# Newbie questions about star trek **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 13, 2003, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newbie-questions-about-star-trek/154847 "2003-02-13T15:57:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![athelas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@athelas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/athelas)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newbie-questions-about-star-trek/154847/1 "2003-02-13T15:57:47Z")
I’ve been watching Enterprise for the last few months, as well as a few Voyager reruns…also STII, IV, and V. So I’m not nearly as familiar with most things about the ST universe. Please don’t hurt me:) -Why is the original Enterprise (1701) of that design? It takes a long walk to get to the warp nacelles, and the semi-cylinder-like part seems to just present a larger target. -Why, in all ships, are the warp nacelles not directly behind the ship’s center of gravity? -Where are the emissions from the impulse reactors? (propellants have to go somewhere…) -When two ships meet, why are they always facing the same direction? (i.e. both ships’ “up” is the same direction) -Why is the bridge in such a vulnerable spot? -When ship A fights ship B, why doesn’t ship A just calculate ship B’s shield frequency so that it can penetrate it? -Why are all aliens humanoids with forehead ridges? -When an alien is being translated with the UT, why does its face still look like it’s speaking English? -Why is there no television? -Why can communicatons travel instantaneously? I’m always trying to see if there’s a lag time, but at distances like ST, there should be years before they arrive. -Why do all ships have streamlined parts, but the positioning of the nacelles and sometimes other parts make the ship 1) not streamlined as a whole and 2) a bigger target? There are more, but I can’t think of them now ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newbie-questions-about-star-trek/154847/2 "2003-02-13T16:12:23Z")
Many of your questions have no satisfactory answers, except “it’s just a tv show.” As far as the ships being not well designed for combat (large profile, exposed bridge and nacelles, etc) remember that Federation ships are primarily designed for exploration and (later) diplomatic missions, not primarily military missions. So function and (later) comfort of the crew are a higher priority than offensive/defensive capability. Yes, all aliens in ST are humanoid with forehead ridges. Or almost all of them. Annoying ain’t it? There is no television that we know of in the sense that we are familiar with, but we have seen Archer and his crew watching recorded video (water polo) and movies. Next Gen crews had access to other entertainment, like holodecks. Universal translators and the orientation of ships that meet in space: because it’s TV. Actually there are a whole lot of problems with the UTs but it’s best not to think about them. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newbie-questions-about-star-trek/154847/3 "2003-02-13T16:19:40Z")
The Next Gen episode “The Chase” tries to explain the similarity of body plan between the alien species as the result of a “creator race” seeding the galaxy with similar DNA. It doesn’t work that well on a logical level (when did evolution gain an end point to work toward?), but they at least try to explain it. The real reason, of course, is budget. Phil Farrand, the Grand High Nitpicker of Star Trek, has facetiously posited that the UT has a holographic component which masks out the natural lip movements and projects movements which synch up with the translated speech. Phil has also noted that the UT would be an acceptable deus ex machina for the language problem _ **if** _ the writers of the shows didn’t keep trying to explain how it works, because they always end up complicating things unnecessarily. ---
**Author:** ![kasuo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8c91f0/32.png) [@kasuo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kasuo)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newbie-questions-about-star-trek/154847/4 "2003-02-13T16:28:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by athelas \* > -Why is the original Enterprise (1701) of that design? It takes a long walk to get to the warp nacelles, and the semi-cylinder-like part seems to just present a larger target. I’m under the impression that no living thing can be “in” the warp nacelles since it houses burning-hot warp plasma. > [@](#): > > -Why, in all ships, are the warp nacelles not directly behind the ship’s center of gravity? The warp nacelles don’t work in the conventional sense of your everyday rocket. They distort space by emitting warp bubbles in such a way so that the ship can “warp” nearby space to move at FTL (faster-than-light) speeds. > [@](#): > > -When two ships meet, why are they always facing the same direction? (i.e. both ships’ “up” is the same direction) This may be a cheesy answer but: they can “spot” each other through sensors and rotate to face each other in the same orientation. > [@](#): > > -When ship A fights ship B, why doesn’t ship A just calculate ship B’s shield frequency so that it can penetrate it? I don’t think they’ve come up with a way to calculate shield frequencies at a glance. > [@](#): > > -Why is there no television? Why watch TV when you can start your own harem on a holodeck? > [@](#): > > -Why can communicatons travel instantaneously? I’m always trying to see if there’s a lag time, but at distances like ST, there should be years before they arrive. Subspace communications supposedly travel faster than light, something to do with being in an alternate or hidden dimension. