Enterprise D's terrifyingly volatile warp core stability?

[tharpdevenport]

What were the circumstances in each case? Because I recall two and both were extreme.

Example 1: "Yesterday's Enterprise"

The Enterprise D loses it's shields and is fired on repeatedly by two Klingon Birds-of-Prey.


Example 2: "Star Trek: Generations

A Klingon Bird-of-Prey gets the shield frequency and fires through the shields, rendering them useless (why they couldn't modulate shield frequency, who knows), causing sever damage.


Both instances don't show a bad design but rather a ship in abnormal distress. One wasn't lazy writing, the other, well ... make of it what you want.

 

[Gary7]

I find myself put off by how in some cases the Enterprise is so vulnerable to enemies where they should be stronger, for Starfleet to be able to hold the peace. Otherwise, the Romulans or the Klingons would've overrun them. The warp core has frequently gone unstable while shields were still up, just taking a beating. I'm also dumbfounded by how often systems go off line in an attack. I expect a much more robust starship for the 24th century.

 

[tharpdevenport]

And there were likely abnormal circumstances for each of those.

The real problem is every time somebody even sneezes, a panel explodes in their face, often causing injury or even death. From the TOS Trek films to even in the future in "All Good Things...".

 

[Shikarnov]

.I'm sure they said the same thing about the Death Star.

l actually laughed out loud at this. Thank you. I really needed that today.

 

[DonIago]

I'll actually give them some credit and say that what annoys me isn't necessarily so much the warp core itself going unstable, but the fact that in the same heartbeat the ejection system is also compromised.

"Sir, we're about to suffer a warp core breach!"
"Well, alrighty, eject the core then. I mean, that's why we have an ejection system and all..."
"Uh...we can't, sir. The ejection system's not working either."
"Oh. Well, that's a problem then."

 

[JesterFace]

In 'Cause and Effect' one of the uncoolest things happen with the warp drive.

Ent-D is about to be destroyed by a warpcore breach.
First, warpcore shutdown doesn't work and right after that the core cannot be ejected...
Who designs these emergency systems?

It's a plot thing yes, but... still, annoying.

Does any other lazy writing come to mind, in any series?

 

[DonIago]

I thought it was a little convenient that in VOY the core could just be popped right back in (that's the kind of work that I'd think might require a drydock), but I understand the necessity to have it be easily reinstallable.

If the VOY folks seemed more prone to creativity, I'd hope for a mini-arc involving the ship being limited to impulse while they try to find aid to get their warp core functional again. Perhaps involving aliens they'd recently come into contact with, as adversaries, allies or both.

 

[Takeru]

I thought it was a little convenient that in VOY the core could just be popped right back in (that's the kind of work that I'd think might require a drydock), but I understand the necessity to have it be easily reinstallable.

I don't agree, if it can be ejected it should be relatively easy to put it back in, with shuttles and tractor beams it doesn't seem like a huge task that would require a drydock.

 

[Vger23]

Ahhhh....the "warp core breach" and the "swiss-army knife deflector dish"...favorite cliches to fall back on for 90's era Trek!

Kind of like the "transporter doesn't work" for TOS.

 

[MacLeod]

I would frankly be more worried about the failure of the fail-safe system during a warp core breach that of the ejection system.

 

[M.A.C.O.]

In 'Cause and Effect' one of the uncoolest things happen with the warp drive.

Ent-D is about to be destroyed by a warpcore breach.
First, warpcore shutdown doesn't work and right after that the core cannot be ejected...
Who designs these emergency systems?

It's a plot thing yes, but... still, annoying.

Does any other lazy writing come to mind, in any series?

Ahhhh....the "warp core breach" and the "swiss-army knife deflector dish"...favorite cliches to fall back on for 90's era Trek!

Kind of like the "transporter doesn't work" for TOS.

I would frankly be more worried about the failure of the fail-safe system during a warp core breach that of the ejection system.

Don't forget the plethora of times "Manual Override" for systems on the Enterprise-D and Voyager weren't working during a crisis. Manual Override... The functions of the ship that should have nothing to do with the computers or power failures.


Not to mention all the near missses and lack of urgency when the initerial dampeners fail.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

I can't remember the episodes right off, but one of my favorite things about the first season or two was Picard and crew wondering if the Galaxy-class had severe design flaws and if Starfleet had posted them on a lemon. I know the idea of a ship malfunction was used to humorous effect in Star Treks III and V, but I liked the forboding sense of doom it brought to those early episodes and wished it had been addressed more.

