What I Don't Like About the USS Kelvin

A very good possibility. I'm also rather fond of the idea that there were one or two less armed ships following a bit behind the Kelvin off screen, and that their complement, combined with the Kelvin's, was 800. The Kelvin's sacrifice would be the only thing that allowed them to escape.

Exactly.

 

Now that's interesting, M'. I thought I had just made that up.

 

Didn't Robau tell George that "We're on our own." That hardly sounds like there were any other ships or bases nearby.
Occams razor people; the simplest explanation is the Kelvin has about 800 crew that escaped in shuttles.

 

Yes, he said, "There is no help for us out here!" Which quote I pointed out about five weeks ago now.

There were 800 people in the shuttles. Whether they were on a deep-space scientific survey mission, colonization mission -- whatever, there were 800 people on the shuttles.

 

Not entirely sure, but the site has a forum image link provided.

 

I've got no problem with the idea that they'd pack people in like sardines on those shuttles and run the life-support ragged. A ship wouldn't evacuate unless the situation was absolutely dire, so the possiblity of a rescue in the shuttle even if the air will only last a short time is better than being killed in the destruction of the ship.

(useful LOTR quotation - "Certainty of death - small chance of success... what are we waiting for")

 

yea...in a nutshell

he's pissed.

 

The only thing I don't like about the Kelvin is that she should've been upside down

Anyway, www.ditl.org has a pretty good if somewhat fanwanky origin and commentary on the design of the Kelvin. Of course it's non-canon, but the author makes an admirable effort to reconcile the design and size of the Kelvin with canon ship traditions (ie, nobody ever said the prime universe Constitution was the largest ship Starfleet ever built up to that point, which allows the Kelvin to dwarf the more advanced vessel).

 

I'm just getting ready to read "The Hobbit." I saw where they cast some of the previous actors for it.

 

The Lord of the Rings movies are my other geek obsession

 

I'll echo what trampledamage said: my main sticking point on the 800 number is the idea of cramming 800 people into those few shuttles. The only place we get 800 from is from Pike, not from any of the Kelvin personnel. I think that gives us some happy wiggle room.

Certainly there had to have been something else in the system that could account for more of those people? A small colony nearby? I mean, the shuttles had to flee to something, right?

I still like the idea of some small, defenseless ships nearby. "We're alone out here" is plural, after all.

 

Suppose whether or not Pike being on the Kelvin would be up to what he means by 'assigned the Kelvin for his dissertation'. Does that mean he was assigned to the ship temporarily when he was a cadet for starship experience, or had to write a dissertation on the Kelvin, including the Nerada incident.

FrankR also noted that those shuttles are significantly larger than most of the ones in the prime universe, when I made the same point as you as to fitting everyone in, and there were 20 that I counted, so perhaps not so far fetched?

 

This is true. Pike might have been aboard, although one might think he'd have said "Your father saved 800 lives, including mine," but then again maybe he's not very self-centered.

I'd still argue that there's some wiggle room, either way.

Even if there are 20, they'd still be pretty sardined in, don't you think? That'd have to be at least 40 per shuttle... I mean if it works, fine. But that still seems very... tight.

 

Ever been on a single decker bus in London?

 

Actually, no, but I have been on a single-decker bus in the US, so point taken.

 

The academy shuttles could easily hold 50 apiece, and nobody ever said some of the shuttles hadn't made it off the picture. They were all strung out. There could have been more.

Pike says he saved 800 people. Robau said there was no help for them out there, after George Kirk asked if they should call for some. Robau and Kirk were talking about the Kelvin.

Why there were 800 people on that ship leaves wiggle room; but there's no wiggle room about who they were referring to.

 

It's not designed by Matt Jeffries or Gene Roddenberry, now is it? So what does it matter?