Star Trek

Spock's Brain - S3-E1

Revealing mistake: It would seem that with the incredible advanced knowledge and furnishings that have been bestowed upon the Imorg down below, the 'Teacher' should have at least provided them with adequate high tech structuring and not the ratty, torn and warped substandard sheet rock seen on the bottom of the walls in these two camera shots. Yep, they can remove and restore a brain but can't find a place to buy good quality plasterboard. (00:23:40 - 00:33:51)

The Menagerie (1) - S1-E12

Other mistake: While on Starbase 11, Kirk and McCoy watch Pike on a starbase desktop monitor as his light keeps blinking no. When Kirk is with Mendez in his office discussing the Talos IV top secret file, Piper watches Pike on the desktop monitor in the office. Then Spock uses the desktop monitor in his quarters to watch Kirk. All these consoles have the same dings and markings around their screens, which are also the same as other desktop monitors on Enterprise in the previous episode, The Corbomite Maneuver. (00:11:10)

Super Grover

The Corbomite Maneuver - S1-E11

Other mistake: When Kirk is in sickbay with McCoy he uses sickbay's desktop monitor to contact Spock on the bridge, then when Kirk is in his quarters he uses his own desktop monitor to contact Spock again. Both have the same paint dings and smudges around the console screens, revealing the same one was used during filming. (00:04:30 - 00:06:30)

Super Grover

Bread and Circuses - S2-E25

Revealing mistake: After Kirk and party are captured by the police, a montage of scenes depicting the planet's buildings plays while the log entry is heard. One of the buildings shown, though hard to read, has the title "Massachusetts Institute of Technology" (M.I.T.) above the columns.

Movie Nut

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Suggested correction: The entire planet isn't going to look exactly like what he saw on the disk. The disk will show random scenes to give the viewer an idea, but we can't expect the whole planet to match that image.

I, Mudd - S2-E8

Other mistake: When Norman goes to the second panel in Auxiliary Control, there is clicking when he turns his right hand, but there is no knob, just a blinking light.

Movie Nut

The Empath - S3-E12

Plot hole: Spock calculates that it will take 72 hours for the solar flare to pass, and Kirk orders the Enterprise out of the area. 3 days is a long time to go without food or water, and as the station is deserted as far as they know, there'd be no way to supply themselves, but the Enterprise leaves without a second thought.

hifijohn

The Doomsday Machine - S2-E6

Plot hole: Commodore Decker takes over command of the enterprise but Spock says if McCoy can certify him incompetent (which he obviously is) he can be relieved of command. McCoy says he will certify him now, so why doesn't he? In other episodes it has been stated that McCoy can order anybody regardless of rank to an examination to see if they are physically or mentally fit.

hifijohn

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Suggested correction: Spock immediately asks McCoy for the results of his medical exam of Decker, which are required for him to be certified unfit. McCoy says he hasn't done one. Therefore, he can't certify it.

That Which Survives - S3-E17

Character mistake: Watkins is asked to check the bypass valve, there the woman appears, asked about the panel, it's obvious she's not part of the crew. Instead of calling security or Mr Scott he starts to describe the panel, which I'm assuming would be classified information.

hifijohn

Requiem for Methuselah - S3-E19

Factual error: Spock plays a piece on a harpsichord that he says is by Brahms, but Brahms was a late romantic composer and the piece is a simple baroque dance piece. Also by the time of Brahms the harpsichord was already obsolete, a composition like this wouldn't be sitting on a harpsichord.

hifijohn

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Suggested correction: The first sentence is logical; if Spock is able to recognize the style as Brahms, then it should not possess the style and structure of Baroque music. The second sentence is not necessarily true because some romantic composers did write for the harpsichord. For instance, the late romantic composer Richard Strauss composed, "Divertimento for Chamber Orchestra after Keyboard Pieces by Couperin", which is scored with a harpsichord part.

The Naked Time - S1-E5

Continuity mistake: In the opening, the crewman gets a few drops of the infectant on his hand, but the reddish mass on the wall remains. On the ship, when the spectral view is shown, the red mass is nowhere to be seen.

