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Explain it to me like I was six

insurrection0801.jpg


I think it's the plastic-y red trigger that just screamed out "Logitech!" and "gaming peripheral!" to me.
 
I can only speak for myself, but I remember when I first saw it, I didn't understand why it was necessary. The damned thing came up from the floor to Riker's waist level so he could stand between his chair and helm and do this simple maneuver. The reason it sucked to me was because it was obviously only there to generate an "oh kewl!" reaction. Which it didn't. Riker sitting at the helm ordering manual control should have been more than enough to show us how amazing he is. If they really needed something tactile to show it being done by hand, rather than touch screens, then a small shifter could have popped out of the console - at the helm station where it should logically be. If the helmsman needed to go to manual, then he'd have to get up and stand 12 inches behind where he was sitting. Nothing about it was practical and was only there to be dramatic.

I have the same problem with "Disaster" when Geordi can open the hanger bay and depressurize from one console, but can only restore pressure at a totally different console across the room next to the hanger door. This makes no sense, other than to generate suspense. That's weak and cheapens the story.
 
^ :lol:

Maybe it's not the red trigger alone but the overall shape & assumed "feel" of the overly plastic-y looking material? ;)
 
^ :lol:

Maybe it's not the red trigger alone but the overall shape & assumed "feel" of the overly plastic-y looking material? ;)

A real life military airplane (joy)stick is also made from overly plastic-y looking material (as one can see on the stock photo I linked to). ;)
 
I don't know, the F-15 joystick looks a lot more rugged/solid to me :shrug:

Maybe it's the shape. A buddy of mine is really into flight sims, and his joystick looks almost exactly like the one from INS.
 
The joystick from Insurrection was infinitely preferable to the seat-belts in Nemesis. Thank fcuk that scene was cut out!

Yeah thank goodness that we didn't have something as practical as that! I'll take being thrown out of my chair any day thank you very much!

But I think the manual steering column was only there so that 'RedLetterMedia' could take the piss out of it years later
 
The joystick from Insurrection was infinitely preferable to the seat-belts in Nemesis. Thank fcuk that scene was cut out!

Yeah thank goodness that we didn't have something as practical as that! I'll take being thrown out of my chair any day thank you very much!

But I think the manual steering column was only there so that 'RedLetterMedia' could take the piss out of it years later

That seat belt was stupid. And way too self aware. There's no reasons to have seatbealts on a starship. Collisions that knock them out of the seat are the rarest exception ever.
 
The joystick from Insurrection was infinitely preferable to the seat-belts in Nemesis. Thank fcuk that scene was cut out!

Yeah thank goodness that we didn't have something as practical as that! I'll take being thrown out of my chair any day thank you very much!

But I think the manual steering column was only there so that 'RedLetterMedia' could take the piss out of it years later

That seat belt was stupid. And way too self aware. There's no reasons to have seatbealts on a starship. Collisions that knock them out of the seat are the rarest exception ever.

I have never crashed my car, but if I do, I sure want to have a seatbelt!

They obviously don't need seat belts for everyday use, but some kind of harness in case of emergencies is hardly a bad idea.
 
I loved the seat belts in the cut scenes of Nemesis. In fact, I liked the cut ending from Nemesis better than the original. Much better than the original.
 
The joystick from Insurrection was infinitely preferable to the seat-belts in Nemesis. Thank fcuk that scene was cut out!

Yeah thank goodness that we didn't have something as practical as that! I'll take being thrown out of my chair any day thank you very much!

But I think the manual steering column was only there so that 'RedLetterMedia' could take the piss out of it years later

That seat belt was stupid. And way too self aware. There's no reasons to have seatbealts on a starship. Collisions that knock them out of the seat are the rarest exception ever.
I don't know, I've seen them thrown from their seats pretty damn often, especially on TOS and TNG.
 
They die. Seat belts or no seat belts, the slightest maneuver by a vast starship will result in nonsurvivable accelerations unless somebody does constant magic on the gravity and inertia of the interior.

Doesn't mean seat belts wouldn't be a good idea when gravity is on, tho. They're just no good in emergencies, but great to have outside those.

Timo Saloniemi
 
Just don't understand why they don't have force fields holding them in place. Just hook it to the same power source as the gravity and life support and they'll never have to worry about the power going out. Unless they're on a "ship of the week" that's destroyed by evil space aliens.
 
I would think wrapping every seat in a forcefield would be fairly energy-intensive and increase the possibility of a disruption.

As goofy as they would look, given the number of times we've seen people thrown from their seats, seat belts would seem sensible. Of course, if you've got your belt on you can't be thrown clear of the Exploding Console of Doom! Tough choice...
 
The joystick took me right out of the film. And the Trill extra at the Conn looking at him like he was the hottest thing ever didn't help anything either.
 
It was the leftover Trill pheromones on (or in!) him, of course.

I would think wrapping every seat in a forcefield would be fairly energy-intensive and increase the possibility of a disruption.

Then again, the only thing keeping the ship from instantaneously going kaboom is a 100% reliable forcefield surrounding the antimatter fuel. These people trust their fields, and they don't spare energy: they replicate their morning coffee, they put their kids in a holodeck to get a brief breather, they transport across a continent for dinner, and in starship combat they expend fantastic amounts of energy on movement, protection and outgoing fire. They could probably afford a protective forcefield on each seat.

Timo Saloniemi
 
I would think wrapping every seat in a forcefield would be fairly energy-intensive and increase the possibility of a disruption.

True, but since the gravity and life support never go out, I think they would be safe enough. ;)
 
Yeah thank goodness that we didn't have something as practical as that! I'll take being thrown out of my chair any day thank you very much!

But I think the manual steering column was only there so that 'RedLetterMedia' could take the piss out of it years later

That seat belt was stupid. And way too self aware. There's no reasons to have seatbealts on a starship. Collisions that knock them out of the seat are the rarest exception ever.
I don't know, I've seen them thrown from their seats pretty damn often, especially on TOS and TNG.

The Motion Picture had already introduced these to keep you in your seat in case it gets a little rough:

http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/tmphd/tmphd0812.jpg
http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/tmphd/tmphd0830.jpg

Makes a lot more sense to me and isn't as silly as a seatbelt.
 
Then again, the only thing keeping the ship from instantaneously going kaboom is a 100% reliable forcefield surrounding the antimatter fuel. These people trust their fields, and they don't spare energy: they replicate their morning coffee, they put their kids in a holodeck to get a brief breather, they transport across a continent for dinner, and in starship combat they expend fantastic amounts of energy on movement, protection and outgoing fire. They could probably afford a protective forcefield on each seat.

Timo Saloniemi

QFT
 
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