Pointless & Pedantic Nitpicks: Generations

[The Wormhole]

These nitpicks are not really all that important, and may have already been pointed out before. But I'm going to post them here anyway.

-There was an Admiral on board the Enterprise B, a female seen in the background on the bridge. Why didn't she offer any input during the rescue op? Why was it just Harriman and Kirk running the show when an officer who outranked them was present?

-Inside Kirk's house, Kirk tells Picard to get the dill weed out of the cupboard, second shelf to the left. Picard then reaches to the right of the cupboard and gets the dill weed.

-The two confrontations with Soran, him and Picard before they enter the Nexus, and him, Kirk, and Picard after they leave the Nexus, have different cloud patterns in the sky. Yes, I know this is because the scenes were shot at different times of the day, but it does beg an in-story explanation.

 

[Finn]

^The Admiral may have never had a command position on a starship. For all we know, she had mostly served on starbases, orbital facilites, and at Starfleet facilities on planets. So it would be best if it was left to someone who actually had commanded a starship.

 

[Captain Rob]

A reason for the different cloud patterns is known as the "Butterfly Effect". The physical presence of Kirk creates a minute disruption of the atmosphere and humidity. Kirk's body displaces the air that was previously there causing a pressure wave that changes the shape of the clouds. Likewise his footprints collect rainwater causing a dormant seed to germinate and grow into a tree. Years later that tree's roots grow into the nieghboring rocks cracking them apart. Therefore causing a large rock to fall at the right time and kill that planet's future Albert Einstein who's there as a child exploring the area.

 

[ITL]

A wizard did it.

 

[Argus Skyhawk]

Interesting. I've seen lots of people pick apart logical goofs in Generations, but I don't recall seeing those particular ones before.

 

[TigerOfDarkness]

-Inside Kirk's house, Kirk tells Picard to get the dill weed out of the cupboard, second shelf to the left. Picard then reaches to the right of the cupboard and gets the dill weed.

Could it be all Kirk's cupboards contain dill weed (he could be a major dill weed user)? Maybe the dill weed is in different stages of maturity in the different cupboards? Then maybe Kirk meant left as you face the cupboard and Picard took it to mean left as you look away from the cupboard?

<insincerity>
I don't think this is too much of a stretch.
</insincerity>

 

[InklingStar]

-Inside Kirk's house, Kirk tells Picard to get the dill weed out of the cupboard, second shelf to the left. Picard then reaches to the right of the cupboard and gets the dill weed.

Could it be all Kirk's cupboards contain dill weed (he could be a major dill weed user)? Maybe the dill weed is in different stages of maturity in the different cupboards? Then maybe Kirk meant left as you face the cupboard and Picard took it to mean left as you look away from the cupboard?

<insincerity>
I don't think this is too much of a stretch.
</insincerity>

Maybe he meant "Second shelf, (to the left.)" Or maybe he was wrong but Picard already saw the dill. Or maybe things are just different in the Matrix. I mean the Nexus.

 

[Captain Rob]

Maybe Kirk knew that since Patrick Stewart is a Brit that he'd pick the wrong side. Since Brits drive on the wrong side of the road. (just kidding)

 

[Xerxes1979]

how about the nickpick of using dillweed at all? Its not a very good spice in anything I have ever eaten.

If this was Kirk's vision of culinary heaven he never learned to cook well growing up in Iowa or in deep space.

 

[JarodRussell]

These nitpicks are not really all that important, and may have already been pointed out before. But I'm going to post them here anyway.

-There was an Admiral on board the Enterprise B, a female seen in the background on the bridge. Why didn't she offer any input during the rescue op? Why was it just Harriman and Kirk running the show when an officer who outranked them was present?

-Inside Kirk's house, Kirk tells Picard to get the dill weed out of the cupboard, second shelf to the left. Picard then reaches to the right of the cupboard and gets the dill weed.

-The two confrontations with Soran, him and Picard before they enter the Nexus, and him, Kirk, and Picard after they leave the Nexus, have different cloud patterns in the sky. Yes, I know this is because the scenes were shot at different times of the day, but it does beg an in-story explanation.

How many times do you have to watch a movie a day to notice stuff like this?

