posted
It's been tried before, but it ended up in the usual fandom vs canon debates. So please, I only want to have the bare facts in this thread.
I know there have been many (obvious) inconsistencies concerning the Enterprise's weapons, but let's leave them be for now.
So, the things I'd really like to know:
- How many phaser-banks and torp tubes were mentioned, and where are they? - How many (and what kind of) different firing modes were mentioned (I know of the phaser proximity blast from BoT and the stun beam from "A Piece of the Action")? - In what cases did they fire what color phaserbeam? - Was the Phaser Control Room ever used/mentioned after or before BoT? If so, in any specific situations? - Perhaps an obvious question, but just WHO controlled the phasers and torpedoes on the Bridge?
It's a bit ambitious, I know, but I'm hoping at least something useful will come out of this.
I stress again, please try to stay on topic, and let's not drag fandom and behind-the-scenes information into this.
quote:Originally posted by Harry: Perhaps an obvious question, but just WHO controlled the phasers and torpedoes on the Bridge?
Wasn't it Sulu? At least that's what I always thought...
Yeah, Sulu was the weapons guy. I recall that on "Mirror Mirror" which may or maynot have the same controls as in OUR universe, he did have access to a security console at his station.
I always thought the enterprise just had phasers and photon torpedoes and nothing was explained much in detail about them.
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posted
From what I recall of the 25th Anniversary computer game, Chekov was the one to handle the weapons. But that's not necessarily the most trustworthy source...
Phaser beams...
I remember they were firing light purple-ish pulse blasts as the "phaser proximity" bursts in BoT. The only other version I remember was bright-blue steady beams at a few points, like "Elaan of Troyius." Whoops -- I also just remembered the steady bright-orange phaser beams in "The Doomsday Machine." (Both the Enterprise and the Constellation had these, though the 1701 was firing dual beams and the Constellation had only one functional.)
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posted
Yes, there were only two beams ever seen at a time, and they always fired from the region immediately around/above the lower sensor dome. Discrepancies there are probably due solely to primitive compositing techniques. The "proximity" phasers from "Balance of Terror" were often reused as photon torpedoes, but if I'm not mistaken, there was also a newer torpedo effect. In either case, it was again two apparent tubes, firing in either simultaneous bursts or alternating.
That said, there were more phasers and torpedoes in dialogue than ever seen. Offhand, in "The Paradise Syndrome," they fire phasers one and two, and then phasers three and four. After each command, the same footage of two blue beams in two consecutive volleys is seen. This might suggest that "phaser one" is the first blast of both phasers, "phaser two" the second, and so on. Or it might be a low budget requiring stock footage. There is also a reference to aft phasers in the damage control stock sound loop, I think.
I can't remember the title of the episode relevant to torpedoes, but there is one where they mention tubes "one through six." In any case, they always fired from the same place as the phasers, and there never seemed to be more than two actual tubes. The theory was that they were like revolvers, with three "tubes" per launcher that get preloaded for more rapid firing.
I could get screencaps of most of the stock shots from the DVDs I have...
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Shik
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posted
quote:Originally posted by Harry: - How many phaser-banks and torp tubes were mentioned, and where are they?
From the E-D blueprints booklet...
Rick Sternbach: "In classic Star Trek, the ship's phaser beams didn't seem to come from anywhere in particular."
Andy Probert: "In classic Star Trek, the phasers came from the Special Effects department. They had nothing to do with any features on the outside of the original Enterprise. The pahsers came out of the photon tubes and vice versa: very confusing."
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posted
I don't recall the special phasers from "Balance of Terror" ever being used as photon torpedoes. I always remember the photorp effect as being a tube shaped thing, rather than the big circles of Balance of Terror. I think they reused the SFX.
And I'm also sure that Sulu handled weapons. That little viewer thing he had raised whenever the ship was being attacked (Spock's Brain, Journey to Babel).
And as has been said, the SFX always showed the beams coming from around the lower saucer sensor dome thing. The blue beams were I believe always shown firing forward. The red beams were shown firing forward, or sometimes down.
