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- Organization: Arizona State University
- Date: Tue, 17 Aug 1993 22:38:07 MST
- From: <AGLBN@ASUACAD.BITNET>
- Message-ID: <93229.223807AGLBN@ASUACAD.BITNET>
- Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
- Subject: Plot Complications 101
- Lines: 205
-
- In the days before the "authors" listed below had the slightest
- notion that the Universe was big enough to contain
- alt.startrek.creative, we would have protracted discussions about
- the many facets of Star Trek. These deliberations rarely resulted in
- definitive answers. After all just who were you supposed to ask
- about variations in Klingon cranial morphology or the relative
- firepower of phasers verses photon torpedoes? What we really needed
- was an introductory college course to answer basic ST:WP (Whole
- Paradigm) questions. The following examination is our attempt to
- fill this need. Anyone with questions (or possible answers) not
- covered here is encouraged pass them along. When we get enough
- background material we will compile and post ST101:The Next Exam.
-
- Lyle Nichols (AGLBN@ASUVM.INRE.ASU.EDU)
- Anthony Fodor (AUAAF@ASUVM.INRE.ASU.EDU)
- John Nagy
-
- =================================================================
- Star Trek 101 March 6, 1992
-
- Midterm Exam I
-
- Professors: Lyle Nichols, Anthony Fodor, John Nagy
-
- Instructions: Choose the best answer for each of the following
- questions. Read all choices carefully before deciding since some
- questions require sudden paradigm shifts and the instructors
- don't know the answers to others.
-
-
- 1. Commander William Riker has slept with more alien robots then
- Captain James T. Kirk (ret.).
- A. True
- B. False
-
- 2. What is the primary criterion for a species to be admitted
- into the Federation?
- A. High ethical standards.
- B. A sophisticated level of technology.
- C. Two thirds approval of the Federation High Counsel.
- D. Fluent English.
- E. Ability to hybridize with humans.
-
- 3. Why don't phasers work on crew members when they are
- inhabited by alien beings?
- A. Because most alien beings alter the subspace field
- around their inhabited victims causing phaser beams to
- decollate into harmless form.
- B. Because the phaser stun effect is mostly psychological
- and aliens are unaware of the expected results.
- C. Because crew members are so disoriented when a fellow
- officer is taken over that they subconsciously use a
- lower phaser setting than required.
- D. Because stunning someone and locking them in the brig
- doesn't take enough time to fill an hour show.
-
- 4. Why does Captain Jean Luc Picard have a British accent
- despite being born in France?
- A. In the late 22nd century Great Britain conquered France.
- B. Picard thinks he does have a French accent.
- C. His parents were actually Armenian.
- D. Patrick Stewart is from Britain and Star Trek's writers
- couldn't tell the difference.
-
- 5. How many times has Lieutenant Commander Data inappropriately
- assumed control of the ship?
- A. 1
- B. 3
- C. 9
- D. Data's programming would not allow him to perform such
- an act.
-
- 6. How many times has Wesley Crusher saved the Enterprise?
- A. Never (Wesley's a dweeb)
- B. 14
- C. 3 (But he's still a dweeb)
- D. 97 (Face it, Wesley should be in command)
-
- 7. In a one on one contest which would win, the
- U.S.S. Enterprise or the Death Star?
- A. Enterprise (its a lot faster)
- B. Death Star (Enterprise can't blow up planets with one
- shot)
- C. Since they don't exist in the same universe, such a
- contest could never happen.
-
- 8. Imagine the following situation. You are in command of the
- Galaxy class U.S.S. Enterprise. A Romulan Bird of Prey decloaks
- dead ahead with shields up and disrupters armed and locked on to
- you. When you order your tactical officer to raise shields, they
- fail. Which of the following is your best course of action?
- A. Have Geordie run a level 1 diagnostic on all systems.
- B. Fire full phasers and a tight spread of photon torpedos
- taking solace in the fact that at least Worf will get
- to die in battle.
- C. Send a priority 1 subspace transmission to Starfleet and
- wait for further instructions.
