WTF moments in TOS...

[Christopher]

^And that's what they would've done if they'd had more money. This was a low-budget show. The networks were reluctant to go for it at all, fearing the expense of creating alien worlds. Roddenberry's "parallel development" conceit may have been an absurd bit of science fiction, but it was a brilliant piece of marketing, because it gave him a clear, high-concept "hook" for selling TV executives on the idea that the show could be affordable. If he'd said "We'll use existing backlots but dress them up just enough to look alien," it would've sounded more complicated and expensive and wouldn't have been as straightforward a sales pitch. It would've raised questions about just how much redressing would be necessary, and overcomplicated the sale. But by saying, "We'll have exact parallel worlds so we can build a story around leftovers from any period piece or contemporary drama," that's going to sound good to the penny-pinching executives.

(You know, come to think of it, it's amazing it took them until the third season to do a space Western.)

 

[Chrisisall]

simple example would be just making the clock face in Return of the Archons have 10 hours or three hands, just "off" enough to not be what we're used to.

Simply, yet brilliant, DS9!!!

 

[Yeoman Randi]

Yep, Tomorrow is Yesterday is my big WTF moment. I mean, seriously now. WTF???

 

[Grant]

"Miri" -- remember they discovered this planet that was an exact replica of Earth hundreds of light years away. Then they never brought up this bizarre coincidence for the rest of the episode. The disease that killed adults was all well and good, but WTF?!?! you just found a copy of Earth. Shouldn't that be a big deal?

Yeah & since they found a cure (in 4 days) for the disease it would be perfect for colinization.

 

[Grant]

Tomorrow is Yesterday. Beaming folks INTO THEMSELVES.
Even I can't technobabble my way out of THAT one.

Good call.

"Balance Of Terror." I freakin' LOVE this episode. But I have an issue with the Romulan plasma/energy bolt. If it's just a burst of energy rather than an actual torpedo then it's only traveling in a straight line rather than flying under some sort of guidance control as an actual mechanical projectile would. In that case then why worry about outrunning the bolt and just dodge out of its path?

That always bothered me AND Sulu says, "One shot and we could detonate it." or such.
What, a weapon that can simply be disabled by shooting into it as it approaches?
In other words, unless it's a sneak attack (or your phasers go on the blink) you can simply fire into it and detonate it before it's too close?!?

 

[Nerys Myk]

"Miri" -- remember they discovered this planet that was an exact replica of Earth hundreds of light years away. Then they never brought up this bizarre coincidence for the rest of the episode. The disease that killed adults was all well and good, but WTF?!?! you just found a copy of Earth. Shouldn't that be a big deal?

Yeah & since they found a cure (in 4 days) for the disease it would be perfect for colinization.

The natives might have something to say about that.

 

[Chrisisall]

In other words, unless it's a sneak attack (or your phasers go on the blink) you can simply fire into it and detonate it before it's too close?!?

It wasn't designed to be used ship to ship FYI.

 

[CaptainPipcard]

umm... The Squire of Gothos?

 

[Chrisisall]

umm... The Squire of Gothos?

Non sequritur; your facts are uncoordinated.

 

[Maurice]

^And that's what they would've done if they'd had more money. This was a low-budget show. The networks were reluctant to go for it at all, fearing the expense of creating alien worlds. Roddenberry's "parallel development" conceit may have been an absurd bit of science fiction, but it was a brilliant piece of marketing, because it gave him a clear, high-concept "hook" for selling TV executives on the idea that the show could be affordable. If he'd said "We'll use existing backlots but dress them up just enough to look alien," it would've sounded more complicated and expensive and wouldn't have been as straightforward a sales pitch. It would've raised questions about just how much redressing would be necessary, and overcomplicated the sale. But by saying, "We'll have exact parallel worlds so we can build a story around leftovers from any period piece or contemporary drama," that's going to sound good to the penny-pinching executives.

(You know, come to think of it, it's amazing it took them until the third season to do a space Western.)

