Why was the Enterprise so easily conquered in Rascals?

[Drago-Kazov]

Zombie Redshirt wrote:

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Pretty much. I love that later on in DS9 Odo makes fun of Worf for letting the Ferengi so easily take it over when he question's Odo's faults as security chief.

Which episode was that?

[Caretaker]

"Bar Association"

[throwback]

I think the problem is that, based on what is seen in Star Trek, Federation commanders are slow to react in a battle. For a single shot to occur, the commander has to plot a course or, or for simplicity, announce a battle strategy, another officer has to target the enemy, and than the ship has to fire. While the commander is fussing with the computer to plan a movement, the ship is being hit multiple times. This slowness explains how the Federation can lose in a war to the Klingons or to the Dominion or even to the Ferengi. The only time that the Federation seems to have an edge is when the enemy has antiquated equipment.

I don't think the Enterprise-D ever succeeded in a battle. (I could be wrong.) Either the crew employed a strategy that reduced the ship to a distraction to achieve a goal or the starship was forced to withdraw from the battlefield. Now, this is the most advanced ship in the fleet, and she is proven time and again to be made of paper-mache. The most egregious example is when the Bozeman collided with the warp nacelle, and this collision resulted in the destruction of the starship. Huh? The Reliant loses a nacelle, and she is still relatively intact. The Enterprise loses a nacelle, and boom!

When I think about the Enterprise, I think this cartoon expresses my opinion of the ship:

http://epantiras.deviantart.com/gall...t=144#/d5ccmn3

[Fastwalker]

^^
Completely agree, Throwback. I was about to open a new thread about Starfleet's Slow Combat tactics.

[Knight Templar]

One of the problems was that from a story telling and budget standpoint, it is hard to have the "finest" or "strongest" ship in the fleet (OS & TNG descriptions) and yet within the confines of three quarters of an hour have the ships placed in serious jeopardy.

The Original Series solved these problems more creatively.

The Doomsday Machine, The Changeling- overwhelmingly powerful opponent.

Elaan of Troyius-sabotage

Balance of Terror- old enemy with not one but two brand new pieces of technology.

The Tholian Web-ship not working well due to nature of space it is in.

I think the ST:TNG writers on the other hand tended to get quite lazy in explaining why the Enterprise-D was getting wiped.

Peak Performance was one of the few times it made sense as Picard was not prepared for an actual attack and his weapons had been reset for only mock combat.

[Mitty]

Knight Templar wrote:

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It was written as a comedic romp. One reason the Ferengi were used instead of the Cardassians as the writers said they considered.

Would have been a completely different episode if it had been Cardassians. Imagine if they'd taken over the ship, and to get the crew to co-operate they threaten to execute the ships children, one by one. Only they actually do execute one of them. Obviously not Picard, but all the other three were basically expendable characters. Certainly would have had a major emotional impact if it had been Keiko, considering Miles O'Brien's history with the Cardassians.

Doubt the TNG writers or Producers would have had the guts to do something like that but it would probably have won an emmy or something.

[Jon1701]

I think we are also forgetting just how bad the kid playing Picard is.

I realise it must have been pretty hard to cast (and there are probably not a lot of kids wandering around L.A. with an English accent) but all the other kids play the parts well.

A good central performance from the kid could have papered over the cracks in the story.

But there isn't one.

[Knight Templar]

Mitty wrote:

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Would have been a completely different episode if it had been Cardassians. Imagine if they'd taken over the ship, and to get the crew to co-operate they threaten to execute the ships children, one by one. Only they actually do execute one of them. Obviously not Picard, but all the other three were basically expendable characters. Certainly would have had a major emotional impact if it had been Keiko, considering Miles O'Brien's history with the Cardassians.

Doubt the TNG writers or Producers would have had the guts to do something like that but it would probably have won an emmy or something.

But that would go against the ST:TNG tradition of "reset buttons' (it did not just apply to time travel).

Executing the child Keiko would mean you could never have another episode of O'Brien showing "personal growth" by sitting down with Cardassians in a bar and talking about war experiences.

By the way, reportedly the writers felt extremely uncomfortable with the scenes of "child Keiko" and O'Brien because they worried about sexual overtones that were "barely" implied when Keiko reacting to O'Briens discomfort asked " is our marriage over?"

[John Mason]

The cast had the flu

[Tosk]

Circus Peanut wrote:

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Well, the only person we see actually go through the transporter to be re-aged is Picard. We should have seen him stepping onto the pad in the bulky adult uniform

We do see exactly that. Picard, Guinan, and Keiko are all wearing baggy, adult-sized outfits in the final transporter scene.