Writers forgetting common technologies?
- Thread starter Fateor
- Start date
Yes because none of the other series ever forgot or changed things about technology that is completely made up. Apparently you can't fire phasers at warp but that didn't stop voyager or the nx01 from doing it.
Its all made up magic at the whim of the writers and has been this way since the beginning.
Part of telling a compelling story is being consistent with the details so the story makes sense.
For example, Episode 3 of this season completely falls apart because the entire story-line rests on the idea that Earth has sensors less advanced then the Enterprise Era Enterprise.
That wasn't from an alternate timeline.
1) Everybody given they reference Benamite crystals in the show.
2) Memory Alpha is wrong, they could safely synthesize them, it just would have taken a couple years to do so.
Titan Fiasco? The sensor thing?
Regarding the Titan fiasco, Earthgov isn't concerned with monitoring an unaffiliated minor outpost. At most, they probably scan out to Mars (if that far out) to detect missiles. In my mind it's kind of like a person eight doors down. They're pretty close and you might even see them pull into the lot every few months, but you don't check on them.
For the CMEs, there are myriad reasons they didn't avoid it. Their sensors could've been down for maintenance at the time, or they weren't monitoring the star and just didn't notice. Maybe the ship did detect it and they were tired of alarms every time the ship picked something up, and they turned off the volume and didn't notice the alert on a console.
Star Trek has always had minor discontinuities.
So you're telling me that a story about how it was bad that Earth cut itself off from the rest of the galaxy depicted Earth as having inferior technology than it used to.
Hmmmm.
Says who? There's no reason to think that the Prime Timeline was destined to end up with that particular future.
So you're saying not everybody?
Which is dumb, because then that unaffiliated minor outpost becomes a military threat to your planet. Connection is better than isolationism.
The sensors on the Enterprise were capable of providing real time returns on things up to 3.26 light years away.
By the Enterprise D era, this real time return range increases to somewhere around 14 light years.
And while someone might try to say that's a starship with a warp reactor, we also have DS9, which only had fusion reactors, and was capable of real time returns all the way to the cardassian border.
Put simply, the entire third episode falls apart, because it's built on a foundation that makes absolutely no sense in the universe it takes place in.
The only tech I wish they had which they seemingly don't is transwarp beaming. Those little badge transporters should be taking them across the galaxy and humanity should be a technologically assisted proto-Q.
Otherwise, they've been through a time war followed by an apocalypse. Technological regression in some areas is expected.
Otherwise, they've been through a time war followed by an apocalypse. Technological regression in some areas is expected.
This reminds me of a lot of Doctor Who discussions (or even worse political ones), something can't be bad in the current series because the old series did it once.
The one I think we'll likely be forgotten is personal transporters, that one just seems like a storybreaker.
The one I think we'll likely be forgotten is personal transporters, that one just seems like a storybreaker.
No the issue is people ignoring when the older series did things that they suddenly don't like in Discovery. People can be critical, but be consistent in your criticism.
I see your point and I too am along for the ride. I love Star Trek and will watch it no matter what. I think the the problem we have is simple things that us fans see (ie. Home Depot casters on a medical gurney) and it makes us scratch our heads and say “don’t they have fans working with the show?” My best friend and I have our weekly Discovery talk and we start with our praise and enjoyment but end with “this could have been better”. We do feel like the nerds in Galaxy Quest at times and laugh at ourselves for being so petty. All that being said, there are huge annoyances in this new season like what benefit other than the spore drive and trained Starfleet personnel do they have to offer? The advanced Starfleet should be able to replicate the spore drive and create a computer guidance system and immediately start rebuilding. The Discovery herself is evolving into a sentient life form and needs to be protected. And the biggest problem is that Burnham needs to be an officer again and stop with the “going rogue” routine in each episode. She acts like a petulant child and it’s not in keeping with Star Trek. And you must admit that the whole Prion thing (if you have any medical background) has been around here now! It’s thought to cause mad cow disease. You’d think in 1200 years we would have cured prions. It’s like the writers don’t do research into the topic or they are just being lazy. In TNG there were terrible inconsistencies that should have been worked out but again it was a lot like TOS and seemed to be written one episode at a time. I’ll keep watching and enjoying but I will still scratch my head. I still would have enjoyed a Pike Enterprise season. I’m just waiting for the Picard android to show up (there will be an excuse as to why he didn’t die by now). He will bond with the Discovery (sphere data) and evolve into Vygr! Just kidding.
For the last episode, they had the Disco jump in, and the seed ship was in the edge of an Ion Storm, but the Technobabble for the accident said a CME. And the family died from Beta radiation?
1. If they were going to use a CME as a thing, they should have jumped in and seen the ship was near a star in some type of high output. If they jumped and seen a Ion Storm, then an Ion storm should have been used.
