Star Trek Fans Poke Fun At The Franchise’s Questionable (& Laughable) Physics – Looper

“What a silly question!” u/bertraja replied with tongue firmly in cheek. “You can’t have rocks falling from the ceiling without accompanying sparks shooting from the terminals. That’s like basic science.” That wasn’t the end of the explanations, however. Redditor u/seanx40 reasoned that the pyrotechnics on display in any given “Star Trek” action scene are due to a lack of fatherly homeowning advice. “No surge protectors,” they wrote.

Then there was u/DocFossil coming in with their headcanon. They postulated, “Maybe the sparks are just special fireworks that alert you it’s time to do an oil change or something?” It’s a fun idea, especially when you consider that the Enterprise would have to stop at an outer space version of a skeevy state-line fireworks stand any time they want to resupply.

After nearly 60 years of “Star Trek,” most fans have long since accepted that the sparks and shakes — dubious though they may be — are a signature characteristic of the franchise. After all, the more plausible alternative would be shots of people sitting down while lights flash around them, and that certainly does not sound more visually compelling. Many Trekkies embrace all the unintentionally hilarious things in “Star Trek” and feel that anyone genuinely trying to make the physics of the show make sense can boldly go jump in a lake.