Question about Star Trek's "Enterprise" intercom...

[KansDem]

Now, I wasn't a Trekkie, but I watched a few episodes. As I understand it, the "Enterprise" ran on some kind of power that was far beyond nuclear power (dilithium crystals), so we're talking about the most advanced technology here. But, whenever Capt. Kirk was summoned by intercom, he had to walk over to some land-line, rinky-dink box that looked like it was purchased at Wal-Mart, fastened to the wall to talk. He even had to hit a button to send.

Now, if the technology was sooooo advanced on this ship, why not have communications that didn't require such analog technology? Why not use technology that would allow two individuals to communicate using brainwaves alone?

[Richardo]

Because that would make for 1) boring or 2) hilarious television

Two characters staring at each other, then inexplicably bolting for the transporter room! :rofl:

[KansDem]

3. Well, Capt. Kirk could have been contacted anywhere in the ship

...without relying on a box-on-the-wall. Sort of like in department stores in my youth: a voice could say, "Summoning Capt. Kirk," then Kirk could say, "Here," then the communication commences without any visible device. I mean, the conservations weren't private as we heard everything said coming out of the intercom box, so why not have him speak to an invisble telecommunications device?

[qb]

7. The soap operas of my childhood were far more advanced than Star Trek

They had technology that could broadcast people's thoughts through our TV speaker ;)

[Cannikin]

13. William Shatner invented the cell phone

but it was only after the invention of the cellular phone that a series came along with characters toting portable wireless communicators around the clock.

"While some young Trekkers dreamed of space, others were more interested in the gadgets onboard, and would make it their life's work to bring these toys off the screen and onto the streets. Marty Cooper, a chief engineer at Motorola, understood that people were inherently mobile and would never want to be chained to their desks, tethered to conventional telephones. Captain Kirk and his USS Enterprise colleagues were on to something with their cordless "communicator" with voice recognition technology. Inspired by the brick-like device, Cooper and the Motorola team invented the first mobile cellular phone, giving birth to the start of a communications revolution."


www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGyQVO62QM0

[Dr. Strange]

1. The future only had analog technology back in the 1960s.

Today, we know that the future has much better technology--much better than it did four decades ago.

[Bucky]

16. They knew that the image recordings wouldn't be video anymore

There's one episode where a computer malfunction makes it look like the captain pushed a button on his swivel chair when he really didn't. That means that the images are data-based reconstructions of reality, not actual pictures.

I thought that was pretty outside the box

[edbermac]

2. And another thing...

I assume they were using artificial gravity in Star Trek. Why was it whenever the ship lost power, everybody wasn't floating all over the place?

WHY?? :mad:

[DS1]

4. Because Kirk's enormous balls were stored in that bubble below the saucer

and those provided enough gravity to keep everyone down. This is also the reason why green chicks never got pregnant, the balls were still on the ship.

[theredpen]

6. Actually in an early episode of "Star Trek:Enterprise", they had a gravity failure

ST:E tried to make up for some of the things that SHOULD have happened in the original Star Trek, but they couldn't afford to do the effects for.

In another scene, one of the engineers finds the "sweet spot." This is a place where you can escape the gravity from the deck your on and jump up to be captured by the gravity of the deck above so you could sit on the ceiling. In yet another episode, Captain Archer cranks up the gravity at a specific place in order to immobilize an enemy (a computer-rendered Gorn, who doesn't look like a guy in a rubber suit).

ST:E suffered from weak writing in the first two seasons and by the time it hit its stride, it had lost its audience and got canceled :(.

P.S. And my college classmate, Mike Fincke got to be in the final episode. That and he's been stations on the ISS twice. Asshole.

[TheMightyFavog]

8. One of the Trek Movies had a gravity failure on a Klingon Ship...

Vi, I think.

[edbermac]

15. Yes #6 The Undiscovered Country.

But that was the Klingons, all balls and no brains. It's amazing they even learned to fly.

