I loved the idiotic decision leading into the action climax of the big chase to get Khan so they can engineer a cure for the virus, when they had all the other frozen dudes right there to get samples from with no risk to life or limb.
I was always "fond" of the "climb around directly inside -- and kick the ever-living shit out of -- a room-sized piece of delicate high-energy space-warping technology" approach of repairing the warp core.
Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan -- The warp core is broken because it's been repeatedly shot into (near-literal) pieces, jury-rigged and bypassed by desperately panicked and inexperienced trainees and their overworked engineer mentor, nobody left alive really knows how to repair it who isn't also in sick bay from acute radiation sickness, and the only way to repair it enough to function is to enter a viciously radioactive chamber (isolated -- by design -- to prevent entry following any kind of shutdown) to uncover and manually adjust/reseat dilithium crystals inside their delicate pedestal mount. Doing this requires climbing ladders and dodging debris throughout the ship because it's so badly damaged even the turbolifts don't even have power to run, and even the people in engineering -- themselves desperate to escape -- know it's so hopeless and futile to try that they physically try to prevent you from trying, even though they know they're guaranteed to die if they do stop you.
Said repair happens anyway, at the hands of the only guy on board calm, collected and strong enough to overpower the people trying to stop him and endure the radiation. The process is slow and delicate, and continues even as the radiation literally blinds the man conducting the repairs -- he completes the process entirely by feel, and succeeds. The ship is saved, but the man who conducted the repair dies in the dilithium crystal chamber from acute radiation sickness and third-degree plasma burns. He is mourned in a memorial service and his body is loaded into a torpedo and launched to find its resting place on a newborn planet nearby. Resurrecting him requires an additional movie, the loss of several Starfleet ships, court-martialing and demotion of a well-respected admiral, a great many deaths and a massive diplomatic incident between two Alpha quadrant superpowers.
Star Trek: Into Darkness -- The warp core is broken because, well, a vastly superior opponent kicked the unholy living fuck out of the entire ship in one of the few decently-done little bits of the film. The only way to repair it is to enter a viciously radioactive chamber, find a delicate shiny bit of metal that's misaligned a little bit, and kick it really hard until it snaps back into place. Doing this requires pressing a button to open the door, get in there and start kicking. The radiation is deadly to whoever attempts this, but apart from the ship's captain, nobody seems to really be interested in trying anyway. Note that apart from this misalignment, there is no other detectable damage to anything within or outside the "core."
Said repair happens anyway, at the hands of the ship's captain -- a human being (notably
not a person with any particular resistance to radiation sickness, unlike the Vulcan who did it in the original) who just marches right in and gets it done. The ship is saved, but he dies inside the now-running warp core (that somehow doesn't just vaporize him instantly despite being inside it while it's running). He is mourned by a very angry Vulcan very angrily yelling "Khan!" as he looks at his now-dead friend. His body is shipped off to sick bay. Resurrecting him requires punching Khan in the face VERY hard a few times, putting some of his blood in the dead man's body, and waiting a few minutes. Neat.
lol. lmao even. Fucking JJ Abrams is such a hack. How did engineering transform from a brewery into a science lab in between movies anyway? (yes I know it's because they filmed in a brewery for the first one and a science lab for the second, but c'mon...)
