Leaving the parking break on

[The]

Actually, I think it's the sound being heard *inside* the TARDIS that they're referring to in the episode. In the old series that was pretty rare, and throughout the 80s all that was heard inside the ship was that bleep that we heard when River landed it.

Nobody's saying that the noise heard *outside* the ship is a result of "leaving the brakes on"

THANK YOU. That is exactly what I got from it.

And even if it's not the case, WHO CARES? How does it impede on your enjoyment of the actual show itself. Come people! Get some perspective. It's not like he just called himself "half-human"....

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Trek fans have devoted forty years to putting together the pieces of a puzzle that was never conceived as a whole picture to begin with.

That's partially true. It may have not been conceived (at TOS time) , but by the time the movies and TNG came out, canon (and the whole picture) was very much in their (Read: GR's) eyes.

It's totally true. Yeah, in later years they made about three-quarters of an attempt at it, and far too late - the only way to reconceive something is to start it over. Just because they gave it lip service doesn't mean they did it well.