Lack of a fleet?

[Alidar Jarok]

To be honest the time this bugged me the most was in Zero Hour.. Seriously, no ships to give any resistance to the Xindi weapon at all, and the only assistance they get was the Andorians? This was somewhat remedied at the end of Stormfront, but there should have been something.. I guess they thought it would have gotton in the way of the story.

I'd chalk that up to the inability to detect the vortexes. Shran somehow figured out how, so he got there. Everybody else had to scramble to get back and didn't arrive in time (although they should have at least scrambled back in response to the Andorians, though).

 

[StarshipDefiant]

To be honest the time this bugged me the most was in Zero Hour.. Seriously, no ships to give any resistance to the Xindi weapon at all, and the only assistance they get was the Andorians? This was somewhat remedied at the end of Stormfront, but there should have been something.. I guess they thought it would have gotton in the way of the story.

I'd chalk that up to the inability to detect the vortexes. Shran somehow figured out how, so he got there. Everybody else had to scramble to get back and didn't arrive in time (although they should have at least scrambled back in response to the Andorians, though).

This works, although the only thing odd about it, is that the very idea of getting close to Earth as possible was because of detection (I think, anyway). It's also somewhat bothersome considering how many Vulcan, Earth, and other ships seem to be around at other times. I guess one could just say that no one could get there fast enough, but no responses to the destruction of that Station or a big battle between a couple ships just seems...odd.

 

[Skywalker]

To be honest the time this bugged me the most was in Zero Hour.. Seriously, no ships to give any resistance to the Xindi weapon at all, and the only assistance they get was the Andorians? This was somewhat remedied at the end of Stormfront, but there should have been something.. I guess they thought it would have gotton in the way of the story.

It's typical Star Trek. Reminds me of the opening scene of Generations when the Enterprise-B is somehow "the only ship in range" to help the El-Aurians, even though the Enterprise was only doing a quick run through the Sol System. How the heck could one ship--one that doesn't even have a full crew or all of its equipment--be the only one in range when they're in the middle of the most important freaking system in the Federation?

 

[C.E. Evans]

The idea of "the only ship in range" kinda supports the Small Fleet Theory, IMO. The fleet is so thinly spread out that even a handful of ships in one sector can be considered a big deal (except during wartime).

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Well, they had to pick *something* for the name. And let's face it, "Starfleet" is a damn sight better than those ridiculous pulp-novel names they kept coming up with in the early days of TOS, like Space Command, Star Service, United Earth Space Probe Agency, etc.

But when you think about it, "Star Fleet Command" isn't any less a "ridiculous pulp-novel name" than the others.

Maybe not when you say it like that, but the actual proper use is one word: Starfleet. That way, it doesn't sound as bad.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Well, they had to pick *something* for the name. And let's face it, "Starfleet" is a damn sight better than those ridiculous pulp-novel names they kept coming up with in the early days of TOS, like Space Command, Star Service, United Earth Space Probe Agency, etc.

But when you think about it, "Star Fleet Command" isn't any less a "ridiculous pulp-novel name" than the others.

Maybe not when you say it like that, but the actual proper use is one word: Starfleet. That way, it doesn't sound as bad.

Both ways are pronounced the same, however.

 

[GalaxyClass1701]

The idea of "the only ship in range" kinda supports the Small Fleet Theory, IMO. The fleet is so thinly spread out that even a handful of ships in one sector can be considered a big deal (except during wartime).

I don't see it like that especially after DS9. There are several episodes where small fleets are assembled quickly. ENT is different because that is there only deep space ship. But the idea that Enterprise B was the only ship in in range in the SOl system is ridiculos!

 

[C.E. Evans]

The idea of "the only ship in range" kinda supports the Small Fleet Theory, IMO. The fleet is so thinly spread out that even a handful of ships in one sector can be considered a big deal (except during wartime).

I don't see it like that especially after DS9. There are several episodes where small fleets are assembled quickly.

That's why I said except during wartime (or times of conflict if you like).

ENT is different because that is there only deep space ship.

The NX-01 Enterprise was the only Warp Five starship Earth had at the time, but there were obviously other Starfleet vessels out there, just none as far as Enterprise was (I would imagine that most of the fleet during ENT was deployed in Sectors 001 and 002 myself)...

But the idea that Enterprise B was the only ship in in range in the SOl system is ridiculos!

Not really, if you think about it though. There could have been dozens of starships in the Sol System, but as the Enterprise-B was already near those doomed El-Aurian ships when the distress signal went out, other Starfleet vessels might have arrived too late to save them. Indeed, the Enterprise-B actually arrived too late to save one of those ships as it was, so a few minutes made all the difference in the world apparently...

