This is one of my favourite episodes of TNG and definitely a highlight of the 5th season for me. It's also a great showcase for what's probably my favourite Worf makeup in the series.
If you want to puncture that misconception,just remind them that the Earth is in space, too. Does it weigh nothing?
It's like saying that Neil Armstrong could've picked up the moon and tossed it out of orbit if he wanted to. I mean, it "weighs nothing", right?
Because the collision between the two ships is the only thing that causes the loop. We know this from the final scene - the Bozeman comes through, does NOT hit the Enterprise, and thus the cycle is broken.
If it were moving at a steady rate of speed, for the explosive force to reach the bow in six hours, the "cloud" should have been expanding at just under 20 millimetres a second (their prospective) or about 1.2 metres per minute. they were in engineering for a couple of minutes. But that assumes a steady expansion. You need to take into consideration that there was (at that time) a relatively small opening into the warp core. The main explosion wouldn't occur until the body of the warp core housing was torn apart. What we (and they) were likely seeing was a initial pinhole venting plasma. The Enterprise D is 642 metres long. The warp core is approximately two-thirds back from the bow. Or approximately 427,572 millimetres. There are 21,600 seconds in 6 hours. 19.795 millimetres per second expansion. You are completely correct. While a ship in space has mass, a ship in space has no weight. Again, you are correct. It's the Moon's mass being attracted (mutual attraction) to the Earth's mass that holds it in orbit. The late Neil Armstrong (despite his last name) would lack the strength to move that much mass.
Great reference, great ep. Though I did wonder why when, at the end, Worf identified the other ship as the Bozeman, the D's computer didn't pipe up with an alert saying "holy shit, guys, we've been missing that ship for 90 years!". I mean, I'm assuming Word didn't read the hull markings without the computer's help. And I'm kinda surprised Data doesn't keep a mental list of all mysteriously missing UFP ships, either. Don't mind the nitpicks, though.
TV dramatics. Just like in Yesterday's Enterprise, when Tasha reads off the ID on the other ship. "NCC 1701-C, U.S.S. ...Enterprise." But Picard doesn't act stunned until she gets to the Enterprise part.
Actually his stunned reaction (Riker's too) is after Yar reads off "1701-C". He turns to her, and then after she reads "Enterprise", he looks back toward the viewscreen.
You're right, sorry...it's the music that acts like "Enterprise" is the real kicker. It messed with my memory of the characters reacting.