Stupidest Star Trek concept of them all: the holodeck

[Bucky]

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.

[Ikonoklast]

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?

[onlyadream]

24. then it's like the matrix ... interesting idea...

[OmahaBlueDog]

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.

[Bucky]

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.

[DarkTirade]

12. Not entirely true...

... there were a few 19th century american and british locales... :P

[Captain Hilts]

3. So true!!!!!!!!

[cwydro]

5. Oooh no.

I love the holodeck!

[underpants]

6. What about the lack of enlisted personnel?

everyone is a freakin' officer of something :shrug:

[Bucky]

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.

[TheMightyFavog]

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.

[Orsino]

16. After a little early retconning with O'Brien's insignia.

Worf's adoptive father also identified himself as a former CPO.

Enterprise also let us see some just-plain-crewmen.

[Captain Hilts]

9. It's like the Confederate Air Force where everybody's a colonel. nt

[Bucky]

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!

[beac]

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)

[sarge43]

21. Yeoman Rand n/t

[no name no slogan]

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.

[Orrex]

10. The Moriarity episodes in TNG were among the best that Trek has had to offer

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.

[DarkTirade]

13. I'm always entertained by A Fistful of Datas.

Its hilariously bad. :)

[Orrex]

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!

[DarkTirade]

17. Making a personal force field out of a telegraph machine...

man, I wish I knew how to do that. :P

[Orrex]

18. And somehow the Morse Field can deflect a "holographic" bullet...

but Borg personal shields can't. Hmm...

[DarkTirade]

19. Makes you wonder why they don't just issue old-fashioned tommy guns to the crew...

[EvolveOrConvolve]

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.

[Art_from_Ark]

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?

[DarkTirade]

26. Trouble with Tribbles was classic.

There were cheesier episodes, but that one manages to stand out. :)

[Orsino]

14. It's entirely consistent with TrekTech.

We just never got more than vague hints of what it would really be used for.

[pokerfan]

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

[Orsino]

29. That was at least strongly implied, wasn't it?

Yet another reason I wish I'd seen more DS9.

[Optical.Catalyst]

35. Oh Great

Excuse me Capitan, I need to take a break down on the porno deck, er ... I mean holo deck.

[pokerfan]

36. Cleanup on Holodeck Five!

I hope they stock lots and lots of bleach.

[sakabatou]

38. And kleenex.

[Optical.Catalyst]

39. Scotty, we need you in engineering right away

But Captain, I'm givin' 'er all she's got

[many a good man]

27. But Holodeck gave us the best line ever

I am NOT a Merry Man!

[Orrex]

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.

[pokerfan]

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..."

[Tyrone Slothrop]

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

[Orrex]

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...

[Deja Q]

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.

[hunter]

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?