posted
Here's a rare one: We're watching the rerun of First Contact on Sci-Fi, and they've just blown up the emitter module on the deflector dish.
So my dad (my dad!) asked, "Now, don't they need to use the deflector dish to create the temporal vortex to make it back home?"
My jaw dropped, mainly because I couldn't think of a good answer. A treknology nit that my dad thought of, but not me? Egads!
-------------------- “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
| IP: Logged
posted
Does the Enterprise-E have an auxiliary deflector assembly like the Enterprise-D had? If so, then they might have been able to use that instead.
Your dad made a good catch. I never noticed that before, either.
-------------------- The philosopher's stone. Those who possess it are no longer bound by the laws of equivalent exchange in alchemy. They gain without sacrifice and create without equal exchange. We searched for it, and we found it.
Registered: Mar 1999
| IP: Logged
-------------------- "It speaks to some basic human needs: that there is a tomorrow, it's not all going to be over with a big splash and a bomb, that the human race is improving, that we have things to be proud of as humans." -Gene Roddenberry about Star Trek
Registered: May 1999
| IP: Logged
posted
Now that I've thought about it, I leaning with Manticore. I missed the first half-hour when Sci-Fi played it tonight, and it's been about two years since I last First Contact. However, I can't remember Data, LaForge, Picard, or anyone saying that they were using the deflector dish to follow the Borg cube into the temporal conduit. All I remember is the report of Borgified Earth, discussion of the Borg going back in time, and Picard ordering them to follow the Borg.
If I could find my copy of the movie, I'd check.
-------------------- The philosopher's stone. Those who possess it are no longer bound by the laws of equivalent exchange in alchemy. They gain without sacrifice and create without equal exchange. We searched for it, and we found it.
Registered: Mar 1999
| IP: Logged
posted
One relevant piece of technobabble in the time travel scene is that the shields of the E-E (and apparently also of the sphere) are down. It doesn't sound likely, then, that a "deflector" would be vital for the trick, either...
posted
I believe that Geordi says they're using the deflector to recreate the Borg's temporal vortex during the return trip. He might have even said the main deflector. I could be wrong. I do know that this question has been raised before and that the PTB have suggested they had another deflector on board in mothballs that they installed.
And yes, I'm pretty sure the Ent E has an Aux. Nav Deflector. All the cool ships are installing them these days.
posted
Isn't the dish and the deflector different? Isn't the dish mainly for communications? On the Refit Connie the deflector parts were points around the outside of the 'dish' part.
-------------------- "Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica." - Jim Halpert. (The Office)
posted
I searched through the script and nothing indicates they used the deflector to return home. In fact, from a quick scan, I didn't see any technobabble explaination of HOW they generated the temporal vortex to return home.
As for what the main deflector dish is for, here is an excerpt from the script:
quote: RIKER What are they doing?
WORF They appear to be modifying the deflector dish.
TROI To do what? If they wanted a weapon, they could've taken over a phaser bank or torpedo bay...
RIKER Deflector dish... why the deflector dish...?
WORF It doesn't make sense. The deflector is only used for shielding and long range sensors...
Riker stares at the screen... notices something.
RIKER Computer -- magnify grid twenty- one alpha.
The image on the Viewscreen ZOOMS IN to a specific point on the deflector dish, giving us a clear view of two Borg who have opened a gigantic panel on the dish. They appear top be modifying power conduits in some fashion.
WORF They're re-routing the deflector power conduits...
RIKER Computer -- thermal enhancement.
The image now is overlaid with an INFRARED VIEW of what they're doing. The power conduits are glowing bright red, very hot -- we can see the heat signature travel back behind the dish and connect to a corkscrew-shaped coil, which is pulsing.
RIKER They're connecting the conduits to subspace communications...
WORF (realizing) They're converting the deflector dish into an antennae...
posted
Into an antennae... Hmm. *peeks through window* Oh look, an eagles!
If they could build a com device capable of reaching the opposite side of the galaxy using only parts of a Sovereign deflector dish, wouldn't Starfleet want to learn of that device? Sounds useful.
Registered: Aug 1999
| IP: Logged
posted
The aired version of the movie has Geordi simply say that he has modified "the warp field" to match that of the Borg Sphere to recreate the time vortex. Nothing about deflectors there. And the piece with Riker and Worf speculating is also missing, replaced by Picard's superior knowledge of Borg motivations and plans.
posted
Or, they coulda just fixed the thing, replacing whatever it was that was shot off - Voyager did this weekly. Or, the part that was lost wasn't integral to forming a temporal vortex - the rest of the thing isn't just a dish, you know.
quote:Originally posted by Timo: The aired version of the movie has Geordi simply say that he has modified "the warp field" to match that of the Borg Sphere to recreate the time vortex. Nothing about deflectors there. And the piece with Riker and Worf speculating is also missing, replaced by Picard's superior knowledge of Borg motivations and plans.
Unfortunately. It looks like a cool scene as lost there....but Riker was on Earth for the whole movie in the final version, so they would have had to use someone else: Hwak would have been ideal in that scene though (with Worf saying Riker's lines and Hawk with Worf's).
Mark's right about the ability to fix the Deflector: with only one deflector, the ship would need to be able to make repairs to it and fabricate parts when needed.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
| IP: Logged
posted
Okay, I did a little digging around EAS just now, and it seems that the Sovereign design actually does have a secondary deflector -- one of those types that is probably just a window according to the CGI modellers, but is repurposed according to Okuda or Sternbach or whoever.
![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
Printer-friendly view of this topic
