TNG - Heart of Glory

[Nessus]

And why is the Visor so rubbish? Someone programmed in infrared to X-Ray into this thing, but not a full-colour HD mode? And this isn't just here either, this is the colour scheme they will stick with.

My read on it was that the visor wasn't designed to construct camera-like images. It pipes relatively raw sensor data to Geordie's brain and lets his wetware do the interpretive heavy lifting. The real tech advancement is in the neural interface part, not the sensor part. What gets relayed to the Enterprise in this case has to go through a bunch of processing and filters to produce the false color image seen on the viewscreen, so Picard and co aren't actually seeing as Geordie sees, as that would be like seeing umami or something similarly impossible/nonsensical. They're just seeing a small slice of the total data Geordie sees, with a false-color overlay to make it digestible to normal eyes.

Technically, a tricorder can see anything Geordie can, but it can't interpret it like a living brain can, which is why having Geordie look at something can often yield a better assessment than a tricorder alone. It's like the difference between remote piloting a drone aircraft via instruments, and actually being a bird.

IIRC it is implied in later episodes that tricorder data records can provide a video-equivalent when needed. There was one episode (I think it was the one where Geordie gets mutated into an invisible gecko creature) where they used tricorder records to show a 3D holodeck "video" of an event that happened to an away team.

[Admiral X]

I always thought that the tricorders should be able to generate video imagery the same way the ship sensors apparently did to create imagery for the viewscreen. But apparently most of the writers never thought of that.

[Nessus]

Well, the IKEA weapon thing, been done a few times, but always strikes me as weird. I mean we know that the transporter is capable of detecting (at least) most weapons, and it's claimed that it can also render them neutral. How it does that we have no idea. Can it blunt a knife? Can it turn a heavy stick into a balloon? Which brings up a side issue...*

What exactly is it detecting and why would the parts being seperate make any difference?
Yeah, handwave that away. just like handwaving away every single time this ability would have been damned, DAMNED handy and wasn't used.

To the first part, I assumed it detects weapon-like circuit paths in energy weapons, or by detecting physical mechanisms according to certain parameters. A transporter needs a relatively beefy computer even by Trek standards anyway, so intelligently detecting stuff like this probably isn't that big a deal. A weapon that's been broken up and scattered wouldn't get detected as such, especially if the parts had plausible dual-uses as part of another non-weapon piece of kit. The transporter would deactivate energy weapons by selectively bleeding energy during transport, either materializing the power cell as empty, or "sucking" the beam out of the emitter in the case of something already being fired. A slug thrower would get the chemical propellant molecules changed to something non-reactive. A knife would simply get "confiscated" to either the buffer or a security station elsewhere.

In each case, the transporter would notify the operator of what it detected, and give them an option prompt for whether they wanted to disable, or confiscate, or let the weapon through. Or there might be security modes the operator selects before initiating transport. Like mode A passes registered away team weapons but confiscates/deactivates detected foreign weapons, mode B confiscates/deactivates all detected weapons, mode C passes all detected weapons.

In this specific case, I kinda got the impression/assumed that this style of hidden weapon wasn't a normal feature of Klingon uniforms, otherwise Starfleet would be well aware of it. Rather that, as renegades on the lam, these particular Klingons had Jason Bourned up their uniforms. Normally Klingons wouldn't bother with that as culturally they'd either expect to be killed instead of taken prisoner, or else be honor bound to ensure they go down fighting rather than be taken alive.

Since the whole point of such weapons would be to sneak past security, it's logical to think they'd be specifically designed to thwart transporter detection, so I don't have a problem with them doing exactly that, regardless of how said detection works.

None of this is in any way specified in the show, and is purely my own assumptions, but I don't consider the lack of it being described to be a plot hole. Stuff that's easy to fill in like this should be okay to let go. Sort of like how just because we never get an actual shot of anyone sitting on the can doesn't actually imply that there are no bathrooms on the ship.

[Nessus]

I always thought that the tricorders should be able to generate video imagery the same way the ship sensors apparently did to create imagery for the viewscreen. But apparently most of the writers never thought of that.

I think canonically they do, and it has been used in at least one episode. But these shows were filmed back when chemical film was still the way most cameras worked, and Trek writers in the TNG era and forward were... not necessarily what I'd consider actual sci-fi writers.

TBH lot of pop culture sci-fi has a VERY hard time conceiving of "futuristic" technology as anything other than whatever's cutting edge at the time of writing/filming, only more widespread. Trek has had some good hits in this regard with predicting things like touchscreen interfaces and computer generative engineering, but they did quite often miss a lot of obvious stuff as well.

[Yukaphile]

It's easy to imagine how the future will be. Sex robots and VR worlds, which include lots and lots of sex, virtual fanfiction video gaming ala the Matrix.

Also at some point, the CGI tech used to bring back younger Leia and Tarkin will be the norm, with voice synthesizers that means video will be more unreliable than ever, but great for fiction. Hell, you could literally buy the equivalent of a tiny disk the size of, um... a tic tac, plug it into a tablet-sized device, and make your own show! No actors, just you! That's the future!

[cdrood]

TNG season 1 is such a mixed bag for me. As someone old enough to have watched it first run, I was just so excited to had new Star Trek on TV that I'd watch it no matter what. A friend and I pretty much watched every episode together. However, it was hard to like the characters even with rose colored glasses.

Today, even when I catch reruns on TV, I tend to turn away as soon as I see the Season 1 & 2 uniforms.

[cdrood]

I only remember this episode from the Geordi visor bit and ever since I've wondered how can he read with that thing.

[cdrood]

You know what makes a great prison and has no power requirements? A big heavy door with strong locks. Iron bars work as well.

[Artabax]

Geordi's VISOR: on the view screen, fascinating? No. Retarded. Geordi CAN make sense of the images, but people can't. Why not just take a camera?

Prime Directive = Nevah use Human Tech when useless, retarded, dangerous sci-fi tech is available.

You know what makes a great prison and has no power requirements? A big heavy door with strong locks. Iron bars work as well.

Case in point. The first duty Picard visits Wesley's room in the Academy. Gene wasn't there when they filmed Picard opening the door with a Human-tech doorknob, when Gene came back he insisted on adding the swooshing noise to make it more sci-fyish..

A slug thrower would get the chemical propellant molecules changed to something non-reactive. A knife would simply get "confiscated" to either the buffer or a security station elsewhere.

Phasers don't work versus Borg First Contact Human tech guns do kill Borg, therefore Prime Directive sub-clause 47 bans guns.

Worf was NOT adopted by a Star Fleet officer. Rozhenko was a sergeant, he says to Miles Don't call me Sir, I work for a living.

[Beastro]

TBH lot of pop culture sci-fi has a VERY hard time conceiving of "futuristic" technology as anything other than whatever's cutting edge at the time of writing/filming, only more widespread. Trek has had some good hits in this regard with predicting things like touchscreen interfaces and computer generative engineering, but they did quite often miss a lot of obvious stuff as well.

I find reducing Sci-Fi to predicting things, especially tech an increadingly tiring and annoying thing.

I far prefer a setting to establish tech, what it can and can't do, add in extras, but above all else keep it consistant, which well all know Trek has had a very hard time doing.