Very true! Unlike Gaila in space bikini.
Hang on though... I have a TNG beeping badge here somewhere...
Combadges in STXII?
- Thread starter F. King Daniel
- Start date
Very true! Unlike Gaila in space bikini.
Hang on though... I have a TNG beeping badge here somewhere...
I believe that my mobile can do this also, but when I tried there was no response.
I don't think there are any ships in orbit !
You might not see a combadge in ST XII. But you will certainly see: a cumberbatch! 
His insignia is obviously bluetooth-paired with the communicator on his belt.
Perfect answer.
^ That's probably true, actually.
I vote it's an unintended side effect of that shot Bones gave him in nuTrek that now causes Kirks left nipple to Tzzzt,zzzt when he gently caresses it. He tries to distract attention from this by shouting "Kirk to Enterprise!" but the crew is starting to suspect.
I never cared for the "sometimes-you-tap-them, sometimes-you-don't" combadges in TNG. Keep the flip open communicators but maybe add visual communication to it instead of just audio.
Yes, in one whole episode, and they weren't even used for their intended purpose.
Logically, communicators do not need to be hand held and, based on modern tech, could easily just be kept in everyone's pocket and voice activated. I wouldn't be surprised if the next model of iPhone is programmed to automatically listen to its user's conversations and chime in when it thinks it is being spoken to. Hell, I could see Apple programming it to chime in when it think it has relevant information to add whether such information is wanted or not. (Man: "Sorry, honey I forgot my condoms..." Siri:"Your condoms are in your dresser's top drawer. There are at least ten remaining.")
But I question the idea that having a communicator as big as they are in Enterprise, TOS and the movies is impractical. Just because they are bigger and seem to do less than modern cell phones is pointless. They are not designed to radio into a tower a few miles away. They are designed to use subspace radio to contact a ship in orbit and possibly even further away. There is no telling how much power that needs.
I admit that my perception is biased against the idea that something is "supposed" to happen in the future or that something is the only "logical" course of development. I have no problem that Trek doesn't have robots or that the culture of the Federation demands that starships be less dependent on computers than they have to. Since no one predicted a world dominated by cell phones and personal computers, I have no qualms about saying that Star Trek, even in the 60s is just as plausible a future as Terminator or cyberpunk. We don't know what may or may not happen, so there is no point in saying that something "can't" be that way in the future.
But I question the idea that having a communicator as big as they are in Enterprise, TOS and the movies is impractical. Just because they are bigger and seem to do less than modern cell phones is pointless. They are not designed to radio into a tower a few miles away. They are designed to use subspace radio to contact a ship in orbit and possibly even further away. There is no telling how much power that needs.
I admit that my perception is biased against the idea that something is "supposed" to happen in the future or that something is the only "logical" course of development. I have no problem that Trek doesn't have robots or that the culture of the Federation demands that starships be less dependent on computers than they have to. Since no one predicted a world dominated by cell phones and personal computers, I have no qualms about saying that Star Trek, even in the 60s is just as plausible a future as Terminator or cyberpunk. We don't know what may or may not happen, so there is no point in saying that something "can't" be that way in the future.
...Also, even in the future it's going to be an important plot point that our heroes can lose their equipment. The sidearm they carry can't be embedded in their index finger, because it absolutely must be capable of falling down a bottomless shaft at a crucial moment, and achieving that with a machete chop is gonna get old real fast. The communicator can't be a brain implant, because the baddies must be able to remove it when they imprison our heroes, and we don't want to see an applecore drill being used for that.
And once you have decided that the device absolutely must be a device, a physical gadget held externally, then it makes little sense to miniaturize it much. Miniature gadgets are fairly useless. Even if you could pack the punch of a naval cannon into a pistol two centimeters long, you would not want to, because operating a two-centimeter pistol is difficult if not impossible! And a mobile phone that's the size of a matchbox is useless because you can't hold it comfortably; you are more likely to drop and lose it than you would a device whose weight you can feel; and you can't ruggerize the user interface.
Timo Saloniemi
And once you have decided that the device absolutely must be a device, a physical gadget held externally, then it makes little sense to miniaturize it much. Miniature gadgets are fairly useless. Even if you could pack the punch of a naval cannon into a pistol two centimeters long, you would not want to, because operating a two-centimeter pistol is difficult if not impossible! And a mobile phone that's the size of a matchbox is useless because you can't hold it comfortably; you are more likely to drop and lose it than you would a device whose weight you can feel; and you can't ruggerize the user interface.
Timo Saloniemi
Plus, if the communicator has been miniaturized to the point where it is actually a concealed part of the uniform, users tend to look really really stupid talking into their elbows.
^ Looked okay with the wrist communicators in ST II...
True, but there one could actually be seen to be talking into SOMETHING.
I don't think it is a mistake. I was rereading Issue 1 and I noticed in the last panel of page 3 the communicator sound effect is placed right over Kirks badge. Perhaps it's only the captains of starships that get the combadge while everybody else uses the communicator.
Maybe it's an emergency back-up. Makes sense that, if one can get comm units that small, spares might be carried on away missions. That the Captain might have an extra, concealed communicator for emergencies seems more than reasonable.
