Star Trek: The Next Generation/Headscratchers: Difference between revisions

** The aforementioned ship would be the [http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/USS_Intrepid_(NCC-1631) USS Intrepid], and it's the same class as the original Enterprise.

** We don't know if the non-Starfleet Vulcan ship(s) are actually ships operating under the banner of the government of Vulcan, or ships that happened to be owned and operated by private or corporate interests on Vulcan. We do see a few human ships that are privately owned--freightersowned—freighters, transports, the like--solike—so it's not impossible that the Vulcan Science Academy or what have you simply send out their own ships sometimes to study things that the Federation hasn't gotten around to yet.

**** Between the Klingons first appearances in TOS and their appearances in TNG, they'd had their original homeworld devastated in ST VI and a massive, humiliating defeat at the hands of the Romulans at Khitomer, leading to their decline as an empire and their forging an alliance with the Federation, which probably ended their territorial expansion. This lead to a period of stagnation in the Empire, leading the people to look backward and make a big deal about their past glories -- soglories—so scheming, conniving, bullying modern Klingons now pretend to be just like their ancient warrior ancestors, like a bunch of right wing nationalists in, say, Sweden, might latch on to the identity of the Vikings. I mean, aside from Worf and Martok, no Klingons on any series actually practiced what they preached.

*** One: All four powers have the same number of M-Class planets in their territory, more or less, but for some stupid reasons, the ancient humanoids--whohumanoids—who knew nothing of how the Quadrant would be divided politically billions of years later--seededlater—seeded eventual Federation space much more heavily. There would be no reason for them to do so, though.

*** Four: The Federation has many more M-Class planets than the other three, either because its territory is much more vast or because habitable systems are much more tightly clustered. Either way, that gives the Feds exponentially more resources to draw on than any of their neighbors. They'd be a Quadrant-striding superpower. The problem is that they deal with the Klingons, Romulans, and Cardassians as equals--andequals—and I don't mean they're benevolent in time of peace, I mean that when each of those powers wants to fight the Federation they come off every bit as strong as the Federation itself. If this is the solution, the Federation is every bit as great a power in the Alpha Quadrant as the Dominion is in the Gamma Quadrant, meaning that the fraction of the Jem'Hadar fleet the Founders sent to Cardassia before the wormhole got cut off would get swatted aside like a fly by Starfleet. Instead, even with the Klingons' help, the Federation was barely keeping its head above water, and when they learned that Damar had figured out how to bring the main Jem'Hadar fleet through, they were puckering their assholes in terror.

== We're Fighting Wolf-359 By the Book! Yeah, the Book the Borg Just Stole and Read! ==

**** Hey, not so much. The Federation had, to that point, never demonstrated the ability to do more than poke around aboard inactive Borg cubes, and run the hell away from active ones. Had Wolf 359 gone very differently, if say the cube had arrived in-system and gotten halfway through its routine status update before being blown entirely out of space by some new and heretofore unsuspected Federation superweapon, it seems very probable that the next appearance of non-rogue, non-isolate Borg would've been a ''lot'' sooner than ''First Contact''. <br />Consider it in light of the Collective's interest in assimilating newer and better technology. The way it actually did go, one Borg cube slaughtered forty of Starfleet's finest ships without even breaking a sweat, then proceeded unhindered to Sector 001, and was stopped from assimilating the Federation's homeworld by a ''security hole'' which the Enterprise crew was able to exploit only through the blind good fortune of having brought along a better hacker than the Borg had. And then the Collective ignored the Federation pretty much entirely, the special case of Voyager excepted, for the better part of the next decade. That certainly didn't happen because of Starfleet's indomitable military might, and I don't see a better explanation than that the Collective ''didn't regard the Federation as being worth all that much effort'' -- hence—hence only sending one cube to Earth. As we see from ''Voyager'''s exploration of the Collective's Delta Quadrant activities, it could just as easily have been five cubes or fifty, but it wasn't; apparently, all those other cubes had better things to do. Had Starfleet demonstrated some radically new technological capability at Wolf 359, something capable of one-shotting a vessel which previously they could barely even hope to ''scratch'', it seems virtually certain that the Borg would've regarded the Federation as a much more valuable target, and reacted accordingly.

*** A starship on warp drive too close to a star has very bad effects, or so I seem to recall seeing mentioned in TOS. As to 'immediate mass assimilation', the Borg cube at Wolf 359 was already headed for Earth on a mission to do precisely that -- thethat—the Federation literally had nothing left to lose.

