Continuity of Treknology

[Brian]

There has been much discussion about how things will look in the movie (the ship, the corridors, the uniforms, etc.). But I haven't seen any discussion about whether the new film will respect the continuity of technology that has come before (after? lol). I take that back, I did see one discussion about medical technology in the film, and how much blood and pain we should see.

I'm talking about such Trek-ubiquitous things as phasers, photon torpedoes, shields, warp and impulse drives... How much leeway are you willing to give in the reinterpretation of these techs, their capabilities and limitations?

Are new previously unheard-of techs okay with you as long as the basics are still there? If, say, the security guards carry projectile or plasma weapons instead of phasers, could you handle that?

Personally, I think the basics of Trek Tech are like a language that permeates all of Star Trek and shouldn't be messed with. It's part of what makes the Trek universe "feel" like the Trek universe. And if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[EDIT].. Which is not to say I want a bunch of technobabble in the film. I'm longing for a return to the TOS style of things working simply because they do. We don't need a new particle, wave or radiation made up at every turn to explain the nuances of something which doesn't really matter to the plot.

 

[cultcross]

brian said:
I'm talking about such Trek-ubiquitous things as phasers, photon torpedoes, shields, warp and impulse drives... How much leeway are you willing to give in the reinterpretation of these techs, their capabilities and limitations?

quite a bit, as long as it's internally consistent. Warp drive shouldn't run at the speed of plot, once a speed is established, it should stay established. In fact, I'd deliberately avoid talking about distance and times together - keep the actual speed ambiguous.
As for shields, photon torpedoes, phasers - there's not a huge difference between these in TOS and the most modern ones we've seen. They're usually done in much the same way.

Are new previously unheard-of techs okay with you as long as the basics are still there? If, say, the security guards carry projectile or plasma weapons instead of phasers, could you handle that?

Yup, no problem. Plenty of technologies will have existed in this era that we didn't see. We saw 65 hours of the TOS series time period, total. To demonstrate - If you'd watched a video of me on patrol in Bristol for the last 65 hours of shift I did, you wouldn't see me use my CS spray canister (thank god!) but that doesn't mean i don't have one. If you watched the next 3 hours, you might see me use it.

I'm longing for a return to the TOS style of things working simply because they do. We don't need a new particle, wave or radiation made up at every turn to explain the nuances of something which doesn't really matter to the plot.

Totally agreed. We can argue later about how things work. For plot purposes, they just do. (which is not a licence for a endless deux ex machina technology, just a way of setting up a universe without unnecessary technobabble).

 

[Wesser]

[EDIT].. Which is not to say I want a bunch of technobabble in the film. I'm longing for a return to the TOS style of things working simply because they do. We don't need a new particle, wave or radiation made up at every turn to explain the nuances of something which doesn't really matter to the plot.
___________________________________
Amen!!

 

[Thomas Riker]

Actually I think I'm less bothered about adherence to dates/locations/colours of buttons etc than I am about the technology of trek. It would disturb me a bit if Kirk pulled out his Plasma Gun, instead of a hand phaser. But I'd probably get over it - because as soon as its seen, its canon. I just want rid of the minor inaccuracies we've seen in TOS.... Like Spock saying "bring us about to 157 Mark 489" or "The Size of that Ship is off the scale, captain" off the scale!, off the scale! spock, jeezus you fly around in a universe of infinite sizes, how can one single First Federation Ship be off the scale.

 

[Arlo]

Equipment: I expect updates to the TOS phasers, tricorder, communicators that will make them a bit more modernized, but keeping styling cues from the originals. Like the E.

Technology: Starships will "warp". People will "beam". The word "tachyon" will not be uttered.

 

[Charlie Kelly]

It would matter a lot to me if they started messing with the technology. Warp drives, phasers, photon torpedos are staples of the series, messing with that would be close to messing with the heart of Star Trek. Well sort of.

Making up new technology would be no problem to me though, as long as it remained consistent with everything else.

Charlie

 

[Holytomato]

No tachyons?

What about quantum physics?

String Theory?

So, basically no science past 1969 should be in the movie.

Since we must do things within CANON tm, then will we see the laser pistol props from The Cage become the phaser pistol props?

Remember Where No Man Has Gone Before is CANON tm. Therefore, doing this would be CANON tm.

 

[Arlo]

Holytomato said:
No tachyons?

What about quantum physics?

