Star Trek The Motion Picture 45th Anniversary Book Club

[Christopher]

Chapter Eight - Aftermath and Briefing
"Kirk was aware that he needed McCoy." So when does he put things in motion to coerce McCoy on board?

McCoy said, "Your revered Admiral Nogura invoked a little known, and seldom used, reserve activation clause." So presumably Kirk asked Nogura to do it in their meeting.

Honestly, who decided to start using the transporters mere seconds after Decker had them on line? Why were no tests run at that point? I get it: the transporters were going to break and kill people to show us that the ship is new and space is still scary. But the sequence of events is kind of compressed.

I remember explaining in Ex Machina that the transporter malfunction sent a false clear signal to Rand or something.

Wouldn't the shuttle deck have been large enough?

Good point.

But otherwise, GR predicts teleconferencing! (Yes, I'm sure someone else wrote about the same thing before this.)

The word "teleconference" was coined in 1952 and came into common use in the mid-70s. Even before the portmanteau was coined, the practice of telephone conferences would've existed. Intercom systems had been in use since the early 20th century, and many of the earliest telephone systems in the 1880s and after were party lines where multiple households shared the same line and could all hear each other's conversations. (You can see this in some older movies and the like; each household had its own distinctive ring pattern so they'd know whether a call was for them or somebody else.)

 

[David cgc]

(You can see this in some older movies and the like; each household had its own distinctive ring pattern so they'd know whether a call was for them or somebody else.)

We had that when I was growing up in the '90s. For a while my dad had a second phone number for business calls (but connected to the house's normal phone line, not like a special jack in one room that had its own number), and it had a different ring than standard.

 

[Commander Troi]

I had a busy weekend and fell behind.

Chapter 7:

GR manages to analogize seeing the Enterprise to a nude scene. The man was a wizard.

To be fair, he's comparing to a mythological scene that's been a subject for art for centuries.

I have to wonder what was the tremendous advantage of launching eight hours early? What were they going to do that they were now not able to do? How much time was lost after launch that might have been prevented in those eight hours? Or would everything that would go wrong after launch also have gone wrong if they had launched as scheduled so moving the launch up actually was critical?

I wonder that too. Was there no way the ship would be ready even in the original time frame they were given? I think that's possible.

overseeing refits, etc. (which makes it odd that he seemed so unfamiliar with the Enterprise refit)

He's not unfamiliar. The book specifically says, "Neither his study of the design prints nor his visits during construction has prepared him for the sheer multitude of changes which her final form carried now." He was involved heavily in the refit. But it's different when you see the nearly-final creation.

Chapters 7 & 8:

Why is Decker working on the transporter?

I honestly never thought about that. I assumed he was working on whatever seemed most pressing.

The description of the transporter accident makes watching that part of the film more horrific for me. It's very visceral and horrifying. "Enterprise, what we got back... didn't live long. Fortunately," is one of those lines that will haunt me forever.

It Kirk the problem or the ship?

Both. If Scotty says they might have launched in 20 hours, I tend to believe him. He says nothing has been fully tested and she hasn't had a shakedown. The ship definitely wasn't ready.

But Kirk is still fooling himself, and that's a dangerous thing for a Captain. When he wishes for McCoy, I did too, because Bones always was willing to call Kirk on his shit.

By the way, the "2.8 years" thing is one of the numerous things that I always assumed was a canonical part of the film because I read the novelization first and often.

Ditto!

Kirk emphasizes the importance of the social areas of the ship to the daily function of the mission, something that the various writer's guides may have mentioned but the closest we have gotten (until SNW) was Ten Forward. He also notes that other people not familiar with space exploration might consider it a trivial extravagance.

I love that. I think it's the kind of reasoning that later gives us a ship's counselor. People have more needs than just the basics (thank you, Maslow).

I remember explaining in Ex Machina that the transporter malfunction sent a false clear signal to Rand or something.

The novel says, "She could see now that every control was properly set; all instrument readings were perfect. Why were warning lights flashing there?" So yeah, it all looked clear to her.

Poor Decker. If someone stole something I'd worked on for a year and a half out from under me, I'd be pissed! His short outburst is pretty restrained in my book.

I love the Rec Deck scene (maybe they didn't use the shuttle bay because they needed the Big Screen?). Seeing a recording - a bit intimidating. Seeing a whole outpost destroyed real time - terrifying. Hearing that the thing was 82 AU (and then helpfully explaining "AU") still boggles my little brain.

