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Author Topic: "Enterprise" Tech - First Impressions [spoilers]
Mark Nguyen
I'm a daddy now!
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Saw "Broken Bow" tonight. Lessee here:

-First off, the VFX are INSANELY cool. No contest for the technical Emmys this year, I'm sure.

-The impulse engines are on the back of the catamaran hulls of the Pre-E, *and* on the back of the saucer where we thought they originally were.

-No mention of what kind of weapons the Pre-E has. They fire pulses, not beams. No torpedoes (and no armory set in this episode). They also have these nifty grapple lines they go fishing with.

-The hangar seems to have drop bays for four shuttles, but has at least one bay clear for visiting or captured ships.

-The bridge is nifty: cramped, relatively lo-tech, though it's not really unique. The starboard door on the bridge leads to the tiny ready room set, after going down a few steps.

-Phlox = Zoidberg. Seriously. Also, the sickbay set seems to have a ladder going up. Odd place to keep one.

-Engineering location is unknown. It's got an elevator in front of the warp core that goes to the upper level *and* down one level to some unseen place. Engineering is also used for some scientific stuff T'Pol and Tucker were figuring out.

-Speaking of which, the infamous "decon gel" scene and set SHOULD NEVER BE SEEN AGAIN. It's pure fanboy chuck, and while Blalock is very easy on the eyes, the whole scene is unecessary and detracts from the show in an attempt to get some skin ratings.

-The phase pistols have beams, unlike the plasma weapons which fire pulses. Otherwise, there's no real difference in their use. I'm wondering why they left their introduction until the end of the show.

-The Suliban (pronounced SOO-lih-bahn) are nifty enough, though I dunno how often their FX-dependent abilities will be seen on the show due to budgetary constraints. In this episode anyway, there's no hint of ANY bugetary restraints... They really went all out in giving us a movie here. Also, the Suliban ships are NOT organic - they just function that way, I think.

[Note: I saw this show in widescreen. Please lemme know if you guys didn't when you do]

-Strangely enough, while there are plenty of push buttons all over the Pre-E, everyone (EVERYONE) else has the familiar touch-screen graphics, including the Klingons.

-Lots of new aliens, though. No familiar faces other than the Klingons and Vulcans. Westmore must've been busy this summer.

-The Klingons have spiffy new outfits - no sign of their armor-style digs here. I saw a Bat'leth in the set decoration, though.

Tired. Sleepy. Will watch again tomorrow and share thoughts more.

Mark

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"This is my timey-wimey detector. Goes ding when there's stuff." - Doctor Who
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Kosa
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Ah HA! I was right about that Gel scene being an excuse to show some body. After I posted that i was given the opinions that it was meant to be a humorous scene.
Just had to say that.

I have no idea if or when the first Enterprise will screen in Australia. I hope its not too long . I remember the first Voyager episode didnt take too long to be shown here.
Does anyone or any Australians here know when Enterprise will be released here?

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Timo
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Could you pretty please spoil a few details for us who won't see the episode for a time interval ranging from inconvenient months to agonizing years?

Namely, where are the weapon emplacements on the ship, exactly? Are these pulse-firing guns really in retractable, rotating turrets? Where are these turrets? What does the "armor polarizing" effect look and sound like? And what does the transporter effect look and sound like?

Oh, and where exactly are the impulse engines on the saucer? In the two triangular things outboard of the hull booms? Or in the jumbled mess between the booms?

Timo Saloniemi

[ September 26, 2001: Message edited by: Timo ]


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Siegfried
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quote:
The impulse engines are on the back of the catamaran hulls of the Pre-E, *and* on the back of the saucer where we thought they originally were.

You mean that there are four different impulse engines on that ship? Hmm, should we take this to mean that individually the engines are fairly weak? The engines at the ends of the catamarans glow blue, what color do the saucer engines glow?

quote:
The hangar seems to have drop bays for four shuttles, but has at least one bay clear for visiting or captured ships.

Interesting. From the picture we saw of the drop bay, it apparently held two pods. So, there's three shuttle/hangar/drop bays on the Enterprise? How complicated is the docking procedure for landing crafts in the "just visiting" bay?

quote:
The bridge is nifty: cramped, relatively lo-tech, though it's not really unique. The starboard door on the bridge leads to the tiny ready room set, after going down a few steps.