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newbie-questions-about-star-trek/154847/5 "2003-02-13T16:47:13Z")
Actually, in the last Tech Guide I read (DS9), subspace communications travel 60 times faster than the maximum warp speed possible on current-generation starships. Not that this hasn’t been violated regularly. Trek isn’t really known for technological consistency, despite the efforts of a legion of fans determined to make everything fit. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newbie-questions-about-star-trek/154847/6 "2003-02-13T16:58:02Z")
It should also be noted that a lot of the technological inconsistencies are, as **Skammer** wrote above, “because it’s TV”. Space is big. Really big. (Apologies to Douglas Adams). The distances involved in real life would require hours of delay time, even _with_ subspace communications. This does not make for good television. The original series got away with it by having the Enterprise rarely try to “call home”. The later series made a huge mess of it. ---
**Author:** ![Kilt-wearin\_man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/82dd89/32.png) [@Kilt-wearin\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilt-wearin_man)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newbie-questions-about-star-trek/154847/7 "2003-02-13T17:03:03Z")
An early episode of _Enterprise_ dealt with deploying “subspace radio buoys” and the subsequent destruction of those buoys by a hostile alien ship - it was mentioned that if one or two more buoys were taken out, Enterprise would be out of touch with Earth until they could backtrack far enough for a signal. “Subspace radio” has always been the explanation for instantaneous communication over great distances since the original series. They take great pains not to explain how it works, simply that it does and the time lag is minimized. Unless it’s more dramatic to have to wait for a response. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newbie-questions-about-star-trek/154847/8 "2003-02-13T18:43:07Z")
> [@](#): > > -Where are the emissions from the impulse reactors? (propellants have to go somewhere…) Actually, they don’t. There aren’t any emissions from the impulse engines, nor do they consume power; the process of the engines operating regenerates the power as it is used up. They can run forever so long as nothing breaks. They turn them on, and the ship starts to move. Handy, huh? ---
**Author:** ![SC\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@SC\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SC_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newbie-questions-about-star-trek/154847/9 "2003-02-13T19:51:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by athelas \* > **-Why is the bridge in such a vulnerable spot?** So they could have that nice little dome window on top. In all fairness though, you could ask the same question about modern naval ships. > [@](#): > > **-When an alien is being translated with the UT, why does its face still look like it’s speaking English?** Actually, I recall an episode of NextGen (may have been the one where Q gets exiled from the continuium) where the lip movements of an alien race weren’t in sync with the UT. Curiously enough, the UT also gave the race somewhat of a Japanese accent, which made for a rather good “kung-fu godzilla theater” effect. ---
**Author:** ![SC\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@SC\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SC_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newbie-questions-about-star-trek/154847/10 "2003-02-13T19:54:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ethilrist \* > **Actually, they don’t. There aren’t any emissions from the impulse engines** Then how did Excelsior track the cloaked Klingon bird of prey in _Undiscovered Country_? ---
**Author:** ![Kn\_ckers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/96bed5/32.png) [@Kn\_ckers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kn_ckers)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newbie-questions-about-star-trek/154847/11 "2003-02-13T20:15:24Z")
A lot of these questions can’t really be answered, other than to give the good old Mystery Science Theater 3000 explanation: “If you’re wondering how he eats and breathes, and other science facts/ Just repeat to yourself ‘it’s just a show, I should really just relax!’” As for the issues that can be resolved/justified, I’m too lazy and stupid to bother. So there. Best o’luck in your quest, though, **athelas** , and welcome!! ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newbie-questions-about-star-trek/154847/12 "2003-02-13T20:31:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SC\_Wolf \* > \*\*Then how did Excelsior track the cloaked Klingon bird of prey in _Undiscovered Country_? \*\* They had just upgraded to the latest model DisContinuity Detector. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newbie-questions-about-star-trek/154847/13 "2003-02-13T20:43:38Z")
