Star Trek VI: 2 pairs of gravity boots

[Winterwind]

What's degrading about it for Uhura? Absolutely nothing. If anything, it's a knock against men for being so daft that the mere thought of a naked woman sends them scampering up a hill only to be caught by the enemy.

And again, as has been stated by many, myself included, the humour doesn't come at the expense of the characters. People walk into walls or bump their heads all the time in real life. Is Scotty "super human" and above such normal human accidents? Chekov and Sulu can fly a starship anywhere in the galaxy with the help of their training and the ship's computers. That doesn't mean you can plop them in the middle of a forest and expect them to find their way out with no problems. Give me a road map and I can travel pretty much anywhere. Drop me in the middle of a forest and I'd probably get lost too.

 

[Maurice]

Maybe someone pointed this out, but many of you are forgetting that Spock and crew had no idea what the assassins were wearing other than "gravity boots", which Spock picked up from the broadcast of the trial. That's how they knew what to look for as evidence. They had no idea what else they were wearing.

 

[MasuPu'a]

What's degrading about it for Uhura? Absolutely nothing. If anything, it's a knock against men for being so daft that the mere thought of a naked woman sends them scampering up a hill only to be caught by the enemy.

It is degrading to see a competent Starfleet officer reduced to strip-dancing in order to distract the enemy. Considering that Uhura was able to subdue Mr. Adventure in SfS without showing her breasts shows that she does has resources beyond her body.

Think about it, why did Uhura have to strip-dance in the first place? There are other ways to distract the enemy. In fact strip-dancing was one of the dumber options because it left Uhura in the open without weapons, what if one of the sand-people had decided to shoot? What if they all hadn't come running up the ridge and instead had sent only a few up? The reason they pick this option is because it's 'funny,' and not because it's the best plan. Definitely not the most respectful plan in terms to Uhura's character.

 

[Therin of Andor]

it left Uhura in the open without weapons, what if one of the sand-people had decided to shoot?

IIRC, Uhura produces a phaser at the end of the sequence in the comic adaptation, leading to amusing fan speculation as to just where she concealed it whilst dancing.

 

[Timo]

Seriously, that thing was huge and very noticeable

...Noticeable for what? A big stain?

plus how could Spock have known that the Klingons would let Kirk keep his uniform? Couldn't they just have injected a subcutaneous transponder like they did in ONE AND ONLY ONE TOS episode?

I thought this one was subcutaneous. After all, it's not a device: once Spock slaps it in place, it spreads and changes shape. It's described as a "viridium patch", which sounds like the name of a chemical compound: a patch of viridium, a substance that seeps into the uniform, and ultimately into Kirk himself. Whether the Klingons let Kirk keep the jacket would then be fairly irrelevant.

discussing covert plans in front of the Romulan ambassador was equally daft.

Why? They weren't covert from the Romulans - that was pretty much the point. The Feds wanted war with the Klingons; for the past twenty years, this had not been possible for some reason. But with Romulans as allies...

Spock and crew had no idea what the assassins were wearing other than "gravity boots"

I find it a bit difficult to believe that visuals of the murderous rampage would not have been made public... But yes, much is made about the fact that our heroes listening in on the trial hear "some sort of magnetic boots" being mentioned, and Spock then immediately goes "hmm, gravity boots!".

Timo Saloniemi

 

[DestinyCaptain]

TUC is very poorly written. It's more a series of gags and segments than it is a cogent movie. It's also heavy handed and paints all of the original series characters as bumbling. I actually think TFF is marginally better.

 

[JarodRussell]

Geez, I can remember times where TUC was considered one of the best.

 

[Winterwind]

What's degrading about it for Uhura? Absolutely nothing. If anything, it's a knock against men for being so daft that the mere thought of a naked woman sends them scampering up a hill only to be caught by the enemy.

It is degrading to see a competent Starfleet officer reduced to strip-dancing in order to distract the enemy. Considering that Uhura was able to subdue Mr. Adventure in SfS without showing her breasts shows that she does has resources beyond her body.

Think about it, why did Uhura have to strip-dance in the first place? There are other ways to distract the enemy. In fact strip-dancing was one of the dumber options because it left Uhura in the open without weapons, what if one of the sand-people had decided to shoot? What if they all hadn't come running up the ridge and instead had sent only a few up? The reason they pick this option is because it's 'funny,' and not because it's the best plan. Definitely not the most respectful plan in terms to Uhura's character.

You have your opinion, I have mine. I think Uhura comes off fine and the men just look like idiots. And if Nichelle had an issue with the scene she could have refused. Only complaint I've heard from her was they dubbed the singing. *shrugs*

TUC is very poorly written. It's more a series of gags and segments than it is a cogent movie. It's also heavy handed and paints all of the original series characters as bumbling. I actually think TFF is marginally better.

Agreed. Meyers did a great job with TWOK. TUC, while I originally enjoyed it for the most part, has far too many cringe moments for me now.

 

[MarsWeeps]

Seriously, that thing was huge and very noticeable

...Noticeable for what? A big stain?

plus how could Spock have known that the Klingons would let Kirk keep his uniform? Couldn't they just have injected a subcutaneous transponder like they did in ONE AND ONLY ONE TOS episode?

I thought this one was subcutaneous. After all, it's not a device: once Spock slaps it in place, it spreads and changes shape. It's described as a "viridium patch", which sounds like the name of a chemical compound: a patch of viridium, a substance that seeps into the uniform, and ultimately into Kirk himself.

From what I remember, it was a patch, like an iron on patch that Spock just slapped to the back of Kirk's jacket. It was very easy to see on screen. I remember nothing about it changing shape and "seeping" into Kirk's jacket and into Kirk himself, where did you ever get that idea?

