History Fridge / StarTrekTheOriginalSeries

** Not pheromones: it is specifically stated in the episode that their purring is what has this effect, a far more intense version of the effect that cat purring has been proven to have in real life. It is also stated in the episode that tribbles were kept in check by natural predators on their native planet. This occurs in real life with kittens, for example, which often evoke an "awwwww" response from humans (and other primates such as Koko the Gorilla) but are considered perfectly tasty by many other creatures.

** Harry's sexism is overtly depicted as one of his major flaws, something that disgusts Kirk and McCoy to the point they call him out on it a number of times in all his appearances: "Harry, haven't you ever heard of ''male'' androids?" They also criticize Harry for dehumanizing his female passengers as "cargo" and for using the equivalent of illegal and dangerous cosmetic surgery with the so-called Venus Pills. Notice that his three appearances with the original crew involve efforts to manipulate heterosexual men and heterosexual women by their sex drives, the first time with the Venus Pills, the second time with assigning the androids to seduce the various crew on Planet Mudd, and the third time in the animated series with the illegal love potion that follows its hour of love with two hours of hate. Whatever Kirk's reputation as a Casanova, he always held the women he dated with [[FairForItsDay the era's idea of respect]] and was genuinely offended that Mudd did not do so.

** One wonders if [[LuddWasRight McCoy knows something we don't]].

** Also, Starfleet's decision to drop the charges against Spock was in response to "images from Talos Four". The quarantine was entirely dependent on the Talosians, who could break it any time they wanted -- hence, there was no point in punishing Spock for the violation.

** Not pheromones: it is specifically stated in the episode that their purring is what has this effect, a far more intense version of the effect that cat purring has been proven to have in real life. It is also stated in the episode that tribbles were kept in check by natural predators on their native planet. This occurs in real life with kittens, for example, which often evoke an "awwwww" response from humans (and other primates such as Koko the Gorilla) but are considered perfectly tasty by many other creatures.