**** There's non-canonical literature that talks about stars going nova when ships go to warp too near them, but all such literature is just that: ''non-canonical''. Consider the '[http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Slingshot_effect slingshot effect]', which requires a ship to travel at warp in very close proximity to a star -- ratherstar—rather closer than one stellar diameter, judging by the photo in the linked article. Presumably, if this had a noticeably bad effect on the star, they'd have found some other place to do it than Sol. :)

**** And I don't think it's reasonable to say that the Federation 'had nothing left to lose'. Sure, all its headquarters are at Earth, plus Starfleet Academy, a couple of major shipyards -- butshipyards—but what about Vulcan? What about Andor? Betazed? Trill? Bajor? What about the Bynars and the Bolians, like Mister Mot? What about the exocomps, and the Horta and all her kin? I'd be thrilled to see what the Federation might become in the wake of the Borg coming, wiping out most of Starfleet, assimilating Earth, Luna, and Mars...and then, satisfied they've picked the ripe low-hanging fruit, ''leaving''. But who'm I kidding? [[Humans Are Special|That'll never happen]]...

** Speaking of Picard -- HePicard—He'd been throughly brainwashed by the Borg. Sure he apparently got better, but you have know way of knowing he won't snap back at the worst possible time, especially since (as per "First Contact") you haven't even managed to remove all of the Borg implants. On top of -that-, his knowledge and personality are presumably still bouncing around the Borg hive-mind somewhere. And yet he's given his command back as if nothing happened. I know Starfleet is only [[Mildly Military]], but by any reasonable standard Picard would've been gently but -firmly- retired to spend more time with his archeology.

*** You could just set up a small robot to monitor it with a list of everyone authorized to touch these things and make it hard to tamper with. Of course that might be something that would occur to someone more in the 21st century with robots starting to show up more often rather than a late 20th century writer. Besides that did the designers never consider the possibility of sabotage.<ref> though considering how apparently easy it is to hack the computer, infiltrate the ship and take over maybe they really didn't</ref>.

*** Everyone seems to assume that the computer's Moriarity-simulacrum was actually sentient, but nothing (at least in the first of the two episodes dealing with Holo!Moriarity) seems to make that a necessary conclusion; a computer with such demonstrated natural-language processing facility as that one could certainly be excused for inferring that it had been asked not for a simple and ordinary holodeck challenge game, but rather something with a bit more meta-level play -- afterplay—after all, the request was for an adversary capable of defeating not Sherlock Holmes, Data's character in the holodeck, but ''Data himself''. And for a computer which can directly do as many things in the real world as the Enterprise-D's can, we've seen ''plenty'' of times that there aren't any particular security protocols or sanity checks against, say, making a holodeck detective game more interesting by giving the villain character full knowledge of the true nature of his situation, and the ability to understand and directly affect ship systems.

** '''Answer:''' It was [[Word of God|Gene]]'s idea. He always maintained that Starfleet really ''wasn't'' a military organization, and that it was unreasonable to force the crew to leave their families for years at a time. As you note, this idea just doesn't work in a series where the ship is in danger almost every week. That's why the writers quietly reversed course on this one after TNG ended -- thereended—there are no kids on the ''Enterprise''-E or other Starfleet ships we've seen since.

** There are a lot of valid points here overall, but it seems like the Federation in general has far more risk-tolerant attitudes than late-20th/early 21st century America. Just look at the general reaction to things kids get into that have nothing to do with hostile activity. Also, my impression was always that the Galaxy class was the first to carry families not because it was a particularly non-combat-adapted ship, but because it was ''big enough'' to carry all those extra people in comfort and without taxing its supplies. Starfleet seems to be fond of making its "first rate" ships extremely multi-role; both the Constitution and Galaxy are seen doing diplomatic, combat, and exploration missions, as well as carrying high-priority cargoes. As is repeatedly cited on other matters, this reflects nineteenth-century fleets far more than modern navies. In addition, the ''Galaxy'' is not really that bad a battleship--thebattleship—the Bird-of-Prey in Generations was only able to take down the Enterprise by using a bug in Geordi's VISOR to read the shield frequencies. It does have two problems, but they are more design oversights than intentional compromises. First, it is a big target--itstarget—its shape is rather "fat", not really presenting a small profile from any angle. Second, while it is very well-armed, its firing arcs are not designed to concentrate fire in any one direction; it cannot easily throw a large weight of fire forward or "fire a broadside".

**** And at what point did Eddington, or the Maquis, ''ever'' set out to endanger the Federation? It's quite clear in the series that Eddington meant everything he said about he and the Maquis having no quarrel with Sisko or with the Federation, but simply wanting the freedom to go their own way, ''especially'' after they'd already renounced their Federation citizenship en masse in order to avoid being forcibly resettled when their planets were ceded to the Cardassian Union. The treaty making that concession also stipulated that the Cardassians would respect the autonomy of the Federation exiles, and the Maquis-Cardassian war started when it became clear that that Cardassian promise was worth about as much as...well, as a Cardassian promise. It was only after Dukat brought Sisko and the Federation into that war that the Maquis began targeting Federation assets -- andassets—and I've yet to hear anyone offer much of an explanation as to why the Federation was fighting on the side of its current enemy, against people who until very recently had been Federation citizens themselves.