 

[Nakita Akita]

Don't forget the plethora of times "Manual Override" for systems on the Enterprise-D and Voyager weren't working during a crisis. Manual Override... The functions of the ship that should have nothing to do with the computers or power failures.


Not to mention all the near missses and lack of urgency when the initerial dampeners fail.

I always felt like the manual override was long hand for "I have push the red light button and the yellow light button on my computer screen!"

It's not like anyone ever has to pop open a metal cover and reach and yank a lever or flip a switch.

 

[USS Firefly]

But when the writers were actually on their A-Game, the ship suddenly became a lot more durable. Look at Best of Both Worlds. The Borg weren't able to destroy the ship, in spite of their best efforts, recent victory over the fleet at Wolf 359 (which featured equally durable Starfleet ships that were physically intact albethey completely scuttled), and the stolen knowledge and experience of Captain Picard. The Borg even had multiple prolonged, shieldless, beam strikes directly at Engineering but the ship wouldn't go belly up. So either the beam was wicked weak (which wouldn't be consistent with the Borg), or the ship reasonably well-built. Add to that later incidents when we saw the Galaxy Class in action, like The Oddysey fighting a protracted battle against the Jem Hadar without any shield protection; she managed to hold together until rammed by a kamakazi that took out half of the stardive section before triggering an antimatter explosion.

I agree, and the Galaxy's did a good job in the Dominion War.
I can't remember the episode, I believe It was "Tears of the Prophets" where theUSS Galaxy gets a chunk blown out of her saucer and survived

 

[Shikarnov]

I can't remember the episodes right off, but one of my favorite things about the first season or two was Picard and crew wondering if the Galaxy-class had severe design flaws and if Starfleet had posted them on a lemon. I know the idea of a ship malfunction was used to humorous effect in Star Treks III and V, but I liked the forboding sense of doom it brought to those early episodes and wished it had been addressed more.

Aside from Contagion -- one of my favorite episodes -- when they were combating an unbeknownst-at-the-time computer virus -- when else did the crew wonder about design problems with the ship? I never got the impression anybody felt like they were flying around in a lemon; rather the reverse, actually... Much of the time I felt they were all too often awed at the the magnificence of the new ship (particularly the holodecks).

 

[tharpdevenport]

It's not like anyone ever has to pop open a metal cover and reach and yank a lever or flip a switch.

Geordi cranked a lever to close a Jeffries tube hatch door manually in Generations.

Also, there were at least two episodes of TNG where some kind of weird manual door device was put onto doors when power was out.


And lest we all forget -- which would be totally awesome if I COULD -- Riker playing with his joystick in Insurrection. Khan couldn't think three-dimensionally when piloting a starship, but Riker could literally pilot with an Atari-like joystick. Good. God.

 

[Nakita Akita]

Geordi cranked a lever to close a Jeffries tube hatch door manually in Generations.

Also, there were at least two episodes of TNG where some kind of weird manual door device was put onto doors when power was out.


And lest we all forget -- which would be totally awesome if I COULD -- Riker playing with his joystick in Insurrection. Khan couldn't think three-dimensionally when piloting a starship, but Riker could literally pilot with an Atari-like joystick. Good. God.

Well I remember some of those, but I meant specifically when they are doing a Manual override" of like the blah blah to save the warp core or something.
Opening doors and playing Atari just don't count (pretty much)

 

[M.A.C.O.]

I know for sure that the VOY episode "Learning Curve" had manual override, that became faulty during a crisis.

Hehehe
Things Trek writers do for drama.

 

[tharpdevenport]

I'm not sure what kind of manual controls people are expecting on 24th century highly sophisticated systems like a matter/anti-matter warp core.

There were some "manual" overrides by pulling out and re-inserting isolinear chips into different slots.

 

[Takeru]

I'm not sure what kind of manual controls people are expecting on 24th century highly sophisticated systems like a matter/anti-matter warp core.

A lever to blow the tubes connecting the warp core to the nacelles, another one to blow the hatch at the bottom of the star drive section and one to start a thruster pushing the core out.

 

[tharpdevenport]

I'm shocked you think all that can be done with such a complex system with volatile substances that everyone here thinks is already housed in a system that is frequently unstable. And you want a manual level for that? How is that lever protected? Can just anybody yank it? Even an Engineering crewman with ulterior motives, especially in an emergency situation where it would be deadly to lose the core.

Next thing you'll tell me you want is a manual level to jettison the warp nacelles. Or to blow the saucer from the stardrive section.