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Spoilers ST Lower Decks - Starships & Technology Season 5 Discussion

Actually, to me it looks like the Endeavour from the First Contact concept art, but I think it’s actually design work for one of the random ship designs we see in the background of Douglas Station et.al., during the first couple seasons. No CG model of that ship exists, as they are 2D assets just flipped and transiting around in the far distance, but they must have been fleshed out a little, and this is one of those drawings.

Mark
 
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The thought occurred to me, but don't those Douglas Station ships have necks between saucer and engineering hull?
 
Yeah, I don't think it's supposed to be one of those ships. I'm sure it's probably some fan design they found on the internet somewhere for a miniscule cameo.
 
From 5x05, which hopefully hasn't been covered yet since this episode is bursting with in-jokes and easter eggs:

- We don't see it in any detail, but the Sequoia seems to have been restored to its pre-T'Lyn condition.

- Starbase 80 may be the oldest continuously active Starfleet facility in history to that point. Spacedock has probably been moved to Athan Prime by now to become the nucleus of the fleet museum - there's a possibility that it's older, but it's not an active facility.

- On that, I know the concept is a little fluid in Trek in this era, but how does SB80 get away with being so behind on everything? Starfleet does have standards for operation, and the Academy will surely train every cadet to work on whatever the standard technology is at that time. For those fortunate enough to be assigned to SB80, it means re-learning how to do stuff they spent years doing on more modern tech. Even if they ended up at a place like DS9, they would know how to use a Starfleet-issue reverse-ratcheting router to replace a Cardassian self-sealing stembolt.

(The oldest Starfleet ships in continuous active service in all of history are probably much of the fleet that Discovery encountered in 3189, having been active and basically working since before the Burn 120 years prior and possibly much longer than that.)

- The gang gels up because transporters aren't working and they can't decon that way. So why not use the Cerritos' transporters?

- If the SB80 officers are wearing ENT-era uniforms, they predate the Federation Starfleet, so they aren't even accurate in that sense unless the early Federation adopted them. Oddly, only Nox is wearing any sort of rank insignia, and it's TNG-standard; and no one is wearing any sort of patches.

- Everyone uses a pole to get to the ceiling of SB80 engineering, but there isn't a ladder to get back out. Yet, they have ladders all over the place in the room. I guess they move one when shift is over or someone needs to pee?

(Later we see another doorway with a ladder mounted into the way, so I guess they get out that way.)

- And yet someone moved the wall comms upside down and to the ceiling.

- For decades now, fandom has been mocking up starbase ops rooms as basically an era-appropriate bridge with a table instead of the Con/Nav/Ops/Whatever stations and the CO chair. And lo and behold, on SB80 we get exactly this!

- Early production art on DS9 called the promenade the "arcade". While technically a correct usage of the word, even in the 1990s the word "arcade" was best known in the video game sense. Here, we see a multi-level promenade style civilian space, and it HAS an arcade buried in the structure somewhere too.

- The cosplay store has TOS, DSC AND SNW versions of the tricolor uniforms of the 2260s. There's also a Kelvin-verse hat that Spock wore in "Into Darkness". So I guess they're ALL right!

- Many of the pile of redshirts in the back have Commander's stripes. Posthumous promotions are still a thing? Do they promote the corpse and update the uniform they were wearing?

- The SB80 sickbay looks based on the TMP-era set, but with TOS-style accoutrements. That tracks, since the TMP sickbay set ended up used as the TNG set, and Voyager after that, so it may be a standard size for lots of ships and bases over the years.

- I think this is the second time we see the doors on the Cerritos being able to crush something used to prop a door open. It's malfunctioning, but SHOULD interior doors be that strongly powered?

- I've never realized this before, but Cetacean Ops is basically a redress of Engineering!

- Nox makes the "Base Commander" log entry at the end of the episode. Was she functionally in charge since the beginning? She's introduced as the "diplomatic liaison".

