Has a continuity error ever been corrected by, or inspired Trek Lit?

[The Laughing Vulcan]

Or indeed factual errors?

One of the most infamous factual errors for sci-fi fans is the parsecs as time period in Star Wars, but the SW lit figured out a way to make it work by using a black hole cluster to skim close to, using parsecs as a unit of distance as intended.

The original Blade Runner cut had six escaped replicants, leaving one unaccounted for at the end of the movie. That sixth replicant became a plot point in the K W Jeter spin-off novels.

There are plenty of such errors in Star Trek. Geordi quoting a temperature below absolute zero in The Royale, The Klingon home world halfway between Earth and Alpha Centauri in Broken Bow, Dmitri Valtane alive at the end of The Undiscovered Country, but dead at the end of Flashback...

Of course the fan perceived error of Trip's demise was corrected in Trek lit. Any other, more literal errors addressed by Trek Lit?

 

[Idran]

One of the most infamous factual errors for sci-fi fans is the parsecs as time period in Star Wars, but the SW lit figured out a way to make it work by using a black hole cluster to skim close to, using parsecs as a unit of distance as intended.

Off-topic, but that always disappointed me; going by Obi-Wan's reaction to that line, I always thought it was obvious that Han was spinning a line of BS, trying to impress these provincial rubes by spouting off something that was meaningless but that sounded impressive, and Obi-Wan being more experienced in such things was basically going "yeah, pull the other one" in his head.

 

[Bibliomike]

Off-topic, but that always disappointed me; going by Obi-Wan's reaction to that line, I always thought it was obvious that Han was spinning a line of BS, trying to impress these provincial rubes by spouting off something that was meaningless but that sounded impressive, and Obi-Wan being more experienced in such things was basically going "yeah, pull the other one" in his head.

I like your take on that a lot! They should've gone with that in The Force Awakens (although I like the way that movie nodded to the original line, too.)

 

[Idran]

Oh yeah, I liked that too, and I do think the black-hole solution was clever if you're taking Han at face value in that line. I just didn't think you were meant to take him at face value.

For something more on-topic, it was never explicitly stated in Treklit (unless I'm forgetting something, at least), but I liked the implied "explanation" for why you didn't see Andorians in 24th century works; the reproductive crisis and population plummet and all. It's a great example of a "fix" that isn't just a writer trying to patch something, but that provided storyhooks and threads to pick up continuing forwards.

 

[Enterprise1701]

TNG - Immortal Coil answers what happened to all the androids in TOS because TNG portrayed Data as the only android around.

TOS - Excelsior: Forged in Fire explains why the TNG Trill are so radically different than in DS9 onwards.

Various novels (especially Christopher's) give proper explanations for the Earth-like TOS planets Omega IV, 894-IV, and Miri's World instead of using Hodgkins's stupid law. Not a continuity error per se, but I hate the idea of the law so much I'll count this one.

The ENT novels also, among other things:
solve why the Romulans have a cloaking device in ENT but the TOS one is portrayed as a new technology.
answer why Starfleet transporters are portrayed as a novelty in TOS rather than a longstanding phenomenon.

 

[TheAlmanac]

One of the most infamous factual errors for sci-fi fans is the parsecs as time period in Star Wars, but the SW lit figured out a way to make it work by using a black hole cluster to skim close to, using parsecs as a unit of distance as intended.

Off-topic, but that always disappointed me; going by Obi-Wan's reaction to that line, I always thought it was obvious that Han was spinning a line of BS, trying to impress these provincial rubes by spouting off something that was meaningless but that sounded impressive, and Obi-Wan being more experienced in such things was basically going "yeah, pull the other one" in his head.

This came up on Twitter recently, because (apparently) there was a belief that Obi-Wan's reaction was in the stage directions of the script, so Pablo Hidalgo (part of the Lucasfilm Story Group currently in charge of franchise continuity) posted a photo of the page in question from Peter Mayhew's copy of the script--which didn't indicate any particular reaction, so Obi-Wan's reaction was purely an acting choice.

 

[The Wormhole]

Admittedly it was years later, but George Lucas did say his he knew he was using parsec the wrong way and that it was meant to show Han was bullshitting them. But now with TFA reusing the line, I guess we might have to entertain the possibility that parsec really is used as a time measurement in the Star Wars galaxy.

 

[F. King Daniel]

More than I can count. Sometimes it's done well and becomes a neat plot point (the first DTI book explaining 40+ years of different writers' ideas about time travel), other times its mindless fanwank which, at worst, makes a continuity error worse (ENT relaunch and cloaking devices)

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

other times its mindless fanwank which, at worst, makes a continuity error worse (ENT relaunch and cloaking devices)

Really? I though that bit made perfect sense.

