knudsen@ihnss.UUCP (06/27/84)
[just stay in the closet, Mr Adventure....] After seeing ST-3 for the 2nd time last nite, here are my REVISED views of what starhips look better than others: (1) The Reliant (in TWOK) was OK, but it lacked an engineering hull, and the twin engine (fuel?) pods just hung off the sides of the main (saucer) hull. Cute, but not snazzy or thrilling. (2) The Griffin (blown away by Kruge early in TSFS) is one of the neatest, cleanest, and meanest designs. A torpedo-shaped engineering hull, with struts holding the pods (like E-prise), but pods are also attached to main saucer. This machine looked pretty fast! Sorry to see it get so little exposure due to early demise. (3) The Enterprise--I always thought it a bit awkward, with all those long struts trying to hold everything to the engineering hull. Alwasy thought it would fall apart (like a DC-10) in a tight maneuver. However, I paid special attention to the old gal last nite and she looked a lot more solid (and beautiful) than I had previously thought. (4) The Excelsior--engineering hull has a bow like a water ship, with an extended flat deck above. Frm this deck, three pylons (struts) hold the other 3 items in Enterprise fashion. However, the struts are so short as to give a feeling of strenght and solidity coupled with speed. Thus I like the Excelsior. Others probably think those stubby struts are ugly. And of course, that streamlined bow is a little unnecessary in space. In summary, I'd be happy with anything but the Reliant. mike k PS: Why are they testing "experimental" transwarp drive in the biggest ship ever built? Pretty risky, huh? Remember the new warp drive in ST:TMP? Why not put it in a little scout ship, and get some macho just-busted-to- captain-from-admiral and his crazy loyal crew to take it for a test run?
dwhitney@uok.UUCP (06/30/84)
#R:ihnss:-212400:uok:8400066:000:301 uok!dwhitney Jun 29 20:03:00 1984 The scout ship in TSFS where David and Saavik started exploring Genesis was the U.S.S. Grissom, not Griffin. Named after astronaut Virgil Grissom. NCC-838. I agree, sad to see it go so soon. It was a sleek ship, and I liked her much better than Excelsior. David Whitney ctvax!uokvax!uok!dwhitney
jonab@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Jonathan Biggar) (07/03/84)
In article <2124@ihnss.UUCP> knudsen@ihnss.UUCP writes: >(2) The Griffin (blown away by Kruge early in TSFS) is one of the neatest, >cleanest, and meanest designs. A torpedo-shaped engineering hull, with >struts holding the pods (like E-prise), but pods are also attached to main saucer. >This machine looked pretty fast! Sorry to see it get so little exposure due to >early demise. The Grissom (not Griffin) is a nice looking ship, but it is only a scout class ship, not a full-blown heavy cruiser. It certainly will not do as a replacement for the Enterprise. We know that it is smaller than the Enterprise because the Klingon ship was able to blow it away with one shot, while the Enterprise also took a shot with shields down and held together pretty well. Jon Biggar {allegra,burdvax,cbosgd,hplabs,ihnp4,sdccsu3}!sdcrdcf!jonab
john@hp-pcd.UUCP (07/15/84)
Several people have mentioned that a streamlined bow is not required for space travel. That may be true from normal space or warp drive but not for transwarp speeds. Remember the "Cloud" that surrounded VGER? It was created by hitting the small number of free hydrogen atoms with a shield that was moving at warp 8. This effect would become more pronounced at higher speeds so that a vessel designed for transwarp speeds would need to take it into account. John Eaton !hplabs!hp-pcd!john