2. Beta radiation? Is that Beta particle radiation? that can be stopped by clothing? and shouldn't even be a worry for a shielded or even pas through a hull? A few words added of a strong CME knocked off the shields and they died from Gamma rays.
I know ST isn't hard Sci Fi, but it usually does decent on its science explanations.
1. If they were going to use a CME as a thing, they should have jumped in and seen the ship was near a star in some type of high output. If they jumped and seen a Ion Storm, then an Ion storm should have been used.
2. Beta radiation? Is that Beta particle radiation? that can be stopped by clothing? and shouldn't even be a worry for a shielded or even pas through a hull? A few words added of a strong CME knocked off the shields and they died from Gamma rays.
I know ST isn't hard Sci Fi, but it usually does decent on its science explanations.
Trek has a cure for aging. How often does it get used?
A seed ship sounds pretty important, but it's just way off in the boonies, more or less forgotten, and at the mercy of ion storms. Wouldn't you treasure/protect that thing reeeealy well?
I agree with the story > tech consistency argument above. If we got good, thought-through stories. I just don't find this the case. I feel suckered in again this year b/c the first 2-3 were much better. This last ep feels like any weepy, very-plot-holed ep from the latter two-thirds of the first seasons.
@Jeremy Myers said above, "And the biggest problem is that Burnham needs to be an officer again and stop with the “going rogue” routine in each episode. She acts like a petulant child and it’s not in keeping with Star Trek."
(It smacks of "renegade Kirk" portrayed in the movies, but I'd agree it isn't very starfleet.) Saru is.
She grew up in S1-2: wasn't that the arc? Now being a pirate for a year has made here a nonconformist again. Wasn't she "the best first officer in the fleet" until Vulcan Hello? Hard to reconcile with how she is. I mean people change, but she kinda for the worse.
But being a rebel and nonconformist is kewl.
I'll stop complaining now. It's bad for my soul.
I agree with the story > tech consistency argument above. If we got good, thought-through stories. I just don't find this the case. I feel suckered in again this year b/c the first 2-3 were much better. This last ep feels like any weepy, very-plot-holed ep from the latter two-thirds of the first seasons.
@Jeremy Myers said above, "And the biggest problem is that Burnham needs to be an officer again and stop with the “going rogue” routine in each episode. She acts like a petulant child and it’s not in keeping with Star Trek."
(It smacks of "renegade Kirk" portrayed in the movies, but I'd agree it isn't very starfleet.) Saru is.
She grew up in S1-2: wasn't that the arc? Now being a pirate for a year has made here a nonconformist again. Wasn't she "the best first officer in the fleet" until Vulcan Hello? Hard to reconcile with how she is. I mean people change, but she kinda for the worse.
But being a rebel and nonconformist is kewl.
I'll stop complaining now. It's bad for my soul.
Saru is, as much I I disliked his character in the beginning, a true Starfleet officer and captain. His conformity to the code is making his character soar above the rest. I despise the lack of command structure/respect that Tilly and some of the others display. It’s not in line with any of the other Trek shows. It’s kinda like the writers are making the Discovery crew resemble current, young generation bloggers. They know all the answers and protocols take to long for them to follow. Renegade Kirk and crew had technically “been there done that” while they may have gone off protocol they had spent their careers being officers.
Pre-Burn? Sure. Post Burn, just about everywhere is "the boonies".
We already have a cure for ageing... stem-cells and regenerative medicine.
Trek has seldom been into using these things. They can extend life yes, but they have hit a 'limit' of about 150 (for humans that is).
Plus, its also not necessarily that Trek doesn't USE cures for aging in the Federation... its simply possible that many people in the Federation just don't necessarily want to live indefinitely and they reside themselves to the premise that they lived healthy and happy lives for as long as they have - but this is highly unlikely to be the case for the majority... minorities perhaps.
Its also possible that biological immortality did not 'catch on' in the general population until much later... in the sense that it didn't simply interest the Federation citizens despite existing.
That's been Hollywood for decades! As well as Trek.
Maybe even over a century!
The episode works just fine if you let go of the assumption that technological development is always linear. Progress is often dependent upon the political structures that support it; the Roman Empire was experimenting with steam engines thousands of years ago, but when it collapsed that progress disappeared for over 1,500 years. It is completely plausible that the collapse of the Federation might over time lead to the loss of technological capabilities.
Oh c'mon, you contradict yourself right there in your own paragraph by acknowledging "Renegade Kirk." Star Trek has always had characters whose behavior wasn't always in comportment with the chain of command -- what, like McCoy was being super-professional every time he called his commanding officer "Jim?"
The characters on DIS are more informal because their ship has been through hell and their bonds are different from most. And, yes, because they're being written in a way that's more psychologically realistic. It's fine.
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