 

[Timo]

second shelf to the left

I'm not a native, so I'm doubly interested in learning how this really works. My instinct at hearing this would be to pick shelf 4 from the series 1|2|3|4|5, that is, a shelf on the right side, rather than shelf 2 from the same series. I mean, that's "to the left" rather than "from the left"...

Then again, aren't "shelves" generally things that are oriented vertically rather than horizontally? There'd almost have to be a comma there for "second shelf to the left" to make any sense.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Argus Skyhawk]

Then again, aren't "shelves" generally things that are oriented vertically rather than horizontally? There'd almost have to be a comma there for "second shelf to the left" to make any sense.

Timo Saloniemi

How do we know there wasn't a comma in the script?

I would take Kirk's directions to mean "The left-hand side of the second shelf down."

 

[InklingStar]

There was actually a line cut from the movie. The full quote should be "Second shelf to the left... and straight on till morning!"

 

[GalaxyX]

A wizard did it.

God did it

 

[The Wormhole]

I'll revive this thread for another nitpick that comes to mind. It was said in the series that Data did not have tear ducts. Or to be more accurate, one of the differences they noticed in the android based on his "mother" in Inheritance was that she had tear ducts, which would imply Data does not.

So if he has no tear ducts, how the hell can he cry at the end when he finds Spot at the end? Where are those tears coming from? Does the emotion chip generate tears without tear ducts or something?

I'm not a native, so I'm doubly interested in learning how this really works. My instinct at hearing this would be to pick shelf 4 from the series 1|2|3|4|5, that is, a shelf on the right side, rather than shelf 2 from the same series. I mean, that's "to the left" rather than "from the left"...

Then again, aren't "shelves" generally things that are oriented vertically rather than horizontally? There'd almost have to be a comma there for "second shelf to the left" to make any sense.

I'm pretty sure he meant "left of the second shelf." Maybe I should have included a comma. I'm sorry.

 

[ProtoAvatar]

The Wormhole:

Finding logical errors in 'Generations' is like shooting fish in the barrel.
However, you seem to be aiming for the really small fish.
That's what I call fair play!

 

[Kirby]

how about the nickpick of using dillweed at all? Its not a very good spice in anything I have ever eaten.

I like dill in eggs, on salmon, and in homemade vinagrette.

How about that extra with the stupid grin on his face when the ENT was crashing?

 

[Finn]

how about the nickpick of using dillweed at all? Its not a very good spice in anything I have ever eaten.

If this was Kirk's vision of culinary heaven he never learned to cook well growing up in IOWA or in deep space.

Welll...yeah.

Little Jimmy Kirk: "Mommy...How do I cook?"

Winona Kirk: "You fill the pot and turn on the oven. When it boils, put in the corn and let it boil for a while until it is plump and delicious. Put it on a plate and have a stick of butter ready. Got it?"

Little Jimmy Kirk: "Yes, Mommy"

Commander George Kirk: "That's my boy!"

 

[Timo]

So if he has no tear ducts, how the hell can he cry at the end when he finds Spot at the end? Where are those tears coming from? Does the emotion chip generate tears without tear ducts or something?

I'd argue that Data does not have hair follicles on his face yet is able to grow a beard; he does not have a heart or a pulse but still circulates bodily fluids; he doesn't have leg muscles but still walks. He has crude analogues to these biological features, good for getting the job done but not convincing in themselves.

Julianna Tainer would be a more convincing fake, in that her eye lubricators have actually been fashioned in the shape of tear ducts. This makes no engineering sense, as Data's weeper cleaners are probably more efficient, but it's an achievement that Soong wanted to broadcast to the world, however indirectly. Or then it's standard android tech that Soong lifted off the shelf, but he never installed that on Data because he wasn't trying to pass off Data as a human. Data still has some sort of a cleaning liquid dispenser that his software can instruct to create tear-analogues.

...Reminds me of the ST6 claim that Klingons have no tear ducts. They still weep - and part of their folklore is that Kahless himself wept up an ocean. And that makes sense: if they have eyes like human ones, they need a lubrication system, and they don't seem to be using their tongues for that (although I can't vouch for Lursa or B'Etor). It then may or may not be that the lubrication system connects to an emotional response, such as sadness, fear or hate - and in this case it happens to do so, even though the system does not feature tear ducts.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[JarodRussell]

There's also the gross misconception that tear ducts produce tears. They don't.