Question about the Earth-Romulan War
- Thread starter ColeMercury
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Problem is, Spock never said that there were no viewscreens. He said "Nor was there even ship-to-ship visual communication." And that plus no human, Romulan, or ally (to his knowledge) has ever seen the other is all he said on that matter.
Nothing about the lack of a big flatscreen in the front of the bridge.
True dat. I guess I'm expanding on that remark to enhance the primitiveness hat I wish I'd seen.
A war of attrition, perhaps? Earth and Romulus may have both have had a few highly advanced ships, but the bulk of their fleets consisted of totally basic, mass-produced vessels held together with spit and wire, and armed with much more rudimentary weapons than their more advanced ships...Anwar said:
Before ENT showed up, I has assumed that Earth had, for whatever reason, given warp drive to the Romulans, and that it ended up biting them in the ass later. (Based, of course, on Admiral Dougherty's throwaway line from Insurrection about warp drive turning the Romulans from a bunch of thugs into an empire).
Though, I suppose it needn't be Earth. The Vulcans, Andorians, Tellarites or a future prominent Federation member could have uplifted the Romulans.
Though, I suppose it needn't be Earth. The Vulcans, Andorians, Tellarites or a future prominent Federation member could have uplifted the Romulans.
That's assuming there's only one kind of warp drive. Or that warp is the only way for FTL travel to be possible. The implication of the line of dialogue (to me) is that the Romulans were given warp drive by an outside party.
But hey, that's just my opinion or whatever, man.
But hey, that's just my opinion or whatever, man.
IDK. They look like a bunch of Buffy vampires, but if Romulans can be the same race of Vulcans, yet have head ridges, I guess Remans could be a biological offshoot too.
I think Dougherty's line in INS was meant to reference that Warp Drive turned a bunch of renegade Vulcans into a Interstellar threat, not that they were given it by someone else. It wouldn't make any sense, given that the Vulcans had FTL capabilities even before Surak.
And I always figured the Remans were the natural inhabitants of Remus, conquered by the Romulans.
And I always figured the Remans were the natural inhabitants of Remus, conquered by the Romulans.
It could be interpreted a number of ways. They way it listed Earth events and led into "we can handle the So'na" lead me to believe that the uplifting of the Romulans was done at the hands of Humanity, or was a historically well-known event to most folks in the Federation.
But, its just one lone line of dialogue, so its not much to go on.
But, its just one lone line of dialogue, so its not much to go on.
Perhaps not so much obsolete as just not as powerful as the newer weapons, but still viable instruments of death in their own right.
While there might be technical differences, to most people atomic weapon and nuclear weapon are synonymous with each other and the terms are casually interchangeable.
In the beginning of Balance of Terror, Spock wasn't giving a technical briefing to the crew and Spock did occasionally employ colloquialisms. He was referring to a weapon that might have been primitive only by 23rd century standards, but was likely more advanced than anything we have today.
So Spock's primitive atomic weapons would still be a multi-stage thermonuclear device, but perhaps with a small antimatter primary.
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During the first two seasons, the NX-01 carried only spacial torpedoes, then began in season three it carried both photonic and spacial torpedoes. neither torpedoes warhead seemed to be unusually powerful. At most a few tonnes of TNT, usual (as shown) generating considerable less yield..
If there were difficulties in increasing the production of antimatter to accommodate a expanding fleet size, then switching to large yield antimatter warheads might have been out of the question. The substance would be used excusively for starship propulsion.
So for the Romulan war United Earth/Starfleet command decided to stop deploy such weak photonic and spacial weapons aboard their ships. Replacing them, at least for the duration of the war, with hundred megatonne (or larger) atomic warheads mounted on their existing torpedo platforms.
In the beginning of Balance of Terror, Spock wasn't giving a technical briefing to the crew and Spock did occasionally employ colloquialisms. He was referring to a weapon that might have been primitive only by 23rd century standards, but was likely more advanced than anything we have today.
So Spock's primitive atomic weapons would still be a multi-stage thermonuclear device, but perhaps with a small antimatter primary.
----
During the first two seasons, the NX-01 carried only spacial torpedoes, then began in season three it carried both photonic and spacial torpedoes. neither torpedoes warhead seemed to be unusually powerful. At most a few tonnes of TNT, usual (as shown) generating considerable less yield..
