The Phase II Enterprise

[CorporalCaptain]

When I interpreted just what I saw on screen of the TMP refit with a blank slate, I thought the conduit running through main engineering was feeding power to the rest of the ship from the nacelles (i.e. from the engines). I assumed that the main reaction was actually occurring in the nacelles. To me, this idea is incredibly simple and elegant. If I understand Maurice's idea, what I just said actually takes that idea one step further.

However simple and elegant you may think it is, it's completely backasswards wrong, and how you came to that conclusion is mystifying. I thought it was pretty bloody clear that the power was being generated in the big glowy tube and channeled TO the nacelles.

Point to anything on screen in TMP or TWOK asserting that that is the way it works, and I'll agree I overlooked something.

 

[TIN_MAN]

I think that overthinks the plumbing. Plus, I've never liked the idea of the main fuel source being that exposed.

As for ejecting the core being a post-TNG notion, I suggest a closer reading of "That Which Survives"...

SCOTT: I've sealed off the aft end of the service crawlway, and I've positioned explosive separator charges to blast me clear of the ship if I rupture the magnetic bottle.

A bit later...

SCOTT: If the magnetic flow jumps, you must jettison me. The safety control will not hold more than two seconds if I rupture the field.

SPOCK: Lieutenant Uhura, you are monitoring the magnetic force?

UHURA: Oh yes, sir.

SPOCK: Please do not take your eyes off of it. Lieutenant Rahda, arm the pod jettison system.

RAHDA: Aye, sir. I'll jettison the pod at the first sign of trouble.

SPOCK: Not until my order.

I think this also shows that the term "pod" doesn't always refer to one of the nacelles.

But notice Scotty "positioned explosive separator charges" indicating that this was not a built-in design feature, but was rigged up for this special occasion. As such, it can’t be referring to the same or similar systems used later to eject warp cores.

Keep in mind we do not know where Scotty’s crawlway accessing M/AM reaction chamber was? While the secondary hull is a good guess, it’s only a logical assumption, for all we know it could be in the primary hull, or one of the nacelles!

As for the reference to "the pod", this is in the same category as the ion pod; i.e. a singular device for a specific purpose. It has no bearing on references in the plural which always refer in context to the nacelles. Nobody ever said “pod” couldn’t be, or was never used, for anything else!

Besides, any scheme that tries to satisfy all the tech references in TOS is gonna have to have M/A-M reactors in both the nacelles and the “engineering” hull, at least as regards the TOS “E”, I don’t think anyone is denying a M/A-M reactor in the secondary hull altogether.

 

[Captain Robert April]

When I interpreted just what I saw on screen of the TMP refit with a blank slate, I thought the conduit running through main engineering was feeding power to the rest of the ship from the nacelles (i.e. from the engines). I assumed that the main reaction was actually occurring in the nacelles. To me, this idea is incredibly simple and elegant. If I understand Maurice's idea, what I just said actually takes that idea one step further.

However simple and elegant you may think it is, it's completely backasswards wrong, and how you came to that conclusion is mystifying. I thought it was pretty bloody clear that the power was being generated in the big glowy tube and channeled TO the nacelles.

Point to anything on screen in TMP or TWOK asserting that that is the way it works, and I'll agree I overlooked something.

Besides just looking at the damn thing? How about how the tinkering they were doing with the matter/antimatter mix was done at the console right at the vertical shaft? And, unlike the tech stuff FJ put out in the mid 70's, the background material on how the refit was laid out was put out a) at the time the film was still in the freakin' theatre, b) was put out by folks who actually worked on the production, and c) are under no obligation to take your mistaken notions into any sort of account.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

So, in other words I've overlooked nothing from what was presented on screen.

Besides, what exactly about the sentence "But, no" indicates that my understanding of the ship's operation is in anyway mistaken?

But, no.

 

[TIN_MAN]

... And, unlike the tech stuff FJ put out in the mid 70's, the background material on how the refit was laid out was put out a) at the time the film was still in the freakin' theatre, b) was put out by folks who actually worked on the production, and c) are under no obligation to take your mistaken notions into any sort of account.

If you're gonna bash FJ "en passant", please get your facts straight, and bash him for something he's actually guilty of. FJ based his designs directly on the background material on how the ship was laid out on "The Making of Star Trek" which was put out a) at the time the series was still on the freakin' TV, b) was put out by folks who actually worked on, and were consulted on, the production, one of which was no less than Roddenberry himself, and c) are under no obligation to take your mistaken notions into any sort of account.

 

[Captain Robert April]

Frankly, I wonder who Whitfield talked to when he put some of the stuff in "The Making of Star Trek", because it is so divorced from reality it's not even funny.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

So, in other words I've overlooked nothing from what was presented on screen.

Besides, what exactly about the sentence "But, no" indicates that my understanding of the ship's operation is in anyway mistaken?

But, no.

Most everything presented onscreen up until the premiere of ST:TMP would lead a reasonable person to think that the engines were up in the nacelles. Most pre-TMP attempts to blueprint or otherwise describe the ship make that assumption.

 

[Maurice]

Frankly, I wonder who Whitfield talked to when he put some of the stuff in "The Making of Star Trek", because it is so divorced from reality it's not even funny.

Reality is a funny word to evoke in reference to a fictional starship that wasn't even portrayed consistently on the show that featured it.