posted
1.) I didn't say the cloud wasn't real! Just that it seems to me to be a different kind of thing than, say, an office building.
2.) Epsilon 9 was reused, albeit as a piece of modern art rather than a space station.
3.) I thought it looked just fine, and no more or less "futuristic" than any other Federation space station. It is a big antennae farm. That is what is was supposed to be.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
BY TNG standards I think it looked a bit "2001"-ish.
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Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
Well, obviously by TNG's time, something as big as Epsilon IX was no longer needed. It was obviously replaced by something more along the lines of Relay Station 47.
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Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Didn't the novelization say that the visible cloud was due to the reaction of the energy field and intersellar hydrogen and/or dust at warp speed, and that it began to dissipate as V'Ger slowed upon approach to Earth?
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Registered: Aug 2001
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posted
It could have been a 'hub' or some other sort of major center for trafficking messages, more than a mere 'relay station'. For example, you could say something like RS-47 was one of the 'spokes' that relayed data/messages directly to a larger stations or 'hub' like E-9 could be.
Also, wasn't its full designation the "Epsilon IX Monitoring Station" infer that it serves as more than just a communications relay, but it also serves as some sort of subspace telescope, with "sensor drones", capable of conducting long-range sensor scans and/or surveillance, as well.
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Registered: Jan 2003
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posted
Sort of what I was getting at, though I was thinking mostly that it's proximity to Klingon space suggested it had a few other uses than just moving comm traffic around.
Registered: Mar 1999
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quote:Originally posted by Futurama Guy: It could have been a 'hub' or some other sort of major center for trafficking messages, more than a mere 'relay station'. For example, you could say something like RS-47 was one of the 'spokes' that relayed data/messages directly to a larger stations or 'hub' like E-9 could be.
Also, wasn't its full designation the "Epsilon IX Monitoring Station" infer that it serves as more than just a communications relay, but it also serves as some sort of subspace telescope, with "sensor drones", capable of conducting long-range sensor scans and/or surveillance, as well.
Given it's proximity to Klingon space it's likely that "Monitoring Station" was it's primary function. Sort of like a huge spy satellite that specialises in subspace traffic. Indeed if I recall Mandell's Starcharts has Epsilon 9 being only one of 11 such stations that run right along the Klingon border, followed (or preceded) by another 11 "Delta Outposts".
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Member # 256
posted
quote:I remember Gene's rationale for the bridge being at the top of the saucer being something like "when the shields fail, most contemporary weapons will be able to blast through the structural material well enough that it won't really matter if you bury the bridge deep inside the saucer"...
That, of course, has been refuted since TWOK/TSFS/TUC (in particular), VOY/DS9, Generations, and Nemesis. If you're looking for design flaws, bridges are a good place to start.
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted
Regarding V'ger's size on the site, I emailed the guy who made the size comparison charts, and discussed with him the size V'ger should be. I can't find the email in question (it might be at work), but in my discussion with him I pointed out that V'ger's shape was more like the plan in the Phase II book than what he has on his site, and that if some compares the Enterprise to the one feature it is most clearly shown against on V'ger (the "sand dollar" mushroom near the front), the size is considerably larger than what most people accept as cannon. I'll try to find the email I sent him plus the drawing I used to make my case.
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Registered: Feb 2001
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