If there were difficulties in increasing the production of antimatter to accommodate a expanding fleet size, then switching to large yield antimatter warheads might have been out of the question. The substance would be used excusively for starship propulsion.
So for the Romulan war United Earth/Starfleet command decided to stop deploy such weak photonic and spacial weapons aboard their ships. Replacing them, at least for the duration of the war, with hundred megatonne (or larger) atomic warheads mounted on their existing torpedo platforms.
Hmh? I think the week-long, third-rate conflict would have been a perfect fit in this respect.
Think of it - the wall you refer to was all but forgotten in "Balance of Terror", a backwater assignment where a few people sat in asteroid bunkers surrounding planets Romulus and Remus and waited for their shift to end. There were no starships anywhere near to assist in buttressing the wall, and when an unlikely emergency actually arose, the single ship that did respond (too late) was full of people who didn't have the faintest idea about who the Romulans were, what sort of a war they had fought, and what they were up against.
It's not like the US Army maintaining a military vigil against North Korea as the result of a bloody multi-year war, but more like the FBI remembering that a bunch of hillbilly vigilantes had once sent a threatening letter to Washington and thus keeping two guys with binoculars on a lookout for possible further trouble coming from their mountain hideout (even though nothing further had happened in the past sixteen years and the hideout appeared abandoned) and sometimes going to check if the police seal on the gate to the vigilante compound had been broken.
The Klingons were (retroactively) introduced as major and ongoing baddies. The Romulans were a curious blast from the past, not an ongoing military concern at all.
In current military parlance, nuclear devices are fission or fusion bombs, while atomic devices are chemical weapons where the agents are of atomic size rather than nuclear. Future military parlance is likely to evolve even further, although it appears our TNG heroes still think that nuclear=fusion/fission. So we're completely free to choose a meaning for the term "atomic" in the Trek 23rd century. Isaac Asimov in his later Foundation books thought it meant microwave guns...
Of course, if Spock says that primitive atomic weapons were in use in the 22nd century, it may well be that advanced atomic weapons are the ones being employed by our TOS heroes.
Timo Saloniemi
Timo is correct, the Romulans in TOS weren't considered a real threat to anyone until they invented the cloaking device. This is why we had "Enterprise Incident", the Feds were brazen enough to steal a Romulan cloak because the Rommies weren't a threat without it and they didn't fear retaliation from them.
By the time of TNG, the Rommies had been upgraded to a real threat in terms of technology and numbers, so the Feds treated them like a real threat and thus upheld agreements like the "No cloaks" stuff.
By the time of TNG, the Rommies had been upgraded to a real threat in terms of technology and numbers, so the Feds treated them like a real threat and thus upheld agreements like the "No cloaks" stuff.
Remans are native to Remus and were enslaved by the Romulans.
Had ENT gone on for a full seven seasons, and had Paramount lifted its 'ban' on the Earth-Romulan War, my ideal seasons five through seven would have basically been as follows:
Season 5: Three more trilogies, four more duologies and several standalones all enriching the prequel aspects of the series; basically, Season 4-2.
Season 6: Skipping ahead a year or so, this season features a non-stop, arc-based routine (with room for several exploratory standalones, of course) concerning the dawn of the Earth-Romulan War. This, of course, would be negated if it was decided that the war did not, in fact, last several years.
Season 7: Skipping ahead a few years this time, this season features another non-stop, arc-based routine (with room for several more exploratory standalones) depicting the tail end of the war. A decidedly darker tone than the sixth season, more akin to the third; the Enterprise crew is resolved to end a costly conflict at any cost.
Season 5: Three more trilogies, four more duologies and several standalones all enriching the prequel aspects of the series; basically, Season 4-2.
Season 6: Skipping ahead a year or so, this season features a non-stop, arc-based routine (with room for several exploratory standalones, of course) concerning the dawn of the Earth-Romulan War. This, of course, would be negated if it was decided that the war did not, in fact, last several years.
Season 7: Skipping ahead a few years this time, this season features another non-stop, arc-based routine (with room for several more exploratory standalones) depicting the tail end of the war. A decidedly darker tone than the sixth season, more akin to the third; the Enterprise crew is resolved to end a costly conflict at any cost.
I was unaware Paramount had any kind of "ban" regarding the Romulan War. Do tell.
I've seen a whole bunch of people lately talking about how they didn't want Star Trek: Enterprise touching it because there was ever-so-slight chance they'd be making a feature film on it.
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