****** That's not much of an explanation. The Maquis were endangering the Federation by defending themselves against Cardassian treaty violations, ''because'' the Cardassians chose not to take the view that the Federation was at fault? Which choice, incidentally, doesn't do anything to exonerate the Cardassian abrogation of their treaty obligations to the Maquis; in light of that, it's hard to believe they upheld the Federation treaty out of the goodness of their hearts, rather than the recognition that open war against the Federation would cost them dearly and be of uncertain outcome.<br />One might argue (and I think Sisko did once argue) the ''realpolitik'' justification that it was necessary to try to prevent an alliance between the Dominion and the Cardassian Union, and that the mostly-successful Maquis resistance left the Union little other option than to sign a treaty with the Dominion; but the Maquis resistance, however successful, amounted to little more than a pinprick compared to the all-out Klingon invasion which at that time was rolling up whole Cardassian star systems and whatever else lay between Gowron's fleets and Cardassia Prime. If the Union needed a powerful ally against anything, it was the existential threat they faced from the Klingons, not the guerrilla warfare they forced upon the Maquis -- notMaquis—not that this would likely be news to Sisko, who not long before had worked alongside Dukat to rescue, by their very fingernails, ''the entire Cardassian governing council'' from a Klingon attack intended to capture or kill them ''en masse''.

****** If you take the position that the Maquis are a legitimate government-in-exile, that they have just cause to declare war on the Federation, and that Eddington's actions are as a legitimate combatant in the service of the Maquis, that does indeed remove the criminal liability from most of his actions as they instead become acts of war. However, that ''also'' means that ''the Maquis just declared war on the Federation'', at which point it becomes perfectly legal to kill any armed combatant in the service of the Maquis -- suchMaquis—such as Eddington -- theEddington—the instant you can get a good sight picture on the guy, and only his throwing down his weapons and surrendering to your custody makes it ''not'' legal to do that. At which point Sisko becomes the very model of mercy and forbearance in making any effort at all to take the guy alive instead of just smacking his ship with a quantum torpedo and calling it a day. (And that's leaving out the war crimes charges Eddington could potentially be liable for.)

*** Oh, and speaking of the Maquis -- hasMaquis—has it occurred to anyone else that, as with Israeli settlements in Gaza, the establishment of these Federation colonies in contested territory might have been a political maneuver against Cardassia in the first place? Perhaps some high Starfleet admiral in early-mid-TNG days, some time before the first Cardassian war, had the rather cold-blooded thought of putting some [[Innocent Bystander]]s in harm's way to see what happened; either on the one hand the territory would be de-facto ceded to the Federation, or on the other hand the Federation would get a bloody shirt to wave, a handily manufactured ''casus belli'' in the run-up to what may well have been a widely unpopular conflict driven as much by political intrigue within Starfleet as by any genuine cause of opposition between the two involved parties.<br />Of course, as we all know, the first Federation-Cardassian conflict ended with a compromise treaty in which concessions were made by both sides, a result regarded by contemporary political observers as deeply unsatisfying to both parties. In such a situation, perhaps it seemed politically necessary to abandon the civilians who had colonized contested planets to strengthen the Federation's pre-war claim; while this may seem a stunningly cynical allegation against the supposedly idealistic and morally enlightened Federation, it is perhaps not so shocking in light of the fact that the Federation eventually chose to carry out exactly such an abandonment. It's also not such a shocking claim in light of Starfleet's established willingness to callously throw non-combatants into deadly danger -- evendanger—even the Great Picard blithely dragged a shipful of families ''including minor children'' into armed standoffs, booby traps, spatial anomalies, temporal vortices, skirmishes just shy of outright warfare with the Klingons, the Romulans, the Cardassians, the Borg -- hellBorg—hell, at one point everybody on the whole ship was horribly mutated into a monstrously twisted amalgam of human and animal features like something out of H. P. Lovecraft's nightmares, and what's ''that'' going to do to a ten-year-old? And it still took ''years'' before anyone got the idea that maybe having your kids with you on a combat posting, or a posting that could suddenly ''become'' a combat posting at any instant, isn't such a great thing after all!<br />And of course that's all just [[Fridge Logic|speculation]], or at best circumstantial inference without a shred of unequivocal canon evidence to back it up, but it sure would do a great job of explaining how Sisko managed to get away with using massively, internationally illegal chemical weapons to depopulate a Maquis planet, without so much as a hiccup of indigestion from his chain of command. After all, by that point, Starfleet was deeply embroiled in a de-facto alliance with Cardassia against the Maquis, and while the Federation public ''seems'' endlessly tolerant of its government's misbehavior, it's possible even that infinitely flexible patience could be strained by a military partnership with a recent enemy against one's own recent fellow citizens. Once Sisko, at Dukat's urging, had put them into the situation, the political admirals would undoubtedly want nothing less than to see it turn into an ugly, deadly, drawn-out struggle, in the way guerrilla wars tend to do; there's little which can turn a polity against a war so quickly as that -- andthat—and having all the facts about ''this'' little mess come out in the media, in such a hostile domestic political context, very likely could result in some of Starfleet Command's political weathervanes toppling off their high perches for good. Those same political admirals would naturally find nearly any result preferable to that one, hence Sisko's being given carte blanche to do whatever was necessary to put a quick, quiet end to the conflict -- evenconflict—even extending to such hideous acts as using highly toxic engine waste to poison an inhabited planet's biosphere; let's not forget that Eddington used an agent specific to Cardassian physiology, while Sisko indiscriminately slaughtered an entire ''ecosystem'' -- which—which, judging by the outcome, was entirely acceptable to Starfleet's high command, just so long as it didn't make the news.<br />I think the next person who starts to tell me about the Federation's evolved sensibilities and Starfleet's high moral standards, I might just have to puke on their shoes.