I think it was a case of the Enterprise-B being at the right place at the wrong time...

 

[Skywalker]

I think it was a case of the Enterprise-B being at the right place at the wrong time...

I think it was a case of the Enterprise-B being named the Enterprise. Everyone knows ships in Starfleet can only do something right if they're called Enterprise.

 

[Timo]

as the Enterprise-B was already near those doomed El-Aurian ships when the distress signal went out, other Starfleet vessels might have arrived too late to save them.

Yet the dialogue establishes that the E-B never was going to go farther than Pluto originally. The distress call must have come in at some point between Earth and Pluto. Not much of a head start; mere seconds in terms of warp flight. Captain Harriman spent longer than that prevaricating about whether to go or not...

OTOH, starships are built for flying between stars. How many of those would Starfleet truly wish to idle near Earth, for no good reason? Most of them would be on assignment somewhere.

However, even if starships were absent, I'm sure Earth would have some sort of search-and-rescue assets available. It makes sense retroactively that a full starship was sent to rescue the El-Aurians. But the nature of the distress call didn't reveal that a starship was needed; Earth should have sent a dozen rescue cutters instead - and all of them would have been lost to the savage effects of the Nexus, or forced to turn back.

So it's convoluted writing in any case. But what I want to emphasize here is that by Star Trek logic, it's not a good idea to keep starships stationed near Earth. Starships are no good at defending a planet or a star system against enemy invasion; fixed fortifications do that job so much better, as seen in DS9. Starships aren't the best possible search-and-rescue vessels, either.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[StarshipDefiant]

Well, its hard to say no one ever really figured, at least in trek terms, that Pluto=end of Sol system. I always figured the call came from outside the system, and the only one in range line, comes from what some said from above, "we're the only ones who can get there right now/in mere seconds" anyone else would have to come from another system, or power up their engines, etc... I would figure they would have to have something within the systems, but as TNG's "Best of Both Worlds, Part II" showed, they looked to be sublight popshooters that were horribly out of date,

This, though I can agree, seems somewhat silly, but fits with TNGs line that active starships rarely come to Earth (which seems odd, considering it's the Fed capital). The worst offender has to be ENT though, considering the ships would be slow, warp one to three at best (possibly four, but warp one, three and five seemed to be the mile stones in the series).

This is why sometimes dramatic licenses suck, I mean I loved ENT, and the people involved did a great job (so any of you writers, creators, producers, etc... please don't think I am putting you down), but it's frustrating to see a fleet establish and then they don't use it. However, considering ENT and Generations isn't the first to do that, I'll let it go.

 

[C.E. Evans]

as the Enterprise-B was already near those doomed El-Aurian ships when the distress signal went out, other Starfleet vessels might have arrived too late to save them.

Yet the dialogue establishes that the E-B never was going to go farther than Pluto originally.

Which wouldn't really matter if the Enterprise-B was still the closest ship to the El-Aurian vessels at the time.

The distress call must have come in at some point between Earth and Pluto. Not much of a head start; mere seconds in terms of warp flight. Captain Harriman spent longer than that prevaricating about whether to go or not...

But if it still would take longer for another ship to get there, then the Enterprise was the closest ship for the rescue. If there was a vessel that could get there quicker than the Enterprise, then the dialogue would have said so. As I said earlier, even as the nearest vessel, the Enterprise actually didn't arrive in time to save one of the El-Aurian ships. In the time it would take another starship to get there, there wouldn't have been anyone to save.

 

[SFRabid]

Over the past 2 weeks I watched the 6 TOS movies. A re-occurring theme in the movies is "Enterprise is the only ship in range." It is a theme also used frequently in TNG. The thing is, the shows are about Enterprise. Not about accurate depictions of Earth and a fleet of ships. Enterprise. They are not going to do an episode or a movie about an incident in which Excalibur is the only ship available.

 

[StarshipDefiant]

Over the past 2 weeks I watched the 6 TOS movies. A re-occurring theme in the movies is "Enterprise is the only ship in range." It is a theme also used frequently in TNG. The thing is, the shows are about Enterprise. Not about accurate depictions of Earth and a fleet of ships. Enterprise. They are not going to do an episode or a movie about an incident in which Excalibur is the only ship available.

Exactly, but I think the point is (and I agree with it), is that it wouldn't hurt to say something like "The only other ship in range is Excalbur, but they're five minutes further away then we are" or something.