 

[David cgc]

He's not unfamiliar. The book specifically says, "Neither his study of the design prints nor his visits during construction has prepared him for the sheer multitude of changes which her final form carried now." He was involved heavily in the refit. But it's different when you see the nearly-final creation.

It also comes up later on in the novelization (and I think has been referred to in other books, possibly including CLB's) that Kirk had been supervising the refit enough to see the plan about plugging the warp engine directly into the phasers with no backup power supply, and had been left with the impression that he'd successfully vetoed the idea until Decker told him in his quarters that they had, in fact, actually built the ship that way.

It's possible he was less involved than he'd have liked, with dozens or hundreds of other ships and stations to keep an eye on, but he hadn't just tossed the keys to Decker and Scotty and hadn't heard a thing about what was going on with the Enterprise for three years until he came back to take her over, he had some idea of what was going on, even if there'd apparently been some "managing upward" about Old Man Kirk's crazy cowboy ideas about needing phasers even if the warp drive is out.

 

[Tallguy]

maybe they didn't use the shuttle bay because they needed the Big Screen?

No, I'm not suggesting they should have used the hangar. I'm just saying that Kirk says that there has never been room to assemble the whole crew. Probably not strictly accurate.

Hearing that the thing was 82 AU (and then helpfully explaining "AU") still boggles my little brain.

The Director's Edition cuts it down to a more "reasonable" 2 AUs. (I mean, they're both insane.)

even if there'd apparently been some "managing upward" about Old Man Kirk's crazy cowboy ideas about needing phasers even if the warp drive is out.

Spoilers!

 

[Commander Troi]

No, I'm not suggesting they should have used the hangar. I'm just saying that Kirk says that there has never been room to assemble the whole crew. Probably not strictly accurate.

Ah. My mistake/misreading.

The Director's Edition cuts it down to a more "reasonable" 2 AUs. (I mean, they're both insane.)

I thought it was less in the movie, but couldn't remember exactly.

Spoilers!

Yeah, @David cgc, we're reading it still.

 

[Christopher]

He's not unfamiliar. The book specifically says, "Neither his study of the design prints nor his visits during construction has prepared him for the sheer multitude of changes which her final form carried now." He was involved heavily in the refit. But it's different when you see the nearly-final creation.

As david said, I was talking about Kirk not knowing about the phaser power issue.

The Director's Edition cuts it down to a more "reasonable" 2 AUs. (I mean, they're both insane.)

What bugs me is, either way, the energy field would have to be outside the warp field, since a warp field on the scale of a planetary orbital diameter would probably cause gravitational distortions worse than a black hole. So how does the energy field move faster than light? All I can think of is that the warp field is actually exciting the interstellar gases around it as it passes through them. There's nothing that says a physical pattern can't move FTL as long as matter and information don't; you can shoot a laser at the Moon from Earth and whip it sideways, and the position of the light spot on the Moon's surface will change faster than the speed of light, because the spot isn't a physical object, just a succession of different photons scattering off of the Moon's surface at various points.

 

[Tallguy]

What bugs me is, either way, the energy field would have to be outside the warp field, since a warp field on the scale of a planetary orbital diameter would probably cause gravitational distortions worse than a black hole. So how does the energy field move faster than light? All I can think of is that the warp field is actually exciting the interstellar gases around it as it passes through them. There's nothing that says a physical pattern can't move FTL as long as matter and information don't; you can shoot a laser at the Moon from Earth and whip it sideways, and the position of the light spot on the Moon's surface will change faster than the speed of light, because the spot isn't a physical object, just a succession of different photons scattering off of the Moon's surface at various points.

Somehow I think the Intruder (whatever it is) has knowledge that spans this universe. So... It can make whatever kind of warp eight cloud it wants. For puuuuuure-ly logic-al reasons.

 

[drt]

OK, so I'm jamming through my own re-read to catch up.

My quick thoughts on a few things...