**** Sorry, are we talking about the same Sisko here? The guy who feels himself in grave moral peril when he's had an extremely indirect hand in the false-flag murder of a Romulan senator with the result that the Romulans enter the war against the Dominion and make a decisive difference -- thedifference—the same guy who also uses outlawed chemical weapons to depopulate an entire human ''planet'', without the slightest hint of a qualm from either him or his superiors in Starfleet? Even ''Kira'' had to ask him to confirm that order! And, yes, Eddington had used chemical weapons first in order to deny the Cardassians a disputed planet, but that's pretty much the backwards of exoneration for what Sisko did; in fact, it's the first Trek episode I ever saw where the plainly shown moral of the story was that the ends really ''do'' justify the means, with a hefty dose of "if they do it first, it's okay for us too". It's not the exploration of that theme with which I have a problem; it's the fact that Sisko's actions were presented in a totally uncritical light that sends not just him, but the whole show, shooting past the [[Moral Event Horizon]] in my eyes.

**** Its important to note that neither Eddington or Sisko used the sort of chemical weapons that killed on contact. Lines of dialogue make it very clear that their attack will simply make it impossible for Cardassians or Humans to inhabit the affected worlds for several decades. Both populations have time to evacuate, and the Cardassians even are shown to be doing so--Eddingtonso—Eddington goes so far as to fire on one of the refugee ships as a distraction while he escapes. While its clear that both mens' actions are in fact crimes, these crimes are not on the order of mass murder.

** It wasn't a question of weak will. The game was actively reprogramming their brains. The only reason Wesley doesn't fall is because he figures it out before he ever starts playing--heplaying—he would have been corrupted just as easily. The real question is why that technology has never been explored again--itagain—it's exactly the kind of thing that Romulans and Cardassians are known for.

** The argument was not about Maddox mass-producing Data, it was about Data's status as the property of Starfleet, and thus his right to resign, aka, to choose. But you know what bothers me here? Data could never be considered the property of Starfleet. As far as I can see, Dr. Noonian Soong created Data of his own volition--Datavolition—Data was not commissioned by Starfleet--andStarfleet—and so payed for all the necessary parts himself. If Data was going to be anyone's property, it would be Soong's.

** Even if it's assumed he'd be standing during an Alert, it's ridiculous that he didn't have a chair to occupy during routine bridge watches. Standing still for too long at a stretch will make a human light-headed -- neverheaded—never a state you'd want your Tactical officer to be in -- orin—or even cause them to pass out, and ''Enterprise'' was built for a human crew, long before anyone knew a Klingon would occupy that spot.

*** I think Data would "feel" more than that. Remember, he still has that little holo of Tasha, and it's brought up in a few episodes. If he "feels" enough to keep a holoprojection of a dead friend -- asfriend—as pointed out, Data can perfectly remember every moment he ever spent with her, yet he keeps a physical keepsake of her -- thenher—then surely he would remember Spot in a similar way.

** Also, think of how people reacted to finding {{spoiler|Data's head in the past}} in "Time's Arrow". Constructed beings though they may be, there's still human emotion to consider -- wouldconsider—would you want to have to be in a position to kill your trusted friend's only daughter, even if you know that another could theoretically be built?

