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Old 01-17-2019, 11:12 PM
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January 17th, 1969, "The Mark of Gideon"

Fiver (by IJD GAF)
Transcript
Memory Alpha

Let's get this out of the way up front: if this society is so crowded that they presumably only operate essential industries, where did they get the resources to build a duplicate Enterprise? Even if you say that all of the nonessential tech was omitted and faked, a lot of the tech had to be real:
* The gravitational strength on board the ship is so specific that that artificial gravity had to be present in the duplicate. Unless you're going to tell me that this planet is so like Earth that the gravitational constant is exactly one gee. Any Starfleet officer should be able to tell when the gravity on board ship feels wrong.

* The air has to be exactly the same as the Enterprise. The same oxygen content, it has to smell the same, etc.

* The carpet has to feel exactly the same, the lights have to be the same wavelength and brightness, the background hum has to be the same, etc.


The Episode

Captain's log, stardate 5423.4. We are orbiting the planet Gideon, which is still not a member of the United Federation of Planets. The treaty negotiations have been difficult because Gideon has consistently refused the presence of a delegation from the Federation on its soil, or any surveillance by the ship's sensors. They have finally agreed to a delegation of one. They insisted it be the Captain of the Enterprise. I am, therefore, beaming down at once.

1. "No delegation on it's soil"=either beam up the Gideon party, or refuse their attempts until they agree to let people beam down.
2. "It must be a delegation of one"=You refuse until they take back this ludicrous request.
3. "It has to be Kirk"=You tell them that Kirk isn't a diplomat and has duties elsewhere.

KIRK [OC]: I am alone on the Enterprise. I have searched every area of the ship and still cannot find a trace of the crew, or an indication of how its disappearance was managed.

In the expanded universe materials, it's said that you can walk all of the corridors in eight hours. I assume that this doesn't include poking your head in all the doors. If Kirk's been here for half a day, does this mean that the Gideonites reproduced ship water and food as well?

SPOCK: Institute a sensor scan three hundred and sixty degrees, one degree at a time.
MCCOY: You mean you're going to scan space for him?
SULU: But, sir, that could take years.
SPOCK: Then the sooner you begin, the better.

Putting aside the two-dimensional thinking quote from Wrath of Khan, scanning a solar system for one specific human shouldn't take "years". In fact, scanning a solar system end to end completely shouldn't take "years"!

SPOCK: Lieutenant Uhura, has Starfleet honoured our request with a reply?
UHURA: There has been no response as yet, sir.
SPOCK: Did you advise them the captain's life is at stake?
UHURA: Yes, sir. They insist that the matter must be referred to the Federation.
SPOCK: What department?
UHURA: Bureau of Planetary Treaties.
SPOCK: Contact them directly.
UHURA: I did, Mister Spock. They insist that we must go through Starfleet channels.


This is clearly a Starfleet matter, not a general Federation matter. What did this achieve except portraying the Federation as a non-optimal bureaucracy?

(Kirk presses a button, but the steel shutter does not raise)
KIRK: If it works.
(uses a manual override, and the shutters slide open to reveal faces which are then replaced by a starfield.)

This is absurd. Either put a proper functioning starfield outside or make the shutters unopenable.

ADMIRAL [on viewscreen]: I sympathize deeply, but Starfleet cannot override Federation directives in this matter.

What matter? What directives? I hope it's not the Prime Directive, because these people clearly have subspace radio, which implies that they are warp-capable.

HODIN: What is it like to feel pain?
ODONA: It is like, like when you see the people have no hope for happiness, Father. You feel great despair, and your heart is heavy because you know you can do nothing. Pain is like that.

I just don't understand this metaphor. I get what the writers were going for, but this is just nonsense.

HODIN: Yes. As Odona told you, we have no need for medical practitioners here.

I hate it when scifi societies think that "no illness"="no need for doctors". People will still sprain angles and break arms. OBGYNs and coroners will still be needed.


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