posted
Perhaps the spherical hull section is for humanoid passengers and the blue filtered glass bit is an open space where they're able to just float about and relax or commune or whatever it is they do.
Logically if the Medusans are semi/non-corporteal then they would probably need these ships built for them rather than build them themselves. So this is probably an adapted or refitted design, hence the humanoid sections.
As far as the rods go, perhaps it's some of sublight field propulsion technology, or perhaps the Medusan equivalent of oars or peddles.
posted
I just assumed the pipes are a form of impulse engine. Remember the back of the Daedelus class... has those exhaust ports that skirt the perimeter of the back of the secodary hull.
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Daniel Butler
I'm a Singapore where is my boat
Member # 1689
posted
Speaking of UFP members, I think the Medusans could still have their own ships even if they were members of the Fed...after all, the Trill did...the Vulcans did...and the Benzites seem to have their own military (although I don't know if they were actually UFP members or not).
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posted
I think the idea here is that the Medusans don't have their "own" ships because they never developed them for themselves. Being incorporeal I suppose the idea of using lumps of metal to travel between stars was as unthinkable to them as sitting in free floating clouds of ionised gas to go out jogging would seam to us.
I suppose the usual benchmark of warp capability equals first contact needs to be sidestepped when dealing with incorporeal beings. Makes you wonder what their home planet would be like and how first contact was initiated. I'd speculate that their homeworld is a Gas Giant and that they're perfectly capable of interstellar travel under their own power (as are most wibbly light beings we've seen) though travel in starships is faster and safer than "walking" it, to say nothing of the safety of any passing humanoid that happened to look at them.
quote:Originally posted by Daniel Butler: Speaking of UFP members, I think the Medusans could still have their own ships even if they were members of the Fed...after all, the Trill did...the Vulcans did...and the Benzites seem to have their own military (although I don't know if they were actually UFP members or not).
Well, sure. But those ships are all Federation ships. Any ship registered to a Federation world is a Federation ship. And Federation worlds probably share technology with each other. That's all I was saying.
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posted
If Medusan's are non-corporal, then why is their appearance so horrifying to humans? I know we can get scared by bright lights but this is ridiculous. Furthermore if they are non-corporal, why would they need ships; do they need oxygen?
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posted
I haven't actually seen the episode... does what's-her-name go with the Medusans on their ship? Maybe they have a handful of ships when they need to interact/transport corporeal beings.
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posted
It's reported elsewhere* that the CBS-D guys figured this ought to be a Starfleet-tech Medusan vessel, but this simply means they weren't paying attention.
From episode transcripts, designers like Marvick were to adapt instruments for Medusans in the event that they could serve as navigators aboard starships.
If Starfleet equipment was already in use by the Medusans, then this would make little sense . . . the adaptations would already exist.
Second, initially the Enterprise was taking them to the Medusan planet. Later, Miranda says something about reaching the "Medusan vessel". But this is after they've been sent outside the galaxy . . . presumably they anticipated that other arrangements would have to be made. But, instead of a Medusan ship, a smallish Starfleet vessel was sent to complete the transport, freeing the Enterprise for her next assignment.
It's not pretty, but it's the only way I see for the vessel we see to make sense in context.
-------------------- . . . ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.
posted
Or, we could just say "Hey, we got an all-new TOS Starfleet ship design, Yay!" and just be happy with that without trying to justify it's appearance in the episode
Because...it might end up also being the S.S. Aurora... try to explain that one!
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quote:Originally posted by Guardian 2000: It's reported elsewhere* that the CBS-D guys figured this ought to be a Starfleet-tech Medusan vessel, but this simply means they weren't paying attention.
Hey! I'm that reliable source! G2K links to Shik's post in the Subspace Comms thread where he quotes my post from a few pages earlier here. We're chasing our own tails!
-------------------- When you're in the Sol system, come visit the Starfleet Museum
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Shik
Starship database: completed; History of Starfleet: done; website: probably never
Member # 343
posted
I know. People don't do any damned research anymore.
-------------------- "The French have a saying: 'mise en place'—keep everything in its fucking place!"
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Daniel Butler
I'm a Singapore where is my boat
Member # 1689
posted
That amuses me greatly.
Maybe the Medusans don't just look like glowy lights. Not every "non-corporeal" being has to be a glowy fuzzy cloud after all. Maybe they're not even 'ugly' in the traditional sense but some construction of higher-dimensional shapes that drives humans insane when they see it because their brain just can't make sense of it.
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posted
My point exactly. There has to be a more intelligent reason why the Medusans appearance causes humans to go mad than "it's because they're really ugly".
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