History Headscratchers / StarTrek

[[folder:Why Didn't Ya Just Shoot God?]]
* ''Film/StarTrekVTheFinalFrontier'''s SealedEvilInACan proves to be easily destroyed by a single torpedo, so you'd think anyone who could seal off the center of the galaxy could have dealt with him with ''much'' less fuss.
** Maybe he used to be more powerful, but he spent so much in time the center of the galaxy cut off from his power source that his power waned considerably.
** Or whoever sealed him off didn't want to kill him. Not every culture has capital punishment, even for a NegativeSpaceWedgie with a God complex.
** Maybe he would have deflected the torpedo quite easily, had he not been blinded by rage at a pesky Starfleet Captain.
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[[folder:So Many Galactic Barriers, So Little Time]]
* ...and wasn't that barrier at the ''edge'' of the galaxy?
** Different barrier. And why assume that the barrier was made by someone? It could just be a natural phenomenon that someone took advantage of to trap the BigBad. Or Fake God got stuck in some cosmic flypaper and managed to smuggle out rumors of "paradise" to the outside galaxy before he was fully entangled. Likewise, we don't actually ''know'' that Fake God was destroyed, he might be merely indisposed.
** The Main/ExpandedUniverse tells the story of the villain ''that'' barrier was made to protect the galaxy from, sealing the evil ''out'' of the can, and references his underling from The Final Frontier.
** It could be the same barrier, just that it envelopes the entire galaxy three-dimensionally in the shape of a flat torus with a small gap in the middle.
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[[folder:Kirk Has Space Syphillis?]]
* In an episode of ''[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries TOS]]'', citizens of a beyond-Malthusian overpopulated planet kidnap Kirk and get him to pass some dangerous STI along to one of their women to thin out their population. Now how many {{Green Skinned Space Babe}}s has the good captain mentioned this to? None!
** Possibly he got cured of the disease aboard the Enterprise after the events of the episode? Star Trek medical technology can cure nearly anything that doesn't leave you dead or crippled.
** It was implied the disease got transmitted through the wound on Kirk's arm which he didn't remember how he got (he was probably injured by his kidnappers). He was previously treated and was only a carrier; Odona received the same treatment at the end of the episode, so they could have their fatal disease and she could live.
** It also wasn't an STI. It was a type of meningitis. He needn't tell any space babes, green or otherwise.
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[[folder:Brainwashing Fixes Everything]]
* The plot of the [=TOS=] episode "Dagger of the Mind" makes no sense at all. Why was Dr. Adams established as someone who had revolutionized mental health care only to be revealed as a MadScientist? What was his motivation for [[{{Brainwashed}} Brainwashing]] everyone in the penal colony? And why in heaven's name did he think he could get away with ''doing it to a starship captain''? What was his plan? That the ''Enterprise'' crew would get bored waiting for Kirk and just go away? That sounds like a really dumb plan.
** At one point, Adams ''was'' a well-regarded and benevolent researcher. He just [[JustThinkOfThePotential got too enamored of his new invention's potential]], started [[PlayingWithSyringes using it far beyond ethical limits]], became just as mad as his charges, and [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope jumped off the slippery slope]]. He likely originally intended to brainwash Kirk into reporting nothing unusual, and when it didn't work, just monomaniacally kept trying.
*** My memory is hazy, but are we conflating two characters? I thought the inventor was the one who went mad because his assistant used the mind erasure machine to get him out of the way.
* Here's how I understood the events surrounding that ep. Dr. Adams and his assistant both developed the tech together. They started testing it on patients, and it seemed to work. As they used it, Adams became more and more... unhinged at the power he had over the patients. The assistant, Dr. Van Gelder, wanted to report this to Starfleet, but Adams found out and had him brainwashed to stop people from finding it out, using the excuse of an accident. Then, enter Enterprise, who beams up the records, and Van Gelder. The ep plays out as we see and that's that. Why he became unhinged, I don't know. Could be the ol' absolute power stuff.
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[[folder:Scotty's an Old-School Mac Guy?]]
* In Star Trek IV, how does Scotty get the computer to work so quickly? It has to be explained to him that it doesn't have a human-language-parsing voice interface like he's used to, but once he's told that the I/O is via keyboard, he not only figures out the interface with no difficulty at all, but manages to construct a 3D graphic on a Mac ''without touching the mouse''.