** How do you name it? *inventor name* at *invention location*. How do you explain it - [concept of going from one place to another] and not [concept of physically moving]. We humans also call most scientific ideas by their inventors, rather than by a separate noun. Van Allen belts, Heisenberg uncertainty principles, Planck lengths - these could easily be called Van Allen around Earth, Heisenberg of Democritus at Athens, Planck of Democritus at Athens. So that would go "Bingo, when he pressed the red button .<ref>(= what I did)</ref>. [[Diplomacy|Russia at Warsaw and Bohemia, Lepanto at Ionian Sea]] .<ref>(= moving two spaces in one turn, without going to a space in between = what happened)</ref>. [[This Troper]] and [[The Lancer]] at Current Location .<ref>(= naming new event)</ref>. Shaka when the walls are strong .<ref>(= success)</ref>. Remember that this is an alien culture with an alien mindset - can you logically explain how you came to understand the concept of "the"? Then how do you expect somebody to be capable of logically explaining the first principles of an alien language? <ref>([[Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone|Neville at the table]] (have forgotten what you try to remember), [[Star Trek: Enterprise|Archer and the Xindi]] (utterly alien conversation). Booboo in kindergarten about Shaka and Tenagra (learning first lingual concepts), [[Watchmen|Juspeczyk and Dr. Manhattan on Mars]] of "the" (explaining something logically which seems obvious to one who doesn't understand, concerning the word "the"), Shaka where the walls have fallen (have failed and cannot undo). Dr. Manhattan to Juspeczyk at Mars (logical creature expecting beliefs of opponent to be logical), [[That Guy With The Glasses|Chester A Bum at the end]] (demanding), Booboo as Neville for Shaka and Tenagra (inability to remember learning lingual concepts)!)</ref> Compare, for example, Chinese, which has no written grammar at all. They have approximately 3000 common characters, and around 50,000 terms in total. Simply by replacing each character by the name of a person or event, you get something which could pretty much pass for Darmok language. The Chinese have no problem making new combinations of characters to describe new physical discoveries, so it would be utterly unreasonable to say the people of Darmok can't do the same. <ref> Shaka and Tanagra of China as Gilgamesh of Picard at Darmok. [[Peloponnesian War|Athenian League at Epidauros]], Wikipedia of Shaka and Tanagra of China, Arabian border of Hadrian's Empire, [[There Is No Such Thing as Notability|TVTropes]] of Shaka and Tanagra of China. Starfleet Translator at Urda at Darmok, Shaka and Tenagra, China as [[Assassin's Creed|Altair in Acre]] to Darmok. Higgs and Planck as before, China to Shaka and Tenagra, Taegris, his arms wide. Darmok to China, Atalante at speed.</ref>

** Honestly, it makes sense to incorporate real water into holodeck programs. If you want to go swimming at a pool on the holodeck, then exit the holodeck and walk back to your quarters, you want to stay feeling refreshed right? You don't want to completely dry out the moment you step out of the holodeck; you want to retain some of that moisture, that fresh feeling. And on a related point: human skin ''does'' absorb water--itwater—it's the reason your fingers and toes get all pruney when you swim or bathe--sobathe—so it could also be potentially hazardous for a pruney person to walk out of the holodeck and all that holographic water just instantly disappear.

** Because they weren't completely evil in the TNG series. They were xenophobic and very distrusting, but the federation wasn't exactly friendly towards the Romulans either. Given the history between the two sides, the whole thing is kind of understandable. Plus, it was shown from TNG onwards that the Romulans were actually very sensitive, emotional beings and cared deeply for one another -- inanother—in fact, they were fairly similar to humans in numerous ways. They wouldn't kill him solely for being human.

** On the other hand, never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of disks doing 80mph80&nbsp;mph: it's quite possible that the overall preference there is to use Sneakernet methods to move data around, simply because it can be faster. It also is actually the most secure means of data transmission -- youtransmission—you can't get the file without somebody noticing -- andnoticing—and when was the last time you let somebody read your screen because it was just plain easier than emailing them the link & waiting for them to go to their own computer?

** [[Rule of Cool]] + [[Science Marches On]] + [[Zeerust]]. PADDs look more "sci-fi" then stacks of printouts. However, Picard was seen with PADDs stacked on his ready-room desk, which makes no kind of sense anyway. Keep in mind that when ''[[TNG]]''' was airing, the internet was ''only just'' getting around to being invented, and Wi-Fi wouldn't even be a glimmer, much less the ubiquitous standard it now is, until most of the way through ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'s'' run. Apparently writers have lost some predictive ability since [[Jules Verne]] and [[H. G. Wells]]. I would also note that PADDs are pure [[Zeerust]] in themselves: They may have looked high-tech to an 80's viewer (including me), but in 2012, they have less screen real estate then an iPad or Android tablet, and seem overall less capable. It's the same deal as happened to [[Star Trek|Kirk's]] communicator -- acommunicator—a "sci-fi" device that got outstripped by real technology.

