TNG - The Big Goodbye

[TGLS]

That's a fair enough point, but what if we take the law of averages into account? Because if every holodeck that we have ever seen is going wrong half a dozen times, then that means there is a good chance that the majority of the holodecks in the galaxy are going wrong half a dozen times.

Its also worth noting that kids use these things. Imagine if Flotter were to malfunction...

I dunno; I think taking any kind of statistic from what's shown in the episodes probably makes space travel, transporters and most other technologies way more hazardous than they could plausibly be given how cavalier everyone is about the risks.

[Fianna]

The Enterprise is (to use TV Tropes terminology) a Weirdness Magnet. Most of the bizarre and dangerous stuff that happens to them (getting stuck in a time loop, slipping into alternate universes, everyone's memories being erased, and, yes, murderous holodecks) is supposed to be this extraordinary event they've encountered, not something you'd expect the average person in the Trek universe to run into.

It's just, since they made over 170 episodes, that stuff keeps happening to the same people an awful lot.

[DAv]

(two if you count "Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang", which was only dangerous to Vic Fontaine

That one probably doesn't count since it was DESIGNED to do that. It was a feature, not a bug.

Wasn't the first time, with the spy program, much more due to outside factors than to the holo-room itself going wrong? Like, it wasn't ideal, but it did prove to work out to save people's lives.

[CrypticMirror]

How many Holodeck gone wrong stories are there in TNG? There is this, the Moriarty one, Worf's holodeck western, and I can only other think of that one where the holodeck turns into a train. That is four, maybe five if we count the second Moriarty one which is a bit iffy to my mind. And that is over seven years of constant use, I've scalded myself more often with my kettle over a single year and that is without running the kettle 24/7.

That's a fair enough point, but what if we take the law of averages into account? Because if every holodeck that we have ever seen is going wrong half a dozen times, then that means there is a good chance that the majority of the holodecks in the galaxy are going wrong half a dozen times.

Its also worth noting that kids use these things. Imagine if Flotter were to malfunction...

But most holodecks are not in places where they can encounter hostile aliens probing them, traveling alien lifeforms in need of incubators, or a superadvanced robot dumping their memories into them. The only real replicable problem among them was someone with administrator privileges overclocking things to make his programme supersmart itself. Just limit the available modding ability and we're golden. Don't let people fuck around if you don't want them to find out.

[clearspira]

In a slightly different note, what is it about Trek and their insistence that cars are going to be a novelty in the future? I can certainly understand how they could get confused by a non self-driving car (although I also find it unlikely that self-driving cars would completely replace normal cars) but Picard's reaction here is the sort of glee that implies he has never seen the like before.

[J!!]

They've had instantaneous site-to-site teleportation for several centuries. Why wouldn't cars be obsolete?

[Madner Kami]

They've had instantaneous site-to-site teleportation for several centuries. Why wouldn't cars be obsolete?

Cars certainly are more energy-efficient than teleporting. Also, for the joy of the ride, just like people are still riding horses. And, of course, mobility on planets without a sophisticated teleportation-network or spaceship in orbit.

[clearspira]

They've had instantaneous site-to-site teleportation for several centuries. Why wouldn't cars be obsolete?

Cars certainly are more energy-efficient than teleporting. Also, for the joy of the ride, just like people are still riding horses. And, of course, mobility on planets without a sophisticated teleportation-network or spaceship in orbit.

Exactly. When have we ever seen private citizens own transporters in Trek? What if you live in a small shack in the middle of nowhere? And whilst transporting has gotten safer by ''Picard'' given the Stargate-style transport terminal we see, they also seem like less sophisticated transporters. I can't imagine your average person can have breakfast at home, lunch in Japan and dinner in France.
I can only guess that people ''order'' a transporter in Trek like one would order an Uber.

[Artabax]

Isn't Chuck a former History teacher who now specialises in fiction?

Or am I misremembering his former occupation?

He certainly is/was a teacher. I don't remember the subject coming up.

Episode STNG war games and fat guy playing stratagema. Ryker was smugger than usual "Combat is a MINOR duty of a starship." When Chuck was a teacher, he never used first aid, but he was glad he knew how to do it. Better to have and not need than to need and not need.
Peak Performance

[Archanubis]

I'd add "Rapture" to the list of DS9 "holodeck malfunction" episodes, but that's less "episode taking place in a malfunctioning holodeck" and more "holodeck malfunction kicks off episode's plot."

The big difference in DS9 is that Quark doesn't give people admin privileges to design their own programs. They can only run his pre-made programs.

Quark obviously does allow his customers to bring their own personal holodeck/suite programs to his suites, otherwise we wouldn't have the Siskos' baseball program, Jadzia's Klingon calisthenics, Bashir's spy program, or Vic's lounge. And I believe there was one episode where Quark was trying to create a custom program for a regular customer of his. And I'm sure he charges a modest fee to upload those.