Now for what we've all been wondering about: what does the front half of the bridge look like?

quote:
Phlox = Zoidberg. Seriously. Also, the sickbay set seems to have a ladder going up. Odd place to keep one.

I'm not quite sure I understand that reference. However, I noticed the the ladder from one of the clips we saw. Maybe there's a system of ladders connecting all the decks in case of elevator failure?

quote:
Speaking of which, the infamous "decon gel" scene and set SHOULD NEVER BE SEEN AGAIN. It's pure fanboy chuck, and while Blalock is very easy on the eyes, the whole scene is unecessary and detracts from the show in an attempt to get some skin ratings.

Damn it, I was worried about that. I'll have to wait until I see it to comment on it, but the set could very well be used again. The director and writers just need to tone down the ol' hormones.

quote:
The Suliban (pronounced SOO-lih-bahn) are nifty enough, though I dunno how often their FX-dependent abilities will be seen on the show due to budgetary constraints... Also, the Suliban ships are NOT organic - they just function that way, I think.

They're not organic? That's an interesting twist. We may only see there abilities every now and again like we did with Odo.

quote:
Strangely enough, while there are plenty of push buttons all over the Pre-E, everyone (EVERYONE) else has the familiar touch-screen graphics, including the Klingons.

Everyone else has the interactive touch screen graphics? Well, there's a continuity glitch since the Klingon Bird-of-Prey in Star Trek III and IV had physical buttons and so forth. However, did we see any Klingon ships in the episode?

Overall, it sounds pretty good. I can't wait to see it and offer up my own comments and criticisms of "Broken Bow." I bet some of the stuff that was left nebulous will be partially explained in the coming episodes. We'll just have to wait and see on that, though.

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The philosopher's stone. Those who possess it are no longer bound by the laws of equivalent exchange in alchemy. They gain without sacrifice and create without equal exchange. We searched for it, and we found it.


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Michael Dracon
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From what I've seen on the saucer impulse engines in screengrabs is that they have much smaller exhausts than the engines in the back. But the saucer engines also have the twin blue exhausts each (making it 8 in total for the whole ship).

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Mark Nguyen
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Answering questions, though most of you will be able to see for yourselves in a matter of hours:

-Engines: what Nightwing said. It also seems that not all of them are on all the time. Furthermore, at one point Archer & Tucker are in an inspection pod (which looks a lot like the nose section of the Phoenix) and they pass under what look to be steerable maneuvering thrusters.

-Weapons: the *only* time they're fired, it seems that the pulses were emitted from the dorsal fore section, and from a distance so you couldn't tell excatly where they were coming from. There are a couple structures in that area that are vaguely reminiscent of the E-refit ball turrets, so that might be it. Also, there's a quartet of holes on the hull underside which are probably the missile launch tubes.

-Shields: No special effect when they're "polarized". No big deal, as the E-nil had no shield effects either. Also, when the hull is hit, they don't go through the lame "shields down to X percent!" stuff.

-Oddly enough, the Pre-E weapons don't seem to do much, if any damage. Perhaps a subsequent upgrade to phased waepons will help.

-Transporters: They're not the glowey gold stuff of TOS. It's somewhat more reminiscent of TNG, but in this case the effect starts as a mass of shimmery stuff that expands to form the object being beamed - or to envelop it and dematerialize.

-The "drop bay" I'm referring to is actually describing the bays which house each pod. So, the bay we see in the promo has two sets of doors beneath it, and on the exterior shot we see that there's another set of doors directly aft of them, also aft of the way the pods are oriented. So if anything, there are TWO shuttlebays, each contaning two sets of doors and divided by a wall.

-Bridge: The front is pretty nondescript. Just a big rectangle for the viewer (larger than Voyager's, thank God). No other doors or exits to be seen. One wonders then why they have the railing up front there if no onoe's going to use them.

-Suliban ships: Nope, not organic, unless it's in a Breen kinda way. They're called "cell ships" because they agglomerate into larger structures and look really cool doing it.

-Klingon ships: nope, unless you count the wreck seen in the beginning (which is not really identifiable). One wonders where the Suliban ships were, then? Did they hide them? Crash as well?

