Do you know how many ounces are in a pound? Can you name the capital of the city you were born in? The answers to these questions are factual and not really up for debate. Fictional material also has "factual" information as well. There is a limit to what Superman's x-ray vision can see through as well as a measurable durability for such made-up metals as vibranium or adamantium. Star Trek, although fictional, has a strict and lengthy history. The Federation was founded in 2161, Vulcans are dispassionate and vessels can't go faster than warp 10. Sounds simple enough to keep straight, right? So why is it that fans do the Picard face palm at all of the continuity errors that pop up whenever a Star Trek movie comes out?
Even Simon Pegg, when writing Star Trek Beyond, went to the website Memory Alpha in order to read up on Trek continuity. There's been over 50 years of Star Trek, so why is it so hard to follow your own history, guys? The conflicts and contradictions that exist in the 23rd and 24th centuries are kind of painful, and not in a Pon farr sort of way. Yes, we understand in a television series there are a lot of moving parts and mistakes can be made, but what about in a motion picture? Why didn't any of the writers figure out over the movies just how big the Enterprise really is? Why did Kirk need to fix the warp core in Into Darkness when the ship really just needed power? Remind us what happened with transwarp again? You can still love Star Trek, but you'll hate the several mistakes made in the various films!
19 WHY DO VEHICLES HAVE TIRES IN THE 24TH CENTURY?
In Star Trek: Nemesis, we saw some pretty big technological advances, even for the 24th century. The Scimitar was a Romulan vessel that had a cloaking device so perfect it was completely undetectable and could fire while cloaked. Even Data walked around with a mini-transporter in his pocket.
Given all of the advances, why did Picard drive around in the Argo, a 24th century vehicle that had rubber tires? Couldn't he borrow a hoverboard from Marty McFly or from Nite Owl? Heck, Picard, why not ride around on a horse? You already have a saddle!
18 WHY DID KIRK NEED TO DEMOTE DECKER?
In Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Kirk (in a very Kirk fashion) returned to the Enterprise and brazenly took command of the ship. His first act was to demote the ship's assigned Captain, Willard Decker to Commander. Was that act really necessary or just an act of meanness?
If you're an Admiral, you can outrank a Captain and claim their vessel as your flagship. We've seen it done in the past to Kirk as well as Picard. So, as a flag officer, couldn't everyone just retain their rank still have Kirk get what he wants?
17 WHY WAS KHAN WHITE?
If you recall the Original Series episode "Space Seed" Khan Noonien Singh encountered the crew of the Enterprise. Kirk learned that Singh fought in the Eugenics Wars. He was of Indian background and played by Mexican actor Ricardo Montalban.
When Star Trek Into Darkness came out, it was initially advertised that Benedict Cumberbatch would be playing a character named John Harrison, but it's later revealed he's actually Khan. It's never explained in the film why he's white, but the comic Star Trek: Khan explained the discrepancy as well as provides the origins of Khan's character in the Kelvinverse.
16 WHY DID SCOTTY NEED SPECIFICALLY TRANSPARENT ALUMINUM?
The Temporal Prime Directive discourages people from going back in time and changing the future. In Star Trek: The Voyage Home, this law is broken to save 23rd century Earth from an angry space probe.
Scotty and Bones are tasked with figuring out how to transport whales back to the 23rd century. Scotty violates the Temporal Prime Directive by showing a 20th century manufacturer how to make the 23rd century material called transparent aluminum. But the question is: why couldn't Scotty just use 20th century materials to do the same job? What was so special about transparent aluminum?
15 WHY DOES GENESIS WORK?
When the Federation explored the galaxy, they found hundreds of alien species and hundreds of hospitable planets, but that didn't stop them from creating the Genesis Device, which will terraform a planet at spectacular speeds. In theory, it could create life anywhere you drop it, but that's not really true.
There are additional external factors that are necessary in cultivating life. The habitable zone is the distance from a star that will allow life to thrive, due to gravity, warmth provided by the star, etc. So, how does Genesis compensate for planets with no suns or weak gravity that would prevent the formation of bodies of water?
