Where are the percenty shields?

[Amaris]

The "we have to leave now" stuff is just panic. The girl (I forgot who she plays) who said that was scared shitless, and I can't say I blame her. If someone said "hey, look, a black hole's forming outside!" I would need a new pair of shorts every few seconds. Honestly, her reaction felt very authentic.

+1

How many times have we been told if the ship keeps doing something it'll explode? But it never explodes.

That's...pretty much my point though. I'm not saying it's worse than "Shields down to 48%", just that it's the new version of that. Dialogue meant to make a situation feel more dangerous without really contributing anything beyond that.

Yeah, but that's common in almost any movie. It's just another way to ratchet up the tension.

 

[Cyke101]

+1

How many times have we been told if the ship keeps doing something it'll explode? But it never explodes.

That's...pretty much my point though. I'm not saying it's worse than "Shields down to 48%", just that it's the new version of that. Dialogue meant to make a situation feel more dangerous without really contributing anything beyond that.

Yeah, but that's common in almost any movie. It's just another way to ratchet up the tension.

One could argue that TOS handled tension better when it came to shields. If something could knock or penetrate the shields, the general impression was that the ship was pretty much screwed and then you cut to commercial. But in adding percentages, you get more of a buffer that prolongs, but then also dulls, the action.

 

[Richard Baker]

Shields are more for dramatics- there have been occasions where the shields were still up but enemy fire got through anyway. It happened on DS-0 a lot but the biggest one was when Change blew a hole right through the saucer while the shields were still protecting the ship...

 

[WarpFactorZ]

From ST '09, after Nero attacks the Enterprise upon its arrival at Vulcan:

PIKE: Sulu, status report!

SULU: Shields at 32%. Their weapons are powerful, sir. We can't take another hit like that.

 

[Jeyl]

Shields are more for dramatics- there have been occasions where the shields were still up but enemy fire got through anyway. It happened on DS-0 a lot but the biggest one was when Change blew a hole right through the saucer while the shields were still protecting the ship...

Actually that torpedo was fired immediately after Scotty announced "Shields collapsing!". Whatever strength the shields had was all but gone at that point.

I actually like how VI dealt with shields. The first hit rocks the ship hard and inflicts some structural damage, but nothing critical. As the bombardment continues, the shields get weaker and the damage gets more severe. This was pretty obvious to me even when I was eight years old seeing it in theaters. The explosion ripping through the saucer section and destrying real areas of the ship made me panic! The next hit could be it! WHERES THAT DANG TORPEDO!?

Shields in Star Trek can work. I just thing it works better when we see the progress on how they're failing rather than constantly being told.

 

[Cyke101]

Shields are more for dramatics- there have been occasions where the shields were still up but enemy fire got through anyway. It happened on DS-0 a lot but the biggest one was when Change blew a hole right through the saucer while the shields were still protecting the ship...

Actually that torpedo was fired immediately after Scotty announced "Shields collapsing!". Whatever strength the shields had was all but gone at that point.

I actually like how VI dealt with shields. The first hit rocks the ship hard and inflicts some structural damage, but nothing critical. As the bombardment continues, the shields get weaker and the damage gets more severe. This was pretty obvious to me even when I was eight years old seeing it in theaters. The explosion ripping through the saucer section and destrying real areas of the ship made me panic! The next hit could be it! WHERES THAT DANG TORPEDO!?

Shields in Star Trek can work. I just thing it works better when we see the progress on how they're failing rather than constantly being told.

That whole sequence remains one of my favorite fights in cinema. Even without the percenty shields, the music, the direction (like the red shirts running from an exploding corridor), the explosions, and yes, Scotty himself, all just really added to the sense of urgency there. It was clear that the ship was getting its butt kicked, without the need for dialogue to outright say it. It was just really kinetic.

On a side note, another thing got to me:
Kirk: Go to auxiliary power!
Spock: Auxiliary circuits destroyed, Captain.
Me (thinking): Wait, that's never happened before! Auxiliary power is always there! It's so dependable! What do you mean it's destroyed?

Yep, that was my oh-shit moment.

 

[Amaris]

They also lost gravity in the Trek movies, which was awesome.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

From ST '09, after Nero attacks the Enterprise upon its arrival at Vulcan:

PIKE: Sulu, status report!

SULU: Shields at 32%. Their weapons are powerful, sir. We can't take another hit like that.

Thank the maker! [/3PO]

 

[Kevman7987]

From ST '09, after Nero attacks the Enterprise upon its arrival at Vulcan:

PIKE: Sulu, status report!