** TNG offers a truly shocking blink if you miss explanation as to just how Scotty might have come by those mad keyboard skills. In the Enterprise's computer core, the interface isn't one of the standard 24th century touch screens. It's a CRT monitor and a standard keyboard (although the keyboard looks slightly high tech by today's standards and probably looked more futuristic back when the episode aired in 1989). So, even in the 24th century where every command function on the bridge is controlled by touch panels, at the heart of the computer controlling it all is a terminal that seems to deliberately be intensely old school. I wouldn't be surprised if the damn thing has bios and a command prompt.
*** That is most likely absolutely the case. Look at modern computers: We have your standard extremely user friendly, efficient, multi-purpose home PC's and Mac's that literally anyone of any age and any training can use; and we have huge, rugged, ugly machines with bulky buttons and flashing lights that tend to be found in hazardous or industrial environments and designed to fulfill one or two set tasks. There is no real reason why this would change by the 24th century; especially since in-universe the NX-01 Enterprise of the 22nd was still using keyboards (albeit of a different design) and it would make sense that the ship that helped found the Federation and contained a revolutionary warp engine would have been something Scotty would have studied at some point.
*** Scotty is still unfamiliar with the then-contemporary Mac OS, and using the keyboard in that way surely involves the use of a number of keystrokes/keyboard shortcuts that would not be obvious to a system newbie, even one as otherwise technically skilled as Scotty.
** There are some people who can pull off something akin to Scotty's performance today. Place a veteran [=AutoCAD=] user in front of a computer, and they will create a fully functional model without touching the mouse at all. It's all a matter of knowing which keyboard commands to use.
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[[folder: Future birth control]]
* The implication in "The Dogs of War" is that the birth control method that Ben and Kasidy are practicing requires both of them to get monthly injections (the good captain has forgotten his). It kind of beggars belief that there wouldn't be an easily reversible method of cancelling out fertility altogether, but let's set that aside. What we learn suggests a pretty inefficient system, since either partner missing a treatment can (and does) lead to an accidental pregnancy -- shouldn't it only fail if BOTH partners forget their injections, not just one? If it requires both of them to take their injections to work reliably, doesn't that make it less effective than if only one needs to take it, since now two people could "oops, forgot" rather than one? I'm wondering if anyone has any thoughts on what these mysterious injections actually do.
** These are all good points. My guess is part of that infamous dissonance between what the leaders and idealists of the Federation think and what the actual reality is. The leaders think ''we have evolved beyond one partner taking responsibility for pregnancy. Both partners now work together in united bliss to usher in the future of humanity.'' The reality of the Federation, as anyone who has read the Fridge Horror pages knows, is far different. As to what these twin in injections do I really cannot say as they certainly do not work like anything we've got today.
*** Not sure why "here's a funny inconsistency or something the writers didn't think through" needs to be shuttled into "AHA! The Federation is actually an evil dystopia!" We need a new Godwin's Law to cover this tendency among certain fans.
*** [[DeathOfTheAuthor The author is dead]], long live FridgeLogic!
** Maybe both individuals can get shots and either way is effective, but since Kassidy is out and away on her ship and away from "civilized" medical care more often it was more inconvenient for her to remember hers, so she and Ben talked it over and decided that since he was on the station or on Starfleet ships all the time where it would be easier for him to get the injections, they'd just rely on him not forgetting. This is assuming Kassidy only mentions Ben forgetting his injection and doesn't specifically say she has one too. If she does, maybe this "both parties take the same kind" birth control is milder and has less side effects for all involved than one that would be effective if just one party took it, so since they were in a committed relationship they went with that.
*** I would also file "can't do it when you're off on your ship and away from [=DS9=]'s infirmary" as "pretty bad birth control."
*** I do wonder if originally it was meant to be just Sisko on the pill in a ''look how responsible men will be in the future'' kind of thing but it got muddled into a system in which sounds in every way worse than what we have today. I suppose in theory a dual system could add an extra layer of reliability over a single use system (both his balls and her ovaries are not working as opposed to only one or the other) but clearly if this Star Trek system works that way then Kassidy was ''very'' unlucky that night.
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*** I never saw an episode with Deanna Troi "conflicted" over her mixed origin, nor Alexander as mentioned before. Sayig that every character of mixed origin is "conflicted" is cherry picking, and is also cherry picking to say that that doesn't happen in real life, because it does. On the other hand on the argument that Sisko's expression about the Ferengi is racist it should be remembered that they are not different race, they are different '''species''', and yes the fact that due to budgetary reasons they are all HumanoidAliens may cause us to overlook that, however the issue here is that they are not only different for culture, they are '''biologically'' different, which is a problem we don't have unless you count our relationship with other animals. Except for some marginal pseudoscientific groups mostly ideologically motivated (ehum, white supremacists, ehum) is the scientific consensus today that races are cultural in nature, not biological, and thus there's nothing really organic that causes racial differences being race a social or cultural construct. That does not apply to aliens. Aliens ''are'' biologically differnet, thus Sisko's words about the Ferengi are not analogical to refering to "a black kid", saying "Sounds like he's acting like a Ferengi to me. You can't blame him for that." sounds bad if you change Ferengi for African-American, but not if you change Ferengi for cat.