14 HOW DOES WARP SPEED WORK IN THE KELVINVERSE?
J.J. Abrams not only directed two of the Star Trek movies, he also will direct two of the Star Wars movies, but is he getting the two franchises confused? When you watch Star Trek Into Darkness, warp speed seems to function a lot like hyperspace used by vessels in Star Wars.
In Star Trek, the speed of ships are measured by a warp scale, with no ship being able to travel faster than warp 10. In Star Trek Into Darkness, Kirk tells Carol Marcus that the ship Vengeance can't catch up to them because they're at warp. Kirk doesn't seem to think warp has a range of speeds!
13 WHY DID IT SUDDENLY BECOME EASY TO CROSS THE GREAT BARRIER?
In Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, the USS Enterprise was hijacked by Spock's half-brother and brought to an area of space called the Great Barrier, an energy field that surrounded the galactic core of the Milky Way Galaxy. Spock's brother says the barrier is merely an illusion and the Enterprise passes through unharmed.
Whoa, buddy, that's an actual barrier, not a space allegory! How can the Enterprise just pass through it? It's also pursued by a Klingon ship, so how did that ship pass through as well? Why has no ship up until now gotten through such an imposing blockade?
12 WHAT ARE THE ODDS OF MEETING BOTH SPOCK AND SCOTTY?
In the 2009 reboot of Star Trek, Kirk and Spock have yet to become space BFFs, and a disagreement between the two results in Kirk being thrown into an escape pod and unceremoniously jettisoned onto a nearby ice planet named Delta Vega. That's when bizarre coincidences also begin to occur.
Unbeknownst to everyone, this is also where Nero deposited Spock Prime on Delta Vega to watch the destruction of Vulcan. Also on that planet is where Scotty was assigned as a punishment due to a transporter mishap. What are the galactic odds these three men are on the same planet at the same time?
11 WHATEVER HAPPENED TO TRANSWARP?
In the film Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, we were introduced to the USS Excelsior, a ship that possessed the revolutionary new method of propulsion called transwarp drive. Transwarp could theoretically allow for ships to travel faster than warp 10. This was more or less the last time we hear of the Federation trying transwarp.
Other races, such as the Voth, use transwarp. The Borg vessels travel at warp as well as use transwarp conduits, which are around 50x faster than the fastest warp speed. So if that's the case, why has the Federation completely stopped using transwarp with its vessels?
10 WHY IS SPOCK WALKING AROUND WITH VIRIDIUM PATCHES?
In Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Kirk is tasked with fighting the Klingons, not in space, but at a dinner table talking about cultural and idealogical differences. Don't worry, eventually they do fight in space.
Spock suspiciously puts his hand on the Captain's shoulder before Kirk and Bones leave the Enterprise. It wasn't a friendly gesture; he planted a viridium patch on his uniform, which allowed for Kirk to be tracked up to two sectors away. Why did Spock have such things on him? How did he know Kirk would keep his uniform on? Why didn't he also put one on McCoy?
9 JUST HOW BIG IS V'GER?
Before we talk about V'Ger's size, we need to remind you about our own solar system. An au (astronomical unit) is about 93 millions miles in length. The distance from the Earth to the sun is one astronomical unit. Knowing that info, why would writers of the film make V'Ger 82au in diameter?!?
A vessel that size would be larger than our entire solar system. In the Directors' Edition DVD of the film, they dubbed over the dialogue and made V'Ger just 2au in diameter, but that would still make the vessel 's diameter the size of Earth's orbit. Why so big? Could V'Ger fight Galactus?
8 WHY IS NO ONE IS WORRED ABOUT DR. TAYLOR IN THE FUTURE?
In Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, the Enterprise traveled back to the 20th century to bring a whale to the 23rd century. In Kirk's time, whales have gone extinct and he needed whalesong to drive away an angry probe attacking Earth. What does he also bring with him to the future? Dr. Gillian Taylor.
Since no one has ever seen a whale in the 23rd century, it's great she's there to lend a hand, but did anyone check to see if bringing her would mess up the timeline? What if she was destined to get into a DeLorean and travel back to 1955 but can't now that she's in the 23rd century?