As a note, the SFX of the phasers in "The Doomsday Machine" are notably worse than the normal stock shots. The phasers in that episode are really obviously drawn elements placed on and off. They appear whole, and then they vanish. The regular stock SFX are actually animated, and show the phasers with a start and end point. If you get what I mean.
I have no idea what was up with the red/blue thing, BTW. From what I remember, the first time the phasers were used was in BOT, where theywere just weird. After that, they seemed to just alternate red and blue.
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posted
In the wargames from the Ultimate Computer, they were again two blue beams firing in different directions (one wonders how it hit anything! )
Otherwise the phasers power was variable as apparently the lowest (used in the mock-battle) were 1/100th power. Evidently the photon torpedoes had varying power 'charges' as well.
Really nothing useful here, but thats one of the few TOS eps I have on tape that hasnt been mentioned yet
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posted
In "Balance of Terror" the Navigator, Lt. Styles, was in charge of weapons, he also messaged down to the phaser control room as well. Their foreward phasers were purple torpedoes.
Apparently weapons control alternated between stations; as it was inferred that Sulu was tactical, in the "The Ultimate Computer", where he used that pop-up goggle device.
BTW, Does anyone know the term for that bugger? The old school ST:SF Tech Manual from '75 has pretty good details on the bridge but it doesnt show it on the Helmsman's station.
Also, what is the difference between the Helmsman, Navigator, Conn Officer; did the two positions get integrated into one? Helm+Nav=Conn? If so why doesnt NX-01 have both a Navigator and Helmsman?
Also what is the Con (with one 'n')? Does that just mean 'in charge of the ship'? I ask, because in ST3 Kirk told Sulu he had the "Con" when Kirk left the bridge to go to Spocks quarters to find McCoy there....
Just some thoughts.
[ February 18, 2003, 03:53 AM: Message edited by: Futurama Guy ]
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quote:Originally posted by Futurama Guy: Also, what is the difference between the Helmsman, Navigator, Conn Officer; did the two positions get integrated into one? Helm+Nav=Conn? If so why doesnt NX-01 have both a Navigator and Helmsman?
Also what is the Con (with one 'n')? Just the Captains chair? In ST3 Kirk told Sulu he had the "Con" when Kirk left the bridge to go to Spocks quarters to find McCoy there....
Just some thoughts.
I believe that some time in between TOS and TNG the Helm and Navigation positions were combined to become the Conn station as we see it now. As for why ENT seems to have a TNG-like Conn, I dunno. My guess is they didn't want to hire someone else for the Nav billet, and didn't want to have the "Nameless Ensign of the Week" manning the post.
As for the "con", I got this definition from Hazegray.org. Conn � Has several uses, all to do with control of the ship. (1) (General Usage) When an officer announces "I have the conn," he or she is then legally responsible to give proper steering and engine orders for the safe navigation of the ship. (2) (Submarines) In submarines, the term used to refer to the conning tower, a structure built atop the hull from which periscope attacks on shipping were conducted. In more modern times, �the conn� refers to the submarine�s control center, an analogous compartment located within the pressure hull. (3) In general, the area of the ship from which conn orders are given.
I would personally attribute the missing n in con from a typo in the closed captioning.
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posted
1. The Enterprise was also seen to fire red phasers and red photon torpedoes in "Arena"[TOS]. The latter were animated in to look like little more than semi-luminous gobs of Jell-o.
2. The background chatter sometimes dubbed in to the bridge noise includes a fellow mentioning aft phasers, right around the time some guy says that gravity is at "point eight".
(The first time I heard this (and thus, I presume, the best occasion to hear it) was when watching "Friday's Child"[TOS], as Scotty chased wild geese.)
Thus, we know she has phasers fore and aft, but that's all we know about. (It follows that there would be more, or that these might be steerable a la NX-01 . . . and we can easily retcon the magic moving phaser emitters by pointing to the arms the NX-01 uses, and assuming something similar was in use on the Enterprise-Prime.)
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posted
I don't have the episode handy, but wasn't there one shot of the Enterprise from behind the ship where it was firing phasers at a planet. I believe it was in "The Alternative Factor". I don't recall what color the beam or beams are. Anyone have the episode?
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![[Smile]](smile.gif)
There is also a reference to aft phasers in the damage control stock sound loop, I think.![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
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