** Assuming that Federation's territory is continuous is kind of a stretch for this reason. Any planet can became a member of the Federation, that means that if a planet near Klingon space becomes a member, even if isolated from the rest of the Federation, that planet's star system (and its colonies if it has) becomes Federation space. Thus, is easy to see why the Federation has borders with everybody, their way to expansion has no reason to be continuous unlike empires that expand whether by conquest or by colonization which would be difficult to do if you’re not territorially connected. Something similar happened with the Dominion which's an evil version of the Federation, with Cardassia as the most obvious example as it became a member of the Dominion and suddenly the Dominion had territory in the Alpha Quadrant. In fact if you see most maps (although all of them are non-canonical) you'll see “pockets” of Federation space. Of course, is logical that the Federation has some very large continuities of space, on one hand because its members tend to colonize other worlds thus expanding Federation territory continually, and on the other because as is logic Federation members obviously influence nearby worlds and if you live near the Federation border you'll be under its cultural, economic and political influence and joining the Federation would see appealing, is something similar on how the European Union expands (with their neighbors first) but you also has something like Cyprus wich is nor even in Europe, is in Asia.

*** I’m pretty sure that if the existence of the pagan gods is discovered, and is discovered that they are actually living biological creatures like the Q who are just nearly all powerful god-like creatures, every single atheist would accept that as it will scientific fact indeed. The issue with atheism is that is not blinded to science, if science proves that something is real an atheist accepts it. The reason why atheists do no believe in gods (or ghosts or yetis etc) is because they haven’t been prove, an atheist would change his/her view according to scientific factuality. Now, how exactly would the prove that the pagan gods exists and are some sort of living creature questions atheism or rather re-inforces it is another matter. In any case the evidence of God as the creator of the universe is something that nor even the Q can know as if it happened it happened before the Big Bang.

*** "would you not want to let others know about it so they too could benefit from it?" Well actually a lot of religions frown upon proselyyting. Islam, for example. And Buddhism. Yes, they both expanded at some point both due to military conquest and preaching, but both religions establish that you should not actively proselytise, only if asked you should talk about your religion. In fact the Soka Gakkai is considered weird among Buddhists because they do activelty proselytise, same case with the Hare Krishna for mainstream Hinduism, and American Wiccans for the very secretive Gardnerian Wiccans. And let's not start with religions that actually forbid sharing information and seek converts and outlaw conversions as a whole (Parsis, Druze, Yazidis). Jews have no interest in preaching either, they do accept conversion but do not seek for it, and so on. In fact the idea that you have to preach your religion is pretty much limited to Christians and for some new religious movements.

