Equilibrium: On page 209 of the DS9 Guide Phil commented that instead of playing three-dimensional chess "the creators of DS9 opted to return to the same game of chess that we play today." This statement implies that no one plays three-dimensional chess today. However, I got a three-dimensional chess set around fifteen years ago.

Visionary: Phil commented on the new way that the creators deal with time travel and mention that we saw inklings of it in Past Tense, Part I, but what about the NextGen episode All Good Things? The threat to the Federation is actually the effect of Picard generating three inverse tachyon pulses to determine the cause of the temporal anomaly. An anomaly that would not exist if Picard had not been sent to investigate the anomaly. (True, the Q Continuum had a hand in all this to test Picard, so some might choose to excuse the paradoxical nature of the situation.) Also the episode Time's Arrow, where the only reason that the Enterprise is involved in the investigation is because Data's head was found at the excavation. Had Data's head not been found, Starfleet probably would have dispatched a science ship to Devidia II and that ship would have tried to put a stop to the aliens dinner plans.
On page 256 Phil wrote that, 'since true nitpickers play by the creators' rules, we have to accept this new premise.' Excuse me, but if that were true, then there would be no nitpicking. According to the creators O'Brien has never been a Lieutenant, so we have to accept that; sound travels in space, so we have to accept that; people can make log entries without moving their lips or having any equipment to record the log onto, so we have to accept that; etc., ect., ect. If the creators said that 2 +2 = 5, would we have to accept that?

Starship Down: On page 320 of the DS9 Guide, Phil wrote 'and the atmosphere of the star roars in.' They are in the atmosphere of a gas giant, not a star.

wow...nitpicking a nitpickers guide...this is a new low....sheesh

Not really- it was done in some of the newsletters of Phil's.

There was also a Nitpicking The Nitpicker's Guides board, but I think it was lost in the NextGen crash.
(Or is that what Phil wants us to believe? ;-) ;-) ;-)

Uh-oh, time for the "Is Phil a member of Section 31?" board...

Uh-oh, time for the "Is Phil a member of Section 31?" board...

As everyone who has this guide knows, Jem'Hadar is spelled Jem'Haddar throughout the guide. Phil said he caught that but could not get it changed.

To be Phil's apologist, I point out that with respect to "Jem'Hadar"- the word is, presumably, a transliteration of the non-english language that the Founders speak (which we hear as english because of the assumed translaters-in-the-uniforms, etc.). As such, there is no "real" spelling of the word. Sort of like "Hannukah," "Hanukah," or "Channukah" are all proper spellings of the hebrew word for the Jewish festival of lights.

Pages 358-359, "Hodgepodge Tote Board". Question 4, "Number of characters who made their first appearance on NextGen". Phil gives the answer 10. The correct answer is 11. Since he lists guest stars (see Lwaxana Troi, Vash, Q, and Lursa and B'Etor), he should also have included Tom Riker in "Defiant".

On page 324 under the The Sword Of Kahless, Phil says BILC is an anagram for Because It Looks Cool. It's not, it's an acronym. An anagram is where you rearrange the letters of one word to make another (such as an anagram of lemon is melon).

It's an acronym.

I know Scott, that's why I pointed it out. It's the first word in my third line in the post above.

To (mis)quote someone at Desilu, during the early days of Trek. There's a technical term for what I did. It's called a "mistake".

Or a "nit"!

I think it is in the section for "The Die is Cast" or "Improbable Cause", but Phil mentions that the creators can't decide what "kanar" is, because it is different colors in different episodes.
Couldn't kanar be like wine on Earth, and come in lots of different varieties. (yeah, and I know no one ever specifies what kind of kanar they want, but ... maybe whatever's on hand.)

David,

Great minds think alike! I posted the same comment to "The Way of the Warrior" (which is where Phil's comment is in the book).

Did anyone find Phil's constant "wink, wink" in brackets annoying? Once or twice might have been fine but talk about overkill and running something into the ground. His first NextGen guide didn't have to continually wink at me and it was all the better for it.

No.

'No', you didn't find it annoying or 'No', you didn't think the first NextGen guide was better? ;-) ;-) ;-)

Actually the comment about kanar & wine was printed in one of the Nitpicker's Newsletters, I think April, 97 or 96.

On the other hand, maybe kanar changes color and thickness as time goes by? ("We'd better drink this quickly. It's almost black.")

No, the first one. I thought the X-Files Guide was the best.

In Phil's ruminations on Defiant he spells Will Riker minus one L - Wil.

So, are we going to go mention the differences between the UK and the US book covers?(remembering that the UK version has both DS9 and the Defiant on, and the US version has only the Defiant...)

On the original Nitpicking The Nipicker's Guides board I believe someone posted a picture of the cover.

What's the name of the episode where Quark tries to get a holographic image of Kira but at the end it has Quark's head?

Does no one know this episode I'm referring to?

