How did the Federation get footage of Star Trek III in Star Trek IV?

[R. Star]

Re: How did the Federation get footage of Star Trek III in Star Trek I

Both the Enterprise and Klingon ship would have flight recorders. I would assume it would be standard procedure for a ship to eject it before it self-destructs. The Klingon on the BoP could've ejected theirs as opened in the novelization, or heck the Klingons could've just DLed their sensor data from afar while Kirk and crew were figuring out how Klingon firewalls work.

Heck one or both powers could have had probes around the planet recording data since the planet was so important. It doesn't take much suspension of disbelief. But if you wanna believe the Klingon Ambassador walked in with a copy of ST3, go ahead.

 

[Seven of Five]

Re: How did the Federation get footage of Star Trek III in Star Trek I

I think Netflix spans the galaxy by the 23rd century.

 

[Maurice]

Re: How did the Federation get footage of Star Trek III in Star Trek I

In other words, it remains hand-waving rationalization because it just doesn't make any sense.

 

[JarodRussell]

Re: How did the Federation get footage of Star Trek III in Star Trek I

Easy. It's the holographic reconstruction of complex sensor data. It's what they always see on their viewscreens.

 

[Leto_II]

Re: How did the Federation get footage of Star Trek III in Star Trek I

We can rationalize this all we want, but the camera angles are never far enough away to be "remote" probes. The perspective tells us the "camera" is right there (and magically jumps around for dramatic effect).

It reminds me of that scene from Batman & Robin, where Clooney is viewing the security-camera footage from Mr. Freeze's laboratory, and somehow all of the supposedly-"raw" security footage of Mr. Freeze's lab-accident is magically shot and cut together exactly like a proper movie.

 

[UssGlenn]

Re: How did the Federation get footage of Star Trek III in Star Trek I

Easy. It's the holographic reconstruction of complex sensor data. It's what they always see on their viewscreens.

this is exactly what I was going to say. They can put the "camera" wherever they want.

 

[BeatleJWOL]

Re: How did the Federation get footage of Star Trek III in Star Trek I

Easy. It's the holographic reconstruction of complex sensor data. It's what they always see on their viewscreens.

this is exactly what I was going to say. They can put the "camera" wherever they want.

Sounds like Tony Stark's crime scene recreation from Iron Man 3.

 

[Lance]

Re: How did the Federation get footage of Star Trek III in Star Trek I

I always liked the Klingon ambassador's line about how "there will be no peace between the Federation and the Klingon empire while Kirk still lives", or whatever it was he said. Though I'm not sure how that ties into the events of TUC (where Kirk is the scapegoat, but aside from being left to die on Rura Penthe there's no indication this helps peace with the Klingons), but it definitely adds a shade to TFF and Captain Klaa's eagerness to bag Kirk's head as a trophy.

 

[Psion]

Re: How did the Federation get footage of Star Trek III in Star Trek I

How about an external view from Epsilon 9 which continues after it has been eaten?

It's just dumb, but cheap.

Yeah, I know what you mean, but to make it work I just assumed that Kirk's command for an external view automagically selected a nearby sensor drone (say, of the kind used earlier to monitor the Klingons). In order for the signal to get relayed to Earth, the drone would have to make contact with another station in the hypothetical chain/grid of stations near Klingon space, presumably when it lost contact with Epsilon XI.

You know, there's a similar scene near the end of Trek IV where the crew is heading towards the recently released whales. Uhura picks up the whales' transponder signal and Kirk orders, "Put it on the screen." Dr. Taylor then immediately asks, without getting any answer, "How can you do that?"

I like this little throwaway line. It suggests the technology they use for displaying visual information is a bit beyond the lenses and optical sensors we use today.

 

[JarodRussell]

Re: How did the Federation get footage of Star Trek III in Star Trek I

That's also how they can visually communicate with anyone. They get sensor data and reconstruct them holographically. They don't get camera images.

