Obviously there are a lot of Idiot Ball entries and nearly all of them are valid. However, just because you can't think of a very simple answer to your questions doesn't mean it is this trope.
- Starfleet has been around for decades and have had Enterprise in the pipeline for several years, but apparently no-one felt they should bother actually giving the ship an actual destination? You'd think that since they were venturing out further than any Human had ever been, they could have done a little preparation and picked some destinations from the Vulcan starcharts they were allowed access too. Furthermore, there appear to be no first contact procedures, surveying procedures, away mission procedures... basically a sheer lack of any kind of procedure whatsoever? Starfleet seems content to let the Enterprise crew spend most of the time wandering around like tourists without any idea what they are doing! Where's all their supposed Academy training?
The following are the answers given to the above questions by the series itself:
Starfleet hasn't been out of the solar system yet (and it has only been around for a couple of decades at most, as Archer mentioned considering cargo-hauling as a career when he was a young adult before Starfleet was commissioned). Surveying procedures are understandable in terms of inhabitable planets, but they have had no experience with away missions or first contact. Wouldn't it be a better idea to have the person actually going out and experiencing things for he first time to have carte blanche to do whatever is within the realms of necessity and common sense as long as they follow certain ethical guidelines - which Archer does seem to do - rather than to have guidelines developed by people who have quite literally no idea what any of these things are like and have no basis or evidence to work from (although obviously this doesn't include security and ship procedures, I'm talking in terms of alien experience that would require first-hand knowledge of the dangers and hazards etc. to determine how to handle)? Archer and his crew are out there to gather such evidence and detail. The senior staff obviously have access to the Vulcan database and their guidelines to refer to if necessary, but otherwise depending on the person on the front line to act appropriately when you have nothing else to work with is probably one of the more sensible decisions Starfleet ever made. As for the Academy? It obviously doesn't exist yet as we know it as of TGN and DS 9 considering there hasn't been anywhere to go until know (e.g. Travis only had two years of training at Starfleet academy before being commissioned as an ensign on Enterprise, and by all accounts it was less an academy and more like an astronaut program, where the focus was on the spaceflight and not diplomatic contact). As for destinations? Honestly, having Archer make a decision to go "somewhere that way" rather than having someone else make a decision to go in a different direction based on the exact same basis (i.e. not much) doesn't make a difference - the point is to explore the Alpha quadrant and you have to start somewhere. If Starfleet has a list of civilizations they want to have Archer come in contact with based on the Vulcan database or specific aims to complete, then that would be a different matter. Even then there's nothing for us to say that they haven't given Archer a loose list of aims to complete or idea of places to go, but the idea of this entire mission is to explore a completely new territory that no human has ever encountered before. If you are going to use the Vulcan database as a guideline for everything, then why not let them determine where you go and who you should meet or do joint expeditions? It would amount to the same thing. A significant point of the Enterprise expedition is to throw off Vulcan guidance and show that humans are capable of figuring things out on their own without their help.
Now, whether I approve of any of the answers that I gave or what I think of them is beside the point. However, the answers to the questions risen in this entry are very clearly given by the series, and here I am spending ten minutes putting them into words. (Although for the record I think Archer's common sense and tactical assessment could do with some definite fine tuning, and that Starfleet's confidence in his ability may be somewhat misplaced)
If someone wants to use the answers the series has given to the questions asked as proof of an Idiot Plot etc. then please go ahead. That would be a valid entry. E.g. The lack of training that the Academy supplied the crew with; humanity's persistence in not letting the Vulcans shape their guidelines and procedures.
Edited by 69.172.221.4 Hide / Show Replies
Yeah I think the 'idiot ball' entries are going to be the same as long as this wiki is around.
Do what the clock does, keep going.
NIC handle HEH
Roles played by Jeff Combs did not include Balok on "The Corbormite Manouver" that was Clint Howard.
I removed Trip's pregnancy from the Moral Dissonance section, as it wasn't rape - the alien didn't actually intend to get him pregnant. It was essentially accidental sex.
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Yes, it was just surprise sex that he didn't know he was having and resulted in a pregnancy.
It was more than implied that the alien knew EXACTLY what she was doing! She wasn't a bit surprised when he showed up pregnant either nor was she confused as to how it happened. She tricked him into having sexual relations with her and THAT is indeed rape (I don't know how you conduct your sexual life but you are scaring me saying this wasn't rape).
Edited by PitchWriter
Joeseph Ripken
The wording in this article implies that there is universal hatred for this show.
