USS TARDIS?

[Lorna]

I remember back to the Enterprise episode with that future space ship which was smaller on the outside and bigger on the inside. This is like the TARDIS from Doctor Who and I've always found the idea intriguing. I've always wondered how it might work in regards to looking out of a window on the ship or if the ship was hit by a Torpedo it would damage a large portion of the small outer hull but how much of the inside of the ship would be hit?

So this for me is where I'd like to see the future of Trek take us. I would like a future series have a TARDIS like ship as the main focus.
Maybe this ship of the series will be the first of it's kind? we will be able to see how it might work, a lot of questions could get answered and maybe there are unforeseen side effects of using such dimension manipulating technology?

Does the ship require power to continually manipulate space time to have it bigger on the inside and if the power is ever lost what would happen?

With the ability to create it bigger on the inside we could possibly have one of the largest Starfleet ships ever seen on screen and yet on the outside it's as big as a police box.

I can see a lot of interesting possibilities just by incorporating this type of technology into the series. Plenty of story opportunities and also the type of ship and size of the crew could help with the story telling.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

A ship like that would allow an excuse for going various times and places, but don't we already have that? I haven't noticed any inhibition in using the current style of Starfleet vessel for time travel or visiting other galaxies or realities whenever it strikes a writer's fancy.

Having the ship look bigger on the inside than the outside doesn't seem interesting. If we need a bigger inside, why not also make the outside bigger? Does it matter how big the outside of a starship is? If the attraction here is to have an inside that can be as big as our imagination, that's what holodecks are for.

So I'm not seeing how the "USS Tardis" would add anything that Star Trek can't do now, at least not anything important to crafting good stories.

 

[BillJ]

I just don't think something like this would work. It seems like it would be more concerned with technobabble than actual human drama. And people were burned out on technobabble at the tail end of The Next Generation.

 

[Captaindemotion]

The 'bigger on the inside' ship is irrevocably associated with Dr Who. You may as well suggest a new ST race who regenerate into a different body every time they 'die' (and no, the Trill don't count).

 

[Shatnertage]

^ Could we still get Colin Baker topless then?

[I kind of remember the thread your sig is from, and it cracks me up every time.]

 

[Captaindemotion]

^ Baker and Shatner in a topless mud wrestling match. Whose Moobs are bigger (on the outside)?

 

[Satyrquaze]

Ow, my eyes!

I remember back to the Enterprise episode with that future space ship which was smaller on the outside and bigger on the inside...
So this for me is where I'd like to see the future of Trek take us. I would like a future series have a TARDIS like ship as the main focus.

I could see it now, "BBC sues CBS for intellectual property..." Course, they probably aren't as anal about it as Lucas is with the intellectual rights of Star Wars, but still... if they decided that the hero ship of Star Trek was a Time Machine that was bigger on the inside, I think someone with a lawyer would have something to say about it.

 

[Captaindemotion]

Another thing to remember is that the TARDIS and its bigger-on-the-inside dimensions are to help show how much cleverer and more advanced than we humand the Doctor and the Timelords are. With Trek, while their technology is clearly more advanced than we are, the Federation has to be identifiable and we have to be able to recognise what they have as being conceivable, something which we humans might one day make. With a ship that's larger on the inside, I think you're just too far removed from what's achievable.

 

[Kaziarl]

Aside from the "bigger on the inside" idea, which I agree would probably not go over to well, what would this show be like? Would it be the crew (instead of just the doctor for example) going around and only observing as he claims to do? (which is bullocks btw, he interferes a LOT) Or would it be Quantum Leap in Space? I like some of the time travel episodes, but I don't think it would work as a series.

 

[Davros]

A ship like that would allow an excuse for going various times and places, but don't we already have that? I haven't noticed any inhibition in using the current style of Starfleet vessel for time travel or visiting other galaxies or realities whenever it strikes a writer's fancy.

true

Having the ship look bigger on the inside than the outside doesn't seem interesting. If we need a bigger inside, why not also make the outside bigger? Does it matter how big the outside of a starship is? If the attraction here is to have an inside that can be as big as our imagination, that's what holodecks are for.

A smaller outside increases the number of places the ship can fit. You could actually land it in other ships or buildings or caves or where ever you need to.

