I Think I found Another Nemesis Plot Hole

[The Wormhole]

I've never noticed this discussed before, and it was something I just realized upon watching Nemesis recently.

When it's discovered that the Scimitar has thalaron on board, Dr. Crusher comments that a microscopic amount of thalaron radiation could wipe out all life on board the Enterprise. If that's the case, then when it came time that Shinzon wanted to kill everyone on the Enterprise, why did he bother with the procedure of charging the thalaron generator, which I believe took seven minutes? wouldn't it have been quicker and easier to beam a canister of the stuff onto the Enterprise in a central location and have it go off, much like what happened in the Romulan Senate at the beginning?

 

[Christopher]

Both ships were pretty damaged; maybe the Scimitar's transporters weren't working.

Also, I got the sense that the actual thalaron particles weren't emitted until the weapon was fully charged. After all, we saw Picard and Shinzon fighting in the generator chamber while the pulse was building up, and they weren't killed by it.

Anyway, it's a trivial thing to complain about in Nemesis, because it's not even remotely the first time that Star Trek writers have overlooked the potential of the transporter as a weapon. How many times have we seen one ship batter down another ship's shields and then just keep shooting, instead of beaming its crew into space or beaming out the shielding on the antimatter pods?

 

[JNG]

Anyway, it's a trivial thing to complain about in Nemesis, because it's not even remotely the first time that Star Trek writers have overlooked the potential of the transporter as a weapon. How many times have we seen one ship batter down another ship's shields and then just keep shooting, instead of beaming its crew into space or beaming out the shielding on the antimatter pods?

I imagine it wouldn't be practical to use this technique on an enemy vessel still capable of maneuver, since it is moving about unpredictably. But in the specific example mentioned, it does seem likely the heavy damage to Scimitar had affected its transporter systems.

 

[scorpius1701]

In one of the books, some guy gets loose on the ship and heads for the transporter room, intending on beaming the crew out into space. Used properly, the transporter could be one of the most devastating weapons in the galaxy which is why they shouldnt be able to use it as effectively as they apparently are.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

^ That technique was used in DS9's "Return to Grace"


I think the whole thelaron thing was poorly conceived. i liked the movie, but this weapon seems to have no integration with the plot, story or characters. It's just teh "ultimate weapon" and the writers didnt think much about how it's used, or its properties

 

[Warp Coil]

Perhaps the thalaron is too unstable to be used in a transporter? Trying to beam a canister of it to another ship might be hazardous or dangerous? Honestly, it doesn't even matter. I was just really, really bummed that NEM relied yet again on the "evil villian has a superweapon that counts down so Picard had better save the day" plot device. GEN used it with Soran and his solar probe. INS used it with Ru'afo and the collector. NEM used it with Shinzon and the thalaron weapon.

YAAAAAWWWWWNNNNN.

 

[Nebusj]

Also, I got the sense that the actual thalaron particles weren't emitted until the weapon was fully charged. After all, we saw Picard and Shinzon fighting in the generator chamber while the pulse was building up, and they weren't killed by it.

Whatever it is that does produce thaleron radiation has to be by its nature very well-shielded, or else must produce very little of it until it's deployed -- otherwise the device would poison everyone on the Scimitar long before it could attack anyone else. If thaleron can set up synthetic radiation (put a chair in the thaleron chamber, take the chair out, let someone sit in it, ha-ha, he's dead) then it would've been a good enough weapons concept; but if the thaleron can't be spread except as part of its original generation then yeah, you do need the Unnecessarily Slow-Moving Death Ray Of Death contraption.

 

[jayrath]

The crew was never in danger. As is obvious in the film, thaleron particles move at the speed of bad writing.

 

[cooleddie74]

Having Shinzon or his Reman Viceroy beam over a canister of thalaron particles wouldn't have allowed the Praetor and Data to have dramatic death scenes on an enemy vessel. Duh.