Mark
 
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I forgot the department colour swap (if indeed that would apply to the somewhat erratic uniform code of SB80!?) and I spent most of the episode wondering if sleepy Jacobowski would turn out to be the Captain. But if the Acamarian Gatherers were ceded 50% of the base... AND if they're not too far from the Romulan Neutral Zone, maybe... then Starfleet desperately need a good diplomat like Commander Nox in charge- Starbase 80 looks nearly as volatile as the last of the Babylon stations.

It's a fascinating trivia nugget to me that Guinan first came aboard the Enterprise-D from this turbulent starbase. Could Nox be her relative? One of Guinan's many children from her many marriages? You could almost see the timing working out if Kassia actually GREW UP here and left the nest for the Academy back in 2365-ish, prompting Guinan to return to her wandering.

Could this be a place where many El-Aurians have settled? It's not too difficult imagining Martus Mazur playing these arcade games, but turning up his nose at the corn dogs. Mariner doesn't really give Nox a chance to react to Guinan's name but I'd love more backstory. Or a spin-off. Especially because I love saying Doctor Horseberry.

EDIT: I lost the mental thread of why my theory of a larger than usual El-Aurian population dating from the 2290s or earlier might have resulted in a general preference for NOT updating the technology as fast as humans might prefer, which maybe gradually became actual station policy. Horseberry.
 
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The concept for "Mass Producing" the Texas Class in a Modified format seems sound IMO.

The programming for it was bad and shouldn't have been done in secret by a Super Dark-Emo Ensign.

Also, the MIRV Photon Torpedoes are AWESOME, I really wish they would become the new standard Torpedo for the UFP.
Seems sound, but part of the texas's power to size is the lack of need for life support, grav plating, etc etc when running as there is no crew. It probably has these things for when mantinace crews hop on between missions, but the reactor is probably smaller than one would think.

Also, maybe this is a mandella, but I could swear i've seen TNG enterprise use cluster wareheads before. Plus voyager's use of the modified high yield warhead against species 8472. So this isn't the first use of a MIRV. Probably isn't standard issue because for a lot of uses it is overkill, or possibly is too big for standard multi function tubes.

I would LOVE to see what a "Used Shuttle" lot looks like in the civilian world within the UFP.

I wonder how many Credits it costs to acquire a "Used Shuttle".
Good question.

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It wouldn't surprise me if Gene is technically station command, but Knox is the general itnerface because she's better at dealing with people.

I suspect the Acamarians actually own the station and took posession of it when it was decomissioned and Starfleet negociated a treaty getting them administrative control. So sortof a rundown lower decker version of what DS9 wouldh ave been had the worm hole not popped up to suddenly make it exceptionally important.
 
Seems sound, but part of the texas's power to size is the lack of need for life support, grav plating, etc etc when running as there is no crew.
There's that, but "Life Support / Grav Plating" itself doesn't consume that much power in the grand scheme of things, and those feature would be turned off when not in use.



It probably has these things for when mantinace crews hop on between missions, but the reactor is probably smaller than one would think.
It's like the USS Defiant, but a Overly Powerful, but compact Reactor shoved into a smaller vehicle body.
Basically a "StarShip version of a HotRod / Roadster / SuperCar" where the Engine is FAR more powerful than necessary for a ship of that size.
Think modern Bugatti Veyron's, but w/o the commercial limits imposed, you can mass produce these compact Autonomous StarShips.
So where do you allocate your excess power budget? You would have Superior Shields / Phasers / Warp Engines / Sensors / Computers / etc for it's size.

Remember, the smaller your Warp Field / Shield Bubble, the easier it is to power them.
Remember, the Volume of a Sphere follows (V = 4/3 π r³) & the Surface Area of a Sphere follows (SA = 4πr²).
Shrinking both of those factors makes it FAR easier to power and you can easily increase Shield Particle Density / Shield Recharge Rates due to smaller Spheroid Volume you need to protect & Surface Area that you need to cover.

