History Fridge / StarTrekTheOriginalSeries

** The single execution order is real as its referenced in "Turnabout Intruder" when the villain of the week attempts to use her/his usurped authority to execute Kirk and is met with significant pushback from the crew. The Death Penalty is a major no, no for the federation. Its specificity and harshness in this instance serves more as a deterrence to anyone attempting to go to Talos IV than as a genuine punishment. Starfleet likely doesn't have the facilities to execute anyone and probably lacks the philosophical will. I expect anyone who tries to go there would either A) Have good reason to and would receive a pardon or B) Be deemed mad and sent to a facility.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': S1E11 "Miri"--The adults are all dead. Once a child hits puberty, s/he dies. ''Where are the babies coming from?''

** *While the scene of Kirk being pelted by the tribbles that were in the tainted grain silo is quite funny, you need to remember they were dying. Imagine if Kirk was pelted by cute, fluffy bunnies that were poisoned to death and were dying painfully, and now you've got what Kirk was pelted with.

** Also, Harry Mudd is no less an [[AcceptableTargets unfair stereotype]] [[TheUnfairSex against men]] than is Stella, so it makes sense that the galaxy's most unpleasant man would marry the galaxy's most unpleasant woman.

** The book "The Autobiography of James Kirk" confirms that it was the events of "Enemy Within" that pushed Rand to leave the ship. Kirk was sorry but understood why she had to go after what his alter ego did.

* The episode "The Squire of Gothos" is famously goofy in a charming, campy way, so it's easy to overlook the terrifying nature of the entire dilemma with Trelane. Consider the basic idea of the episode, a [[RealityWarper reality-warping]] [[SpoiledBrat spoiled brat]] who's totally [[BloodKnight obsessed with death and warfare]] and has [[SoreLoser never learned how to lose]] wants to play with you, in his own twisted definition of "play" that may involve freezing you in place, teleporting you out to his personal [[DeathWorld death world]] as punishment, and then deciding to kill you just because of how fun it'd be. And you can't run away, because he'll simply teleport his planet into your way whenever you try, or just teleport you back. The entire episode is basically "Charlie X" [[UpToEleven Up to Eleven]] in almost every way, only with an added childish bloodlust.

* In the episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before," Kirk's best friend Gary Mitchell is zapped by an energy barrier which amplifies his ESP abilities. Gary starts the episode with jet black hair and ends with distinct grey streaks. Remember, he is already stated to possess heightened ESP abilities which technically make it part of his biology--his ESP is powered ''by his own lifeforce!'' On repeated viewing, this actually increases Kirk's dilemma; if he chooses to keep Mitchell alive instead of kill or abandon him, Kirk would almost certainly recover his friend's sanity due to losing his powers through the passage of time--as long as he runs the risk of Mitchell destroying the ship first...* "I, Mudd":
** Uhura is fascinated with the idea that she could have immortality and eternal youth and beauty by having her mind transferred to an android body. Later, in "And the Children Shall Lead", we find out that her worst fear is "[her] death. A long death. Disease and pain"...something that wouldn't be an issue for an android.

* The fact that Scotty ''just might'' have committed those murders while possessed by Redjac.

** Many people have commented on the character of Harry's wife Stella. However, [[UnreliableNarrator the androids have only Harry's word]] as to what his wife was really like. The resulting simalcrum may say more about [[HeManWomanHater Harry]] than Stella.

* The episode "The Squire of Gothos" is famously goofy in a charming, campy way, so it's easy to overlook the terrifying nature of the entire dilemma with Trelane. Consider the basic idea of the episode, a [[RealityWarper reality-warping]] [[SpoiledBrat spoiled brat]] who's totally [[BloodKnight obsessed with death and warfare]] and has [[SoreLoser never learned how to lose]] wants to play with you, in his own twisted definition of "play" that may involve freezing you in place, teleporting you out to his personal [[DeathWorld death world]] as punishment, and then deciding to kill you just because of how fun it'd be. And you can't run away, because he'll simply teleport his planet into your way whenever you try, or just teleport you back. The entire episode is basically "Charlie X" [[UpToEleven Up to Eleven]] in almost every way, only with an added childish bloodlust.

* In the episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before," Kirk's best friend Gary Mitchell is zapped by an energy barrier which amplifies his ESP abilities. Gary starts the episode with jet black hair and ends with distinct grey streaks. Remember, he is already stated to possess heightened ESP abilities which technically make it part of his biology--his ESP is powered ''by his own lifeforce!'' On repeated viewing, this actually increases Kirk's dilemma; if he chooses to keep Mitchell alive instead of kill or abandon him, Kirk would almost certainly recover his friend's sanity due to losing his powers through the passage of time--as long as he runs the risk of Mitchell destroying the ship first...
* In "I, Mudd", Uhura is fascinated with the idea that she could have immortality and eternal youth and beauty by having her mind transferred to an android body. Later, in "And the Children Shall Lead", we find out that her worst fear is "[her] death. A long death. Disease and pain"...something that wouldn't be an issue for an android.
* Also from "I, Mudd": Many people have commented on the character of Harry's wife Stella. However, [[UnreliableNarrator the androids have only Harry's word]] as to what his wife was really like. The resulting simalcrum may say more about [[HeManWomanHater Harry]] than Stella.

** The single execution order is real as its referenced in Turnabout Intruder when the villain of the week attempts to use her/his usurped authority to execute Kirk and is met with significant pushback from the crew. The Death Penalty is a major no, no for the federation. Its specificity and harshness in this instance serves more as a deterrence to anyone attempting to go to Talos IV than as a genuine punishment. Starfleet likely doesn't have the facilities to execute anyone and probably lacks the philosophical will. I expect anyone who tries to go there would either A) Have good reason to and would receive a pardon or B) Be deemed mad and sent to a facility.

