Things that made you go... Why? or How?

[Timo]

IIRC, there were at least three Son’a cruisers in the film.

Two cruisers, one command ship, and the collector thingamabob. At least the last was specifically built by the Son'a, not pilfered from original stock on Ba'ku.

But the Ba'ku got from their original home to the metaphasic planet somehow. I wouldn't wonder a bit if Rua'fo's command ship were the original vessel they used. But given the status of the species as technomages of some sort, once the Son'a got their mini-empire thing going, they could build more stuff at will.

I mentioned this is another thread... in "The Chase", the Yridian ship is destroyed in a single phaser shot. Worf said phasers were not powerful enough to do that, so why did that happen?

I suspect it's this secret agent thing. The Yridians trade in information. Everybody would wish to rob them. So they have James Bond level self-destruct systems in their ships to prevent boarding and capture.

Ferengi starships in TNG are shown to be on par with Starfleet ships. So why did we not encounter any in DS9? One would think the Nagus would travel in a top of the line Ferengi ship.

And he probably is - those little bugshuttles are quoted with very high speed in "Little Green Men", and probably represent the sharp edge of Ferengi excellence. The big ships are just bigger, which doesn't mean flashier - a pop star today might prefer a stretched limo to a regular, but wouldn't arrive in a semi truck or a tank. Usually.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[F. King Daniel]

In the Voyager episode Timeless:

The quantum slipstream drive was erratic and unstable, wouldn't work for a single push the full distance home, but by the end they had figured out how to forcibly collapse the field and drop out of the slipsream safely. Their short burst managed to knock 10 years off their trip...

So why did they dismantle it? They could have used it in short bursts, keeping the calculations to collapse the field handy as an abort code. Hell they could have them programmed into a single button on any panel.

In between jumps they could explore and go over sensor data from the previous jump. Even if each jump only got them a year closer to home, by the time they got home they could have figured out all the kinks and had a fully functional quantum slipstream drive.

Or use the Infinite Transwarp Salamander Drive from "Threshold" but keep it at warp 9.99999999999999999992 and be home in around 11 minutes.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

It gives Picard something to fantasize about in the Nexus, which aligns with a theory of mine about it. The Nexus doesn't give you your most fulfilling desire. It reads what you are currently preoccupied with, & gives you some fantasy of that, maybe presuming its your greatest desire

Oh, I like this theory.

Take Kirk. We know damn well captaining is ALL that fulfills him. Is that what he's doing in the Nexus? Nope. That guy was currently retired, & pining for the old days. He was reveling in the fantasy of telling his woman (Antonia?) he was returning to Starfleet, because that's what's been on his mind... telling her that. It's making him live & relive that fantasy, of when he's choosing to make the announcement.

Great extrapolation. It helps that the movie kept the Nexus so vaguely defined that we can suppose just about anything we like and still find a justification for it.

 

[Timo]

Or use the Infinite Transwarp Salamander Drive from "Threshold" but keep it at warp 9.99999999999999999992 and be home in around 11 minutes.

The Salamander Drive had a serious practical problem built in, though. Sure, it was fast - but it got you nowhere, because navigating was impossible. The best Tom Paris could do was to return to the starting point. His next best was to go barely fast enough to shake pursuit at warp 9.7 or so, and then to only go a short distance said pursuit could cover in plot time.

In short, even if the EMH stood by with an anti-salamanderizing syringe, using this version of transwarp would get the heroes exactly "nowhere fast" in the most literal sense possible. Unless Tom Paris got markedly better with practice, that is.

Slipstream was manageable, and got the heroes a short but significant distance towards their goal. Unlike "Threshold" transwarp, it was a risk to life and limb, though. Something for a rainy day, yes, but not to be used unless absolutely necessary. And by that time, Janeway had plenty of proof that good things were out there, her ship regularly bumping on opportunities.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[F. King Daniel]

The Salamander Drive had a serious practical problem built in, though. Sure, it was fast - but it got you nowhere, because navigating was impossible. The best Tom Paris could do was to return to the starting point. His next best was to go barely fast enough to shake pursuit at warp 9.7 or so, and then to only go a short distance said pursuit could cover in plot time.i

Navigating was only impossible once they crossed the warp 10 barrier and existed in all of infinity at once. Since there was an actual speeding up process where they overtook Voyager, they could have keept it at ludicrous physical non-infinite speed to return home.

 

[Timo]

They'd have to repeat the experiment to prove that Salamander Paris could really steer. He and his reluctant wife could have ended up on that swampy place completely at random, negating the value of the drive. Or then due to magnificent piloting, meaning it really was a get-home-free card for them.

For continuity's sake, we could say they established somehow that it was the former rather than the latter. Perhaps the flight path was sufficiently erratic, perhaps they did repeat the experiment. The potential for disaster is there at least. Unlike with slipstream - but as said, that one had a different disaster potential built in.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Once it was established that the Doctor could undo the effects of the drive, they could have used the Salamander Drive to get home, perhaps making salamander babies along the way, and undo the damage on the other side.

 

[Timo]

Yes, that was never a big problem. Even if a couple of the crew didn't survive the experience, Janeway might still have considered the option. The real stumbling block is that even Tom Paris couldn't demonstrably steer, meaning attempting the Salamander Drive might turn a seventy-year trip home into a seven-billion-year trip if Tom took a right at Albuquerque.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[CorporalClegg]

That's why God invented sacrificial ensigns. You're a lizard, Harry.

Also, no right turn lanes in Albuquerque. So you have to wait.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Yes, that was never a big problem. Even if a couple of the crew didn't survive the experience, Janeway might still have considered the option. The real stumbling block is that even Tom Paris couldn't demonstrably steer, meaning attempting the Salamander Drive might turn a seventy-year trip home into a seven-billion-year trip if Tom took a right at Albuquerque.

Timo Saloniemi

But if they keep it under warp 10 he never becomes a salamander.

 

[Timo]

What would make them think that? Janeway became a salamander even though she wasn't abducted at infinite speed.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Mytran]

Tom took her in the same shuttle and we saw the "warp 10" SFX through the windscreen, so it is all but stated that they did travel at infinity speed

 

[Discofan]

Must be hard to pinpoint a destination at infinite speed...

 

[Mytran]

Infinitesimally hard!

 

[CorporalClegg]

Can't be any worse than Ludicrous Speed.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

This is really much more attention than "Threshold" deserves.

 

[Farscape One]

Maybe we haven't reached the "THRESHOLD" of how much attention one episode can get...

 

[johnnybear]

In TOS and other television shows of the sixties you'd get a complete story every week (unless it was a rare two parter of course) but in later Treks and similar era shows we'd get an episode where the crew were bored, or didn't have anything to do or got stuck in an elevator or tube or went to sleep earlier than expected!
JB

 

[F. King Daniel]

Must be hard to pinpoint a destination at infinite speed...

For the third time, you stay UNDER infinity speed, which is still much much faster than Voyager's top speed, and arrive home in no time.

 

[Grendelsbayne]

TOS Wink of an Eye: McCoy develops a cure to the incurable disease, yet Kirk just leaves without giving the sick people the cure?

STID: "Sir, in the event of an attack, protocol mandates that senior command gather captains and first officers at Starfleet HQ, right here. In this room." Say what now?