Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home - Trial view-screen strangeness

[EliyahuQeoni]

A less silly round of speculation would be why the bridge of the BoP looks completely different than it did in the previous film, and I suspect some posters can come up with just as creative explanations.

According to these deck plans: http://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/sd-brel-class-klingon-bird-of-prey.php

The BOP had both a Bridge (TVH) and an Attack Center (SFS), the Attack Center being, I would think, the equivalent to the Battle Bridge on the 1701-D

 

[Timo]

Also, Kruge was a spymaster of some sort; he'd probably have more use for a "management center" than most Klingon skippers, and less reason to lead the ship from its navigation bridge.

As for recordings that have more dramatic flair than today's cctv imagery... That is only to be expected. It reminds me of the problem people have with doors that only open when the character really wants to step through, rather than every time he happens to approach the doors. It's a feature the user would want the doors to have, and easy enough to implement with a fairly idiotic computer program that monitors the movements of the character - but people still think it's "wrong" because it doesn't work like 1950s vintage automated mall doors.

Whenever we see "cctv footage" in Star Trek, it's presented for dramatic purposes: in a courtroom or the like. Naturally, it would be edited for dramatic impact - either by a human(oid) user beforehand, or then by a marginally smart computer program in real time. That's a desirable feature, and something technology can fairly easily provide, so its absence would be more curious than its presence.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Marsden]

I don't think they use cameras in the 23rd century. I think everything is a false image restoration based on sensor readings, just like the main veiw screen on the Enterprise is not a window. What ever the sensors detect, they use to create an image so the people can "see" it. It doesn't explain which sensors were detecting what, but it's been mentioned about long range sensors before.

 

[Timo]

This is quite possible. We see camera-like devices in several situations - say, Scotty rigs a box with a lens to record the Tomlinson/Martine wedding in "Balance of Terror". But these don't behave like real cameras - say, Scotty's little box doesn't point towards the altar at all, and could only hope to catch the happy couple if using an extreme fish-eye lens and then doing some image postprocessing. Also, Kirk in "Patterns of Force" knows how to point a handheld camera in theory, but he completely fumbles the practical application, shooting way too close to catch any actual imagery even though he's doing his best to pretend that he is an accomplished propaganda photographer.

Optical recording devices based on lens technology thus might be but one very small element in the overall recording technology of Star Trek. Let's remember the EMH's very own holographic camera, with multiple lenses spaced so close to each other that three-dimensional recording would be physically impossible by optical means alone... Something more is going on there.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[dub]

My biggest problem with TVH is Kirk's reaction after drinking a sip of beer...surprise? Synthohol and all of that crap aside, you're telling me James T. Kirk has never had a beer? Impossible! After all, they do brew it in the Enterprise engine room. Wait...wrong timeline.

 

[DonIago]

Foods evolve over time. Maybe beer in the future simply has a different taste.

I think you'd find that beer from 300 years ago isn't quite the same as what you're used to.

 

[marksound]

My biggest problem with TVH is Kirk's reaction after drinking a sip of beer...surprise? Synthohol and all of that crap aside, you're telling me James T. Kirk has never had a beer? Impossible! After all, they do brew it in the Enterprise engine room. Wait...wrong timeline.

I doubt Michelob tastes like Romulan ale.

 

[Timo]

The social function of the drink might have changed, making Kirk mightily surprised that his pizza comes with beer when he's in fact expecting an apple juice or a sherry or an Andorian beverage that tastes like eggs and raspberry and completely took over this particular niche in the 2220s.

Beer in the future might taste exactly the same as today (although one then has to ask "which beer?"), but would be consumed exclusively with salads. Far stranger evolution of food customs takes place all the time in our very own reality.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[marksound]

Whatever the reasoning, it was a nice bit of "staying in character" on Shatner's part. The little things are what make a character believable.

 

[Redfern]

Even today a proper Englishman might produce such a reaction absentmindedly taking a sip of, say, Coors Light, while expecting something like a stout or a lager.

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[DonIago]

I produce such a reaction when I take a sip of most beers.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

I'm guessing Captain Kirk liked better beers. In the 23rd century, you can easily get the original Pilsners easily, I'm sure.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

I'm guessing Captain Kirk liked better beers. In the 23rd century, you can easily get the original Pilsners easily, I'm sure.

More to the point, Kirk didn't like the beer that Gillian picked out! The writing was already on the wall that they were incompatible....

 

[DonIago]

I'm a horrible person...

Given where Gillian's interests seem to lie, Scotty would have had a better chance.

"There be whales here!" indeed...