kevin@voder.UUCP (The Last Bugfighter) (05/08/85)
Speaking of that damn front viewer there's something that has always
bothered me about the Enterprise/Reliant battle in the Mutara nebula in
ST II.
There's supposed to be so much static interference that the viewing
sensors are hoplessly overloaded, as such the main viewscreen is all but
useless. We see the great Admiral Kirk peering intensely at the screen,
trying in vain for a mere glimmer of the enemy ship and his deadly opponent.
*Where are they?* he silently murmurs.
Quick dramatic cut to an exterior view as the great starship Enterprise
sails by, COVERED FROM BOW TO STERN WITH WHAT LOOKS LIKE A HUNDRED WINDOWS
AND PORTS PLASTERED OVER THE HULL! One can imagine the rest of the crew is
up forward, gathered around a port, watching the Reliant sail back and forth
while betting on whether or not the Captain will see it this time!
Now don't tell me that we don't know that these are actually real windows
to the outside because we've seen them to be so in various episodes and have
read as much in various novels. Besides, what about those huge ports on the
port side for the recreation/garden area? We can even see inside them as
the ship passes.
How difficult would it have been to write into the script that Kirk orders
Scotty to send someone up forward to install an optical viewer in a port
and hook it into the optical fiber network to send the picture to the main
viewer? At first they can't get a complete circuit through because of the
damage. Then they find a good line and presto, the main viewscreen comes
to life showing the Reliant about 1.6 meters away. Both ships fire and when
the Enterprise is hit not only do they loose that circuit but the guy at the
viewer is injured so they have to send someone else down. This way you could
still have the intensity of Kirk not being able to know were the Reliant is,
and the dramatic impact when he finally sees it without having to be so stupid.
Or am I just being picky, picky, picky?
---
Kevin Thompson {ucbvax,ihnp4!nsc}!voder!kevin
"It's sort of a threat, you see. I've never been very good at them
myself but I'm told they can be very effective."plw@panda.UUCP (Pete Williamson) (05/17/85)
> There's supposed to be so much static interference that the viewing >sensors are hoplessly overloaded, as such the main viewscreen is all but >useless. We see the great Admiral Kirk peering intensely at the screen, >trying in vain for a mere glimmer of the enemy ship and his deadly opponent. >*Where are they?* he silently murmurs. > Quick dramatic cut to an exterior view as the great starship Enterprise >sails by, COVERED FROM BOW TO STERN WITH WHAT LOOKS LIKE A HUNDRED WINDOWS >AND PORTS PLASTERED OVER THE HULL! One can imagine the rest of the crew is >up forward, gathered around a port, watching the Reliant sail back and forth >while betting on whether or not the Captain will see it this time! > How difficult would it have been to write into the script that Kirk orders >Scotty to send someone up forward to install an optical viewer in a port >and hook it into the optical fiber network to send the picture to the main >viewer? I agree ... the writers screwed up on this one ... Captain James T. Kirk is a student of American History and would certainly know US Naval Procedures ... FOG has plagued Earth's naval traffic for centuries ... one of the best and easiest deployed "weapons" against poor visibility is to "lay all available hands on deck" to LOOK and REPORT. This is especially true during a "RED ALERT" at "BATTLESTATIONS". Uhura should have been continually advised on Kahn's whereabouts ... Federation Procedure would clearly deal with "low viz" situations ... in excruciating detail probably. Regards, -- Pete Williamson "By hook or by crook, we will !!" ... #2
li63sdl@sdcc7.UUCP (DAVID SMITH) (05/23/85)
In article <518@panda.UUCP> plw@panda.UUCP (Pete Williamson) writes: >> There's supposed to be so much static interference that the viewing >>sensors are hoplessly overloaded, as such the main viewscreen is all but >>useless. We see the great Admiral Kirk peering intensely at the screen, >>trying in vain for a mere glimmer of the enemy ship and his deadly opponent. >>*Where are they?* he silently murmurs. > >> Quick dramatic cut to an exterior view as the great starship Enterprise >>sails by, COVERED FROM BOW TO STERN WITH WHAT LOOKS LIKE A HUNDRED WINDOWS >>AND PORTS PLASTERED OVER THE HULL! One can imagine the rest of the crew is >>up forward, gathered around a port, watching the Reliant sail back and forth >>while betting on whether or not the Captain will see it this time! > >> How difficult would it have been to write into the script that Kirk orders >>Scotty to send someone up forward to install an optical viewer in a port >>and hook it into the optical fiber network to send the picture to the main >>viewer? > > I agree ... the writers screwed up on this one ... Captain James >T. Kirk is a student of American History and would certainly know US Naval >Procedures ... FOG has plagued Earth's naval traffic for centuries ... one >of the best and easiest deployed "weapons" against poor visibility is to >"lay all available hands on deck" to LOOK and REPORT. This is especially >true during a "RED ALERT" at "BATTLESTATIONS". Uhura should have been >continually advised on Kahn's whereabouts ... Federation Procedure would >clearly deal with "low viz" situations ... in