Every Federation starship we have ever seen, and even aboard the Phoenix, there has always been an indicator below the main viewscreen that features two lights coming towards each other.
Are there any potential explanations for its purpose?
The thought struck me a few days ago that it might be a status indicator for the intermix. That simple, dedicated little display is a way of constantly knowing whether your warp core is injecting matter and antimatter to produce power.
Presumably, whatever this thing is, it's important to be exactly below the main focus of the bridge through all of warp flight history and to be included on every single starship ever built. There's not a whole lot of information that that kind of display would be able to convey. I suppose it could be an indicator that the computer or some specific extent of the computer is processing, like a perpetual hour glass, but it's ubiquitousness makes that a fairly useless indicator, since the computer is presumably always processing. I prefer to think of it as a dedicated display so that you can immediately know whether or not you have to basic requirement to generate main power.
However, I'm sure there are quite a few examples that would disprove this.
Also, I thought I saw an Ambassador class in "Tears of the Prophets." But it turned out to be an Excelsior class.
Also, Enterprise sucks.
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
Well then, given that most people who say "Enterprise sucks" watch the show anyway, you should have noticed by now that NX-01 does not have any blinkies below the viewscreen. Has this been factored into your analysis?
Also, on the TOS Enterprise the lights move from one side to the other, not towards each other.
Mark
Posted by B.J. (Member # 858) on :
Aboard the Phoenix, the lights moved much faster when at warp, and slowed down once they exited warp.
Also, Enterprise rules.
B.J.
Posted by Dat (Member # 302) on :
Also the Defiant, the Valiant, the runabouts, the shuttles, the refit E-nil, the Reliant, the Grissom, the Saratoga (both ST4 and DS9), and so many others don't have them. Also, the version on the E-D during the first season had them going the other way as are the ones on the E-A and Excelsior during the movies. I think it might also be true of the E-B. And on the E-nil during TOS on occasion, it would be completely off, or would blink individual lights randomly.
Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
K.I.T.T. also had them.
David Hasselhoff is the man.
Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
Pike's Enterprise didn't have them either.
Since the viewscreen is basically a visual representation of the scanners and sensors, the blinkies might have something to do with the sensors.
Posted by Toadkiller (Member # 425) on :
I've never paid much attention to them, but the idea that they are status board of some sort is cool.
Maybe it tells them when there are new posts on Flare?
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
I think the TOS blinking light was Gene's cue to Shatner on how to talk...so...slow... Kinda like a metronome for 60's overacting.
Someone watch an old TOS episode to test this.
Posted by OnToMars (Member # 621) on :
Are you sure the Defiant/Valiant didn't have them? I could've sworn they did, just as I could've sworn the E-r had them. Also, Reliant/Grissom and the Saratogas? If all of these are mere reogranizations of the same set, why would the Enterprise (if it is the case) and not the Reliant have them?
I'm watching the first season of TNG now and the blinkers look just like they always have.
I haven't watched "Enterprise" in awhile, and frankly, I disregard it anyway.
With the Phoenix, presumably increasing the rate of M/AM flow increases the raw amount of power generated, though that is likely a crude measure. Crude, however, works perfectly for the Phoenix.
I also like the idea that the AGT E-D and Pasteur had a square indicator with four lights moving inwards to each other. I like the idea that there are perhaps two matter and two antimatter injectors or some other similarly four tiered engine system.
Sensors is a likely alternative, but what could it signify for sensors? Active or passive scanning? What kind of information could you convey about the sensors in that kind of display?
Think of it from a human factors stand point. Clearly it's a display, which is designed to convey some sort of information. Given the simplicity of the display, the information itself must also be quite simple. Clearly whatever it's conveying is also quite important, given the prominence of the display. Just from those few stipulations alone, the most fitting solution to me seems to be a representation of the matter/antimatter injector system.
Wow, we are actually trying to devise an explanation for the lights that blink out of sequence. I missed this board.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
I've always just assumed it let you know the viewscreen refresh rate.
(Perhaps not.)
Posted by Dat (Member # 302) on :
The Defiant's viewscreen was seen enough times that we know those "lights" weren't there. As for the E-nil refit, they were briefly seen in ST1 or ST2, but were graphics displayed on the viewscreen itself and not from seperate panels above or below the viewscreen.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
I thought it was to indicate when the view screen was active?? Although it being on is a dead give-away.
Posted by Mr. Turnbull (Member # 1323) on :
I always thought it was just to look nice (And distract), a sort of visual distraction from the nothing-ness of deep space.
Posted by J (Member # 608) on :
Hey that's it... Maybe Shatner has ADD? The blinking light on the front of the bridge was just too much and it slowed his speech----
no wait, that can't work because it wasn't just on the bridge was it?
Posted by OnToMars (Member # 621) on :
Well, I suppose there are enough holes in it to sink the hypothesis.