Ok, I’ve read the info in the Star Trek update. Forgive me but I have to get this out of my system.
When a Federation Captain screams “Battlestations” every one rushes about at their consoles. Which is ok. What I don’t understand is why are they standing. When a Photon torpedo hits the hull they are all thrown back and forth, resulting sometimes in injury. Why the hell aren’t they strapped in g-seats? Then this would never happen. It also looks to me as if they are standig through all their shift, maybe 12 hours, putting additional strain upon the personell.
Those uniforms make me want to puke.
Are there no fat peoble in the future, or is the fat removed with a holo-doctors VCR-remote-conroll fat displacer?
Because this is more exciting!
Actually, I think of it almost as a silly tradition at this point. They’ve been doing it in every Star Trek series, and it give the viewers a laugh at the silliness of it.
Well, there aren’t a ton of fat people in the military, and most of the characters in Star Trek are military folks.
Hoe–I’m not sure to which version of Star Trek you’re referring. In the original series (hereinafter called TOS), the producers did the bouncing camera bit to add a little excitement. In the later series, it’s been toned down some. The technobabble explanation for that is that ships are equipped with “intertial dampers”, which reduce the turbulence after being hit by a photon torpedo. Usually someone will shout out “Intertial dampers are off-line!” during a fight scene, probably again to add a little excitement. I guess the real reason star ships don’t have G-seats is because they are seldom subjected to high G-forces.
As to the standing around, I don’t recall a lot of people in any series standing around. Spock, Uhuru, et al, had seats, but would stand up to use certain pieces of equipment. As an office bound desk-jockey, I can say that it’s nice to get up once in a while and stretch one’s legs.
Finally, the fat question. I guess you never saw the 5th and 6th Star Trek movies, or you’d realize there are lots of fat people in the future. For the rest of them, starship crews do seem to lead very active lives; I’m sure they’re in very good shape.
Well, once in a while you see a very robust Admiral here and there.
As to the question, Federation starships have cool devices called inertial dampers to reduce the extent to which crew members feel acceleration. They keep Janeway et al from turning into chunky salsa on the back wall of the ship every time they go to warp.
In a battle situation involving shocks to the ship or quick movements, it’s been explained that the inertial dampers may go a bit out of phase and fail to dampen a very sudden acceleration, causing the crew to jolt.
I do not know why they don’t have safety belts. It may have something to do with having to get off of the bridge in a hurry in the case of an emergency, but this has never been fully explained.
Allright, several people have explained the pseudo-technical bullshit answers. As for the REAL reason that there are no seats, I suspect that nobody thought about it until the set was built, and by then there wasn’t enough room for seats for some people. Come to think of it, it’s always the minor personel that stand. The captain, helmsman, science officer, etc, allways have seats. It’s the extras and minor characters that get thrown into the plasma conduits or whateverhaveyou when a photon torpedo strikes.
BTW, do we all agree that Janeway is more masculine than Jean-Luc Picard? At least she knows how to fire the phasers :). And while it may not be possable to match Captain Kirk’s sex drive, at least she’s had feelings for Chakotay. Picard always came across as about as sterile as a hospital operating room. I know he’s supposed to be older, but come on…even my dad (who’s at least as old as Patrick Steward (sp?)) has more libido than His Baldness did.
“I had a feeling that in Hell there would be mushrooms.” -The Secret of Monkey Island
Diceman–the only people that aren’t in seats are the ones walking down the hallway or moving around the deck. I mean, what does Hoe think the future’s going to be like–everyone moving around in floating chairs?
Okay, so Worf has to stand up while operating his photon torpedo launcher. Why? Cos it looks mas macho.
I have it on good authority that Stewart was very touchy about the shape of his head, and was referred to by the cast and crew behind his back as “Baldylocks”.
TT
“Equal Opportunity means everybody has the same chance at being incompetent.”
–Dr. Lawrence J. Peter
