Saucer separation as a solution

[Groppler Zorn]

I’m watching the episode “the enemy” right now and it occurs to me that instead of waiting for Geordi at Galorndon Core, Picard could have separated the ship, left the saucer in orbit for LaForge, taken the stardrive section to meet Tomalak, handed over the sick romulan, and then got a second prisoner after they beamed Geordi up (and put him on report for wandering off and nearly starting and interstellar incident).

Now, I know they didn’t separate the model much for budgetary reasons, but in-universe it seems that separating the saucer would have solved a lot of Picard’s problems.

He did love to keep his ship in one piece (a fact that is directly noted in the great novel “rogue saucer” from 100 years ago), but it did show a blatant disregard for the lives of the civilians and children on the Enterprise-D.

What are people’s thoughts on this? Would you have yelled at Picard for being reckless like Nechayev probably did for not separating the ship enough? Or was having the Enterprise in one piece tactically beneficial?

Also, Worf is awesome in “the enemy” but that’s a tangent.

 

[Butters]

The saucer section always seemed like a bit of a sitting duck to me, what with it not being warp capable, but yes, that was one example of when they needed to be in two places at once, but forget that they could be.

 

[Steven P Bastien]

A saucer full of civilians seems fine for a ship of discovery, but not for a warship. There seemed to have been some times a problem that could have been eliminated just by parking the civilians and taking the drive section into the conflict. But, the CGI shots of the Enterprise might not be as impressive.

EDIT: I should not have said CGI shots. Note correction below.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I suspect that saucer separation was one of those ideas that seemed (to the showrunners) like a good idea in theory, but which would be too impractical to carry out regularly in the actual show.

"...there will be no more isolation, in our Saucer Separation..."

 

[Groppler Zorn]

The saucer section always seemed like a bit of a sitting duck to me,

In an ideal world (where cgi was more impressive and easier than it was at the time) maybe the saucer could have landed safely on a planet so that the stardrive section could have gone into battle...

the CGI shots of the Enterprise might not be as impressive.

I didn’t realise they’d trialled cgi models before the show started but the cgi wasn’t good enough yet. Maybe if the 6 foot model (gorgeous as it is) was a little less unwieldy it’d have been more feasible to separate the ship more often

I suspect that saucer separation was one of those ideas that seemed (to the showrunners) like a good idea in theory, but which would be too impractical to carry out regularly in the actual show.

Yeh it’s a shame - there are a few stories where the complicating issue could have been avoided had they separated the ship
^ not that I can think of any right now, answers on a postcard

 

[Steven P Bastien]

Thank you for the correction. I misspoke. I don't know why I said CGI. I should have just said "shots" not "CGI shots".

You are right. The lack of CGI likely played into it.

 

[Mytran]

Even the saucer crash in "Generations" was done using a physical model. Realistic CGI hasn't been around as long as it seems sometimes...

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

It seems like most, if not all the separation shots from The Arsenal Of Freedom and BOBWII were stock footage from EaF.

The saucer firing anti-matter blobs at the Borg ship in BoBWII were new, but it could have been the same shot of the separated saucer with new effects added.

 

[Mytran]

It's a shame as I liked the "cobra head" look of the separated Stardrive section; it was a sign that the E-D meant business...

 

[tomswift2002]

Even the saucer crash in "Generations" was done using a physical model. Realistic CGI hasn't been around as long as it seems sometimes...

Even in Star Trek Nemesis the saucer crash into Shinzon's ship was done with physical models as the physical models gave a more realistic impact (there was some added CGI debris in the final shot as the ships pulled apart, and any shot showing the rear of the ship had the physical model matted in front of the rear of the ship).

However, in The Enemy, there was always the option of reusing the already shot separation sequence from Encounter At Farpoint. A similar method was used in Generations where the editors reused the under-side shot of the saucer separating.

 

[omnirad]

They should have used the saucer separation as often as they brought back Q, Mrs. Troi, and Lore. If only they had made the 4 foot Enterprise able to detach we could have had more exciting battles.

 

[BK613]

^^Yes, I always wanted the saucer sep to be used in exploration. Imagine the saucer parked in orbit as a temporary starbase with the battle section providing both a defensive role but also ferrying shuttles out to other objects of interest in a system

 

[JirinPanthosa]

It makes a lot of sense to have a show deployed to deep space that had a civilian and research community that could be left behind whenever there was a military threat.

