T O P I C ��� R E V I E W
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Timo
Member # 245
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posted
So which is gonna rev us up better, T'Pol taking it off or Archer donning it up? Bakula reveals it all, in the newest TV guide cover.. by giving us the first look into ENT spacesuits. And they look good.What Archer's wearing is definitely more functional-looking than today's clumsy spacewalk or surface-action suits. It seems lightweight and easily donnable and removable. It's clearly a "softsuit", with lots of flexible material and with small tube-joints on the knees and elbows. Only the very uppermost torso, from nipples up, seems rigid. Some minor external tubing is visible, as well as some breastplate controls. A separate or at least protruding airtank/purifier backpack is used. The compact simple helmet is a separate unit. A funny crotch harness may be part of the attachment system for the backpack, or then just a futuristic codpiece. The impression I get from all this is very different from current American or Russian suits, or from derived designs, and closer to the old Mercury suits or TOS softsuits. The shiny brownish color strikes me as a step towards the aluminum shine of the TOS suits, too. Of course, the suit also reminds of the classic 2001/B5 design, but there is far less of that tight wetsuit-like tubing and more of the saggy foil. The TOS movie suits with their rigid torso pieces and huge helmets seem to be a different sort of beast altogether. They are fine for spacewalks and long-duration work, but they seem awfully clumsy for work under gravity. One would think that the TOS movie suits would have had a lightweight surface-action counterpart, but ST2 went and ruined that theory. Or then there was some weird technobabble reason for why Terrell and Chekov did not don the special surface suits. In contrast, the ENT suits seem to be better applicable for surface use, even if they may have poorer visibility, less endurance, etc in spacewalk applications. I see no EVA amenities like hardpoints for tools, or attaching rings for safety ropes. As with all the other Trek suits, there still isn't any apparent external coding (rank- or person-specific colors or patches or markers). However, there may be some nonsystematic color variation, as there was with the TOS movie uniforms. Timo Saloniemi
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targetemployee
Member # 217
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posted
To add to the list of series with softsuits, Farscape has a softsuit.
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Michael_T
Member # 144
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posted
It looks like Archer has on a modified spacesuit from First Contact.
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Mr. Christopher
Member # 71
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posted
Pictures, anyone...?
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MeGotBeer
Member # 411
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posted
Pictures? Pictures?
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Timo
Member # 245
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posted
TrekWeb's articleI don't think a single element was carried over from the ST:FC suits as such. And the materials used seem very different. Although the hard parts are probably the same sort of plastic in the real world, even they look completely different with that coppery finish. This is not a hyperrealistic spacesuit, mind you. It's neither a hardsuit (with hard limbs and joints and a constant inner volume for maintaining a steady 1 atm pressure), like a "Jim" diving suit) nor a skinsuit (with tight wetsuit-like structure to create the pressure directly, without the need of air between the suit and the body). It's a big balloon, and those arms and legs should expand to uncomfortable proportions once the suit is inflated with air. It seems a given that we will not see such an effect in the actual show, so perhaps we are to assume that there is some futuristic technology at play. It looks cool, though. Timo Saloniemi [ August 21, 2001: Message edited by: Timo ]
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Stingray
Member # 621
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posted
"Open the pod bay doors, please, Hal."
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Dr Phlox
Member # 680
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posted
It looks Rustic it reminds of the suit that B'Elanna wore when diving of the shuttle in the episode where B'Elanna keeps hurting herself I think it was Exteme Risk.
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Aban Rune
Member # 226
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posted
It's worth mentioning that the suit B'lanna wore was the same one (or at least the same design) that Kirk wore in the unused portion of Generations were he went orbital skydiving.Anyway...the EVA suit does look pretty cool. I'm glad they went with the copper color instead of the standard Starfleet grey that we've seen in the "future" series. The helmet reminds me of something I've seen before...but I can't think from where.
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The Mighty Monkey of Mim
Member # 646
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posted
Y'know, it looks A LOT like the suits they were originally going to use in TMP, before those 'dome head' suits. (You see Kirk in one of these in the TMP Special, Longer Version.)
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Siegfried
Member # 29
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posted
Wow, The_Tom once said that the set and costume designers made a pact to include purple as often as possible. I think they did the same thing with the earth-tone colors.I like the suit design. It doesn't look to clumsy or cumbersome. The helmet/chest plate combo looks like it may be a bit uncomfortable, though. All in all, I like it. It's also interesting that the straps are so exposed on the suit. That could be a problem in a space fight. Someone grabs the crotch straps and yanks on them, and the good guy's singing soprano for a week.
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The Mighty Monkey of Mim
Member # 646
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posted
See... [ August 21, 2001: Message edited by: The Mighty Monkey of Mim ]
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Aban Rune
Member # 226
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posted
I think we have a winner.
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Siegfried
Member # 29
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posted
They definitely look similar, but I don't think the Enterprise suits are a modification of the original TMP suits. I think these suits a brand-new build.Looking at the TV Guide cover, the clear face plate looks like it stretches back further than the TMP clear face plate. It also looks like the front of the Enterprise helmet has a steeper slope than the TMP helmets. Also, the connection at the breast plate looks rounder and larger on Archer than it does on Kirk and Spock. Most of the body covering on the TMP suits look like a rubber-spandex blend of material. The Enterprise fabric seems to be a looser fit and lacking that look of stretchy spandex.
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Shik
Member # 343
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posted
Nice "I was David Bowman" pose.
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The Mighty Monkey of Mim
Member # 646
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posted
I wasn't really saying that it was, Siggie, only that the Ent suit reminded me of the TMP one. They do look similar, but they're obviously different suits.
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Siegfried
Member # 29
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posted
And I was just agreeing that they look similar but that they are different suits. I simply highlighting the differences between the two.
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TSN
Member # 31
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posted
Um... To me, the similarity seems to end w/ the fact that they're both humanoid spacesuits...
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Timo
Member # 245
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posted
Well, the helmets are similar, but again, ENT has ballooning "softsuits" while this TMP/2001/B5 design seems to be a tensile "skinsuit". Unless there is a skinsuit below the sagging softsuit in ENT...The TMP suits seem to have built-in thrusters on the waist and neck extensions. Obvious EVA suits, probably rather uncomfortable on the ground. They look rather good - I truly wonder why the design was changed. The eventual TMP/TWoK design does not seem to offer any advantages - the bubble helmets have even more reflections and the upper torso is even heavier for the actors to carry. Was it a ventilation problem? Or a crazy artistic decision? Did they have extra money to burn? Timo Saloniemi
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Mr. Christopher
Member # 71
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posted
In TMP, there was lots of money to burn.
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The Mighty Monkey of Mim
Member # 646
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posted
IIRC they were changed because they proved to be problematic for the actors while filming. Though what sort of improvement was furnished by the redesign I can't figure...
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