Flare Sci-Fi Forums: End of boredom I: BoP launcher

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Posted by Bernd (Member # 6) on :

At least, I don't feel this is boring because I have never really cared about it:

The torpedo launcher is open, as we mostly see it: http://www.uni-siegen.de/~ihe/bs/startrek/articles/bop/bop-head-front.jpg

Here, the launcher is covered with a lid: http://www.uni-siegen.de/~ihe/bs/startrek/temp/bop-launcher-closed.jpg

I can hardly imagine the lid is turned inward to open the launcher tube.

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Posted by Black Knight (Member # 134) on :

hmmmmmmmmm........
Could it be part of those different types of BOP like the B'rel and the K'vort?

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Posted by Jim Phelps (Member # 102) on :

Hmm...looks to me like BoPs have a launcher shutter...maybe there are some kind of particles which could enter the ship if the lid is left open for too long, or what about decompression?

Boris

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Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :

Maybe they don't want anyone peeking.

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"And much of Madness, and more of Sin, and Horror the soul of the plot."
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Posted by Dax (Member # 191) on :

I think the launcher always looks closed (the "open" picture is just too dark to notice). Lets just accept that it works, eh?

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"Forgive me if I don't share your euphoria!" (Weyoun to Dukat, DS9 'Tears of the Prophets')
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Posted by Gaseous Anomaly (Member # 114) on :

God be with the days when BoPs actually used their torpedo launchers. I don't recall one occuring since STVI.

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Posted by Mikey T (Member # 144) on :

Maybe they ran out of torpedoes? Wait a second, did the Bird of Prey that Lursa and B'tor use to damage the Enterprise-D use it's torp lancher?

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Posted by Elim Garak (Member # 14) on :

Yes, it did, actually. In the opening volley they shot, at least.

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Elim Garak: "Oh, it's just Garak. Plain, simple Garak. Now, good day to you, Doctor. I'm so glad to have made such an... interesting new friend today." (DS9: "Past Prologue")

Posted by Dax (Member # 191) on :

Maybe the BoPs in DS9 are a different type that can't fire torpedos

(just kidding). Oh yeah, remember that K't'inga that fired a disruptor blast from its torpedo launcher in "Way of the Warrior"? Now, that was a rather stupid mistake.

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"Forgive me if I don't share your euphoria!" (Weyoun to Dukat, DS9 'Tears of the Prophets')
Dax's Ships of STAR TREK

Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :

Er...why is that? Seems to me if the Klingons want to pull out the torpedo launcher and put in a disruptor, they're perfectly free to do so.

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"And much of Madness, and more of Sin, and Horror the soul of the plot."
--
The Conqueror Worm, by Edgar Allan Poe

Posted by Dax (Member # 191) on :

Good point, Sol. That's worthy of a no-prize award

Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :

Well, when I first saw "Way of the Warrior", I assumed that the different weaponry was supposed to be a visual clue that these were more modern versions of the K'tinga. Of course, I'm an apologist by nature.

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"And much of Madness, and more of Sin, and Horror the soul of the plot."
--
The Conqueror Worm, by Edgar Allan Poe

Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :

Weren't the K'tinga's different colours anyway? For that matter, how many times did we see a K'Tinga actually shoot torpedoes from that opening. IIRC, once. Perhaps THAT ship was the mistake.

That open/closed shutter thing looks confusing, because I thought they used the same BOP model from ST III in the TV shows (whereas I think the K'Tingas are all CGI'd. They only appeared in the show rarely, and always in stock footage before WOTW). Why would they alter the model like that? The open pic look like a shot form ST III (That was reused in Redemption, when IIRC the rings lit up before a torp was fired). The second pic I'm not sure about. It is from ST IV?

Actually, is the BOP the oldest ship (from a production design POV) that's still in use (as the Excelsior and Miranda have changed designs more tham once, whereas the BOP hasn't as far as I can see).

