Not absolutely nothing, the vote narrowed down the final contestants.
No it didn’t, because the winning design was not one of the final runners-up in the vote.
Not absolutely nothing, the vote narrowed down the final contestants.
![]()
Saladin-class
Up until TMP at the earliest the common thinking about warp technology is that the nacelles functioned much like the engines on an airplane - all the fuel and reactions took place inside there, on the end of those nice, long pylons and far from the inhabited sections of the ship. The "Engine Room" was just a systems control facility to monitor the reactors, much like the control room of a nuclear reactor.Can I say that one looks kind of silly. WTF were they thinking when they designed that?
OK you have the classic TOS neck but what is inside what looks like an ordinary nacelle?
Did they bung the warp drive in there with the MARA chamber too?
Yup - I guess this was more or less the default assumption for how warp engines were set up at the time anyway.
As for what they were thinking: "The kids can create these things by using the bits from their scale model kit. Or from several, which is even better for the sales."
A bit harder to do for the ships of TNG. Not doable at all for the later shows, alas.
Timo Saloniemi
We hadn't really seen a huge variety in starship design when Franz Joseph designed his starship variations.Can I say that one looks kind of silly. WTF were they thinking when they designed that?
We hadn't really seen a huge variety in starship design when Franz Joseph designed his starship variations.
Well, I mean, the Reliant was a similar idea of using a saucer and nacelles so it has become a proud Trek tradition.Oh I gathered that but seeing those pictures now it just looks a bit dated and silly but it's likeable. It's the kind of thing we did as kids with model parts.
That might be how it looks after years of TNG style jargon and the word "pod" getting inextricably linked to antimatter storage containers. However, throughout TOS "pod" always meant "nacelle" and the terms were used interchangeably. Does that mean that Scott was ordering Spock to jettison him whilst he was still inside a nacelle? According to the first draft of the script (September 9, 1968) it was a resounding YES!...Of course, Scotty nevertheless had the plot obligation of accessing a single centrally mounted piece of machinery that would make or break warp propulsion for the hero ship. This didn't work well with the two-nacelle arrangement unless one assumed the nacelles were mere "end effectors", the screws to a steam turbine ship or the tires to an internal combustion engine automobile. "That Which Survives" is a particularly prominent example of an implied machinery layout that best matches the TNG idea of a centrally mounted antimatter doodad and somewhat conflicts with the idea that the great energies involved in warp drive would be confined to the nacelles.
That's why TOS is an evergreen source of conversations and debates - and I love it!But nothing much is explicit about future technology in TOS, and everything can be reinterpreted as need be. Counterexamples where the nacelles are the source of all power-related evil and their jettisoning would save the ship can be seen in several TOS plotlines, too.
Does that mean that Scott was ordering Spock to jettison him whilst he was still inside a nacelle?
That's why TOS is an evergreen source of conversations and debates - and I love it!![]()
TAS does lots of spice to the fire, that's for sure!This is the main issue: one Scotty, two nacelles... If there's to be a special spot, why not make it symmetric?
(Of course, we do have the additional concept of "antimatter nacelle", as if the two worked by mirroring each other, thus perhaps allowing Scotty in "Survives" and "One Of Our Planets Is Missing" to address antimatter issues through one nacelle only.)
We use essential cookies to make this site work, and optional cookies to enhance your experience.