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Picard: Status of the Enterprise?

I'm inclined to think the opposite: the Enterprise-B was the long-serving starship with the name and was around long enough to be properly decommissioned. The Enterprise-C, on the other hand, was around the shortest, IMO.

Why would it have been decommissioned? We see other Excelsior class ships decades after when the ENT-C would have launched. Clearly, it was a sturdy class of ship that could last nearly a century.
 
Indeed, it's possible she still remains in service when the E-E is launched: there's plenty of naval precedent for older ships donating their glorious names to newer ones and then continuing to serve in lesser roles, under humbler names. Although this generally involves roles that are truly lesser, whereas the Excelsior class keeps on pushing the frontiers in TNG as far as we can tell.

Timo Saloniemi
 
As for rotating the shields against the Duras sisters, a fat lot of good that would do, with a Klingon spy doing the rotating! It's as much a "plot hole" as LaForge saying he can't save the warp core - even if the audience knows of 47 tricks he might try, he's the one who is fully entitled to say that those won't work.

Timo Saloniemi

There was no "Klingon spy", they just hacked Geordi's visor to visually see the read-out with the frequency on it.

Had they switched to random modulation, that would have instantly solved the problem.
 
Why would it have been decommissioned? We see other Excelsior class ships decades after when the ENT-C would have launched. Clearly, it was a sturdy class of ship that could last nearly a century.
I think the overall design could last a century, but individual ships in the design not so much. Depending on how much or as little wear and tear an individual vessel undergoes during her lifetime, a single ship could last anywhere as long as 80 years or as short as 25 years, IMO.
 
...And may have jinxed the name by her poor performance, so that there was this two-decade gap till the E-D.
Hardly a poor performance, since it prevented a war with the Klingons and likely even set into motion the initial Khitomer Accords peace treaty becoming an official alliance. A case could also be made that after a period of mourning for the first Starship Enterprise to be lost in the line of duty with all hands aboard, Starfleet announced that the next Enterprise would be the one of the newly-proposed Galaxy-class ships that was still basically on the drawing board at the time.
 
There was no "Klingon spy", they just hacked Geordi's visor to visually see the read-out with the frequency on it.

Had they switched to random modulation, that would have instantly solved the problem.
But Geordi would still be sitting at the Engineering station looking at what frequency was being used at the moment.
As far as I can remember, they never did realize till afterward that Geordi was being hacked.

After seeing the visual display, the Duras Sisters apparently fed the signal from Geordie's VISOR right into the ships firing computer so any delay would be minuscule.
 
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That was what I was thinking as well, that they didn't know Geordi was being hacked until after the fact, so they wouldn't have know to change the shield frequency until it was to late.
 
That was what I was thinking as well, that they didn't know Geordi was being hacked until after the fact, so they wouldn't have know to change the shield frequency until it was to late.
While I agree with that point, Worf pointedly states "They have found a way to penetrate our shields." I would like to think that a Galaxy Class starship can adjust its shields in a battle situation, rather than just turning the ship away from a BoP.
 
While I agree with that point, Worf pointedly states "They have found a way to penetrate our shields." I would like to think that a Galaxy Class starship can adjust its shields in a battle situation, rather than just turning the ship away from a BoP.
But that's my point, even if they had adjusted the shield harmonics, it would have been a vain attempt since Geordi was looking right at the Engineering Console and transmitting to the Klingon ship's computer exactly what he saw.
Also, after the first two shots penetrated the shields, things were pretty much falling apart on the bridge electronically and everybody was scrambling to figure out what the heck was going on.
Even Data's quick mind was at a loss for a few seconds.

Which was long enough for the klingon disruptors to completely foul up the Enterprise's shields.
 
But that's my point, even if they had adjusted the shield harmonics, it would have been a vain attempt since Geordi was looking right at the Engineering Console and transmitting to the Klingon ship's computer exactly what he saw.
Also, after the first two shots penetrated the shields, things were pretty much falling apart on the bridge electronically and everybody was scrambling to figure out what the heck was going on.
Even Data's quick mind was at a loss for a few seconds.

Which was long enough for the Klingon disruptors to completely foul up the Enterprise's shields.
Yes, but it all felt quite ridiculous that they didn't even attempt any sort of solution. Absolutely an absurd scene in terms of TNG tactics.
 
