For example. I was recently watching ST Generations:
-why is it every time you have modify the main deflector to emit an inverse save our ass pulse, that you have to go to "you're probably going to die" deck and climb monkey bars to get to the playing cards in the colored slots that modify it? You would think on such an advanced ship that there would just be a little toggle button next to the NOS button or something .....
This was actually not a common use for the deflector. It wasn’t kept in that configuration. You can’t plan for every contingency.
-in Generations, it's pretty obvious they just wanted to blow up the Ent D. This ship has been through more stuff than any ship and gets bested by "a twenty year old" ship that was "retired due to defective plasma coils"
So ok I will go ahead and grant you that the Durass sisters elaborate plan of modifying Geordi's visor works. So why did they not immediately remodulate the shield frequency as soon as they realized the shields were compromised? Why do they turn and angle the ship away from the attacking vessel? Why not unleash a volley of photon torpedoes and fire phasers in attack pattern Picard-foxtrot union? They are the "Federation Flagship!?!
Let's back up a minute...
- so... Cloaking technology has been around since at least the 2100s.... And 100 years prior to ST:G in ST: The undiscovered country, A freakin communications officer with no experience or training in cloaking theory figured out that you can track a cloaked ship cause "the things gotta have a tailpipe" ( wait, does this mean that combustion engines are still in use in the 23rd century enough that everyone would catch her reference ? I digress..)
Therefore why aren't the sensors on the FLAGSHIP automatically calibrated to scan for a cloaked ship ? Why do they STILL get surprised by this obvious antiquated tech?
Much like most technologies, as one sensor technology improves so does cloaking technology. As Spock said in The Enterprise Incident: "Military secrets are the most fleeting of all…."
Watch how things changed during the Dominion War. At first, Dominion weapons could easily penetrate Federation shields. The shields were modified so that they could be effective against Dominion weapons. Ships were modified to withstand the Breen weapon…
-in all of the TNG movies , Picard is the last action hero... So when it comes time to get him alone for some heroics, a perfectly convenient plot device occurs. The old defective Klingon ship decloaks right in front of the FLAGSHIP. And as we all know, the shields must have been down because Soran immediately transports to the surface of an (already previously discussed uninhibited planet). So instead of
A) scanning the entire planet for a humanoid life form ( he should be the only one)
Or
b
B) scanning the whole planet for ANY technology (should be the only tech)
They realize that any missile fired from the planet will take like... 13 seconds to reach the sun (by my calculations that thing would be moving at about warp factor 73)
Which would be fine but our recently promoted Lt Cmdr Worf needs like 15 seconds to lock on.... Cause umm... Yeh...
The solution ? Ahnold Picardineggar decides to do a prisoner exchange for Georgi. But first wants to have a little chit chat with Soran to which the Durass sisters agree to do out of the goodness of their hearts.
Then we see Picard (wearing a commbadge) transport away and Georgi transport in.
Then something odd happens. See, Star Trek is always nice enough to color code the transporter effects for the different species. The federation is always white-ish and the Klingons are red. So when Picard materializes (without a commbadge WTF?) it's a white effect!?!
You mean he beamed STRAIGHT to where the bad guy is? Why? They had the coordinates to transport. Why not just pummel the entire area with photon torpedoes from orbit them vaporize the Klingon ship for good measure ?
As I recall, they said in the movie that sensors had trouble working through the planets ionosphere. The missile itself is cloaked. Keep in mind that a planet is much larger than a starship and the missile could have been launched from anywhere… even the other side of the planet. I think 15 seconds to lock on to it was optimistic.
Also discussed, Picard beams to the bird of prey and they beam him to Soran’s location. They must have removed his combadge in transport. As for the color of the transporter beam… well beats me. I’m not a transporter technician.
Why doesn't everyone fly around with shields up all the time? They seem to get attacked every episode so you'd think they'd take some precautions against having the inhabitants of some section of the ship sucked out into space.
The same reason my lights aren’t on 24/7- it’s wasteful. Shields are energy intensive. There’s no reason to have them up if they’re not needed. Also, you can’t beam through them. And there are things that were never addressed with the technology in any dialog. It may have an effect on sensors and other systems.
If you are stuck in the ribbon and have the ability to travel to any time and any place so that you can keep and event from happening, why would you choose to go back to a mere few minutes in a situation that makes you still fight it out. Why not go back in time a week, call you brother, warn him about the fire. Then when you first see Soran, just throw him in the brig, stun his ass, whatever. Done and done.
I’m pretty sure Picard was trying to make the least amount of changes to the timeline as possible. By stopping him in the first place he’s already created a paradox. And he had no idea that the Enterprise was crashing on the surface of the planet.
My issue with Generations is the Nexus. This obvious plot device flying through space that’s only purpose appears to be to make people happy and bring Kirk and Picard together. Really?
Then there’s the death of Kirk. Completely unnecessary! It was all because Braga has an obsession with killing off good characters to feel like a god. It was his way of saying “your old Trek is now completely dead and the next generation is all there is.” You don’t need to see your heroes die.
Further- I hated how dark they made the Enterprise. I think the reason was that the sets were made for the small screen and they weren't sure how it would hold up on the big screen, but still. It's annoyingly difficult to watch. Throw in those Voyager uniforms and you can barely see anyone.
And overall, Generations was just pretty lackluster.