posted
Has the E-D ever had a starfleet / civilian ratio established? 600 / 400 doesn't sound bad, but we rarely saw that kind of ratio of people walking around in the corridors (assuming that no civilians wore Starfleet uniforms or variations thereof). If we follow the observed numbers of people walking around in the corrodors, a 9:1 ratio may be more appropriate.
Also, while we can assume that the Enterprise was built for families, we never really saw many kids around. In fact, if "Rascals" is any indication, the number of pre-pubescent kids could only number a dozen or so, and the pre-adults not much more than that - the only time we really see crew in the 12-18 bracket is "Coming of Age", I think.
And I further believe that crew slots for specialists on the flagship would be reserved more for Starfleet crew and inviteds - of the civilians we have seen, there's Keiko (a botanist), the kids' teachers, and at least one of Geordi's failed love interests ("Transfigurations", I think). There are others, but they're pretty few and far between. I think that Starfleet has the capacity for large groups of cililians, but prefers to do the big work in-house.
Mark
------------------ "Why build one, when you can have two at twice the price?"
posted
Well, other eps showed lots of civilians. I think its safe to say we RARELY saw scenes in the "civilian" sections of the ship. I might point out that we saw a lot more civilians in the first season, and quite a good deal in Generations as well.
And we saw civilians in every scene in Ten-Forward, unless you think those bartenders are actually Starfleet officers.
And, hey, don't forget "Captain Picard Day" ... (what ep was that?)
------------------ 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
Granted, I forgot about the bartenders, but I tended to block those hideous green jumpsuits they wore out of my memory. :P But to be fair, the waiters and bartenders seen in ST III wore spiffy black variations on the usual enlisted jumpsuits IIRC.
And I forgot about that 1st season episode where *all* the children were abducted (probably because it was so.. forgettable), but in THAT episode there were even fewer kids than in "Rascals" (and they took everyone from birth to 15 years old, which was Wesley's age at the time).
And in "Generations", we see not only more civilians, but more of EVERYONE, reflecting the movie budget and the need to direct the attention away form the less-detailed TV sets. However, one factor we're not accounting for is the off-duty Starfleeters wearing civilian clothes - which they often did, and moreso on the E-D than on (say) DS9 or Voyager.
I would argue that these bits of evidence don't change my position much. Admittedly, there *could* be lots of civilian areas lying around that we just don't see, but there's little supporting evidence to it as we are centered around our Starfleet heroes. Futhermore, the TNG manual and the (questionable) blueprints don't really emphasize the civilian aspects of life aboard ship.
Mark
------------------ "Why build one, when you can have two at twice the price?"
posted
Well, also, Alexander, Picard, Ro and Guinan and Keiko were in one classroom. Presumably, there are a couple of such classroom complexes aboard the ship, so just because we didn't see the other kids doesn't mean they weren't aboard.
------------------ 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?
quote:And we saw civilians in every scene in Ten-Forward, unless you think those bartenders are actually Starfleet officers.
On the ship we're using in our ST RPG, the Intrepid-class USS Valiant-C, the lounge is an "off duty zone". Check your pips at the door. It's a little more extremely off duty than the fabled Ten Forward... people actually frown when you mention rank in the Valiant's lounge... but it could be that a lot of the "civilians" we see in 10-Fwd are actually just off duty crewmembers.
I'd imagine they're either the spouses of Enterprise crewmembers, civilians recruited from Starfleet to serve as bartenders (the fact that Guinan is aboard is a good point in favor of this theory), or possibly off-duty crewmembers (although I doubt that).
------------------ 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?
However, one factor we're not accounting for is the off-duty Starfleeters wearing civilian clothes - which they often did, and moreso on the E-D than on (say) DS9 or Voyager. 
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