I don't know if people will pay to see that.
Picard's use of the Enterprise as his own taxi
- Thread starter Nathan
- Start date
I don't know if people will pay to see that.
When they met in the Nexus, Kirk should've suggested Picard go Warp 10 around The Sun to get his brother and nephew back, before the fire claimed them. That's the way to use the "D" as a personal taxi service ...
Funny thing, the first time I saw that movie that's what I thought: "If he's gonna change the timeline then why not kill two birds with one stone and save his beloved Nephew and Brother too. That would leave him more than enough time to counter Sorian's plans."
Which reminds me: He doesn't need to use the "D" to travel back in time, he can just use the Nexus.
All things serve the plot.
They do?
I don't have any objection to this. The Enterprise diverts for all kinds of unscheduled actions, especially rescues. What difference does it make if we're talking about a crew stranded on a disabled Pakled freighter or an endangered civilian operating alone? I think Picard would have made the same decisions even if that civilian wasn't possibly his son. I might even go so far as to say he would have been even more zealous in his actions had there been no direct family relation (or if it was the child of a crew member) and he wasn't thinking about potential conflicts of interest.
I am not so sure about that. It certainly would strengthen your position if there were any examples of that already.
Examples of what? The Enterprise diverting from its whatever its primary mission might have been in order to render assistance to others? I hope this doesn't earn me a warning, but have you ever seen Star Trek: The Next Generation? What in it leads you to believe that Captain Picard would ever throw up his hands and say "A life in danger? We're much too busy for that. Continue on course, Mr. Crusher..." when somebody needed help?
Ever seen Picard watch an entire planet die without lifting a finger? No? Think about it.
By season 7, the Enterprise's schedule was tight so doing what he did should have required explanation or permission from starfleet. In the first couple seasons it would be no problem because they seemed to be just cruising around like they had nothing to do.
Well, Picard often seems like he thinks he should let planets die for the sake of the smallest Prime Directive concern...
In Next Gen it really seems they aren't restricted by any schedule. I'd be satisfied if they at least had shown Picard having to clear these things before darting off, as Kirk had to.
In Next Gen it really seems they aren't restricted by any schedule. I'd be satisfied if they at least had shown Picard having to clear these things before darting off, as Kirk had to.
Riker could barely be bothered with the cryo-ship from the 20th century in s1's "The Neutral Zone. "It's just an old derelict". Even when they find people alive no one seemed to care except Data and Troi had to be assigned to them to care. Picard just wanted them out of his hair because it was too much to deal with them AND face off with the Romulans. This was 1987 and multi-tasking wasn't a buzzphrase yet I guess.
I do wonder about their attitude. It seemed to me they were trying to show a futuristic attitude. Bev implies 24th century people no longer fear death. Maybe there's no longer that desperation we have to save everyone no matter what extreme measures are needed. Maybe people aren't kept alive in a brain-dead vegetative state anymore.... Maybe reviving frozen dead people, though possible, isn't a high priority. Maybe being less afraid of death leads to that attitude.
I thought that too, but then I thought these people are explorers. The historical value of the ship alone is enough investigate, if not call in an archeological team. The historical value of the living people is infinite. First hand accounts of life in the 20th century. Which leads to Jean-Luc Picard, 'soon-to-be, but right now doesn't give a hoot amateur archeologist'. Season 3+ Picard would have insisted on leading the away team and would have bored the others silly discussing details of the ships of that period and so on. I do love the episode though and how Ralph Whatshisname reads the Romulans' poker faces.
Maybe they had all the history they wanted from that era... We do record a hell of a lot these days.
Also, it's a clear case of what's the hurry? The satellite had been there since the 1980s or so - it wasn't going anywhere fast. Its destruction would come "eventually", not in two hours; if there was a starbase within shuttlecraft range, let them worry about it in the upcoming centuries.
Again, starships can afford to make detours. They even have standing orders to do so in the middle of time-critical rescue missions ("The Galileo Seven"). The logic is simple: the difference between a starship's cruise and dash speeds is extreme. Starfleet isn't just capable of including a big safety margin in time-critical missions - it has better do that, because dash is dangerous. But the dangers of dashing are offset whenever there's a life at risk, and sometimes even when there's the risk of missing out on a good interplanetary light show.
Starships in all the shows are demonstrably on standby for emergency action, regardless of their scheduled work. Which is good and well because clearly Starfleet is short on starships (the cavalry either arrives in the nick of time, or then a tad too late, and never with more than one horse) and cannot separate them to those standing by for SAR and those shuttling between colonies for settling disputes.
Is there any episode where a Starfleet skipper would have turned down a rescue mission? Well, we could start with the first one! Pike only relented when he learned of the theoretical possibility of survivors. But when he did relent, he put his current mission on hold and investigated a non-time-critical emergency where any potential survivors would have been surviving for decades already. All other Trek really follows form, up to and including the use in "Friday's Child" of the cliche where a vessel is obligated to address an emergency call regardless of circumstances.
