Star Trek peeves

[JirinPanthosa]

An American might very well say he's from the Deep South, or the Midwest, or whatever. Not much different.

Yes, but this person would say 'I'm from the South', not from 'I'm from the southern part of this land formation.'

I don't think fans would be confused how they know. They'd expect a person to be debriefed on the planet and its culture before being asked to go undercover.

 

[Tracy Trek]

The thing about the names isn't really a peeve to me, just an observation. I do recall about the Bajoran custom of putting the family name first. And also about Elim Garak.

I'm guessing Gul is a rank in the Cardassian military. It seems like I remember an episode of TNG or DS9 where they called a member of the Cardassian military something other than Gul. It still started with a "G" though.

 

[sbk1234]

"Enterprise is the only ship in interception range."

 

[Triskelion]

Yes, Tracy Trek, perhaps you are remembering one of these:

Cardassian ranks

Gorr
Gorr is one of the lowest named ranks in use in the 24th century by the Cardassian Guard agency of the Cardassian Central Command. Equivalent to a 'crewman' in most naval organizations.

Garresh
Garresh make up the vast bulk of the military. Garresh is an enlisted title which is approximately equivalent to a non-commissioned officer, such as a petty officer or chief, of comparable military or naval service organizations, such as Starfleet.

Gil
Gil (sometimes seen as Kel) is an officer rank which is approximately equivalent to an ensign of Starfleet. Nor-class space stations, such as Deep Space Nine, typically carry enough lifeboats only for personnel down to, and including, the rank of Gil.

Glinn
Glinn is an officer rank which is approximately equivalent to a lieutenant of Starfleet. Glinn is a staff officer rank.

Dalin
Dalin is an officer rank title which is approximately equivalent to a lieutenant commander.

Dal
Dal is an officer rank title which is approximately equivalent to a commander.

Gul
Gul is an officer rank title which is approximately equivalent to a ship's captain. Gul is a command officer rank. Guls hold command ranging in size from vessels to Orders (approx. 500,000 personnel).

Jagul
Jagul is a flag officer rank which is approximately equivalent to a commodore or rear admiral.

Legate
Legate is a 24th-century Cardassian officer rank title which is approximately equivalent to an admiral. Legate is the highest rank in the Cardassian military, and while it resembles the rank of Admiral in some respects, it is more of a political position than a rank. Since the Cardassian government is a military-controlled stratocracy, Legates serve both military and governmental functions simultaneously.

Link to Wikipedia article

 

[The Wormhole]

I'm guessing Gul is a rank in the Cardassian military. It seems like I remember an episode of TNG or DS9 where they called a member of the Cardassian military something other than Gul. It still started with a "G" though.

Yes, Gul is a rank in the Cardassian military, roughly the equivalent of Captain. Another rank used frequently is Glinn, which is supposed to be a lower rank, probably something like a Lieutenant.

 

[FormerLurker]

The whole continent thing may be a concession to fans, who might ask "How did they know the names of the continents, if they've never been there before?"

And you know we fans would ask that.

Except, the characters who are supposed to be from that planet are the ones saying "western continent/northern continent" while talking amongst themselves, with no main characters present.

I guess that we're hearing an imprecise translation of their talk into English (or instead we're reading it with imperfect captioning).

That would be my guess as well. The assumption that the audience would know the continent names, especially if the names aren't a plot point, does the audience no favors. Indeed, by not naming the continents, the audience is given a frame of reference for later, if or when the names of the continents do become a plot point. If the never do, there is no need to name them at all.

 

[Drone]

I'm watching First Contact the episode and it reminded me of something that bugs me.

On every planet, they refer to locations on the planet as 'The southern continent' or 'The western continent'. Every planet except Earth, apparently, does not care to give names to their different regions.

It's like if an American went to Europe and said "Hello, I'm from the Western Continent."

I have a feeling that this isn't what you're referring to exactly, but in Time and Again, Kalto Province is first mentioned by a native. Thinking about it, there are a number of other such examples one can point to, but again I'm not sure this is what you mean.

Except, the characters who are supposed to be from that planet are the ones saying "western continent/northern continent" while talking amongst themselves, with no main characters present.

In Warlord, Nori refers to the Viceroy of Genarr, which is presumably an area or region. Admittedly, Tuvok is lurking around somewhere in the background in this scene, but the citation of the geographical location has no further bearing on the episode.

 

[Yanks]

I'm guessing Gul is a rank in the Cardassian military. It seems like I remember an episode of TNG or DS9 where they called a member of the Cardassian military something other than Gul. It still started with a "G" though.

Gul is a rank.

Legat and Glinn are also ranks. I believe I remember hearing the term Legat in TNG. I don't remember "Glinn".

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Cardassian_ranks

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Is Legit a rank in the military or a position in the government? I suppose on Cardassia there's no separation.

One thing another thread made me think of. Ok, so in TNG's 11001001, they set self destruct to prevent the ship being captured. In Voyager's Basics they attempt to.

However, in Rascals they surrender the ship because one man has a phaser on one crew member. In Displaced, they know the ship is being invaded and make no attempt to.

Trek is annoyingly inconsistent about whether you sacrifice the crew to avoid letting the ship fall into enemy hands.

 

[The Wormhole]

Is Legit a rank in the military or a position in the government? I suppose on Cardassia there's no separation.

