Episodes where the entire plot fundamentally doesn't work

[Oddish]

Any AI that can decompile and reprogram itself would be scary... They'd need Janeway or Kirk or whoever leads the division to approve the changes.

I'm not saying the EMH should be able to self-reprogram, just that someone expert in holographic engineering (Tom or B'Elanna, most likely) should make the change. When the Doctor's triage subroutines reach their limit (as they did with Harry and the other ensign), he can make a subjective decision. That's what he did when he chose Harry, after all.

 

[Tenacity]

And how could Kirk have been fooled by the fake Enterprise for even a moment?

I like the idea that Kirk was basically on a holodeck, and not that a exact copy of the Enterprise was build on the planet.

 

[1001001]

They can invent a holodeck, but not birth control?

 

[Forbin]

They can invent a holodeck, but not birth control?

Ah, but they stated in the episode that they consider birth control immoral.

But if all they wanted was Kirk's infected blood, the simplest way was to "accidentally" cut him during a normal diplomatic visit to the planet. Oh dear, come along to the first aid station. Here, let me have that bloody bandage. There you go, off you go. Then fill out the hour with a curious Kirk realizing that was contrived, and trying to figure out what it was all about, culminating in the revellation of the panet's clever ploy to alleve their problem.

 

[1001001]

Ah, but they stated in the episode that they consider birth control immoral.

So it's better to kill millions of adults than to practice birth control?

The plot doesn't make sense (to me).

YMMV

 

[Forbin]

Conscience of the King, much as I love its Shakespearean melodrama, has the rather huge plot hole of no one being alive who can identify the governor of the colony. Okay, he killed half the population, but he left the other half alive - so there should be 4,000 people out there who know perfectly well what their governor looked like. And I guess the writer can be excused for the "body burned beyond recognition" bit in 1966, but we know better now. Heck, even in pre-DNA times, dental records could be used to ID burned bodies.
A second plot problem, IMHO, is that if Kodos wanted to fade into history, pretend to be dead, and hide from his crime, why in the living tarnation would he become an actor and put himself on display where he could very possibly be recognised???

 

[Forbin]

So it's better to kill millions of adults than to practice birth control?

The plot doesn't make sense (to me).

YMMV

Oh, I completely agree.

 

[Qonundrum]

I like the idea that Kirk was basically on a holodeck, and not that a exact copy of the Enterprise was build on the planet.

Quite a story whose ideas are there but execution was beyond horrendous...

Except they Gideon leader said that the whole planet was loaded with people, even the background behind the council chamber. The story was unintentionally self-lampooning itself with its extremes on what led to their eschewing birth control (tissue regeneration, though nobody invented a condom? I'll pretend they're humanoid and they have outies and innies and nothing more science-fictioney), immortality and everything else (even the Baku planet issue was handled slightly better)... all while avoiding the issues of not eating and what happens hours later, unless they're all in misery because their bodies don't die despite that (but the episode, at best, hints at that so loosely via parallel... too little exposition can also be a problem, though too much is going to be worse...) Never mind that they need Kirk's blood because his contains a virus and that leads to any number of jokes that tie into the episode's unintentional lampoon as (a) Kirk was said to boink a lot, and (b) Odona will be boinking a lot too to help spread it so she can be culpable for the murder of millions (though all that immortality and tissue talk suggests they won't die after all), though the episode almost tries to be coy by mentioning "blood" as Kirk got a paper cut...


Some of that reminds of another story:

TNG - "Timescape": Selective time acceleration for fingernails is one thing, but the lopsided nature of elapsed time regarding calorie burn for the new growth of just that section doesn't seem pleasant, and the fingernail length represented weeks... using solely the decayed fruit was sufficient to tell the repercussions of exposure to the accelerated bubbles as it's a given no living being would have a chance. (and this story is another example of using 'Wink of an Eye' as an influence but dealt with in such a way it feels utterly original... there are only so many tropes, but how they're innovated on can be more effective...)

 

[Tenacity]

So it's better to kill millions of adults than to practice birth control?

Maybe the government wanted a faster solution than would be provided through contraception? It would take decades to reduce their population only employing that method. The sickness could drop their population in a matter of months or years.

Maybe they were just that desperate.