7 WHY DID THE BORG JUST SEND ONE SHIP TO DESTROY EARTH?
The Borg is a scary enemy, because not only do the assimilate your body, they also assimilate your memories and your experiences into the Collective. The Borg even assimilated Captain Picard into their Collective and transformed him into the villainous Locutus.
So when the Borg sent a vessel to destroy the Earth in Star Trek: First Contact, why did they send just one Cube? Granted, the Cube had a smaller ship inside of it, but with the knowledge of Picard and other Federation officers, shouldn't they have known one ship would not have been sufficient?
6 HOW BIG IS THE ENTERPRISE?
There have been different ships with the name USS Enterprise over the years, but which one was the largest? The original series Enterprise was around 287 meters long, whereas the Enterprise-E was about 685 meters long. Oddly enough, the Enterprise from the Kelvinverse was aver 730 meters long!
At the end of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, we saw the new Enterprise, formerly the USS Ti-Ho. In Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Kirk, Spock and Bones are rocketing up a turbolift shaft and we clearly see them zoom past a sign that says deck 78. The Enterprise-E has 24 decks! How big are these vessels?
5 WHY FIX THE WARP CORE WHEN YOU DON'T NEED WARP?
Yes, we understand that this is science fiction, but even sci-fi needs to be consistent with its storytelling! In the 2009 Star Trek reboot, the Enterprise ejected its warp cores to create a shockwave to help the ship move away from a nearby black hole. Looks like warp cores and ship power are two different things.
In Star Trek Into Darkness, the Enterprise was savagely attacked by the USS Vengeance. It loses main power and plummets towards Earth. Kirk sacrifices himself to fix the warp core. However, they don't need warp speed, they just need main power, so why was Kirk fixing the wrong thing?
4 WHY DON'T OTHER RACES HELP WITH EARTH IS IN DANGER?
The United Federation of Planets is like a galactic United Nations. It contains representatives from over 150 planets with the headquarters of the Federation being on Earth. That being the case, why don't other worlds rush to Earth's aid when it's attacked?
The Earth was aggressively approached by vessels in The Motion Picture, The Voyage Home and First Contact. Where are the Vulcans to lend a hand? What about the Andorians or the Tellarites? How about some orbital platforms or space stations to defend the planet, instead of having to recall the Enterprise to rush back to Earth and defend it?
3 IS THERE STILL TRANSWARP BEAMING?
In Star Trek Into Darkness, after attacking Starfleet Headquarters, Khan beams off of the Earth and winds up on the Klingon homeworld. Whoa, are you sure about that? Traveling at warp 4.5, you can get to Qo'noS from Earth in about 4 days. Khan does this in under 10 seconds with transwarp beaming.
Sounds like transwarp beaming allows for people to travel distances once thought impossible to travel with just a transporter. It was used in the Star Trek 2009 reboot as well but not in Star Trek Beyond. So, is that technology still around?
2 WHY DID BALTHAZAR EDISON BECOME KRALL?
Star Trek Beyond featured a villain that had ties to the Federation. Although initially introducing himself as Krall, Kirk and company learn he's actually former Captain Balthazar Edison of the USS Franklin. A wormhole crashed his ship on the planet Altamid, and Edison used the technology on the planet to survive.
Ok, we get you took great lengths to survive on the planet, but why did you have to change your name? Also, what piece of alien technology gave you that strange accent? Why aren't you speaking like a regular dude from Earth?
1 WOULD A TRANSPORTER HAVE JUST SOLVED EVERYTHING?
In Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, hostages have been taken on the planet Nimbus III and the Federation wants to launch a rescue operation. They send Kirk and the Enterprise, but the ship is in terrible shape, still in the process of being built. There are other ships in the area, but they want Kirk to specifically go due to his experience.
Kirk is forced to beam down and attempt a rescue but fails. However, given the limited technology on the planet, a working transporter would have just beamed the hostages away from their captors. So why did they need Kirk's experience again?