What I read is that the designers weren't told the ship was supposed to separate until they'd already designed the ship, so then they ended up with a stardrive section that looked ridiculous on its own. I know a lot of the reason was budgetary they rarely separated, but I think another part of it was that the stardrive section by itself looked plain ridiculous and would have looked terrible in battle.

 

[Farscape One]

I think in the case of "The Enemy", it was more a safety concern for his crew.

Galorndon Core was VERY close to the Neutral Zone, and there was already the one incursion by the Romulans. It was quite likely, in his mind, that another would occur there. The saucer by itself is not nearly as defendable as the stardrive, or together, obviously.

I think Picard did the right thing by not separating the ship.

If there was one grave error made by a Galaxy class starship captain, it was Donald Varley for not taking up Picard's offer of taking civilians from the Yamato.

 

[Timo]

Then again, considering how badly off the ship's systems were, half the people would no doubt have died in the transfer attempt, while the other half would have turned into rejuvenated Siamese evil twins.

I rather doubt the saucer separation functionality was actually built with "dodging danger" duty in mind. It quite possibly had some other grandiose aim but utterly failed to perform, and Picard and pals soon also found out that the Plan B of using it for tactical dodging had no practical merit, either. It just wasn't a big deal, though - Starfleet had centuries of experience with operating ships that didn't regularly split and reconnect, including ones with helpless civilians or other meek victims aboard. So Picard reporting back "Not working, I'm afraid" was shrugged off, and the fancy reattaching procedure was shelved while the usual separation-as-final-recourse mode was retained.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Any time they knew for a fact they were heading into combat or a significant destruction risk they should have separated. The Defector? Even more Duh than The Enemy.

 

[Maurice]

...What I read is that the designers weren't told the ship was supposed to separate until they'd already designed the ship...

Designer singular. Andrew Probert to be exact. He was told there would be a "battle section", not that the ship would saucer separate, and had to figure out how to split it after the design direction was approved.

 

[Samuel]

It makes a lot of sense to have a show deployed to deep space that had a civilian and research community that could be left behind whenever there was a military threat.

What I read is that the designers weren't told the ship was supposed to separate until they'd already designed the ship, so then they ended up with a stardrive section that looked ridiculous on its own. I know a lot of the reason was budgetary they rarely separated, but I think another part of it was that the stardrive section by itself looked plain ridiculous and would have looked terrible in battle.

Some have described the Stardrive section as looking like a "decapitated chicken".
But they did give some consideration in how it was supposed to look. I read in the development of TNG that the "look" of the stardrive section post separation was considered. Which is why they basically leave a "vestigial saucer" atop the "neck" of the ship that from some angles kind of gives the "look" of a whole ship.

But be honest, in the first season of TNG they had a horrible time of getting the right favorable viewing angles for the Enterprise D. It looked horrid when filmed at the famous "forward port low" angle that the original and movie era Enterprise was known for.

 

[Stroudarian]

I agree that Picard probably should have considered saucer separation as an option, however as a former Naval Officer, I can attest that it would not be tactically feasible to leave the saucer section behind, with limited defenses while there are known hostile forces in the area. It's better to keep all of your personnel together, where you can effectively control the situation. Captain Picard is aware that a Romulan Warbird in enroute to the star system, and he already has a pretty good idea of where the Romulans are heading. All Picard has to do is wait for them to arrive, and in the mean time, keep looking for his missing crewman.

As for Worf, I am forced to overwhelmingly agree. The scene in Picard's waiting room, where he is discussing the Romulan prisoner with the Captain, this scene is my favorite Worf scene from the series.

 

[Groppler Zorn]

Captain Picard is aware that a Romulan Warbird in enroute to the star system

I think the fault here is with starfleet for allowing civilians and children on the federation flagship in the first place. After “the neutral zone” when the romulans became a threat again all non starfleet personnel should have been removed from the Enterprise for safety reasons I think. Starfleet’s idea to build a ship that was part warship part Marriott convention centre (joke from the Honest trailer) was a failure. And yet, they expanded the idea to ships like the Saratoga - poor Jennifer...

As for Worf, I am forced to overwhelmingly agree. The scene in Picard's waiting room, where he is discussing the Romulan prisoner with the Captain, this scene is my favorite Worf scene from the series.

It’s a very un-TNG scene - more akin to DS9, but it’s very Worf. It’s definitely one of my favourite Worf scenes too - along with “if hugh* were any other man I would kill you where you stand!”

*deliberate attempt to imitate Dorn’s distinctive pronunciation...!