Chapter 1: I guess Kirk forgot his communicator, using the sensor implant to tell him about the Klingons and V'ger seems kind of overkill, Starfeet was worried that his conversation might be monitored but it seems just as easy to call him and tell him to get to a secure location to speak with Nogura.
Chapter 2: so Vulcan has had nine seasons in 2.8 Earth years, I feel as a desert Vulcan probably only has two seasons a Vulcan year, dry and rainy (or maybe less dry, lol), so 4.5 Vulcan years isn't too far off of @Christopher 's 200-odd days for a Vulcan year above.
Chapter 3: this chapter actually states that Kirk is responsible for fleet deployments, which answers @Rok'n Around the XmasTree 's question above. Kirk also mentions that Africa was an "island of tranquility and progess during the savagery which had racked most of the rest of the world during the twenty-first century", which seems to indicate that by this time Roddenberry was already considering the war-torn twenty-first century described in "Encounter at Farpoint" (it's also interesting that Africa was largely spared from WW3.
Chapter 4: some San Francisco geographical musings... the novel says the tram station is at Telegraph Hill, while the movie places it in the Presidio, so the novel's location is probably more in line with Roddenberry's thoughts earlier about 23rd century urban delevelpment versus building a giant tram complex in what essentally already a park.
Chapter 5: similarly to Bill, I've read the TMP novelization at least half dozen times, and I don't ever recall the "Centroplex" term at all, and it isn't like they just use it once in passing - I also agree that the novel describes something much more like the orbital complex in Star Trek '09 than the rinky-dink space station we see in TMP.
Chapter 6: not much to add here, but wanted to mention that being privy to Kirk's thoughts and current motivation for several chapters, plus actually having a scene with Nogura, does make Kirk's obsessiveness come across much better than it does in the film.
Chapter 7: I don't think I ever noticed the bit where Kirk says the new engines were "six times as powerful as anything ever carried into space before", (holy crap!). Since this chapter contains the transporter accident, I'm going to bring up for discussion something I've mentioned before in other TMP threads. I've always found it interesting that TMP strongly implies that a working transporter chamber is required at both ends, from the terminology used during the accident, to how now occasions that would have been routine transports for a single transporter now requires use of travel pods and shuttlecraft.
Chapter 8: it's funny that this chapter calls out how Kirk felt it was important to address the crew after changing into a captain's uniform, but in the film he did not do so (probably because they wanted to save that visual for when he goes to the bridge and first sits in the center seat).

What bugs me is, either way, the energy field would have to be outside the warp field, since a warp field on the scale of a planetary orbital diameter would probably cause gravitational distortions worse than a black hole. So how does the energy field move faster than light? All I can think of is that the warp field is actually exciting the interstellar gases around it as it passes through them.

This is essentially how I personal explain the cloud, although that's probaby colored by the idea of how warp fields work in the later productions than anything we see in TOS or TMP. In fact, the special effects team is pretty consistent in how Enterprise's engines are illuminated when the warp drive is active, which they are until the ship is grabbed by V'ger's tractor beam (which means Sulu's 500m fly by of V'ger is a little more exciting since both ships are going warp 7 at the time).

 

[Tallguy]

Chapter Nine - Deltan Cooties and McCoy

Thirty-one of the crew saw the Intruder and said "Thanks. I'll sit this one out."

Kirk can't figure out how to get into his captain's chair because the safety restraints are closed. This is a funny scene and one that would have been hard to communicate on film. Also: Take THAT Captain Picard. (I guess the scene with the seatbelts in Nemesis was a deleted scene, wasn't it?) I always loved this chair design.

So far, so good. Kirk’s scan of the status board seemed to indicate that Decker was performing the functions of an exec properly, managing the routine of the vessel so that Kirk would be free to concentrate on command considerations.

Who was Decker's exec? Maybe he or she was doing such a great job that Decker could play with the transporter?

And we meet Ilia. She's Deltan. They're really sexy. Chemically so. (That's twice that we get to hear about the status of the Kirk Unit.) They're so sexy that they take an oath to not mess around with the non-Deltans. (Any non-Deltans? Or just the sexually immature creatures like humans?)

Ah, Gene.

But the effects of these Deltan pheromones were still felt by them, and an unsuspecting human was likely to find himself in considerable sexual excitement without understanding why.

Isn't that actually a little creepy?

What I do like about this scene is that Kirk always has the wheels spinning in his head about how anything affects his ship and his command and how he can manage it.

As in the film Ilia notes Decker's commander's stripes. I never noticed this before but when Decker appears in engineering and also when he sees Kirk after the transporter accident he is also wearing commander's stripes! (He has the little shoulder epaulets.) We never see Captain Decker. (45 years later and I just found a new goof!)

“Sir, Starfleet reports our last six crew members ready to beam up,” interrupted Chekov. “But one of them is refusing to step onto Starfleet’s transporter platform.”

