OT - Doing Some Forbidden Planet Research

[Psion]

Being a fan of the Polaris, and smart spaceship design in general, how about if we envisage the C-57D and its descendants as flying with the disk perpendicular to the path of motion? At least until the disk enters an atmosphere, then it flies as one would expect a flying saucer.

 

[Albertese]

I always have. I assume the axis of flight is the same as the "up" direction. The spiny red light is the only hint we're given to as to a propulsion system. It wouldn't make sense to me for the flight axis to be edge-on so-to-speak.

--Alex

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

In space there is no flight axis - just forward and backward.

However, the small model of the C-57D that's central to its astrogator is maintained in a conventional more-or-less horizontal orientation to the floor of the ship, suggesting that in the minds of the crew this is the ship's orientation.

 

[Albertese]

In space there is no flight axis - just forward and backward.

Errrr... what? A flight axis is the vector a ship is traveling in. How is that negated by it being in space? It still needs to travel in a direction, no? I guess I don't understand what you're trying to say.

However, the small model of the C-57D that's central to its astrogator is maintained in a conventional more-or-less horizontal orientation to the floor of the ship, suggesting that in the minds of the crew this is the ship's orientation.

Which would make sense. It might be more intuitive for the display to lean more toward showing the ship in a way that corresponds to the orientation that the crewmen are most familiar with. The trouble with trying to divine any actual information from that display, is that we have no explanation at all for what all those markings on it really mean. All we can deduce really is that it is meant to inform the crew of the ship's position relative to something, but exactly what something and how that something relates to the model saucer is anyone's guess, really. Maybe it's the galaxy. Maybe it's the point of origin (Earth). Maybe it's the destination (Altair). Does the display information change in some non-obvious way while the ship is near/landing on a planet verses traversing deep-space? In any case, without knowing what each ring of hash marks means, we can't definitively claim what that information really means in the astrogation globe.

--Alex

 

[larryman]

I always have. I assume the axis of flight is the same as the "up" direction. The spiny red light is the only hint we're given to as to a propulsion system. It wouldn't make sense to me for the flight axis to be edge-on so-to-speak.

--Alex

I think the solution to the visual discrepancy of ship orientation to it's flight thrust in space flight, is in the 'invisible' hyperspace field created by the ship's engine. If the field is a surrounding sphere shape... then it is logical that a sphere can move in any direction with equal ease. However, in atmospheric flight, the ship would be using using anti-gravity levitation, and not the hyperspace field. So then the ship's orientation would be perpendicular to the planet's gravity field.

So... surround the saucer with a 'semi-visible, spherical' hyperspace field. Then I think you'll see it flies better (in any direction) in space - when it is seen as a sphere, rather than a saucer shape.

 

[Albertese]

^^^ That seems reasonable. One even might (might!) speculate that one of the bubbles in the astrogation globe could represent this field. I'll have to think about that. I still like it flying "up". However, I'll have to watch the movie again. I bet that the VFX will make it seem like the ship is flying in the direction of an edge or possibly even at a fun angle. A spherical field drive might well make more sense than what I pictured at first.

--Alex

 

[Maurice]

The effects portray the ship flying edge on like a frisbee, yep.

 

[larryman]

^^^ That seems reasonable. One even might (might!) speculate that one of the bubbles in the astrogation globe could represent this field. I'll have to think about that. I still like it flying "up". However, I'll have to watch the movie again. I bet that the VFX will make it seem like the ship is flying in the direction of an edge or possibly even at a fun angle. A spherical field drive might well make more sense than what I pictured at first.

--Alex

One might (might!) also speculate that the semi-visible, spherical, hyperspace field surrounding the saucer would also function as a defence (and space debris) shield, while in space flight - given that it would be trans-dimensional by composition.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

The effects portray the ship flying edge on like a frisbee, yep.

Sure - the thing was very much based on flying saucers in the media, same as the ship in "This Island Earth" or the later alien craft in "The Invaders."

Just looks better that way.

There's one nice shot of the C-57D banking to enter the atmosphere of Altair IV, though.

 

[The Axeman]

In an atmosphere it makes sense to go edge on, but in space you can do whatever the hell you like. It would probably make things a lot easier for the main thrust of space flight to be perpendicular to the floor, especially if artificial gravity is involved.

 

[Psion]

In an atmosphere it makes sense to go edge on, but in space you can do whatever the hell you like. It would probably make things a lot easier for the main thrust of space flight to be perpendicular to the floor, especially if artificial gravity is involved.

And during atmospheric re-entry, the large surface area of the saucer would make an excellent air brake -- as long as the re-entry angle isn't so steep that crew and ship pancake as soon as they hit thicker air.