When separating the ship might have solved everything?

[JesterFace]

Do you think there is an episode or episodes when separating the ship could have solved the problem they were facing? Maybe the writers kind of forgot or ignored the possibility to separate the ship to keep the plot exciting?

One of those episodes could be 'The Enemy', send the stardrive section to meet the Romulan ship to help save the life of the Romulan officer they found and the saucer section could stay in orbit of the planet where Geordi was on.

What about 'Schisms'? There was a weird dimensional thing going on in one of the cargo bays. Get everybody into the part of the ship that is safe and then separate? Or was that dimensional thing affecting both parts of the ship?

The separation is a nice feature but it might create problems for the writers in some cases.

Can you think of other examples?

 

[Tenacity]

Maybe not a solution by itself, but separating the ship prior to getting in front of the soliton wave would have made sense. The ship had the time to separate, and the ship remaining joined didn't seem to do anything to help stop the wave.

Just employ some dialog, then show the ship already separate, no new special effects required.

 

[Makarov]

Several episodes could have been solved by placing Wesley between the saucer section and the rest of the ship and then separating it

 

[Mojochi]

In Galaxy's Child, evacuating everyone to the saucer section, separating, maybe getting some distance & then shutting down all power to the stardrive section remotely, would've sent Junior to look for sustenance elsewhere, without all the dangerous business they went through.

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

In Galaxy's Child, evacuating everyone to the saucer section, separating, maybe getting some distance & then shutting down all power to the stardrive section remotely, would've sent Junior to look for sustenance elsewhere, without all the dangerous business they went through.

Like, look for sustenance from the now helpless saucer?
Anyway, to me it looks like Junior was hugging both sections of the ship. Separation was probably to risky. Could have hurt both Junior and or Enterprise

 

[Mojochi]

Like, look for sustenance from the now helpless saucer?
Anyway, to me it looks like Junior was hugging both sections of the ship. Separation was probably to risky. Could have hurt both Junior and or Enterprise

Nah. You can see the saucer line above where Junior is attached, & I did mention getting some distance before cutting him off. It's at least worth trying

 

[Orphalesion]

Nah. You can see the saucer line above where Junior is attached, & I did mention getting some distance before cutting him off. It's at least worth trying

The Saucer section is on impulse drive only, though, so it would have taken a long, long time to put enough distance between them.
I always thought the biggest issue with the saucer separation concept was that the saucer was stuck with impulse and thus would be effectively stranded in case of the warp core section being destroyed.

 

[Tenacity]

the saucer was stuck with impulse

Unless you believe that the saucer does have a small warp drive engine of it's own, as some fans do. I've read threads discussing this.

It would make sense to have such, otherwise the saucer could be marooned in interstellar space.

 

[Orphalesion]

Unless you believe that the saucer does have a small warp drive engine of it's own, as some fans do. I've read threads discussing this.

It would make sense to have such, otherwise the saucer could be marooned in interstellar space.

Yeaht hat's the only way the Saucer Section would make sense, if it had some sort of small warp drive that at least can get them to the next solar system or something in an acceptable amount of time.
I never bothered to learn about the technology of Trek, because I really can't be bothered to learn how it supposedly works, but doesn't warp drive need nacelles? The Saucer doesn't have any.

 

[Tenacity]

but doesn't warp drive need nacelles? The Saucer doesn't have any

Oh it certainly doesn't have any. But various species have had ships capable of warp flight without nacelles.

So maybe a small emergency engine located in the saucery.

 

[Tenacity]

The Saucer section is on impulse drive only, though, so it would have taken a long, long time to put enough distance between them

once it leaves the depowered warp drive section for powered up saucer, could the tractor beam be brought into play?

 

[Leathco]

I would think maybe a seperation when they were researching the Dyson Sphere was in order. One half goes in, one half stays out to trigger the doors.

 

[Tim Thomason]

Like, look for sustenance from the now helpless saucer?
Anyway, to me it looks like Junior was hugging both sections of the ship. Separation was probably to risky. Could have hurt both Junior and or Enterprise

The now-helpless saucer can stay wherever it is at (hopefully after calling for help), then have the stardrive section remotely warp away a light year or two before powering down. Or considering their options.

 

[Mojochi]

I would think maybe a seperation when they were researching the Dyson Sphere was in order. One half goes in, one half stays out to trigger the doors.

To be fair, they hadn't learned about the door trigger until it was too late.

 

[Orphalesion]

once it leaves the depowered warp drive section for powered up saucer, could the tractor beam be brought into play?

You mean using the tractor beam to basically "catch" Junior until they can provide a better source of nourishment for it? I think that would be workable.

 

[Mojochi]

Been thinking about Final Mission a lot. They're using the whole ship to tow the irradiated garbage scow. There'd have been plenty of time to separate the saucer while Geordi set up his tow modules, just in case they ended up in that very scenario, of having to tow it themselves, with the stardrive alone though, lessening the danger to most everybody else

Come to think of it, doesn't the Enterprise have a warp capable runabout or captain's yacht or something, that could've also been dispatched with a search team to look for Picard et al? Poor resource management, that mission.

 

[darrenjl]

I guess there could be some kind of reason where by separating the ship you are effectively cutting its power in half.

Additionally, if you're having to separate the saucer every time the ship faced a danger, then why have a saucer section in the first place?

 

[Mojochi]

I guess there could be some kind of reason where by separating the ship you are effectively cutting its power in half.

Additionally, if you're having to separate the saucer every time the ship faced a danger, then why have a saucer section in the first place?

Because it's got all that room & facilities

 

[Paul755]

from a tactical standpoint, I think they should have separated before leaving the nebula in BOBW part 1. Leave the Borg no way of knowing what part of the ship Picard was on.

 

[Sci]

from a tactical standpoint, I think they should have separated before leaving the nebula in BOBW part 1. Leave the Borg no way of knowing what part of the ship Picard was on.

The downside there is, the Borg probably know the saucer section has no warp drive or photon torpedo launchers. What if the Borg decide to just pre-emptively capture or destroy the saucer section? You'll have left it virtually defenseless and quite possibly have gotten hundreds of civilians and children killed?

(Side-note: They really should have off-loaded all the non-essential civilian personnel and all children to Starbase 324 when Admiral Hanson departed the Enterprise for the Starbase.)