What is THE Worst continuity error in Trek history..?!

I love Trek a lot, and generally, I'm not that bothered by continuity errors as some fans. I found nothing that bothered me in Trek XI for instance.

The ONE thing that truly bugs me in Trek history is the appearance of the cloacking device... As much as I love ENT, WHY (and I mean WHY?!) did they use cloacked ships as soon as the FIRST episode..?! It is made SOOOO clear in Balance Of Terror that cloacking devices were new at that time..! And I know the Suliban had been given cloacking technology by Future Guy, but the alien race in Unexpected had cloacking technology, so did the Romulans in Minefield.... I think it the biggest f*ck up in Trek history, and the only thing I can't rationalize in any way.........

 

The cloaking thing I reckon can easily be explained by someone or retconned, but yeah, those kind of slip-ups are annoying

The one that has always bugged me as I find it lazy and annoying, is the young-old Picard fubar from TNG/Nemesis. I think most people here know what I mean

 

You mean the photo of a bald young Picard, right..? That kinda bugged me too, yeah...

Actually, Memory Alpha has a very good article on the cloacking device, and they underline the discreancies as well... They theorise that the cloacking devices in the age of ENT were primitive versions of what Kirk and co. encounter a hundred years later, but in all fairness: its a screw-up...

 

As in 20 year old Picard having a full head of hair in Tapestry, but a photo of 20 year old Picard being bald in Nemesis?

Some would say it was a lame attempt to convince us that Tom Hardy was a clone of Picard, but I think the answer is clear: future guy giving suliban cloaking technology a 100 years before Balance of Terror obviously alterend the time line, as well as Picard's hair line!

I would like to know why Odan looks different than the rest of the Trills

 

So, how will the ability to shave one's head vanish in the next 300 years?

And as for the cloaking device, they changed it. It's their show and they can do what they want. Spock's speech about 22nd century tech was rendered totally "wrong", too.

 

Clearly, not, but it's so obvious the tachyon disruption created by the alternate time line affected Picard's hair follicles and caused his male-pattern baldness at age 20.

 

The continuity errors don't bother me, but one that REALLY stands out is Voyager's "The Q and the Grey" vs. TNG's "True Q".

In "The Q and the Grey", the Q have never reproduced. Our Q wants to be the first to do so. In the earlier episode "True Q", Amanda Rodgers learns that her parents were Q.

(*facepalm*)

 

I know they changed it. That's what bugs me.

And you're right, Spock's description of 22nd technology is outdated, even by our current standards.... Still, I do think they shouldn't have used cloacking devices in ENT (was it really necessary anyway?), and I guess the Enterprise could have used nuclear-based torpedos or whatever. It would have been more in line with what Spock says.

Someone once said something like: 'In the end, the only thing that is out of sync in Trek history is The Original Series itself'.

 

Worst continuity error: Enterprise.

Nuff said.

 

That's a good one hadn't noticed before

Considering the screenwriter of Nem was supposed to be a Trek fan makes the Picard nonsense even more insulting. And it occurred to me could possibly have been explained away by stating that genetic syndrome they shared had caused the baldness and maybe the Hardy pic was just after Tapestry when he'd lost hair? And what was it with that gene thing anyway? Never mentioned before in how many years of TNG and movies?

 

I like that one. It saves me from having to whine that the ENT interior sets are a continuity error for being more advanced than painted wood.

 

Male Spot giving birth to kittens. If there was ever reason to be insecure about one's masculinity, that would be it.

 

First contact with the Borg in "Q Who".

Except the Hansens were on a mission to study the Borg 20 years before in "Dark Frontier"

Except the Enterprise-B rescued refugees from the Borg attack on Guinan's world in "Generations"

Except Captain Archer was battling some "First Contact" survivors in 2152's "Regeneration"

 

As horrendous as Regeneration is, I like to think that it was some big government conspiracy that hid the true "First Contact" until Picard and Q came along.

For Dark Frontier and Generations though, I got nothing. Nadda. Zilch.

 

What about Scotty in TNG's "Relics" and in "Generations"? In "Relics", after he rematerialized and here's about the Enterprise, he assumes that Captain Kirk has taken her out of retirement, but in "Generations", he not only is a guest on a new Enterprise under a new captain, but also witnesses (as best as possible, anyway) the "death" of Kirk.

 

There's a tiny bit of signal degradation in the transporter buffer, isn't there? Less than .003, I think Geordi says. So althogh Scotty came out pretty much intact, I think he must have lost a few memory engrams, such as the day Jim Kirk died.

 

The entire show "Enterprise", I'd say.

 

^This.

 

yeah, the Borg continuity mess is pretty egregious


sure, you can rationalize it as some above have, but it's still a mess. Why would starfleet want to keep the existence of a huge potential threat a secret? and why were they so unprepared in "BOBW" if they knew they were out there?