-Note: The Evil Future Guy (EFG) is voiced by James Horan, who's played numerous guest roles on Trek, including the human Tactical officer in "Descent II", Dr. Jobril in the Doctor-Crusher-Metaphasic-Shield show, the Jem'Haddar Worf gets beaten up by in "By Inferno's Light", and at least one person in Voyager. Plus is was the Badass Immortal Grason on "Highlander: The Series". Anyway, the EFG looks obstensibly human, and is dressed in black.

-Also, no real explanation of the "Temporal Cold War" is made, other than it exists and the Suliban are part of it somehow, and that they're receiving some of their genetic enhancement technology that way.

My channel decided to run the show with lots of on-screen "DON'T MISS THE SEASON PREMIERE OF JAG!!!" scroll-bys, so I'm gonna have to record the show again on the cable channel this Saturday. Strangely though, I won't really mind.

Mark

--------------------
"This is my timey-wimey detector. Goes ding when there's stuff." - Doctor Who
The 404s - Improv Comedy | Mark's Starship Bridge Designs | Anime Alberta


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TheF0rce
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I didn't understand their shield tech...

The captn said "polarized the hull"

I assume that = "raise shields"

So i think its some kind of magnectic enforced armor and not really deflector shields.

I'm surprised the sulliban didn't blow them away as most of their tech is hinted to come from the future.
I'm also surprised the small sulliban fighter got captured by grappling hooks...
No shields?
Can you say "fishing"

Btw...did evil future guy remind anyone else of a romulan?...hmmmmmmmmmm


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Ryan McReynolds
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quote:
Originally posted by TheF0rce:
I didn't understand their shield tech...

The captn said "polarized the hull"

I assume that = "raise shields"

So i think its some kind of magnectic enforced armor and not really deflector shields.


Right. Specifically, he said "polarize the hull plating." Apparently, it is basically a structural integrity field sort of setup.

quote:
Originally posted by TheF0rce:
Btw...did evil future guy remind anyone else of a romulan?...hmmmmmmmmmm

No. And for what it's worth, he's called "Humanoid Figure" in the script and in the credits, so that's what I'll stick with.

[ September 26, 2001: Message edited by: Ryan McReynolds ]



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Enterprise: An Online Companion

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Sol System
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Cancerman.

Er...Temporalcancerman.

Maybe not.


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Harry
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Ryan! Great site!

The perfect place to hang out until we will finally get a new Encyclopedia and Chronology!

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Wes
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I liked the decon scene. Had something for the girls and the guys. Star Trek seems to goodie goodie without any of that naughty stuff... ;o)
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Ryan McReynolds
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quote:
Originally posted by Harry:
Ryan! Great site!

Thanks!

quote:
Originally posted by Harry:
The perfect place to hang out until we will finally get a new Encyclopedia and Chronology!

That's the idea. Now, if I could find time to write the rest of the damned entries...

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Enterprise: An Online Companion

"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." --Phillip K. Dick


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USSdefiant
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I also got the feeling that is was a romulan. Actually, for some REALLY weird reason, both me and my dad got the feeling that it was Sarek.... Of course that made absoloutely no sense(but it is about time travel....) so I thought about it for a second and decided that it did feel a lot like a romulan. About the touch screen problem now. Paris was able to get the delta flyer to be build with a couple of joysticks and a bunch of push buttons when pretty much the whole federation had converted to touch screen. The only good explanation(that I can think of so far) is that at some point between ENT and TOS, they decided to switch to buttons instead of touch panels. I would like it if near the end of the series, they decided to have a ship class built with no touch screens. But of course, we could always just blame it on the fact that someone is traveling from the future....you know how time travel is.
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capped
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I read a Trek novel where Uhura had been musing to herself about an attempted refit of the Enterprise with touch sensitive panels that were too sensitive, so standard controls were installed for efficiency sake. Even if thats not entirely accurate, up until the 2280s (when the E-A was launched with touchpads), it might have just been a matter of design preference.

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TheF0rce
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The humans probably got touch screen technology from the sulliban...the enterprise did run away in the end with that sulliban craft and all it's preciouse technology


...well, for whatever good it can do....the whole capture was too easy...the craft must not have shields...and the base must not have sensors! LOL

Very "lazy" how they unfiltrated the base and saved the day.


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