News You Can Bruise for 2003 October 26

Permalink [Comments] (7) Sun Oct 26 2003 07:35 Generic Star Trek Problem Solving:

"We have problem x."
"Couldn't we use solution y?"
"No, because this instance of problem x is very complicated."
"Solution y is a static solution. What if we used solution y, but made it dynamically respond to external events?"
"Brilliant!"

At some point you gotta wonder why no one thinks to add dynamic y ahead of time. I think there's something about this sort of problem-solving breakthrough that speaks deeply to Star Trek writers.

Comments:

Posted by Frances Whitney at Sun Oct 26 2003 13:17

The concept of "willing suspension of disbelief" is of course fundamental to enjoyment of Star Trek . The writers are trying to see how far they can push it.

Posted by Nick Moffitt at Sun Oct 26 2003 13:44

What I always found ridiculous about Star Track Logic (as opposed to Spock Logic) was that their wild-assed speculations are always correct!

"The goobelfrantz is spewing kriktors, preventing warp and causing pinkeye in the crew!"

"Well, perhaps maybe somewhat kinda if we used the ship's microwave ovens to shine a beam of rainbow love on the goobelfrantz, it would cause a chain reaction of harmony and prosperity that would cause it to spew bonotons instead?"

"Excellent plan! I want those beams in twenty minutes."

[plan works perfectly]

"I think we've all learned a valuable lesson about peace and friendship in this episode. Helmsman, take us to Gor!"

Of course, you can't expect much from a show that forced Levar Burton to put a pair of Alf-like sunglasses over the most striking and emotive eyes in all of hollywood.

Posted by Alan Green at Sun Oct 26 2003 17:25

The Enterprise's power converters have been rerouted through the di-lithium crystals so many times that it must be standard Star Fleet procedure by now.

Another thing that bugs me about Star Trek - so many strange things happen in odd corners of the ship, why don't they put security cameras up everywhere?

Posted by Brendan at Sun Oct 26 2003 22:36

You know, until I read Alan's comment above it had never occurred to me that "dilithium" just means "two lithiums."

Posted by unclepedro at Mon Oct 27 2003 16:12

Geordi's visor always made me think of those wonky jawlike hair clippy things they had in the late 80s/early 90s.

Posted by unclepedro at Mon Oct 27 2003 16:12

...oh yeah, it also made me think about how much I missed the most striking and emotive eyes in all of hollywood.

Posted by Sumana at Mon Oct 27 2003 17:50

The legend goes that a banana hair clip WAS the inspiration for Geordi's VISOR.

Leave a comment