Enterprise-D destruction

[Lance]

@M.A.C.O. is right, in that the sequence of events only unfolds the way it does because the writers needed to contrive a way to destroy the badass Federation flagship we'd seen for 7 years as quickly as possible. They weren't really bothered if the way they did so made the crew look incompetent and the ship look like it was made of tinfoil that would collapse if someone sneezed on it.

There is a sense in Generations that the writers had more ideas than they had time to actually implement (the "grocery list" approach to story construction), so, as they get two-thirds the way through the movie and they've got to start figuring out how to get Picard and Kirk together *and* wrap up the movie, suddenly things get rushed. The starship fight and subsequent destruction of the ship is one of those things that clearly got compressed to fit 90 minutes. Consider that the crew actually act decisively to defeat the BOP; the warp core breach happens something like 8 or 9 screen minutes later (after a extended cutaway to Picard and Soren debating ethics on the planet surface), where the old girl just seems to pop a random gasket for no reason that the supposesly 6 year's into his job Chief Engineer can figure out. It's very contrived, and kind of insulting to we the viewers at home that they would assume we'd swallow such story telling unquestionably.

Despite all that however, I'll admit to having a certain feeling of poetic satisfaction to the three times we see 1701-D destroyed ("Yesterday's Enterprise", "Cause and Effect" and Generations ), it's the warp core blowing up that does it each time with "nothing we can do" being the best Geordi can come up with. Maybe the Galaxy Class had a real design flaw. Or maybe Geordi really was that bad at his job.

 

[TommyR01D]

The Enterprise crew don't know that the Klingons have a spy. Changing the shield frequencies ought to have been an instant response. Even if the Duras sisters could change to match, it would still give a few seconds of lagtime in which the Enterprise was protected. Of course, there is still the obvious issue of why Worf only fires one phaser shot.

Actually, that was a problem with a lot of combat scenes in TNG - they would just sit there getting pummeled and rarely return fire, even though they have a huge arsenal at their disposal.

 

[BigDaveX]

Despite all that however, I'll admit to having a certain feeling of poetic satisfaction to the three times we see 1701-D destroyed ("Yesterday's Enterprise", "Cause and Effect" and Generations ), it's the warp core blowing up that does it each time with "nothing we can do" being the best Geordi can come up with. Maybe the Galaxy Class had a real design flaw. Or maybe Geordi really was that bad at his job.

And yet its forerunner, the USS Galaxy was still alive and kicking as of Nemesis, despite taking a pasting in DS9's "Tears of the Prophets." Between that and the USS Yamato blowing up because of a computer virus, it makes me wonder if after the Galaxy rolled off the production line, the design team were hauled into some admiral's office, yelled at for over-designing the warp core safety systems on what was meant to be a ship of peaceful exploration, and told to divert the engineering resources to more sensors and science labs on the next couple of ships.

 

[USS Firefly]

Of course, there is still the obvious issue of why Worf only fires one phaser shot.

That can mean only one thing, Worf is a traitor.
Even without shields the Enterprise-D should have blown the BOP in pieces in seconds.

 

[jaime]

That can mean only one thing, Worf is a traitor.
Even without shields the Enterprise-D should have blown the BOP in pieces in seconds.

He, like data in the silly deleted scene, was cruising for a piece of durass

 

[JamesRye]

I always hated the bit where Riker says to Worf: " we have to hit them the instant they begin to cloak" and then when the moment comes, Riker pauses dramatically and says "Mr Worf...........Fire!" Then the torpedo slowly streaks towards the BOP. Much better to have re-edited that scene.

They could've gotten around the Enterprise not being able to deal with the weak ass BOP by having Geordi give them computer access through a chip implanted in his visor or something. Generations was full of weird plot holes like being able to leave the nexus at any point, Kirk and his weird fantasy where he lives like William Shatner, with dobermans and riding horses (too indulgent).

I was so disappointed when I saw it at the cinema, a feeling I would have again in 1999.

 

[jaime]

I always hated the bit where Riker says to Worf: " we have to hit them the instant they begin to cloak" and then when the moment comes, Riker pauses dramatically and says "Mr Worf...........Fire!" Then the torpedo slowly streaks towards the BOP. Much better to have re-edited that scene.

They could've gotten around the Enterprise not being able to deal with the weak ass BOP by having Geordi give them computer access through a chip implanted in his visor or something. Generations was full of weird plot holes like being able to leave the nexus at any point, Kirk and his weird fantasy where he lives like William Shatner, with dobermans and riding horses (too indulgent).

