"Ahead, Space Normal Speed"

What is Space Normal Speed?

 

Not space-warp speed. Impulse power. Sub-light.

 

Yup, What he said

 

Not very bloody specific, though, is it? I mean, he's basically leaving it at Sulu's discretion to go full impulse, or the slowest possible speed the engines can idle at (2 miles an hour, so everybody sees you ), or anywhere in between.

 

Slow enough with scanners aft to see if Spock does anything out of desperation.

 

You know, whatever speed people go. Whatever is the normal amount of speed.

And heading? Over there-ish. You know, thataway.

 

I figure "space normal speed" means some specific speed; captains and helmsmen know what that speed is but we don't.

 

It's about the speed you moved as a kid when being sent to bed for the night.

Ahead full RCS. "Give me a ping."

 

I always thought it was more like a drifting speed. Like when you turn the motor off on a boat and let the current carry you. Of course, there are no currents in space. Still, that's how I thought of it as a kid. Slow. The speed of a comet or an asteroid that's just floating around out there without any propulsion.

 

Agreed. And also, it refers to the in-universe distinction between normal space and subspace. Subspace is the fictional dimension through which faster-than-light ships and transmission travel.

 

It means the speed of plot.

 

60s scifi writing. Put random words together and put "Space" in it.

 

I'm more curious as to why Kirk only orders warp one after getting the shuttle crew back, since he dilly dallied his ass up to that point.

 

He just wants to really piss off Commissioner Ferris.

 

How can someone become "Commissioner" while being that much of an ass?

 

Well, if the point is "Not warp speed," then it doesn't matter what slower-than-light speed they're actually at. Kirk is telling Sulu to head away from the planet without going to warp, basically "staying in place while moving" since at either .9c or 3mph, you're not reaching the next star system for a long, long time. Kirk doesn't care what slow speed Sulu actually sets, since the point is to stick around and not get anywhere while technically obeying orders to leave.

 

John Crawford is reported as not enjoying his time on the show, and apparently had some sort of friction with Shatner on a personal level. So it's always made me wonder what Shatner did that was so repulsive to him. He apparently had a pretty lengthy career for a while, even appearing in Harryhausen's Jason and the Argonauts.

The only other thing I remember seeing him in was a Lost in Space episode as Chronos the Time Merchant.

 

Irwin Allen apparently loved John Crawford, using him four times in The Time Tunnel, once on Lost in Space, Land of the Giants and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. Not to mention The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno.

 

I'd favor the "it's any speed below warp" interpretation, for the reason FredH gives: it's a unique order to refrain from leaving the star system too soon.

If it were some specific, agreed-upon speed every helmsman knows about, one would assume the order to be given in every third episode at least - not to be applied here and here only. Why go to the trouble of agreeing upon something if you never actually put it to use?

That we hear the order only once in the history of Star Trek is consistent with it being an order of low applicability. More specific things such as "half impulse" or "forward thrusters" have more utility value and thus are heard more often.

On the other hand, while warp one seems to be a perfectly useful interstellar speed in many episodes, it's odd for Kirk to use it when in a hurry. If warp one will do at the conclusion of the adventure, supposedly the ship could have waited for a couple of days and then sailed out at warp three, or taken a two-month leave of absence and then shot out at warp seven. I guess we have to assume that it's not wise to apply high-cochrane warp fields close to mini-quasars...

Timo Saloniemi

 

This makes me think also of ST:TMP, where Kirk orders "Ahead warp...point five!". Wouldn't a sub-warp velocity be in the dominion of an impulse speed?

As far as 'space normal', my take is that it depends where you are. It might be the speed of a given object (artificial or natural), and the velocity required to maintain its position against gravitational pull from planets, stars, etc....kind of like an orbital velocity, really: too slow and you begin to arc toward the gravity source. Space normal speed when ten million miles from a star will be faster than space normal speed when a hundred million miles from the same star.

I hope I explained that well. If I'm not going to make any sense, I at least want to say it right.