Deus Ex Machina

[Poodyglitz]

What do you say we discuss those oh so Trek moments when the writers pulled monkeys out of their butts. For example, finding out that Vulcan eyes have a protective reflex like a frog, so that Spock's blindness was only temporary. Or Scotty being able to cold start a warp engine when only moments prior, he told the captain, "I canna change the laws of physics!" Or being able to recrystallize dilithium with high energy protons from a "nuclear wessel".

Have fun!

[moyer777]

That's called, "We have a show to do next week and we have to reslove the plotline now!" 

Welcome to TV.

:laugh:

[Rico]

Yeah - it happens on pretty much every plot driven type show.  I think the later Trek series did it even more with a lot of the techno-babble that was written in.  Such as:

Data:  Captain Picard, power is out and the asteroid will hit the ship in one minute.  Main power is still out.

Picard:  Options Wesley?

Wesley:  I can use the same idea that I built in class today to turn the ships deflector into a gravimetric wave displacer.  I just need to reroute  power EPS relays through the main duotronic circuit hub and tie in the deflector beam emitters.  Then we cross the tetreyon energy released with our phaser charging amplifiers to create a phase invertor wave.  Last, we route this all through the structural field wave subsystems.  Easy as pie Captain.

Picard:  Make it so, Mr. Crusher.

[Geekyfanboy]

LOL.. I don't think Wesley would every say "Easy as Pie Captain"

I always liked the techno-babble

[Poodyglitz]

Yeah - it happens on pretty much every plot driven type show.  I think the later Trek series did it even more with a lot of the techno-babble that was written in.

In "Lost In Space", "Stargate" and "Farscape", that's a given. "Star Trek" made it a point to be based in real science (obviously, space monsters and alien races are exempt). Eventually, when we got to TNG, they really began to make it up. I think the charm of the TOS Deus Ex Machina was its writing style sometimes had similarities to Perry Mason. In that series, they would parade a bunch of characters in an episode who the audience is supposed to suspect. Near the end, there would be a trial where an unsuspected character ended up being the culprit. Then, Perry would give an explanation based on information that is suddenly revealed at that point. A sort of left-field resolution.

I think that this characteristic of TOS is part of its charm. It seemed interesting to get other perspectives on it.

[JoSpiv]

I always loved this aspect of Star Trek. 

After a while, it seemed almost like a joke.   I love how the Deflector Dish can do virtually anything they need it to. 

"We're stuck in a nebulae, lets use the Deflector to punch a hole in it so we can get out"

"The Borg are to powerful for us, lets use the Deflector as a weapon"

"The Borg are using the Deflector Dish to communicate with the other Borg"

And they always reroute everything through the Deflector Dish, can it really be that powerful?  As far as I know, the point of the Deflector is extremly simple.  It's to deflect matter as the ship moves.  If it wasn't there, at warp speed they'd be destroyed in seconds by micro-meteorites.   


Anyway, the tecno-babble and out of no where solutions make trek great.  And it always puts a simle on my face. 

[Darth Gaos]

Yeah - it happens on pretty much every plot driven type show.  I think the later Trek series did it even more with a lot of the techno-babble that was written in.  Such as:

Data:  Captain Picard, power is out and the asteroid will hit the ship in one minute.  Main power is still out.

Picard:  Options Wesley?

Wesley:  I can use the same idea that I built in class today to turn the ships deflector into a gravimetric wave displacer.  I just need to reroute  power EPS relays through the main duotronic circuit hub and tie in the deflector beam emitters.  Then we cross the tetreyon energy released with our phaser charging amplifiers to create a phase invertor wave.  Last, we route this all through the structural field wave subsystems.  Easy as pie Captain.

Picard:  Make it so, Mr. Crusher.

That is exactly how I would have solved it too....amazing ;)

[Poodyglitz]

I believe that with TOS, it's more than just technobabble. Sometimes, what they made up to further or end a story gave us a glimpse into Vulcan culture and physiology. This sort of thing began the rich mythology of Star Trek. Sometimes, the eleventh hour save would reveal a heroic character trait. One good example would be Spock rolling up his sleeves and rewiring (or whatever the heck he was doing to) the warp reactor in "Wrath Of Khan". Could we also say another example of Deus Ex Machina woul be Kirk's rhetorical conversations with machines/androids?

Perhaps as we got into the other series, technobabble became the hallmark of Star Trek. What do you all think?