 

[Lorna]

I thought a little harder about it and come up with the idea of using the TARDIS technology as something utilised by the bad guys.

The Federation has never been up against an enemy that utilised technology like this. I'm still thinking further about this and will get back to you all.

 

[Skellington]

A smaller outside increases the number of places the ship can fit. You could actually land it in other ships or buildings or caves or where ever you need to.

Indeed. It might also massively decrease the power levels required for warp drive and shields.

 

[Lorna]

A smaller outside increases the number of places the ship can fit. You could actually land it in other ships or buildings or caves or where ever you need to.

Indeed. It might also massively decrease the power levels required for warp drive and shields.

But how much power is required to create the extra dimension? I'm not sure but did the ENT episode with the TARDIS like ship mention any power being generated?

 

[Skellington]

But how much power is required to create the extra dimension? I'm not sure but did the ENT episode with the TARDIS like ship mention any power being generated?

I don't recall. It might actually be very low in the conventional sense; eg if some kind of exotic matter is used to permanently keep the ship like that, or if the energy required is in a form not useable by the other systems. Adding an extra dimension might even have a bearing on the very definitions of matter and energy.

 

[EyalM]

I always thought that a "Trek-ish" way to do the "bigger on the inside" thing would be to use a holodeck: Build a ship with only the critical components (hull, warp drive, shield generators) physical, and whatever space is left in the hull is used to create ad-hoc rooms. You can have the mess hull, sleeping quarters, bowling ally and everything else that is only used for a limited time during the day occupying the same space.

 

[bryce]

I always thought that a "Trek-ish" way to do the "bigger on the inside" thing would be to use a holodeck: Build a ship with only the critical components (hull, warp drive, shield generators) physical, and whatever space is left in the hull is used to create ad-hoc rooms. You can have the mess hull, sleeping quarters, bowling ally and everything else that is only used for a limited time during the day occupying the same space.

By Voyager's time we had already seen ships with holo-emitters throughout, as well as site-to-site beaming - and holodecks already use replicator and transporter tech...so I imagine future starships will have easily re-configurable rooms...don't like the furnishings? Use the holodeck-replicator technology build into every room to completely change it.

Also, individual rooms would essentially *become* holodecks - so you could recreate any environment in any room - including the *illusion* that a room is bigger on the inside. (You wouldn't necessarily need dedicated holodecks then - any furniture you didn't need could be disintegrated and stored - either as a program and/or in a transporter buffer depending - while you were running a holo-program, then re-replicated or restored as needed.)

And so your idea of swappable rooms would fit right in with that.

Heck, you could have the entire interior of a starship basically be one giant holodeck (ala that ship in Insurrection) - and it could be reconfigurable at will. Walls, rooms, everything.

(Also with holo-replicator-transporter emitters built into every room, you wouldn't have to go up to a replicator to order food or any other item - just ask the computer for it and it would be delivered to a table or whatever right in front of or next to you! Also I imagine it wouldn't be necessary in future starships to go to a dedicated transporter room to beam down - but it could be down from any room on the ship...with different members of an away team/landing party coming from various rooms and being beamed down together.)

ETA:

Also, any wall (or floor, ceiling, etc) or desktop could be a display screen &/or interface. And any other needed equipment or control stations/terminals could be called up and materialized - or de-materialized when needed!

 

[Temis the Vorta]

A smaller outside increases the number of places the ship can fit. You could actually land it in other ships or buildings or caves or where ever you need to.

Which reminds me of one of the most interesting forms of spaceship I've seen so far is from Farscape: a collection of spheres that can independently disperse and re-form like an insect swarm. If Star Trek needs new forms of spaceship, I'd explore that idea.

I always thought that a "Trek-ish" way to do the "bigger on the inside" thing would be to use a holodeck: Build a ship with only the critical components (hull, warp drive, shield generators) physical, and whatever space is left in the hull is used to create ad-hoc rooms. You can have the mess hull, sleeping quarters, bowling ally and everything else that is only used for a limited time during the day occupying the same space.

I like that idea, too.

Here's a topic for discussion, inspired by Galaxy Quest: enveloping each person in a thin membrane for individual space travel. Why have a vessel at all? Come up with technology that will turn humans into de-facto spacefaring creatures. Or take it one step further and use genetic engineering so that there's no de facto about it.