Why Does Saavik Stand Up?

[Captain Clark Terrell]

I've never understood what made Saavik think it was a good idea to stand just as a Klingon torpedo was hurtling toward the Enterprise bridge during the Kobayashi Maru simulation. I suppose it's possible she thought being knocked back into her chair was preferable to being knocked to the deck, but we've seen plenty of other officers go flying across the bridge because they weren't seated when an impact struck their ship.

What the hell was she thinking?

--Sran

 

[JonnyQuest037]

I don't think she was really thinking in that moment. Standing up was a pure instinctive action.

 

[Leto_II]

Yeah, it definitely looks like an instinctual, "oh shit!" under-pressure reaction, something many people would likely do in that moment.

 

[Melakon]

She was in fight or flight mode.

 

[Kilana2]

I've never understood what made Saavik think it was a good idea to stand just as a Klingon torpedo was hurtling toward the Enterprise bridge during the Kobayashi Maru simulation. I suppose it's possible she thought being knocked back into her chair was preferable to being knocked to the deck, but we've seen plenty of other officers go flying across the bridge because they weren't seated when an impact struck their ship.

What the hell was she thinking?

--Sran

That leads me to the question, why there are no seat belts to be seen in the episodes of all the series or in the movies (1 - 10, as I don´t like nuTrek). Maybe I´m mistaken, but the authors wrote sometimes about seat belts/harnesses. That left me wondering , but it´s logical . The inertial dampers might be overstretched. Mmm, there would be less action with seat belts. People have to be flung around for reasons of action.

 

[Ithekro]

Her captain's chair had arms that could help restrain her to the chair as used by Kirk in the previous film when they entered the wormhole. Unless the simulator chair doesn't have that feature (or they changed chairs on set from one movie to the next).

 

[martok2112]

Well, Sulu also stood up in the face of an oncoming subspace shockwave in TUC, so it was not a discarded "dramatic effect" moment.

"Logic and physics will always yield to the needs of dramatic storytelling." -Martok2112's Law of Storytelling.

However, on reflection, when it is revealed that the KM event is only a simulation, Saavik's reaction takes on a whole new meaning. "This is only a simlulation." may have flashed through her mind when she saw how her "logical" course of action took a turn for the worse in the simulation.

 

[Pauln6]

The ship has artificial gravity - likely the chairs can create a localised gravity field to keep people in their seats :P

 

[Timo]

Well, something keeps all of McCoy's fragile glassware nicely on their shelves and tables...

We might postulate local inertia-canceling fields that cannot deal with heavy objects such as human bodies too well, but work nicely with light items such as Erlenmeyer bottles. Perhaps ramping up the effect to contain a human would merely lead to tidal effects and lots of messy decapitations?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Kilana2]

Remember Star Trek - Generations: Riker remains standing while someone else (a lowly ensign?????) was catapulted through the air - not surviving it - while crash landing on Veridian III.
They usually do that - someone has to die, but not someone from the main cast.

 

[MarsWeeps]

That leads me to the question, why there are no seat belts to be seen in the episodes of all the series or in the movies

Because if they had them, we wouldn't be able to see people tossed around the bridge like rag dolls.

likely the chairs can create a localised gravity field to keep people in their seats :P

Except they don't.

 

[Kilana2]

That leads me to the question, why there are no seat belts to be seen in the episodes of all the series or in the movies

Because if they had them, we wouldn't be able to see people tossed around the bridge like rag dolls.

likely the chairs can create a localised gravity field to keep people in their seats :P

Except they don't.

Some people are tossed around (lowly ensigns, cadets, poor fools), some are not (main characters). Both groups are subjected to the same laws of physics. Even if the main characters were flung all over the bridge, they are likely to survive it. Cadet X is going to die after bumping his/her head a little bit.
At least in the novels seat belts exist in shuttles/runabouts etc. I don´t know about starship bridges.

 

[Shon T'Hara]

Well, Sulu also stood up in the face of an oncoming subspace shockwave in TUC, so it was not a discarded "dramatic effect" moment.

And Kirk does it twice in TSFS: once when the BOP fires, and again when Saavik tells him David is dead.

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

^Actually, he tried to sit down when he found out David had died and tripped--or rather, Shatner tripped while the scene was being filmed. Nimoy liked it and decided to keep it in because he thought it captured Kirk's shock and grief so well.

--Sran

 

[Pauln6]

That leads me to the question, why there are no seat belts to be seen in the episodes of all the series or in the movies

Because if they had them, we wouldn't be able to see people tossed around the bridge like rag dolls.

likely the chairs can create a localised gravity field to keep people in their seats :P

Except they don't.

Didn't they have pointless little thigh protectors that clicked in place during TMP? I meant that I assumed that was their purpose, since they don't seem like they would have any practical use otherwise. Some stations didn't even have seats either so plenty of non-essential crew left to get smashed around.

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

^TMP seems to be the only time they were actually used as anything besides armrests.

OTOH, most of the scenes in which the characters were using them didn't involve an immediate threat.

--Sran

 

[CorporalClegg]

My dyslexic brain seriously read the title as "Saavik does stand up." And now I'm a little disappointed that it isn't.

 

[Pauln6]

^TMP seems to be the only time they were actually used as anything besides armrests.

OTOH, most of the scenes in which the characters were using them didn't involve an immediate threat.

--Sran

But did anybody go flying out of their chairs while using them? The prosecution rests (comfortably in a chair with a gravitational seatbelt).

 

[Leto_II]

Her captain's chair had arms that could help restrain her to the chair as used by Kirk in the previous film when they entered the wormhole. Unless the simulator chair doesn't have that feature (or they changed chairs on set from one movie to the next).

Yeah, they were definitely in the simulator, too:

http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/twok/ch1/twok0026.jpg

(Right after the first Klingon torpedo-strike, Saavik plops down in the command chair, yanks one of the arms over, hits a button, and asks Scotty for a damage report.)

 

[Shon T'Hara]

^Actually, he tried to sit down when he found out David had died and tripped--or rather, Shatner tripped while the scene was being filmed. Nimoy liked it and decided to keep it in because he thought it captured Kirk's shock and grief so well.

But he could only fall down because he'd already stood up dramatically. Just like he did two minutes earlier, only to get knocked off his feet when the BOP fired. Kirk is like a yo-yo in that sequence, sitting down just so he can stand up again.