Space - The Boring Fronteer

[perigee]

"Stardate 1234.5; En route to Ceti Beta Quantum Boogie..."

So, Helmsman Wally has been sitting there for three days. At that time, he went boop-boop-boop; bedoo. And the ship knew he wanted to go to Ceta Beta Quantum Boogie at whatever speed he wanted.

Since then, he's been sitting there.

Everything's mapped out, the nav shields are taking care of the space junk, and there he is, wishing he could get solitaire on his console. He can't joke with the similarly bored guy across a tactical, because the Captain is a rod arse, and he's literally looking over his shoulder.

It took me years to realize this, but being stationed on the bridge must be a really, really rotten job 97% of the time.

 

[Nardpuncher]

Truly Voyager showed how boring space travel between distant star systems could be!

 

[Myasishchev]

In any consistently written Star Trek series, yeah, you'd definitely have massive amounts of downtime, even intra-episode.

Speed of plot, however, allows near-instantaneous transport.

 

[Gary7]

Very good point...

I've known officers that have served on the bridge of an aircraft carrier. You spend a lot of time checking and rechecking things. And drills. More drills. The whole issue is that you're needed to keep busy so that you're used to it when war comes. Being busy when you know you're in peacetime is a major drag.

The only good thing is if you've got a flight rating and can head out on a patrol now and then...

Yeah, you can imagine how many people joined the Navy after seeing Top Gun, and if you didn't make it through flight school and found yourself a bridge officer... ugg.

Remember that "What color shirt would you wear" thread? I think I'd be taking blue and staying away from gold!

 

[miraclefan]

In space...No one...can hear you *YAWWWNN*

 

[Neumann]

Then on real star trek, the little flimsy science vessel would be far more fun than the patrol frigate or cruiser... only that on some shows and in trek games is the other way around

 

[SteveJRogers]

"Heh, in the Air Force he'd be called a short-termer. I was in the Air Force for 10 years, 1950 through 1954..."-Johnny Cash from his ...At Madison Square Garden album