The most nitpickiest of all nitpicks (Star Trek-2009)

[Dale Sams]

Allright, starships don't have pre-flight checklists? Fair enough. We've never seen one. But if it's completely automated, then whatever goof-up Sulu did to keep the Enterprise from going into warp should have been automated as well.

You either have the green light, or you don't.

 

[YellowSubmarine]

We're all working with systems that are partially automated, and the reason there's a human pilot is that the system is not fully automated, or the automation is not fully trusted. So, when you're using an automated system today (or creating one), you still have to do a lot of things manually, and half of them make you go "they/we should have automated this one! it's a no-brainer"

It's indeed weird that a more sophisticated system is not automated in this regard, but even our less sophisticated systems are often requiring our input for things much sillier.

So:
1. Maybe the system didn't give the green light - the ship didn't fly, after all.
2. Maybe it should have been dead obvious to the pilot, like closing the front door during winter.
3. Maybe nobody bothered, because rarely anyone forgot.
4. Many episodes and films plots rested on creative use of the ship systems. Going to warp with the external inertial dampeners on might have some weird use. If the system forbade you from doing it, your options will be limited by one. Starfleet probably discovered early on that their systems should be flexible, giving the pilot the ability to do unorthodox things, and the Enterprise allowed Sulu to do this, assuming he was doing one of those things.
5. The ship was just constructed. Perhaps it wasn't yet tested enough, and the warning light for this malfunctioned. Showing glitches, just like its crew straight out of the academy.

 

[The Doctor]

It felt implied that Sulu had missed that item in the checklist. The entire point of the joke was that he was excited to be piloting a starship and inexperienced enough to miss something painfully obvious.

There's really no nit to pick, here.

 

[Levi]

I always assumed it was just something very easy to do so it was not automated. Perhaps he just forgot to hit the button right in front of his face because he was so nervous/excited? When Spok suggested the Inertial Dampeners, Sulu's face did seem along the lines of 'how did I forget that'.
At the farthest reach for me, that was a brand new ship and it was not as far into the future yet, perhaps it just hasn't been that big of an issue, pilots forgetting to do so, that they have yet to make this an automated feature yet?

 

[Lance]

It felt implied that Sulu had missed that item in the checklist. The entire point of the joke was that he was excited to be piloting a starship and inexperienced enough to miss something painfully obvious.

There's really no nit to pick, here.

Yeah, maybe a part of it is because Sulu is some guy in another department (physicist?), who has done some flight training but is just biding his time elsewhere waiting for a position to come up, and now that it has he's letting his enthusiasm run away with him. Perfectly in character for Hikaru.

 

[Hbomb]

Have you ever left your parking brake on? How about your blinker? Your interior light?

You either have a light or you don't.

 

[Amaris]

Have you ever left your parking brake on? How about your blinker? Your interior light?

You either have a light or you don't.

I'll sit you in the cockpit of a 787 Dreamliner, the newest plane in the fleet. Now, you've flown other planes, but this one is totally different from what has been before. She's the crown jewel, the latest in technology, and I'll ask you to prep it for takeoff. Get them all right the first time, and remember, don't miss any indicators.

Also, you're in a hurry, so make it quick.

I mean, not to sound dismissive, but I get the feeling the flagship of Starfleet is slightly more complex to operate than my 1993 Saturn SL2.

 

[Tiberius Jim]

Sulu just wanted to do a burnout.

 

[Nebusj]

It felt implied that Sulu had missed that item in the checklist. The entire point of the joke was that he was excited to be piloting a starship and inexperienced enough to miss something painfully obvious.

There's really no nit to pick, here.

Well, yeah. I thought it was clear that in the rush of events Sulu (or someone) missed a checklist item, and that came back to catch them. But note that the ship failed safely: instead of tearing itself apart or something stupid, it just … didn't go, and waited for the problem to be cleared.

The circumstances --- Sulu taking the ship out for the first time in actual non-training duty, and the entire launch being under rushed, emergency terms --- are exactly the circumstances that cause a checklist item to be overlooked. It happens all the time. Even, for example, on Apollo 11's powered descent, no less than Neil Armstrong missed a minor item (adjusting a range indicator scale, if I have it right) which produced some minor problems later. It was a little embarrassing, at least, as embarrassing as missing one of an unspeakable number of things under extreme conditions can be.

 

[Cyke101]

Have you ever left your parking brake on? How about your blinker? Your interior light?

You either have a light or you don't.

I don't know how it is elsewhere, but here in Chicago, people driving with their blinkers on for miles without turning or after changing lanes are a dime a dozen. In some cases, people also drive for miles with their gas cap flapping in the wind.

I had sort of the opposite concern with an episode of TNG. Lwaxana was touring the bridge, pointed at a button, asked "What's that?" Worf essentially sprung to block her from touching it, then politely told her that it was the photon torpedo launcher.