Extra equipment on Enterprise

[voggmo]

What hardware do you think could've been added to the ship that would offer added dimension to certain stories, or just to the adventure capacity in general.

Mini sub, or other aquatic eqipment was one area I thought of. TAS had some underwater stuff. Fighter planes been covered in other threads.

Tunnel boring machine another idea.

Other ideas?

 

[Michael]

Re: Extra Equipment On The Enterprise

The ship's own Time Travel Device! I mean, then the the writers wouldn't have to come up with a new way of time travel every time they want to do it!

 

[Masao]

Re: Extra Equipment On The Enterprise

Jet packs and dune buggies!

 

[The Squire of Gothos]

Re: Extra Equipment On The Enterprise

All they needed was to get to another planet and land on it, anything else would have been fluff that TOS was happily bereft of.

 

[Michael]

Re: Extra Equipment On The Enterprise

The Squire of Gothos said:
All they needed was to get to another planet and land on it, anything else would have been fluff that TOS was happily bereft of.

Yeah, they didn't need fluff like ... hm ... phasers, photon torpedos, medical equipment, tricorders, psychotricorders etc. They were never important for the story ...

 

[USS Mariner]

Re: Extra Equipment On The Enterprise

Actual freakin' spacesuits. You could argue that the suits they wore were Mark II Environmental Suits, but as space suits?

Or EVA Robots. There is absolutely no contradiction with having automated repair drones to fix external damage to the ship.

 

[The Squire of Gothos]

Re: Extra Equipment On The Enterprise

Belar said:

The Squire of Gothos said:
All they needed was to get to another planet and land on it, anything else would have been fluff that TOS was happily bereft of.

Yeah, they didn't need fluff like ... hm ... phasers, photon torpedos, medical equipment, tricorders, psychotricorders etc. They were never important for the story ...

Phasers/torpedoes vs bullets/missiles
tricorders vs stethoscopes
warp drive vs rockets
etc

Swapping any of those wouldn't have mattered much, the important thing was getting to alien worlds and landing on them.

Mariner Class said:Or EVA Robots. There is absolutely no contradiction with having automated repair drones to fix external damage to the ship.

And absolutely no need for them in any story. Ignoring the TAS story, what about holodecks? Or holographic communications, the eye piece viewscreen from DS9, stellar cartography and the dune buggy from the TNG movies, what bit of fluff from later series/movies would have improved TOS?

 

[Outpost4]

Re: Extra Equipment On The Enterprise

Props cost money. Who needs them?

 

[USS Mariner]

Re: Extra Equipment On The Enterprise

The Squire of Gothos said:

Mariner Class said:Or EVA Robots. There is absolutely no contradiction with having automated repair drones to fix external damage to the ship.

And absolutely no need for them in any story. Ignoring the TAS story, what about holodecks? Or holographic communications, the eye piece viewscreen from DS9, stellar cartography and the dune buggy from the TNG movies, what bit of fluff from later series/movies would have improved TOS?

Robots were practically banned from regular use in later Trek series (for the most part.) How my suggestion can be a "shoehorn" is something I'd like to see proven.

Hell, if anything we should have see those buggers in TNG and beyond. Lord knows how many androids we've seen in TOS alone.

 

[Michael]

Re: Extra Equipment On The Enterprise

The Squire of Gothos said:

Belar said:

The Squire of Gothos said:
All they needed was to get to another planet and land on it, anything else would have been fluff that TOS was happily bereft of.

Yeah, they didn't need fluff like ... hm ... phasers, photon torpedos, medical equipment, tricorders, psychotricorders etc. They were never important for the story ...

Phasers/torpedoes vs bullets/missiles
tricorders vs stethoscopes
warp drive vs rockets
etc

Swapping any of those wouldn't have mattered much, the important thing was getting to alien worlds and landing on them.

Just picking one: "Balance Of Terror". Usually a fan favorite when it come to votes. Where are the alien worlds that they are supposed to be landing on in this episode? I wonder how the battle would have been fought without any weapons.

Or take "City on the Edge of Forever" -- another fan favorite. No new worlds and I can't see how Spock would have found out about the right course of time without his tricorder.

You can't deny it, TOS was more than just visiting new worlds! In the most intriguing instances the journey would take us inside the human mind. The ship and its equipment were the instruments through which we could experience those journeys. The use of the transporter in "The Enemy Within" may be one of the best examples.

 

[The Squire of Gothos]

Re: Extra Equipment On The Enterprise

Mariner Class said:

The Squire of Gothos said:

Mariner Class said:Or EVA Robots. There is absolutely no contradiction with having automated repair drones to fix external damage to the ship.