I don't think this is a valid complaint. These are professionals: they aren't obligated to tell us when and how they are doing their jobs. Indeed, the whole fight could have been had without any dialogue, just dramatic music (several scifi and action shows have done that after the B5 spinoff), and we would be assuming all the usual things happened.

The reason why shield modulation would not work is clear: LaForge would betray them. It is a somewhat different issue whether rotating does the shields any good in normal combat. Might be it fatally weakens them instead. But since the shields aren't working here, the heroes would be justified in trying rotation, and we have no reason to think they did not do exactly that.

It's sorta standard procedure, really: even the irrelevant sidekicks of the week aboard the Odyssey did it in "Jem'Hadar". But it seldom works...

Timo Saloniemi
 
After the first two torpedos hit, all important systems were pretty much fried or on the verge of shutting down. Even if rotating shields frequencies had worked, there would have been too many catastrophic system failures to make any difference. By that time the warp core breach would still have been in progress. They were very lucky to even be able to seperate the saucer.
 
Yes, but it all felt quite ridiculous that they didn't even attempt any sort of solution. Absolutely an absurd scene in terms of TNG tactics.
What you are also missing here is the Time Factor.
We're talking about Mere SECONDS for the Bridge Crew to react.
As I pointed out, even Data was bewildered as to what was going on and nobody present on the bridge, could think faster than Data can.
 
What you are also missing here is the Time Factor.
We're talking about Mere SECONDS for the Bridge Crew to react.
As I pointed out, even Data was bewildered as to what was going on and nobody present on the bridge, could think faster than Data can.
I have watched the scene multiple times (more than I care to admit). As much as I want to give credit to the crew here, it strains my suspension of disbelief very thinly that their immediate reaction is to turn the ship away from the attacker.

As Lorca would say "Could I trouble you to fire at something!"
 
I have watched the scene multiple times (more than I care to admit). As much as I want to give credit to the crew here, it strains my suspension of disbelief very thinly that their immediate reaction is to turn the ship away from the attacker.

As Lorca would say "Could I trouble you to fire at something!"
It could be that they may have assumed that the forward shields were somehow compromised and were attempting to turn the ship in a way that brought another uncompromised facing, forward.
As someone else pointed out above, the systems on the bridge were pretty much screwed up after the second hit, it may not have been possible for Worf to fire anything even if he tried.
Which he may have, we don't really know.

Things were very chaotic for several seconds and it was obvious to me that the bridge crew were scrambling to get their systems to function properly.
By then Geordie was calling and saying that there was a coolant leak and the core was going to blow.
 
It could be that they may have assumed that the forward shields were somehow compromised and were attempting to turn the ship in a way that brought another uncompromised facing, forward.
As someone else pointed out above, the systems on the bridge were pretty much screwed up after the second hit, it may not have been possible for Worf to fire anything even if he tried.
Which he may have, we don't really know.

Things were very chaotic for several seconds and it was obvious to me that the bridge crew were scrambling to get their systems to function properly.
By then Geordie was calling and saying that there was a coolant leak and the core was going to blow.
I appreciate the positive interpretation of the events. I just don't happen to agree, because it seems rather contrived.
 
I think the overall design could last a century, but individual ships in the design not so much. Depending on how much or as little wear and tear an individual vessel undergoes during her lifetime, a single ship could last anywhere as long as 80 years or as short as 25 years, IMO.

Exactly. For all we know, Starfleet sends the Enterprise on 75% more missions than any other ship, which might be why they tend to only last a quarter of the time that another, older class of ship lasts.
 
Exactly. For all we know, Starfleet sends the Enterprise on 75% more missions than any other ship, which might be why they tend to only last a quarter of the time that another, older class of ship lasts.
The old saying: "The star that burns twice as bright, lasts half as long?" In "All Good Things..." the Enterprise-D was going to be decommissioned after only thirty or so of service, but was spared from the scrapyards only at Admiral Riker's request. That doesn't mean that the ship wasn't meant to be around for a longer time, but she may just had a rougher life than even some other Galaxy-class ships and that shortened her actual intended operational lifespan. Conversely, the Constellation-class USS Hathaway was still running and participating in taskforces after 80+ years of service (although she may have been in mothballs for some of that time).
 
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