Answers to frequently-asked questions....
Q: When a landing party/away team mission seems likely to be dangerous, why are key bridge personnel always sent down? Wouldn't it make more sense to use more expendable people?
A: This practice seems illogical, but in fact it is the result of extensive research by Starfleet statisticians. They discovered that key bridge personnel almost always survive dangerous missions, while anonymous security guards and specialists have an alarming death rate. Selection of personnel for away teams is designed to minimize overall casualties.
Q: Well, then, if it's relatively safe for key bridge personnel to go on away missions, why was Riker always reluctant to let Picard beam down?
A: While Riker was always careful to phrase his concerns in terms of Picard's safety, this was not actually the primary issue. Starfleet studies had shown that starship captains on away missions, while rarely suffering serious physical injury, were highly likely to suffer damage to their uniforms. Partly as a cost-saving measure, and partly because Starfleet brass considered it undignified for captains to be running about in torn shirts, a new policy was introduced. Picard was, of course, perfectly aware that it was his shirt that was keeping him stuck on the ship, and would sometimes tug irritably at it. Improved fibers in the jumpsuits have subsequently eliminated the need for this policy. A committee at Starfleet Command is currently considering ways of dealing with the tendency of captains to strip down to their undershirts, which certain admirals find undignified.
Q: When the entire command staff of Deep Space Nine whooshes off to the Gamma Quadrant on the Defiant, who's left in charge of the station?
A: Morn.
Q: When people's speech is being translated by the Universal Translator, why do the movements of their lips match the English words?
A: The movements of their lips do not actually match the English words. Since studies have shown that visual cues influence what is heard, however, it was determined that understanding would be better if the lip movements matched. The computer analyzes the alien's image, determines what parts are used in speaking, and manipulates their appearance so that the image of the alien on the viewscreen appears to be speaking Federation Standard. In face-to-face contacts, the lip movements are not seen to match.
Interestingly, this capability is not uniformly built into all viewscreens. My experience is that contemporary German viewscreens, while they provide an audio translation into German, do not correct the lip movements accordingly. This is somewhat puzzling, as they do provide other common visual adaptations (providing bright lines to indicate the path of phaser fire in space, making ships which are actually thousands of kilometers apart appear to be only a few meters apart, etc.). I expect this is simply another inconvenience caused by differing norms.
Q: When people are "out of phase" and able to pass through a ship's bulkheads, why are they not also able to pass through the decks?
A: Starfleet science has determined that the passage of out-of-phase matter through the gravity generators can disrupt their operation in ways which result in substantial structural stress to the deck in which they are embedded. In order to protect the generators from such eventualities, multiphasic netting has been developed. It is also being used on an experimental basis in some consoles and chairs.
Q: What was Voyager's original mission?
A: Voyager was a long-range transport ship carrying replacement shuttlecraft to vessels in the DS9 sector.
Q: If Picard is a Frenchman, why does he speak with an English accent and speak English much more fluently than he speaks French?
A: After the Norman conquest of England in the 11th century C.E., English elites adopted the French language. The same thing, only in reverse, occurred a thousand years later following the British conquest of France (one of the minor campaigns of World War III). This is also when the French became serious tea drinkers.
Q: How come a lot of the Vulcans one sees these days don't seem like real Vulcans? I mean, baseball?
A: The Vulcans are played by human actors. There are no Vulcans in Hollywood. The Ferengi, on the other hand, are played by actual Ferengi.
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