I also wondered why Spock didn't do the same for McCoy, did he expect both of them to always be together?

Here is a screen capture from Memory Alpha, it looks like a big piece of velcro.

Also, Memory Alpha describes it as:

A viridium patch is a small device which could be attached to clothing and used for tracking purposes. The patch emits a signal which could be detected up to two sectors away.

In 2293, Captain Spock placed a viridium patch on the uniform of Captain James T. Kirk, as the latter prepared to beam over to the IKS Kronos One from the USS Enterprise-A following the assassination of Klingon chancellor Gorkon. After Kirk's arrest and trial, Spock was able to use the patch to rescue Kirk and Leonard McCoy from the gulag at Rura Penthe.

 

[MarsWeeps]

Here is another picture from moviemistakes .com which show the patch in a different orientation on Kirk's jacket:

 

[CorporalCaptain]

So, like: I guess the rationale for the placement of the viridium patch was that since those uniforms were so busy to begin with, from the perspective of artistic composition, simply placing the patch in a position that would not disrupt the compositional balance would allow the patch to hide in plain sight. Hmm.

You know, I almost bought it when watching the film, especially since the various and numerous other shenanigans moved that little wtf pretty far down in my list of complaints.

 

[JarodRussell]

I never ever noticed the patch when I saw the movie the first time, so it worked for me.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Because it's a dumb movie.

I'm sorry, but I'm serious, that's the answer I think.

Yep. The entire murder mystery and its "clues" are poorly and arbitrarily constructed.

And the viridium patch thing was beyond ridiculous.

 

[Tiberius]

What's degrading about it for Uhura? Absolutely nothing. If anything, it's a knock against men for being so daft that the mere thought of a naked woman sends them scampering up a hill only to be caught by the enemy.

Because Uhura is an intelligent woman and the only thing that they could do is say, "Hey, Uhura, go up there, take your clothes off and do a sexy dance, maybe sing something to get their attention. Then when they come over to try to have sex with you, we can steal their horses."

And again, as has been stated by many, myself included, the humour doesn't come at the expense of the characters. People walk into walls or bump their heads all the time in real life. Is Scotty "super human" and above such normal human accidents?

Scotty is meant to know the ins and outs of the Enterprise. It's his job. To have him walk into a bulkhead right after saying he knows the ship is like the lame joke "I'm the best shot in the world, oops, I missed." That kind of joke belongs in a Johnny English movie, not Star Trek.

Chekov and Sulu can fly a starship anywhere in the galaxy with the help of their training and the ship's computers. That doesn't mean you can plop them in the middle of a forest and expect them to find their way out with no problems.

I would expect that Chekov and Sulu would know how to read a map, use a compass and find the North Star.

TUC is very poorly written. It's more a series of gags and segments than it is a cogent movie. It's also heavy handed and paints all of the original series characters as bumbling. I actually think TFF is marginally better.

REALLY?!?! Even if your criticisms are deserved, you don't think that TFF is guilty of the exact same thing, and to a greater degree? Each character is more bumbling in TFF than they ever are in TUC.

 

[Pauln6]

Chekov's bumbling in TUC is worse because at the time of TMP he was a security officer and, according to the novel, the security chief!

 

[Timo]

I would expect that Chekov and Sulu would know how to read a map, use a compass and find the North Star.

Doesn't wash. A compass doesn't help you much unless you know where you are. A map only helps you if you can identify the counterparts of its features in the landscape around you. Being lost in the woods generally deprives you from both things. And you can't navigate by stars in daylight!

Really, the idea that the heroes can't get lost is so absurd that it would be a prime candidate for Johnny English III!

Chekov's bumbling in TUC is worse because at the time of TMP he was a security officer

Well, he sat at the gunnery station. Doesn't mean he knew anything about law enforcement or security protocols.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Sandoval]

Well, he sat at the gunnery station. Doesn't mean he knew anything about law enforcement or security protocols.

Timo Saloniemi

Although the likelihood of a senior officer aboard a starship not knowing that firing a phaser at that level onboard triggers an alarm seems remote in the extreme.

To be sure...

 

[Timo]

Kirk in TMP had a flimsier idea about what the firing of the ship's main guns entailed.

To be sure, the feature might be a new one, as hand phasers on kill were fired in several TOS episodes without apparent alarm. We could argue, though, that those phaser firings were authorized ones, the phasers being tagged as cleared for deadly use (such as when the redshirts valiantly tried to contain the NOMAD threat) - and that the one explicitly unauthorized firing in "Conscience of the King" was at stun setting and was intended to be lethal solely due to proximity and repeated shots, the very trick used in ST6.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Sandoval]

Kirk in TMP had a flimsier idea about what the firing of the ship's main guns entailed.
Timo Saloniemi

Although, to be sure, Kirk had not been a serving officer aboard the ship for over two years at that point, so some unfamiliarity with her systems after such a massive refit is understandable.

Chekov however appears to have had an unbroken spell aboard the Enterprise for many years, more than enough time to have become familiar with whether or not firing a phaser onboard set off an alarm.

To be sure...

 

[Timo]

Where would it be established that Chekov stayed aboard beyond ST5 (an adventure that only involved a few days, during which the ship's systems were not functioning properly)?

At the start of ST6, the old bunch of heroes seems to have been summoned specifically for this single diplomatic escort mission. McCoy is surprised by the fact, and further wonders why the set isn't complete, as he has no idea about what Sulu is doing at the time. None of our heroes are specifically established as being permanent NCC-1701-A officers...

...And we get very few hints, all of them obscure. Spock is concerned about finding a successor as he moves on to pure diplomacy; does he want Valeris to become the next Science Officer or Executive of the E-A? Or does he hold some other position in which he's in need of a replacement?

Timo Saloniemi