When Dirgo breaks down in the desert and Wesley helps him up questioning Dirgo's fitness, the sun's position changes by 180 degrees.
The computer counts down the time until radiation exposure becomes fatal, but there is no magical time at which radiation becomes fatal. Death by radioactive contamination is cumulative, with many health problems occurring years after the initial exposure. Short-term effects include nausea, vomiting, and hair-loss, yet none of the crew have these problems. Long-term effects, which crop up years later, include anemia, leukemia, and dozens of different kinds of cancer. The difficulty of calculating the danger is compounded by the fact that Enterprise contains many different sentient species, all of whom would have different maximum contamination levels. But again, every Enterprise crew member stays completely healthy.
When Capt Picard, Wesley, and Dirgo abandon the crashed shuttle, the long shot of them walking off shows them going in a different direction, to the right of the mountains where their arrow points and where they were supposed to be heading. Given the strong dusty winds, any footprints would soon be covered over so a search team would not see them: they would have to scan for their life signs.
Data first quotes the shearing force on the tractor beam in metric tonnes/metre, but thereafter merely as metric tonnes. Besides the fact that the word 'metric' would surely be redundant by this time, neither is the correct unit. It should be Pascals (Newtons per square metre).
When Picard sniffs the contents of Dirgo's flask, he says "It's alcohol." Alcohol (specifically ethanol) is odourless. Most alcoholic beverages do have odours, but they are due to other constituents.
When Crusher and Picard are on the Miner's shuttle, trouble starts right after Picard comes through the door. The poor quality of the shuttle model is then humorously revealed. Immediately the swinging door won't close and Crusher repeatedly keeps trying to close it while furiously trying to work the controls. Next Picard has to get up from his control station chair to grab a hand hold bar on the ceiling and it breaks off in his hand.
If this was the case, they would have shot the seen again. The more likely explanation is that it showed the disrepair of the shuttle.
Riker wraps the ship's shields around the barge to protect it from the asteroids, but Enterprise doesn't reach the asteroid belt until the end of the show.
Incorrectly regarded as a goof: The purpose of the shields is also to prevent radiation from leaking out as the barge is disintegrating. Also, the Enterprise passes through the asteroid field at two-thirds through the show, not at the end.
Incorrectly regarded as a goof: The purpose of the shields is also to prevent radiation from leaking out as the barge is disintegrating. Also, the Enterprise passes through the asteroid field at two-thirds through the show, not at the end.
The drama revolves around the question of what to do first: get rid of the garbage ship or search for Captain Picard and the other lost men. Riker decides to solve the garbage problem first. However, Riker didn't even think about splitting the Enterprise in two, something which would seem to be a huge advantage but is done surprisingly sparingly throughout the series.
Incorrectly regarded as a goof: When the Enterprise splits in two (called "saucer separation"), the saucer section doesn't have a tractor beam or a warp drive. As a tractor beam was necessary to solve the garbage scow problem and a warp drive was necessary to aid in searching for Picard's shuttle, the saucer section would have been unable to accomplish either of these tasks.
Incorrectly regarded as a goof: When the Enterprise splits in two (called "saucer separation"), the saucer section doesn't have a tractor beam or a warp drive. As a tractor beam was necessary to solve the garbage scow problem and a warp drive was necessary to aid in searching for Picard's shuttle, the saucer section would have been unable to accomplish either of these tasks.
When Wesley stops in the desert to start a tricorder scan for energy readings, automobile tracks are clearly visible in the sand where Wesley and Dirgo stand as the camera sweeps behind Picard.
When Crusher shoots the rocks to create warmth and light, the shadows behind him come from another light source.
When Picard, Crusher and Drigo set off from the crashed shuttle, there are clear tyre tracks around them on the surface of this supposedly uninhabited moon.
As Picard, Wesley, and the shuttle pilot walk toward the mountains, the long shot clearly shows tire tracks in the sand, presumably from the set crew vehicles.
When Picard, Wesley, and Dirgo are making their way toward the mountains Dirgo stops to ask Wesley if he is picking up any signs of water on his tricorder. It stands to reason that if Wesley were able to scan for a water source his tricorder would also have picked up the alcohol in Dirgo's coat pocket, especially as he was aiming the tricorder directly at him.
Although the Enterprise was dealing with an emergency and couldn't divert to search for the Dirgo's missing shuttle, they could have sent one or more of their own shuttles, which would presumably be faster and better equipped than Dirgo's.
No one questions why a naturally occurring cave has a perfectly carved rock staircase right at the entrance.