I think this might be Chekov's first actual line. (He may be the one who says "Sir?" when Kirk first appears on the bridge.) But why is it Chekov? In the film it's naturally Uhura.

Oh, and now we have a scene that would not appear until the Special Longer Version that aired on ABC television. It's a dumb scene but we at least get a clearer indication of what is happening. On film it's just Sulu getting unreasonably flustered over a pretty girl. It was not retained for the Director's Edition.

Ilia kept her eyes on the console. “I would never take advantage of a sexually immature species,” she replied. Then she looked up at Decker. “You can assure him that’s true, can’t you?”

This was the only good thing in the scene. It's still probably a dumb line but I liked the delivery.

Bones beams onto the Enterprise.

He was heavily bearded and wore work-shirt and pants, heavy boots, all of which fitted Kirk’s information that McCoy had become something of a recluse while he researched applications of Fabrini medicine among surface dwellers.

OK, who had For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky on their bingo card? I admit that when I first read this I had no idea what it meant. It still blows my mind that of all of the episodes GR would reference it would be this one.

The time was long past when men could be forced to serve on naval vessels. Nogura’s “drafting” of McCoy (at Kirk’s request) had little more authority than moral persuasion.

I think it's funny that Gene immediately walks back the line about being drafted. Of course the draft in the United States had only ended six years earlier.

Considering that Kirk only had his meeting with Nogura somewhere in the neighborhood of twelve hours ago (we learn that they are holding at "at launch minus twenty-one minutes" while crew replacements are boarding but we're not told how long the hold lasts) this would have been a very abrupt change to McCoy's day. Heck yeah, he'd be pissed.

We get a little more Writer's Guide about some of the role of the ship's doctor in keeping the captain in check.

Unlike the film where the scene ends with McCoy muttering (with a genuine laugh line!) and walking out the door, this chapter ends with Kirk being told that McCoy is the last to board and:

Kirk gave her a nod and turned to the intercom. “All decks, this is the captain speaking. Prepare for immediate departure.”

I know the next scene makes this self-explanatory, but I wonder what that would have looked like on film? In any event it's a bracing end to the chapter.

some San Francisco geographical musings... the novel says the tram station is at Telegraph Hill, while the movie places it in the Presidio, so the novel's location is probably more in line with Roddenberry's thoughts earlier about 23rd century urban delevelpment versus building a giant tram complex in what essentally already a park.

I wondered about that myself. He says that the tram flies "through the Telegraph Hill entry and was settling to a stop at the terminal beneath Starfleet Headquarters". He also says that Starfleet Command "is centered in a structure which thrusts itself magnificently spaceward out of the redwood forest of San Francisco’s old city peninsula.".

I also agree that the novel describes something much more like the orbital complex in Star Trek '09 than the rinky-dink space station we see in TMP.

Spacedock?

He still describes the dockyards as being separate from the Centroplex.

Since this chapter contains the transporter accident, I'm going to bring up for discussion something I've mentioned before in other TMP threads. I've always found it interesting that TMP strongly implies that a working transporter chamber is required at both ends, from the terminology used during the accident, to how now occasions that would have been routine transports for a single transporter now requires use of travel pods and shuttlecraft.

I'm not sure I agree, but I see your point. Why do the Enterprise's transporters needed to be working?

The movie and the book are rather anti-transporter. Kirk makes his way around the whole planet without using a transporter once. The transporter was a cost saving measure for the show but it also became a defining part of Star Trek's character. So they couldn't just dispense with it. That's not very Star Trek. (Although what is more Star Trek than the flip top communicators? And those are gone.)

TMP figured out how to still include the transporter without making it the way that people get around in the movie. They never find themselves in the position to have to beam down anyplace. Because why beam down when you can walk out onto the top of the saucer and isn't that just hella cool?

I still think (jumping ahead) that you could still have a mysterious courier shuttle arrive and then beam the occupant on board to give Spock an ENTRANCE. It would have made more sense for him to then have had to make his way to the bridge.

Heck, SNW even managed to give James T. Kirk his very important beam in. "Mr. Kyle, set transporter on dramatic."

it's funny that this chapter calls out how Kirk felt it was important to address the crew after changing into a captain's uniform, but in the film he did not do so (probably because they wanted to save that visual for when he goes to the bridge and first sits in the center seat).

