"Spacesuits" in the Tholian Web
- Thread starter Nerys Myk
- Start date
It's a very fine mesh - don't know whether it's nylon or metal, but while it's nearly transparent it does hold a shape so I'd guess metal:
http://startrekpropauthority.blogspot.com/2009/05/star-trek-at-smithsonian-dr-mccoy.html
http://startrekpropauthority.blogspot.com/2009/05/star-trek-at-smithsonian-dr-mccoy.html
I'm guessing it was either "transparent aluminum mesh" or the proverbial "screendoor on a submarine". 
I never noticed??
I do remember in TAS they had some sort of portable 'force feild to keep them safe, but I guess the FX of the day prohibited that way around the scene.
I do remember in TAS they had some sort of portable 'force feild to keep them safe, but I guess the FX of the day prohibited that way around the scene.
Or vice versa. Spacesuits in the animated show would have meant far more extra work for the artists: each bit of stock footage on the characters would have to have been redrawn with complex overlaid spacesuits. Far simpler to overlay that footage with a crude white belt plus a vague shimmering effect around the borders. So the forcefields were the cheap cop-out solution for replacing the live-action spacesuits.
Then again, the transporter was a cheap cop-out for replacing shuttlecraft or landing sequences. And I'd be perfectly happy to accept those "life support forcefields" as part of the live-action Trek universe, just as I'm happy with the transporters, quite regardless of their cop-out nature.
Timo Saloniemi
Then again, the transporter was a cheap cop-out for replacing shuttlecraft or landing sequences. And I'd be perfectly happy to accept those "life support forcefields" as part of the live-action Trek universe, just as I'm happy with the transporters, quite regardless of their cop-out nature.
Timo Saloniemi
A large faceplate of glass, plexiglass, or plastic would be a big reflective surface and make photography difficult unless some internal lighting was placed in the suits.
Given that ST had a season FX budget of one MI episode, the mesh would be a pretty good corner to cut and still look ok on TV.
Given that ST had a season FX budget of one MI episode, the mesh would be a pretty good corner to cut and still look ok on TV.
These is the coolest gadget in TAS. I wish it had stuck around.
It does beg the question of how you grab something if you're encased in a force field...
Oops, forgot about condensation, didn't I?
A sidenote: James Cameron faced these same issues when preparing to film "The Abyss". At the time, all commercial dive helmets had flat glass panes. His solution? Talk w/ one of the leading manufacturers and see if they could develop some with a wrap-around plexiglass pane. They liked the idea so much that they gave him the prototypes for filming and started producing the things for actual use.
I haven't seen TAS since I was a kid, but I assume the forcefield was form-fitting to the body. If so, grabbing something would be the same as if you're wearing a glove.
I'm I'm wrong, chalk it up to another idiotic post from me. Glad to provide some entertainment...
Doug
The field was indeed form-fitting - but it was drawn without much finesse, so it was something like ten centimeters thick around the heroes in the best possible case. Not the best possible thickness for a glove.
Or at least the yellow glow of the field was that thick. Perhaps the protective effect was thinner. Or then the field was just strong enough to stop air at 1 atm pressure, but could not resist the pressure of a firm grip - so you could grasp objects even in the vacuum of space, if you didn't mind freezing your fingers off. Or then a combination of the two: application of gripping force would compress the 10 cm field to 1 mm, turning it to a practical glove.
It should be noted the field could apparently stop water at depths of several dozens of meters ("Ambergris Element"), and resist the pressure of a heavy hatch resting on the wearer's hip ("Beyond the Farthest Star") but was quite incapable of, say, stopping phasers on stun ("Slaver Weapon").
Timo Saloniemi
Or at least the yellow glow of the field was that thick. Perhaps the protective effect was thinner. Or then the field was just strong enough to stop air at 1 atm pressure, but could not resist the pressure of a firm grip - so you could grasp objects even in the vacuum of space, if you didn't mind freezing your fingers off. Or then a combination of the two: application of gripping force would compress the 10 cm field to 1 mm, turning it to a practical glove.
It should be noted the field could apparently stop water at depths of several dozens of meters ("Ambergris Element"), and resist the pressure of a heavy hatch resting on the wearer's hip ("Beyond the Farthest Star") but was quite incapable of, say, stopping phasers on stun ("Slaver Weapon").
Timo Saloniemi
Makes sense, I guess. It's not as if Kirk or Spock would be covered in some sort of field guide wires or anything: the field somehow "naturally" takes its shape over the wearer, so it should do the same with the objects he or she is holding.
But there are probably limitations: when Spock grabs a large piece of hull metal in "Beyond the Farthest Star", the field apparently cannot extend around the whole piece (it would have to extend across the whole alien ship!). So it just forms a seam that surrounds Spock's hand but lets his palm touch the hull metal, or then leaves a thin field layer between the hand and the hull. And if it leaves a thin field there, it probably leaves such a field between the user and any objects he has grabbed after the field was activated. So it does feel like the user were wearing gloves, then. Except with objects that already were within the field, like Kirk's phaser or Spock's tricorder...
In any case, it's not bad scifi, and it could have some sort of consistent behavior and capabilities if the writers were to reintroduce it. It probably would be inferior to standard physical spacesuits in many ways, but it would be a good quick'n'dirty solution for very short spacewalks or forays into contaminated spaces.
Who knows, perhaps we saw the very thing in "Squire of Gothos", only with a somewhat less intense glow? Perhaps the futuristic mini-breathers there also featured a weather protection forcefield component?
Timo Saloniemi
But there are probably limitations: when Spock grabs a large piece of hull metal in "Beyond the Farthest Star", the field apparently cannot extend around the whole piece (it would have to extend across the whole alien ship!). So it just forms a seam that surrounds Spock's hand but lets his palm touch the hull metal, or then leaves a thin field layer between the hand and the hull. And if it leaves a thin field there, it probably leaves such a field between the user and any objects he has grabbed after the field was activated. So it does feel like the user were wearing gloves, then. Except with objects that already were within the field, like Kirk's phaser or Spock's tricorder...
In any case, it's not bad scifi, and it could have some sort of consistent behavior and capabilities if the writers were to reintroduce it. It probably would be inferior to standard physical spacesuits in many ways, but it would be a good quick'n'dirty solution for very short spacewalks or forays into contaminated spaces.
Who knows, perhaps we saw the very thing in "Squire of Gothos", only with a somewhat less intense glow? Perhaps the futuristic mini-breathers there also featured a weather protection forcefield component?
Timo Saloniemi
Difficult to see how it could have been a failure in the technological sense. I mean, it worked. Operationally perhaps... Or then it is still among us, just not used very often. Our TNG heroes just didn't do the sort of away missions Kirk in TAS did, entering hostile planetary realms and perforated ships and whatnot. And we know that any spacewalk presenting the risk of space combat requires something more than these demonstrably non-phaserproof beltfields...
Timo Saloniemi
Timo Saloniemi
That's another reason why this show is so frikkin great and everlasting. Even after watching this series to death we can still pick up on new things....it's amazing really.
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