Sort of both. It is a military rank (everyone referred to as a Legate wore military uniform) but it also has political power as well.

 

[CommanderRaytas]

A few more:

1. Total randoms being able to hack into the ship. A random alien of the week can just see a Starfleet computer and immediately start messing with it.

2. Absolutely anywhere in the ship can seemingly be used to comandeer the ship. Data [when being controlled by aliens] manages to reroute all ship functions to 10-forward! The damn BAR!

3. Random bad-guys also seem to quite easily be able to lock the crew out of random, essential ship functions. Transporters, internal sensors, force fields...all can be re-routed or disabled by random people in five minutes. Hell, there is a Voyager episode where Naomi locks Harry Kim out of transporter controls!

Oh GOD, THIS. Seriously, doesn't anyone in the 24th century lock their fucking workstation? The mind boggles. That annoys me to no end, too.

That and the "YOU'RE THE ONLY SHIP IN RANGE!" bull. It's the worst. For example, in TFF, where they're on Earth, and a half-baked tin can that can't even fly right is the only one available? And before someone says "there's only one Jim Kirk" or whatever the excuse was that they used, why couldn't he just get on a working starship? No-one thought of that? It's the same damn thing in a different colour.

 

[C.E. Evans]

That and the "YOU'RE THE ONLY SHIP IN RANGE!" bull. It's the worst.

Space is kind of big, though. There are probably plenty of instances in which Ship X or Ship Y is the only vessel in range for whatever is going on in their respective theatre of operations, but Trek shows and movies tend to focus on just one vessel, so we rarely hear of the adventures other ships are having elsewhere...

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Yes, but this person would say 'I'm from the South', not from 'I'm from the southern part of this land formation.'

In "First Contact" with that line about 'the Marta community...on the southern continent', I always assumed this was just Riker himself being unfamiliar with the planet. The Malcorian doctors must have been suspicious at this but probably just wrote it off as being the rantings of a half delusional patient.

Absolutely anywhere in the ship can seemingly be used to comandeer the ship. Data [when being controlled by aliens] manages to reroute all ship functions to 10-forward! The damn BAR!

That's not a bug, it's a feature. Really, it is. If the main bridge or any of its control panels would be destroyed or damaged, then any computer control surface can be used to operate the ship. Same goes for engineering - if its control surfaces are damaged, then the engines can be accessed from whatever is available.

The basic thrust of the gist is: Any ship's system can be operated from anywhere ON the ship. Including padds, if that's the only option left. Maximum flexibility and redundancy. They really did do that on purpose.

 

[Richard Baker]

I think in TNG you could even configure a PADD to operate the ship while you were walking around. This does make sense, but there has to be some sort of security involved.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ Yep. And of course that means it can be hacked, but that's a problem with security, not the design of the whole system. I mean, people don't seriously claim that the Internet is useless because IT can be hacked, do they?

 

[Paradise City]

Data should be able to take the Enterprise at will. Look at Brothers, he grabs the ship without much hassle. He's a bit dumber in Power Play though.

Not that that's a "peeve" of mine as such. I don't really care.

A peeve would be that there's not so much of evidence of a closed circuit TV system in operation on the ship. There's plenty of intruders that'd have their schemes curtailed if they had a camera on their tail so that our heroes could know what they were up to.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

A peeve would be that there's not so much of evidence of a closed circuit TV system in operation on the ship. There's plenty of intruders that'd have their schemes curtailed if they had a camera on their tail so that our heroes could know what they were up to.

There'd be substantial privacy concerns with that, I would think.

Starfleet trusts its officers and crew enough to not have a Big Brother-like setup following them around all day.

 

[Paradise City]

There'd be substantial privacy concerns with that, I would think.

Starfleet trusts its officers and crew enough to not have a Big Brother-like setup following them around all day.

You go to Red Alert, the cameras go on.

 

[CommanderRaytas]

Space is kind of big, though. There are probably plenty of instances in which Ship X or Ship Y is the only vessel in range for whatever is going on in their respective theatre of operations, but Trek shows and movies tend to focus on just one vessel, so we rarely hear of the adventures other ships are having elsewhere...

Oh, that's true. However, they tend to rely on this gimmick a little too much, and sometimes it gets a little head-scratchy, especially when they're closer to Earth or when the place they're at is farther away from the current crisis than Starfleet HQ itself. Mostly, it's fine, but there are instances when I have to wonder if the writers couldn't have conjured up a better excuse.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Oh, that's true. However, they tend to rely on this gimmick a little too much, and sometimes it gets a little head-scratchy, especially when they're closer to Earth or when the place they're at is farther away from the current crisis than Starfleet HQ itself. Mostly, it's fine, but there are instances when I have to wonder if the writers couldn't have conjured up a better excuse.

I think in one way, it's a result of the format of having a series focused on a singular vessel. Exciting things have to frequently happen around it in order for it to be "the hero ship." Expanding the focus a bit on the entire fleet could help--even if it's just in the form of hearing in passing dialogue more about other ships elsewhere that were able to save this or that--so that it doesn't come across like only the ship we're following is the only one that can do anything.

As far as playing the hero when Earth is in danger, that could be the fault of relying on Earth too much as "the damsel in distress" that all audiences are familiar with, IMO.