Random Trek "Problems" That Bug You (and that you can't let go!)

[The Salt Umpire]

Picard bugs me in the sense that he signed on for three seasons, they knew he was in for three seasons, but it seems nobody sat down at the start and thought about telling a story over three seasons.

The result being something that almost feels like three separate shows that are only vaguely consistent with one another.

It could have been and should have been so much more. Instead we got, to varying degrees, The Borgy Bunch.

I felt so let down by Picard. I haven't rewatched a single episode. Most disappointing.

In Star Trek VI, it always bothers me that Kirk has a "veridium patch" on his back, and that is somehow never discovered by the Klingons before or after the trial.

You'd think transporters would have an AI subroutine that would look for unorganic components in the beam-up and alert if needed. If TSA can analyze your luggage now without opening it...

 

[Ceridwen]

Then there's the secondary problem: what came before Duotronics?

Unitronics, obviously.

 

[The Salt Umpire]

Duotronics.

We don't know what it is. We know that twenty-five years before the episode 'The Ultimate Computer', that Daystrom won two major scientific awards, but that's it.

To put it another way, we know far more about Multitronic systems than we know about Duotronic systems.

Then there's the secondary problem: what came before Duotronics? Why was it so, so inadequate?

The Unitronic system, then before that, Windows 50 (assuming a new OS every 5 years from 2026)

 

[Ceridwen]

The very day I purchased it
I christened my guitar
As my unitronic symphony
Six-string orchestrar

 

[Farscape One]

Screw it, I'll play, too.

The computers on board starships before duotronics were called FLUFFY.


Full
Linguistic
Understanding of
Funny
Folks,
Y'all

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

In Star Trek VI, it always bothers me that Kirk has a "veridium patch" on his back, and that is somehow never discovered by the Klingons before or after the trial.

Well, TUC was produced during TNG's era, where most Klingons became loud Space Vikings or dumb pets who clumsily crash into situations rather than using their heads. The latter category--the dumb pet who had to be admonished--was the way Picard often treated Worf, so perhaps that characterization was adopted / accepted by the writers producers of TUC, hence the Klingons being too stupid to notice the patch.

 

[mb22]

The oversized outdated looking communicators and other rented props in TWOK.

The pajama uniforms in TMP AND the 'monster maroons' from the other TOS movies.

Paramount apparently being too lazy to use Malachi Throne's original voice in a complete color reconstruction of "The Cage". And not having the black and white 16mm version as a DVD or Blu Ray extra like they did with the non-broadcast version of WNMHGB.

 

[UssGlenn]

In Star Trek VI, it always bothers me that Kirk has a "veridium patch" on his back, and that is somehow never discovered by the Klingons before or after the trial.

We don't know enough about Veridium to make a complete assessment. Kirk says it can be detected 2 sectors away, which is further than long range sensors can reach, so we may have to assume he's exaggerating for effect. Regardless, if veridium isn't commonly used for tracking it wouldn't trigger any automatic sensors. All that is really required is that it is rare enough that there wouldn't be other similar deposits nearby so the Enterprise knows the one they see on Rura Penthe is Kirk.

 

[tharpdevenport]

I could probably come up with a large list, no doubt replicating things others have said. I'll just mention some off the top of my head:

The thickness and limitations of desktop computers.

The lack of buttons or jumbles of unlabeled touch-screen buttons. Random numbers on touch-screen buttons does not help.

The naivety of Data on the Enterprise. He was found thirty years ago, lived amongst humans, joined Starfleet, served on at least one Federation ship prior to the Enterprise, yet he doesn't know simple things, phrases, and has a child-like wonder at people whistling. He was too dumb. Being amazed at how easily humans whistle, reminds me of God from this:

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[mb22]

An original theme was created for TNG, it can be heard in the background music on a few S1 episodes and was listed on the soundtrack as "Picard's Theme." Roddenberry decided late in the game he wanted something similar to the TMP theme instead and kept rejecting various pitches until finally deciding "to hell with it, just reuse the TMP theme."

Sounds like the theme of the fictional Galaxy Quest show.

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[tharpdevenport]

Dennis McCarthy's rejected theme music was included on the old GNP Records release of the pilot score.

