As I’ve said before on these boards, I consider myself to be a fairly avid trekkie, as were my parents to the same or perhaps just slightly lesser degree. But there is something I have wondered for some time now. In Star Trek, the original series, Capt. Kirk just barely succeeds in stealing the Romulan cloaking device right off their ship. Then you never hear of the cloaking device again (or at least I don’t recall ever hearing of it again). Then in Star Trek: the Next Generation we learn that there is a treaty in effect with the Romulans that says the Federation agrees not to use the cloaking device in exchange for some concessions from the Romulans. What did they ever do with the cloaking device in TOS? Did they ever use it again? Does it ever appear again in TOS or one of the movies? And for that matter, what did Kirk and the Enterprise ever do with it? They had it last time I saw it.
I’m not the most knowledgable Trekker, but I think the general answer is, “nothing.” Phil Farrand makes the same points several times in his “Nitpicker’s Guide” books, that this was one plot hole that was never resolved. In the scope of the Trek universe, it makes no sense that the Federation would sign a treaty that lets all their enemies have a technology they themselves are not allowed to develop. There must have been some big concessions from the Romulans for the Federation to enter such an agreement.
The ST:TNG episode you’re referring to is, I believe, “The Pegasus,” in which Capt. Pressman (Terry O’Quinn), Riker’s former CO, uses the Enterprise to salvage a “phasing-cloak device” from the title ship. He states that the treaty had bound the Federation’s hands and kept them from exploiting a key defensive strategy, and FWIW, I’m inclined to agree.
There’s probably another answer in the scope of the original series’ production, relating to the writing or cinematography, but I can’t imagine one at the moment.
Presumably, the Romulans, being the inventors of the TOS cloaking device, could work up a way to penetrate it. Therefore, shortly after that one Federation use of it, it was no longer effective.
The is pretty stongly hinted at the end “The Enterprise Incident”. Spock and the captured Romulan Commander have a brief conversation in which she reminds him that the Romulans will be able to penetrate their own stolen cloaking device and Spock comments that military secrets are among the most fleeting.
Speculating, I could imagine that the stolen cloak was damn-near impossible for Federation scientist to figure out, but they bluffed and said they were learning all kinds of cool things and that they could soon deploy cloaked vessels of their own that were more advanced. The Romulans fell for this and made some concessions in order to get the Feds to abandon the research, not knowing the Feds were getting nowhere, anyway.
In any event, the cloak has always been a fairly weak plot device, easily penetrated by whatever tachyon-field technobabble is required. Heck, in the third film, Chekov spots a cloaked Klingon ship because a fairly obvious visual distortion of the star field(!). They must have fixed it, though, because the same ship had perfect invisibility while parked in San Francisco in the next movie.
Ther cloaking device prop was re-used several times during the series, including as Nomad (“The Changeling”) and Flynn’s “M5” robot in “Requiem for Methuselah”.
Even if they weren’t the inventors, they’d eventually find a way to detect it. It’d be the equivalent of the real world’s nuclear arms race… each side building bigger, stronger, and faster weapons, making the models of yesteryear obsolete but still effective to an extent.
Also, I seriously doubt that the Federation had any trouble in discovering how the thing worked once they got their hands on it. After all, Scotty was able to hook the damned thing up and make it work almost immediately and he’s only the main engineer. I’m sure the Corps of Engineers and/or Research and Development back in San Francisco had a dozen or more that were just as capable, or moreso, than he was.
My guess is that the Romulans traded away some planetary systems, allowed the Neutral Zone to be upkept, and/or promised not to decloak in Earth orbit for the Federation’s assurance that they would quit using cloaking technology.
I imagine it was sent back to Starfleet reseachers, to improve methods used to detect cloaked vessals; I assume there is something of a race between the Federation and the Romulans, both constantly improving sensor and cloaking technology.
It was just explained by Crewman Daniels that time is not unfolding correctly, that this sequence of events (all of Enterprise) should not be happening, and Archer is at the center of it.
The 1920’s style “Death Ray” was used in the Voyager episode “Bride of Chaotica.” Check it out for yourself.
They really didn’t have time to do much with the cloaking device anyway- the episode was one of the last before final cancellation, and no one was planning the future of the Federation just yet.
Don’t forget the treaty in which the Federation agreed not to use cloaking technology. I’ll look up the name and episode later (unless someone beats me to it.)
Also, some of the tech writers made suggestions that cloaking was inherently incompatible with StarFleet warp technology.
And the tech writers are full of BS. Scotty hooked the stolen one up to the Enterprise and it worked well, as did the Romulan loaned one that’s in use on the Defiant.
You’re right, Aes. But, that’s what has been said by different tech/continuity writers/consultants/assistants in different forums (TV shows, conventions, interviews, at that dinner party, etc…) I have to assume they meant long term compatability, since we all know the writers have indeed used cloaks when the episode “needed” it.
I agree, it’s a very big whole in their logic, but what are ya gonna do? :dubious:
Trek is a very big world. Now. When it all started, it only ran for three troublesome years. No one ever thought it would get this big.
Then, when it really took off, the errors were very obvious. To add to the problem, when new Trek (beginning with TMP) finally came out, Gene and some others had a lot they wanted to do that they didn’t get to in the first run. I think that in their rush to implement their pet ideas (esp Gene’s Technology Unchained Utopia), they missed some the obvious fixes.
Now, inertia seems to keep things at a status quo (except for certain huge ENT canon violations), so no cloaks for Hoo-mahns. The whole question of money is another casualty of this symptom. And the “militarism” of StarFleet.
Bottom line for me: I just watch it and complain illogically over the most mundane things. And canon violations.