*** We actually have that debate in RealLife with the uncontacted peoples. There are stills hundreds of very primitive isolated tribes, some of them have not discover fire yet. There's a debate whether is unethical to intervene and let them alone until they on their own contact others or if we should bring to them medicines, vaccines and modern technologies. But if there's a natural catastrophe, well if there's an Earthquake on a normal country no one would bath an eye in the need to give them humanitarian help whether is Iran or Japan or Buthan, but if there's a catastrophe affecting the uncontacted people, governments don't really know what to do (it happened with the Amazon fires in Brazil). In a way we apply the Prime Directive in real life.

** Assuming that Federation's territory is continuous is kind of a stretch for this reason. Any planet can became a member of the Federation, that means that if a planet near Klingon space becomes a member, even if isolated from the rest of the Federation, that planet's star system (and its colonies if it has) becomes Federation space. Thus, is easy to see why the Federation has borders with everybody, their way to expansion has no reason to be continuous unlike empires that expand whether by conquest or by colonization which would be difficult to do if you’re not territorially connected. Something similar happened with the Dominion which's an evil version of the Federation, with Cardassia as the most obvious example as it became a member of the Dominion and suddenly the Dominion had territory in the Alpha Quadrant. In fact if you see most maps (although all of them are non-canonical) you'll see “pockets” of Federation space. Of course, is logical that the Federation has some very large continuities of space, on one hand because its members tend to colonize other worlds thus expanding Federation territory continually, and on the other because as is logic Federation members obviously influence nearby worlds and if you live near the Federation border you'll be under its cultural, economic and political influence and joining the Federation would see appealing, is something similar on how the European Union expands (with their neighbors first) but you also has something like Malta wich is nor even in Europe, is in Asia.

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** War nomenclature is rather inconsistent by nature... mostly what journalists and historians glom onto. Consider "The Crimean War" (where it took place), "the Boer War" (who the war was fought against), "the Opium Wars" (the trade good over which they were fought), "the Six-Day War," "the Seven Years War" or "the Thirty Years War" (the length of the conflict), "the War of 1812" (when it started). "Metacomet's War" (the person who triggered it), "the Soccer War" (the event that precipitated it), "the War of Jenkins' Ear" (long story)... Any name is a name of convenience, so while the Federation might use "Dominion War," naming the main combatant, other powers might call it "the Federation-Dominion War" or "the Multi-Quadrant War" or something else. There are numerous names for the American Civil War that frame the conflict in different ways: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_the_American_Civil_War.

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** War nomenclature is rather inconsistent by nature... mostly what journalists and historians glom onto. Consider "The Crimean War" (where it took place), "the Boer War" (who the war was fought against), "the Opium Wars" (the trade good over which they were fought), "the Six-Day War," "the Seven Years War" or "the Thirty Years War" (the length of the conflict), "Metacomet War" (the person who triggered it), "the Soccer War" (the event that precipitated it), "the War of Jenkins' Ear" (long story)... Any name is a name of convenience, so while the Federation might use "Dominion War," naming the main combatant, other powers might call it "the Federation-Dominion War" or "the Multi-Quadrant War" or something else. There are numerous names for the American Civil War that frame the conflict in different ways: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_the_American_Civil_War.

** War nomenclature is rather inconsistent by nature. "The Crimean War" (where it took place), "the Boer War" (who the war was fought against), "the Opium Wars" (the trade good over which they were fought), "the Six-Day War," "Metacomet War" (the person who triggered it), "the Seven Years War" or "the Thirty Years War" (the length of the conflict), "the Soccer War" (the event that precipitated it), "the War of Jenkins' Ear" (long story)... Any name is a name of convenience, so while the Federation might use "Dominion War," naming the main combatant, other powers might call it "the Federation-Dominion War" or "the Multi-Quadrant War" or something else. There are numerous names for the American Civil War that frame the conflict in different ways: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_the_American_Civil_War.

* Maybe they're not human. They might be HumanAliens - the first person that already knows about the Borg in TNG is Guinan, so perhaps they're El-Aurians. ([[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot In fact, they missed an interesting idea if Hugh the Borg is, biologically, an El-Aurian]], given her initially antipathy to him.