Movie Nut

The Menagerie (2) - S1-E13

Deliberate mistake: At the very end, the Talosians send a final visual transmission of Vina and Christopher Pike, now whole and happy and reunited after 13 years, holding hands as they enter the Talosian elevator in the hillside. However, in this last shot, the elevator is still half-disintegrated, exactly as it was 13 years earlier when the Enterprise crew destroyed the hillside with a laser cannon. Within the context of "The Menagerie" storyline, this suggests that the Talosians never attempted to repair the elevator for 13 years (even though they continued using it). This incongruity is due to Gene Roddenberry cannibalizing his Star Trek pilot "The Cage," which contained zero footage of Jeffrey Hunter and Susan Oliver entering the intact elevator together (only the destroyed elevator). So, Roddenberry deliberately tried to "slip one by" the audience in this brief shot.

Charles Austin Miller

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Suggested correction: There are reasons why the elevator would appear damaged. As the Talosians were in control of everything shown on the ship's viewer, the entire scene could be an illusion, or at least the elevator's condition may have been, with the Talosians choosing to allow the viewers to see the elevator in the same condition they last saw it. Just as likely, however, is that the Talosians truly never did reconstruct the elevator, as the whole point of their having a menagerie of other beings was an attempt to breed a race that could physically serve them, for their concentration on their mental powers had led to a complete inability and unwillingness to perform physical tasks (like repairing an elevator).

Still, as long as the Talosians are creating the illusion of Christopher Pike and Vina in their "restored" bodies, why not create an illusion of the elevator and hillside restored, as well? One big illusion of restoration, rather than a composite of dismal reality and happy-ending illusion? Again, to the point of my original post, the obvious incongruity is due to Roddenberry using the only happy-ending footage he possessed, that of Pike and Vina entering the half-obliterated elevator as they did at the end of "The Cage." Certainly, if Roddenberry only had the foresight to shoot Jeffrey Hunter and Susan Oliver entering the intact elevator, he would have used that footage instead. Any attempt to explain away the 13-year incongruity is mere wishful thinking.

This would qualify as a question, not a mistake. It is entirely plausible that the Talosians wouldn't bother to repair the elevator. It's also possible, as the previous correction points out, that the entire scene is an illusion. Remember, Captain Kirk sees Vina and Pike together on the planet literally moments after Spock wheels Pike out of the room. It's unlikely Pike had already been beamed down.

The Menagerie (2) - S1-E13

Revealing mistake: When the Talosians place Christopher Pike and Vina into the "picnic" illusion (in the countryside on Earth), Pike wanders around marveling at how real it all seems. Well, "real" except for the fact that Pike's body is casting 4 distinct shadows in 4 different directions on the ground, the result of studio set lighting.

Charles Austin Miller

Journey to Babel - S2-E10

Amanda: And you, Sarek, would you also say thank you to your son?
Sarek: I don't understand.
Amanda: Well, for saving your life.
Sarek: Spock acted in the only logical manner open to him. One does not thank logic, Amanda.
Amanda: Logic, logic - I'm sick to death of logic! Do you want to know how I feel about your logic?
Spock: Emotional, isn't she?
Sarek: She has always been that way.
Spock: Indeed? Why did you marry her?
Sarek: At the time, it seemed the logical thing to do.

Super Grover

More quotes from Star Trek

Who Mourns for Adonais? - S2-E2

Trivia: An ending that was planned but abandoned for this episode would have revealed that Lieutenant Palamas was pregnant with Apollo's child.

More trivia for Star Trek

I, Mudd - S2-E8

Question: When Kirk and crew neutralized all the androids on the planet, what happened to the androids on the Enterprise running the ship?

Answer: After causing Norman to overload, all of the other androids shut down. The same could be said for the androids on the Enterprise.

Answer: If all the humans beamed down and only Androids were on the ship as Larry Mudd said then how did they get back aboard the Enterprise if all the robots were shut down.

More questions & answers from Star Trek

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