the entire ship at risk. He was effectively creating chaos when the ship was (by his own admission) preparing to go into combat. What if it had had to actually fight when Delta shift was on, with hundreds of people who were bumping into each other because they were unaccustomed to working together, or tripping over their own feet due to fatigue because they hadn't adjusted to their new schedule? Yes, the situation was resolved by the actions of a few ship's personnel, but what if it hadn't been?
If Jellico absolutely HAD to have his precious four-shift rotation, he should have made the changes during a period of routine operations.
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What Riker should have done:
GEORDI: "Creating a fourth shift is going to cause personnel problems."
RIKER: "I understand your concerns LT, the ship is used to 3 but we're going into a special situation. We need to have enough trained crew ready to take over in case of a fight, and we need to have enough qualified engineering staff to be on watch and standby.
Make it happen and let me know if you need me to smooth out any issues that pop up. That's an order."
THEN to Jellico: "DH are having trouble putting together a new watch shift on the fly. We're working out all the kinks now but it could take a little more time."
The episode delighted in creating unnecessary drama so that the audience would hate Jellico.
GEORDI: "Creating a fourth shift is going to cause personnel problems."
RIKER: "I understand your concerns LT, the ship is used to 3 but we're going into a special situation. We need to have enough trained crew ready to take over in case of a fight, and we need to have enough qualified engineering staff to be on watch and standby.
Make it happen and let me know if you need me to smooth out any issues that pop up. That's an order."
THEN to Jellico: "DH are having trouble putting together a new watch shift on the fly. We're working out all the kinks now but it could take a little more time."
The episode delighted in creating unnecessary drama so that the audience would hate Jellico.
Pretty much the whole point of the episode was to make the audience hate Jellico, besides ensuring that Picard was off the ship long enough to be caught and tortured by the Cardassians. That said, I think that the episode would've worked just as well if they'd simply assigned Riker temporary command of the ship. That way, they could've focused more time on Picard, and the whole story could've been compressed into one episode. I like the story well enough, but I don't think it's worthy of a two-parter.
Then the whole four-shift mess was necessary, because beyond that one issue, the guy got a lot of stuff right. First and foremost, Troi went from Ship's Unofficial Bimbo to a professional looking officer. Also, Data got the job he should have had two years before, complete with snazzy red uniform. And there's rather minor fact that the Cardassians went scurrying out of Minos Corva red-faced and empty-handed, and even had to return Picard.
Agreed. The only other quibble I have with his decisions was transferring 1/3 of the engineering staff to security.
In a space battle, what do you need more of? Security officers or engineers to help with damage control during a battle and repair the ship afterward?
I know what I'd prioritize.
In a space battle, what do you need more of? Security officers or engineers to help with damage control during a battle and repair the ship afterward?
I know what I'd prioritize.
Yeah, that was totally dumb.
It isn’t like there would be a lot of cross-training between those jobs, either.
Well, this is the flagship Enterprise, these people are the best of the best! Either they pick it up in seconds/minutes, or they have been cross training all along just because they were that capable
In all honesty, the easiest way to deal with it, instead of moving to "four" shifts, just shrink the time between shifts. Let's say Gamma schedule is 8/8/8, so just make it 6/6/6 +6/6/6 and have alpha come again for the "fourth" rotation
Haven. As much as I have a fondness for the episode. It just doesn't work. There's just way too many coincidences and "because we need a plot to happen" elements in it.
1) What is even the purpose of Genetic Bonding in Betazoid society? If it's goal is to create powerful telepaths then genetically bonding a half-Betazoid, who already has diminished esper powers to a full human seems counter-productive.
2)Why are Wyatt's parents so adamant on honouring a Betazed tradition when nobody else is? And if they are so adamant about honouring it, why are they opposed to a Betazoid Wedding Ceremony then? Do they love Betazoid traditions or not? Make your minds up! (if Wyatts apparent latent psy powers were the reason, then that should have been mentioned, instead, everybody except Wyatt and Ariana seem oblivious to him even having those powers)
3) Why does everybody, including the plague ship show up at Haven by pure coincidence?
4)Why doesn't this episode take place at Betazed instead? Literally all they would have needed to do was changing the name of the planet in the script and it would instantly make more sense.
5) The conflict is resolved in a very anti-climactic fashion with no input or action by Deanna. Really, in an episode supposedly centred around her, Troi ends up being the most passive of all the characters.
It just doesn't work.
1) What is even the purpose of Genetic Bonding in Betazoid society? If it's goal is to create powerful telepaths then genetically bonding a half-Betazoid, who already has diminished esper powers to a full human seems counter-productive.
2)Why are Wyatt's parents so adamant on honouring a Betazed tradition when nobody else is? And if they are so adamant about honouring it, why are they opposed to a Betazoid Wedding Ceremony then? Do they love Betazoid traditions or not? Make your minds up! (if Wyatts apparent latent psy powers were the reason, then that should have been mentioned, instead, everybody except Wyatt and Ariana seem oblivious to him even having those powers)
3) Why does everybody, including the plague ship show up at Haven by pure coincidence?
4)Why doesn't this episode take place at Betazed instead? Literally all they would have needed to do was changing the name of the planet in the script and it would instantly make more sense.
5) The conflict is resolved in a very anti-climactic fashion with no input or action by Deanna. Really, in an episode supposedly centred around her, Troi ends up being the most passive of all the characters.
It just doesn't work.
The part about Wyatt's parents honoring the Betazoid betrothel is likely because they were apparently dear friends of Deanna's dad. Now, I know he was human, but maybe he really preferred Betazed traditions, and the Millers, as a way to honor their departed friend, kept the bonding.
The rest of your points, though... agreed, fully.
The rest of your points, though... agreed, fully.
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