Meridian

has anyone noticed that jem'hadar is spelled wrong? throughout the whole book the chief nitpiker himself spells not only the episode title wrong- but the name of the entire race! i know it is tricky to spell without a written reference, but the 2nd season finale's title, "The Jem'Hadar", clearly spells the new enemy's name with only 1 d.

oops! have to star reminding myself to read before i post!

Yeah, you spelt Nitpicker without a c! But at least in wasn`t as many times as Phil said Jem`HadDar.

sorry-i guess it's contageous!

Contagious!

well, i give up on "speling"

I wonder if guardian's feigned inability to spell is part of a wolf-in-sheep's-clothing plot... is guardian a member of Section 42?

no comment

Perhaps he is Superbob of the LICC, in the jedi's sink.

On page 311 of the DS9 Guide, Phil mentions Jadzia carrying out Curzon's responsibility in Blood Oath as an instance of a past life interfering with her job. What about in Dax where she keeps quiet about Curzon's affair? I would say that interfered with her job. Also Joran's memories returning in Equilibrium definitely interfered with her job. Dramatis Personae could also be mentioned, but she was under the influence of the memory archive at the time.

In the review of Future's End Phil complains about how time seems to be running on parallel tracks, with events in the past taking place "at the same time" as those in the future. Well... doesn't it seem like many thing in Trek run on parallel tracks with the time the series is made? (60's - 90's, many things in the previous timeline are viewed differenlty now...)

I've probably mentioned this before, but I can't find it. . .

Phil's nits for "The Homecoming" include the fact that Jake Sisko just passed an algebra test, which he thinks conflicts with the idea (established in TNG) that children much younger than Jake are expected to take calculus. I do not see a conflict. I personally took differential calculus in 1995, and just this past semester took an algebra class (hopefully my last); in August I, like Jake, need to pass another algebra test.

Plus, there's a difference between algebra, which most people think of as "solve for x", and abstract algebra, which is group, ring, and field theory.

Somehow I doubt Jake was studying any of those.

Ah yes. I got a A+ in ring theory But that's only because the teacher was a dork. While he didn't give us the questions to the final exam, he told us how many questions there were and what each question would deal with.

But, like many of my classmates, I've blocked out everything I've learned in that class.

When I took it, there was a typo in the syllabus.

The last lesson before the final was supposed to be "The unsolvability of the quintic". However, due to the typo, the word "quintic" was left off, so the syllabus read...

"The unsolvability of the FINAL EXAM".

On page 372 in the first entry for plot oversights, there is a line which says 'Dukat flew off to be a terrorist at the end of "Return to Glory."' The correct name for the episode should be "Return to Grace".

I am almost certain this is mentioned elsewhere but on page 334 for the episode Homefront, Phil is listing movies/episodes where Earth was in danger and wrote "Alien parasites almost took over Starfleet in 'Contagion' (TNG)." I believe the episode he is refering to is Conspiracy.

Yup, night, that's it!!, Conspiracy, and the ending was very chilling -to me anyways

I have a copy of the US version, and the cover has a strange anomaly that I've been trying to figure out. On the starboard "nacelle" of the Defiant there is a strange black pointy thing jutting out. It looks like the top of a docking pylon from the space station, but the station is nowhere in sight. I read that the UK version of the cover has the station on it. Maybe they cropped out the Defiant and left a little piece of the station's pylon on the cover?

I just figured that was some hull plating that had come loose.

Except that the illustration's motif is not one of the Defiant being damaged, but of it surrounded by television sets, just like the previous Guide covers. I never noticed that.

It was mentioned in one of the Nitpickers Guild Newsletters (go to to Musings On The DS9 Guide & look for Cover), but I'm not sure if the reason for the removal of DS9 from the US cover was ever given. (It might have been mentioned in a later newsletter, but it took me longer than I thought to find that one.)

BTW, "The_Chief", about your username, since I doubt you are Phil Farrand & Phil is known around here as the Chief, you should probably use another username to avoid confusion.

http://www.nitcentral.com/shamplug/ds9.htm

In his review of To the Death the Chief noted that the gateway in Contagion (TNG) didn't have a dampening field since Picard had no problems firing a phaser in there.

At the risk of being lynched for nitpicking the Chief I have to point out that Picard never fired a Phaser in Contagion - that was Worf destroying Data's tricorder with his phaser.

Sorry guys, I used the name "The Chief" because I'm a Chief Petty Officer. I'm not The Chief...I'm merely A Different Kind of Chief.

Regarding abstract algebra: I wasn't a math major (electrical engineer) but took several courses for fun. Group and ring theory are cool (and weird)! But I bet Jake was taking the more commonly thought-of algebra. He's a writer; why would he need to take calculus?

Regarding BILC being an acronym: unless you pronounce as a word, it's not an acronym. It's an initialism. "Nato" is an acronym. "FBI" is an initialism. An acronym is a word made up from initials. An initialism is not.

I pronounce BILC as a word.

A previous TNG episode did establish that calculus was a standard course for even young students.

Capstrum, are you a Penn & Teller fan? I ask because Penn recently had a rant about the difference between acronyms & initialisms in their show.