Star Trek: Deep Space Nine/Headscratchers: Difference between revisions
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== Idiotic Federation Treaties == |
== Idiotic Federation Treaties == |
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* In another "Dax"-related question, who in the world does the Federation come up with to make these damn treaties?! Signing a treaty with the Romulans promising not to develop cloaking technology was bad enough (and yeah, I read ''Serpents Among the Ruins,'' and I get that [[It Makes Sense in Context]]). But signing a treaty with the Klaestrons allowing for ''unilateral extradition?!'' [[What Could Possibly Go Wrong]] |
* In another "Dax"-related question, who in the world does the Federation come up with to make these damn treaties?! Signing a treaty with the Romulans promising not to develop cloaking technology was bad enough (and yeah, I read ''Serpents Among the Ruins,'' and I get that [[It Makes Sense in Context]]). But signing a treaty with the Klaestrons allowing for ''unilateral extradition?!'' [[What Could Possibly Go Wrong?]] |
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** Unilateral extradition isn't ''that'' odd by itself (at least, it's not an inherently ridiculous concept), but if the Federation is really based on the EU, they would never for a moment consider handing Dax to a government that used the death penalty, without the explicit assurance that the entire plot of the episode wouldn't happen. |
** Unilateral extradition isn't ''that'' odd by itself (at least, it's not an inherently ridiculous concept), but if the Federation is really based on the EU, they would never for a moment consider handing Dax to a government that used the death penalty, without the explicit assurance that the entire plot of the episode wouldn't happen. |
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*** The series itself never explains the full terms of the Treaty of Algeron, but presumably in return for not developing cloaking technology the Federation gained some concession from the Romulans. |
*** The series itself never explains the full terms of the Treaty of Algeron, but presumably in return for not developing cloaking technology the Federation gained some concession from the Romulans. |
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== Will the real Darhe'el please stand up? == |
== Will the real Darhe'el please stand up? == |
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* This is not to knock "Duet", which is one of the best episodes of the series and in all of ''[[Star Trek]]'' in my opinion. But one wonders exactly how Marritza expected his plan to work. If Darhe'el ''had'' been alive, all the Cardassians would have to do to discredit Marritza is simply produce him. And if he were dead, just tell everyone that-- hell, half of Cardassia ''viewed his body!'' So whether Darhe'el were alive or dead, there was no way Marritza would be able to convince people that he was him. This was not a very well-thought-out plan on his part. |
* This is not to knock "Duet", which is one of the best episodes of the series and in all of ''[[Star Trek]]'' in my opinion. But one wonders exactly how Marritza expected his plan to work. If Darhe'el ''had'' been alive, all the Cardassians would have to do to discredit Marritza is simply produce him. And if he were dead, just tell everyone that-- hell, half of Cardassia ''viewed his body!'' So whether Darhe'el were alive or dead, there was no way Marritza would be able to convince people that he was him. This was not a very well-thought-out plan on his part. |
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** He probably wasn't thinking that far into it, having lived with years of pent-up PTSD, guilt, and self-hatred driving him into [[Suicide By Cop|his plan]]. Most likely he thought that with his [[Card |
** He probably wasn't thinking that far into it, having lived with years of pent-up PTSD, guilt, and self-hatred driving him into [[Suicide By Cop|his plan]]. Most likely he thought that with his [[Card-Carrying Villain]] persona, the Bajorans wouldn't bother to conduct a thorough investigation. Although if he ''had'' survived, it's probable that he would have been able to publicly explain his actions, which may still have gone some way to achieving his goal anyhow. |
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** He might not have expected the crew of DS9 (or wherever he ended up captured at) to actually contact the Cardassians and check. This would be a fair assumption assuming the station were run solely by Bajorans, perhaps he didn't know about the Federation involvement (which happened only a few months before he arrived.) |
** He might not have expected the crew of DS9 (or wherever he ended up captured at) to actually contact the Cardassians and check. This would be a fair assumption assuming the station were run solely by Bajorans, perhaps he didn't know about the Federation involvement (which happened only a few months before he arrived.) |
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*** Or having checked, he might expect them to believe that the Cardassians had lied. After all, it's not like the Cardassians were above lying to save face on, well, ''just about anything''. If it hadn't been for them {{spoiler|finding the records which clearly showed that Gul Darheel had been on Cardassia when the accident happened, therefore couldn't have Kalinora syndrome, therefore the man in the cell couldn't be Darheel}} then they might well have assumed that the Cardassians were trying to create an alibi. |
