posted
Because in the way warp works, the ship doesn�t actually exceed light speed, the warp space in a way so their destination is closer then it actually is, the speed is measured by the scale of how much time it took to travel across that distance normally, without "warping" space. Don�t think of it as bending space, that would be Transwarp, think of it as moving space towards you, not moving towards it.
As for the flash and the sound� it would be kind of boring without sounds. Also if a ship was traveling faster then the speed of light, you wouldn�t see the stars out the window, but isn't the stars better looking then a black backdrop?
posted
And sound in space is just a dramatic convention. If it bothers you, just imagine that the TV crew has their microphones on the inside of the ship.
------------------ "Stirs a large iron pot. Casting a spell on Vermont." -- John Linnell
posted
I personally always thought the streaks of light were stars the ship was passing. Of course, I've been wrong a number of issues before, so hey. Anything goes I guess.
posted
I have also seen theories that those streaks are actually the paths of microscopic particles as the warp fields pass through their location, temporarily dragging them along for a little while and releasing something like Cherenkov radiation. This might account for the fact that warp drive doesn't "coast" when you shut it off. Of course, I understand the warp fields collapse when you remove power anyway, so you'd drop out of warp pretty quickly in any case. The drop out of warp might not occur instantaneously, however. After all, electomagnetic fields don't collapse instantly when power is removed, but collapse slowly, depending on the characteristics of the coil that produces them (they even oscillate while collapsing).
posted
I too have heard the theory of warp/particle streaks. I always assumed that the streaks were particulate matter (hydrogen atoms/interstellar dust) Heated to extremes and pushed aside by the navigational deflector and interacting with the warp fields. This is somewhat substantiated by assuming smaller ships have slightly smaller warp fields, and then comparing the warp shots from TNG's Enterprise-D, DS9's Defiant and Runabouts, and of course Voyager. You will see that the warp streaks seem a little more "claustrophobic" if you will, the smaller the ship appears to be. Check it out and tell me what you think.
------------------ Just a thought...A grain of salt-season to taste-lather, rinse, repeat
posted
I thought I should add. It is easier to assume the streaks are particles than stars because of the simple fact that stars are too distant (both from each other and from the ship in question) to move that quickly in any field of view supplied by the ship.
Example: Even traveling at warp 9.975 (Voyager's top speed) starting from Earth it would take over a day to reach the nearest star Alpha Centauri at 4.3 light years distance. Even if a star was moderately closer than this to another system, it still would not facilitate stars zooming past windows at such apparent high velocities. This was not an issue during the Original Series production. Not yet streaks, the passing "lights" were clearly meant to be stars giving the illusion of speed, but that was in the days before nitpickers.
One other thing... In the latter 2 or 3 seasons of TNG, when the Enterprise-D dropped out of warp the warp streaks change color, shorten in length, and seemed to change course in relation to their previous direction at warp. It is as if someone realized they couldn't be stars and changed the effect to represent some kind of complex warp thing.
------------------ Just a thought...A grain of salt-season to taste-lather, rinse, repeat
[This message has been edited by Basill (edited November 08, 1999).]
In "Jem'Hadar", we seem to get the same "blurred shape slows down and becomes a ship" effect seen on the Equinox and the Voyager.
The warp scenes aboard the Jem'Hadar ship in the war arc suggest that the Dominion warp flash is violet instead of bright white. Funny, since even the hyperadvanced Q use the white flash. I thought there was no choice on the matter. Do the Dominion ships have a camouflaging device, similar to the thingamabobs that reputedly inject chemicals into B-2 contrails to make them less visible when the bomber is forced to fly at "contrail altitude"?
Ships jumping to warp do not seem to see their own warp flash, just the stretched-stars effect. We see the stretch-effect plus a warp flash in the 3rd person view in ST:TMP, though. Perhaps eyes and cameras inside the warp field will only see the "star-stretch", while cameras outside the field will see the flash (and the "contrails" from older-style engines), and only the cameras straddling the field border will get the whole show?
posted
Timo: Thanks for the observation. I never actually saw Jem'Hadar (I didn't watch much of the first 2 season of DS9. I started watching during "The Search" and I cried thinking of the death of the Odessey I had missed!) but it's good to know that they reused a nice visual effect.
As for the light flash, we saw it a couple of time in TNG although I can't remember the episodes. I do recall that there was a shot from Ten Forward where we first saw the ship alter course away from a planet and then we see the star dots moving forward, followed by a couple of stretched "light beams" (see "Where no one has gone before" to know what I mean) and finally followed by a brief flash. After that, we saw the classic stretched stars.
As for the size of the warp field affecting the view, it would make a lot of sense since in "Alice", once Paris escape in his ship, we see a really weird but cool looking warp shot where all the stars seemed to form a sort of corridor really close to the ship. However, that could also be Paris' view of the outside through the neural interface although I prefer to think it's not.
By the way, I'd like to know everyone's favorite "thingy drive" for the visual effects. Mines are the Voth transwarp and the Alice warp shot.
------------------ Continuity is irrelevant. Established lore will be adapted to fit our purpose. From now on, the writers will service our financial interests. Protests are futile! *Borg Collective after assimilating TPTB*
-Where were you when the brains were handed out? *Not from Trek, try to guess where it's from.*
[This message has been edited by TerraZ (edited November 08, 1999).]
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