http://talk.trekweb.com/articles/2001/07/27/996253026.html
Juicy bits follow:
The Starship Enterprise is state-of-the-art. At 190 meters, 80,000 metric tons
and a crew compliment of 87, she brandishes laser cannons and spatial
torpedoes. Shuttlepods can hold a pilot and six passengers (note to producers:
don't put all seven of your regular castmembers in one shuttlepod!), travel at
sub-warp speeds and are used for away missions to planes, ships or space
stations. Launched through bomb bay doors by a magnetic arm, the pods are
released after being positioned below the ship.
The ship's galley is stocked with traditional foodstuffs, but features an early
replicator called a protein re-sequencer that produces a limited range of items
such as pasta or drinks. Meals are prepared by Captain Archer's hand-picked
chef and served either in the Mess Hall or Archer's private mess, where frequent
guests are Tucker and T'Pol.
Transporters are only for cargo, though throughout the first season the crew will
refine the technology for bio-matter traffic. Without the bio-filters of the 24th
century, any time crewmembers return to the ship with foreign agents along for
the ride, they must apply decontaminating gel in the cramped Decon Chamber.
Away teams will carry phase pistols and communicators with primitive universal
translators built-in. But Hoshi's linguistic skills will often be needed. The crew
must use touch-panel intercoms to converse throughout the ship.
Without shields or forcefields, the Enterprise is equipped with polarized hull
plating that leaves the ship vulnerable when retracted. There are no phaser
banks, though Malcom Reed may "invent" this technology down the road.
Enterprise does have retractable turrets that emerge from the hull to fire
plasma-charged artillery.
Long-range communications are only possible at warp speed, so contacting
Starfleet will be sparse.
Be aware that much of this information may have changed or may change as the
series unfolds on screen. Many times, elements in a series bible never
materialize for various reasons.
Mark
[ July 27, 2001: Message edited by: AndrewR ]
quote:
The Starship Enterprise is state-of-the-art. At 190 meters, 80,000 metric tons and a crew compliment of 87...
Okay, about 40 meters shorter than people here were guessing. It definitely feels like a small ship with that tonnage, length, and crew complement.
quote:
...she brandishes laser cannons and spatial torpedoes.
So far so good. Except that technically you can't see laser beams unless they are fired right at your eyes.
quote:
[Shuttlepods are] launched through bomb bay doors by a magnetic arm, the pods are released after being positioned below the ship.
So the shuttle bay is actually under the ship like the Defiant? Pretty interesting. I also see that there is no mention of tractor beams for deploying and retreiving the shuttle pods.
quote:
The ship's galley is stocked with traditional foodstuffs, but features an early replicator called a protein re-sequencer that produces a limited range of items such as pasta or drinks.
I like the idea of going back to the galley. The protein re-sequencer I'll worry about. Still, this sounds like a pretty happening mess hall since it will likely become the social center of the ship. I hope it's decorated better than the other mess halls we've seen.
quote:
Without the bio-filters of the 24th century, any time crewmembers return to the ship with foreign agents along for the ride, they must apply decontaminating gel in the cramped Decon Chamber.
Sounds good. I wonder how the crew members get to the Decon Chamber from the transporter room, though.
quote:
The crew must use touch-panel intercoms to converse throughout the ship.
Good. I always liked those intercoms on The Original Series. And, boy, they were everywhere. Every wall, every station, and almost every desk.
quote:
Without shields or forcefields, the Enterprise is equipped with polarized hull plating that leaves the ship vulnerable when retracted.
Hmmm...
quote:
There are no phaser banks, though Malcom Reed may "invent" this technology down the road.
I really don't like this. Hopefully this will be one of the things that doesn't carry over from the series bible.
quote:
Long-range communications are only possible at warp speed, so contacting Starfleet will be sparse.
So subspace communication is only possible while the ship is in subspace? This could probably explain some of the subspace radio inconsistencies that cropped up with the Horizon.
Well, over all, I like a lot of the information presented. I know that it may not all get put in the show, but I really do like this direction with the technology limitations. The only things that concern me are the protein re-sequencer (open to misuse but not a real biggie) and the possiblity of phaser banks. Other than those, I like the sound of it all. Thanks, Mark!
[ July 27, 2001: Message edited by: Wes1701E ]
The laser thing is a bit iffy, though. We can explain away seeing phasers by justifying them as being fancy subspacey particle thingies. Though laser cannons do = cool.
You do? You sad person. Go outside and find a life.
"...that's the excuse we've been using for years to explain the sounds in outer space."
That was my point. :-)
You crack me up. Now, go drive on the wrong side of the road.
Phase pistols sounds good. Seems to imply that the laser technology isn't sophisticated enough to apply to hand-held weapons (as seen in "The Cage", set in 2251, IIRC).
And one advice for Malcolm Reed: please don't invent phaser banks, you'll needlessly contradict the TNGTM and common sense.
About that hull-armor: could it be that the "Endgame" shields were some sort of VFX test for the new series? I sure hope not!
**Voyager Endgame Spoilers in the below paragraph**
I'm still not all that clear on this retractable hull plating on the Enterprise. There don't appear to be any openings on the hull for the plating to slide out from. Also, I doubt it's going to be appearing by the hull plates flipping over (kinda like the first season Viper change-over effects). It cannot be the same FX sequence as in Endgame because those that seemed to subject some sort of replication technology in order to place the ablative armor onto the outer hull. Enterprise's time period has no replication technology. So it has to be something different.
**Voyager Endgame Spoilers in the above paragraph**
And while I think it'd be a lame plot device to have Malcolm Reed develop phaser banks, I think its logical that phasers first appeared in large shipmounted units prior to development as small handheld weapons. However, the main point becomes is this realistic for the time period? I don't know. I don't have the TNG tech manual or my copy of The Cage sitting out at the moment (I'm in the middle of packing, so I can't pull them out either).
I trust the shuttle launch info in the Bible is outdated by now - the eventual design with aft-facing doors does not really lend itself to an arm-launch sequence the way a dorsal or ventral set of doors would. People understand cranes that move things up or down, but they don't understand cranes that move things horizontally.
Contrary to some comments, I think the two years in the AC-Arcturus run refers to one-way trip, not a round trip - meaning that warp 2 is about 18c by this interpretation. Either it's actually something like warp 2.6-2.7 (but still counting as warp 2 in starship crew parlance as long as warp 3 is not actually reached), or then the numbers don't follow the cubic formula quite as well as the Neptune remark. Still, we're in the ballpark.
Vulcans have an acute sense of smell? Okay. It's not like Spock ever demonstrated that, though (the "Yes" in the elevator scene in ST5 does not count as "acute sense", I trust).
Timo Saloniemi
I can't wait to see what the underside of this thing looks like though.