That Destruct Sequence

[Spock's Barber]

The destruct sequence from Let That Be Your Last Battlefield always bothered me. The length, repetition and number of personnel involved just seemed overdone. Can one of you Trek technicians think up a better way to blow up the Enterprise? Ka-Booooom!

 

[Nerys Myk]

The destruct sequence from Let That Be Your Last Battlefield always bothered me. The length, repetition and number of personnel involved just seemed overdone. Can one of you Trek technicians think up a better way to blow up the Enterprise? Ka-Booooom!

Codes. Count downs. Sweaty close ups.
Drama and suspense.

"Computer, activate self destruct."
BOOM!
Not so much.

 

[Spock's Barber]

No, no! Not that button! Press the white button....Ka-Boooooooom!

 

[Nerys Myk]

What kind of operation makes a self destruct button white?

 

[Spock's Barber]

A Starfleet recruit miswired the destruct panel. Oooooops.

 

[FormerLurker]

No, no! Not that button! Press the white button....Ka-Boooooooom!

Isn't that actually the shuttlecraft main control panel, portside?

 

[Spock's Barber]

Isn't that actually the shuttlecraft main control panel, portside?

I took that from Doomsday Machine screencaps.

 

[F. King Daniel]

"Someone go to engineering with a phaser and start shooting things."

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Also destroying a ship has to be the last resort and would have to be a decision that was supported by at least the next ranking officer, if they both agreed there was no other way out. Picard and Riker had to agree, as did Sisko and Kira, it was only Janeway that had that power all to herself and was a little more liberal in its use.

 

[Michael]

The only thing bothering me about that self-destruct sequence is Scotty's teeth.

 

[The Old Mixer]

The obvious thing that the destruct protocol brings to mind is the two-man rule used for nuclear launch protocol.

 

[alensatemybuick1]

Gee, I love that sequence, thought it was cool in 1984 when they worked it into TSFS as well (though I loved it a lot less that the ship actually blew up that time).

 

[retroenzo]

That's why I'd never be a starship captain.

Me: Computer activate self-destruct.
Computer: Please enter security code.
Me: Zero One Zero One Gamma Delta
Computer: Incorrect. Two tries remaining.
Me: Er, okay. Try Zero One One One Gamma Delta
Computer: Incorrect. One try remaining.
Me: Zero One Zero One Gamma Omega?
Computer: Incorrect. You are now looked out of the self destruct system.
Me: I've forgotten my password.
Computer: Transferring you to Starfleet IT...

 

[alensatemybuick1]

A friend of mine who worked in IT at my company told me a ditty he used with people who forgot their passwords, but only those people he knew to have a good sense of humor about themselves: try typing "I", "D", the letter "10", followed by "T": ID10T.

 

[retroenzo]

A friend of mine who worked in IT at my company told me a ditty he used with people who forgot their passwords, but only those people he knew to have a good sense of humor about themselves: try typing "I", "D", the letter "10", followed by "T": ID10T.

Used that one. Also used to refer to them as PICNICs. Problem In Chair. Not In Computer.

 

[Shawnster]

In racing they refer to the connection between the steering wheel and the accelerator.

In other ways, the driver.

 

[F. King Daniel]

That's why I'd never be a starship captain.

And here's why I wouldn't:

Me: Computer activate self-destruct.
Computer: Please enter security code.
Me: *checks codes written in tiny writing on back of comm badge*

 

[scotpens]

Codes. Count downs. Sweaty close ups.
Drama and suspense.

More like cheap, badly written, fake drama and suspense. Did anyone think for a second that Kirk was actually going to destroy his own ship?

A friend of mine who worked in IT at my company told me a ditty he used with people who forgot their passwords, but only those people he knew to have a good sense of humor about themselves: try typing "I", "D", the letter "10", followed by "T": ID10T.

Used that one. Also used to refer to them as PICNICs. Problem In Chair. Not In Computer.

Or PEBKAC -- Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair.

 

[Captain Rob]

The whole "I-D-ten-T" bit is required learning during day one of IT training.
The Self Destruct scenes in TOS were better than the "remove and flip the glowing blue fluorescent tubes in order, to make them turn red" bit from ENT to destruct the Zindi weapon. They made that scene take way too long when time was running out.

 

[Desert Kris]

The destruct sequence from Let That Be Your Last Battlefield always bothered me. The length, repetition and number of personnel involved just seemed overdone. Can one of you Trek technicians think up a better way to blow up the Enterprise? Ka-Booooom!

I really like the visual rigmarole that Ellen Ripley goes through to destroy the Nostromo in Alien. There isn't a single button, there aren't codes that three people have to remember. There's the impression of multiple safeties that have to be deactivated and so forth. It's not a good way to reverse it if you change your mind at the last minute, though.