The TOS 'stupid statements' thread

[Grant]

"WHEN I CAME ABOARD !!! "............


is a line of dialogue from Charlie X that the editor inexplicably looped in again a few seconds later for no reason and it makes no logical sense. Just a ridiculous blunder that no-one caught at the time.

So I like to insert it for no reason.

 

[Orcus]

I still cringe whenever I hear Spock calling for sitreps from the ship's different departments in the early eps. It's his shouting and intonation that puts the grated cheese on the top; it might sound okay in a wartime naval battle film but in Star Trek it just sounds wrong...

 

[Jeri]

And thus was spawned the "SPOCK SHOULD BE CONSTANTLY SHOUTING!" thread in the Trek XI forum... You have a lot of company on that.

 

[Hober Mallow]

"CHECK... THE... cirCUIT!"

 

[Myasishchev]

McCoy's "Don't destroy the one called Kirk" speech always makes me cringe.

I liked the speech in isolation, but always thought it was out of place in BoT. It belonged in a more personal story. "Don't destroy the one called Kirk" makes it sound like it's up to him, like there's some sort of internal conflict, when there's not.

 

[Nerys Myk]

"that's in the southernmost part of the galaxy..."

uhhh!

Might not be that farfetched, http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/G/galactic_plane.html

 

[Hober Mallow]

Not Star Trek, but just saw an Enterprise episode where a character played by Bill Cobb says there are no stars in the area because the area is like a bubble, a curved part of space-time. Gravity is the result of space being bent and warped, usually by a mass. There should have been more stars than usual in the area. Some scientists think now that ripples of warped space caused by the Big Bang is what made galactic clusters possible in the first place.

I'd post this in the Enterprise forum, but I'm not a fan and I don't visit it. Only reason I saw this episode is because my dad was watching it. "WHEN I CAME ABOARD!"

 

[Captain Robert April]

I think the king of 'em all is "The Immunity Syndrome", when they enter the zone of darkness, and suddenly wonder what happened to the stars. Further complicated when Spock is explaining how the noise they heard was the crossing of a "boundary layer", and Kirk can't figure out what boundary layer Spock could possibly be talking about. And, of course, Spock doesn't really help with his "between where we were and where we are" answer.

 

[Noname Given]

I think the king of 'em all is "The Immunity Syndrome", when they enter the zone of darkness, and suddenly wonder what happened to the stars. Further complicated when Spock is explaining how the noise they heard was the crossing of a "boundary layer", and Kirk can't figure out what boundary layer Spock could possibly be talking about. And, of course, Spock doesn't really help with his "between where we were and where we are" answer.

And then, later in the episode; after EVERYTHING points to things working in reverse and Mr. Spock suggests applying forward thrust against the pull; Scotty acts like he's about to have a coranary; and says,

"It goes against the rules of logic.."

and after they nudge the ship into forward, he still gives an exashtberated,

"That's doin' it!"

I mean, come on, these are SUPPOSED to be Starfleet's 'best and brightest, yet the IGNORE all emperical evidence once in 'the zone of darkness'

I mean hell, if it didn't work, it's not like Scotty wouldn't have time to put the engines back on reverse thrust. Sheesh.

 

[Captain Robert April]

Well, it wasn't exactly their best day, so...

 

[Mrs. Spock]

In Patterns of Force, why did Spock tell Kirk that Kirk would make a very convincing Nazi? I remember that one line, but not what else was said. That just seems like a really creepy thing for him to say. I mean, we're talking about nazis here. Jeez.

 

[Captain MAJ]

"that's in the southernmost part of the galaxy..."

uhhh!

Might not be that farfetched, http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/G/galactic_plane.html

I always thought Galactic north was toward the center of the Galaxy, south away from the center. That would make more sense to me.

 

[M'Sharak]

"that's in the southernmost part of the galaxy..."

uhhh!

Might not be that farfetched, http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/G/galactic_plane.html

I always thought Galactic north was toward the center of the Galaxy, south away from the center. That would make more sense to me.

Since the galactic disc revolves on an axis passing through its center, you could define one direction along that axis as "up" or "north" and the opposite direction "down" or "south"; deciding which is which would be an arbitrary choice. The main trouble I can see with defining galactic north as being toward the center and south away is that, from the center, all directions are south, which could lead to some interesting navigational dilemmas. Dispensing with the notion of north or south altogether in favor of a three-dimensional coordinate system is a surer bet, I'm thinking.

