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Stupidest Star Trek concept of them all: the holodeck

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Bucky Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-23-09 09:50 AM
Original message
Stupidest Star Trek concept of them all: the holodeck

Seriously, I watch tv shows to spend an hour escaping from my life, not to spend an hour watching fictional people escape from theirs. Along with 23rd century man-skirts and the elimination of the laws of supply and demand, this is a prime example of Gene Roddenberry at his downright goofiest.
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Ikonoklast Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-23-09 09:58 AM
Response to Original message
1. If ever a such a thing is invented, that would be the end of Mankind.
You'd never get anyone to live in the real world after that.

Imagine having your own personal holodeck. Would you ever interact with live people after that experience?
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onlyadream Donating Member (821 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-23-09 01:26 PM
Response to Reply #1
24. then it's like the matrix ... interesting idea...
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OmahaBlueDog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-23-09 10:00 AM
Response to Original message
2. I kinda liked the idea of the Holodeck
I could, for example, envision having the computer put me at Woodstock, or having the 1927 Yankees play the 2007 Boston Red Sox.
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Bucky Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-23-09 10:08 AM
Response to Reply #2
4. It's a cool idea, no doubt. But it's a lazy premise for a tv show
Anyway, the holodeck isn't all that cool. Apparently the only programs it had were based on American 20th century locales.
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DarkTirade Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-23-09 10:51 AM
Response to Reply #4
12. Not entirely true...
... there were a few 19th century american and british locales... :P
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Captain Hilts Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-23-09 10:06 AM
Response to Original message
3. So true!!!!!!!!
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cwydro Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-23-09 10:09 AM
Response to Original message
5. Oooh no.
I love the holodeck!
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underpants Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-23-09 10:10 AM
Response to Original message
6. What about the lack of enlisted personnel?
everyone is a freakin' officer of something :shrug:
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Bucky Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-23-09 10:29 AM
Response to Reply #6
7. That's what astronauts are like today.
Except for the civilians, of course. I consider Roddenberry's view of the militarization of space exploration to be an artifact of his New Deal/WW2 generation's experiences. Bigger, standardized, conformity built the prosperity & hope of the 20th century--no accounting for "Third Wave" technological changes in how humans organize themselves most efficiently.

The issue was sorta raised in "Wrath of Khan", but all subsequent incarnations of Star Trek have just blindly accepted that the future will be run by a benevolent military dictatorship without the use of money.
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TheMightyFavog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-23-09 10:35 AM
Response to Reply #6
8. Miles O'Brien was a CPO.
And all the enlisted people knew the best places to hide when Kirk was assembling landing parties, thus explaining the High casualty rate amongst Junior officers in that series.
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Orsino Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-23-09 10:54 AM
Response to Reply #8
16. After a little early retconning with O'Brien's insignia.
Edited on Sat May-23-09 10:55 AM by Orsino
Worf's adoptive father also identified himself as a former CPO.

Enterprise also let us see some just-plain-crewmen.
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Captain Hilts Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-23-09 10:40 AM
Response to Reply #6
9. It's like the Confederate Air Force where everybody's a colonel. nt
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Bucky Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-23-09 12:29 PM
Response to Reply #9
22. Except for Sulu, Chekhov, and Uhura who spend 30 years at the rank of Lieutenant
Now the new Trek has them joining Kirk in their 20s. So basically they all get billetted under Kirk's command straight out of the academy and stay under him for their entire Starfleet careers, almost never transfering to another gig. That's not a military organization--that's feudalism!
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beac Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-23-09 10:46 AM
Response to Reply #6
11. Ah, but you are forgetting the famous 'Red Shirts'-- the designated die-ers
who were always along for the ride to a planet's surface.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redshirt_(character)
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sarge43 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-23-09 12:25 PM
Response to Reply #6
21. Yeoman Rand n/t
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no name no slogan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-23-09 12:59 PM
Response to Reply #6
23. The only enlisted guy you ever saw was Miles O'Brien in TNG and DS:9
Colm Meaney was the actor that played him. He was supposedly a Senior Chief Petty Officer, but he was an Ensign in various episodes, too.
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Orrex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-23-09 10:40 AM
Response to Original message
10. The Moriarity episodes in TNG were among the best that Trek has had to offer
Edited on Sat May-23-09 10:58 AM by Orrex
And Hollow Pursuits was very good in that it was the first semi-realistic exploration of how a Holodeck would actually be used.

But every other episode set in a Holodeck was awful. That includes the 75% of the Voyager series that took place there.

Any episode that involved some insurmountable difficulty resulting from a glitchy Holodeck is worse by a factor of 10.


