'Day of the Dove' question...

[LMFAOschwarz]

In the beginning of act one, Kirk orders the Enterprise to beam up the landing party and their Klingon "guests". After they all de-materialize, the pinwheel-like entity floats over to the empty beam-up spot and vanishes. Did it just catch a ride on the transporter beam and go up to the ship, or did it relocate there under its own power?

 

[Melakon]

Don't have a copy of it anymore, but since we saw it finally leave the Enterprise by effortlessly passing through the outer hull, it probably got up there on its own.

 

[Metryq]

This is one of those tech questions whose answer is indeterminate and irrelevant. Later in the episode the thing is seen cowering in a corner when Kirk and company discover it. That's just another bit of visual shorthand because that is the nature of television. All that matters is that the audience understands that the thing followed them up to the ship. (After calling the two ships from lightyears away.) And I don't think the thing would really cower in a corner, but that is the aspect of being discovered by its prey. "Darn, this party is over. Time to find a new victim."

Ultimately what matters is the allegory. Don't be led around by your emotions. Sometimes an enemy will deliberately stoke an opponent's emotions to insure irrational, inefficient defensive tactics. I wouldn't be surprised if Sun Tzu covered that somewhere in his famous volume. Think of that next time some political speech gets you riled up. You're being played. Use your head, instead.

 

[Melakon]

. . .Sometimes an enemy will deliberately stoke an opponent's emotions to insure irrational, inefficient defensive tactics.

North Korea seems to be trying to do this on a regular basis. Though I don't want to pull this away from an episode discussion.

 

[BoredShipCapt'n]

In the beginning of act one, Kirk orders the Enterprise to beam up the landing party and their Klingon "guests". After they all de-materialize, the pinwheel-like entity floats over to the empty beam-up spot and vanishes. Did it just catch a ride on the transporter beam and go up to the ship, or did it relocate there under its own power?

I got the impression it sort of "followed" the beam, but under its own power.

 

[Christopher]

I think it was meant to be tagging along in the beam, but the FX limitations of the day meant that they had to fudge the timing a bit.

 

[Maurice]

I think people are too quick to blame things on the VFX limitations of the time. To me it looks like an editorial choice. We see the men beam away from a spot, then the alien floats to the same spot and disappears, implying it too went where they did.

 

[Christopher]

^Yes, but we were never shown that it could teleport, only pass through walls. And if it could teleport up under its own power, there would've been no need for it to move to the beam-up site. That scene has always suggested to me that the evil pinwheely thingy tagged along in the transporter beam just before it was shut off. After all, we don't know how long the carrier beam might linger after the bodies disappear into it. Maybe it remains active until rematerialization is complete aboard the ship.

 

[BoredShipCapt'n]

^ That's a good interpretation. And apparently it could control the timing of its own rematerialization. It didn't need to "sparkle" in the transporter beam because its form didn't require that much disassembling in the first place.

 

[Christopher]

^Or because it was an energy pattern to begin with and had no solid structure to disassemble.

 

[BoredShipCapt'n]

^ Yeah, that's basically what I was trying to say.