 

[Anticitizen]

Might not be that farfetched, http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/G/galactic_plane.html

I always thought Galactic north was toward the center of the Galaxy, south away from the center. That would make more sense to me.

Since the galactic disc revolves on an axis passing through its center, you could define one direction along that axis as "up" or "north" and the opposite direction "down" or "south"; deciding which is which would be an arbitrary choice. The main trouble I can see with defining galactic north as being toward the center and south away is that, from the center, all directions are south, which could lead to some interesting navigational dilemmas. Dispensing with the notion of north or south altogether in favor of a three-dimensional coordinate system is a surer bet, I'm thinking.

But even then you'll surely have positive or negative numerical values along the Z-axis above and below the origin point, which could easily be nicknamed 'north and south'.

 

[M'Sharak]

True enough.

 

[xortex]

This is not a stupid statement but a stupid act. In 'the Arena' Kirk uses the communication device the Metron gave him as a recorder. Instead he was talking to the Gorn the whole time in his language. Where did Kirk get off thinking that? He thinks it's all about him. It was.

 

[Noname Given]

This is not a stupid statement but a stupid act. In 'the Arena' Kirk uses the communication device the Metron gave him as a recorder. Instead he was talking to the Gorn the whole time in his language. Where did Kirk get off thinking that? He thinks it's all about him. It was.

Actually, the Metrons said both combatants would be issued and communication/recording device in hopes that a record of this incident would deter others of their kind from entering and commiting violent acts, etc.; so I never saw his actions as 'stupid'; aas they never stated what was recorded would be broadcast to the other combatant. The fact he CONTINUED to make comments into it AFTER he knew the Gorn was listing in however...

 

[Gotham Central]

I think the king of 'em all is "The Immunity Syndrome", when they enter the zone of darkness, and suddenly wonder what happened to the stars. Further complicated when Spock is explaining how the noise they heard was the crossing of a "boundary layer", and Kirk can't figure out what boundary layer Spock could possibly be talking about. And, of course, Spock doesn't really help with his "between where we were and where we are" answer.

Actually I felt that a big chunk of the opening dialogue in the "Immunity Syndrome" was a bit...awkward.

For instance, Spock gets the ball rolling by saying that the Intrepid "just died." I was not aware that the USS Intrepid was ever alive.

This is followed up by Chekov stating "I just finished scanning the Gamma 7A system...It is dead." What? Why are people suddenly describing inanimate things as being "dead?" When did we stop talking about "detecting lifesigns?"

The dialogue itself makes sense, its just a very odd way of describing events.

 

[Captain MAJ]

Might not be that farfetched, http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/G/galactic_plane.html

I always thought Galactic north was toward the center of the Galaxy, south away from the center. That would make more sense to me.

Since the galactic disc revolves on an axis passing through its center, you could define one direction along that axis as "up" or "north" and the opposite direction "down" or "south"; deciding which is which would be an arbitrary choice. The main trouble I can see with defining galactic north as being toward the center and south away is that, from the center, all directions are south, which could lead to some interesting navigational dilemmas. Dispensing with the notion of north or south altogether in favor of a three-dimensional coordinate system is a surer bet, I'm thinking.

If you are standing on the North Pole on any planet, then all directions are necessarily South, so it's not really that unusual. A galaxy is only a much vaster scale. As with an oceangoing ship or an airplane, the cardinal directions of travel lie in the plane of travel. On a galactic scale this would be the galactic plane with inclination coordinates for objects above or below the plane.

I agree that a 3d coordinate system makes sense, but a simple x,y,z coordinate for any destination doesn't provide data about heading. A system would be needed to figure a galactic heading and it would need to use a reference point: The galactic center. Just as a course due north on a planet would be heading 000, so a course toward the galactic center would be course 000 mark 0. This convention has been used on Trek on numerous occasions. It's not hard to believe that a people with a strong maritime heritage would relate a course of 000 mark 0 to due north. It is all somewhat arbitrary, but I could see it happening.

 

[Cap'n Crunch]

In Patterns of Force, why did Spock tell Kirk that Kirk would make a very convincing Nazi? I remember that one line, but not what else was said. That just seems like a really creepy thing for him to say. I mean, we're talking about nazis here. Jeez.

Presumably because Kirk is blonde and blue? eyed.