The Trouble With Trek

So... is typing on my tiny Bluetooth keyboard just going to be the way I write my blogs now? I’ve been very happy with the service Weebly has given me over the year I’ve had the website, but these last few days have been awful. I’ll have to contact customer support at this rate. Hopefully it’s something simply and not my account. Or worse, my poor computer.

I supppose it may be time to replace the old girl. She’s going on eight years old and I feel like there’s always something falling apart with her. She might even be the reason I’m having troubles with the latest game I’m trying to review.

But this isn’t a blog about computer troubles, it’s a writers blog. So what will Matias wow you with today? How about this? Thinking through the realities of your world. A lot of people put tons of love and care into their world building only to have one sharp-eyed fan ruin it with a single question: But what about this?

Let’s take a look at Star Trek. I’ve been giving it some grief lately because I’m rewatching Deep Space Nine? Why? I hate myself, I guess. Point is, this show (and the series in general) has a lot of “but what about” moments.

Top on my list: probes. It’s established early on in the series that unmanned probes are totally a thing. So why in the name of Roddenberry does the captain always decide to take the damned ship into the most obviously dangerous places?

”Captain, there’s something strange on sensors. I think if we-“
”Send a probe.”
”But sir, with a few shield modifications we can take the ship-“
”Send a probe.”
”Captain, the probe has been destroyed by a cloaked Klingon ship!”
-smug look from the captain-

See how that played out? Every damn time there’s “something strange” on sensors, the ship is boarded, the captain is replaced with an evil clone, the crew is sent back in time, or all three! So why don’t they send probes more often?

When you write your story, don’t make this same mistake. Ask yourself, “could a four year-old come up with better plan than my characters?” If the answer is yes, maybe rethink it.

And don’t get me started on why every time they come to an alien planet, the captain, first officer, only competent medical officer, head of their science division, and their seamstress have to beam down.

​Be Excellent to Each Other