Star Trek’s Most Scientifically Stupid Episode?
Normally, Star Trek has a reputation for being a scientifically accurate franchise, one that hires scientific advisors to make all the futuristic technology and dialogue that much more believable. With that being said, there are some episodes of various shows where the advisor was out to lunch, or maybe the screenwriter thought they didn’t need to consult with the expert. A great example of this is the heavily rewritten TNG episode “The Royale” which has the dubious distinction of being Star Trek’s most scientifically inaccurate episode.
Taking The Temperature
What makes “The Royale” so scientifically stupid compared to other episodes? For starters, Geordi La Forge scans the planet Theta VIII (part of the Theta 116 solar system) and reports his findings to the captain. As part of that report, he notes that the surface temperature is −291 °C.
Now, if Celsius confuses you (Fahrenheit gang rise up), then you might not realize what the problem with this reading is. In short, this temperature would be colder than absolute zero (which clocks in at −273.15 °C).
Absolute zero is the coldest possible theoretical temperature, so the Chief Engineer of the Enterprise is casually telling Captain Picard that the planet below them is colder than anything in the universe could possibly be.
A Strange Age
On top of that, “The Royale” tells us exactly how old the planet is, and it’s one that you might need a calculator to figure out. Specifically, Theta 116 is supposed to be 7.2×1010 years old. If you do the math (no judgments if you had to ask Siri to do it for you), you can see that the planet is 72 billion years old.
That certainly sounds impressive, and it’s enough to widen the audience’s eyes when it is said out loud. Once again, though, there’s a major problem—by the best calculations of modern science, our universe is only about 13.7 billion years old. So not only is Theta VIII colder than anything could possibly be, but it’s also older than anything could possibly be.
Fermat’s Last Theorem
“The Royale” makes one more major scientific error, though this is one that the writers and producers couldn’t really know about ahead of time. Picard and Riker are riffing about math equations (as you do) and the captain casually mentions that Fermat’s last theorem has remained unsolved for the last 800 years.
Narratively, this reference is clearly meant to appeal to math dorks (historically likely to be Star Trek fans) and reveal that Picard is something of a mathlete himself, one who keeps trying to solve the theorem for funsies.
The Theorem Solved
However, only six years after “The Royale” was written, a proof for Fermat’s Theorem was discovered by Andrew Wiles. A later Deep Space Nine episode had to attempt a lame retcon to explain the inconsistency. Looking back, honestly, it’s a little embarrassing that this earlier TNG episode assumed that this theorem would remain unsolved for centuries after the episode was written.
Someone Skipped Science Class
Obviously, there are other Star Trek episodes to get assorted facts wrong, but “The Royale” has the weird distinction of giving us a planet that is completely impossible based on everything we know about the physical universe.
Given how much this episode was rewritten (so much that writer Tracy Tormé used a fake name out of embarrassment), maybe all of the scientific accuracy was edited out. Fortunately, future episodes and seasons of this universe were much more scientifically accurate and better written.
Compared to “The Royale,” though, that’s a low bar to clear.