* In "The Ultimate Computer", why didn't Bones recognize the term "dunsel" even though everyone else did? Because, unlike everyone else, Bones didn't go to Starfleet Academy, where the term was used ([[Film/StarTrek2009 the reboot]] notwithstanding). He got his medical degree from the University of Mississippi (aka Ole Miss).
** And that makes a lot more sense than assuming [=McCoy=] went to Star Fleet Academy, as in the film. No real life military requires their doctors to attend a service academy before they get their commission. That would be a massive waste of time and resources.

* While the scene of Kirk being pelted by the tribbles that were in the tainted grain silo is quite funny, you need to remember they were dying. Imagine if Kirk was pelted by cute, fluffy bunnies that were poisoned to death and were dying painfully, and now you've got what Kirk was pelted with.

** And all this makes it logical that Cyrano Jones was facing a 20-year penal colony sentence. The Federation evidently takes environmental issues ''very'' seriously.

** Or George Orwell. Imagine if Kirk and his men had beamed down into the middle of ''Literature/{{1984}}''.

*** Despite organized religion per se not showing up much in the TOS series or movies, the whole logic running behind the story arc of Star Trek II and III is that Dr. McCoy is, in some sense, carrying around Mr. Spock's soul (or rough equivalent thereof) inside of him, between the end of the 2nd movie and the end of the 3rd. As he says at one point, "I've got all his marbles." There's no scientific explanation given for any of this in-universe, nor does there seem to be a scientific explanation, though there's something seemingly religious about the idea that a non-physical part of Spock could pass from Spock to McCoy in Star Trek II, and then back from McCoy to resuscitated Spock in Star Trek III. This might not be fundamentalist religion, but it's not pure materialistic science either.

* In "The Doomsday Machine", it's implied that Kirk and Decker are NotSoDifferent. So what would have happened if Kirk had at some point lost ''his'' crew?

** The single execution order is real as its referenced in Turnabout Intruder when the villain of the week attempts to use her/his usurped authority to execute Kirk and is met with significant pushback from the crew. The Death Penalty is a major no, no for the federation. Its specifiy and harshness in this instance is used more as a deterrence to anyone attempting to go to Talos IV than a genuine punishment. Starfleet likely doesn't have the facilities to execute anyone and probably lacks the philosophical will. I expect anyone who tries to go there would either A) Have good reason to and would receive a pardon or B) Be deemed mad and sent to a facility.

** And at the end of the episode, isn't transporting the tribbles onto the Klingon ship a death sentence for them (the tribbles, not the Klingons)? There was no reason to think that the Klingons wouldn't have shot every one of the little guys, and in ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'' Worf recounts how Klingons eventually exterminated the entire species. Worf does however justify the decision by explaining that the tribbles were an ecological disaster for the Klingons, cleaning out food supplies and causing famines. It's no different than killing the fluffy bunnies that are eating your crops.

*** The drug that caused all the adults to die also drastically slowed aging in children. They are effectively immune to the disease until they hit puberty (which takes a LONG time)...when they do hit puberty they contract the disease and die. The ones contracting the disease were very close to puberty when the disease first hit.

** In real life, the particular atoms & molecules that make up a person’s body are constantly turning over. Not 100% of them, but definitely the majority. Creator/CSLewis once remarked that in that respect, a human being is more like a bend in a waterfall than like the rock in the riverbed that causes the bend. A Christian writer, he was discussing a question of theology (would a person miraculously raised from the dead still be the same person if different atoms were used in creating the new body) but the same principle applies should a material technology such as telportation exist. People in the Federation might well be comfortable with the idea that the transporter merely does rapidly what happens more slowly all the time.

** Enteprise Episode 86, "Daedalus", Emory Erickson, inventor of the transporter handwaves the issue away, treating like it was a crack pot point.
*** Humans have become increasingly prone to Atheism in the ''Trek'' future. As a consequence, many people may not believe in souls. Note that there was even skepticism that Spock could use telepathy for BrainUploading. In this climate, people who raise the soul issue could be dismissed as superstitious and silly. On the whole Federation society is a ''lot'' less tolerant of divergent beliefs than they pretend to be. For example, Bones's fears regarding the transporter are treated as unreasonably paranoid, even in ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture'', where they force him to use the transporter immediately after a TeleporterAccident killed two other crewmen in an utterly horrific manner!

** And "Is There In Truth No Beauty", Kirk's reaction to Miranda's claiming she may not be able to save [[TheNotLoveInterest Spock's]] life. Kirk, normally the suave, cool captain reacts savagely, manhandling the blind girl and giving her an absolutely savage TheReasonYouSuckSpeech, accusing her of planning to kill Spock herself, and effectively pushing her to make a very risky attempt that stood a good chance of killing her as well. Kirk isn't immune to Decker type reactions, not by a very long shot.
* In "Patterns of Force," the leader of the Zeon underground noted that the people willing to assassinate the Fuehrer are sympathetic Ekosians and younger Zeons. Given that the Zeons are presented as a peaceful people, that statements gives a chilling suggestion that historian John Gill's stupidity reordering Ekos into a society modeled after Nazi Germany, and thus enabling Mekalon to take over and impose its inherent genocidal racial supremacist practices, will have long term negative social impacts that might never be undone.

** And all this makes it logical that Cyrano Jones was facing a 20 year penal colony sentence. The Federation evidently takes environmental issues ''very'' seriously.

** And that makes a lot more sense than assuming McCoy went to Star Fleet Academy, as in the film. No real life military requires their doctors to attend a service academy before they get their commission. That would be a massive waste of time and resources.