- D. Hail the Romulan ship and bluff your way through using
- lots of references to galaxic understanding and
- cooperation.
- E. Order Riker to take command of the battle section then
- separate the saucer and hang out in Ten Forward with
- Guinan.
- F. Try the Corbomite Maneuver and attempt to escape while
- the Romulans are rolling on the floor laughing.
-
- 9. In the first encounter with the Borg the Enterprise was able
- to vaporize large chunks of the Borg ship, however in subsequent
- encounters only slight damage could be inflicted on the Borg.
- Why?
- A. The Borg learned the strengths of Star Fleet technology
- and modified their ship to counter them.
- B. The Enterprise was damaged and could not mount an all
- out counter attack.
- C. The next encounter was with a stronger Borg ship.
- D. The show's writers needed more plot complications.
-
- 10. Who was Wesley Crusher's first love?
- A. Ensign Gomez
- B. The buxom Counselor Troi
- C. The elasomorph Salia of Dalad IV
- D. Klingon he-man Worf
-
- 11. Security officer Natasha Yar was killed
- A. by an ugly tar monster named Armus.
- B. trying to escape from Romulus with her hybrid
- human/Romulan daughter.
- C. by multi-armed dog creatures of Thanos VI.
- D. both A & B are correct.
-
- 12. Why doesn't artificial gravity ever fail no matter how badly
- the Enterprise gets hammered?
- A. Artificial gravity is created by a series of extremely
- reliable graviton particle generators.
- B. There is actually no gravity on the ship. Everyone just
- wears stealth Velcro shoes.
- C. The special effects department hasn't figured out a
- cheap way of producing weightlessness.
-
- 13. Why doesn't the Federation equip its starships with cloaking
- devices?
- A. Because it gives Starfleet's commanding officers a much
- more challenging job since their ship can't just
- disappear at the first hint of danger.
- B. Because cloaking technology was lost when the
- crystalline entity attacked and destroyed Memory Alpha
- Research Library.
- C. Because of the ethical problems associated with skulking
- around the galaxy undetected.
- D. No one knows.
-
- 14. The saucer section of the original Constitution class
- U.S.S. Enterprise could separate from the drive section in the
- same manner as a Galaxy class ship.
- A. True
- B. False
-
- 15. Phasers are more powerful than photon torpedoes.
- A. True
- B. False
- C. It depends on the stringency of required plot
- complications.
- D. Not enough information
-
- 16. Who has more hair, Patrick Stewart or William Shatner?
- A. Patrick Stewart
- B. William Shatner
- C. They have about the same amount.
-
- 17. Why didn't Klingons encountered during the original five
- year mission of the Constitution class U.S.S. Enterprise have
- their spinal cord wrap clear across their foreheads while all
- subsequent Klingons do?
- A. During the refit of the original Enterprise the Klingon
- Empire had a protracted civil war which involved
- nuclear weapons causing mutations.
- B. In the early days of the Federation the Klingons were
- very self conscious about their appearance and most had
- their forehead spine removed by Klingon plastic
- surgeons in order to look more human.
- C. Forehead spines resulted from an allergic reaction
- Klingons had to the Tribbles Scotty beamed into their
- engine room during "The Trouble with Tribbles."
- D. Makeup artists originally thought that big green bad
- guys with slanted eyebrows were intimidating enough.
- They were wrong.
-
- 18. Eating fatty foods on the Holodeck could cause...
- A. significant weight loss if done regularly.
- B. significant weight gain if done regularly.
- C. fewer trips to the bathroom.
- D. portions of a person's body to dematerialize on leaving
- the Holodeck.
-
- 19. Communicators are activated by touching them lightly. How
- are they turned off?
- A. A second touch turns them off (most crew just forget to
- do this).
- B. Communicators sense neck position and turn off when the
- user lowers their head.
- C. The ship's main computer analyses the content of the
- conversation and turns off the communicator at the
- appropriate time.
- D. They are never actually off. The bridge crew live
- vicariously by listening in on private conversations.
-
-