The same applies to the Warp Bubble; the smaller it is, the easier it is to power it since you have a smaller Warp Bubble filled with Normal space to move around.
Also Warp Speed power Consumption is non Linear, so it increases exponentially the higher Warp Factor that you want to reach, so combine that with a Smaller Warp Bubble, it's easier for Smaller Vessel to go faster.
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Also, maybe this is a mandella, but I could swear i've seen TNG enterprise use cluster wareheads before.
That's Simultaneous Multi-Launch of a Cluster of Torpedos, maximum of 10 Torpedoes launched simultaneously at 1x time.
That's different from the Torpedoes Splitting up into 5x Pieces like we saw with the MIRV Torpedo.
If the Galaxy Class had MIRV torpedoes, they could Cluster Launch and have 10 Torpedoes flying at the target from different approach vectors, than split into 50 Warheads to simultaneously impact from nearly all sides.
That would make for some beautiful Itano Circus / Macross Missile Massace.

Plus voyager's use of the modified high yield warhead against species 8472.
The torpedoes they used against Species 8472 were specialized Borg Nanoprobes that were custom programmed to work against Species 8472's biology.
Those wouldn't be effective against anything other than Species 8472 or other "Bio Ships" that need to be dissected by NanoProbes.

So this isn't the first use of a MIRV. Probably isn't standard issue because for a lot of uses it is overkill, or possibly is too big for standard multi function tubes.
For StarFleet, it's probably the first use of MIRV that I've seen on TV officially. Cluster Simultaneous launching doesn't count since that is a different thing.
There's nothing like "OverKill". I personally want that beautiful "Itano Circus" where the Torpedoes envelopes a target and hits them from all sides.
10 Torpedoes flying simultaneously that splits into 50 or more Warheads that crushes the shields of a target by Proximity Detonation to right outside the target's shield bubbles exterior and letting the explosive blast smoosh the shields from 50+ sides and popping the enemy shield like a ballon.

Good question.
I'd hate to deal with the typical "Sleezy Used Shuttle" salesmen.

It wouldn't surprise me if Gene is technically station command, but Knox is the general itnerface because she's better at dealing with people.

I suspect the Acamarians actually own the station and took posession of it when it was decomissioned and Starfleet negociated a treaty getting them administrative control. So sortof a rundown lower decker version of what DS9 wouldh ave been had the worm hole not popped up to suddenly make it exceptionally important.
Who knows what kind of weird treaty rules gets negotiated by UFP Negotiators, but that wouldn't surprise me.
 
Damn right - talk about nerdgasm bragging rights! Now I need some orthos of that design to put on my site as an official schematic! :lol:
 
It's Star Trek, and it's clearly a Star Trek starship design, but it's a fan creation, but a re-creation of the original sketch, so that makes it legally okay to use..?

This is probably not the forum to ask this questions, but IS it okay to use?

Mark
 
It's Star Trek, and it's clearly a Star Trek starship design, but it's a fan creation, but a re-creation of the original sketch, so that makes it legally okay to use..?

This is probably not the forum to ask this questions, but IS it okay to use?

Mark

Good question. Do the makers of Star Trek have any claim on Star Trek-themed fan created designs?
 
All of it, really. It's their IP and they can do with it as they like. They're generally not going to direct their lawyers to send out tens of thousands C&D's against blogs and websites unless there's a blatant situation where someone is allegedly making a profit off of said-IP. A certain fan film ran afoul of this red line a decade ago and its impacts are still being felt today.

