What do you mean "supposed to have", Sulu? With all indications he was going to be Captain of that ship (cut scene, novelization), and eventually was (ST6). How can you not know the specifications of your ship, the type of drive really
Sulu: "She's supposed to have transwarp drive"
- Thread starter Shat Happens
- Start date
In the TWOK cut scene, the Excelsior that was referred to was not the same ship as the 'Great Experiment.' It was just meant to be some generic ship Sulu was getting. They just reused the name for a completely different ship in TSFS, which Sulu happened to get later in a callback to that cut scene.
Classified.
The scene in TWOK was cut. In TSFS, the technical details about the drive were classified, and the drive was experimental and untested. /thread
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Well it was apparently never tested. Starfleet invested a fortune in an all new class of ship to power this amazing transwarp drive and... it didn't work?
Like, no prototypes or proof of concept tests. Just a giant super star ship.
"It'll work bro, trust me."
Like, no prototypes or proof of concept tests. Just a giant super star ship.
"It'll work bro, trust me."
Judging by its Security Division, Starfleet doesn't exactly have it together.
The other thing that bothered me was Scott being made the captain of Engineering on an experimental craft.
sure it did, that's why the TNG warp scale is different. besides, something working in a smaller scale test still could have surprises at full scale, hence still an experiment.
AFAIK, that's still just fanon, but it's as good an explanation as any, and it would work for me.
Yeah, that's been pretty common fanon for almost 40 years. I've always liked it, it's my preferred explanation, but then ENT had to go and use the new scale. I don't know what one SNW & Disco use. I'm sure someone here will say.
For all intents and purposes, the Excelsior's transwarp drive would have worked if Scotty hadn't sabotaged it. A case could be made that the term "transwarp" is just a catch-all term to describe any propulsion system that's faster than the current warp drive technology and that it shifted over time between TSFS and TNG. If we do go with the idea that the warp scale was recalibrated by the time of TNG, It could very well be that the Enterprise-D would have been considered a transwarp vessel during TOS, IMO.
The same one as in previous Treks--the speed of plot scale.
how would we know? they never got fast enough to tell the difference.
I'm pretty sure the math checked out for the TOS scale with the pilot's "Neptune and back in six minutes" line.
Yeah, double-checking, a 9 billion kilometer round-trip at TOS warp 4.5 comes out to 5:30, while at TNG warp 4.5, that comes out to 3:20.
We have no idea.
No cannon explanation...
I err on the side of it working or at least not acomplete failure and led to them adjusting the warp scale so there not calling out Warp 20
Plus ships get faster, look at tng the galaxy class was the fastest at 9.6 but not long it was passed by intrepid and promethius
I err on the side of it working or at least not acomplete failure and led to them adjusting the warp scale so there not calling out Warp 20
Plus ships get faster, look at tng the galaxy class was the fastest at 9.6 but not long it was passed by intrepid and promethius
Was it ever said on screen that the "Great Experiment" failed? Only the TNG Tech Manual said so, and that book is hardly canon. And as others have pointed out, at some point warp factors were re-scaled, implying there had been a new development in warp drive. The Excelsior's warp drive would work well as that new development.
That's kind of what the TNG Technical Manual implied at the end. It suggested that although the initial attempt to break the "transwarp barrier" in the 23rd-century was unsuccessful, it did lead to improved warp engine technology for later starships, including ultimately the Galaxy-class. Perhaps those improved warp engines prompted a redrawn warp scale in the 24th-Century.
Scotty said:
Maybe the designer wasn't starfleet, or was horrible at managing people. Scott is a miracle worker who has experience with multiple technologies including alien tech, and can fix stuff on the fly. Doesn't seem too crazy to put someone with Scotty's background in charge of the starfleet staff in that ship's engineering section. Especially if there were other specialists that had been involved in the design on board too, but that just weren't command material.Judging by its Security Division, Starfleet doesn't exactly have it together.
The other thing that bothered me was Scott being made the captain of Engineering on an experimental craft.