[Orsino]

5. A failure of imagination and/or budget...

...as with a lot of Trek, and TV in general. The producers of the show could conceive of a walkie-talkie sort of device for use outside the ship, but it was only after the invention of the cellular phone that a series came along with characters toting portable wireless communicators around the clock. Someday, there'll be a Trek in which people have wireless technology built right in.

It's only TV. It can prophecy, but it spends most of its time reinforcing stereotypes. Even at the start of TNG, chicks still wore miniskirts and go-go boots.

[pokerfan]

9. You gotta watch out for those intercoms.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh9Hrmmsbs0

[ElboRuum]

10. Trekkie to non-Trekkie:

The Enterprise ran on two types of power, one for faster than light travel (warp drive) and another for sub-light travel (impulse drive). While the specifics of impulse drive are not often discussed in the show, warp drive involves utilizing dilithium crystals and sufficient energy, through matter-antimatter annihilation, to open up a passage into subspace, where the 186,282 mi/s light speed limit does not exist. Dilithium crystals, as it turns out, look in the three-dimensional world like ordinary quartz. However dilithium is different in that its crystal lattice extends into subspace. When enough energy is channeled through the crystals, a subspace warp field is created, shaped by the warp nacelles (those pylons on the back of the ship) to push it along in subspace at what appear in normal space as faster-than-light velocities, only without those nasty relativistic time-dilation effects.

Now, that's pretty advanced technology. However, the power delivery system within the ship would be poorly served by warp fields, wouldn't it? A warp field powered hair dryer? No, it is likely that the energy used to power the ships internal systems are far more geared to life in normal space. While no mention is made of it, the delivery of useful energy around the ship and into portable devices is probably still electricity (or something electromagnetic), converted from some of the energy generated in the matter-antimatter reactor, while the delivery of data seems to be photonic (light), such as fiber optic cables. Computation seems to be of the quantum variety, and data storage capacities are measured in exabytes (XB). Regardless of the technology, electrical power makes sense for all of these systems.

True, the box on the wall was rinky-dink, and while I'm sure they could have been a bit more stylish, the send button makes perfect sense, while I admit something voice activated, or will activated, might be more futuristic, you still don't want to be in an always-on mode where anyone can hear every word or thought you have.

Bear in mind that this intercom system may be more advanced than you realize. Did you ever notice how these intercoms are everywhere, yet whenever they are used, the intercom system only delivers the connection to the one closest the the target of the communication? So, clearly the intercom system is tied into the internal personnel tracking system in some way. Note that whoever is initiating the contact only has to speak the name of the person to get this delivery system to work (no P/A, no paging system)?

Now that I've fully geeked out, I need to go lie down. Please refrain from asking any more Trek questions today.

[TCJ70]

11. Because transporting matter over large distances...

...is so much easier than transporting sound frequencies. Duh!

I like Star Trek, but I had never even thought about these things. As for the gravity thing, I think they had "emergency power" that kept gravity and life support going for awhile at least.

[krispos42]

12. Don't forget the lack of seatbelts! n/t

[hunter]

14. Who needs seatbelts?

If the inertial damping can't take the pounding you are just a smear on the wreckage.

What's remarkable is how close they always take it to the edge... Statistically a beating like that would destroy a starship 99 times out of a 100.

[pokerfan]

18. Lack of seatbelts in Space Balls

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vN-3bd_sQ6M

As far as the lack of cordless telephones, it was just lack of imagination on the part of the creators. Digital communications was in its infancy and also highly classified in the 18960's. They could conceive of a small subspace walkie talkie for Away Parties because presumably all away parties would share the same frequency. What they couldn't foresee was a way that all 430 individuals on board a starship could share a frequency or group of frequencies ala TDM or CDMA.

[Rabrrrrrr]

17. It's because Lee Mercer was never elected president, and so the technology never got the funding

that it should have.

Yes, early 21st century political movement actually had profound effect on the technology (all three) of the future.