* This episode is one of several that spotlight the absurdities of the UT. Where is it? How does it work? What happens to the sounds produced by a person when they speak in their native language -- doeslanguage—does the UT dampen them somehow and dub in a translation in the speaker's own voice? Even if we can accept something like this in a controlled setting like a starship, how does it work on a planet being visited for the first time? The UT is, maybe above all the rest, the single biggest "don't think about this too much" technology in all of Star Trek.

** There were a lot of problems with that episode. Rather than exploring the implications of a potential fountain of youth via the transporter, the episode dwelled on issues like how Picard's career would have to be put on hold for several years and how Ro had never truly experienced a childhood. As far as anyone could tell, some 50 years had just been added onto Picard's life -- somelife—some would tend to view that more as an opportunity. One would expect at least a few geezers from Starfleet command to be lining up for their second shot at life.

No Wesley jokes, please: I know the fans all hated him, but in-universe Picard thought highly of him most of the time, and in "Final Mission" certainly meant it as a favor when he arranged for Wesley to enter the Academy after several hundred failures to gain admittance. But whereas in the past Wesley needed to get into the Academy because "Acting Ensign" seemed to offer no career path without the Academy as the next step, once Wesley became a full Ensign and got his red shirt . . . Why would he want to go to the Academy ''then?'' Cadets are junior to ensigns. In "Tapestry" and many another, we saw that being ''promoted'' to ensign is what happens after you finish the Academy, and even if you don't finish, ensign is still a promotion: Look at what happened to Nog, for instance. So Wesley--whoWesley—who could never get into the Academy when he wanted/needed to but can now that it's become a hindrance to his career path--ispath—is going to be reduced in rank, spend years in the Academy, and then be told "Congratulations, Ensign! Now you're back to where you were before you entered the Academy!" No wonder he eventually said "Fuck that noise" and went off to other dimensions instead. But at the time, why would anyone think that demoting him to cadet was a good thing? It seems like something they'd do after he fucked up royally and they had to say "That's it, you're not cut out for commissioned officer duties. Go back to the Academy and learn how to avoid that sort of thing."

*** Bluffing in a card game is not quite lying. If I raise you, I don't say "I'll raise you $5 because I've got a full house," I just throw in the chips and let you make of it what you may. They're closely related skills, but they might not be closely related enough for Geordi's lie-detector abilities--whichabilities—which were only brought up the once, despite the fact that they'd surely come in handy from time to time over the course of the series.

** I partially agree. There are certainly enough times when she makes "Captain, he's hiding something" observations when a six-year-old could discern the same, especially in early seasons. I think this is fandom's reaction to the fact that Troi's powers were rarely used consistently or intelligently. Sometimes, she correctly discerns a situation of danger but is ignored by the crew for no good reason ("Samaritan Snare"). Other times, she can't produce anything meaningful on a character who is lying through his teeth ("A Matter of Time"). Sometimes, she is just conspicuously silent or absent when a deceptive character comes on board ("Data's Day"). Worse, Troi's powers too often place her in the passive position of being targeted by, occupied by or sometimes symbolically raped by alien forces ("The Child," "The Survivors," "Clues," "Man of the People," "Eye of the Beholder," Star Trek: Nemesis -- INemesis—I'm leaving out episodes like "Violations" and "Power Play" in which the same treatment is given to non-empathic characters too, but it all adds up to some pretty misogynistic stuff). In other words, her powers are more often depicted as a liability and an outright security risk than a useful skill. As if throwing up their hands in frustration, the writers in later seasons just tend to ignore her empathic powers altogether.

** Hadn't Nikki Cox's parents evacuated? I thought she was alone in the house--Inhouse—In which case there's every possibility in the world that the room wasn't hers, that she would normally not be allowed in there unsupervised. Now of course, that ''does'' raise the question why she was left behind when her parents high-tailed it. Or maybe she snuck away from them in the chaos of a mass evacuation and returned home because she knew Data would come for her?

* In the first season episode "Angel One," they try to add a little tension to a boring-as-hell episode by constantly repeating that they're needed at the Neutral Zone immediately for some sort of emergency. So they escape from the Bonnie Tyler Lookalike Convention and set course for the Neutral Zone at maximum warp--andwarp—and it takes them ''eleven episodes'' to get there! And when they do show up they neither refer to the events that drew them there before nor even apologize for being late. And of course they say they haven't been in contact with the Romulans for over fifty years. What the hell? Hey writers: [[Confused Matthew|Watch your own show!]]

** I suppose the most honest answer is that the Ferengi are straw men. A clever and observant critique of capitalism does not play out through them -- justthem—just crass obviousness. One might as well ask why they prohibit unions. Unions can be as profitable and as manipulative and exploitative as corporations. However, as far as the sexism goes, one might rationalize that the Ferengi aren't as good capitalists as they think they are. Perhaps the oppression of women pre-existed the rise of mercantile behaviour in Ferengi society, and values never quite "caught up."