excruciating detail probably. > > Regards, > > > > >-- > Pete Williamson >"By hook or by crook, we will !!" ... #2 That would work great, against *OPTICAL* poor visibility. The poor visibility was supposed to be *ELECTRONIC*, i.e. radar, sub-space ranging, or whatever they use. Remember, these battles, even at sub-light speeds, are being fought in a *LARGE* area. Human eyesight is good to maybe twenty miles. With a lot of dust and crapola in the way, maybe ten? These ships are moving quickly, even on impulse engines only. There would be no great advantage to having the crew watch, since they'd see it at about the same time the video cameras did. Most sensing on a starship would be electronic. I suppose we can consider the viewscreen to normally be a sophisticated computer image integrating all the sensor data. David Smith UC Sandy Eggo {ucbvax, ihnp4} sdcsvax!sdcc7!li63sdl "Fascinating"
m1b@rayssd.UUCP (05/29/85)
Concerning the use of personnel to visually sight the Reliant, David Smith writes in <1466@sdcc7.UUCP>: > That would work great, against *OPTICAL* poor visibility. > The poor visibility was supposed to be *ELECTRONIC*, i.e. radar, > sub-space ranging, or whatever they use. Remember, these battles, > even at sub-light speeds, are being fought in a *LARGE* area. Human > eyesight is good to maybe twenty miles. With a lot of dust and > crapola in the way, maybe ten? ... They are, however, fighting in a rather small volume. Kirk drops the Enterprise "z minus 1000 meters" to finally nail Khan. The audience can see both ships near each other in many of the 'outside' shots. If the Reliant is ~250 meters long, anyone should be able to spot it. Also, in their first encounter, the Reliant nearly *rams* the Enterprise! Now that is close quarters to me. Joe Barone, {allegra, decvax!brunix, linus, ccice5}!rayssd!m1b Raytheon Co, Submarine Signal Div., Box 330, Portsmouth, RI 02871
moose@ames.UUCP (Mary Kaiser) (05/30/85)
> In article <518@panda.UUCP> plw@panda.UUCP (Pete Williamson) writes: > >> There's supposed to be so much static interference that the viewing > >>sensors are hoplessly overloaded, as such the main viewscreen is all but > >>useless. We see the great Admiral Kirk peering intensely at the screen, > >>trying in vain for a mere glimmer of the enemy ship and his deadly opponent. > >>*Where are they?* he silently murmurs. > > > >> Quick dramatic cut to an exterior view as the great starship Enterprise > >>sails by, COVERED FROM BOW TO STERN WITH WHAT LOOKS LIKE A HUNDRED WINDOWS > >>AND PORTS PLASTERED OVER THE HULL! One can imagine the rest of the crew is > >>up forward, gathered around a port, watching the Reliant sail back and forth > >>while betting on whether or not the Captain will see it this time! > > > >> How difficult would it have been to write into the script that Kirk orders > >>Scotty to send someone up forward to install an optical viewer in a port > >>and hook it into the optical fiber network to send the picture to the main > >>viewer? > > > > I agree ... the writers screwed up on this one ... Captain James > >T. Kirk is a student of American History and would certainly know US Naval > >Procedures ... FOG has plagued Earth's naval traffic for centuries ... one > >of the best and easiest deployed "weapons" against poor visibility is to > >"lay all available hands on deck" to LOOK and REPORT. This is especially > >true during a "RED ALERT" at "BATTLESTATIONS". Uhura should have been > >continually advised on Kahn's whereabouts ... Federation Procedure would > >clearly deal with "low viz" situations ... in excruciating detail probably. > > > > Regards, > > > > > > > > > >-- > > Pete Williamson > >"By hook or by crook, we will !!" ... #2 > > That would work great, against *OPTICAL* poor visibility. > The poor visibility was supposed to be *ELECTRONIC*, i.e. radar, > sub-space ranging, or whatever they use. Remember, these battles, > even at sub-light speeds, are being fought in a *LARGE* area. Human > eyesight is good to maybe twenty miles. With a lot of dust and > crapola in the way, maybe ten? These ships are moving quickly, even > on impulse engines only. There would be no great advantage to > having the crew watch, since they'd see it at about the same time > the video cameras did. Most sensing on a starship would be > electronic. I suppose we can consider the viewscreen to normally be > a sophisticated computer image integrating all the sensor data. > > David Smith > UC Sandy Eggo > {ucbvax, ihnp4} sdcsvax!sdcc7!li63sdl > "Fascinating" If eyesight is good to maybe 20 miles, how can we see the moon, sun, and stars (to wax poetic). Visual acuity is a function of visual angle (i.e. the retinal size of the image). Granted, an absorbing medium (e.g. our atmosphere) comes into play at large distances, but come on... in the episode the two ships almost ran into each other!!! Probably the better cop-out is to say that even with their advanced technology, they having developed a good transparent material that provides adequate protection against high energy particles (a _big_ problem unless you want a cosmic scale suntan), so that all optical windows had to be shielded when then entered the zone. In general, though, I could never understand how or why they would navigate the Big E. with a single screen. What happened to peripheral cues and wrap around screens....oh Desilu, your budget was too small and you went bankrupt anyway.