And absolutely no need for them in any story. Ignoring the TAS story, what about holodecks? Or holographic communications, the eye piece viewscreen from DS9, stellar cartography and the dune buggy from the TNG movies, what bit of fluff from later series/movies would have improved TOS?

Robots were practically banned from regular use in later Trek series (for the most part.) How my suggestion can be a "shoehorn" is something I'd like to see proven

How do you mean "shoehorn"? What drama could it add that Scotty in a Jeffries tube couldn't?

Besides, TNG kept fouling up androids, robots and holodecks by making the damn things sentient at every turn. Why they couldn't have a few dumb machines is beyond me.

Belar said:Just picking one: "Balance Of Terror". Usually a fan favorite when it come to votes. Where are the alien worlds that they are supposed to be landing on in this episode? I wonder how the battle would have been fought without any weapons

Me too, especially since I didn't suggest it should take place without any

Belar said:Or take "City on the Edge of Forever" -- another fan favorite. No new worlds and I can't see how Spock would have found out about the right course of time without his tricorder

The Guardian could have stopped jerking them around and just sent them back. Yes, the uncertainty added something to the story, but only briefly. And there are two new worlds for the crew to explore, the planet the Guardian was discovered on and 1930s Earth, quite an alien experience for the big three. But then that's the beauty of TOS isn't it?

Belar said:The ship and its equipment were the instruments through which we could experience those journeys. The use of the transporter in "The Enemy Within" may be one of the best examples

J. Michael Straczynski If you need a holo-deck to make an interstellar starship on the bleeding edge of the unknown interesting, something is seriously amiss

Nuff said :thumbsup:

 

[voggmo]

Re: Extra Equipment On The Enterprise

Dune buggy, not bad. Perhaps a vehicle like the B/W Lost in Space pilot had. With tank tracks to cover difficult terrain.

 

[CoveTom]

Re: Extra Equipment On The Enterprise

A bit off topic, but I personally always hated the devices that seemingly came out of nowhere just to serve the plot of the week, never to be heard from again. The psychotricorder, which has already been mentioned, is an excellent example. Suddenly, for that one episode, we have a different tricorder that can magically record all the memories as person has had for the past several days. Then it disappears again, never to be so much as spoken of.

I expect that kind of thing from Knight Rider ("c'mon, KITT, let's try that new swimming ability April just gave you!"), but not Star Trek.

 

[Outpost4]

Re: Extra Equipment On The Enterprise

^ Then you must never have seen Voyager, with the technobabble solution of the week.

 

[NathanielM]

Re: Extra Equipment On The Enterprise

Masao said:
Jet packs and dune buggies!

Well they need a rocket sled and the eerie flash gordon type sci music then...

 

[The Squire of Gothos]

Re: Extra Equipment On The Enterprise

voggmo said:
Dune buggy, not bad. Perhaps a vehicle like the B/W Lost in Space pilot had. With tank tracks to cover difficult terrain.

The whole series had that vehicle, the Chariot IIRC.

 

[voggmo]

Re: Extra Equipment On The Enterprise

Thanks Squire. Been awhile since I saw much of that show. Did rent the pilot recently where it was used most generously. One wonders how it fit in the Jupiter 2.

Here's a cute bit of trivia.

http://www.comicon.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=36&t=001868

the howlingly crazy color episodes that feature Dr. Smith in his flamboyantly unleashed glory (many of which were penned by a guy named — I swear to God — Peter Packer),

 

[The Squire of Gothos]

Re: Extra Equipment On The Enterprise

voggmo said:One wonders how it fit in the Jupiter 2

IIRC the last time it was shown in the UK was back in the 80s, when Dad taped it for us depending if we were away to church or out for a walk. We watched it religiously but that never occurred to me. Where did they put it?

 

[Classic Fan]

Re: Extra Equipment On The Enterprise

Kirks Shag-Shuttle. For those private 'middle of nowhere' moments: Also known as; The Void Probe, The Uranus Explorer II and K-Y Sled. :thumbsup:

Always wanted to see that. Decked out with cushions, curtains, lava lamps and a stereo. Oh, and a drinks chiller and emergency pharmacy cupboard for those, ya know, emergencies during space-sex.


No, seriously, i would've liked to see, although we didn't, more auxiliary vessels, ala Specialty Shuttles, mini subs, external repair vehicles etc etc. You never know when you will need them, after all its a deep space exploration vessel at the end of the day.

 

[Sulu_Love_child]

Re: Extra Equipment On The Enterprise

I agree that there is much more to Trek but the technology (Phasers/torpedoes, tricorders,
warp drive) is still critical to the show. As to be expected the technology at times fails and it makes the show more interesting... If the crew had the right tool for the job at all times the show would be very boring and nothing of interest would ever happen.