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The expanded re-issue from GNP a few years ago (that also included another episode score) also includes this cue.

Dennis loved his theme, but commented -- this is from memory so it's a little loose -- that it was a little rushed and wished that one day he could come back to it and fully flesh it out, ad some bells and whistles.

 

[B.J.]

And even though I know it was for budgetary reasons, it bugged me that whenever the Enterprise or Defiant returned to Earth any shots of them in orbit wouldn’t show any federation infrastructure in orbit with them. No orbital bases, spacedocks/dry docks, satellites, etc…

Space is frakkin' HUGE, even if you're just in a planet's orbit. And considering orbital dynamics, if you're close enough to see another ship/dock/etc, you're TOO CLOSE!

Picard bugs me in the sense that he signed on for three seasons, they knew he was in for three seasons, but it seems nobody sat down at the start and thought about telling a story over three seasons.

The result being something that almost feels like three separate shows that are only vaguely consistent with one another.

My problem is that they seem more like three long episodes than anything else. From TOS to ENT, and now SNW, I can identify a specific episode with a vague description. I can't do that with PIC (or most of DSC) because it all runs together! We used to call these things miniseries.

 

[UssGlenn]

Dennis loved his theme, but commented -- this is from memory so it's a little loose -- that it was a little rushed and wished that one day he could come back to it and fully flesh it out, ad some bells and whistles.

As much as I like the Lower Decks theme, they really should have used the rejected TNG theme instead. They could have written a new opening bit, replacing the monologue part that actually was used in TNG. It fits with the idea that these are second stringers so even their theme song is a reject.

 

[B.J.]

As much as I like the Lower Decks theme, they really should have used the rejected TNG theme instead. They could have written a new opening bit, replacing the monologue part that actually was used in TNG. It fits with the idea that these are second stringers so even their theme song is a reject.

Heh, good point! Kinda ironic in retrospect that LD got the new theme while TNG got the hand-me-downs!

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

As much as I like the Lower Decks theme, they really should have used the rejected TNG theme instead. They could have written a new opening bit, replacing the monologue part that actually was used in TNG. It fits with the idea that these are second stringers so even their theme song is a reject.

Lower Decks didn't use comedy music though, and that theme is ridiculous.

 

[Rahul]

Because we're all examples of IDIC, we're all bothered by different things, and this especially applies to Trek fans.

What are the things that bug you? They don't have to be things you're necessarily angry about, just things you wish did happen/hadn't happened, etc.

Here are a few (JUST a few! ) to get us started:

- It started bugging me in 1987 and it still bugs me today: TNG should have had its own theme. The TOS movie theme belongs to the TOS crew!

- Sisko's ultimate fate in "What You Leave Behind."

- Voyager should have been a far better series with writers and producers that fully committed to the premise.

- Star Trek Generations.

- The TNG films

- The way Meyer treated aging in the 23rd century, along with a lot of other things he did. I love a lot about TWOK and TUC, but a lot of things bug me, too.

- Most of seasons 4 - 7 of TNG

- Jadzia's death.

- The destruction of the Defiant. It was unnecessary and robbed the ship of the legendary status she should have kept for decades after.

- What became of Dukat in season seven and that he wasn't killed by Kira.

- Enterprise (way too much to detail here unless someone wants specifics)

- Series 5 not being set on the Enterprise-B and filling the gaps between TUC and TNG.

- The destruction of the original Enterprise. It was unnecessary and the Enterprise-A was never given the chance to live up to its legacy.

I'll be honest - I misunderstood the thread question. These aren't things that "bug" me - they are genuine grievances. S31 is a piece of shit movie.


So here are things that DO "bug" me - they are so insignificant, they shouldn't shape my opinion. But still I'm annoyed by them:



1) For background aliens in Starfleet there is always exactly one of each type. Rubbish! They should be representative of general population: E.g. there should be groups of Bolians, Andorians, but no Cherons, and not so many aliens we never saw before & will never see again and see only one of them.

2) In SNW the spaceships shoot phaser beams, but the hand phasers shoot phaser bolts. Be consistent goddammit!