SULU: Shields at 32%. Their weapons are powerful, sir. We can't take another hit like that.

[3PO]Thank the maker![/3PO]

All this right after the ship drops out of hyperspeed and runs over R2-D2.


I did kind of get sick of hearing "SHIELDS AT 23.94324%, SIR!" every time there was battle.

 

[Ryan8bit]

Hello.

To fall asleep better after 30 hours of deprivation, I put on Star Trek again and wondered where those shields were.

In the opening scene they are mentioned twice, but they cannot actually be seen.
Then they were also mentioned at that training simulation, that torpedoes would not work due to the Klingon Warbirds having their shields up.

Did the writers not know how they "work", or is my memory of TNG and DS9 and VOY that selective?

Visible bubble shields vanished during DS9's latter seasons, when CG advances enabled them to show more "visceral" hull damage when ships were hit.

Yet in First Contact and Insurrection still showed the bubble, and they were around the same time. Nemesis didn't show a bubble, but the aforementioned skintight shields. When a piece of one of the Romulan ships collides with the Enterprise, you can see a blue effect along the surface of the ship.

So I think it's really down to creative decision. I think directly hitting the surface looks cooler, although functionally a bubble might seem safer.

 

[Cyke101]

Hello.

To fall asleep better after 30 hours of deprivation, I put on Star Trek again and wondered where those shields were.

In the opening scene they are mentioned twice, but they cannot actually be seen.
Then they were also mentioned at that training simulation, that torpedoes would not work due to the Klingon Warbirds having their shields up.

Did the writers not know how they "work", or is my memory of TNG and DS9 and VOY that selective?

Visible bubble shields vanished during DS9's latter seasons, when CG advances enabled them to show more "visceral" hull damage when ships were hit.

Yet in First Contact and Insurrection still showed the bubble, and they were around the same time. Nemesis didn't show a bubble, but the aforementioned skintight shields. When a piece of one of the Romulan ships collides with the Enterprise, you can see a blue effect along the surface of the ship.

So I think it's really down to creative decision. I think directly hitting the surface looks cooler, although functionally a bubble might seem safer.

Voyager still used bubble shields during DS9's latter seasons. So they disappeared in one show but remained in the other. But DS9 sometimes used bubble shields if the action was less cluttered, like two ships fighting rather than whole fleets engaging.

I'd like to think that skintight shields offer a different sort of protection. Bubble shields keep some damage away, but skintight shields might protect more area if you know some damage is going to leak through anyway (we've seen that even if bubble shields hold, hull breaches can still occur).

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Skintight shields may be more of an accomplishment by the VFX department, but I've always thought that bubble shields make more sense in-universe.

I love these terms, by the way, "skintight" vs. "bubble."

 

[Cyke101]

Skintight shields may be more of an accomplishment by the VFX department, but I've always thought that bubble shields make more sense in-universe.

I love these terms, by the way, "skintight" vs. "bubble."

And my favorite, "Bootcut"

 

[The Wormhole]

I thought I heard somewhere that DS9's effects people simply found it difficult to animate shield bubbles around multiple ships in the big fleet scenes, which is the main reason they were dropped.

 

[Cyke101]

I thought I heard somewhere that DS9's effects people simply found it difficult to animate shield bubbles around multiple ships in the big fleet scenes, which is the main reason they were dropped.

I'm sure that's the real world reason, too. The in-universe reason though, is up to the imagination.

 

[Nerys Myk]

KIRK: What the status of our percenty shields????

SULU: Bubble shields down 70%! Skintights holding!!!!!

 

[Saul]

Ribbed is far more effective.

 

[F. King Daniel]

KIRK: What the status of our percenty shields????

SULU: Bubble shields down 70%! Skintights holding!!!!!

 

[drt]

In TMP it seemed they started making a distinction between "forcefields" and "deflectors" (which were also mentioned in the official tie-in publications) - I'd always assumed the bubbles were the former and the skintights the latter. Of course, the later movies/shows ignored the forcefields.

 

[TRON JA307020]

We don't need it any more. JJ trek instead uses other pointless drama-countdowns like Pavel counting down the seconds before he can beam the Vulcans aboard, or characters saying, "If we don't leave now, we'll be destroyed!" (And then they don't leave for ages and still escape unscathed.)

I've actually always enjoyed the shield talk and the countdown to crisis. Things like that helped to dramatize the TOS especially because they didn't have a big budget or great effects so had to get by on story. Today its all effects and no story.