Timo Saloniemi
Again, starships can afford to make detours. They even have standing orders to do so in the middle of time-critical rescue missions ("The Galileo Seven"). The logic is simple: the difference between a starship's cruise and dash speeds is extreme. Starfleet isn't just capable of including a big safety margin in time-critical missions - it has better do that, because dash is dangerous. But the dangers of dashing are offset whenever there's a life at risk, and sometimes even when there's the risk of missing out on a good interplanetary light show.
Starships in all the shows are demonstrably on standby for emergency action, regardless of their scheduled work. Which is good and well because clearly Starfleet is short on starships (the cavalry either arrives in the nick of time, or then a tad too late, and never with more than one horse) and cannot separate them to those standing by for SAR and those shuttling between colonies for settling disputes.
Is there any episode where a Starfleet skipper would have turned down a rescue mission? Well, we could start with the first one! Pike only relented when he learned of the theoretical possibility of survivors. But when he did relent, he put his current mission on hold and investigated a non-time-critical emergency where any potential survivors would have been surviving for decades already. All other Trek really follows form, up to and including the use in "Friday's Child" of the cliche where a vessel is obligated to address an emergency call regardless of circumstances.
Timo Saloniemi
Rescuing a ship with many people might be different than rushing to protect one man (Picard's non-son)on a populated planet from a potential murderer
(that Ferengi). Star Fleet might think, don't they have police there?
(that Ferengi). Star Fleet might think, don't they have police there?
Once or twice we even see shuttlepods being used as long distance vehicles (The Minds Eye for example) which don't seem to have any living space other than two seats like a sports car. Raises questions about being in them longer than a couple of hours.
OTOH, every "long distance" run could be a case of being dropped off a short distance before the destination, and/or being picked up a short distance away from the starting point.
Which would make a lot of sense when we consider how warping inside certain star systems seems to be either forbidden, or then really slow going. If somebody's going to be stuck at impulse, it better be a small shuttle rather than the entire starship. (Also, since it clearly is only certain star systems, we can happily accept how shuttles are only rarely used and the mothership is the likelier means of delivering a person to a destination on screen. Or vice versa, whichever way the statistics turn with accumulating material.)
Well, they don't. We've never seen a separate police force on any Federation world, including Earth itself - it's always Starfleet arresting, executing or otherwise driving to their well-earned doom the wrongdoers. There are zero jurisdiction issues, zero cases of calling for local support, etc. (Sure, there's a Secret Service on Earth for high end political problems in ST3:TSfS, but that's got nothing to do with police, and in any case the organization only serves to deliver McCoy into a Starfleet gaol.)
Is that just bias from the fact that all the crimes we see are "space crimes", often involving Starfleet personnel directly? Perhaps so, with a few notable exceptions. But there's also this:
There doesn't seem to be any Starfleet presence on UFP planets other than Earth, either, unless there's explicitly a starbase there. If UFP members off Earth want Starfleet's help on a hairy scientific or legal dilemma or a troublesome hairdo or whatever, they wait for a starship to arrive. Which would appear to necessitate the keeping of every starship on constant law enforcement readiness. How is that going to work? Perhaps crime simply is down a lot (Picard often implies that much, yet "Eye of the Beholder" suggests a violent crime of passion is far from unfathomable in the 2370s still)?
Timo Saloniemi
Which would make a lot of sense when we consider how warping inside certain star systems seems to be either forbidden, or then really slow going. If somebody's going to be stuck at impulse, it better be a small shuttle rather than the entire starship. (Also, since it clearly is only certain star systems, we can happily accept how shuttles are only rarely used and the mothership is the likelier means of delivering a person to a destination on screen. Or vice versa, whichever way the statistics turn with accumulating material.)
Well, they don't. We've never seen a separate police force on any Federation world, including Earth itself - it's always Starfleet arresting, executing or otherwise driving to their well-earned doom the wrongdoers. There are zero jurisdiction issues, zero cases of calling for local support, etc. (Sure, there's a Secret Service on Earth for high end political problems in ST3:TSfS, but that's got nothing to do with police, and in any case the organization only serves to deliver McCoy into a Starfleet gaol.)
Is that just bias from the fact that all the crimes we see are "space crimes", often involving Starfleet personnel directly? Perhaps so, with a few notable exceptions. But there's also this:
There doesn't seem to be any Starfleet presence on UFP planets other than Earth, either, unless there's explicitly a starbase there. If UFP members off Earth want Starfleet's help on a hairy scientific or legal dilemma or a troublesome hairdo or whatever, they wait for a starship to arrive. Which would appear to necessitate the keeping of every starship on constant law enforcement readiness. How is that going to work? Perhaps crime simply is down a lot (Picard often implies that much, yet "Eye of the Beholder" suggests a violent crime of passion is far from unfathomable in the 2370s still)?
Timo Saloniemi
If Picard were truly using the Enterprise as his personal taxi he would stop at planets to chew the fat with some friends while the ship would be waiting for him in orbit. As far as I know he never did that.
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