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What's the worst canon decision in the history of Trek?

15 (fastest weapons travelled)
Yeah, that's from "The Changeling" in reference to Nomad's "bolts," although the line says "approximately warp 15."

Another benchmark is that the suicidal Orion ship in "Journey to Babel" went "approximately warp 10."
 
Warp 15 in the old scale would be 3375c, which is impressive. The Enterprise D topped out at 1909c.
 
Perhaps the worst canon decision was ever stating what warp speeds were meant to be. Stargate has it's hyperspace, and simply said some ships were faster than others with no further details. Thus, you never got ugly messes like this:
7YDS1kw.jpg

Or "That Which Survives" where the Enterprise explicitly covers 1000 light years in 12 hours at warp 8.4, which would have gotten Voyager home in a month.
 
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Perhaps the worst canon decision was ever stating what warp speeds were meant to be.
I'm not sure how canonical that was, but I agree that it was a mistake to stipulate the warp-factor-cubed-times-the-speed-of-light formula behind the scenes (cf the Writers Guide). The formula was pure technobabble, with an emphasis on the babble. I can't think of a single episode that actually observed it.
 
I'm not sure how canonical that was, but I agree that it was a mistake to stipulate the warp-factor-cubed-times-the-speed-of-light formula behind the scenes (cf the Writers Guide). The formula was pure technobabble, with an emphasis on the babble. I can't think of a single episode that actually observed it.

There's an episode of Discovery (Vaulting Ambition) that specifically wrote one scene on a shuttle at warp 1 to correspond to an accurate speed by the reported scale.
 
Stargate has it's hyperspace, and simply said some ships were faster than others with no further details.
Stargate Atlantis did establish there are two forms of hyperspace. Regular hyperspace and galactic hyperspace, which allows ships to travel to another galaxy.
 
Stargate Atlantis did establish there are two forms of hyperspace. Regular hyperspace and galactic hyperspace, which allows ships to travel to another galaxy.

They have at least three ways to travel in the stargate universe: Through normal space using FTL and wormholes, the stargates, that thing with stones that allows you to exchange minds with people galaxies away.


You just pick up a stone and all of a sudden you find yourself in someone else's body. Like that plain-looking guy who exchanged minds with a model type and girls were looking at him with lust for the first time in his life.
 
What's full impulse then?
Ha! Who knows?

There may be the odd exception here and there, but usually the dialog involving the impulse drive is nonsensical. Often, the terminology indicates that impulse speed is intended in the dialog, whereas acceleration in the near vacuum of space would be more physically correct. It's as if the writers were thinking of the starship as a motorboat.

There's also at least one episode in TNG, first season I guess, when Geordi acknowledges full impulse at the helm in answer to an order to go to warp. :wtf: :lol:

This sort of thing does not rise (or sink) to the level of worst canon decision for me, but it's not great.
 
What's full impulse then?

Less than 0.7c (or 210,000 kps). Geordi and Jellico were reminiscing about Titan's Turn, which used a month's gravity to accelerate a shuttle to that speed. If full impulse was that fast, they probably wouldn't bother.
 
What's full impulse then?
According to the text commentary on the TMP TDE DVD, Impulse is the fastest sublight speed available which is significantly faster than any modern spaceship can go.
There's also at least one episode in TNG, first season I guess, when Geordi acknowledges full impulse at the helm in answer to an order to go to warp. :wtf: :lol:
Conspiracy, where Riker gives the order "Ahead Warp 6" and Geordi responds "Aye, sir, full impulse." So either "Full Impulse" is the same as Warp 6 or this is one hell of a weird lapse of attention for all involved.
 
Conspiracy, where Riker gives the order "Ahead Warp 6" and Geordi responds "Aye, sir, full impulse." So either "Full Impulse" is the same as Warp 6 or this is one hell of a weird lapse of attention for all involved.
Thank you. I think it's clearly the latter option, but YMMV.
 
True. Even at .7c, it would take six years to get to Alpha Centauri. And over five millenia to get to the edge of Federation space.
 
True. Even at .7c, it would take six years to get to Alpha Centauri. And over five millenia to get to the edge of Federation space.

Just imagine, you go on vacation to Risa, ten years to get there, ten years back, and a one-week vacation on the planet.:lol:
 
Presumably as fast as you can go in normal space before relativity becomes an issue.

It's an issue at eight kilometers per second, the approximate speed of a satellite in low orbit of Earth. Without relativistic corrections the GPS would be useless or if you will very imprecise.
Who would know? The GPS vindicated Albert Einstein.:D
 
Regarding the question, "worst canon decision in the history of Trek"... being a TOS fan myself, I'm not a big fan of some of the decisions made for the 2009 reboot (Kelvin universe). For example:
  • Kirk being born in space instead of in Iowa (memory-alpha speculates that the appearance of the Narada caused his mother to give birth prematurely... okay)
  • The Enterprise being outrageously huge, even bigger than the Enteprise-D (not sure that's canon, but a lot of online references say that)
  • Kirk and other officers getting established in their eventual ranks (like captain) right out of the academy
Obviously, the writers have the right to do what they want, but in the context of this thread, these are examples of things that I wouldn't have done, if it were up to me.

Thanks for asking!
 
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