The Motion Picture rant

I’m not going to rant about the movie as a whole. It is what it is. It’s something more specific than that.

First off, Scotty has proven himself over the years as a competent and reliable chief engineer. When it comes to star ships, he knows what he’s doing. So when he tells Kirk that a) the ship isn’t really ready to go and b) that they’ve been having trouble with the transporters (which is why they’re using a shuttle to get to the ship) you’d think someone would pay attention.

But no.

Even Scotty doesn’t seem to give it much thought after that. You know, the transporter that breaks you down and has to reassemble you, where any malfunction could be fatal. So when they decide that beaming Commander Sonak and another officer over, rather than getting them a goddamned shuttle until everything was actually functioning properly, it makes my head hurt.

This is also one of the most disturbing deaths I can think of. They actually partially reform, screaming in agony, on the Enterprise before being sent back where “What we got back… didn’t live long, fortunately.” Jesus…

Now here’s the second thing, this…

Leonard McCoy - Simple country doctor and noted technophobe

is Bones McCoy. He doesn’t just hate the transporter, it stresses him out, it scares him. Somehow I can’t believe that a transporter that has recently KILLED TWO PEOPLE is going to freak him out any less.

Oh right, the transporter just killed two people. Because the ship isn’t really ready to go and they’re having problems. Problems which apparently include killing people in the most gruesome way possible.

So now can someone explain to me why in the hell anyone would decide that it was in anyway a good plan to beam someone who is afraid of the transporter already over in the death trap of a system the Enterprise is running rather than GIVING THE MAN A GODDAMNED SHUTTLE?

There is a lot of stuff in this movie that makes trekkies around the world cringe and I can put up with most of it, but risking Bones… you’ve got a seriously ranty Late Fines on your hands.