[[AC:FridgeLogic]]
* OK, somebody, I must know: Who pilots the ''Enterprise'' when Kirk is asleep? No one can pull continuous 24-hour shifts, so somebody else must be in the captain's chair for at least a few hours. If a computer could do it, then why have a captain and bridge crew at all? Someone needs to write a fanfic about this.
** In Voyager, I remember Harry mentioning he got the Night Shift at one point to a bunch of ensigns under his command, so I presume there is rotation at various points. It's just being handled by offscreen [=NPCs=]. In an emergency, they probably rouse the proper command staff.
** Kirk is sometimes seen relieving another officer (usually Spock--who sleeps on a different schedule than humans anyway--or Sulu, sometimes a random unnamed goldshirt officer) when he enters the bridge.
** There's presumably a night crew--on TNG, Data usually ran the bridge at "night" (since he was an android and didn't need to sleep) with a different set of officers than the usual cast of the show. We explicitly see him end one shift and then later begin another as the bookends to a {{Spotlight}} episode. When he takes over at the end of the episode he relieves Worf. So it appears most of the senior staff are in command at some point while Picard & Riker are off doing something else. Crusher also mentions taking the "night" command shift on occasion because she liked running the ship and wanted to keep the command skills she picked up at the Academy and throughout her career sharp.
** There are also a few scenes of Sisko or Kira relieving "night" shift personnel from Ops on [=DS9=], so it was probably the same on [=TOS=].
** Allow ''Series/RobotChicken'' to explain what happens during TNG's night shift: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4ApQrbhQp8
* On the same note, who runs Sick Bay during the "night" shift? Do they have another doctor, or is Bones on call all the time? Maybe that's why he's grumpy so often...
** Well, what do naval ship/submarine crews do? ''Enterprise'' '''should''' have a full night-shift complement.
** There's a reason the title is ''Chief'' Medical Officer: [=McCoy=] and Crusher, too) have staff. On TOS, we see [[http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/M%27Benga Dr. M'Benga]] a couple of times and on TNG, we see [[http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Selar Dr. Selar]] a couple of times.
* With regard to "Dagger of the Mind": why would a penal colony have a shield that prevents Starfleet from beaming someone down? Granted, the shield would be useful to keep ships from beaming prisoners out, but it seems like the ''Enterprise'' should have some sort of override (in case the prisoners took over the colony and were holding the administrators hostage, for example).
** Which actually happened in "Whom Gods Destroy," making the lack of override an even more glaring problem.
** How do we know such an override system is possible, and it's not just all-or-nothing?
*** Because Kirk was able to override the ''Reliant'''s shields to attack Khan in ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan''. That could have been a subsequent technological advance, however, made in response to the previous two incidents.
* Pretty much all the series make mention of a "night shift", which is always crewed by the junior officers because it's not seen as important...??? How can you have a "night shift" in space? Even if they just call it that because of tradition, why would it be considered less important? What does the WHOLE galaxy sleep on the same schedule reducing the danger 'at night...in space'?
** When Muslim astronauts first went to the International Space Station, it was decided that their five prayers a day would correspond to a 24-hour day based on where they launched from.[[note]]Islamic law dictates that people who are travelling are only required to pray three times a day, which further eases the complication.[[/note]] Most likely, Starfleet follows a similar example, so all ships are synced to a 24-hour time period based on the time in San Francisco (Starfleet HQ). When night falls at HQ, all SF ships go to night watch. Each respective fleet in the universe (Klingon, Vulcan, Romulan, etc) probably has their own "day" system based on their own planet. If something important happens on the "night" shift, senior officers get called to the bridge.
** It is canon that other species/planets use their own schedules--Deep Space Nine runs on the 26-hour Bajoran clock, not the 24-hour Earth one. And while night shift may not be crewed by the highest-ranking bridge officers (like Kirk and Spock), it's not being crewed by a bunch of cadets who don't know what they're doing or anything. To once again use one of the later series as proof, the ''Enterprise''-D is run on night shift by senior officers like Data and Beverly Crusher (though of course Data is a special case since he can work literally all the time as an android).
*** And of course, the captain could be woken up in case of emergency, which is possibly what we see happen in some cases.
* The first time-travel episode, "Tomorrow Is Yesterday"[[note]]Not counting "The Naked Time", which has a surprise time-travel ending that was originally meant to lead into this episode in a two-parter[[/note]], is perhaps one giant case of Fridge Logic thanks to its TimeyWimeyBall. When the ship is accidentally trapped in TheSixties and an Air Force pilot films them, they're forced to beam him up and then [[HeKnowsTooMuch steal the footage]] from his base. Once they succeed, it's time to return the pilot, not by simply letting him go, but by going back in time a few hours and using the transporter to re-insert him into his own past body. It would be MentalTimeTravel for him except that his memory is apparently reset to that time, an effect that Spock and Kirk assume will occur even though they have little precedent for either time travel or for beam-overriding a person. It's never explained why the ''Enterprise'' doesn't overwrite (or even encounter) its own past self, why the footage had to be stolen if the whole timeline was rewritten to prevent everything, why nobody's memory is changed unless they are beamed, and what philosophical difference is made by beam-merging/over-writing the pilot with a version of himself that has identical memories, apart from conveniently and non-violently eliminating the character from any complications. Oh, and how does the ship's "chronometer" work anyway? Its existence could imply a non-relativistic universe with "absolute" time (and that the ''Enterprise'''s designers somehow foresaw the possibility of time travel). But then, the warp drive also flouts relativity, so that's actually self-consistent.
* In "The Deadly Years," with Kirk, Spock, and Scotty incapacitated by the radiation aging, Commodore Stocker assumes command--despite, as Spock points out, the fact that Stocker has never commanded a starship. So how the hell did he get promoted to commodore? And on that same note, he claims that he'd be better than "a junior officer with far less experience." How can he say that if he ''has'' no experience? And isn't Sulu experienced enough? After all, he's taken command previously. Someone should've brought this up--or thrown Stocker's own words back at him after the battle where he froze up and couldn't do anything useful.
** Stocker was promoted to commodore of a starbase, implying a career of rising through rear-echelon administrative positions. His claims were just a haughty way of saying "I have seniority and I outrank you, so I'm in command here". Of course, given that Stocker is not just inexperienced but ''jaw-droppingly incompetent'' (a first-year cadet would've known that taking a shortcut through ''the Romulan Neutral Zone'' was a dumb idea), Starfleet clearly has some personnel policies to review...
** Okay, but once it became clear that Stocker had no friggin' idea what he was doing, why didn't Sulu or Uhura throw him off the bridge and take charge?
** Because it's really hard to (legally) take command from a superior officer who doesn't want to give it to you, especially one of flag rank (above Captain). Starfleet officers are expected to be sensible enough to know when they're unfit for command and remove themselves--see, for example, the scene where Spock resigns command after Kirk proves that he's emotionally compromised in [[Film/StarTrek2009 the 2009 film]]. No one has to charge him with anything; he shows himself off the bridge. Stocker, arrogant bastard that he is, ''isn't'' that sensible.
* In "Spock's Brain," Bones uses The Teacher to get the smarts necessary to reinstall Spock's brain. Unfortunately, it wears off before he's finished, and using it again will kill him. So why didn't they bring down Nurse Chapel or Doctor M'Benga to take over, and have either one already standing by with The Teacher as soon as Bones started faltering?
** For that matter, they could have just had Scotty use the Teacher -- granted, he's not a doctor, but neither is Kara and that didn't prevent her from using the Teacher to learn how to remove an intact brain and install it into the Controller interface.
* In "The Galileo Seven" Spock's logical approach to the ColdEquation (the shuttle's load must be lightened by "the weight of three grown men") is a major source of conflict, but why not just throw out the chairs? It's not like they're required for safety - when the shuttle crashed, the first thing everyone did was fall off them.
** Lack of tools and facilities, and the chairs are quite light.

