Name your biggest plot holes. (spoilers by necessity)

[AndyC]

I think Star Trek, TNG in particular, suffered from the problem of being philosophically opposed to weapons and tactics that would simply make sense. Projectile weapons are quite practical, but don't offer the same ability to start out with a mild stun and work your way up to a lethal setting while the monster eats your expendable ensigns.

Likewise, I'm puzzled by the scarcity of any kind of weapons of mass destruction, aside from the ones long-dead civilizations used to destroy themselves or that Xindi planet killer from Enterprise. Think about it. If a Borg cube is headed for Earth, don't mess around trying to engage it with ships. Load up a starship with as much antimatter as you can stuff into it and set the autopilot to crash it into the cube at Warp 9. Done.

Heck, there are these things called hydrogen bombs that have been around for 300 years or so. But you wouldn't need one, since in theory you should be able to dial up the yield of a photon torpedo to something on the order of a Tsar Bomba.

Or you could simply lob a Genesis device at the Borg. Turn the cube into an asteroid covered in daisies that falls apart after a couple of weeks.

But WMDs and guns that shoot bullets are not the Starfleet way. Better to keep throwing ships at the Borg until they're right on your doorstep.

[Skull]

Ok...

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) ~ Why did the T-1000 fail in the elevator? Hello... John Connor was in the elevator and it was going down.

[akiratubo]

Ok...

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) ~ Why did the T-1000 fail in the elevator? Hello... John Connor was in the elevator and it was going down.

Yeah, that never made sense to me.  There wasn't any reason it couldn't have gooped into the elevator and killed him.  It's not like the T800 and Sarah were any threat to it.

Though I think the T1000 itself is an even bigger plot hole.  Where the hell did it come from?  The T800 was cutting edge when Reese went back in time, and the resistance had "won" shortly before he went back.  Sending the original "Arnie" T800 to 1984 was a last ditch effort by the defeated Skynet.  So, when did Skynet, after being defeated, find the time and resources to R&D the T1000?

I guess we can assume Reese was wrong about Skynet's defeat but still, that required a little bit of explanation.  It wasn't even covered in the expanded edition.  Just one line like, "Skynet had hidden resources the resistance didn't know about, and was able to develop this new technology" would have taken care of it.

[Flangepart]

And inspired by AndyC...
Why, oh why don't Away Teams carry...oh, I don't know pockets full of stuff! LIKE STUFF WITHOUT POWER REQUIRMENTS...THOSE DAMPING FIELDS DO PLAY HAVOC WITH BATTRIES!
Tricorder and communicator dead? Well, bub a multi-tool and a box of matches might be usefull. Signaling mirror...sure, if the enemy had the cool tools, yer boned, but if he's powerless too...a Colt 1911a1 with hollowpoints might come in handy, eh?
Or am I thinkin' too much here?

[AndyC]

And inspired by AndyC...
Why, oh why don't Away Teams carry...oh, I don't know pockets full of stuff! LIKE STUFF WITHOUT POWER REQUIRMENTS...THOSE DAMPING FIELDS DO PLAY HAVOC WITH BATTRIES!
Tricorder and communicator dead? Well, bub a multi-tool and a box of matches might be usefull. Signaling mirror...sure, if the enemy had the cool tools, yer boned, but if he's powerless too...a Colt 1911a1 with hollowpoints might come in handy, eh?
Or am I thinkin' too much here?

For that matter, where are the pockets themselves? Starfleet uniforms, with few exceptions, are about the most useless work clothes imaginable.

But Star Trek doesn't need bullets or bombs or pockets. They have a weapon that always comes through if they let things get just hopeless enough. If all else fails, the power of Deus Ex Machina (AKA neutrino beams, tachyon beams, sudden insights or other such horsepucky) never fails.

[ghouck]

In Dead-Alive: When Uncle Les finds Lionel with those zombies/zombie corpses, why does his threats to call the police intimidate Lionel? Surely he can present ONE obvious zombie, which gives a pretty good explanation for how the others dies/didn't quite die. He could have also reported Les's blackmailing him. It just seems that if he were to present a bunch of zombies to the police, there'd be enough questions and few enough answers that he wouldn't have to worry about getting blamed.

Frankenhooker: Why did nobody report the girlfriend's death to the police? I understand the hookers not getting reported, or at least him not being a suspect, but there were a ton of witnesses to see the GF brutally killed by Jeffery's contraption.

Santa's Slay: If Santa can break the rules of the curling match like he did by throwing grandpa in the hole, why did he be 'good' for those 1000 years after losing the last time? Why didn't he cheat back then or welch on his bet?