3) The Enterprise in SNW never shoots two phasers at once. That is the most iconic image of the original Enterprise! Do that.

4) Too specific numbers - (Data has a processing power of 60 trillion operations per second - almost as much as two RTX3090s!), like travel times (Earth to Kronos in 8 hours!), historic dates (first contact in June 2064!) and so on.
When they are obviously bullshit - and aren't even needed for the story!
Just use made up metrics - like stardates!
Then it won't be obvious the writers didn't do their research, or or laughably wrong guesses.

 

[Dukhat]

Space is frakkin' HUGE, even if you're just in a planet's orbit. And considering orbital dynamics, if you're close enough to see another ship/dock/etc, you're TOO CLOSE!

While I agree with this for the most part, I will say that it bugged me when we saw the Enterprise-D at some starbase or space station, and it was the only ship there. I get that this was mainly because they were using stock footage from the TOS films. But they could have easily superimposed more ships into that footage if they wanted to.

 

[FederationHistorian]

Admiral Morrow saying that the Enterprise was twenty years old.

It does not really bother me. What’s Kirk going to say? That the ship is actually 30 or 40 years old? It just strengthens Morrow’s case. He was probably trying to let Kirk down easy.

--------------------------

Choosing to set Discovery where they set it. They had the 25th century, the Lost era, the early 23rd century, and even the whole Kelvin timeline to choose from. And they chose to set it a decade before TOS. And not even ten years before "The Cage", but ten years before WNMHGB. Thereby repeating history by giving themselves the same short runway Enterprise had to tell their story. They would not have had to have jumped to the 32nd century if they set it in a different time.

That Detmer was wasted. I know they gave her a storyline in S3. But of all the middle deckers on DIS, she should have featured more, considering she was with Burnham and Saru on the Shenzhou. And she should have hashed it out with them both over how the Klingon War started.

The writers wasted a whole year deciding as to whether or not they were going to use Khan in Star Trek Into Darkness.

That no one BTS could figure out how to make Star Trek 4 work.

That TPTB rushed Enterprise into production so fast that it robbed the fandom of a Voyager movie. Or even an Excelsior or Ent-B movie. The plot of NEM could have worked for one of those hero ships. But NEM should not have been a TNG movie, at all.

 

[Riley]

I'll be honest - I misunderstood the thread question. These aren't things that "bug" me - they are genuine grievances. S31 is a piece of shit movie.


So here are things that DO "bug" me - they are so insignificant, they shouldn't shape my opinion. But still I'm annoyed by them:



1) For background aliens in Starfleet there is always exactly one of each type. Rubbish! They should be representative of general population: E.g. there should be groups of Bolians, Andorians, but no Cherons, and not so many aliens we never saw before & will never see again and see only one of them.

2) In SNW the spaceships shoot phaser beams, but the hand phasers shoot phaser bolts. Be consistent goddammit!

3) The Enterprise in SNW never shoots two phasers at once. That is the most iconic image of the original Enterprise! Do that.

4) Too specific numbers - (Data has a processing power of 60 trillion operations per second - almost as much as two RTX3090s!), like travel times (Earth to Kronos in 8 hours!), historic dates (first contact in June 2064!) and so on.
When they are obviously bullshit - and aren't even needed for the story!
Just use made up metrics - like stardates!
Then it won't be obvious the writers didn't do their research, or or laughably wrong guesses.

I agree with you on all of these except SNW, as I haven't watched it. I'm currently rewatching Voyager, and I noticed that not only were hardly any aliens on the crew, the crew that was there was mostly human and mostly white. I know it was the 90s, but it was still a surprise. In fact, other than Stadi, I don't think there were any other aliens on the ship until Tuvok, Torres, and Kes arrived. I haven't seen all of the first four seasons in years, so I might be forgetting other species.

 

[Riley]

I don’t think mocking mentally ill people is covered by “colorful metaphors.” We wouldn’t do that with physical disabilities. There are members here who suffer from mental illnesses, and don’t appreciate those kinds of comments. And they’re really easy to avoid, so…

I suffer from mental illness and took no offense to the comments. I recognize I'm just one person, but I wonder if it's a bit sensitive to call those comments "mocking."