I was so disappointed when I saw it at the cinema, a feeling I would have again in 1999.

Geordi did give the weak ass BoP that advantage. Througha chip in his visor.

 

[Lance]

And yet its forerunner, the USS Galaxy was still alive and kicking as of Nemesis, despite taking a pasting in DS9's "Tears of the Prophets." Between that and the USS Yamato blowing up because of a computer virus, it makes me wonder if after the Galaxy rolled off the production line, the design team were hauled into some admiral's office, yelled at for over-designing the warp core safety systems on what was meant to be a ship of peaceful exploration, and told to divert the engineering resources to more sensors and science labs on the next couple of ships.

There's a cool undercurrent in TNG's first couple seasons that the ship is still on something of a shakedown cruise and that even the crew are not completely certain about the bang up to date technology they're all relying on. One of my favorite things about "Contagion" is a quick discussion where they suggest the Galaxy Class may have design flaws the crew don't know about and may not be able to combat in time. It feels to me like Geordi's coolant leak was a considerable Achilles heel

 

[TommyR01D]

This is even more prominent with the Intrepid class, which seems to go out of its way to kill the crew at every opportunity.

 

[DonIago]

Maybe that's why Riker kept turning down commands...

 

[Dukhat]

Geordi did give the weak ass BoP that advantage. Througha chip in his visor.

Except, as @Lance stated, the BoP had already been destroyed eight minutes before anything started going wrong with the Enterprise. It would have made far more sense if the BoP, knowing how to break through the shields, just made a kamikaze run at the ship like the Jem’Hadar did to the Odyssey not long after. I remember how shocked I was when the Jem’Hadar ship did that, and that shock would have worked much better had the Duras sisters, knowing they were ultimately outmatched, done the same thing. But since they wanted to reuse Chang’s BoP explosion, that’s what we got instead.

 

[jaime]

Except, as @Lance stated, the BoP had already been destroyed eight minutes before anything started going wrong with the Enterprise. It would have made far more sense if the BoP, knowing how to break through the shields, just made a kamikaze run at the ship like the Jem’Hadar did to the Odyssey not long after. I remember how shocked I was when the Jem’Hadar ship did that, and that shock would have worked much better had the Duras sisters, knowing they were ultimately outmatched, done the same thing. But since they wanted to reuse Chang’s BoP explosion, that’s what we got instead.

To be fair, it would be extremely out of character for the duras sisters. Unless they prefer that fireball to the one Soran is cooking.

 

[Dukhat]

To be fair, it would be extremely out of character for the duras sisters. Unless they prefer that fireball to the one Soran is cooking.

That’s a good point. So let’s flip my idea around: have the BoP disable the Enterprise’s weapons, and then have Riker decide to ram them instead (a la the Scimitar).

 

[DonIago]

The ethics of knowingly using a ship with civilians aboard as a battering ram...

 

[Dukhat]

The ethics of knowingly using a ship with civilians aboard as a battering ram...

Is that any less ethical than allowing your entire ship to be destroyed because the other ship is shooting at you and you have no weapons to defend yourself?

 

[STEPhon IT]

The ethics of knowingly using a ship with civilians aboard as a battering ram...

That is NOT Star Trek.

 

[DonIago]

Is that any less ethical than allowing your entire ship to be destroyed because the other ship is shooting at you and you have no weapons to defend yourself?

But the E-D had weapons to defend itself. They just, for some unclear reason in GEN, did a piss-poor job with them.

Or were you asking in general?

 

[Dukhat]

That’s a good point. So let’s flip my idea around: have the BoP disable the Enterprise’s weapons, and then have Riker decide to ram them instead (a la the Scimitar).

But the E-D had weapons to defend itself. They just, for some unclear reason in GEN, did a piss-poor job with them.

Or were you asking in general?

I was referring to my own quote above.

 

[thribs]

That’s reaching into the bowels of beta canon. The ship is a Connie getting burst by a Galaxy with its saucer sideways and it’s pylons inverted. It’s an eighties enterprise mash up.

Not really. It’s just common sense since there is no way a ship could be designed and built that quickly after the D with the intention of being the Enterprise

 

[Lance]

Not really. It’s just common sense since there is no way a ship could be designed and built that quickly after the D with the intention of being the Enterprise

It's always been my thought that, in-universe, the Sovereign Class was obviously already being designed and prototyped even in TNG's later seasons, and that had the 1701-D not been destroyed there is no assumption that the Enterprise name would've passed on to a Sovereign just because the Sovereign is being rolled out.