I caught that too. The problem is we're not used to any of these uniforms. So it's not as dramatic to see Kirk "back in uniform" when it's just kind of a costume change. Just as TWOK depends on us not knowing what the uniforms mean to convince us that Saavik is the captain this scene depends on us knowing that this is what a captain looks like. And we don't. You "get" the scene if you know what to look for, but as a general dramatic device it just doesn't quite land.

 

[Christopher]

Chapter 1: I guess Kirk forgot his communicator, using the sensor implant to tell him about the Klingons and V'ger seems kind of overkill, Starfeet was worried that his conversation might be monitored but it seems just as easy to call him and tell him to get to a secure location to speak with Nogura.

But that's not futuristic enough!

Chapter 2: so Vulcan has had nine seasons in 2.8 Earth years, I feel as a desert Vulcan probably only has two seasons a Vulcan year, dry and rainy (or maybe less dry, lol), so 4.5 Vulcan years isn't too far off of @Christopher 's 200-odd days for a Vulcan year above.

I was tempted to figure out how the seasons broke down, but I wasn't sure how many seasons there might be in that climate.

Chapter 3: this chapter actually states that Kirk is responsible for fleet deployments, which answers @Rok'n Around the XmasTree 's question above. Kirk also mentions that Africa was an "island of tranquility and progess during the savagery which had racked most of the rest of the world during the twenty-first century", which seems to indicate that by this time Roddenberry was already considering the war-torn twenty-first century described in "Encounter at Farpoint" (it's also interesting that Africa was largely spared from WW3.

So far, it looks increasingly like he was on the right track about 21st-century chaos (also part of the backstory in my Arachne-Troubleshooter Universe, though things get better after midcentury). And I recall reading about some positive signs of progress in Africa...

Chapter 4: some San Francisco geographical musings... the novel says the tram station is at Telegraph Hill, while the movie places it in the Presidio, so the novel's location is probably more in line with Roddenberry's thoughts earlier about 23rd century urban delevelpment versus building a giant tram complex in what essentally already a park.

Yeah... I can understand why visual-effects artists would choose empty places like parks to add futuristic building complexes to an existing cityscape, but it raises some disquieting questions about Starfleet's respect for the environment.

Chapter 7: I don't think I ever noticed the bit where Kirk says the new engines were "six times as powerful as anything ever carried into space before", (holy crap!). Since this chapter contains the transporter accident, I'm going to bring up for discussion something I've mentioned before in other TMP threads. I've always found it interesting that TMP strongly implies that a working transporter chamber is required at both ends, from the terminology used during the accident, to how now occasions that would have been routine transports for a single transporter now requires use of travel pods and shuttlecraft.

Hmm, interesting observation. Well, one could postulate that in the heart of civilization, where there are all sorts of stray broadcast signals and competing transporter beams bouncing around, it might be safer to have chambers at both ends to keep the beam focused and free of interference; whereas out on the frontier, it's more feasible to make do with a single sending or receiving station. Although I'm not sure that argument holds up, since if the emergency was great enough to risk rushing the ship's preparations (thereby resulting in a fatal transporter accident), it would've presumably been great enough to risk a receiverless transport to the ship.

There is precedent in TOS for Starfleet preferring to beam station-to-station when the option exists, as in "The Trouble with Tribbles," and in cases where someone beams to the Enterprise from another ship as in "Charlie X."

This is essentially how I personal explain the cloud, although that's probaby colored by the idea of how warp fields work in the later productions than anything we see in TOS or TMP. In fact, the special effects team is pretty consistent in how Enterprise's engines are illuminated when the warp drive is active, which they are until the ship is grabbed by V'ger's tractor beam (which means Sulu's 500m fly by of V'ger is a little more exciting since both ships are going warp 7 at the time).

I presume that by the time they get that close, they're inside the warp bubble and being carried along with it. But if the cloud is outside the warp bubble, then the ship would need to be going at warp to get through it. If we go with the DE diameter of 2 AU, or 1 AU radius, it would take about 8 1/3 minutes to pass through it at the speed of light, and the sequence takes about 5 minutes in the original cut, less in the DE. Although the graphic shows the ship coming in at the narrower equatorial portion of the cloud, so it could be close enough there that they could pass through it at impulse just a few minutes, but that would have to be pretty high impulse. So maybe it makes more sense if they're at warp until they close to visual range of V'Ger proper. (Of course, at the original 82-AU diameter, they'd have to pass through the cloud at warp.)

