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Perfect counterexample: Battlestar Galactica (the newer one). Bullets and nukes for weapons, CDC deep within the hull of the ship, damage control stations thro

by jarin 16y ago

Perfect counterexample: Battlestar Galactica (the newer one). Bullets and nukes for weapons, CDC deep within the hull of the ship, damage control stations throughout the ship, sound-powered emergency telephones that do not require a power source (similar to the ones still in use in the Navy), pressure bulkheads, non-networked computers, emergency jump coordinates coordinated between ships BEFORE emergencies, etc.

sliverstorm 16y ago
To be fair the Galactica is supposed to be a warship, while IIRC the Enterprise is basically a science vessel with a couple self defense capabilities.
- philwelch 16y ago
  This excuse gets a lot less tenable about halfway through DS9, when the Federation is in the middle of a gigantic, potentially genocidal war against a far more powerful opponent. Especially when the Jem'Hadar ships have the exact same flaws (and for that matter, the Klingon ships always did).
  - sliverstorm 16y ago
    Ah, I was not aware of that. Haven't seen DS9.
    - jswinghammer 16y ago
      It's the best series in my estimation (after season 3).
  - jsz0 16y ago
    The real reason is after Gene Roddenberry left in Season 2 of TNG the writers didn't stay entirely true to his original vision. When DS9 came about they had zero obligation to that vision so they went in a different direction. The writers could have done a better job putting it into context on-screen.
    - philwelch 16y ago
      They couldn't exactly rewrite the fictional rules of a universe where bridge consoles explode whenever the ship gets hit and so forth. I don't know how Gene's presence or absence makes much difference; a lot of the dumb engineering ideas (like the exploding consoles) originated in work beyond his control. The first exploding bridge console in Star Trek history was in the Kobayashi Maru sequence in Wrath of Khan, a film that Gene had virtually no creative control over. Still, even in the original series it's intended that the Enterprise is a capable warship; the original show bible compares it to an imperial warship of the colonial era, and on multiple occasions (the Romulan incursion in "Balance of Terror"; the near-war with the Klingons in "Errand of Mercy") the Enterprise is deployed directly to the front line of potential combat. (The Enterprise-D would fulfill similar roles in episodes like "Best of Both Worlds", "Chain of Command", or even the first season episode "The Neutral Zone".)
- flogic 16y ago
  That's just another flaw of the series. They can never really decide if Star Fleet is a science or military organization. So you wind up with wierd things like science vessels on the front lines or shooting wars.
TheAmazingIdiot 16y ago
In fact, when the robotic protagonists, the Cylons, infect the Battlestars with viruses, Galactica stays live because the commander did NOT want his ship computerized. Each system lives on its own, and only meatspace in the CDC can control other systems. This isn't a spoiler as it is discussed in the miniseries and S01ep01. Am watching it now, and on S03ep15, so please, no spoilers.
- philwelch 16y ago
  Does "stick in there; it gets better" count as a spoiler? You're pretty much slogging through the low end of the show right now, when the network desperately wanted one-off episodes and the writers had run out of good one-off episode ideas.

by jarin 16y ago

sliverstorm 16y ago

To be fair the Galactica is supposed to be a warship, while IIRC the Enterprise is basically a science vessel with a couple self defense capabilities.

philwelch 16y ago
This excuse gets a lot less tenable about halfway through DS9, when the Federation is in the middle of a gigantic, potentially genocidal war against a far more powerful opponent. Especially when the Jem'Hadar ships have the exact same flaws (and for that matter, the Klingon ships always did).
- sliverstorm 16y ago
  Ah, I was not aware of that. Haven't seen DS9.
  - jswinghammer 16y ago
    It's the best series in my estimation (after season 3).
- jsz0 16y ago
  The real reason is after Gene Roddenberry left in Season 2 of TNG the writers didn't stay entirely true to his original vision. When DS9 came about they had zero obligation to that vision so they went in a different direction. The writers could have done a better job putting it into context on-screen.
  - philwelch 16y ago
    They couldn't exactly rewrite the fictional rules of a universe where bridge consoles explode whenever the ship gets hit and so forth. I don't know how Gene's presence or absence makes much difference; a lot of the dumb engineering ideas (like the exploding consoles) originated in work beyond his control. The first exploding bridge console in Star Trek history was in the Kobayashi Maru sequence in Wrath of Khan, a film that Gene had virtually no creative control over. Still, even in the original series it's intended that the Enterprise is a capable warship; the original show bible compares it to an imperial warship of the colonial era, and on multiple occasions (the Romulan incursion in "Balance of Terror"; the near-war with the Klingons in "Errand of Mercy") the Enterprise is deployed directly to the front line of potential combat. (The Enterprise-D would fulfill similar roles in episodes like "Best of Both Worlds", "Chain of Command", or even the first season episode "The Neutral Zone".)
flogic 16y ago
That's just another flaw of the series. They can never really decide if Star Fleet is a science or military organization. So you wind up with wierd things like science vessels on the front lines or shooting wars.

TheAmazingIdiot 16y ago

In fact, when the robotic protagonists, the Cylons, infect the Battlestars with viruses, Galactica stays live because the commander did NOT want his ship computerized. Each system lives on its own, and only meatspace in the CDC can control other systems. This isn't a spoiler as it is discussed in the miniseries and S01ep01. Am watching it now, and on S03ep15, so please, no spoilers.

philwelch 16y ago
Does "stick in there; it gets better" count as a spoiler? You're pretty much slogging through the low end of the show right now, when the network desperately wanted one-off episodes and the writers had run out of good one-off episode ideas.