* I've always thought it odd how rarely Geordi's VISOR is commented on. You'd think that such a remarkable device -- seeminglydevice—seemingly as unique as Data is -- wouldis—would attract a lot of interest. The oddest thing is that even people who've just met him and have no other relevant knowledge (like Martin in "The Masterpiece Society") tend to instantly identify him as blind, rather than asking "what is that you're wearing over your eyes? I recall one novel where a character asks if he wears it for religious reasons.

** I would begin with a point that, given his recent comments, Wil Wheaton would probably not disagree with: Wesley is a bland, unexciting character. If a legitimately fascinating character had been crafted in his place, I think the reaction would have been very different. The fact that Wesley needed to be "shilled" -- characters—characters continually talking about how great he is -- isis—is related to this problem. If he were truly as impressive as everyone seems to think he is, it would be self-evident and we would not need telling.

** I think nobody objects to those rare episodes like "Pen Pals" which depict Wesley acting as part of a group. That is reasonable, and basically plausible (though Wesley's polymath command of ship operations frequently stretches belief even for a prodigy). The problem is that too often Wesley is depicted as coming up with solutions unilaterally. Here is an example I always point to, from (largely a great episode) "The Enemy." Wesley contributes the idea that lets them contact Geordi on the surface. Okay, so far so good -- ingood—in an isolated instance, Wesley offers a workable solution. This is basically plausible, even if it's a bit unlikely Wesley could think of a plan that others (like, um, Data!) could not. But when Geordi comes upon it, he says "Thank you Wesley!" So what are the writers telling us? That's it's not the case that Wesley happened to have a good idea this time -- ittime—it is that the crew, staffed by Starfleet's best and brightest, depend on him to do so on a regular basis! This is perhaps the greatest problem with Wesley. Too often, the writers feel the need to diminish everyone around him in order to build him up.

** It's an interesting thought exercise to imagine the series without Wesley. Would we really lose all that much? Unfortunately, the character was fundamentally misconceived, and not only because of his Mary Sue qualities. I often wondered what the other children on board the ship think about him. He gets to work on the bridge and have a field commission as an ensign, something most people work at for years -- andyears—and all because he's so "special." Or could it have something to do with the fact that his mother is the CMO and his father was the captain's best friend? I would cry nepotism on that one.

** Further to the intricate discussions of the Prime Directive elsewhere on these Headscratchers boards, I would add that this is one episode where the Prime Directive is supposed to seem difficult and unyielding. Strictly speaking Picard does not act as judge, jury or executioner -- onlyexecutioner—only as a bystander. Life on this planet would be destroyed even if nobody were around to see it, and the Prime Directive says not to interfere. As you point out, it's inconsistent, most obviously with 'Pen Pals', but I actually find it refreshing to see, for once, an instance when the crew don't decide to violate their most sacred vow, even when it seems extremely tempting to do so, and indeed, cruel not to.

** It is perhaps worth noting one non-parallel between "Pen Pals" and "Homeward." In the former episode, it was ultimately within the Enterprise's power to completely avert this planetary catastrophe and return things to normal. This seemed to be wholly successful to the point that the planet will no longer need any intervention from Starfleet (which its pre-warp inhabitants never knew about to begin with) and will continue to develop naturally. In "Homeward," this is not the case at all; there is no indication that they can do anything to help the planet (admittedly, they never even seem to think about it). The only possible option is evacuation, which hardly seem possible to do while acting in accordance with the Prime Directive. The mere choice of selecting some people to live and others to die is playing God -- moreGod—more literally than in most cases (note that Nikolai lists the Boraalan's "Rich spiritual life" as a basis for sparing them). Nikolai picks some people he likes, including a woman he impregnated (what the hell kind of anthropologist is this guy?), which is just the kind of patriarchal act by a "superior" civilization that the Prime Directive is designed to prevent. Then they dump this tiny group of people (too bad they couldn't afford more extras, because this bunch barely looks like enough people to qualify as a village, let alone the healthy gene pool needed to preserve a species) on a quickly-located alien planet where they will have no idea of whether or not a given plant is poisonous. And Nikolai, instead of being put on trial for his crimes (which include ''sabotaging the Enterprise!''), is allowed to go native and stay with them, continuing to impersonate one of their species and further disrupting the "natural development" of their society in all kinds troubling ways, up to and including the introduction of human DNA into their microscopic gene pool! Let's just say that the letter ''and'' the spirit of the Prime Directive are both blown to smithereens in this awful episode, and there's plenty of guilt to spread around.

