Was it ever explained why Voyager's nacelles change position when it goes into warp?
Voyager Nacelles
- Thread starter Six of Twelve
- Start date
In terms of the tv show, it looks cool.
In the Trek universe, it's the variable warp geometry that doesn't damage subspace. The theory I heard is that durring warp flight they make small adjustments.
In the Trek universe, it's the variable warp geometry that doesn't damage subspace. The theory I heard is that durring warp flight they make small adjustments.
Thanks. I don't recall ever hearing it mentioned on an episode.
It wasn't ever directly mentioned in Voyager. There is reference to variable warp geometry in TNG, and in the technical manual
Which doesn't really stand up to scrutiny, as the entire remaining star fleet continued to use good ol' static nacelles. Force of Nature is best forgotten.
It's to look cool and probably to sell toys. In A Vision of the Future, something moving was part of the design brief before they had a design.
Never liked Voyager's nacelles. They looked small and atrophied to me. It would have looked much better, IMHO with larger engines like the Enterprise-E.
Never liked Voyager's nacelles. They looked small and atrophied to me. It would have looked much better, IMHO with larger engines like the Enterprise-E.
The rest of the fleet was still observing the Warp 5 speed limit at the time. Presumably a solution was found to the "warp pollution" problem not long after the Voyager was lost, making the Intrepid-class' variable geometry nacelles feature no longer necessary except perhaps to reach speeds of Warp 9.975 (only a couple of designs in the fleet may be that fast or faster and may utilize later tech).
The Defiant routinely exceeded warp 5 before the Voyager came around. As did the Enterprise. They really only paid lip-service to the speed limit once (maybe twice) before doing the smart thing and pretending it never happened.
Yes, the Intrepid class ship is the only one that has the movable nacelles. I just assume that after the Intrepid's design they were able to use the variable warp geometry with stationary nacelles.Which doesn't really stand up to scrutiny, as the entire remaining star fleet continued to use good ol' static nacelles. Force of Nature is best forgotten.
According to Michael Okuda, it was assumed that newer ships, such as Voyager and the Defiant, had improved environmentally friendly warp drive systems, that did not cause damage to subspace.
Whether or not this is established, it's definitely a part of my head canon.
Well a ship doesn't really need to be aerodynamic in space. There was a science reason, the variable warp geometry.
Not routinely, because sometimes we didn't know how fast the ship was going. But it was also established from the start that ships could exceed Warp 5 if it was an emergency or when directed by Starfleet (either of which would fit the Defiant going beyond Warp 5).
There were episodes in which the Enterprise-D was given special permission by Starfleet to exceed Warp 5.
The Enterprise-D (present day version) didn't exceed Warp 5 in "All Good Things..." and the Enterprise-E cruised at only Warp 5 when she initially set out in Nemesis.
I'll retract 'routinely', I definitely overstated. But we do see the Defiant go above warp five without it being an extreme emergency.
Pegasus and Eye of the Beholder.
And then warp eight a little later.
Really, my only point is that while they may attribute the moving nacelles to the warp speed limit (but never did so on screen), it was clearly dealt with by much easier means in the rest of the fleet. All ships, both older and newer than Voyager, got around it. Voyager had movable nacelles because the producers thought it would be cool, and the speed limit went away because they regretted introducing it in the first place.
I would argue that. The Defiant wasn't really taken out for leisurely cruises. And then there was the fallout with the Klingons. And later the actual Dominion War.
She was ordered to go to Romulus after Shinzon's coup to determine the new political shakeup in the quadrant. Easily a case of it being important enough to exceed Warp 5.
All that's really a given, and I don't think anyone has argued that at all, but in the time-honored tradition of Trekkies from day one, it's fun to speculate about inconsistencies--from an in-universe perspective--in the lack of actual onscreen explanations. If they were still making 24th-Century Trek today, the Warp 5 limit would probably be mentioned in passing once as only a very brief period in history (if it was ever going to mentioned again at all).Really, my only point is that while they may attribute the moving nacelles to the warp speed limit (but never did so on screen), it was clearly dealt with by much easier means in the rest of the fleet. All ships, both older and newer than Voyager, got around it. Voyager had movable nacelles because the producers thought it would be cool, and the speed limit went away because they regretted introducing it in the first place.
I can say for sure that it happened in The Search pt 1 for starters.
We see the entire conversation with Janeway and she never mentions permission to exceed warp 5, and their leisurely confab about being invited to Romulus to chat with the new Praetor hardly seems like an extreme emergency to me. Janeway says, "I want you to go and hear what he has to say. Get the lay of the land..." which sounds pretty laid back to me.
That would definitely classify as being an important mission, so easily a case of time being of the essence. Nothing leisurely about that mission. They may have even gone faster if they knew exactly where the Founders were.
Federation starships aren't regularly sent to Romulus, especially after a coup that just shook up the entire quadrant. Definitely not a laid back mission where Picard could stroll along there at his leisure. We know from many past episodes in the various Trek shows that there are also written orders transmitted to ships containing more detailed mission specifics, and it doesn't take a stretch at all that the Enterprise was given permission to exceed Warp 5 and get to Romulus sooner rather than later. When Picard walked back onto the bridge, he gave the order to make it so at Warp 8, which really isn't maximum warp for the Enterprise, but isn't a leisurely speed either.
It's such a time-sensitive matter that they held off on it for two months.
When they get there, they end up waiting for 17 hours, so maybe they should have kept it to warp 5 after all.
