posted
The "top dome is a window" idea is based on two things: "The Cage" and (IIRC) "Requiem for Metusaleah" where Flint shrinks the ship and places it in lucite, and Kirk peers into the ship through the top as if he could actually see inside.
Of course, both cases can easily be explained away. In "The Cage", the motion-control work did not integrate seamlessly into the shot of the bridge interior, so the "peering through a window" impression was very weak. And in "Requiem", Kirk could simply have been positioning himself so that he'd be the most visible to the top sensors, and the part about him being able to "see" the bridge crew would be a mere psychological effect, with Kirk imagining how the lilliputian crew must look like.
In turn, the lower sensor dome base "lights" being nav deflectors is a theory based on the fact that TNG ships have saucer-mounted auxiliary deflectors that aren't much different from the forward "light" of the Enterprise-refit. Having these specific lights be deflectors would allow one to expand the light/deflector connection further: the Oberths would finally gain deflectors in the form of those three lighted openings on the saucer (too small to be real shuttlebays, and not indicated as bays in the "Hero Worship" MSD), and the TOS ship's three rounded bow lights could then also be deflectors (helping immensely with those fanfic ships that lack the dish antennas but have these three circles).
As for the shape of those light things, I can see a zillion applications to deflectors pointing off the axis of the ship. The usefulness of an aft-pointing deflector is a bit questionable, of course, since it would just hit the neck of the ship.
posted
I agree that the forward facing light on the bottom of the Enterprise-refit saucer is most likely a secondary navigational deflector. It would be perfect for when the saucer separates and would also be the best possible location on the Miranda-class. And like you wrote, it's a very similar location to the secondary arrays on the Galaxy and Sovereigns.
Of course, it's still highly debatable what the lower dome itself actually is for. It would seem to be either a sensor, a phaser emitter, or both. Some things worth noting are:
1. We've never seen the original Enterprise fire from the lit (lower part of the) dome.
2. The Saratoga in "Emissary" fired multiple phaser blasts from the lower surface of it's dome.
3. The little dome on top of the Defiant's bridge must be a phaser emitter, as seen in "Paradise Lost" and "Shattered Mirror".
------------------ "Life's too short to be pissed off all the time." (Danny Vinyard, American History X) Dax's Ships of Star Trek
[This message has been edited by Dax (edited February 16, 2001).]
posted
______________________________________________________ And in "Requiem", Kirk could simply have been positioning himself so that he'd be the most visible to the top sensors, and the part about him being able to "see" the bridge crew would be a mere psychological effect, with Kirk imagining how the lilliputian crew must look like. ______________________________________________________
I understood this view of Kirk to be on the Main Viewer of the bridge... Also, the dome on the bridge is solidly lit from within-exactly as with the lower-dome.
______________________________________________________ 1. We've never seen the original Enterprise fire from the lit (lower part of the) dome ______________________________________________________
Okay, at this point I become confused. I have always understood from watching TOS, that the phasers always appeared to come from the the lower dome on the primary hull. This was the only reason for the 'theory' that I have postulated above. I guess it's a matter of personal perspective.
_______________________________________________________ In turn, the lower sensor dome base "lights" being nav deflectors is a theory based on the fact that TNG ships have saucer-mounted auxiliary deflectors that aren't much different from the forward "light" of the Enterprise-refit. _______________________________________________________
In reference to the refit Enterprise, I had not considered that possibility. It never crossed my mind before about what becomes of that saucer should it separate. Not a bad idea!
posted
Additional information- The "MSD" of the first U.S.S. Enterprise, seen on the bridge, has the forward most turbolift ending on a deck above the dome. The dome appears to be the same height as the bridge dome. This raises two possibilities-the lower deck is inaccessible to the crew, or the lower deck is accessible by ladders, like the lower decks of the engineering hull.
posted
Meese: I didn't say the Ent-nil didn't fire from the bottom dome - it obviously does. What I wrote is that the Ent-nil never fired from the lighted part of the dome. The lit part is below where the weapons banks appear to be.
------------------ "Life's too short to be pissed off all the time." (Danny Vinyard, American History X) Dax's Ships of Star Trek
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