* In "The Day of the Dove", it seems a bit odd at first that a fierce Klingon woman like Mara would act so meek when Chekov tries to rape her. Then, it's later revealed that Klingon men are turned on by biting, clawing and screaming. Mara may have thought acting passive would turn Chekov off, rather than make him think she's only playing hard to get. In Chekov's defense, he wasn't quite in his right mind and normally would've taken even a tacit no for an answer. (Though, Irina, Sylvia, Martha and Tamoon are all proof that he doesn't hear it often.)

* Also from "I, Mudd": Many people have commented on the character of Harry's wife Stella and the UnfortunateImplications thereof. However, [[UnreliableNarrator the androids have only Harry's word]] as to what his wife was really like. The resulting simalcrum may say more about [[HeManWomanHater Harry]] than Stella.
** Also, Harry Mudd is [[UnfortunateImplications is no less an]] [[AcceptableTargets unfair stereotype]] [[TheUnfairSex against men]] than is Stella, so it makes sense that the galaxy's most unpleasant man would marry the galaxy's most unpleasant woman.

* In "The Ultimate Computer", why didn't Bones recognize the term "dunsel" even though everyone else did? Because, unlike everyone else, Bones didn't go to Starfleet Academy, where the term was used ([[Film/StarTrek the reboot]] notwithstanding). He got his medical degree from the University of Mississippi (aka Ole Miss).

** The transporter accident and malfunction concepts were brought up in ''Star Trek: The Motion Picture'', ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'''s episode with Scotty, and the 2009 ''Film/StarTrek'' film.

** Because it's really hard to (legally) take command from a superior officer who doesn't want to give it to you, especially one of flag rank (above Captain). Starfleet officers are expected to be sensible enough to know when they're unfit for command and remove themselves--see, for example, the scene where Spock resigns command after Kirk proves that he's emotionally compromised in [[Film/StarTrek the 2009 film]]. No one has to charge him with anything; he shows himself off the bridge. Stocker, arrogant bastard that he is, ''isn't'' that sensible.

** Seemingly made explicitly canon by virtue of Stella appearing briefly in StarTrekDiscovery, and being portrayed as a young heiress who legitimately loves Harry. Even assuming he breaks her heart later on, pushing her to more resemble the attitude of her android counterpart, it's not like she wouldn't have extremely good reason by that point.

** In the episode, the mindwipe is shown to affect only her more recent knowledge memories. In a scene often deleted from reruns, Uhura demonstrates that she is still fluent in her native Swahili: it's only English she has to relearn. Furthermore, she behaves as an adult learner, not as a child learner.

** She not only sings but performs a fan dance in ''Film/StarTrekVTheFinalFrontier''. The recovery probably took longer than anyone expected.

** Kirk also had his friends to snap him back to reality. Decker lost ''everyone'' on his ship, and there was nobody on the ''Enterprise'' he was willing to listen to. By the time Kirk tried to talk some sense into him, it was too late.

** Kirk also had his friends to snap him back to reality. Decker lost ''everyone'' on his ship, an there was nobody on the ''Enterprise'' he was willing to listen to.

** While the scene of Kirk being pelted by the tribbles that were in the tainted grain silo is quite funny, you need to remember they were dying. Imagine if Kirk was pelted by cute, fluffy bunnies that were poisoned to death and were dying painfully, and now you've got what Kirk was pelted with.
*** ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'' reveals that [[spoiler: those cute, fluffy, poisoned bunnies were being ''thrown'' at Kirk by other Starfleet Officers who he would have seniority over. [[SeriousBusiness Fridge Insubordination!]]]]
*** And at the end of the episode, isn't transporting the tribbles onto the Klingon ship a death sentence for them (the tribbles, not the Klingons)? There was no reason to think that the Klingons wouldn't have shot every one of the little guys, and in ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'' Worf recounts how Klingons eventually exterminated the entire species. Worf does however justify the decision by explaining that the tribbles were an ecological disaster for the Klingons, cleaning out food supplies and causing famines. It's no different than killing the fluffy bunnies that are eating your crops.

* In "The Galileo Seven" Spock's logical approach to the ColdEquation (the shuttle's load must be lightened by "the weight of three grown men") is a major source of conflict, but why not just throw out the chairs? It's not like they're required for safety - when the shuttle crashed, the first thing everyone did was fall off them.

* Fridge-Funny: When the Klingons were introduced in "Errand of Mercy," they were basic "cold war bad guys" with a leader, like all his soldiers, constantly under surveillance. They were all about "Klingon efficiency," not like the honor-obsessed Viking/Samurai-types of later Trek (and prequels). So the Klingons were in a militant leftist phase when they #OccupiedOrgania!