Kelvin-verse viewscreen window - are they all polarized? Do they have shutters?

[Andy Hong]

Hi all!
Kelvin-verse viewscreen window - do they all have polarization? The USS Kelvin had viewscreen polarization. I don't think we ever saw the Enterprise activate viewscreen polarization.

Also, do they have emergency shutters? The only time these have been "seen" was near the end of the 2013 Star Trek Video Game (when Kirk remote controls a shuttle into the bridge viewscreen, eventually causing it to break and suck Gorn out (evidently, the Kelvin Enterprise have the same super-powerful fans as the Enterprise-E does, for blowing people into space if the bridge gets compromised)). Unless the viewscreen has an emergency forcefield, then shutters are needed in case it cracks or something. Although weirdly Kirk had to manually tell the computer to "repair bridge" - it wasn't automatic.

 

[DonIago]

Why wouldn't polarization be a standard option? Hell, my eyeglasses can do that now.

I would assume there must be some sort of emergency option in case the viewscreen is compromised (and I don't think they're supposed to have forcefields at this point in time). I would guess emergency shutters must either rise up from deck B or come in from the sides. Maybe in the next movie!

 

[Fandango831]

Hi all!
Kelvin-verse viewscreen window - do they all have polarization? The USS Kelvin had viewscreen polarization. I don't think we ever saw the Enterprise activate viewscreen polarization.

Also, do they have emergency shutters? The only time these have been "seen" was near the end of the 2013 Star Trek Video Game (when Kirk remote controls a shuttle into the bridge viewscreen, eventually causing it to break and suck Gorn out (evidently, the Kelvin Enterprise have the same super-powerful fans as the Enterprise-E does, for blowing people into space if the bridge gets compromised)). Unless the viewscreen has an emergency forcefield, then shutters are needed in case it cracks or something.

I'd presume all windows have some sort of polarization tech. There was never really any point where they needed to polarize the screen in any of the movies but if it's there it probably polarizes just as it can render, magnify, and project information too. Also emergency shutters make sense if you think there's a chance the window can be breached, but if they don't see that as a threat then they probably aren't present. After all with outer shields, deflector arrays, and the window probably being hyper dense (transparent aluminum?) I feel they weren't concerned with breaches per say.

 

[Timo]

We don't exactly know whether windows are more prone to breaking than walls. But in ST:GEN, we see some cracking of the transparent ceiling yet no cracking of walls. And in ST:ID, Kirk's helmet viewplate cracks but not the frame of the helmet. Might be transparent still goes hand in hand with brittle, like today's physics more or less dictate.

As for polarization, I trust the window would be smarter than that. Instead of turning the whole view dark, it would only limit the brightness of those targets that are unbearably bright to look at - and, correspondingly, amplify those light sources too dim for viewing with naked eye. On top of that come all the viewscreen properties already listed, such as the overlaying of graphics and imagery.

Really, it shouldn't be possible to see the stars at all through mere glass if the bridge interior is brightly lit - all Kirk would have is a nice big mirror. So probably the imagery is enhanced 100% of the time we see the bridge window in "action".

Were I in charge of making those windows, I'd probably choose "wholly transparent" as the "basic setting" or natural physical state of the window, so that in case of power loss I could look out at the stars for navigation cues (and wear shades if there happened to be something bright in the field of vision during the crisis). But the basic setting might also be dark, with greater transparency created by those other means the ship needs for the standard starscape experience anyway.

Timo Saloniemi