- MA files from this episode (16) • MA remastered files from this episode (68)
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Title source
Not sure how this might fit in, or if it should fit in, but the episode's title derives from an expression - "up the long ladder and down the short rope" - which is a reference to the gallows well popularised by the Tommy Makem song, "Are You Ready for a War?". --Fenian 09:20, 15 Oct 2005 (UTC)
- That would typically be something placed in the "Background" section, I believe. --Alan del Beccio 17:49, 15 Oct 2005 (UTC)
Bad subtitles?
There's a line in the episode - "Now that's what I call a wee drop of the creature!" - that I feel to be incorrectly subtitled on the DVD. "Creature" is a phonetic interpretation of the word 'craythur,' a Gaelic word for 'poteen', or alcohol. What would be the proper way to note this bit of trivia?
Eddie Murphy?
Call me crazy, but the black clone looks a lot like Eddie Murphy, yet I can find no references to this on IMDB, this site, Wikipedia, or the credits to the episode. What do you all think?
- It wasn't Eddie Murphy. Trust me. ;) --From Andoria with Love 04:50, 12 January 2007 (UTC)
- I just watched this episode and I think this character most definitely is Eddie Murphy, or his exact double - – The preceding unsigned comment was added by 99.224.230.117.
I also just watched this & immediately thought it was Murphy too. Still do. AvatarArt 08:08, January 23, 2010 (UTC)AvatarArt, Rochester, NY
- Ditto, there is a striking resemblance! 74.196.84.183 03:46, July 30, 2010 (UTC)
Okudagram Nitpicks
You know, I'm definitely a Trekkie when it comes to Star Trek trivia, but even I think the "Okudagram issues" section is insanely pedantic. Wouldn't it be sufficient to say "the Okudagram displayed on Picard's console doesn't match the words spoken in dialogue?" Attempting to determine some sort of in-universe answer for how Riker and Picard could know all of these things that aren't listed in the graphic seems a little overboard to me. Gregly 18:12, 5 May 2008 (UTC)
Removed it, MA isn't here to catalog nitpicks. Here it is for the record:--31dot 01:31, 29 June 2008 (UTC)
Okudagram issues
- The okudagrams in this episode do not follow the dialogue accurately. In the first okudagram seen in the teaser, Captain Picard requests the computer to identify all ships which used an unique distress beacon between 2123 and 2190 that traveled to or near the Ficus sector.
- If so, then why did the computer list missions which occurred in the twenty or so years before 2123?
- Secondly, how is Commander Riker able to identify the destination of the starships when, save for the case of two planets, there is no destination listed?
- Thirdly, the okudagram reprinted in Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Continuing Mission has been revised. The first line, as seen in the episode, reads "Search Parameters Interstellar Expeditions to Sectors 184/02 to 185/38." The revised line reads "Search Parameters Interstellar Expeditions to Ficus Sector".
- In the second and third okudagrams, how is Captain Picard able to know where the SS Mariposa traveled to when the ship's mission is described simply as Colonization. Additionally, Picard reads that the starship is loaded with supplies on November 27, 2123. However, the okudagram reads Launch Date. Could the ship be loaded and launched on the same date?
Nitpick
- There is a discrepancy in the dating. According to several characters, the SS Mariposa, launched from Earth on 27 November 2123, landed at the planets Mariposa and Bringloid 300 years before 2365, or 2065. There is no way that the Enterprise could assume the Bringloidi have been isolated for more than about 230 years, which is itself sufficiently long for generations to be born unaware of advanced technologies. Only the Mariposans had the sophistication to suspect any accidental time regression during the flight.
Removed nitpick. — Morder 07:43, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
Title capitalization and linking
I don't know how this episode's title is written on-screen, but by the usual rules of English capitalization the title should be written "Up the Long Ladder". There's a helpful redirect for that, but if you type {{e|Up the Long Ladder}} you get a redlink. I don't know enough about the eplink template — can redirects be created for that as well, or do you just need to type it as the wiki page is named? —Josiah Rowe 06:52, 21 April 2009 (UTC)
Removed quotes
Removed the following exchanges:
"There it is: SS Mariposa, loaded 27th of November 2123. Destination: Ficus Sector. Captain Walter Granger commanding."
"'Mariposa', the Spanish word for 'butterfly'."
"Thank you Data."
"I thought it might be significant, sir."
"Doesn't appear to be, Data."
"No sir."
- - Picard and Data
"If this is going to work, these people will need your strength, your guidance."
"Oh, damn!... What is he doing again?"
"Prime Minister."
"Mmm. Sounds important!"
"Oh, it is!"
"So he might have more than two coins to rub together... Three husbands?"
"Uh huh!"
- - Picard and Brenna Odell
--31dot 20:05, 15 July 2009 (UTC)
Removed nitpick
The Starfleet crew has strong objections to being cloned in this episode, a strong contrast to the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Demon", where the crew allows themselves to be duplicated by a bio-mimetic fluid.
Different people, different reactions. --31dot 19:47, September 23, 2009 (UTC)
Maybe there's a different way to word this following statement, but it seems to me we should only note supposed "irony" when there is documentation of a deliberate attempt to draw irony between the two episodes.
- William Riker gives a speech in this episode in which he says that, "One William Riker is unique, perhaps even special. But a hundred of him? A thousand of him? Diminishes me in ways I can't even imagine." This statement is ironic in that years later he will find that there is a duplicate of him (Thomas Riker).
- Given Odo's statement in "A Man Alone" that "killing your own clone is still murder," it is possible that Riker's actions could have potentially gotten him into legal trouble. However, it may be that killing a non-sentient clone is not murder, or that Odo was referring to a provision of Bajoran law that did not exist in The Federation. Coincidentally, "A Man Alone" is another episode to reference the Alderaan spaceport (see above).
Removed as a nitpick that explains itself away.--31dot 00:24, April 21, 2010 (UTC)
- I would just mention the clones in Voyager briefly, just to point out that it isn't a universal Starfleet belief of not wanting clones. —Commodore Sixty-Four(TALK) 10:29, May 19, 2011 (UTC)