Streets of Fire: If the cops had such a hard-on for Tom Cody, why didn't they arrest him for stealing that car in the beginning of the movie?

[Jack]

Another Star Trek one, mostly Original Series:  Why did they often bring Chekov, Sulu, and Uhura along on away missions?  They're the navigator, weapons officer and communications officer.  I wouldn't think those skills would be needed away from the ship. 

Any why did they make the phasers look like Dust-Busters on The Next Generation?  No sights, awkward to hold and aim, good grief.  And once on Voyager, Tuvok used a phaser to stun everyone on the bridge simultaneously.  Gosh, that sure would have come in handy if they could have done it in about 500 other episodes.

[hellbilly]

The Sentinel (1977)

I love this movie dearly but there is stuff happening in The Sentinel that doesn't always seem logic to me.

Alison Parker (Cristina Raines) is the chosen one to guard the gates of hell in a very specific apartment building. So, how to get Alison, who is on the lookout for a new apartment, interested in said specific apartment so evil can have its way and Alison can start her duties on guarding the gates of hell?
Why through pure luck of course.
Alison eventually finds an ad in the newspaper and viola - it turns out to be the apartment of course. She finds the ad without any recommendations whatsoever, or dark forces pointing her in the right direction.
For me that was like coming up with the correct numbers to win the lottery.

[AndyC]

Another Star Trek one, mostly Original Series:  Why did they often bring Chekov, Sulu, and Uhura along on away missions?  They're the navigator, weapons officer and communications officer.  I wouldn't think those skills would be needed away from the ship. 

Any why did they make the phasers look like Dust-Busters on The Next Generation?  No sights, awkward to hold and aim, good grief.  And once on Voyager, Tuvok used a phaser to stun everyone on the bridge simultaneously.  Gosh, that sure would have come in handy if they could have done it in about 500 other episodes.

Seeing as away missions always included the captain and his first officer, leaving the chief engineer in charge, sending the bridge crew isn't all that strange.

If I had to guess, I'd say that phasers were shaped like Dustbusters to make them look less like guns, even though you use them in exactly the same way, and the gun shape is pretty much the optimal shape for something like that. Or maybe it was just about making them look more futuristic.

Maybe the TNG phasers doubled as Dustbusters. Nothing on that ship ever seemed to get dirty. Maybe the crew was constantly cleaning when we weren't watching. I can't say I ever saw any kind of a cleaning staff. Then again, everybody on the Enterprise D seemed to be an officer. Never saw too many grunts. Poor O'Brien got stuck being a chief petty officer when everybody else on the ship seemed to be lieutenant or higher (until they were all eventually promoted to commander). Even the doctor's kid got to be an ensign with no prior training. Where are the ordinary spacemen? Starfleet not only got rid of dirt, but also anybody who might get their hands dirty.

[Rev. Powell]

Recently bothered by THE ROAD WARRIOR.  Max doesn't want to help the villagers get their tanker through the punk gang's perimeter, fine.  But why does he leave a few hours before the tanker does so the punks can focus all their resources on stopping him?  When palnning their convoy later, the villagers quite reasonably point out that the gang will target the tanker and leave the other vehicles alone.  So why not just wait a few hours, leave at the same time the tanker does, and peel off in a different direction while the bad guys throw everything they have at the 18-wheeler?

Also, in the recurring plot hole category, people who constantly assume their adversary was killed just because there was an explosion or something without checking for bodies. 

[Jack]

Nothing on that ship ever seemed to get dirty. Maybe the crew was constantly cleaning when we weren't watching. I can't say I ever saw any kind of a cleaning staff.

I always imagined some night shift guys with vacuums and Windex.  Those glass instrument panels would have been real fingerprint magnets. 

[akiratubo]

Recently bothered by THE ROAD WARRIOR.  Max doesn't want to help the villagers get their tanker through the punk gang's perimeter, fine.  But why does he leave a few hours before the tanker does so the punks can focus all their resources on stopping him?  When palnning their convoy later, the villagers quite reasonably point out that the gang will target the tanker and leave the other vehicles alone.  So why not just wait a few hours, leave at the same time the tanker does, and peel off in a different direction while the bad guys throw everything they have at the 18-wheeler?

I can understand that.  If he hung around until they were all trying to flee, what remained of his law enforcement ethic and basic humanity might have compelled him to help them out.  He didn't want to be involved (at least not until they saved his life) or have to care about anyone again.  He just wanted to keep on existing as he was, an empty shell pointlessly wandering the wasteland, waiting to die.

I can relate.