Say you could time travel to the early '60s while Gene R was creating Star Trek. Assuming you bring back no SW/HW, what might change due to your advice?
TOS Science/tech changes
- Thread starter Ronald Held
- Start date
Software/HardwareSW/HW??
I guess I would just advise him to stick with his producer status and not take a backseat like he did, avoid the stupider stories that gave the show what negative rep it got, never let Freiberger near the show, and listen to the saner advisers. Down the road, tell him Berman may be a decent producer, but keep him from ever writing anything...
I'd tell him flat out that he needs to get over his fear and tell Majel the truth: NBC liked the idea of a prominent, respected woman character but didn't want Majel herself in the role. And he shouldn't hobble women aboard the Enterprise, and in Starfleet generally, just to preserve a fib to his mistress.
I think the OP meant science/tech changes, cuz, title.
Bring back The Gorn at least once a series and keep Yeoman Rand on as a crew member at least for the rest of season one! 
And make sure Scotty's season three haircut stayed pretty consistent!!! 
JB
And make sure Scotty's season three haircut stayed pretty consistent!!! JB
Bring back The Gorn at least once a series and keep Yeoman Rand on as a crew member at least for the rest of season one!
JB
I have come back through time to bring you this message: Keep Scotty's haircut consistent! Also, come with me if you want to live!
Oops.
I'm sure someone will mention that 50 years on, a cell phone can do a kajillion different things, but a communicator can only be a walkie-talkie, so Gene should have the communicator do a kajillion things. I'd counter that by saying that a communicator is basically a military radio, and even today military radios only do one thing - let you talk to other military people. Plus, a communicator has subspace hyperlight comm capabilities at light-year ranges. Let's see your iPhone do THAT!
For TOS tech, if one wanted to address smart phone functionality, the most obvious thing would have been to put the tricorder functions into the communicator...which makes it less likely that we would have later gotten combadges, as running scans with a pin on your chest doesn't seem practical. Unless they went all Siri and were asking the pin to scan things for them.
The scanning and computer functions has been regulated to the Tricorder while only the communication functions were dedicated to the Communicator. Perhaps that the transtator circuits, subspace transmitter/receiver and its power supply used up all the available volume inside the hand size device.
It's a mil-spec radio which has to work in diverse environments,during combat, and connect at FTL speeds for at least solar system distances.
Oops.
I'm sure someone will mention that 50 years on, a cell phone can do a kajillion different things, but a communicator can only be a walkie-talkie, so Gene should have the communicator do a kajillion things. I'd counter that by saying that a communicator is basically a military radio, and even today military radios only do one thing - let you talk to other military people. Plus, a communicator has subspace hyperlight comm capabilities at light-year ranges. Let's see your iPhone do THAT!
Yeah, consumer-level gadgets aren't a good indicator of what equipment would be used in a future space navy. Real militaries use radio devices that are made for communication, and communication only. Imagine if one of those communication boxes was shrunk down to a palm-size device that could also talk to a spaceship tens of thousands of miles up in orbit (without needing its signal to be bounced around a network of antennas and satellites). That would be way beyond the capability of some smartphone I can pick up at the Apple Store or the Verizon kiosk at the mall.
If I was on a mission on some desolate and primitive planet, surrounded by hostile aliens that are about to turn me into rotisserie redshirt, I would rather have a robust, utilitarian, single-purpose, dedicated, functional and reliable communications device instead of having to wait until I had two signal bars showing, or having to wait for WhatsApp or Candy Crush (or whatever other app is popular this week) to un-freeze, just so I can make a basic voice call to my ship.
Or perhaps we could combine all possible Starfleet devices into one handy doohickey, including phaser, tricorder, universal translator cylinder, communicator, and the whole kitchen sink, and make the whole thing wrist-mounted for convenience while we're at it. Let's just hope that these combo units don't end up shooting the user in the face when trying to make a call.
But seriously, If I was in OP's scenario, I might suggest more advances in medical science, such as Starfleet tech that can interface with the brain.
Kor
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That's just it though - does a TOS landing party ever use them for such long distance communication?
I do not recall anything but near planet communications. There seems to be no time delay, so I am assuming FTL speeds
For some in-universe reason (arriving on Tuesday or whatever), the shuttle is first mentioned in The Conscience of the King, and first seen either in The Galileo Seven (production order) or The Menagerie, Part 1 (broadcast order). I like the idea that the Enterprise was simply without any shuttles at the time of the The Enemy Within. Shit happens. 
