Why Bother moving the Nacelles?

[Rick Sternbach]

Praetor wrote:

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I'm pretty sure Rick Sternbach has stated that the real-world reason Voyager had moving warp nacelles is that the producers wanted the ship to have visual interest and so wanted something on it to move, so he came up with the idea of variable warp geometry and the idea that they would indeed move tiny amounts while the ship was in warp.

The variable warp geometry was only one of maybe five different things that were proposed. The producers simply had this frustrating habit of wanting to see lots of other bits even after the first, most obvious solution shone brightly. A close cousin of the moving pylons was a long door on the nacelle that would expose the coils to space, but the doors ended up looking like drag brakes, so I didn't pursue them with much interest.

Rick
www.spacemodelsystems.com

[Timo]

I rather like the final choice of moving pylons, as opposed to what might have been... It's just too bad that the "different angles for different speeds" thing wasn't done. Then again, it might have been difficult to do, as multiple different pieces of stock footage would have been needed for the multiple speeds the ship might travel in, and there would have been inevitable mismatches.

Timo Saloniemi

[Praetor]

Invoke the master's name and he shall appear. Thanks for the info, Mr. Sternbach! Out of curiosity, what were the other three proposals, if you recall?

[Rick Sternbach]

Praetor wrote:

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Invoke the master's name and he shall appear. Thanks for the info, Mr. Sternbach! Out of curiosity, what were the other three proposals, if you recall?

Lessee...extendable sensor boom, drop-down loading ramp, and fold-out radiators. I think that was about it. As it was, we got the pylons and the feet.

Rick
www.spacemodelsystems.com

[alpinedigital]

I think the simplest explanation: They return to a level position because it would be easier for people doing maintenance work.

[DS9forever]

According to the Memory Alpha article, the writers of "Renaissance Man" mentioned that Voyager's warp drive does harm space-time.

DS9 was wise and just didn't mention the whole killer warp drive- thing.

[Carcazoid]

I never heard Sternbach's explanation until just now. But about 15 years ago, maybe on this forum, I did speculate on the whole variable warp field thing. I thought I was being clever.

[Finn]

^This forum didn't exist 15 years ago, except perhaps in the mind of Christian.

Tsk...a bumped thread after over four years

[Carcazoid]

Finngle Bells wrote:

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^This forum didn't exist 15 years ago, except perhaps in the mind of Christian.

Tsk...a bumped thread after over four years

You sure about that? I came here from the original Section31.com forum where I was a moderator, along with T'Bonz.

I could be mistaken. It wouldn't be the first time.

[Finn]

T'Bonz signed on 13 years ago this March...

[Mr Pointy Ears]

its true i remember reading something about voyagers nacelles bring designed to counter the damage to space as mention in the tng episode force of nature.

[teacake]

Now that was a dumb direction to go in.. OH NOES WARP DRIVE IS POLLUTIN' THE AIR!!

Talk about painting yourself into a corner.

[R. Star]

teacake wrote:

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Now that was a dumb direction to go in.. OH NOES WARP DRIVE IS POLLUTIN' THE AIR!!

Talk about painting yourself into a corner.

TNG Recut addresses this rather accurately:

[teacake]

That's like me requesting extra plastic bags in the supermarket. Or shoving non recyclables into the recycle bin. Or taking a stand against reusable take away coffee cups.

Next time I do these things I'm going to say "warp 9" under my breath and chuckle.

[King Daniel]

ZOMBIE THREAD!!