Now, I've watched The Search for Spock many times. I helped wear out my mom's betamax copy of the movie. I since the destruction sequence more times than I could count using my hands, feet, and the appendages of the people near me. This time, though, was a bit different. I must be getting a bit more insightful in my "old age."

The destruction of the Enterprise was clearly an emotion scene. It touched me a lot since I grew up on The Original Series and the TOS movies. I cannot begin to think about how it affected the people who grew up in the 1960's and watched and nurtured the ship for twenty years. This clearly ranks near the top of the list of enduring Star Trek moments (right next to the death of Spock, in my opinion).

The Enterprise had become a member of the Star Trek family with an importance as high as the cast. And here, in a two minute sequence, she died in a blaze of glory. She died so that James Kirk and his loyal crew and friends could save another member of their family. To echo Kirk from the ending of the movie, "The needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many."

The scene was eerily beautiful. Her caregivers had abandoned her. It almost seemed like she willingly gave herself up to be used to trap the Klingons onboard her fiery soul and send them to Hell. For a brief second between the departure of her family and the arrival of her captors, she was alone in the universe. At peace, actually. When her captors arrived at the bridge, she started speaking to them. She crisply counted off the second remaining until her own death.

The Enterprise seems to be so at peace and wholly supportive of her ultimate fate. When Kirk, Scott, and Chekov set her destruct sequence, there is no delay, no pause, no real emotion. But there is a forcefulness to the words. She doesn't speak as a soul resigned to her fate. She seems to be making this course of action her decision. She willingly gives herself up. And in the ten-seconds down to her death, she sounds almost happy to know that she is losing her battle to give her family the chance to "turn death into a fighting chance to live."

Ships are always "her."

I too watched TSFS on TNN last night, and felt exactly the same way I did when I first saw the Enterprise blow up. You just can't shake the feeling, the way it was presented.

I will admit that I still had some of that old feeling when the Defiant was destroyed. I thought the scene worked well. However, TPTB then went and totally ruined whatever dramatic effect the ship's death caused by hauling out an exact duplicate two episodes later. It was as if the ship had never been destroyed at all, just so they could re-use Defiant stock footage for the final ep. A cheap cop-out, in my opinion.

Ships are always "her."

I've been told Russian ships are referred to as "he", but I cannot confirm this.

the Galaxy-class and its detailing just didn't look good on the big screen.

I thought it actually fared pretty well on the big screen. It seemed much more massive and sleek than what we usually see on our TV sets. The new bridge was nice, and the new details on the model were nice. I didn't care for the "lights out" mood the whole ship had during the movie, however. Later, Voyager cuts lights whenever they go to Red Alert status. Why?!

Since then, all the new classes have generally had more exterior detail.

Well, the Constitution refit seemed pretty nice on the big screen, and it was made before these new classes were even thought about. In addition, the Excelsior looks nice, and it has a pretty sleek and "clean" exterior. A good ship design is determined by its overall shape, not by how much surface detail they can put on it is it not?

[ August 08, 2001: Message edited by: Ace ]

"Ships are always 'her.'"