Enterprise seperation

[Garak007]

I can only count on the top of my head 3 times that Enterprise D has separated. Encounter at Farpoint, when Leforge was in command and went back to the planet to rescue the away team and Best of Both Worlds.

Had there been any reason why the writers/creators decided not to use this feature not so much or had the concept been more or less scraped?

 

[BillJ]

The Arsenal of Freedom is the episode you're thinking of and don't forget Star Trek: Generations.

 

[Flashover]

It really slowed down the story-telling, and the technology of the saucer being able to move at FTL was never proved/disproved on screen by the writers.

 

[danellis]

It was primarily cost reasons: they had a shed load of footage of the unseparated ship, very little of it separated.

dJE

 

[DonIago]

Pacing and budget reasons.

 

[FalTorPan]

It really slowed down the story-telling, and the technology of the saucer being able to move at FTL was never proved/disproved on screen by the writers.

I see no reason why saucer separation, if shown more frequently, would slow the story. It's not like we would need to see the full separation sequence every time.

 

[Garak007]

The Arsenal of Freedom is the episode you're thinking of and don't forget Star Trek: Generations.

Oppss forgot Generations but was thinking on more of the lines of the series

Due to cost ouch! They were not even reserving it for holy s*** reasons? Anyway it would not of mattered using the same footage for the separation and did they not do that for The Best of Both Worlds with the Borg on top of them?

It's a shame really as I felt this act helped the series to "become" the next generation as the Enterprises before could not or were shown not being able to do this.

 

[Jochk]

Also they need a reason to separate the saucer section which they often didn't they wouldn't do it for anything unless it was absolutely necessary

 

[DonIago]

^If the cost and pacing had not been reasons they may have written more episodes to accommodate a saucer separation.

Garak, it's not just a matter of reusing the same footage. Once the saucer's separated you'd need to show it that way for (presumably) a good chunk of the episode, likely more often than stock footage could account for (especially if you wanted to avoid picky fans saying, "Oh look, more saucer stock footage.").

IIRC the FX people weren't happy with filming the 6' model (the only one that could separate) to begin with, so I don't think they'd be thrilled about filming the saucer/battle sections as standalones even more often either. Granted if saucer separation was a more regular feature than they might have been encouraged to come up with workarounds.

 

[Shatnertage]

I never got why the saucer separation was such a big deal. You've got a cool-looking ship. Why break it into two pieces?

I never thought during TOS, "I really wish they would take the saucer off."

 

[od0_ital]

I think the rarity of saucer seperation shows the seriousness of the situations.

The saucer seperates durin' the initial mission to save the families aboard.

The saucer seperates when La Forge is in command to save the crew on the planet surface without endangerin' others.

The saucer seperates as part of the plan to rescue Picard from the Borg.

And in the movie, the saucer seperates durin' a warp core breach.

If they did it more often, I think the question would be, why have a saucer in the first place?

 

[RoJoHen]

It really slowed down the story-telling, and the technology of the saucer being able to move at FTL was never proved/disproved on screen by the writers.

I'd say the fact that the saucer wasn't able to escape Veridiian III in "Generations" proves it well enough.

 

[DonIago]

I never for a moment thought the saucer had FTL capabilities. Something about the lack of nacelles, a warp core, etc...

 

[RoJoHen]

Exactly. It's missing some pretty important components.

 

[Leathco]

The one thing I thought was a shame is that we never saw it used in Season 7. It might have made for an interesting paradox when at in TBOBW one of the Picards made the decision to send the saucer out while keeping the engineering hull sending out its stream of whatevers to save families aboard, especially after the first D from the past blew.

But I also saw it as maybe it wasn't used often because the ship was FAR more useful as a whole, cause during seperation the ship loses the Impulse engines on the saucer, as well as all the crew and hardware on the saucer.

 

[FormerLurker]

BOBW? You mean Parallels?

 

[JoeFromEarth]

I think he means All Good Things

 

[Thakurji123]

I think there is definitely a reason behind it.

 

[Marten]

I think he means All Good Things

He must mean that.

 

[Leathco]

Yea sorry, meant All Good Things. Made the post ate night/early morning when my son got up having a nightmare and I stayed up with him for a bit. Lack of sleep apparently makes me mess up my epiosde abbreviations.