TOS Shuttles... Armed?

[Cmdr_Blop]

So, I was thinking about the TOS shuttles, and I can't recall if it was ever stated/shown if they were armed at all? I haven't seen all of TOS-R, so IDK if the remastered episodes showed any of them as armed, either. Any thoughts on this?

[Saturn0660]

Not that I can recall. But i would tend to think they would have something. Even if it was a short-ranged defense only phaser.

[SchwEnt]

Nah, they weren't armed.
Never saw any weapons fire in any esp, and no schematic or blueprint or photographic evidence ever showed any indication where weapons might be located.

We might like to think they were, but not likely.

Of course, TAS offered more possibilities if you like to consider that series.

[Vance]

There's a fan design that I saw with a phaser set on it, but the TOS shuttle is apparently unarmed. Since it's really a support shuttle and not meant for combat operations, the regular shuttle eschews weaponry.

The heavy shuttle from TAS apparently has a phaser bank on it as well, but it's Filmation...

[Timo]

Since these things are something of a crossbreed between a seagoing ship's boat and her helicopter, it wouldn't be surprising or dramatically inappropriate if they could be fitted with a carronade-analogue or a minigun pod -analogue when situation warranted. Just yank out a panel somewhere, expose a few strongpoints and connections, bolt on a pylon, and attach a weapon to the pylon. Or, since Jeffries preferred smooth exteriors, yank out a panel, plug a phaser into the exposed cavity, and cover with a different panel that has a hole for the phaser in it. But again only when the mission specifically calls for this penalty-imposing special rig.

Certainly TOS is largely devoid of instances where the shuttles should have used their weapons but didn't. OTOH, the formative "The Galileo Seven" already features a scene where the shuttle is surrounded by hostiles, yet our heroes make no attempt to use weapons against said hostiles. Is that merely because they don't have the power to spare (even though they are wasting lots of it by hovering under the weight of the hostiles instead of taking off)? Or is it solid proof that this particular shuttle at least lacked weaponry?

When the TAS aquashuttle uses its phasers against a sea monster, it's without much ado, and indeed the audience expects that of our heroes and their technology. Granted that the craft is quite bulky (in all scenes save the one where she launches from the shuttlebay) and could house technology that won't fit aboard the more compact TOS shuttles.

Timo Saloniemi

[blssdwlf]

Timo wrote:

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Certainly TOS is largely devoid of instances where the shuttles should have used their weapons but didn't. OTOH, the formative "The Galileo Seven" already features a scene where the shuttle is surrounded by hostiles, yet our heroes make no attempt to use weapons against said hostiles. Is that merely because they don't have the power to spare (even though they are wasting lots of it by hovering under the weight of the hostiles instead of taking off)? Or is it solid proof that this particular shuttle at least lacked weaponry?

I think the stock TOS shuttle is unarmed, except for the hand weapons carried aboard. Of course, they also stripped off something like 150 pounds of equipment or so... perhaps a shuttle phaser was taken off as well? In anycase, from the dialogue it sounded like every piece that wasn't necessary for liftoff was stripped out.

But we also see that in "The Immunity Syndrome" that a shuttle can be outfitted with a protective shield and various scientific equipment in under 10 minutes. It would seem trivial then to strap on a small phaser turret and photon grenade/missile launcher and shields with a dedicated power pack for short range combat missions. It wouldn't be a match against a starship, but would probably be enough against old ships, freighters and other small craft.

[Forbin]

Unarmed. They're were strictly transports in TOS. Timo's analogy to a ship's launch is apt.

[T'Girl]

In the novel Spock Messiah, Chekov avocated mounting a phaser on one of the shuttle so that he could fly down to a planet and kill Spock in a straffing run. Spock was believed to have broken the prime directive in that novel.

[King Daniel]

Considering the NX-01's shuttlepod had phasers, as did the TAS shuttlecraft, and that phasers aren't huge (see: palm phaser) it would be reasonable to assume the TOS shuttle did have phasers, although they were never used on tv.

[Greg Cox]

I've been thinking about this myself, but, ENTERPRISE notwithstanding, there's no evidence that the TOS shuttles had phasers. Technical diagrams in various licensed reference books and magazine don't indicate any phaser banks, and, yeah, you'd think they would have been mentioned in "The Galileo Seven."

Although, granted, those were all released long before ENTERPRISE was gleam in anyone's eye . . . .

[Forbin]

KingDaniel wrote:

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Considering the NX-01's shuttlepod had phasers, as did the TAS shuttlecraft, and that phasers aren't huge (see: palm phaser) it would be reasonable to assume the TOS shuttle did have phasers, although they were never used on tv.

Things that happened AFTER TOS was on the air should have no bearing on how we interpret TOS.
IMHO.

[Greg Cox]

Forbin wrote:

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Things that happened AFTER TOS was on the air should have no bearing on how we interpret TOS.
IMHO.

But what if you're writing a new TOS novel now?

You can't really ignore Enterprise.

[MANT!]

TOS's shuttles were unarmed.. however they could be used as weapons (Doomsday Machine) or perhaps packed with explosives and launched ..like a mine..

I'm thinking that like a ship's launch, they were under the protection of the starship's weapons and weren't usually used in a known hostile environment.

[King Daniel]

Forbin wrote:

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Things that happened AFTER TOS was on the air should have no bearing on how we interpret TOS.
IMHO.

If you're looking at TOS in vacuum, I can understand that. But as part of the larger Trek mosaic, everything else is fair game.

[Vance]

Greg Cox wrote:

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But what if you're writing a new TOS novel now?

You can't really ignore Enterprise.

Sure you can. There's really not much need for material shown in ENT to appear in a TOS work, is there? Think about it's a lot like saying a novel on Vietnam needs to include information and consistancy with the Weimar Republic.