Mary Sue Technological Progression

[PicardSpeedo]

So I know that inconsistencies, plot holes, and storyline absurdities are basically hallmarks of Star Trek Enterprise, but one thing in particular really stands out to me as a total cop-out by the writers: the fact that, by season 2, the crew had conveniently unlocked safe use of the transporter, photon torpedoes, ship-based phasers, and personal weapons that were NOT the 'lasers' seen later in 'The Cage,' but rather, were much more akin to the hand phasers of the Kirk era. They may have even had a tractor beam; I can't honestly remember.

Compare this to, just a season earlier, the crappy 'spatial torpedoes,' 'phase cannons,' not-safe-for-humans transporting, and grappling hooks they had to work with. Why was this done? Was this a deliberate move on the part of the writers to showcase how awesome the Federation was at inventing crap really quickly? Or did the writers get bored and want to throw away the innovative challenges a lack of familiar technology posed in favor of old, formulaic stuff?

 

[Yanks]

Yawn

 

[Dukhat]

Yes, it was a huge conspiracy theory. You should get on this right away and let us know what you find.

#thetruthisoutthere

 

[PicardSpeedo]

Yes, it was a huge conspiracy theory. You should get on this right away and let us know what you find.

#thetruthisoutthere

I'm being serious. Was having all the familiar technology conveniently invented by Season 2 just lazy writing? Or was there some in-universe reason that I missed?

 

[Dukhat]

What do you think?

 

[PicardSpeedo]

What do you think?

I'm thinking that it was a scenario similar to how the Star Trek: Voyager writers promised that no familiar species would be seen in the Delta quadrant, but then we totally did see them; the writers of Enterprise got lazy.

 

[Dukhat]

Then you have your answer.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I suspect they were either pressured into using their copyrighted Treknology, or were simply interested in making generic Trek episodes which could fit into any era, requiring a technological homogeny.

 

[PicardSpeedo]

I suspect they were either pressured into using their copyrighted Treknology, or were simply interested in making generic Trek episodes which could fit into any era, requiring a technological homogeny.

Homogenization seems likely. Being bold and stepping away from established Trek 'norms' for very long was never something Berman and Braga were good at.

 

[Noname Given]

So I know that inconsistencies, plot holes, and storyline absurdities are basically hallmarks of Star Trek Enterprise, but one thing in particular really stands out to me as a total cop-out by the writers: the fact that, by season 2, the crew had conveniently unlocked safe use of the transporter, photon torpedoes, ship-based phasers, and personal weapons that were NOT the 'lasers' seen later in 'The Cage,' but rather, were much more akin to the hand phasers of the Kirk era. They may have even had a tractor beam; I can't honestly remember.

Compare this to, just a season earlier, the crappy 'spatial torpedoes,' 'phase cannons,' not-safe-for-humans transporting, and grappling hooks they had to work with. Why was this done? Was this a deliberate move on the part of the writers to showcase how awesome the Federation was at inventing crap really quickly? Or did the writers get bored and want to throw away the innovative challenges a lack of familiar technology posed in favor of old, formulaic stuff?

IDK - TNG's "The Naked Now" as it's first 'regular' post Pilot episode seems the ULTIMATE in 'lazy writing' for the Star Trek franchise. Also, transplanting characters right out of ST:TMP (Deanna Troi anyone) or TOS characters by TNG's second season (IE Katherine Puklaski was a straight up femal version of TOS - Dr. Leonard McCoy right down to dislike of the Transporter and being and 'Old Country Doctor' <--- Yes, she said it) would seem to me to be lazy writing too.

So yeah, why is ENT using familiar Star Trek tech in a Star Trek series 'lazy writing'?

 

[trekshark]

I would have liked it if they kept more of the lesser tech, especially the torpedoes. Maybe upgrade the propulsion of the torps a bit but still have them obviously slower than photon torpedoes. Wish they had used the transporter a bit less, although they still had it being a bit primitive compared to later. In TUC Kirk and Bones get shot while beaming and are fine, in Enterprise the transporter beam didn't protect Hayes
at least they didn't install tractor beams and shields.

 

[Nerys Myk]

So I know that inconsistencies, plot holes, and storyline absurdities are basically hallmarks of Star Trek Enterprise,

FTFY

 

[Enterprise is Great]

It was done because of UPN. Berman and Braga never wanted transporters to be used at all. They wanted Enterprise to be a more primitive series. I don't think the network was ever really comfortable with the prequel idea. That's why they added the Temporal Cold War because UPN wanted a "futuristic" angle to the series.

