The 14 Dumbest Things In Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan
3. Kirk’s Unfair Tactical Advantage
“Show, don't tell,” is a truism in film and video, and while it’s not always necessary to cross every “t” or dot every “i” sometimes a film really ought to make a teensy bit of effort to make clear how something improbable happens to happen. For instance, when the Enterprise first arrives at Regula One:
SPOCK: Regula is class 'D'. It consists of various unremarkable ores. Essentially, a great rock in space.
KIRK: Reliant could be hiding behind that rock.
SPOCK: A distinct possibility.
Then, in a classic case of the technology doing whatever the plot requires at any given moment, when Kirk returns to the ship from the Genesis Cave, he orders "Tactical," and immediately a computer graphic shows him exactly where the Reliant is, orbiting opposite them (presumably having just left the Regula One station where we saw her seconds earlier).
How come they couldn't do that before? And how can they track her through an entire planetoid now? And why does this only work one way? Why isn’t Khan all “There she is!” at the same instant Kirk spots where Reliant is?
Just how long has the Enterprise crew known where Reliant is? Is this how she's managed to stay out of sight?
One can speculate or manufacture all sorts of rationalizations for this…like that the Enterprise was receiving telemetry from Regula One that Khan didn’t know how to access, but it gives Kirk an easy advantage instead of showing him using his smarts or his experience as a starship captain. Taking obstacles away from the protagonist diminishes his efforts. It could easily have been addressed simply by having Joachim mention sensor damage in his earlier damage report, or have “REGULA ONE TELEMETRY” appear on the tactical display.