Who was Decker's exec? Maybe he or she was doing such a great job that Decker could play with the transporter?

I suggested in Ex Machina that Decker considered Uhura for the role, but I didn't make it clear whether she would've accepted.

Isn't that actually a little creepy?

I don't see why, any more than a teenage boy getting aroused by the proximity of a beautiful adult woman (or man if that's their preference). Human attraction probably involves pheromones to some degree; at least scent is a factor, which is why there's a perfume industry. And attractive people can't help being attractive; it's not something they can turn off. I certainly know all too well what it feels like to be utterly enraptured with a beautiful woman, to feel like I'm completely under her spell and would do anything she asked. It's perfectly natural; it's just turned up to 11 (or maybe 15) with Deltans.

It would only be creepy if the more mature person chose to take advantage of the immature person's attraction, and the whole reason Deltans have a celibacy oath is that they'd never do that.

The movie and the book are rather anti-transporter. Kirk makes his way around the whole planet without using a transporter once. The transporter was a cost saving measure for the show but it also became a defining part of Star Trek's character. So they couldn't just dispense with it. That's not very Star Trek. (Although what is more Star Trek than the flip top communicators? And those are gone.)

Maybe the idea was that transporters were more a necessity for explorers on the frontier, while on Earth they were unnecessary since there were so many other travel options like high-speed orbital shuttles. Maybe the assumption was that transporters were still a relatively new technology, in contrast to what ENT later established.

You could say the movie is anti-phaser too. It's long struck me that not one phaser is fired in the film; the one time Kirk orders a phaser fired, his phaaaaserrrrr orrrrderrrrr is beelayyyyed in favor of phoooootonnnnnn torrrpeeeeedooooooesssss. It's quite a contrast to TWOK, where starship and pistol phasers are fired all over the place. (I think TVH is phaserless too aside from Chekov's abortive attempt to fire the Klingon phaser.)

I still think (jumping ahead) that you could still have a mysterious courier shuttle arrive and then beam the occupant on board to give Spock an ENTRANCE. It would have made more sense for him to then have had to make his way to the bridge.

The port he docked to is directly on the back of the bridge module. If Mr. Scott's Guide to the Enterprise is accurate, then Spock would've only had to take a few steps to the bridge turbolift, which would've only had to rotate less than 180 degrees in place to open out on the bridge. (Although that illustration has some slight inconsistencies with the set in the movie.) The only way he would've had a shorter walk is if he'd beamed directly onto the bridge.

 

[Tallguy]

You could say the movie is anti-phaser too. It's long struck me that not one phaser is fired in the film; the one time Kirk orders a phaser fired, his phaaaaserrrrr orrrrderrrrr is beelayyyyed in favor of phoooootonnnnnn torrrpeeeeedooooooesssss. It's quite a contrast to TWOK, where starship and pistol phasers are fired all over the place. (I think TVH is phaserless too aside from Chekov's abortive attempt to fire the Klingon phaser.)

TWOK is the only film where the Enterprise fires phasers. Although yes, other films show hand phasers.

The port he docked to is directly on the back of the bridge module. If Mr. Scott's Guide to the Enterprise is accurate, then Spock would've only had to take a few steps to the bridge turbolift, which would've only had to rotate less than 180 degrees in place to open out on the bridge. (Although that illustration has some slight inconsistencies with the set in the movie.) The only way he would've had a shorter walk is if he'd beamed directly onto the bridge.

Yeah, people have figured out (mostly) how to get that little anteroom to work with the turbolifts. It's awkward.

I've become less enamored with that dock over the years. For one thing given it's placement on top of the BC deck, IIRC it would be difficult / impossible for a ship to fit to be able to dock. (If I ever measured the shuttle and the dock I don't remember. It's at least very close.) And more to the point, why do you want a ship to dock with your bridge?

But it's no dumber than lots of other Star Trek things.

As I've realized how the movie avoided the transporter it just felt like it could have been a "cake and eat it too" situation of showing the cool new shuttle and still have a practical use of the transporter. It feels like (I have nothing concrete to back this up) that they are showing their cards: The only reason the transporter existed was to cut costs. And now we have all the money in the world! So screw it!"

 

[Christopher]

TWOK is the only film where the Enterprise fires phasers. Although yes, other films show hand phasers.

I thought that was the case, but I couldn't remember for sure.

Hold on, the only film, or just the only original-cast film? What about the TNG and Kelvin movies?

