posted
Watched Charlie X last night. The Antares was described firstly as a cargo ship, then a transport ship, then when destroyed reported to UESPA as a space probe vessel, then called a survey ship.
posted
I think that the Antares is a non-Starfleet ship. The uniforms of the captain and the first officer match the uniform of the captain of the SS Beagle. Though there is an emblem on the Antares captain's chest, the emblem system may not have been solely used by Starfleet. There is one further piece of evidence that suggests that the Antares is not Starfleet. In this episode, the ship is said to have a warp baffle plate. The only other time that this termonology is heard is in "Paradise", when COO Miles O'Brien says that the engineering components of the SS Santa Maria are missing. Among the missing components is a baffle plate. I have never heard of a baffle plate being used in a Starfleet ship. This component seems to be important to non-Starfleet ships in keeping the matter and antimatter from mixing together uncontrollably. When this component is removed, as in the case of the Antares, the ship explodes.
So, known facts about the Antares- 1.) ship has twenty crew members 2.) ship is of the Federation 3.) ship has a baffle plate to separate matter-antimatter 4.) ship is small 5.) ship can serve many functions. One confirmed function is to explore planets, like Thasus. (The SS Beagle is a Class 4 surveyor that mapped unknown systems.) 6.) crew's senior staff wear uniforms similiar to those of another non-Starfleet ship, the SS Beagle
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takeoffs are optional; landings are mandatory
[This message has been edited by targetemployee (edited August 14, 2000).]
posted
I believe the uniforms for "Charlie X" came straight from the wardrobe of "Where No Man...". That is, they simply represented a previous generation of Starfleet wear.
Of course, since "Capt. Ramart" wore Shatner's old two-striped shirt, even though TOS regular episodes supposed that two stripes signify a Commander, we have here evidence of a ship captain lower than Captain in rank. In any case, I'd think the ship was simply a Starfleet freighter that was pressed to the temporary duty of surveying the planet Thasus, perhaps under the command of UESPA. This organization might have been in charge of the general survey of the area, for which the Enterprise would also have been drafted at the time. Thus, the Antares could very well be (United Earth) Space Probe (Agency) Vessel in addition to being a freight-carrying Starfleet transport ship that happened not to have switched over to the newest uniforms yet.
I don't know why any of Merrick's crew would be wearing such a uniform, unless there was a Starfleet representative aboard. But I though Merikus himself wore a red ceremonial tunic quite unlike the Antares uniforms...
posted
It would be odd for a full Captain to be CO of a ship with a crew of just 20. So it makes a lot of sense for Captain Ramart to be a Commander.
The TOS uniforms would be fairly new at the time (depending on how long passed between Where no man... and the start of TOS season 1) so some ships could well have the older uniforms.
How much use would a twenty crew transport be for survey duties?
If one rejects the unique ship insignia idea ('Cpurt Martial' and 'The Tholian Web' show non-Enterprise officers with the arrowhead insignia) is the Antares insignia that of UESPA? Or that of Starfleet's transport wing?
posted
Well, remember, whoever is in charge of a vessel is also refered to as "Captain" regardless of rank, therefore, he could be a Commander.
------------------ "The things hollow--it goes on forever--and--oh my God!--it's full of stars!" -David Bowman's last transmission back to Earth, 2001: A Space Odyssey
posted
Yeah, I've nothing against having a Commander as the captain. It's just that some might consider it cheating if I use a wardrobe mixup as evidence for the existence of non-Captain Starfleet captains...
Perhaps the Antares was the ship most cost-efficiently divertable to take a peek and snap some photos and standard navigational sensor readings. No bigger ship might have bothered with Thasus, a planet of no known life-supporting properties and apparently of little interest otherwise, but the Antares might have been passing by, so UESPA sends a message "veer slightly to starboard and press 'record' on your nav sensors" - voila, a transport becomes a surveyor (by the nature of its mission) and a Space Probe Vessel (by the nature of its temporary operating authority).
posted
Can I just say how remarkable that piece of continuity is! Something mentioned thirty years earlier coming up again like that. Well done DS9. Branon Braga is so moronic.
------------------ "Neil says hi by the way" - Tear In Your Hand, Tori Amos
posted
It's not so much continuity as a sort of in-joke. Some writer probably had watched "Charlie X" and thought "Hey, I think I'll use the term 'baffle plate' in my next episode. That'll be cool...". :-)
------------------ "Me, Grimlock, not 'nice dino'! Me, Grimlock, bash brains!" -Grimlock, Transformers: The Movie
------------------ "We have HTML and images in sigs disabled here. Don't try it. If you do, I'll shove the image up your ass, then ban you. Have a nice day. :)" -Charles Capps, August 13, 2000
posted
Fabrux: The "captain" thing didn't come up again in DS9. I believe Andrew was talking about the baffle plate being mentioned in "Paradise", as pointed out above.
------------------ "Me, Grimlock, not 'nice dino'! Me, Grimlock, bash brains!" -Grimlock, Transformers: The Movie
------------------ "We have HTML and images in sigs disabled here. Don't try it. If you do, I'll shove the image up your ass, then ban you. Have a nice day. :)" -Charles Capps, August 13, 2000
In any case, I'd think the ship was simply a Starfleet freighter that was pressed to the temporary duty of surveying the planet Thasus, perhaps under the command of UESPA. This organization might have been in charge of the general survey of the area, for which the Enterprise would also have been drafted at the time. Thus, the Antares could very well be (United Earth) Space Probe (Agency) Vessel in addition to being a freight-carrying Starfleet transport ship that happened not to have switched over to the newest uniforms yet.
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