I mean, look at the episode "Minefield" again. Notice how the Romulan ship just keeps cloaking and decloaking at completely random moments? Seems obvious something's wrong with it...

 

[F. King Daniel]

But the thing with "Balance of Terror" wasn't even that Romulans specifically didn't have cloaking devices, it's that cloaking devices were an amazing new technology in TOS' world. ENT had already given the Suliban and Xyrillians cloaking technology, and gone as far as to leave the Enterprise with a Suliban pod on board, which they used (cloaked!) in a rescue mission. Plus, there was an entire cloaked Romulan minefield in "Minefield" which worked just fine.

That just my opinion though. If it worked for you, that's great. I'd have preferred they just let the initial retcon (that cloaking devices were a thing in 2151, Spock and Kirk's convo in "Balance of Terror" is ignored) be and build on the ENT world as intended.

 

[uniderth]

I think parsecs doesn't have to be time. If the Kessel Run is hazardous, or filled with imperials; perhaps a shorter distance(meaning straight through) is much more impressive that taking the long way (all the way around).

"I went straight through the minefield," as opposed to "I went all the way around."

 

[Idran]

I think parsecs doesn't have to be time. If the Kessel Run is hazardous, or filled with imperials; perhaps a shorter distance(meaning straight through) is much more impressive that taking the long way (all the way around).

"I went straight through the minefield," as opposed to "I went all the way around."

You mean this in the first post?

One of the most infamous factual errors for sci-fi fans is the parsecs as time period in Star Wars, but the SW lit figured out a way to make it work by using a black hole cluster to skim close to, using parsecs as a unit of distance as intended.

 

[JoeZhang]

Various novels (especially Christopher's) give proper explanations for the Earth-like TOS planets Omega IV, 894-IV, and Miri's World instead of using Hodgkins's stupid law. Not a continuity error per se, but I hate the idea of the law so much I'll count this one.

Wasn't the explanation that they were actually earths pulled from other timelines for unknown purposes or am I confusing it with something else?

 

[stardream]

I don't know if this counts but the Voyager Trilogy 'String Theory' ties up a lot of loose ends and answers some questions...such why Kes was the way she was when she returned in Fury and why Janeway acted so bi-polar at times.

 

[Idran]

Wasn't the explanation that they were actually earths pulled from other timelines for unknown purposes or am I confusing it with something else?

That was the explanation for Miri's Earth. Omega IV's Yangs didn't actually develop American and Christian symbolism independently but rather cultural artifacts were left behind by a Boomer ship (that was shortly wiped out by the virus afterwards) and the Yangs incorporated them into their own culture due to generally shared values. I don't remember Magna Roma getting an explanation?

 

[Jinn]

I think the whole "Ferengi eat men" thing was explained as propaganda by Zek to protect the Ferengi from the moneyless Federation in The Buried Age.

 

[Christopher]

I don't remember Magna Roma getting an explanation?

I think I may have name-dropped them as a Preserver-seeded world in passing.

Although I've since come to rethink that, since the only canonical evidence we have of the Preservers puts them no earlier than about the 17th century -- because the Native Americans weren't an endangered population until European colonization, and because one of the cultures Spock claims Miramanee's people were descended from (the Navajo, I think) didn't really exist under that identity until then. So contrary to the tendency of many fans and writers to think of the Preservers as an ancient civilization, they're actually a contemporary one. I've long suspected them of being the Vians from "The Empath," who had the same basic goal of resettling an endangered people.

Although if you think about it, it makes no sense to think of the Preservers as a species or civilization -- I mean, since when was any entire civilization defined by a single activity? I think they're probably more of an organization, like Greenpeace or Habitats for Humanity. They could have members from many species. Or else various different civilizations over time could have had groups that did similar things, and the Federation tends to lump them all together under the "Preserver" rubric even though they're unrelated (which is what I suggested to be the case in Department of Temporal Investigations: The Collectors).

 

[Enterprise1701]

In addition to anything in Christopher's books, the narration of The Fall - The Poisoned Chalice states that the Magna Romans are the descendants of humans transplanted by the Preservers.

The ENT novels also outright state what was obvious but never stated onscreen: not all Orion females have the capability to emit mind-influencing pheromones.

 

[vegaslover62]

I do like the Enterprise novel Tower of Babel's accounting for all of the lazy Trek writers who didn't research whether Rigel had been used before as the home system of the new alien race of the latest episode.

 

[Enterprise1701]

Most people wouldn't consider this a continuity error, but it was a premise worth questioning: how could mirror Spock have done things which ultimately resulted in the fall of the Terran Empire and its people? He's Spock for crying out loud! Thus David Mack gave us the wonderful The Sorrows of Empire and Rise Like Lions.