 

[David cgc]

Yeah, people have figured out (mostly) how to get that little anteroom to work with the turbolifts. It's awkward.

Plus, they hide it in the edit, but it means Chekov had to awkwardly sidle out of the elevator and around Uhura to get to his mark so he's not just standing behind Spock during his dramatic reappearance.

Hold on, the only film, or just the only original-cast film? What about the TNG and Kelvin movies?

Only original-cast film. The TNG and KT movies didn't have the same aversion to phasers in space battles (or showing shields, for that matter; I remember reading they didn't have a visual effect in TUC because they hadn't established one in the prior five movies, but it wasn't until they were well into production that someone pointed out that that was because this was the first time the script had a ship taking fire without the shields being disabled in advance).

 

[Tallguy]

I thought that was the case, but I couldn't remember for sure.

Hold on, the only film, or just the only original-cast film? What about the TNG and Kelvin movies?

The only film that matters! *cough* Yes, the only TOS film. The Kelvin phasers (like literally from the U.S.S. Kelvin) are crazy cool. Then they went to the pew pew. TNG had plenty of phasers and they were pretty much just TNG phasers. I think? Hmmm.

Plus, they hide it in the edit, but it means Chekov had to awkwardly sidle out of the elevator and around Uhura to get to his mark so he's not just standing behind Spock during his dramatic reappearance.

I just watched that! I was going to ask "Why didn't Chekov follow Spock?" It's hilarious! You don't see him move to follow Spock out of the dock and then Spock appears in the turbolift alone. Then a shot later poor Pavel is kind of awkwardly walking to his mark on the other side of Uhura.

 

[Christopher]

I just watched that! I was going to ask "Why didn't Chekov follow Spock?" It's hilarious! You don't see him move to follow Spock out of the dock and then Spock appears in the turbolift alone. Then a shot later poor Pavel is kind of awkwardly walking to his mark on the other side of Uhura.

Well, presumably the shuttle had a pilot who took it back after dropping Spock off, so maybe Chekov lagged behind to check in with the pilot or arrange their departure clearance or something (as he was the security chief).

(This feels like one of those "Elf on the Shelf" joke memes. "Now we've got Spock in the Dock!")

 

[Commander Troi]

Kirk can't figure out how to get into his captain's chair because the safety restraints are closed. This is a funny scene and one that would have been hard to communicate on film.

It's very funny and still makes me laugh now. I love how Kirk refers to it as his "highchair."

Who was Decker's exec?

I suggested in Ex Machina that Decker considered Uhura for the role, but I didn't make it clear whether she would've accepted.

It's a good question. Nice possible answer, Christopher!

This was the only good thing in the scene. It's still probably a dumb line but I liked the delivery.

The snark and shade in that line and it's delivery! Yowtch! Even as a kid, without understanding the context, I could tell she was still pissed at him about something.

OK, who had For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky on their bingo card? I admit that when I first read this I had no idea what it meant.

Thank you! I couldn't remember where "Fabrini" came from for the life of me and was about to hit Memory Alpha before I read this.

We get a little more Writer's Guide about some of the role of the ship's doctor in keeping the captain in check.

I love this. It does make me wonder about the CMOs on say, Ron Tracey's ship.

It also makes me think Gene was thinking about the concept of the ship's counselor already.

I love McCoy's grousing and bitching. It sounds like McCoy completely.

TWOK is the only film where the Enterprise fires phasers. Although yes, other films show hand phasers.

Seriously? Damn. I did not know that.

So, everyone's aboard and the gang's all here.... oh, wait...

 

[Tallguy]

It does make me wonder about the CMOs on say, Ron Tracey's ship.

He got a little salty.

It also makes me think Gene was thinking about the concept of the ship's counselor already.

This was pretty much the same role that he had in mind for the CMO back in TOS. You can find the same sort of riff in The Making of Star Trek. (Now there is a book I would like a digital, searchable copy of!)

 

[Avro Arrow]

(I think TVH is phaserless too aside from Chekov's abortive attempt to fire the Klingon phaser.)

IIRC, Kirk used a Klingon phaser to fuse the door lock when they locked up the medical team that was going to operate on Chekov.

He got a little salty.

 

[Christopher]

IIRC, Kirk used a Klingon phaser to fuse the door lock when they locked up the medical team that was going to operate on Chekov.

Ah, yes. But that's about as nonviolent as the use of a phaser can get.