 

[DonIago]

Re: How did the Federation get footage of Star Trek III in Star Trek I

Though I always found it a little disconcerting, that's something I always liked about FC and other scenarios where the bridge viewscreen was portrayed as a holographic projection rather than an actual screen.

That said, we've seen enough instances of holographic interference that I'm not sure it's the best of ideas either.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Re: How did the Federation get footage of Star Trek III in Star Trek I

You know, there's a similar scene near the end of Trek IV where the crew is heading towards the recently released whales. Uhura picks up the whales' transponder signal and Kirk orders, "Put it on the screen." Dr. Taylor then immediately asks, without getting any answer, "How can you do that?"

I like this little throwaway line. It suggests the technology they use for displaying visual information is a bit beyond the lenses and optical sensors we use today.

Heh. Yeah, that's good. A nice little wink to the conceit of it.

 

[BillJ]

Re: How did the Federation get footage of Star Trek III in Star Trek I

In other words, it remains hand-waving rationalization because it just doesn't make any sense.

The Klingons snuck into the Mutara Sector to recover the Bird-of-Prey "black box" and stumbled across the Enterprise's as well.

 

[scotpens]

Re: How did the Federation get footage of Star Trek III in Star Trek I

During the scene at the beginning of Star Trek IV, where they are looking at footage of the destruction of the Enterprise in that Federation courtroom or whatever it was, I always thought it was weird how it's the exact same footage we saw in Star Trek III. Just how did the Federation get this footage? Were there cameras floating around in space at the time the Enterprise self-destructed?

It was a dramatic re-creation projected by the Talosians, you silly boy.

 

[Mister Spock]

Re: How did the Federation get footage of Star Trek III in Star Trek I

Perhaps the Grissom deployed a few communication and recording satellites before its destruction?

 

[JarodRussell]

Re: How did the Federation get footage of Star Trek III in Star Trek I

Kirk probably submitted scan data from the Bird of Prey to Starfleet. They were on their way to the trial in TVH.

 

[Tribble puncher]

Re: How did the Federation get footage of Star Trek III in Star Trek I

maybe the klingons had tiny cameras embedded in there armor, (to track peformance during boarding actions and ensure proper credit for kills and such) and the exterior shots were visual reconstructions from the bird of prey's sensor logs...transmitted to the high council or a border station in case the ship was destroyed...I'm reaching...

 

[Leto_II]

Re: How did the Federation get footage of Star Trek III in Star Trek I

I always liked the Klingon ambassador's line about how "there will be no peace between the Federation and the Klingon empire while Kirk still lives", or whatever it was he said. Though I'm not sure how that ties into the events of TUC (where Kirk is the scapegoat, but aside from being left to die on Rura Penthe there's no indication this helps peace with the Klingons), but it definitely adds a shade to TFF and Captain Klaa's eagerness to bag Kirk's head as a trophy.

The DC Comics series of the early '90s picked up on and developed this plot-thread in solid detail -- essentially, between the events of TFF and TUC, the pressure on Starfleet Command from the Klingons to extradite Kirk grows so great that he finally surrenders to Federation custody for trial (in issues #11-13 of the second series, "The Trial of Captain Kirk").

This storyline helps bridge the two movies a bit more substantively, taking up a very potential-laden plot thread from TVH (which got mostly abandoned in subsequent films, apart from Kirk getting arrested and tried for a much later "crime" in 2293; the Voyage Home charges only playing a tertiary role by that point) and exploring it close to fully (Kamarag, the Klingon Ambassador from ST IV and VI, plays a major role in the story).

 

[Indysolo]

Re: How did the Federation get footage of Star Trek III in Star Trek I

It's clearly Klingon surveillance footage, as they are using it as evidence against Kirk. Note there there is Klingon time code all over the footage in this scene in Trek IV.

 

[BoredShipCapt'n]

Re: How did the Federation get footage of Star Trek III in Star Trek I

Well, clearly they're using Google Universe with its spatially diffused network of nanocam drones.

Which begs the question, why send a manned starship to explore strange new worlds?