mistakes » Treknicalities

The Enterprise Has A Three-D View Screen

Jan 242012

It never has been mentioned, to my knowledge, anywhere in Star Trek, but after re-watching the TNG episode “Data’s Day”, I am convinced that the Enterprise-D has a three-dimensional viewscreen on the bridge.

In the last few minutes of the episode, Captain Picard is talking to the Commander of a Romulan ship. When the camera is positioned directly in front of the viewscreen, we see the Romulan Commander straight on, as expected.

A few seconds later, however, the camera cuts to a shot where we see the main viewer at an angle. What we should see on the screen is like what you would see if you displayed the above picture on your monitor, then viewed your monitor from a 45-degree angle; no extra detail and some distortion of the details that are there. Instead, we see this image:

Instead of the flat, distorted picture we should see at that angle, we see detail that doesn’t show up in the straight-on view: the curve of the back of the Commander’s head, the doorway that’s to his right, the way the necktie-looking thingumy on the front of his uniform is above the uniform, not just a flat pattern on his shirt …

Personally, I can’t wait for television to develop this technology. Three-D without having to wear goofy glasses or cross your eyes would be too awesome!

Technorati Tags: science+fiction, television, star+trek, the+next+generation, tng, datas+day, three+dimensional, view+screen, blooper

Medicine In The 23rd Century

Sci-Fi Movies No Responses »

Jan 182012

One has to wonder what happened to the medical industry in James Kirk’s time.

In The Wrath Of Kahn we learn a bit of allergy information when Kirk tells McCoy that he’s allergic to Retinax V and as a result, he occasionally used old-fashioned corrective lenses to adjust for his increasing farsightedness.

Isn’t it amazing that in a world where medical professionals have developed a pill that can make you grow a new kidney, they can no longer perform Lasix eye surgery?

Star Wars Mistakes

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Oct 302011

In Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back, Jabba has Han solo encased in carbonite for not sending Jabba an ach check for the money Han owes. In Star Wars VI: Return Of The Jedi, Han is rescued from the carbonite near the beginning of the film.

An observant viewer might notice a few strange things that happen when someone is encased in carbonite:

Han’s hair is shorter when he is released from the carbonite than when he was frozen.
In Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back, Han’s shirt as he’s being frozen is single-breasted, but when he’s unfrozen, it’s now double-breasted.
In Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back, just before Han Solo is encased in carbonite, the metal shackles on his wrists are removed, but the strap binding his upper arms is not removed. When released from the carbonite, his upper arms are no longer bound.

Technorati Tags: science+fiction, movies, star+wars, bloopers, goofs

Blind Stormtroopers?

Star Wars No Responses »

May 052011

Recently we had an opportunity to re-watch Star Wars IV A New Hope and noticed what we consider to be a gigantic plot hole.

In the scene where Han and Luke are rescuing Princess Leah from Darth Vader’s ship, the three are, at one point, trapped in a dead end with Stormtroopers closing in on them. Leah takes a blaster and shoots a hole in a wall which leads down to a trash compactor.

How, exactly, does Leah know that there’s a trash dump behind that panel and it isn’t just some sort of cable cover hiding a bunch of electrical wiring that’s going to fry them all when it gets blasted?

Furthermore, while at least two of them make the comment after entering the trash compactor that it won’t take the stormtroopers long to figure out where they went, why is it that they never did? Seriously, there’s a dead end corridore with a hole in the wall. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figurre out where they went, yet the stormtroopers never did discover the trio’s hiding place. What’s up with that?

An Open Letter To Leonard Nimoy

Featured, Mistakes, Star Trek Movies 1 Response »

Mar 272011

While reading up on Leonard Nimoy’s career highlights for his celebrity birthday post yesterday I read that he appeared on Saturday Night Live‘s “Weekend Update” skit and commented that any long-time Trek fans who didn’t like the new movie were “dickheads”.

Today I did just a little bit of searching and found this video on NBC’s website showing the skit in question.

*DISCLAIMER* I have had absolutely zero problems with this computer since I got it in November, but after watching this video and reading the comments associated with it, suddenly my computer was infected with a virus that took me 4 hours to contain. I cannot say for sure that this website is where I picked up said virus, but during that session I had only been to 3 websites: Google.com, huffingtonpost.com, and the URL given above. If you have problems after visiting that link, it is in no way my responsibility. You have been warned.

I realize that the comment in question was made almost two years ago, but, since I choose not to watch Saturday Night Live, I only learned about it a couple of days ago. Delayed as it may be, I am writing this letter to Leonard Nimoy in response to that comment.