"Descent" and the skeleton crew

[tafkats]

Rewatching "Descent, Part II." I have no problem with Crusher being left in command of the ship; she's perfectly capable, and besides, I always liked her character and it's good to see her get a moment in the sun.

But they couldn't have left her with even one security officer to run the tactical station? A science-department ensign who's only been on the job six weeks would have been perfectly good at scouring the surface looking for Data; couldn't Tate have gone to the surface so Crusher could have a tactical officer who actually, y'know, knew how to run the tactical console?

 

[Finn]

^They needed the security department the most at the moment. Crusher was just supposed to take the Enterprise back to the Federation and report to Starfleet. The science officers would have already gotten some basic tactical training so they could handle it. Worf might have left a couple of sticky notes on the console for the poor guy.


Surely, there was some of atmospheric inference. They couldn't even detect the compound with all the borg.....

 

[Timo]

Objectively thinking, the ship was in deep trouble - so deep that it didn't really matter whether she was left with a crew that could accomplish something or not. Stranded on the other side of the galaxy, beyond not just one but two hostile-controlled "wormholes", she was effectively in the same situation as the Voyager. A degree of desperation would be in order there. When Crusher asks "Any last orders?", she's really asking "Any last words?", and Picard isn't giving her realistic orders, he's giving comfort.

Too bad that the actual, immediate plight there is so inconsequential. They're just looking for an AWOL Data, who survived a similar escapade in "Brothers" just fine without outside help. A bit of extra desperation would be very welcome here, to justify the extraordinary surface search. Perhaps Data is in danger of launching Armageddon somehow if not stopped? Perhaps he carries a secret the Borg must not be allowed to assimilate, even if the stopping costs all the E-D lives? That, combined with the overall hopeless situation of the stranded ship, would form a better backdrop for the seemingly idiotic misallocation of crew resources.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

"moment in the sun" ?

 

[Anwar]

I'm more surprised that no one had any problems with Crusher being able to take out that Borg Cruiser with just a skeleton crew, but no one was able to accept that VOY could even ESCAPE the Borg in VOY.

 

[Timo]

This would be ignoring the fact that Crusher was essentially fighting the analogy of gangstas so high on exotic chemicals that they couldn't have found their own noses without assistance, while Janeway faced disciplined troops. The "Borg" in "Descent" were deprived of just about every Borg advantage by the collapse of their local Collective.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Hartzilla2007]

I'm more surprised that no one had any problems with Crusher being able to take out that Borg Cruiser with just a skeleton crew, but no one was able to accept that VOY could even ESCAPE the Borg in VOY.

This would be ignoring the fact that Crusher was essentially fighting the analogy of gangstas so high on exotic chemicals that they couldn't have found their own noses without assistance, while Janeway faced disciplined troops. The "Borg" in "Descent" were deprived of just about every Borg advantage by the collapse of their local Collective.

Timo Saloniemi

Plus Crusher used a solar flare you know something that tends to fry things very easily, and also used resorucefulnes to do so Janeway on the other hand used standard armements and cheating from the future.

besides Crusher was dealing with a cut off Brog ship whereas Janeway was fighting them in their own backyard.

 

[Dr. Crusher]

I liked the fact that she was left in command of the Enterprise as well. She had carried the rank of commander throughout the series, and it wasn't until season 6/7 that she exercised any form of command beyond that prescribed to her office as CMO (like relief of unfit for duty).

Although it was clear that the activities on the surface were given precedence in the situation, a "skeleton" crew could definitely have included more than one senior officer, and probably should have. In fact, it would have been really interesting to see one of the other senior officers actually react to Dr. Crusher's command style. There was an opportunity there for some character development built through interaction, I think, and I'm sorry that the writers didn't take it.

 

[davejames]

Ha, yeah I just rewatched this and found it hilarious that Picard orders almost the ENTIRE crew down to the planet to search for Data... even while there's a giant and very dangerous Borg ship nearby.

Say what?? Don't you think it might be smart to at least keep ONE of the senior officers onboard during a situation like that? And what happened to using shuttlecraft to conduct planet-wide searches?

And even if their fancy sensors couldn't penetrate the interference, you'd think the Enterprise would STILL be able to spot the huge white building on the surface, and direct the away team to that.

 

[The_Baroness]

Say what?? Don't you think it might be smart to at least keep ONE of the senior officers onboard during a situation like that?.

