Flare Sci-Fi Forums: Here's a Q: What's the most ridiculous technobabble on Trek?

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Posted by jh on :

Okay, for me it's gotta be, hands down, that "skeletal lock" crap they pulled in "Scorpion." What the hell were they thinking? And why didn't she get just their bones? Talk about stupid.

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Proverbs for Paranoids, 3: If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about answers.

Posted by Aethelwer (Member # 36) on :

"Iso-frequency" in "The Omega Directive" (VOY).

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Posted by Kosh (Member # 167) on :

Anything that's transported, carries any attachments with it. So if she locked on to the minerals in the Bones, the flesh has little choise but to follow.

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Fool of a Took, throw yourself in next time!!
Gandalf

Posted by jh on :

Come on, Kosh. How did they get the clothes then, based on a skeletal lock? How did they get their weapons? I can buy the whole attached to it part but if you're gonna go that route it doesn't explain how they got all those other things. The whole point was that she couldn't lock onto anythig so she went for the vaguest part of the package, the skeleton, if that were just a way to locate them then why even bother with such a stupid explanation, why not just lock onto them and get them out in the first place, or just narrow the confinement beam? Sorry, it was bad.

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Proverbs for Paranoids, 3: If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about answers.

Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :

Can't remember the specific episode (probably TNG), but someone once said that they couldn't transport due to 'Thermal interference'. IE, it was too hot. Eh, go fig...

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Posted by Elim Garak (Member # 14) on :

That was when Kira couldn't scan something far down on Odo's home planet in "The Search, Part II".

Didn't someone say "highly complex hydrocarbons" in "The 37s", too?

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Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :

Oh EASY peesy...

"Threshold"

the entire episode.

the warp 10 fiasco
the 'evolution' to a salamander...

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Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :

I'm tempted to agree with Frank here. One or two "iso's" isn't so bad, but it's apparently the prefix of the future now.

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Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :

Don't forget "Relics". Data said that nobody had picked up the Dyson Shpere's gravitational field because it was creating too much gravimetric interference. So you can't detect it's gravity because there's too much gravity?

Oh, and for a prime example of tech, "Rascals". Anyone have a list of all the things Riker said to that poor Ferengi?

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Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :

Yes, but that was on purpose.

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"Stirs a large iron pot. Casting a spell on Vermont."
--
John Linnell

Posted by Justin_Timberland (Member # 236) on :

Voyager: "Threshold," the entire episode

Voyager: "Timeless" and "Hope and Fear," the technology of that quantum warp drive or something.

TNG: "The Naked Now," what are the chances of the same virus that was released into the original Enterprise appearing onboard the Enterprise-D? That and why did Data become infected if he's an android?

DS9: anything that concerns with the Bajoran Orbs

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Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :

But there wasn't any technobabble related to the Orbs. They just were, explanation unknown.

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"Stirs a large iron pot. Casting a spell on Vermont."
--
John Linnell

Posted by TerraZ on :

Well, here are my favorite ones:

TOS: The episode where Kirk gets split up in two, one wimpy and one evil.

TNG: "Rascals" for the tech behind the Kid thing and the last season one where they all de-evolve into monkeys, fish, spiders and so on...

DS9: "One little ship" with the "We came out the wrong way out of the anomaly thing".

VOY: Too many to write them all, but:
-"Threshold" with warp 10
-"Hope and fear" with the particule synthesis thing
-"Swarm" with the warp particules
-"Timeless" with the Boryllium crystal and warp core
enhancements
-The big space worm episode where they dump
anti-matter through the nacelle (That one really
ticked me off)

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Continuity is irrelevant.
Established lore will be adapted to fit our purpose.
From now on, the writers will service our financial interests.
Protests are futile!
*Borg Collective after assimilating TPTB*

-Where were you when the brains were handed out?
*Not from Trek, try to guess where it's from.*

Posted by Kosh (Member # 167) on :

For the Trasporter, everything attached including weapons and boots. But you are right in that it was poorly written.

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Fool of a Took, throw yourself in next time!!
Gandalf

Posted by The First One (Member # 35) on :

I think you're missing the point here. . . you're supposed to be nominating crap-sounding pieces of technical dialogue, stuff that is patent bullsh*t. Not just spouting any sort of scene that has offended your sensibilities in any way possible.

I have a favourite, and I have the voice-clip too. Perhaps Kosh would agree to do another "finish the line" competition, in which case I'll send it to him. . . it's ideal!

Posted by Bernd (Member # 6) on :

I only remember the "firomactal drive" from "Rascals", I would be glad if anyone had the complete quote.

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"When diplomacy fails, there's only one alternative - violence. Force must be applied without apology. It's the Starfleet way."
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