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Donny's Refit Enterprise Interiors (Version 2.0)

I shake my head at the thought that on a ship with that kind of technology - FTL propulsion, gravity manipulation, matter/energy teleportation, etc - that there was not, as a matter of course, a robot to go in that room to do what Spock did.

Electronics can be vulnerable to radiation.

On the other hand, this is a movie where photon torpedoes were loaded manually. A generous interpretation is that, since the Enterprise is now a cadet vessel, it lacks automation so that the cadets can be trained to do the various tasks they might have to do manually in emergencies. Although if that's the case, Scotty really did pull off a miracle by converting the ship to full automation by the next movie.
 
That's often said, but (I can't check myself right now), once the floor grating is removed, do human hands ever touch the torpedoes?

Hmm, technically, no. Still, the fact that it was done in a room with a bunch of cadets and consoles in it, rather than somewhere inside the bowels of the ship, suggests a process that needs crew participation in some respect. At the very least, it's a very inefficient way to load torpedoes, taking a really long time to deliver one torpedo at a time into the tubes. We all know the only reason that set exists is because Meyer wanted to do a riff on the Age of Sail and crewmen loading cannons.
 
A generous interpretation is that, since the Enterprise is now a cadet vessel, it lacks automation so that the cadets can be trained to do the various tasks they might have to do manually in emergencies.
Great insight for TWOK. :techman: In TUC, the torpedo launch system appears to be tight and enclosed in the1701-A as shown with Spock and McCoy riding the casing into its launcher, certainly not the open launch facility from TWOK.
1701-A-Launcher.jpg
 
Doesn't work, because the dialogue said it was the "mains" (presumably the main engines) that were offline, rather than some necessary auxiliary system. Scotty had to take them offline because of excess radiation, and it was Spock's repair that allowed their reactivation.
Fair observation, but the "mains" could just as easily refer to the cluster of reactors (AKA the main engines) at the base of vertical power conduit, leaking radiation out through the weak point of the damaged dilithium power converters and into Spock's room of death. No wonder Scotty had to shut them down! :eek:

I still feel that the TAS catwalk scene is inside one of the nacelles, or as designated in the TAS episode, the antimatter nacelle. I estimate that the "set" shown is 40 feet in diameter, and if you add another 10 feet around it for the connected machinery that use the feed from the plasma tubes, you get about 60 feet in diameter. The nacelle is about 60 feet in diameter on a 947 foot ship, so it matches. Gouging out a 60 foot diameter tube room about 160 feet or more long in the secondary hull seems implausible on the 947 foot ship or even in Drexler's huge ship. And what systems are the eight sets of plasma tubes connected to? My guess are the warp field generators (a.k.a. warp coils). It goes along with the Catwalk episode in ENT and the nacelle scene from TNG; a nacelle trilogy, so to speak. YMMV.
TAS-nacelle-xsection.png
Nice diagram - and while it might be large, it's not like we see huge amounts of the secondary hull throughout the show - aside from the Flight Deck or the Engine Room (whenever we're not looking at the saucer's version) the most spacious areas are Deck 12 and 14 (probably in the upper part of the hull). That leaves the middle 5 or 6 decks free to house the antimatter generation facility.

Whether it's in a nacelle or the secondary hull though, the real question to me is - why is the whole structure centred ON THE DOOR???
Surely that beefy horizontal conduit would be the central focus, wouldn't it? Instead, it's a barely-used suspended walkway! :shrug:
 
Fair observation, but the "mains" could just as easily refer to the cluster of reactors (AKA the main engines) at the base of vertical power conduit, leaking radiation out through the weak point of the dilithium power converters and into Spock's room of death. No wonder Scotty had to shut them down!

Uhh, you're just repeating what I said but with different words.
 
Uhh, you're just repeating what I said but with different words.
That's a curious turn of phrase! :hugegrin:
What I meant was that the mains being offline can still be a problem involving the auxiliary systems without contradicting the onscreen dialogue. It also means that the death-room does not need to be an essential component of the nacelles' direct power supply.
 
What I meant was that the mains being offline can still be a problem involving the auxiliary systems without contradicting the onscreen dialogue.

It's not the dialogue, it's the plot. They can't escape at warp without the mains being online. That's the whole reason Spock sacrifices his life -- because they have to get the warp drive up before Genesis blows and he doesn't have time to put on a radiation suit. So it is the single most integral plot point of the sequence that the mains being offline = no warp drive. It can't be handwaved as an auxiliary system.
 
Electronics can be vulnerable to radiation.

On the other hand, this is a movie where photon torpedoes were loaded manually. A generous interpretation is that, since the Enterprise is now a cadet vessel, it lacks automation so that the cadets can be trained to do the various tasks they might have to do manually in emergencies. Although if that's the case, Scotty really did pull off a miracle by converting the ship to full automation by the next movie.

That’s fine and good, and is a reasonable explanation but for the fact that if a starship were rigged that way, it makes as much sense to order it into battle as it would to have the frigate Constitution chase after a Russian sub outside Boston harbor.
 
