posted
God I miss this feature of the Enterprise-D.
If memory serves, we only saw it four times: Encounter at Farpoint, Arsenal of Freedom, Best of Both Worlds pt. II, and the dreck that was Generations.
I wish TPTB had used this option on more occasions. It's a nice feature of any starship to be able to send non-combatants away while having a dedicated battle section to combat hostile forces.
Having just watched Encounter at Farpoint again, I was surprised by the fanfare that surrounded the first seperation sequence. The TNG theme blasting loudly as we watch from seperate viewpoints as the Enterprise becomes two ... (speaking of which, do both ships identify themselves as the Enterprise once they're seperated?)
------------------ Star Trek Gamma Quadrant Average Rated 6.27 out of 10 Smileys by Fabrux (with four eps posted) *** "Oh, yes, screw logic, let's go for a theory with no evidence!" -Omega 11:48am, Jan. 19th, 2001 **** "The candidate who slimed John McCain in the primaries and smeared Al Gore in the general election is now the president who pledges to elevate the nation's tone and bring civility to our discorse. Kind of like Michael Corleone brought peace to the mob by killing the heads of the other four families." --Paul Begala, Is Our Children Learning?
posted
As for identifying the seperate section, I dunno - e've never seen them seperate in fleet action. I guess it'd be something as simple as "Enterprise Saucer Section" and "Enterprise Stardrive Section". Both of which abbreviate to ESS, which doesn't help any.
Mark
------------------ "Why build one, when you can have two at twice the price?"
Yes, the E-B was nice. Stellar Cartography rocked -- I wish we'd seen that set in the series! And Soran's gun -- stop drooling, you're going to rust it!
But story-wise, it was DRECK.
------------------ Star Trek Gamma Quadrant Average Rated 6.27 out of 10 Smileys by Fabrux (with four eps posted) *** "Oh, yes, screw logic, let's go for a theory with no evidence!" -Omega 11:48am, Jan. 19th, 2001 **** "The candidate who slimed John McCain in the primaries and smeared Al Gore in the general election is now the president who pledges to elevate the nation's tone and bring civility to our discorse. Kind of like Michael Corleone brought peace to the mob by killing the heads of the other four families." --Paul Begala, Is Our Children Learning?
posted
I would have used it more in the series. Both sections were still Identitfied as the Enterprise. The Stardrive was probaly the closest thing Starfleet had to a warship until the Defiant cane onlong. The Stardrive which without the saucer is the length of Voyager. The reason that there wasn'nt mass saucer seperation during the war is that the galaxy class is stronger as a starship as a whole.
IP: Logged
posted
It's a nice feature, but I can perfectly understand TPTB's reason for not using it. It slowed down the story too much. Sure, it may not actually take that long for everyone to pop down to the battle bridge, but you've then got to go and pick up the saucer again at the end, plus you have to loose some of your senior staff.
If it had carried on, we would have spent half the series looking at a headless chicken. Who wants that?
------------------ "And Mojo was hurt and I would have kissed his little boo boo but then I realized he was a BAD monkey so I KICKED HIM IN HIS FACE!" -Bubbles
posted
Personally, I don�t like the idea of separation, I think it leaves the individual pieces to vulnerable. That and the fact that the stardrive section looks butt-ugly. And the Prometheus, we�ve been over this before, but guess what happens if the middle-section gets blown away?
------------------ "The Starships of the Federation are the physical, tangible manifestations of Humanity�s stubborn insistence that life does indeed mean something." Spock to Leonard McCoy in "Final Frontier"
posted
Problem is, they've been able to design few enough ship classes that look good from every angle (I mean, have you SEEN the Equinox's side view? Just one example, but an apt one - it looks like it's lost its saucer). Designing a ship that looks good in two separate parts seems to be beyond them (three parts, though seemed to work). Maybe if they had gone in for something like the Prometheus from the start, that looked good separated and you could convincingly cut to as they approached a situation, and know exactly why it was in two parts, without having to show the actual sep sequence. . .
------------------ Ross: This is not good for my rage. *takes another pill*
posted
Personally, I don't think it left the stardrive section vulnerable. The intention for even having the ship separate was so that the stardrive could go do battle if necessary. Generally, you don't design something to split into two pieces if there is a greater chance that when seperated you're going to lose one of those pieces.
I've heard the 'more fusion/impulse reactors and more phaser strips' comments before but fusion and impulse power pales in comparison to the M/AM reactor power. More phaser strips doesn't mean more power, merely easier to hit off-angle targets...the battle section looked like it had ample coverage. Additionally, when separated the stardrive section can divert all its power to a smaller shield bubble. I just don't see the point designing a separating vessel unless its beneficial to you in a fight.
This all takes for granted that the saucer is left out of the fight (as implied by its purpose, btw BOBW was a desperation move).
IMO, I think one of the coolest opportunities that TPTB missed was showing the Odyssey separate and leave the saucer at DS9.
posted
If the Oddyssey did leave the saucer at DS9, it would looked strange. But a saucer seperation before the Oddyssey blew up or the explosion happening while the saucer seperation was in progress would have been KICK-ASS!!!
------------------ "Oh for fuck's sake, stop your moaning, If you fancy a threesome at this time of night, you can't get start getting choosey about which particular three! -Queer As Folk, UK
posted
I agree with the Odessey thing. That would have been a good idea.
I was happy to see that they used the saucer impulse engines to supplement the main engine in the Dominion War.
------------------ Terry: "Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, ...." Max: "And?" Terry: "I forgot." Max: "Come on, Clinton was the fun one, then came the boring one." Terry: "They're all boring."
Saltah'na
Chinese Canadian, or 75% Commie Bastard.
Member # 33
posted
I heard at one point that the reason why the Saucer Separation technique was not used often was because of its cost. New models had to be created especially for the Saucer separation. Guess they didn't feel like using stock footage (but I think they did though)
------------------ "Or maybe he was a real quack who got sick and tired of pissing people off, and decided to get a life and masterbate for the next 10 years." - Me to Antagonist on Red Quacker, 03/08/01 20:15
posted
Yeah, they always used stock footage. If you watch E at F, they had shots of four or five angles of the seperation. They cut that down to two or three for Arsenal, and to one shot for BoBW II.
They created one new shot for Generations, a rear view of the Saucer clearing the Stardrive, but they used a stock shot as well. I don't think they had to build a new model, just keep models of the seperated Stardrive and Saucer sections on hand.
The manuver would've been a good way depending on the script. Say, the Enterprise is responding to a distress call for a medical emergency at a colony. They arrive, then recieve another distress call from another ship -- which is under attack. The saucer section is left to handle the medical problem, and the stardrive responds to the threat.
------------------ Star Trek Gamma Quadrant Average Rated 6.27 out of 10 Smileys by Fabrux (with four eps posted) *** "Oh, yes, screw logic, let's go for a theory with no evidence!" -Omega 11:48am, Jan. 19th, 2001 **** "The candidate who slimed John McCain in the primaries and smeared Al Gore in the general election is now the president who pledges to elevate the nation's tone and bring civility to our discorse. Kind of like Michael Corleone brought peace to the mob by killing the heads of the other four families." --Paul Begala, Is Our Children Learning?
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