The time-travelling Star Trek communcator

As I was watching an episode of Star Trek: Voyager the other night, I notice two things: One, Captain Janeway is just as rude as Captain Picard is because she also expects an instant answer to all communication attempts, and two, those Star Trek communicators are so amazing that they actually break the time travel barrier!

See if you've noticed this:

"Riker to Picard"
(answering instantly, in voice-over): "Picard here"

or
"Janeway to Bridge"
(answering instantly, in voice-over): "Bridge"

or
"Paris to Neelix"
(answering instantly, in voice-over): "Yes, Mr. Paris?"

Now, there's already been some discussion in The Nitpicker's Guide to The Next Generation book about how sometimes a person has to tap their badge in order to initiate a communication, and sometimes they can just start talking. In both cases, because the person answers immediately, the communicator must be sending the message backwards in time.


Captain Picard's lack of manners -- Holodeck problems
Universal Translator problems
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