Did you actually read what I wrote? There's nothing more expensive about shooting on the Mayberry Street with it's circa 1950 look and pulling stock costume pieces out that don't necessarily match the same period as the street set. That in of itself makes it "off" without adding cost, which was my point. I seriously doubt the network cared about what costumes were used, especially if cost was the real issue.

 

[Mendon]

As for the parallel Earths thing - couldn't they be exactly that? Instead of some other planet that happens to evolve exactly as Earth by random chance, why not the Earths of alternate dimensions where things play out a little differently? That's a pretty universally accepted conceit in science fiction, and makes no difference budgetarily. It's win/win, baby.

 

[Pauln6]

The Magratheans wanted a second copy of Earth just in case the first was destroyed by a hyperspace bypass because 'there was only one ship in the quadrant'. Obvious.

 

[Grant]

In other words, unless it's a sneak attack (or your phasers go on the blink) you can simply fire into it and detonate it before it's too close?!?

It wasn't designed to be used ship to ship FYI.

They told you that? You must have spies aboard the Romulan ship.

They used it against the 'outposts' which DID have phasers---but they got knocked out in the sneak attack.

 

[Grant]

"Miri" -- remember they discovered this planet that was an exact replica of Earth hundreds of light years away. Then they never brought up this bizarre coincidence for the rest of the episode. The disease that killed adults was all well and good, but WTF?!?! you just found a copy of Earth. Shouldn't that be a big deal?

Yeah & since they found a cure (in 4 days) for the disease it would be perfect for colinization.

The natives might have something to say about that.

"THe natives"

You mean the few ramaining children who were about to die of starvation or the disease that the crew saved them from by coming along.

And the fact that that they clearly wanted/needed adult supervision.

 

[urbandk]

Another Miri WTF moment: Michael J Pollard in his late 20s as a prepubescent kid.

 

[Chrisisall]

In other words, unless it's a sneak attack (or your phasers go on the blink) you can simply fire into it and detonate it before it's too close?!?

It wasn't designed to be used ship to ship FYI.

They told you that? You must have spies aboard the Romulan ship.

They used it against the 'outposts' which DID have phasers---but they got knocked out in the sneak attack.

Which is, umm, not ship-to-ship.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Even if the Horizon left a book behind and the apparently mostly human inhabitants took many ideas from it I seriously doubt their entire culture would have been restructured to imitate one book. What about their original culture and those who didn't wish to change? The '20s era of gangsters didn't happen in a vacuum on Earth--it coexisted with society and cultures evolving for thousands of years. The same would have happened on Iotia.

Remember, the Iotians are imitative by nature. It's just something they do.

And where were the law enforcement entities on the planet? Krako seemed to know what being arrested meant, only not in the context Kirk used the word.

Assuming the police and government were weak or ineffectual in the book that was left behind on Iotia, then naturally they would also be like that in the resulting society based on that book. A book that glorified gangsters would naturally be anti-police and anti-law, and thus an entire society based on it would have very little in the way of decent law enforcement.

Although in the Trek novels (SCE, in fact), there is an Iotian in Starfleet, and one of his culture's heroes is said to be basically the Iotian version of Eliot Ness/The Untouchables, so there must be *some* cops on that world who are good.

 

[I am not Spock]

And The Children Shall Lead. Sorry for those of you who had gone through years of expensive counselling to forget about that episode's existence.

Seriously, what the heck was that all about?

 

[Vonstadt]

Yes very much so And The Children Shall Lead

The fist pumping WTF?!

The Heavy Lawyer in a Shower Curtian WTF?

I still get a quick watching the episode but those moments always left me shaking my head.

Though I loved Spock's 'Shock' Video that he edited to show happy times with parents and then right from picnic playtime to ...BODIES! then graves....

It worked but wow well edited Spock

Vons

 

[bullethead]

The general dampening field in The Doomsday Machine. How the hell do you "deactivate" antimatter?