And, for my money, A Fistful of Datas might be the worst Trek episode of any series.
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DarkTirade Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-23-09 10:51 AM
Response to Reply #10
13. I'm always entertained by A Fistful of Datas.
Its hilariously bad. :)
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Orrex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-23-09 10:53 AM
Response to Reply #13
15. It truly is awful
I mean, Alexander's presence alone makes it close to unwatchable, plus the fact that it's one of the aforementioned "malfunctioning Holodeck" episodes.

And then, to close the show on the tired old "it's funny because he's in drag!" joke... Puh-leeze!
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DarkTirade Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-23-09 10:58 AM
Response to Reply #15
17. Making a personal force field out of a telegraph machine...
man, I wish I knew how to do that. :P
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Orrex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-23-09 10:59 AM
Response to Reply #17
18. And somehow the Morse Field can deflect a "holographic" bullet...
but Borg personal shields can't. Hmm...
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DarkTirade Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-23-09 11:01 AM
Response to Reply #18
19. Makes you wonder why they don't just issue old-fashioned tommy guns to the crew...
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EvolveOrConvolve Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-23-09 06:30 PM
Response to Reply #15
31. Ah, the old "malfunctioning holodeck" episodes
It always made me wonder how a civilization that has mastered quantum physics for their space travel could fuck up something as simple as a virtual world.
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Art_from_Ark Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-23-09 11:04 AM
Response to Reply #13
20. Certainly it can't be any worse than the original Star Trek episode
about Vol, the God of Paradise. Or, The Trouble with Tribbles. Or, Who Mourns for Adonis?
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DarkTirade Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-23-09 02:18 PM
Response to Reply #20
26. Trouble with Tribbles was classic.
There were cheesier episodes, but that one manages to stand out. :)
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Orsino Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-23-09 10:52 AM
Response to Original message
14. It's entirely consistent with TrekTech.
We just never got more than vague hints of what it would really be used for.
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pokerfan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-23-09 02:01 PM
Response to Reply #14
25. Wasn't there a holographic brothel on DS9?
If it wasn't for porn, we'd probably have no technology at all.

http://www.law.indiana.edu/fclj/pubs/v49/no1/johnson.html">Pornography Drives Technology
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Orsino Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-23-09 06:04 PM
Response to Reply #25
29. That was at least strongly implied, wasn't it?
Yet another reason I wish I'd seen more DS9.
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Optical.Catalyst Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun May-24-09 07:24 AM
Response to Reply #25
35. Oh Great
Excuse me Capitan, I need to take a break down on the porno deck, er ... I mean holo deck.
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pokerfan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun May-24-09 03:32 PM
Response to Reply #35
36. Cleanup on Holodeck Five!
I hope they stock lots and lots of bleach.
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sakabatou Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun May-24-09 06:16 PM
Response to Reply #36
38. And kleenex.
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Optical.Catalyst Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun May-24-09 07:13 PM
Response to Reply #36
39. Scotty, we need you in engineering right away
But Captain, I'm givin' 'er all she's got
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many a good man Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-23-09 02:30 PM
Response to Original message
27. But Holodeck gave us the best line ever
I am NOT a Merry Man!
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Orrex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-23-09 02:32 PM
Response to Reply #27
28. Not a Holodeck episode, and also one of the worst of the series
The only thing worse than forced campiness is ill-delivered forced campiness.
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pokerfan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun May-24-09 03:41 PM
Response to Reply #27
37. The 'Goddess of Empathy' was the best
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTCNDq4Dio4#t=3m

"There's nothing wrong with a healthy fantasy life..."
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Tyrone Slothrop Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-23-09 06:23 PM
Response to Original message
30. It was a cool idea...
before they stole it from Ray Bradbury.

"The Veldt" is actually rather chilling.

http://www.veddma.com/veddma/Veldt.htm
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Orrex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-23-09 06:41 PM
Response to Reply #30
32. "Stole" is a trifle harsh
Writing in general, and sci-fi writing in particular, is famously prone to borrowing and reimagining concepts.

Bradbury, after all, "stole" the title of Something Wicked This Way Comes...
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Deja Q Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-23-09 06:49 PM
Response to Original message
33. "Elementary, Dear Data" and "Ship in a Bottle" use the holodeck for more than virtual nookie...
Never mind the concept of "supply and demand", in our ersatz society, is warped whenever it's convenient to do so.

(when looking for RAM for an older computer at best buy a couple years back, it had cost twice as much as its DDR2 equivalent. There's not much demand so that's why they charged 2x... one example of many...)

BTW: It's "science fiction". The whole damn thing is goofy by default; nerds and geeks like it -- then come along some soap opera or generic action writers to revamp the things by making them as generic and "emotionally accessible" as possible - so gone are concepts and in are product placements.
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hunter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-23-09 07:36 PM
Response to Original message
34. I always wanted to see the holodeck used to simulate the physics of other SF worlds.
Who says I can't be Spider Man?
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