What is the consensus for the TOS Enterprise impulse engine glow color?
- Thread starter Irishman
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Tough question since I think fans approve of both blue and red. I'd tell you both are accurate since impulse engine color is merely the level of heat being exhausted from the actual engines not any sort of propellant difference since impulse engines don't produce thrust but rather push and pull subspace at a comparatively weak level in relation to warp engines but also for rapid maneuvering which basic thrust can't apply to ships of that mass. So blue higher output, red lower output. Either way you shoot you're right 
Why not use different colors for different functions? Dark red for very low thrust. Red for low thrust. Orange for medium thrust. Blue for high thrust. Darkest blue verging on black for highest thrust.
It might not be what people expect but it fits with physics. And with the absence of color in TOS but presence of it in TMP.
It might not be what people expect but it fits with physics. And with the absence of color in TOS but presence of it in TMP.
Oh come now. I've seen a fan edit of TMP where they "fixed" the deflector dish from "changing" so it would be like the other five films.
*sigh*
From a technical perspective, if it is to be taken to be an actual Newtonian thruster producing an "impulse", it would probably produce some kind of heat discharge. But, if it is taken to be say, magnetohydrodynamic, or even a mixed exotic propulsion system of some sort, it might not. "The Making of Star Trek" said it was an atomic rocket, so that sounds like a glow. But the FX of TOS did not show a glow. I believe I have seen old memos to the effect a glow was desired much as was a glow on the inboard warp nacelles and their aft globes. It comes down to, do you do what they wanted, what makes sense, or what was shown onscreen?
I agree if you refer to the original version of the show. However in the remaster there is glow in various episodes. I know you're a hardcore original fan so I won't push it just figured to point that out. If you asked me it's unrealistic for most things to glow at all since most of the energy being given off by starship components radiates beyond the visible spectrum.
If we expand our inspiration to "The Motion Picture", there is glow depicted there. http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=584&pid=63601#top_display_media
This is the very next live-action incarnation of Star Trek. That must count for something.
This is the very next live-action incarnation of Star Trek. That must count for something.
Impulse reactors are fusion reactors so it should probably look like helium plasma, years ago there was a picture in some science magazine, this was before the interwebs, it was a picture of one of the old experimental and failed fusion reactor, there was a small window in the machine and when it was tested the glow of the plasma was a pink-ish purple.
Not sure if that is all that nice to look at but probably realistic?
Not sure if that is all that nice to look at but probably realistic?
Uh, yes. In the "Enterprise" mirror universe episode "In a Mirror, Darkly", the USS Defiant glowed blue.
Some say red, some say blue. The only way to satisfy both is to go with purple, so I'd say do that.