 

[1001001]

Maybe the government wanted a faster solution than would be provided through contraception? It would take decades to reduce their population only employing that method. The sickness could drop their population in a matter of months or years.

Maybe they were just that desperate.

Sure, in the “present”.

But they must have seen this coming for generations….

 

[CorporalCaptain]

So it's better to kill millions of adults than to practice birth control?

The plot doesn't make sense (to me).

YMMV

But it's the logical conclusion of how some would have it in the real world.

 

[Oddish]

Better to resolve the issue before it begins.

There are two ways to limit population. One involves the judicious use of safe, freely available birth control. You see the other in those pictures of starving children in Africa.

 

[TommyR01D]

Just beam half of them into space.

 

[Qonundrum]

Just beam half of them into space.

But Captain Thanos still needs to get the order from above.

 

[Dukhat]

I like the idea that Kirk was basically on a holodeck, and not that a exact copy of the Enterprise was build on the planet.

But that’s not what the episode implied. The Gideonites built an exact replica of the ship. One wonders if it could even be powered if they had dilithium crystals.

 

[Greg Cox]

Sure, in the “present”.

But they must have seen this coming for generations….

Since when are humanoids and their governments always rational about such things? They had a deep-rooted cultural taboo against birth control which trumped practical, long-term planning. Throw in denial, politics, short-term benefits versus long-term consequences, and you have a very familiar story.

It would be lovely if all looming, inevitable disasters could be sensibly headed off before the worst occurs, but human history teaches us that's seldom the case.

Just to cite one example: remember the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire back in 1911? It's not as though nobody saw a disaster like that coming or that were no warning signs in advance, but it wasn't until the factory went up in flames and nearly 150 workers died horribly that the public finally demanded common-sense workplace safety regulations . . . and the government finally took action.

And dare I mention climate change? Or, more nerdily, the planet Krypton?

 

[1001001]

Since when are humanoids and their governments always rational about such things? They had a deep-rooted cultural taboo against birth control which trumped practical, long-term planning. Throw in denial, politics, short-term benefits versus long-term consequences, and you have a very familiar story.

It would be lovely if all looming, inevitable disasters could be sensibly headed off before the worst occurs, but human history teaches us that's seldom the case.

Just to cite one example: remember the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire back in 1911? It's not as though nobody saw a disaster like that coming or that were no warning signs in advance, but it wasn't until the factory went up in flames and nearly 150 workers died horribly that the public finally demanded common-sense workplace safety regulations . . . and the government finally took action.

And dare I mention climate change? Or, more nerdily, the planet Krypton?

And none of that makes sense, either.

 

[Greg Cox]

And none of that makes sense, either.

But is dramatically plausible, for better or for worse. If people (and societies) behaved sensibly at all times, pretty much most of fiction and real-life history disappears!

 

[Henoch]

I'm getting the feeling that Kirk's Vegan choriomeningitis infection was a rare form of venereal disease transferral via sex. Space Syphilis.

HODIN: But we do. She has Vegan choriomeningitis.
KIRK: It's very rare, and always fatal if not treated within twenty four hours. I know, it almost killed me.

Two affects:
1. People start dying within twenty four hours after having sex.
2. People stop having sex (and the resulting babies) for fear of getting the disease.
Both will decrease the population. Once the population is back down to a manageable level, then they introduce the cure.

 

[matthunter]

The whole point with the Jetal/Kim decision was that there could be NO distinction (chance of survival, severity of wound, importance to the crew) between them. If there WAS, the episode doesn't happen as the Doctor can justify it logically.

The problem with "reprogram the Doctor so he can make subjective decisions without breaking down" thing is that it defeats his character development. HUMAN Doctors have breakdowns over second-guessing their own decisions. Watch M*A*S*H if you don't believe me.

The issue was that the crew chose to RESET the Doctor and alter the records - Jetal's "unpersoning" was THEIR decision. They might have justified it by saying they'd remember her and set the record straight eventually.

The correct decision - and the point of the episode - was that a PERSON (which is what we are meant to be witnessing the formation of in the Doctor) has to be helped to process trauma, not have it wiped because it's inconvenient.

The IRL equivalent would be the push to pump folk full of anti-depressants or anti-psychotics and expect that to fix anything without the much more difficult and time-consuming process of therapy.