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Posted by Dax (Member # 191) on :

Sol: No need to apologise - I honestly liked your theory. No-prize is actually a complement of sorts.

PsyLiam: I'm pretty sure they used the K't'inga model in "WotW". Is the K't'inga-class officially decommissioned? If not, that would be the oldest in use.

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"Forgive me if I don't share your euphoria!" (Weyoun to Dukat, DS9 'Tears of the Prophets')
Dax's Ships of STAR TREK

Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :

Yes, the K'Tinga's where in WoTW. Strange though that they fired red disruptor blasts at DS9 in stead of green. And solid rays too, not energy balls. IIRC, that's the only time they fired phasers, I never saw it in TOS.

The Bird of Prey's have fired torps sometimes, when chasing mirror Bashir and mirror Jadzia in "Shattered Mirror" for example. Alas, our heroes had learned the spell of "Warp shadows" so the torps bounced off all over the place.

It's funny, when Spock saved Kirk from the fake god's wrath in ST:V, they partially used blast sounds from starwars TIE:s in the BoP disruptors. Makes sense though, there both ILM.

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Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :

Just checked ST:V ending again. And to follow Sol System's thought, it seems the klingons can take away the torp-launcher from the BoP nose and put in a search lantern too!!!

And to top it off, the Ent-A fires a GREEN torpedo. I'll tell'ya, that movie is just nasty.

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Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :

No, Nimrod, I think that ST:V weren't done by ILM, I remember reading an interview, where the effects house just said, if its not broke, don't fix...

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Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :

Ok, I admit I jumped to conclusions, but wouldn't you if you heard that darn blaster sound and then heard firsthand from Lucas that they do the FX in Star Trek?

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Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :

I think ILM did TWOK, TSFS and TVH + the TNG pilot - which allowed them to have ILM in the credits for the whole season! I think they also did TUC, G and FC

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Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :

That just makes it more illogical.

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-You're crazy!!!
-Funny, I thought I was pisces!

Posted by Dax (Member # 191) on :

Except that ST:V clearly has the worst FX out of all the movies. Funny, but it has the worst script, as well.

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"Forgive me if I don't share your euphoria!" (Weyoun to Dukat, Tears of the Prophets)
Dax's Ships of STAR TREK

Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :

gagh! Either me no clear enough, or people no understand.

Okay, they made a K'Tinga model in ST:TMP. It fired torpedoes. The next time we saw it was STII (stock footage). We also saw it in a first season TNG ep (|Heart of Glory I believe) in stock footage, and again in Emissary (in stock footage). In none of these instances did it fire Torpedoes. In Emissary, it seemed to fire disruptor bolts from the position of the war nacelles.

The first time we saw new footage of a K'Tinga was in ST VI. It did not fire in this movie. The opening in the end lit up, but didn't fire.

The next time we saw K'Tinga's was in WOTW. They were a different colour, and could quite easily have been CGI'd. In this ep, they fired Disruptor/phaser blasts from their nose.

So you see, the evidence for the nose firing torps is no more conclusive than the nose firing energy beams. It's jsut the torps happened first. OTOH, only two ships fired torps in that film, whereas laods fired disrupters in WOTW. So, maybe ST:TMP is the blooper?

You know, my memory isn't brilliant, but I can't recall the D7 firing in TOS. I have a vague idea it might have fired energy ball thingies, but don't quote me.

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Posted by Bernd (Member # 6) on :

It seems the weapon question is as hard as the size problem. I still believe the opening in the front of the K't'inga and the BoP is and has always been a torpedo launcher. Phaser/disruptor colors may change, if a new type is installed or the system is upgraded. We don't know how it comes to the color effect anyway. BTW, the main disruptor of the K't'inga is supposed to be in the front end of the nacelle. This makes sense, since the Klingons are always attacking and never retreating

and since there is no better location facing forward, except for the very front end which is occupied by the torp launcher.