Why doesn't Star Trek Enterpise bridge offer seat belts for the crew members?
Asked by
LuckyGuy (
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September 6th, 2016
In honor of its 50 year history, I have been watching a few reruns of the original TV show Star Trek. The episodes are very advanced and backward at the same time. Entertaining.
I noticed every time the Enterprise is hit or subjected to an enemy magnetic field or torpedo, the crew is thrown around like dice a board game. Half the crew falls out of their chairs or has to hold on blindly. The crew members who must stand near the blinking light consoles get it even worse. Invariably one or two will fall over the railing.
Have they not figured out that seat belts would make a useful addition to the seating arraignments?
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15 Answers
Seat belts weren’t common in the US until the mid-1960s, and they didn’t become required equipment until the late 60’s (thanks LBJ). The original series started in 1966 – again, before the days when seat belts were required, and before they had widespread use.
My guess is that the writers and producers didn’t even think about seat belts because the concept was so new, and it hadn’t become a ‘normal’ thing in American society. It didn’t even occur to them.
@LuckyGuy, I think you’re analyzing based on 2016 norms – but you have to take into account the contemporary mores.
Inertial dampers.
Self deploying restraints are shown on J. J. Abram’s Enterprise.
The Enterprise-E offered restraints for the Captain.
But basically, it was, 99% of the time, a flying office building. If there had been seat belts, they would be ugly, get in the way, and no one would use them anyway.
Because they knew the Eprize could vaporize any police shuttle foolish enough to try to cite them for a “clickit or ticket” violation.
Or air bags? Can you see air bags exploding everywhere everytime they see a Klingon?
It is comical to watch the early shows when Kirk commands “Brace for impact!” The crew members hold on to the nearest thingamabob and invariably go flying when the impact comes.
You’d think they figure it out after a couple of crises.
I noticed another thing. They are supposed to be on scientific missions, exploring, rescuing, etc but are supposed to leave the alien worlds unchanged: The Prime Directive. Yet in almost every show they interact with the locals, in some cases wiping out the last of the species. They also seem to kill (and are killed by) an awful lot of aliens of all types.
And yet they promoted Kirk.
It is still a fun show to watch.
@LuckyGuy
You misunderstand the Prime Directive.
There do not seem to have been many serious casualties from the flying around – maybe their space pajamas and space furniture both are made in ways that tend to protect them. Besides, their medicine is so good that it doesn’t seem to take much to heal even serious injuries, so most physical bumps and bruises (probably even broken bones and concussions) probably aren’t a big deal.
The Prime Directive is about not messing up pre-spaceflight civilizations. If you think they should’ve had second thoughts about promoting Kirk, how about JJ Abrams’ Kirk – I don’t think that punk would’ve been allowed out of the brig on a TOS ship.
@SecondHandStoke It just seems that everywhere they go they change the lifestyle/culture of the inhabitants – or force them to extinction. In the pilot, Dr McKoy kills the last one of the planet’s inhabitants. They even refer to it as the last buffalo. Why couldn’t they have set phasers to stun, popped the critter and beamed the devious shape shifter down to it’s home planet’s surface.
Nope. Gotta’ kill it.
Definition of Prime directive from Wikipedia: “Prime Directive is the guiding principle of the United Federation of Planets. The Prime Directive, used in four of the five Star Trek-based series, prohibits Starfleet personnel from interfering with the internal development of alien civilizations. This conceptual law applies particularly to civilizations which are below a certain threshold of technological, scientific and cultural development; preventing starship crews from using their superior technology to impose their own values or ideals on them. ”
In TOS, it seems to me the Prime Directive only applies to pre-spaceflight civilizations, and not to space-monsters.
TNG and later shows seem to have ramped up the political correctness and spread/muddied the scope of the Prime Directive a lot.
Then in JJ Trek, the Prime Directive just seems to be something to flaunt, so teenage egomaniac versions of the TOS crew can show how their egotistical snap decisions are so cool that old fogeys should just let ‘em take out the car er starship and save the galaxy and not worry about silly old rules or taking time to think about anything.
For the same reason that boats generally don’t offer seat belts to their passengers.
Not required with inertial dampers, as was previously mentioned.
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