 

[LJones41]

So I know that inconsistencies, plot holes, and storyline absurdities are basically hallmarks of Star Trek Enterprise . . .

Inconsistencies, plot holes and story line absurdities are the basic hallmarks of the Trek franchise and many other franchises, period.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I like what the novelverse did with the transporter post-ENT

Spoiler: Rise of the Federation

Either Archer or Reed (it's been years) find out they're sterile, and transporter use is scaled back to cargo only.

 

[MacLeod]

Inconsistencies, plot holes and story line absurdities are the basic hallmarks of the Trek franchise and many other franchises, period.

What would we have to talk about if we didn't have all of those thing?

So I know that inconsistencies, plot holes, and storyline absurdities are basically hallmarks of Star Trek Enterprise, but one thing in particular really stands out to me as a total cop-out by the writers: the fact that, by season 2, the crew had conveniently unlocked safe use of the transporter, photon torpedoes, ship-based phasers, and personal weapons that were NOT the 'lasers' seen later in 'The Cage,' but rather, were much more akin to the hand phasers of the Kirk era. They may have even had a tractor beam; I can't honestly remember.

Compare this to, just a season earlier, the crappy 'spatial torpedoes,' 'phase cannons,' not-safe-for-humans transporting, and grappling hooks they had to work with. Why was this done? Was this a deliberate move on the part of the writers to showcase how awesome the Federation was at inventing crap really quickly? Or did the writers get bored and want to throw away the innovative challenges a lack of familiar technology posed in favor of old, formulaic stuff?

I'm fairly sure use of transporters for bio-transportation was addressed in the pilot episode. So that Enterprise was one of the first ships to be fitted with one "safe" for bio-transportation.

And no I wouldn't say it was a move on the part to show how awesome the Federation was, UE perhaps but not the Federation. But yeah it was likely somewhat down to laziness or perhaps more a lack of caring on the part of the writers as they returned to the safety and comfort of what they knew from working on the previous shows.

 

[arch101]

Having to find creative work-arounds for things easily solved by tech in later Treks was one of the interesting things about Ent when it first aired. But, they fouled up on even the more primitive things. Transporter in a corridor? It clearly should have been in it's own room where (to borrow a TMP description) the whole room was the machine and you were standing in it. Hull plating? Isn't the hull already plated? No shield is no shield. Don't just make something up to give people something to say in a crisis. Having only a few phase pistols aboard would have made their use more special. By season 3, they were standard issue. Boorrring. I think everyone agrees that Ent could have been done better and it's probably a combo of lazy writing and network pressure that was the culprit. Roddenberry DID say Trek should never be on a network again.

 

[Timo]

From the in-universe point of view, it seems to me there could be no Star Trek without transporters, phasers and, preferably, shields. Ships venturing into the Trek universe without those would simply never return. So the story of mankind's first successful starship exploration sortie should be the one where mankind gains access to the threshold technologies. It's a pity of sorts the ship never gained shields, as their lack should have been her undoing. Then again, mere hull (perhaps suitably SIF-reinforced) proved weapon-resilient in several TNG era adventures, even though it wasn't supposed to be.

The handheld phasers were cool. The pistols weren't all that common, really - and the rifles remained plasma guns or whatever, only with a selection of them equipped with a separate phaser overbarrel. It really made it look as if the tech was new and not completely trusted. What would have been fun is if it had turned out not to be trustworthy, either. Too bad it worked like a dream in every instance...

Transporter in a corridor? Sounds like the right place for it. It was supposed to be but a means of getting spares and consumables aboard - even fruit or other biological samples were a novelty not taken into account by the designers. Cool that a seemingly superfluous bit of tech turned out to be a key facilitator of exploration... But perhaps the designers knew that already, and feared the Vulcans would realize it, too, were the transporter to be properly placed behind lock and key and decon chamber - so they kept the corridor location even though the paperwork for "clearing for biotransport" was all but signed already?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Tuskin38]

Someone doesn't know what Mary Sue means.

 

[at Quark's]

Of course, there's some rationalisation possible. Crewmembers download some specs while they're over on a Klingon or other alien cruiser and send it immediately to Starfleet for analysis. Vulcans realise that humanity isn't going to step back under their wings anymore; the genie is out of the bottle so they may as well supply them with some halfway decent tech behind the curtains, and perhaps even more so after the Kzinti threat reveals itself. The fact that in history, humans have always been surprisingly adept at copying or getting their hands on new stuff, especially weaponry, once it is invented by another people, and Enterprise sure made a lot of new first contacts.

But yeah, it often feels like most major concepts were alreayd invented around 2150 , just with lower specs … well, at least they had that grappler...