*** Or having checked, he might expect them to believe that the Cardassians had lied. After all, it's not like the Cardassians were above lying to save face on, well, ''just about anything''. If it hadn't been for them {{spoiler|finding the records which clearly showed that Gul Darheel had been on Cardassia when the accident happened, therefore couldn't have Kalinora syndrome, therefore the man in the cell couldn't be Darheel}} then they might well have assumed that the Cardassians were trying to create an alibi. |
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** Persistent, deep-running streaks of bad writing throughout the franchise have established that for some reason ship sensors can't pick up all of the same details that a viewscreen can, and that magnifying the viewscreen can actually get you detail beyond what the sensors can resolve. How this makes anything even approximating sense is anyone's guess... perhaps Federation Engineering strikes again and visual data actually uses a whole second set sensor system with a much higher sensitivity than the important ones (the real surprise for the characters perhaps being that the Jem'Hadar ship was designed in a sensible fashion in this respect). |
** Persistent, deep-running streaks of bad writing throughout the franchise have established that for some reason ship sensors can't pick up all of the same details that a viewscreen can, and that magnifying the viewscreen can actually get you detail beyond what the sensors can resolve. How this makes anything even approximating sense is anyone's guess... perhaps Federation Engineering strikes again and visual data actually uses a whole second set sensor system with a much higher sensitivity than the important ones (the real surprise for the characters perhaps being that the Jem'Hadar ship was designed in a sensible fashion in this respect). |
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** It makes perfect sense, actually. It's quite easier to get a sense of what's going on with a visual than streams of numbers. Any being with eyes would process a visual far more efficiently than a readout on a console. If there's an enemy ship ahead, your weapons officer will have an easier time targeting if they have something to coordinate with rather than just a hit/miss return. |
** It makes perfect sense, actually. It's quite easier to get a sense of what's going on with a visual than streams of numbers. Any being with eyes would process a visual far more efficiently than a readout on a console. If there's an enemy ship ahead, your weapons officer will have an easier time targeting if they have something to coordinate with rather than just a hit/miss return. |
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*** Considering the distances the ships would logically be at and the fact that we never see anything like a targeting system on the screen it doesn't seem very likely that it would be of any help. Besides, apart from an apparent lack of tactical imagination there is never any guarantee that the enemy won't be [[ |
*** Considering the distances the ships would logically be at and the fact that we never see anything like a targeting system on the screen it doesn't seem very likely that it would be of any help. Besides, apart from an apparent lack of tactical imagination there is never any guarantee that the enemy won't be [[2-D Space|below or above them]]. |
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** The viewscreen has the ability to create simulated images. It may be the viewscreen is normally used to produce an image based upon sensor data in the same way the Jem'Hadar headsets do (it's not as though it's the headsets themselves give the wearer X-ray vision, after all). |
** The viewscreen has the ability to create simulated images. It may be the viewscreen is normally used to produce an image based upon sensor data in the same way the Jem'Hadar headsets do (it's not as though it's the headsets themselves give the wearer X-ray vision, after all). |
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** It's important to remember that one of the most common Trek uses for such a viewing screen is to facilitate face-to-face communication and diplomacy between ships, allowing for added nuances of body language that are otherwise lost via voice or text. The Jem'Hadar, naturally, do no diplomacy on the part of the Dominion; that's the Vorta's purpose, so there's no need for such a thing on a Jem'Hadar warship. In that light, the comment is a reflection on the mentality of Jem'Hadar ship commanders. |
** It's important to remember that one of the most common Trek uses for such a viewing screen is to facilitate face-to-face communication and diplomacy between ships, allowing for added nuances of body language that are otherwise lost via voice or text. The Jem'Hadar, naturally, do no diplomacy on the part of the Dominion; that's the Vorta's purpose, so there's no need for such a thing on a Jem'Hadar warship. In that light, the comment is a reflection on the mentality of Jem'Hadar ship commanders. |
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