Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been a fan of Star Trek in its various incarnations. I have no trouble suspending my disbelief in the seemingly incredible technology of the future, and I can even accept that somehow, mysteriously, humanoid beings all over the galaxy speak English. But there are some recurring Trek themes that boggle the mind because they seemingly defy the laws of statistics. For example, we viewers are expected to believe that upon encountering any alien race, there is a 35% probability that some hot alien chick will fall in love with the captain of the Enterprise within an hour. Well…I don’t know that the probability is 35%, but it’s certainly a few orders of magnitude higher than what common sense tells me. Likewise, when our heroes encounter a new planet, almost without exception they observe with feigned surprise that it’s a “Class M” planet—Trek shorthand […]

Original post by Joe Kissell