It happened on at least three occasions where the protagonists beamed on board and 30 seconds later they had taken control of the ship. I realise that time constraints meant that plots had to move forward, but this is meant to be the flagship of the Federation; it all seemed too easy.
shareI actually find it interesting that sometimes it's unbelievably easy and other times the Enterprise could obliterate whole fleets. There are several planets they visit and there's some rebel leader or fugitive that Picard can't just cough up for diplomatic/bureaucratic/legal reasons, and the aliens demand the prisoner and Picard looks to Worf, "What happens if we fight it out?" And Worf basically replies, "They're insects. You want me to swat them?"
Some of the takeovers seem to happen because of completely unexpected actions taken by aliens with too-advanced technologies or psychic powers and, flagship or no, there would have been no way to anticipate and defend against it.
There was one instance when a couple of Ferengi managed it though 🙄
shareThat's definitely a good point.
I think the show suffered from very uneven writing. They did twenty-six episodes a season (S2 only had 22, though), and that's a LOT of shows to do. They were probably green-lighting plots they shouldn't have.
I'm only part-way through the show, but there is a quality-jump after S1. I think most of the time the Enterprise's takeovers are justified, but every now and then, you're right: I did wind up thinking that there should have been maybe a better failsafe in place.
I did a binge watch from start to finish a couple of months ago and had a great time - enjoy🖖
shareI am thusfar! I watched some of it a long time ago, but not until recently did I realize that I had only seen a fistful of episodes from each series (fewer per show - most TOS, then TNG, then DS9, etc.). So now I'm working my way through the shows.
shareI love TOS, but never got round to seeing TNG. I got Netflix and thought ‘right then.’
No spoilers - any episodes with Q in them are brilliant!
The bee in my bonnet is how ridiculous easy it is to abscond with a shuttle:
"Captain, unauthorized shuttle launch detected".
"Close the shuttle bay doors".
"Too late captain"...
Again with the shuttles already? Does nobody ever lock the doors? Do I have to do EVERYTHING myself?
shareLMAO yep Everytime.
It's probably like in the movies, jump in the drivers seat look on top of the sun visor and bingo you have the keys.
What? Wait! You mean you don’t keep yours there?!
shareNo sir , call me crazy but as I need it for everyday life like getting to work on time and having paid thousands to buy it and maintain it, I kinda would like it to be where I left it. I like a simple boring life.
If I had a starship I'd definitely have a least one armed guard in shuttle bay. And a locked box to keep keys in.
Oh and maybe a guy who's job it is to open the doors and maybe confirm it's ok to take one out for a spin.
And while I'm at it a simple button that cuts all power to the hollow deck.
Do you think they keep the keys to The Enterprise behind the sun visor, lol.
shareI like how every single person on board can access and take over critical systems at any time. Hell, even that blue barber guy could probably take control of the ship if he felt like it.
Data: Captain, life support on the bridge is being accessed from the hair salon.
Cap'n P: Lock them out!
Data: It's too late. Life support has been terminated.
"I'm locked out. Attempting to override..."
*presses two buttons*
"I'm in"
Definitely seems odd today, where all our touchscreen systems are password and encryption protected. At the very least, the bridge crew could each have had their own fingerprint/facial scanners and password to unlock a bridge console.
sharePicard - Number One, what's my password?
Riker - Have you tried your date of birth?
Picard - No good - Mr La Forge?
Geordi - What about Mother's maiden name?
Picard - No good either damnit! - Mr Worf?
Worf - Qapla?
Picard - Bless you!
Worf - No, I meant have you tried the word Qapla?
Picard - Not enough characters! *mutters* so much for being head of security. Counsellor Troi?
Deanna - I'm sensing some negative emotions sir.
Picard - No shit Sherlock! You don't have to be half bloody Betazoid to sense I'm getting pissed off! What exactly am I paying you for anyway?
Deanna - Sir, you don't pay us anything.
Picard - Duly noted. Data?
Data - I have run over a gazillion calculations in just under a nanosecond and...
Picard - Get to the point!
Data - Have you tried the word 'password', sir?
Picard - Yes! Get in there! Now, can somebody please get me a post-it note so that I can write it down and stick it on the main screen.
In modern operating systems on planet Terra, it's possible to create 'restore points' or 'backup points', so in case anything goes wrong, you can just restore to a point when everything worked perfectly.
There are plenty of ways to do this nowadays, and many variations of this kind of 'reset back to functional system' exist.
Now, why couldn't a spaceship like the Enterprise have a futuristic, sci-fi-version of something like this? Alien attacks and takes over? Computer detects intrusion, resets the whole ship back to a point when no alien or virus was in the system, and BAM! everything is perfect again.
I just got done watching S3 Ep11 Contagion.
It took the entire episode for them to realize they could do this with the Enterprise's computer. Although it had never been tried before and there would be no guarantee of success and huge risk and blah blah blah.
It first aired in 1989, so I guess the concept of default reset or system restore was still not familiar yet.
It was so weird to watch the struggle the whole episode when the solution seemed so clear to me watching for the first time in the year 2020.