Phaser or Torpedo room?

[F. King Daniel]

I was browsing Memory Alpha, and came across this picture:

http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/m...bay_on_USS_Enterprise_(alternate_reality).jpg

It’s labelled as the torpedo bay. Thing is, I think it’s the (or rather one of many) phaser control rooms (a la “Balance of Terror”).
There was a DS9 episode where Sisko did some silly ritual whenever one of the Defiant’s phaser phaser power cells (that’s what they call them on Memory Alpha) ran out. He’d hold it up in the mess hall and give a speech, then put it with a bunch of other used up cells along the wall. These phaser power cells look exactly the same as the things the Enterprise crew were loading into the tube-things, and not at all like the Spock-coffin photon torpedoes we all know. I’d guess there’d be a room like this at every phaser bank on the ship. It seems to fit quite well – the DS9 Defiant and the new Enterprise both use similar pulse-phasers.

Anyone agree?

 

[Timo]

Agreed. It doesn't make much sense that torpedoes would be loaded by inserting small cylinders into opposing sets of holes by hand.

If those are entire torpedoes, why aren't they pointing forward, when they are shown firing forward? If those are warheads or fuzes or something like that, why are these most volatile components manhandled?

The Defiant phaser cell swap ceremony is a connection that immediately clicked with me when you pointed it out...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Search4]

I hadn't thought of that, but a phaser control room seems more reasonable than torpedoes. Good call.

(although the light fixtures, which look like they came from Home Depot, are depressing).

 

[Ronson2k10]

I agree phasers seem the more plausible answer. They would be really small torpedoes?

When we are outside the the ship the phasers are mounted on gimbals. So loading - Let's say energy charges (batteries) wouldn't need to have them pointing in a particular direction. It almost seems though that they made that scene somewhat ambiguous.

Trek is replete with recycled stuff too. They've used props and model shots from many previously done episodes. Take Nomad add a Sargon Chamber and you have the new (well in the TOS universe anyway) Romulan Cloaking device. Even though they were using Klingon Battle Cruisers at the time. The one time we see the bird of prey (Romulan) it's not really a closeup but a distant shot. So for the shots they were going to make for that episode all pretty closeup (when the enterprise is surrounded) They would need something they perhaps didn't have hence the change.

http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/The_Enterprise_Incident_(episode)