TREK Continuity goofs

[Unicron]

Forbin said:

It is? You know this? In what ITT Tech engineering school do they teach the ins and out of cloaking technology? Exactly how big is a cloaking device? What are its power needs?

It's not hard to extropolate from what's been said about cloaks over the years. I don't know exactly how their power system works, but they're expensive. It takes a lot of energy to mask a ship, and to maintain the field. That's why cloaked ships have trouble running shields, weapons and similar high-drain systems at the same time. In the case of Romulan cloaks, it was also said that the power balance has to monitored very carefully to keep the cloak effective (TNG's "Face of the Enemy")

A mine doesn't have this problem. Its only other system is a warhead, therefore it would be easier to build a cloak that functioned on a smaller scale even if you're not at the point where you could cloak something the size of a ship. Hence I have no problem with the cloaked mines, because they show the Romulans started on the cloak's development pretty early.

They do indeed cloak, right on screen. Like it was perfectly feasible right then and there, not like it would take them another 150 years to perfect it.

They don't completely become invisible, only largely transparent. That suggests this cloak isn't nearly as efficient as the ones developed later. I don't recall what was said about whether the ship was invisible to sensors, which it shouldn't have been because the prototype in BOT wasn't.

For what it's worth, though, Forbin, I would have ditched the ships cloaking myself. Even if I'd kept them on the mines, I'd have removed the ship cloaks. The ENT crew was already aware that the Suliban had cloaking tech anyway, so the series had already opened that can of worms.

 

[Gojirob]

Two things in ENT, though I generally liked it.

1 - Oasis - Holodeck level tech existent in the 22nd Century? Mind you, I base my objection on the 'genie' theory about these things. Even if Rene's character never let so much as a scan take place on his ship (though I'm fairly certain it did get scanned), the mere fact that such a level of holo-tech existed would get scientists on Earth going, once Enterprise made its report. My point is, one of the signature technologies of TNG's intro was available at a level way too high for that era.

2 - Terra Nova - It just struck me that it was a bit early in Terran space exploration for there to be a totally lost colony like that. Now, if it had been Terra Ten, TOS-geeks like myself would have no problem. Course, then they could never have found it.

 

[Nerys Myk]

TOS encountered civilizations with a higher level of tech than themselves as well. Including holo tech "That Which Survives", advanced androids in "What Are Little Girls made of", "I, Mudd", "Requiem for Methusalah" and " Return To Tomorrow " plus advanced medicine "Spock's Brain" and " For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky". None of which seems to effected the Federation much until TNG. So it might have taken a while for anything learned in "Oasis" to produce any real results.

 

[Gojirob]

No, no. I'm completely right, as always.

You raise fair points, but the tech in 'Oasis' was just so TNG-ish, and the culture was one capable of being spoken to, two centuries before Riker whistled Pop Goes The Weasel in EAF.

 

[Nerys Myk]

True but the tech from TOS was there for the "taking" but not always the "talking" as well. There should have been UFP scientists and engineers all over Mudds Planet, Lorisa's planetoid and the Morg and Eymorg caverns. The specs for Sargon's android body must have been left in the Enterprsie computer. Yet in TNG they act tike Data is such a big deal. Was the holotech shown on TNG stated as being new or just new on starships? Could it be that only by TNG's era was the tech "compact" enough for use on a ship.

 

[BrotherBenny]

In "Ensign Ro" it's stated that she graduated from the Academy in 2364, yet in later episodes it magically changed to 2362??

 

[bluedana]

Then in Amok Time Spock makes a major point of stating that Vulcans do not discuss their mating rituals with outworlders; yet later in The Cloud Minders Mr. Spock just states off the cuff and openly to the female Droxine that Vulcans mate once every seven years.

Really, anyone who can count by sevens could figure out what the mating frequency of Vulcans is. The mating RITUAL - the I violently lose my mind and possibly fight my best friend to the death part - is what Spock was referring to as being the big Vulcan secret.

 

[Crewman47]

Xeris said:
In "Ensign Ro" it's stated that she graduated from the Academy in 2364, yet in later episodes it magically changed to 2362??

Just checked that out there and it looks like that the original year might have been a mistake as that would have meant she spent 6 years at the Academy instead of the usual 4 that Cadets go through.

Although if it was meant to be 6 years the what do you suppose the extra two years would be for?

 

[Nerys Myk]

bluedana said:

Then in Amok Time Spock makes a major point of stating that Vulcans do not discuss their mating rituals with outworlders; yet later in The Cloud Minders Mr. Spock just states off the cuff and openly to the female Droxine that Vulcans mate once every seven years.

Really, anyone who can count by sevens could figure out what the mating frequency of Vulcans is. The mating RITUAL - the I violently lose my mind and possibly fight my best friend to the death part - is what Spock was referring to as being the big Vulcan secret.

Perhaps, but from the dialog it would seem the entire mating process is something not discussed with outsiders. Which would include the seven year cycle, the going nuts and the possibility of having to fight for your mate. (The best friend angle was a twist tossed in by T'Pring and not part of the usual ritual) Spock was very uncomfortable discussing all aspects.

Spock No Vulcan could explain further.

Ask me no further questions. I will not answer.

McCoy He does ...and he's as tight-lipped about it ...as an Aldebaran Shellmouth. No use to ask him, Jim. He won't talk.

 

[Zeppster]

Another episode where Spock's parents are talked about in past tense is in This Side of Paradise when Kirk tries to get Spock angry. He says his father was a computer and his mother was an encyclopedia, as if they already died.

 

[Noname Given]

Zeppster said:
Another episode where Spock's parents are talked about in past tense is in This Side of Paradise when Kirk tries to get Spock angry. He says his father was a computer and his mother was an encyclopedia, as if they already died.

No, Kirk said his father was a computer and his mother was an encyclopedia. Spock said his father was a diplomat, and his mother was a teacher. (But, yes, he was talking 'past tense').