Shatner must've seen and was inspired by the growling shark from Jaws 4.
Why did the Pioneer Probe scream?
- Thread starter NCC-1701-B
- Start date
A better question is "WHy is the Pioneer probe in, presumably, Klingon Space?"
No, a ten minute long Shepard tone. Pretty cool, actually, though I don't think the probe should have emitted that, either.
Early Federation, Pre-Federation, even Pre-Starfleet space tech always has a way of ending up in places it shouldn't be. Nomad, Pioneer, V'ger, Ares IV, Friendship One, Charybdis, the Essex, the Valiant... and I'm probably forgetting a few, too. Enough examples to qualify it as a trope.
...none of the others screamed, though. Metal stress? I don't know.
I'd always assumed the probe itself was a little joke at V'Ger so I suppose the scream could be an intentional part of the in-humour.
Its dreams of becoming a god, dashed by a Klingon pirate....
The wilhelm scream was apparently used for one of the guys who gets knocked off his horse
If they were going to have it scream they really should have made be the infamous Wilhelm Scream.
But that was funny.
I can only guess what the production meeting for that scene must have been like.
"OK, we've got a Klingon who looks like an 80's hair band refugee, looking through his spaceship's periscope whilst taking pot shots at an old space probe. What? Of course it doesn't advance the plot, but we have 50 bucks left over in the effects budget we need to burn. Now, how can we make this scene any more ridiculous? That's it! Make the probe scream when it gets shot! It worked for Lucas, and he's stinking rich..."
"OK, we've got a Klingon who looks like an 80's hair band refugee, looking through his spaceship's periscope whilst taking pot shots at an old space probe. What? Of course it doesn't advance the plot, but we have 50 bucks left over in the effects budget we need to burn. Now, how can we make this scene any more ridiculous? That's it! Make the probe scream when it gets shot! It worked for Lucas, and he's stinking rich..."
I think a good "KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNN!!" would have sufficed.
It would have also added some much needed drama.
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