Q; How can the runaway, Jake, possibly be out of transporter range when he is in between the planet and the Enterprise bearing in mind that people are freely beaming to and fro from the planet itself?
A; This business is indeed a problem. We can surmise hopefully with justification that transporter ranges can vary according to circumstance, and that the forty thousand kilometres referred to in 'A Matter of Honour', is the maximum range under ideal conditions. Perhaps there was something about the planet's makeup which allowed fixed point sporting over large distances, but moving point transport only over a very limited range. It may be, of course, that due to the manner under which the shuttle was disabled ("Captain, he's unbalanced the dylithium reaction" was Geordi's interpretation) conditions were rendered temporarily extant which disabled the transporters in that immediate locality.
Would an experienced officer like our Tasha refer to such a situation by saying "He's out of transporter range", though?
In passing, I can't help but note that the entrance tests for the Academy, bearing in mind that all four candidates are ideal material (or so they are several times told), resemble not so much a test of one's character and ability but more an examination of how one behaves in a lottery. If all four are good candidates, why not just send all of them? Is Starfleet so hard-up that it can only afford to train a few candidates? This hardly matches their image, does it? And if this is the case, why would anyone make the effort to learn all the necessary, bearing in mind that their future would be decided by little more than the throw of a dice?
Interesting to note that Picard in his dress uniform resembles nothing so much as one of London's Chelsea Pensioners . . .
I noticed that when Wesley was hailed in a corridor aboard ship, he pressed one of the wall computer's panels before replying. This is a habit he'll soon get out of, along with everyone else on board. . .
No little tail poking out of the back of Quinn's neck this time around. . . I peeked!
Easy to dislike Remmick until, of course, you consider the fact that in everything he accuses Picard of he's absolutely correct. All his criticisms are true, but hey! who's counting here, eh?