One of the old novels might have mentioned such statistics on missions (I can't think of where) but nothing on screen that I can recall. Even so, holodecks and starships are completely different machines with different purposes.
Why are holodecks still allowed on starships and space stations?
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One of the old novels might have mentioned such statistics on missions (I can't think of where) but nothing on screen that I can recall. Even so, holodecks and starships are completely different machines with different purposes.
I believe James Kirk said that the only reason his ship came back was that Starfleet crewed it entirely with stupid people ... and Spock.
I believe this is it. If I'm not mistaken, the vast majority of holodeck malfunctions do not result in injury or death to any users or damage to the vessel on which it is located. In fact, I can't think of a single such incident off-hand, though I'm sure some of our more well-read users might be able to come up with something. But if holodeck malfunctions are (almost) never threatening, they're not much of a problem.
I think it's in one of the tech manuals as well. So, not cannonically to my knowledge. I was going to mention that qualifier as part of the post, but I felt it would have detracted from the post itself.
The Big Goodbye, the extra almost dies.
First Contact, ensign Lynch (Borg) and some more Borg die.
Though, the second instance is not a "malfunction"
FWIW, O'Brien in "Way of the Warrior" seemed to consider it somewhat remarkable that "they" never got the holodecks of the E-D working properly. Does this mean the technology itself had a sorry reputation, or that the E-D application of it did? It sounds like the latter... As in, "The E-D was invincible and all, but we have better holodecks here, so it ain't half bad - do stay, Worf dear.".
Timo Saloniemi
Timo Saloniemi
Consider the numbers. The Enterprise-D was out for 7 years, let's assume 2 holodecks, used for 2-hour sessions. That's 7 x 365 x 2 x 12 = over 60,000 holodeck sessions. If there were half a dozen malfunctions, that's 1 in 10,000 sessions. So not really that common.
...And I think we heard of E-D holodecks up to at least #8 (the reference to #4 from "Perfect Mate" is legendary, at any rate).
Of course, it may also be we failed to hear of a great number of holodeck incidents and accidents... But nobody seemed to think that these devices are really a danger to life and limb, not even the arguably somewhat technophobic (although selectively so - mainly transporters, Data) Dr. Pulaski.
Timo Saloniemi
Of course, it may also be we failed to hear of a great number of holodeck incidents and accidents... But nobody seemed to think that these devices are really a danger to life and limb, not even the arguably somewhat technophobic (although selectively so - mainly transporters, Data) Dr. Pulaski.
Timo Saloniemi
I think we can write that off as simple banter.
If we take it seriously, then we can instead interpret it to mean that some minor technical details were frequently malfunctioning, but not in a serious way that was ever evident on screen. Just the kind of slight technical gremlin that might cause an engineer grief.
The mention that the Enterprise was the only Constitution class ship to return from its five year mission comes from the TMP novelization, written by Roddenberry.
Worse than the holodecks is the high-pressure plasma pipes installed in parts of the ship where high pressure plasma has no business being, such as behind the control consoles lining the bridge. And these plasma lines are tied into the same system as the shields, so when someone starts shooting at the ship on the outside, the shields apparently dump the incoming energy into this grid and it causes random explosions throughout the ship, including the bridge.
Enterprise seems to have fixed it a bit... you get showers of sparks on the bridge sometimes, like something shorting out, but having watched to mid season 3 I have yet to see a bridge console go off like a claymore mine. The engine room is as volatile as ever though... but then again that's logical I guess. Even somewhat true-to-life... I recall a story of a crewman on a US navy warship being flayed alive by a ruptured high-pressure steam line in the engine room
Enterprise seems to have fixed it a bit... you get showers of sparks on the bridge sometimes, like something shorting out, but having watched to mid season 3 I have yet to see a bridge console go off like a claymore mine. The engine room is as volatile as ever though... but then again that's logical I guess. Even somewhat true-to-life... I recall a story of a crewman on a US navy warship being flayed alive by a ruptured high-pressure steam line in the engine room
If your chosen form of entertainment threatens your life once in a while it adds some spice to your otherwise boring life. 
I suppose that#s why it isn't seen as such a big deal.
I suppose that#s why it isn't seen as such a big deal.
They should ban starships, too. People get killed on those! And no more colony planets; they always get into major trouble, especially when the Borg go past.
I'm guessing fuse technology was lost during WWIII.
Probably the same time the art of "turning it off and on again" was lost too (and rediscovered hundreds of years later by LaForge in "Contagion")
...If you try that with a system of even roughly comparable scale today, say, a combat aircraft or a surgical theater, you get permanently fried junk metal and probably also a pile of corpses.
You aren't justified in thinking that a big solid wall will stop an invasion just because a big solid door will often stop a home invasion. Or that a microchip in your phone can be fixed with a soldering iron because a connection in your dad's pocket calculator can. Most things in this world do not scale up or down - nor forward or back.
Timo Saloniemi
You aren't justified in thinking that a big solid wall will stop an invasion just because a big solid door will often stop a home invasion. Or that a microchip in your phone can be fixed with a soldering iron because a connection in your dad's pocket calculator can. Most things in this world do not scale up or down - nor forward or back.
Timo Saloniemi
The first to return with both ship and crew "relatively intact", IIRC.
So other Constitution Class ships did return, perhaps, but not always in pristine condition.
It was Mr. Scott's Guide to the Enterprise which explicitly said the Enterprise was the only one of the original 12 Constitution-class starships to return from their 5-year missions.
Well, the USS Exeter wasn't really damaged. The entire crew was killed, but the ship itself was fine.
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