Lines like "What grated against fans the worst though" what fans? There are just as many people who actually liked the show as hated it. (And I'm in neither camp. It was an ok show, not great, not horrible.) The article seems to have bloated out to just be complaining about the show. Think we can prune some of that?
Edited by josephripken The host of a little watched web show that explores bad tv episodes. Hide / Show Replies
The obvious bias in this article has bugged me for some time. In accordance with the Rule Of Cautious Editing Judgment, and sub rules in How To Write An Example I decided to change it so that the main article would no longer be a middle finger at people who actually liked the show. ( The sub rules being Don't Write Reviews and Make A Point, Don't Complain specifically. I realise the main article isn;t an example, but I see no reason why these shouldn;t apply to main articles too.)
Details of changes by paragraph follow. This prequel series... Removed complaining about failure to align with canon, removed the word "gratuitous" as that would be a YMMV issue.
The series only lasted four seasons... Because it was mostly complaining, I stripped most of it and merged it with the previous paragraph.
The vast majority of complaints... Deleted. This whole paragraph was complaining.
What grated against... Deleted. This whole paragraph was complaining.
A less biased new paragraph replaces these two.
To lead into the third season... deleted "While not perfect and still holding onto the blatant fanservice," and "The major criticisms of Season 3 were that the writers were trying too hard, parts were felt labored, and it was still hit-or-miss.". Reformatted the rest of the paragraph to fit around the removed lines.
The major flashpoint of... deleted. This whole paragraph was complaining.
At any rate, at the start of Season 4... reworded much of it, as it had fallen into Wanton Cruelty to the Common Comma Deleted "This lead many to point to Season 4 as proof that Enterprise wasn't an inherently bad concept and that, in more capable hands and with ambitious goals, it could have been better from the start.The fourth season not only introduced at least some interest in the canon (arguably giving it a more genuine "prequel" feel), but introduced more engaging storylines as well." to better line up with thefact that the article isn't a long criticism anymore. delter "The season still had its detractors, mostly because Enterprise wasn't straying too far from Earth and had bypassed the "searching out new life" mantra of the franchise for the time being. Put another way they were still "exploring alien life", its just that instead of having a new concept-race each week, they focused on fleshing out the cultures of the already established major races like the Vulcans and Andorians. " for the same reasons.
A separate problem was that the... deleted. whatever problems the finale may have had are more suited to the YMMV tab than the main article.
Sadly, despite the progressive improvements in Season 4 Changed some of it to flow more naturally, and becuase the rest of teh article isn't just complaining any more.
The host of a little watched web show that explores bad tv episodes.
It's been a while since I've seen that episode but I do believe the follow up comment is more accurate to what happened. It's not so much biology or evolution as it is natural selection, species politics.
- You Fail Biology Forever: A sapient species is dying because they evolved a defect to make room for another species on their planet (evolutionary defects don't happen for reasons like that), and even implied this is what happened to the Neanderthals (it certainly was not).
- Actually, it's implied that half the population is suffering from a fatal genetic disease and that if they don't find a cure the species will die out in a few generations. The other species on the planet, which doesn't suffer from this disease for obvious reasons, will then have the planet to themselves. It isn't implied at all that this happened to the Neanderthals, merely used as an example of how interfering with two species on such a scale could have drastic consequences. Did you even watch the episode?
I just watched the episode, and I think that both statements have some truth. In the episode it is stated that the Valakians have evolved some mutation that stops proteins from binding to their chromosomes (I am not sure if that makes sense, or is genetically possible). Right there I think that would be a You Fail Biology Forever, since such a maladaptive trait would be unlikely to spread. His later speech on interfering with evolution seems to imply (at least to me) that the death of the Valakians was predetermined to make room for the Menk, but it is more of an implication. The follow up comment is correct about the Neanderthals though. As a side note I would like to add the trope Hypocrite to this page, because Phlox, being a doctor, interferes with evolution all the time. As a side side note, his statement about the degeneration accelerating seems a bit weird. If this was genetic than the only way for it to spread would be if those who have the more advanced version were somehow able to reproduce more than those without, but considering the rate and number of deaths this seems unlikely.
I remember that episode, and it was explicitly stated that the dominant race had evolved the defect to make room for the upcoming one. That is why that entry belongs. The reply assumed there was less to the episode than there was.
I added a modified form of that entry.
I'm on the internet. My arguments are invalid.
Even if we don't just classify this as People Sit On Chairs, these aren't Arc Words. They're a series-wide Verbal Tic or Catchphrase. I'm not sure exactly how to classify them, though.