* In "Disaster", Counselor Troi takes command on the bridge, and it's pretty obvious she's completely overwhelmed. Why the heck is she commanding in this situation, and not O'Brien? It's true that O'Brien (as either a lieutenant or a chief petty officer-- Godofficer—God knows which) is lower-ranked than Troi, but so was redshirt Lieutenant Monroe, and she was acting captain on the bridge before being killed. Ensign Ro's incredulous reaction when O'Brien tells her that Troi's the ranking officer around says it all, really. O'Brien is clearly far more qualified to make command decisions than Troi, who hadn't even taken the bridge officers' test yet at this point in the series.

*** Setting aside the overall oddities about O'Brien's rank (those conspicuous Lt. insignia on his uniform, and the fact that he was directly addressed as "Lieutenant" on one or two occasions), his bridge officer credentials are well established -- heestablished—he served as Ben Maxwell's tactical officer, after all. Even ignoring this, it's not like O'Brien and Troi were the only people on the bridge. Ro and other officers were there. Even if, for some bizarre reason, she is not obligated to do so, Troi should have voluntarily relieved herself for the good of the ship.

**** By "euthanize" you mean "murder"... Lore is not asking for mercy or an end to suffering. Do you really think that a Starfleet officer would sanction executing a humanoid prisoner in the brig, no matter how dangerous they are? The implication is very much that androids are less than people -- itpeople—it's extremely strange to see Data himself acting like this was so.

* In "Peak Performance", Riker says to the Zakdorn strategist, Kolrami, regarding the combat drill: "I think it's a waste of time to test our combat skills-- it's a minor province in the make-up of a starship captain." Picard's also insistent that Starfleet is not a military organization. While I admire Picard and Riker's idealism, those statements are coming dangerously close to naïveté. By this point in the series (late second season), the ''Enterprise'' has already been in several combat situations ("Encounter at Farpoint", "The Last Outpost", "The Battle", "The Arsenal of Freedom", "A Matter of Honor", "Samaritan Snare", and most notably "Q Who"-- and—and those are just the examples I noticed at first glance). In fact, they admit that the only reason they agreed to this drill was because of the Borg encounter in the latter episode. They've also separated the saucer twice. If starship combat's such a "minor province" for a starship captain, how come the ''Enterprise'' fights so much? (My guess? Picard and Riker simply don't like certain Zakdorn racial traits, and are reacting negatively to Kolrami on that basis).

** I suspect that they resent having this simulation forced on them by Starfleet as much as anything -- itanything—it is an affront to their professionalism. The very fact that they have amassed a good amount of field combat experience should make the war game irrelevant.

** Somebody must have killed all the standards councils in the future -- thefuture—the Holodeck is ludicrously unsafe technology that should definitely not be allowed. You would think, if it screws up, some fail-safe should kick in that makes it shut off, rather than becoming deadly.

*** It was also likely intended as a callback to Kirk beating Spock in chess despite Spock's far superior logic, memory, and computational ability, because Kirk had intuition. The problem is Kirk was famed for his own brilliance (and luck) -- ''both'' men were legitimately grandmaster-ranked players -- andplayers—and Spock was not actually an android, so it's not as much of a stretch there as here.

** While [[Star Trek]] tends to vacillate wildly between [[Humans Are Bastardsthe Real Monsters]] and [[Humans Are Good]] (mostly coming out for the latter), the common denominator is some version of [[Humans Are Special]]... in this case, especially worthy of notice, good or ill.

*** I don't think one would need to think of Picard as a traitor to be aware of his face and name after the Borg incident. Who wouldn't remember the name and face of the guy who was (under compulsion or otherwise) coming to destroy your civilization? No matter how you slice it, "Gambit" doesn't make a ton of sense, especially that a Vulcan wouldn't see through him -- ahim—a Vulcan! They should remember ever face they ever see.

* In "The Wounded", the ''Enterprise'' is allegedly "trying everything in its power" to reach Captain Maxwell and the ''Starship Phoenix'' before it can destroy the lives of any more Cardassian citizens. Never mind for now that Picard refuses to give the Cardassians the ship's transponder code so they can track its precise location. When the ''Phoenix'' is bearing down on a Cardassian warship and a freighter, Picard assents to giving the Cardassians the ''Phoenix's'' prefix code to disable the shields, but alas, even unshielded, the Cardassians are no match for Maxwell. Picard then orders an increase in speed to Warp 9-- from the ''Enterprise's'' previous speed of '''WARP 4!''' Why in the world was he previously flying at below the recommended cruising speed?! Is he ''really'' trying his hardest to preserve the peace?! And then when they actually find him and bring him aboard the ''Enterprise,'' rather than place him under arrest they let him return to the ''Phoenix'' with orders to accompany the ''Enterprise'' back to a starbase-- andstarbase—and of ''course'' Maxwell takes off. This episode had a hurricane of bad decisions by Picard.