Logline
When the USS Enterprise investigates an attack on a colony at the edge of Federation space, Captain Pike and his crew face the return of a formidable enemy.
Written by Henry Alonso Myers
Directed by Maja Vrvilo
True, but that’s on the ground and short range. There’s specific dialogue to show that it’s interfering with signals between space and ground.
SPOCK: I detect a counter-frequency emanating from the planet. It appears to be negating all scans, communications, and transporter signals between here and there.
Spock can’t even scan for life signs on Cayuga. The best they have is passive sensors like spectrometry.
UNA: Still trying to scan for life signs?
SPOCK: I theorized I might be able to find a frequency gap through the interference field, but I have not managed to discover one yet.
UNA: Spock, I don’t think anyone’s alive over there.
SPOCK: Spectrometric analysis suggests there are still pockets of oxygen on board. It is possible someone could have survived.
That’s why they had to do a visual confirmation and discovered Cayuga’s sickbay had been blown away.
All that being true, I think the discovery of a single survivor should have scuttled the entire mission.
I was just trying to answer the technological criticisms about why Spock didn’t search.
I see where the criticism is coming from, but I can also see there are all sorts of extenuating circumstances around it (not to mention lack of time) and to take the plot there for a search would kind of kill the story momentum.
It’s not invalid as a criticism, just saying that tech reasons are covered.
I see where the criticism is coming from, but I can also see there are all sorts of extenuating circumstances around it (not to mention lack of time) and to take the plot there for a search would kind of kill the story momentum.
This is a blunder on writer’s/producer’s/etc. They could have written a one-off line where Spock cold-bloodedly says “the needs of the many outweighs the needs of the few.” They could have sent rescue shuttles to search the wreckage since it was on the right side of the line early on in the episode. They could have chosen an entirely different solution (seems like flying a shuttle disguised as wreck worked well, toss another stuffed with torpedoes).
It’s fine, they’ll lampshade it next season.