They did. Beverley.

 

[Anwar]

I'm more surprised that no one had any problems with Crusher being able to take out that Borg Cruiser with just a skeleton crew, but no one was able to accept that VOY could even ESCAPE the Borg in VOY.

This would be ignoring the fact that Crusher was essentially fighting the analogy of gangstas so high on exotic chemicals that they couldn't have found their own noses without assistance, while Janeway faced disciplined troops. The "Borg" in "Descent" were deprived of just about every Borg advantage by the collapse of their local Collective.

Timo Saloniemi

Plus Crusher used a solar flare you know something that tends to fry things very easily, and also used resorucefulnes to do so Janeway on the other hand used standard armements and cheating from the future.

besides Crusher was dealing with a cut off Brog ship whereas Janeway was fighting them in their own backyard.

So if Janeway ever used a solar flare to destroy a Borg Cube, or lured one into a Black Hole while managing to keep her own ship away from the Event Horizon, or got them to follow Voyager into a wormhole that they exited and collapsed while the Cube was still in it, destroying it, you'd be okay with that?

 

[Hartzilla2007]

I'm more surprised that no one had any problems with Crusher being able to take out that Borg Cruiser with just a skeleton crew, but no one was able to accept that VOY could even ESCAPE the Borg in VOY.

This would be ignoring the fact that Crusher was essentially fighting the analogy of gangstas so high on exotic chemicals that they couldn't have found their own noses without assistance, while Janeway faced disciplined troops. The "Borg" in "Descent" were deprived of just about every Borg advantage by the collapse of their local Collective.

Timo Saloniemi

Plus Crusher used a solar flare you know something that tends to fry things very easily, and also used resorucefulnes to do so Janeway on the other hand used standard armements and cheating from the future.

besides Crusher was dealing with a cut off Brog ship whereas Janeway was fighting them in their own backyard.

So if Janeway ever used a solar flare to destroy a Borg Cube, or lured one into a Black Hole while managing to keep her own ship away from the Event Horizon, or got them to follow Voyager into a wormhole that they exited and collapsed while the Cube was still in it, destroying it, you'd be okay with that?

Yeah pretty much.

 

[Timo]

And what happened to using shuttlecraft to conduct planet-wide searches?

Picard specifically ordered them used. Strangely enough, he apparently only wanted to survey a circular area forty kilometers across (the one Data and his Borg pal could have reached on foot in the time allotted), and probably had something like 800 people available, divided into teams of four deployed by transporter, plus the shuttles. Wasn't that a bit of overkill?

I mean, yes, if the place was a sensor bog, the shuttles might fail to spot Data and the Borg in a thicket or a ravine. But with 200 teams available, Picard could have created a cordon at 20 klicks that would only be about 130 kilometers long. A team with binoculars at every six hundred meters - surely such a cordon ought to be impenetrable! (OTOH, if Picard did send most of his crew and craft to create a cordon, this might explain why a large building within it was missed...)

And never mind the overkill, the idea that Picard's own team would be the one to hit paydirt was implausible to the extreme. An opponent of Q ilk could have erected his evil palace right on the path of the Captain, but Lore's lair was apparently a preexisting solid structure, meaning Picard's team had only half a percent of a chance to be the first to reach it. Or did Lore mercilessly gun down all other teams until Picard himself walked into the trap?

On the technical issue of the building not being visible from the air, holocamouflage of that sort would certainly be plausible. The only question goes, why wasn't the camouflage extended to the sides? Or did Lore drop it only when Picard approached?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[SonicRanger]

Oh the dangers in which the crew is placed when there are end-of-season contract issues!

 

[Tiberius]

Plus Crusher used a solar flare you know something that tends to fry things very easily, and also used resorucefulnes to do so Janeway on the other hand used standard armements and cheating from the future.

besides Crusher was dealing with a cut off Brog ship whereas Janeway was fighting them in their own backyard.

So if Janeway ever used a solar flare to destroy a Borg Cube, or lured one into a Black Hole while managing to keep her own ship away from the Event Horizon, or got them to follow Voyager into a wormhole that they exited and collapsed while the Cube was still in it, destroying it, you'd be okay with that?

Yeah pretty much.

Call me crazy, but didn't they actually do that with a transwarp conduit? So that kinda disproves your point about them just using "standard armements and cheating from the future" doesn't it?