But realistically, why couldn't the Ent-D be able to track human life signs on Veridian III and have done something instead of getting blasted by a bird of prey?
Hey, even if they couldn't, they likely could have incinerated every continental mass from orbit with phasers and photon torpedoes. The planet was lifeless and as far as they knew, there was no other way to stop the launch of the trilithium device. A biosphere isn't much of a high price to pay to save a planet with sapient life.
In a similar vein, if the Nexus destroys starships, why wouldn't it plasmify atmosphere or vaporize the rock Soran and Picard were standing on? Or
them? GEN might have worked better if Soran had hijacked the Enterprise, which alone had powerful enough shields to pilot it semi-safely into the Nexus. It could've been more like TMP in that regard, equally a voyage of exploration as well as an action romp with a barely-explained sci-fi plot device.
I didn't mind Kirk's death for what it was. Seemed heroic enough. He saved lives, had fun, got stabbed with a bridge.
I'll echo the criticisms that the E-D went out like a punk, though. Lursa and B'Etor, and Geordi the Visor-Wearing Liability (Again). Sigh.
Re: TOS technobabble. I just watched TVH the other night, and am still dumbfounded at the process Spock recommends for "dilithium recrystallization." "High-energy photons," huh? You mean like the ones in your matter-antimatter reactor? Yes, it was worth it for Chekov the Russian asking for the location of the "wessels" but still.