posted
I think you're probably right to an extent, TSN, but Archer the Younger specifically asked his father when his ship would be done and how big it would be. I think his pop then said somethign about having to design the engine first or or build it first or something... So it's probably somewhere in between. I think he was mostly concerned with the engine but probably had his hands in the opening phases of building the Enterprise.
Registered: Oct 1999
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About the saucer... the question is, if the hull shape has so much to do with speed, and Earth is building ships based on Vulcan technology, then why do Earth ships look so drastically different from Vulcan ships?
Really, using a saucer as an early starship form doesn't exactly make sense. The variety of alien starship designs proves that hull shape isn't THAT crucial. And a saucer is not the most logical shape to start out with; it limits the internal hull volume, for example, compared with a sphere or a cylinder.
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
Registered: Nov 2000
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The answer is, "Because it looks really neat." And when they're in the middle of a battle, I think that Starfleet wants it's adversaries to stop for a second and admire the aesthetic qualities of the ship that is about to blow them to pieces. That's the kind of organization they are.
posted
Well, that's true, they're striking out on their own. But considering that the Vulcans have so far been the "guides" of Humanity into space, it would be logical to assume that many of the technical details and methods were gleaned from their own operations.
Of course, "ENT" and "logical" are about as opposite as can be...
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted
Being their guides into this new era doesn't necessarily mean that they are their guides as far as technolgy, particularly space faring technology, goes. You could argue that they are helping them clean up the remaining social and political problems on Earth, helping medically, and preparing humanity to join the interstellar community. But from the evidence presented so far, it seems that the way they are specifically not helping them is in starship design and construction.
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