I still wonder if that C&D is going to arrive in my mail one day. If it does, I'll promptly comply and remove all Trek-based content. If it doesn't, I will continue to leave it running as-is, continuing periodic updates as time and source material allow. My site's been online for over a quarter-century, paid for out of my own pocket and I've never taken a penny of profit from it. Probably the sole reason it's lasted so long. That, and there appear to be some folks in the production (as well as others) who seem to enjoy it as attested to several emails I've received over the years that still reside in my personal archive to this day. :shrug: :)
 
All of it, really. It's their IP and they can do with it as they like. They're generally not going to direct their lawyers to send out tens of thousands C&D's against blogs and websites unless there's a blatant situation where someone is allegedly making a profit off of said-IP. A certain fan film ran afoul of this red line a decade ago and its impacts are still being felt today.

I still wonder if that C&D is going to arrive in my mail one day. If it does, I'll promptly comply and remove all Trek-based content. If it doesn't, I will continue to leave it running as-is, continuing periodic updates as time and source material allow. My site's been online for over a quarter-century, paid for out of my own pocket and I've never taken a penny of profit from it. Probably the sole reason it's lasted so long. That, and there appear to be some folks in the production (as well as others) who seem to enjoy it as attested to several emails I've received over the years that still reside in my personal archive to this day. :shrug: :)

I was going to your site before I even knew it was yours ;)
 
All of it, really. It's their IP and they can do with it as they like. They're generally not going to direct their lawyers to send out tens of thousands C&D's against blogs and websites unless there's a blatant situation where someone is allegedly making a profit off of said-IP. A certain fan film ran afoul of this red line a decade ago and its impacts are still being felt today.

I still wonder if that C&D is going to arrive in my mail one day. If it does, I'll promptly comply and remove all Trek-based content. If it doesn't, I will continue to leave it running as-is, continuing periodic updates as time and source material allow. My site's been online for over a quarter-century, paid for out of my own pocket and I've never taken a penny of profit from it. Probably the sole reason it's lasted so long. That, and there appear to be some folks in the production (as well as others) who seem to enjoy it as attested to several emails I've received over the years that still reside in my personal archive to this day. :shrug: :)

Thanks! One more question as you addressed a cease and desist... Are there instances of a fan design directly taken and used? I'm assuming the Lower Decks arcade one is an example?
 
Yes. While not Trek, it happened to me with Battlestar Galactica, something I was REALLY heavily interested in during the early-mid 00’s. RDM’s production actually used my first set of orthos that I hand-drew back in 1994 (I think) of the original series Galactica, based on the woefully inaccurate Revellogram model kit. I called it the “Nova Class Battlestar” back then, which has actually been in contention for that ship’s official class name with “Columbia Class” that also emerged around that same time.

I had those schematics on my site for years and apparently the production used them for background props in the CIC set dressing, ostensibly before they settled on the final “ribbed” design of the new Galactica for 2003. I suspect they found them on my site (the only place they really could be found) because they were the only 5-view diagrams of their kind in existence of that ship. Starlog also had a diagram in one of their magazines but it was really horribly distorted and just generally bad, IMO.

Several of those set pieces wound up on the Propworx auction block and they actually even credited my name in there, so yeah, it does happen.

And yes, the nerdgasm was mine on the day I discovered this. My work, such as it was at the time, has been immortalized in one of the greatest SciFi shows in history. They didn’t ask me if they could use it, but they didn’t need to. The property is theirs and, as I mentioned up-thread, they can do whatever they want. They don’t need to ask, and I’m good with that. I will see if I can dig up some pictures this week of exactly what I’m talking about. There is a pretty well-established provenance. Just need to gather it up in one place.

And getting back to Trek, don’t forget all the designs Picard used in Season 2 that originated from Star Trek Online. Those were all technically non-canon fan-made designs until their inclusion in the fleet made them so.
 
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And getting back to Trek, don’t forget all the designs Picard used in Season 2 that originated from Star Trek Online. Those were all technically non-canon fan-made designs until their inclusion in the fleet made them so.
That is honestly rather cool. I mean would have been nice if you got some amount of money, but credit given is a general positive thing. Where I'd get huffy is if no credit or attribution is made.

So, ya. Glad your holding the torch paid off in some small way.
 
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