Soran and The Nexus

[c0rnedfr0g]

In GEN, why didn't Soran just fly into the Energy Ribbon with a ship?

I know this question is even addressed on-screen by Picard.

Picard: That's what Soran's doing... he's changing its course. But why? Why try to alter its path... why not simply fly into it with a ship?

Data: Our records show that every ship which has approached the ribbon has either been destroyed or severely damaged.

Picard: He can't go to the ribbon... so he's trying to make the ribbon come to him.

Yet, at the beginning of the film, this is exactly how Soran (and Guinan) got to the Nexus in the first place, from aboard the Lakul. And Soran knows it, so why not just repeat the first encounter in a small shuttle?

The on-screen explanation of why he cannot simply fly into the Energy Ribbon with a ship seems inadequate.

 

[All Seeing Eye]

I totally agree, that never made sense to me either. Go to the ribbon in a suped up shuttle capable of withstanding a pounding and let the thing take him or what the heck, put on a space suit and eject yourself into it.

If he can stand on the surface of a planet with no protection as it passes through him i'm sure he can float in space in a space suit and wait for it.

 

[Bones2]

I think it's held that Guinan's and Soran's Nexus experience happened while they were being beamed up fro the Lakul. And if your ship gets destroyed with you in it, there won't be much of you left. So far as why you wouldn't fly close and eject yourself, I doubt a shuttle could get that close without being destroyed before you eject.

I still rate Generations very highly. Probably my favourite TNG movie.

 

[c0rnedfr0g]

I think it's held that Guinan's and Soran's Nexus experience happened while they were being beamed up fro the Lakul.

If that's true, it sure wasn't made clear by the dialogue. Also, that's not how Kirk entered the Nexus.

 

[Bones2]

I think it's held that Guinan's and Soran's Nexus experience happened while they were being beamed up fro the Lakul.

If that's true, it sure wasn't made clear by the dialogue. Also, that's not how Kirk entered the Nexus.

Kirk entered by being whipped in by an energy bolt. Just different ways of getting there.

 

[Nebusj]

I think it's held that Guinan's and Soran's Nexus experience happened while they were being beamed up fro the Lakul.

If that's true, it sure wasn't made clear by the dialogue. Also, that's not how Kirk entered the Nexus.

I didn't get the sense that Soran and Guinan went into the Nexus by way of transporter either.

It seems to me the ship explanation has to be about as good a one as can be had: if he wanted to fly into the Nexus, there's an outstanding chance that the ship would be destroyed before he got into Energy Spark Range. Note that we don't hear about anyone from the Lakul other than Guinan and Soran being there, and we don't hear anything from the SS Redshirt, destroyed sooner. Either they didn't make it or they were out of contact range.

 

[All Seeing Eye]

It's clear as day in the film that Soran and Guinan were actually half way into the Nexus when they started beaming them out, it was beaming them out that sucked them back out of the Nexus before they were fully in it.

Also like I said before, if you build a special shuttle capable of withstanding extreme stresses and wear a space suit you can fly into the Nexus and if it doesn't take you in whilst you're in the ship you can just eject yourself. It's no more dangerous then standing out in the open on a planet and having it pass through you, do people think it's not as dangerous passing through the planet as it is in space? because that make no sense at all.

If the guy can stand out in the open and wait for it to pass through him the guy can just fly a custom made shuttle into the thing and eject himself in a space suit.

 

[c0rnedfr0g]

^^ Or, better yet (apparently), just transport from a shuttle into the Nexus....


At any rate, I don't think Soran's and Guinan's Nexus experience happened during transport. Remember, Scotty was having trouble achieving a transporter lock on the Lakul's biosigns because they were phasing in and out of the space-time continuum. Then, he transported and got 47 out of 150 passengers, the other 103 were presumably in the Nexus. If the E-B had not interferred, all 150 (including Soran and Guinan) would be totally in the Nexus, but instead 47 of them were torn, ripped away by Scotty's transporter beam. So the transporter beam did not result in their Nexus entry, rather it resulted in their exit.

So the question remains: why not just fly into the Energy Ribbon with a ship?

 

[Timo]

I don't get the "armored shuttle" option. It sounds insanely risky: entire starships were damaged by the phenomenon. Why would Soran take a risk like that?

Especially since he must have tried something when the Nexus last passed through known space, in the 2330s. And that something must have failed. Obviously, Soran wanted to play it safe on his second try. A little overkill never harmed anybody (except Soran's billions of victims, but why should he care about them?).

Data was absolutely correct in pointing out that approaching the Nexus was dangerous business. The real question is, would letting the Nexus approach you be less dangerous? And the movie answers that, loud and clear: yes, if you stand on a large planet instead of on a medium starship let alone a tiny shuttle, your odds are much improved.

So I guess the real real question is, why exactly is a planet safer than a ship? Is it just because the Nexus always blows up things a bit, but a partially blown up planet isn't an immediate life support hazard the way a partially blown up starship is?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[All Seeing Eye]

I don't get the "armored shuttle" option. It sounds insanely risky: entire starships were damaged by the phenomenon. Why would Soran take a risk like that?

It seems clear to me that so long as you're in the Nexus ribbon for long enough you phase into the Nexus itself. A custom built armoured shuttle and a space suit for leaving the shuttle either by choice or if part of the hull blows out should be more than enough to phase your way in.

It was nothing more than sloppy writing and didn't make sense.

 

[Amaris]

Transporter range appears to be about 45,000 kilometers. There's no reason why he couldn't have got as close as possible and then beamed into the Nexus.


J.

 

[c0rnedfr0g]

So I guess the real real question is, why exactly is a planet safer than a ship? Is it just because the Nexus always blows up things a bit, but a partially blown up planet isn't an immediate life support hazard the way a partially blown up starship is?

Hmmm, perhaps it has to do with the atmosphere? I will pretend that that's what the writers intended, so it will quit bugging me when I watch it.