Aren’t the impulse engines just advanced ion rockets? In that case, there has to be emission. Was there ever any follow-up to that episode in TNG where the Federation imposed a Warp 5 speed limit on vessels because it appeared that warp travel was actually damaging “the fabric of space-time”? Probably not. Silly show. Some hot chicks, though. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newbie-questions-about-star-trek/154847/14 "2003-02-13T21:09:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Baldwin \* > \*\* > > Was there ever any follow-up to that episode in TNG where the Federation imposed a Warp 5 speed limit on vessels because it appeared that warp travel was actually damaging “the fabric of space-time”? Probably not. > > \*\* It was only through that one area of the quadrant. Like a school zone. **athelas** , [here](http://www.startrek.com/information/faq_list.asp) is a good source of info. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newbie-questions-about-star-trek/154847/15 "2003-02-13T21:31:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by athelas \* > \*\* > -Why are all aliens humanoids with forehead ridges? > \*\* Exceptions (from TOS) include: “The Companion” - _Metamorphosis_ - a sentient energy-cloud the Horta - _Devil In The Dark_ - a mobile sentient rock Yarnek - _TheSavage Curtain_ - a bipedal lump of sentient magma the Gorn - _Arena_ - a man-sized intelligent allosaurus Korob and Sylvia - _Catspaw_ - tiny little sock puppets 😃 the Organians - _Errand of Mercy_ - sentient balls of light the salt vampire - _The Man Trap_ - only very broadly speaking humanoid Medusans (such as Kollos) - _Is There In Truth No Beauty?_ - form unknown; luminous; either too hideous or too beautiful to be viewed without going mad (Spock, with a protective eyeshield, seemed to find Kollos quite charming) the Tholians - _The Tholian Web_ - sentient crystals and probably some others I can’t call to mind right now. Obviously, funny humanoids are easier to cast 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newbie-questions-about-star-trek/154847/16 "2003-02-13T21:43:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by athelas \* > **-When two ships meet, why are they always facing the same direction? (i.e. both ships’ “up” is the same direction)** The galaxy (ours and most others) are not amorphous collections of space; they tend to be “lens-shaped”, i.e., a disk which is thicker in the center and thinner at the edges (yes, and sometimes composed of two spiral arms, but you take my meaning). Now, this is pure speculation on my part, but I would think that a ship might tend to travel with its orientation such that the galactic axis (that is, the vector normal to the plane of the disk) is considered “up”. Therefore, there are only two possible orientations that would be considered “normal”. So you would expect other ships to either be oriented like yours is, or else upside down. Make sense?..Timmy ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newbie-questions-about-star-trek/154847/17 "2003-02-13T21:43:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by athelas \* > **-When two ships meet, why are they always facing the same direction? (i.e. both ships’ “up” is the same direction)** I believe there was an ‘official’ explanation that it was easier for ships to orient themselves along the plane of the galaxy itself. Somehow things like communications and motion seemed to operate better. Something like that anyway. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by athelas \* > **-Why is the bridge in such a vulnerable spot?** There is also a Battle Bridge, which is buried deeper in the center of the primary hull, for safety. It has appeared in a couple of episodes, but I am no Trek-expert so couldn’t tell you which they were. ---
**Author:** ![Swampwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Swampwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swampwolf)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newbie-questions-about-star-trek/154847/18 "2003-02-13T21:55:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by athelas \* > \*\*-Why, in all ships, are the warp nacelles not directly behind the ship’s center of gravity? > \*\* I’ll bow to others’ superior pedantic skills for the most part, but the one thing I do know is that “center of gravity” is probably a meaningless concept in space. But then, there’s probably inertia and mass and other bighead brainy science stuff I’m not taking into account which would make the question a valid one. ---
**Author:** ![Will\_Repair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a698b9/32.png) [@Will\_Repair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Will_Repair)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newbie-questions-about-star-trek/154847/19 "2003-02-13T22:14:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by athelas \* > **-Why is there no television?** They’re a more advanced civilization. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newbie-questions-about-star-trek/154847/20 "2003-02-13T22:38:17Z")
Accoring to Okuda, the warp nacelles have to be somewhat separated from the ship proper in order for the ship not to be affected in strange ways. Seems like a funny way to explain it. If someone has _The Star Trek Encyclopedia_, could you look that up? I’ll try to find it later if no one else posts. a TNG show refrenced TV as one of the vices Man gave up. The one with the icy dead people. But, they have holodecks! How much of vice could THAT be? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newbie-questions-about-star-trek/154847.md?page=2)