posted
Well, what are force fields made of, anyway? Without checking the TNGTM (I don't think it says much on this, anyway) my guess is they are another nifty application of graviton-manipulating technology (ie making the actual forcefield a thin sheet of repulsively charged particles that shove everything aside). Going by really-really-old rumours, Enterprise apparently only has a primitive artificial gravity system and no tractor beams, which would be indicative of a rather poor grasp of how to manipulate gravitons at this point in history.
Of couse, I guess a really small warp field could serve as a forcefield of sorts, but I can't imagine it being a particularly good use of a helluvalot of power.
-------------------- "I was surprised by the matter-of-factness of Kafka's narration, and the subtle humor present as a result." (Sizer 2005)
OnToMars
Now on to the making of films!
Member # 621
posted
Ya, that rumor bugged me too about the single gravity well. Its already been established that hover cars were in use in the early 2000's. If you think about it, all you have to do is reverse the technology from repelling gravitons to attracting them and you have non-rotating artificial gravity.
-------------------- If God didn't want us to fly, he wouldn't have given us Bernoulli's Principle.
Registered: Jun 2001
| IP: Logged
If true, then the defense fields were definetly not deflector shields. I go by the "small forcefields protecting important areas" theory. I do also think that the movie implies that the Reliant fires before the Enterprise's shield goes up (we don't see a shield bubble, but then, they hadn't been "invented" by that point).
Also, Kirk's an idiot. Not for not raising shields immedietly (although that was stupid), but for not raising them when the Reliants went up. Idiot man.
But carry on.
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
quote:Originally posted by Stingray: Ya, that rumor bugged me too about the single gravity well. Its already been established that hover cars were in use in the early 2000's. If you think about it, all you have to do is reverse the technology from repelling gravitons to attracting them and you have non-rotating artificial gravity.
Who said the hovercars used antigrav technology? Fans or quiet jets would do the same thing...
posted
Liam, that's the way the dialogue flows, all right. And that sequence has always bugged. You have Saavik saying something about energizing the defense fields with her pressing a button. Then there's a cut to a graphic of the Enterprise will her deflector grid being highlighted.
I'll buy into it being a specialized force field erected around the critical points of the ship. Even if Khan was purposefully firing weak phaser blasts, it could explain why such a dangerously close phaser blast didn't rip into the horizontal intermix shaft and why the torpedo blast didn't do more damage to the bridge superstructure.
posted
The diagram does NOT show shields going up around the ship. It shows some sort of force field (we are to presume, a DEFENSE FIELD) going up around the BRIDGE.
Woah, was I shouting? Sorry.
-------------------- The flaws we find most objectionable in others are often those we recognize in ourselves.
posted
I didn't say that the deflector shields were going up. That was a different graphic. It had a dorsal view of the ship with little dots surrounding the ship as the shields were raised. The diagram I'm talking about showed the dorsal view of the ship and showed the deflector grid being highlighted. These were two different graphics, it definitely WAS NOT the deflector shields being raised.
Registered: Mar 1999
| IP: Logged
Here's the graphic for the deflector shields on the USS Reliant: click here.
Here's the graphic for the display I was talking about: click here. And yes, I can see that the title for the screen says Intruder Alert. So this graphic really doesn't have much to do with the defense shields; it's more protocol of initiating the yellow alert.
Here's a bonus picture just for the heck of it: click here.
-------------------- "I was surprised by the matter-of-factness of Kafka's narration, and the subtle humor present as a result." (Sizer 2005)
Registered: Mar 1999
| IP: Logged
OnToMars
Now on to the making of films!
Member # 621
posted
Ryan, let me preface my destruction of your argument with some
That way you can be assured that it's nothing personal.
There was success with airplanes. All attempts at hovercars w/ present day technology have failed rather miserably. As I recall, manufacturers attempted saucer/ufo shaped contraptions that were supposedly the future of aviation/transportation. Pfft.
And yes, I already see the post your typing based on the loophole above and recall I said present day technology - maybe when we can control gravitons - then there'll be hover cars.
And one for the road.
-------------------- If God didn't want us to fly, he wouldn't have given us Bernoulli's Principle.
posted
I have always assumed that, when Saavik pressed the button to energize Defense Fields, she was warming-up (but not powering-up) the external grids and force-field generators - preparatory to actual power-up.
This would be a yellow alert function, getting ready for red alert.
-------------------- 'One man's theology is another man's belly laugh.' - Lazarus Long
Topic Closed
Printer-friendly view of this topic