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In Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Sybok captures the Enterprise and confines Kirk, Spock and Bones to the brig.

Inside the brig there is sign on the wall in the background that reads

"Do not use while in spacedock"

Although at this point its not clear what the sign relates to.

Shortly afterward, Kirk pushes a square metal button under the sign and a seat slides out of the wall.

Why exactly are they not allowed to use this seat while in a spacedock? What could possibly happen?

enter image description here

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  • 8
    Could it have been the toilet?
    – iAdjunct
    Commented Sep 14, 2016 at 3:49
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    Pretty sure it's the toilet, but no idea why it wouldn't be allowed in the spaceport.
    – Thunderforge
    Commented Sep 14, 2016 at 3:49
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    Maybe it's a love seat. Spaceport crews have been known to be prudish.
    – Major Stackings
    Commented Sep 14, 2016 at 4:38
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    The sign might not be related to the bench, but to the toilet. Presumably because they jettison the waste, just like trains and planes used to.
    – ThePopMachine
    Commented Sep 14, 2016 at 4:39
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    This scene is actually hilarious for other reasons. There's a toilet, in the brig (jail) of a starship, with a sign kindly asking it's inhabitants to not use it under certain conditions. Put anyone in there that has to go number 2 and is in a bad mood while the ship is docked and somebody is going to be cleaning up a lot of crap.
    – Ellesedil
    Commented Sep 22, 2017 at 16:05

2 Answers 2

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39

In this instance there are a few things going on in the scene, some more obvious than others.

In universe

Kirk is siting on a closed toilet. The implication here is that the head (toilet) in the brig vents directly into space. If it's used while in spacedock it will cause mess to the landing platform/connectors.

Out of Universe

Since the 1950s and 1960s, American TV censors have valiantly fought to guard public virtue by keeping toilets off the airwaves, demanding that any visual indication of toilets (or even the sound of flushing) be removed from shows. Star Trek was one of the shows affected, leading to the total absence of toilets on the Enterprise.

After being faced with decades of questions about where Kirk and crew go to the loo, Director Bill Shatner evidently decided to include a scene where his character (Kirk) is quite literally sitting on the toilet to deliver his lines. Rather than labeling it "TOILET" they've followed a convention used on trains of labeling the toilet but not as a toilet

enter image description here

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    Related: scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/81086/…
    – Z. Cochrane
    Commented Sep 14, 2016 at 11:44
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    That explains A LOT. I always wondered why there were no toilets...regardless which series bakc then^^
    – Thomas
    Commented Sep 14, 2016 at 16:02
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    Agreed, and its the kind of nod / fun element that long running actors and writers will put in to entertain (true) fans - like Schwarzenegger mocking his own catch phrases briefly in another movie or Stephen King briefly referencing an incident or person from another novel (e.g. Castle Rock). "The implication here is that the head (toilet) in the brig vents directly into space. If it's used while in spacedock it will cause mess to the landing platform/connectors" Exactly, and how many of us have done that in a railway station... go on, admit it.
    – Applefanboy
    Commented Sep 14, 2016 at 16:18
  • Seems kind of lame to let a prisoners have the ability to spew crap on my space station.
    – Hannover Fist
    Commented Sep 14, 2016 at 20:58
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    I would have thought that the waste from toilets would be dematerialized and rematerized by a replicator.
    – Cave Johnson
    Commented Sep 20, 2016 at 21:52
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It's the Toilet

Check the link at memory alpha toilet.

You can clearly see that it seats only one and there is a clear line marking the "lid". The next compartment over Kirks right shoulder houses the sink.

enter image description here

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