Arena-Did the Gorn Ship Actually Fire on the Enterprise?

[Knight Templar]

In the original episode, we never see the Enterprise take weapons fire from the Gorn ship. All we have are Sulu saying

"We're coming under attack. Alien ship quartering in".

I have no idea what "quartering in" is in this context.

I guess you could say that the Gorn ship did attack BEFORE Sulu open up with the phasers because he says later

"We returned fire with all phaser banks"

Does the remastered version make this any clearer?

 

[GSchnitzer]

In the original episode, we never see the Enterprise take weapons fire from the Gorn ship. All we have are Sulu saying

"We're coming under attack. Alien ship quartering in".

I have no idea what "quartering in" is in this context.

I guess you could say that the Gorn ship did attack BEFORE Sulu open up with the phasers because he says later

"We returned fire with all phaser banks"

Does the remastered version make this any clearer?

We never see the Gorn ship attack--even on the remastered version. Presumably they did--leading to Sulu's "we're coming under attack" line. If a ship comes quartering in, I don't think I would call that an attack, and I wouldn't fire phasers at a ship simply because it quarters while apporaching.

Quartering: "To traverse (an area of ground) laterally back and forth while slowly advancing forward"--so "zig-zagging" while slowly approaching.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

I agree with GSchnitzer's definition of quartering. However, I have a somewhat different opinion of the tactical situation.

Given that the outpost had already been destroyed and Ensign Redshirt O'Herlihy just disintegrated, Sulu's assessment that the unidentified craft's quartering maneuver indicated hostile intent should not be questioned. As a maneuver, quartering is useful to improve one's position to fire upon an enemy while not presenting a sure target as one closes the distance for the best shot hoped for. As a tactical officer, Sulu was trained to recognize such maneuvers, and under the circumstances, Kirk was right not to question Sulu's judgment that the maneuver indicated that an attack was in progress, even though the bogey craft had not yet fired.

 

[GSchnitzer]

I agree with GSchnitzer's definition of quartering. However, I have a somewhat different opinion of the tactical situation.

Given that the outpost had already been destroyed and Ensign Redshirt O'Herlihy just disintegrated, Sulu's assessment that the unidentified craft's quartering maneuver indicated hostile intent should not be questioned. As a maneuver, quartering is useful to improve one's position to fire upon an enemy while not presenting a sure target as one closes the distance for the best shot hoped for. As a tactical officer, Sulu was trained to recognize such maneuvers, and under the circumstances, Kirk was right not to question Sulu's judgment that the maneuver indicated that an attack was in progress, even though the bogey craft had not yet fired.

...although Sulu did say "we returned fire." (So presumably, the Gorn ship had fired at some point.) I'm trying to figure out the most likely place in the timeline of events that the Gorn ship would have first fired at the Enterprise.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

I'll concede that maybe we are supposed to read the line, "Captain, we're coming under attack" to mean that the Enterprise is being fired upon. I also think the dialog is awkward.

 

[AcousticKoi]

Or maybe Gorn ships fire as slow as Gorns fight and their shots still havent hit the enterprise.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

^ That's pretty funny.

 

[Wingsley]

It's possible that the zig-zagging Gorn attack vessel fired at the Enterprise. TOS often relied on the viewers' imaginations when it came to hitherto unseen ships. It's also possible the Gorn ship fired at the Cestus III settlement; some of the incoming fire Kirk and company dealt with on the planet's surface could have come from the Gorn ship high above.

Sulu's report to Kirk did seem to confirm that the Gorn ship fired on somebody, although it is unclear if the Gorn ship scored any direct hits.

Since the Federation would obviously regard Cestus III as "their" planet, if an alien vessel approached an orbiting Federation starship and fired at all, I would expect the starship captain to regard this as a hostile act and respond accordingly.

 

[Knight Templar]

Of course a bigger question is just how did Captain Kirk plan to destroy the Gorn ship later in the episode when neither phasers nor photon torpedoes had proven effective against its shields earlier.

 

[Warped9]

Of course a bigger question is just how did Captain Kirk plan to destroy the Gorn ship later in the episode when neither phasers nor photon torpedoes had proven effective against its shields earlier.

It isn't unusual for a ship's shields to endure initial barrages of weapons fire. It's what comes after with subsequent hits. Note the Gorn chose to run rather than stand and fight. Yeah, they could have been trying to lure the Enterprise into a trap of multiple enemy ships, but we'll never know. In like fashion the Gorns' attack against the Enterprise was also ineffective initially. So at that point it's a stalemate, but then the Gorn opts to run rather than fight. Why?

1. They hope to lead the Enterprise into a trap.
2. They'd rather fight in more familiar territory or in open space (except they keep on running).
2. They weren't confident they could take the Enterprise on and win.

 

[Timo]

We might also argue the Gorn initially had the wrong idea about who they were facing, and had to rapidly change tactics when coming within visual range of the Enterprise. That is, they had hoped for a smaller ship, or had perhaps thought that the softskins down below were Klingons (they all look and sound the same, after all), their bitter enemies. They could still have equal or superior firepower, yet decide to flee nevertheless. After all, the first sort of mistake would still deprive them of a quick and clean victory, one where Kirk couldn't send an SOS, and this strategic goal was now lost forever even if a prolonged fight would go in the Gorn favor; the second mistake would mean they would now wish to stand down, but it would be too late after the exchange of fire, and turning scaly tail and running would be the best way to end the erroneous hostilities.

The way they faked the message from Travers speaks against both ideas, though: if they knew Travers would call Kirk "Jim", they'd probably also knew what sort of a ship would be arriving, and who her operators were.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Knight Templar]

We might also argue the Gorn initially had the wrong idea about who they were facing, and had to rapidly change tactics when coming within visual range of the Enterprise. That is, they had hoped for a smaller ship, or had perhaps thought that the softskins down below were Klingons (they all look and sound the same, after all), their bitter enemies. They could still have equal or superior firepower, yet decide to flee nevertheless. After all, the first sort of mistake would still deprive them of a quick and clean victory, one where Kirk couldn't send an SOS, and this strategic goal was now lost forever even if a prolonged fight would go in the Gorn favor; the second mistake would mean they would now wish to stand down, but it would be too late after the exchange of fire, and turning scaly tail and running would be the best way to end the erroneous hostilities.

The way they faked the message from Travers speaks against both ideas, though: if they knew Travers would call Kirk "Jim", they'd probably also knew what sort of a ship would be arriving, and who her operators were.

Timo Saloniemi

That actually makes a lot of sense. Once the Gorn ship exchanged fire with the Enterprise in orbit, though neither side was damaged noticeably, the Gorn realized that they could be beaten in any kind of sustained engagement and chose to retreat with what they had already learned about Federation outposts and one of the Federations best ships.