Q; Why didn't the crew beam back aboard the Enterprise as it was backing out of the dock when it was easily in range and we know that transporters can hit a moving target?
A; This question about the transporters makes me wonder, are all transporters equal? Maybe the ones at Starbase 74, precisely because it is a Starbase, which is where starships park and are stationary, can only beam from fixed point to fixed point. Maybe the ones on the Enterprise which can beam to anywhere are super-wonder-whizzo ones that economics dictate may only be fitted in starships. I've watched all the episodes, both New Generation and Classic (but barring some DS9 and most Voyagers), and I can't recall anything that would contradict this. Further, even if we theorise for the moment that the Starbase 74 transporters could hit a moving target, albeit a temporarily slow-moving one, we cannot forget that Data and Geordi had set the ship for automatic flight, at warp speed, out of the area as soon as it was clear of the dock. Now who was to say at what exact point the ship's computer, which we know had been tampered with by the Binars, would interpret the ship's position as being clear of the dock and go straight to maximum warp? To sum up, we might assume that while one might beam from the Enterprise to a starbase while the ship was at warp, one could not do the reverse.
Q; Since there were long queues to transport, why is Wesley seen to be beaming down with only four companions when a transporter pad stood empty behind them?
A: My theory is that this was because one pad wasn't working. Don't forget, the ship was at Starbase 74 for a refit! (By the way, Wesley happens to be Gene Roddenberry's middle name. Just thought I'd mention it).
Q; Since there was a clear need for two people to be present in order to download the information to the Binars' home world, why did they only arrange for Riker alone to be present on board the Enterprise?
A; My opinion is that Riker didn't need Picard, or anyone else, to download the information. It is suggested that there needed to be simultaneous input at two terminals in order to facilitate accessing the downloading code, this being on the basis that the Binars do everything in pairs. I believe that the info. could have been downloaded by Riker alone. He would simply have had to stretch across two terminals at once and input on both at the same time, which would have been about as 'simultaneous' as he and Picard managed in the show (watch their hands carefully), or he could simply have slaved two terminals together for true simultaneity. Thus Minuet was, therefore, created for Riker alone.
Perhaps the most significant development in this episode, from our contrary point of view, is that since the Binars beefed up the Holodeck's programming we can throw the Technical Manual out the window with a clear conscience. Matter coming out of the deck wearing bells and whistles and doing handsprings around Ten Forward? Them pesky Binars done it!
I noticed that Riker strolled cheerily into Beverly's quarters without knocking. Bad manners? Not to the Crushers, they do that themselves . . .
Where was the Universal Translator when Minuet and Picard were speaking French on the Holodeck? Had it perhaps, fearing for its safety, beamed to the starbase too?
Interestingly, the computer voice in Engineering was conspicuously not Majel Roddenberry's.
The Enterprise flies backwards out of the dock. No big deal, but I seem to remember that at some point, it will be stoutly declared that the Enterprise cannot fly backwards.