That’s fine and good, and is a reasonable explanation but for the fact that if a starship were rigged that way, it makes as much sense to order it into battle as it would to have the frigate Constitution chase after a Russian sub outside Boston harbor.
Enterprise was on a three week "minor training cruise". There was no indication that a battle would be expected. The Enterprise mission changed to be just super fast transport to get Kirk to Regula I which is a scientific research laboratory. Khan changed the rules for battle.
 
Enterprise was on a three week "minor training cruise". There was no indication that a battle would be expected. The Enterprise mission changed to be just super fast transport to get Kirk to Regula I which is a scientific research laboratory. Khan changed the rules for battle.

Right. And Kirk did say he got "caught with my britches down" when Khan ambushed the Enterprise. Then, when they returned from Regula, Kirk tried fleeing to the cover of the Mutara Nebula rather than tackling the enemy head-on. Basically they were trying to get away and only fought defensively when Khan caught up with them. So the ship was never ordered into battle.
 
Usually a lurker of late, but I've been following this tread with delight.

I remember a passage in Vonda McIntyre's novelization where Scotty said that the radiation was so high it had burnt out the electronics on the maintainance 'bots and that it would take several minutes for the chamber to decontaminate to a sufficient degree where it would be safe to enter, even in rad suits. I loved how Vonda added these extra touches of realism to flesh out the script.

Obviously, the chamber set was reconstructed from elements of the TMP Klingon bridge and production and budgetary mandates-not to mention the needs of the script-dictated the chamber being what and where it was.

In universe, I wondered why it was where it was myself. Maybe its presence was added for the same reason the torpedo bay was: To remove automation so as to give cadets access to these elements to train them in manual emergency repairs. Kind of reaching, I know.

Or maybe it's just the energizer itself (McIntyre alluded to Spock moving the control rods, not repositioning the crystals. Maybe, as said before, it's the energizer assembly itself, tapping into a small portion drawn (maybe form a tiny sub duct leading off the main column few decks or so down) to convert the plasma into usable energy for the engines. Or maybe it's just a fail safe device, an added-on cut off just for the training of the cadets.

Anyway, those are my jangled thoughts and thanks, Donny, for your amazing work!

By the by, I have some production blueprints I scanned from the online auction of Trek production stuff that do a nice job of detailing the elusive corner booth in Kirk's quarters. I can try to enlarge them and send them to you, if you wish.
 
Obviously, the chamber set was reconstructed from elements of the TMP Klingon bridge and production and budgetary mandates-not to mention the needs of the script-dictated the chamber being what and where it was.

As I suggested, they could've done it even more inexpensively if they'd built the sequence around the existing engine core set piece, just put a clear blast door on the room's alcove and attached some extra component to the front of the intermix shaft for Spock to open up and get irradiated by.


(McIntyre alluded to Spock moving the control rods, not repositioning the crystals.

McIntyre based her description on the script, which I've linked to above. As I mentioned, the script was based on the very non-Trek-literate assumption that the warp core was a nuclear fission reactor, that Scotty had shut down a runaway reaction (and presumably a potential meltdown) by inserting damping rods, and that Spock needed to withdraw those rods to allow fission to resume.
 
Right. And Kirk did say he got "caught with my britches down" when Khan ambushed the Enterprise. Then, when they returned from Regula, Kirk tried fleeing to the cover of the Mutara Nebula rather than tackling the enemy head-on. Basically they were trying to get away and only fought defensively when Khan caught up with them. So the ship was never ordered into battle.

This exchange contradicts your assertion. It might never have been ordered into battle, but was most certainly ordered into action:

KIRK: I told Starfleet all we had was a boatload of children but ...we're the only ship in the Quadrant. Spock, these cadets of yours, how good are they? How will they respond under real pressure?
SPOCK: As with all living things, each according to his gifts. Of course, the ship is yours.
KIRK: No, that won't be necessary, just get me to Regula I.
SPOCK: As a teacher on a training mission, I am content to command the Enterprise. If we are to go on actual duty, it is clear that the senior officer on board must assume command.

My point is valid. Kirk has requested Starfleet Command to make this training ship fully operational. While it is rigged as a training vessel. Whether he got caught with his pants down or not, he asked to take that ship into harm’s way, knowing he was not rigged for action, and without knowing what harm was in his way. The whole plot is built on the premise that Kirk is an idiot.

And of course, the excuse once again is that this is “the only ship in the quadrant.” Whomever or whatever is responsible for ship deployment in this era should be fired or dismantled.
 
So, about that art and the recreation, huh?

I feel like I'm in Trek Tech here... :ack:

Er... the discussion was about the recreated torpedo room and whether it made sense in universe. While Donny is away, making more art. Fillin’ time. If he prefers this discussion not take place, I will apologize to him.

But for me, the sense of the art informs the art. A tech discussion is about tech, not how it impacts art. It may exist without any art at all.
 
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Er... the discussion was about the recreated torpedo room and whether it made sense in universe. While Donny is away, making more art. If he prefers this discussion not take place, I will apologize to him.
Hey, you voice your opinion and I'll voice mine. That's how this works.
 
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