String Theory?

So, basically no science past 1969 should be in the movie.

Since we must do things within CANON tm, then will we see the laser pistol props from The Cage become the phaser pistol props?

Remember Where No Man Has Gone Before is CANON tm. Therefore, doing this would be CANON tm.

Cute, but you know what I meant; no silly gratuitous technobabble.

 

[Jimmy_C]

The original series had a lot of technobabel actually. Off the top of my head: M-rays? Inverse phasing? Mnemonic memory circuit?

 

[Holytomato]

You do not know THE CANON tm!!!! Ignore the ANTI CANONITES tm!!!! Do not believe THEM tm!!!! Do not trust THEM tm!!!!

 

[Basil]

Hmm. I dunno. If they're going to redesign the interiors and uniforms, I don't see a problem with renaming the technology. After all, this is a reimagining and anything now is fair game. Maybe in 2008, the term "phaser" sounds geeky, so they should come up with some more techy-sounding term, like T-97 pistol or something that has a military stamp on it.

 

[cultcross]

Holytomato said:
You do not know THE CANON tm!!!! Ignore the ANTI CANONITES tm!!!! Do not believe THEM tm!!!! Do not trust THEM tm!!!!

ya know, this "CANON tm" ranting might, just might, be getting annoying. crazy as that sounds. tm.

 

[PKTrekGirl]

cultcross said:

Holytomato said:
You do not know THE CANON tm!!!! Ignore the ANTI CANONITES tm!!!! Do not believe THEM tm!!!! Do not trust THEM tm!!!!

ya know, this "CANON tm" ranting might, just might, be getting annoying. crazy as that sounds. tm.

Don't worry. I'm on it. Friendlies in other threads. How about we give him a chance to see them?

 

[Soar_Dude]

You know I have thought about this some. I can live without the juju bee console in favor of a touch sceen console. I love TOS to death, but I am looking at from how good the storyline was and the acting. All the SciFi techno geeky stuff is just the window dressing, its the story inside, then how good the acting is and the underlying theme the director and the screen writer are trying to convey. I guess that was what I liked the most about TOS!

Soar Dude

 

[Wowbagger]

IMO, the fact that the writers never even tried to justify the sometimes-outrageous plot devices of TOS somehow made it much more believable than the technobabble-heavy early seasons of DS9 and VOY. I don't know why.

But I was watching "The Enemy Within" last night, and never once questioned how such a convenient accident could take place. No on-screen time was given to "subspace oscillations in the polarized neutron flow", and so no thought was given to the problem. It was just an awesome episode.

This is starting to go off-topic, so I'll stop now.

 

[Timo]

What I really would want to see is some hypermodern, fantastically futuristic-looking and cool-sounding, never before witnessed technologies...

...that are being phased out as antiquated, in favor of the superior technology we saw in TOS.

Have the helmsman release an orgastic sigh when he doesn't have to don that clumsy virtual-reality gear any more. "It's all at my fingertips now! With a single flip of a switch, I can do things that required a five-minute pantomime with this silly VR glove. Good riddance!"

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Son_of_Soong]

Maybe they will still be called Phase Pistols :-S

 

[TOSTNGDS9VOYENT]

Technically, in the early TOS period when Pike was captain they were still using Laser weapons. Of course, as usual, ST:E screwed up that timeline by introducing Phase pistols and photonic torpedos. The writers just couldn't stand the thought of keeping the show in canon.

 

[Brian]

One of the reasons this came to mind was the recent casting information regarding the Transporter Chief.

It put to rest a fear I had that they might do away with transporters altogether, in favor of vulnerable shuttles or drop ships in pursuit of a higher realism quotient or to amp up the adventure/drama.

 

[aelius]

TOSTNGDS9VOYENT said:
Technically, in the early TOS period when Pike was captain they were still using Laser weapons. Of course, as usual, ST:E screwed up that timeline by introducing Phase pistols and photonic torpedos. The writers just couldn't stand the thought of keeping the show in canon.

By the second pilot (Where No Man Has Gone Before), the one that actually made it to the air, those same props that were called lasers in the first pilot (The Cage), were called phasers. Gene Roddenberry decided lasers were not futuristic enough. So insisting that Starfleet used lasers in the day of Pike is not necessarily correct. Yes they were called lasers in The Cage, and bits of it were shown in Menagerie. But a simpler explanation is that they were always phasers.