Intrepid class starship shuttlebay?

[James Wright]

Recently I saw part of a Voyager episode where Janeway told Tom Paris & Harry Kim to land the shuttle they were using in shuttlebay 2, it was the third episode dealing with species 8472.
I thought Intrepid class starships had 1 shuttlebay located in the aft section of the engineering hull?
Was a mistake made in the script?

JDW

 

[Wingsley]

There is mention of a main shuttlebay, as well as some sort of adjacent annex bay, in the Memory Alpha article on Intrepid-class starships.

http://www.memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Intrepid_class

Scroll most of the way down the article to the section titled "Auxiliary spacecraft systems".

 

[starburst]

So mayb she was telling him to land in a particular area of the shuttle storage area known as bay 2?

So unlike say the EntD which has a main bay and a bay 2&3 Voyager has a shuttle launch/landing deck and bays inside for craft??

 

[Patrickivan]

Just take it with grain of salt as being one of many inconstancies. They have one shuttle bay as per every image ever seen on the ship.

 

[Timo]

Well, it's a goof in the dialogue continuity sense, as the earlier Trek usage has always associated "shuttlebay" with "the room with the space door".

And if we go by that usage, it's a goof in the exterior visual sense, too, there only being one space door on the ship.

But in terms of interiors and story logic, it's a welcome change in terminology, perhaps even a retcon. The Voyager desperately needs more than one shuttlebay, in order to accommodate her own auxiliaries, the Delta Flyer, Neelix' Baxial, and the assorted guest craft.

And we see that the interior has a "bay" structure in that the set (let's ignore its scaling "liberties" for now) shows the space door from inside, and then a kink in the layout so that at least one "bay" juts to the port from the main longitudal space. Quite possibly there are several such "bays", all connecting to the starboard longitudal space (which is then subdivided by wall-like doors between each bay).

Some TARDISing is required to make this all fit, scalewise, but the multi-bay "comb" layout is sound as such.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Patrickivan]

Timo, ship schematics agree with your statement about areas of shuttle storage outside of the actual "shuttle bay". I don't think anyone ever assumed that there aren't other areas of shuttle storage.

I suppose what you're saying is, and please correct me if I misunderstood, is that the actual name of these shuttle garages may have the same titles as what we assume to mean something specific- a shuttle arrival/ departure area.

I would prefer that these areas be referred to as something other then "main shuttle bay", "shuttle bay 1 or 2", or anything with shuttle bay in it. It just leads to this kind of confusion. After all, the Enterprise D has the Main shuttle bay (1), shuttle bay 2, and shuttle bay 3- with 2 and 3 actually being numbered on the ship. But if we went by Voyager's terminology, shuttle bay 2 and 3 would be referring to two shuttle garages for the main bay...

In the published E-D's Blueprints, the Main Shuttle Bay, has a garage below it referred to as the "Lower Shuttle Maintenance Floor". Shuttle Bays 2 and 3 each have a shared maintenance floor below them. I refer to this simply to suggest that these areas be called a "shuttle Maintenance Floor". This would ensure continuity, and help alleviate confusion... Except when we watch an episode where the writer calls something whatever they think it's supposed to be called...

Again- we all know what they are refering to for the most part... They the continuity people just missed stuff sometimes, and other times, things have to be changed to make sense, such as the size of Voyager's bloody shuttle bay doors. ugh.

 

[Praetor]

I remember at the time the episode aired being initially confused, and thinking that Shuttlebay 1 might have been where the aeroshuttle was docked, while Shuttlebay 2 referred to the conventional shuttlebay. Maybe this is the easiest way to retcon the error away unless the 'room with the door' was ever referred to as Shuttlebay 1?

 

[Patrickivan]

Voyager was chalked full of confusing statements...

 

[FalTorPan]

Praetor said:
I remember at the time the episode aired being initially confused, and thinking that Shuttlebay 1 might have been where the aeroshuttle was docked...

I think you're on to something! Maybe the aeroshuttle was like the door of an overstuffed closet. Whenever Voyager needed one of its umpteen shuttlecraft, they'd simply release the aeroshuttle's docking clamps, and all the shuttles would tumble out. The ship's tractor beam would grab the shuttle they wanted, and the Deck 15 lackies had to spend the rest of the day cramming the other shuttles back into the bay and replugging it with the aeroshuttle.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

I've always been of the opinion (also posited by Sternbach) that Voyager simply didn't HAVE an Aeroshuttle. They simply hadn't gotten around to installing it yet, and there's a nonflight filler or ballast or something occupying that space. Or, there just wasn't one available, or they were late on producing it, or whatever. The simple fact that they hadn't bothered MENTIONING it in seven years could imply that it just wasn't there to begin with, even if it served some practical purpose beyond a Captain's yacht.

After all, we didnt' see THAT part of the Enterprise-D in seven years of TNG, either, even though there were several episodes that could have used it (and at least one that was written specifically with it in mind)...

Mark

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Mark_Nguyen said:
I've always been of the opinion (also posited by Sternbach) that Voyager simply didn't HAVE an Aeroshuttle.

I don't see why that would have to be the case. The Aeroshuttle docks on the bottom of the saucer, after all, and that's nowhere near the shuttle bay. So one would not interfere with the other.

 

[Praetor]

Yeah, but why did they never use it, when there were many good occasions to do so? I tend to agree with the Mr. Sternbach in rationalizing that away.

 

[seekertwo]

...or, when she said that, Paris just rolled his eyes, said "Yes, ma'am", and landed it in the only shuttlebay Voyager ever had....

That Janeway.....

 

[Timo]

Or then nobody ever says "shuttlebay two". Rather, people are cleared to "land - in shuttlebay, too", which is a definite luxury as opposed to just leaving the shuttle on the quarterdeck and spacewalking home.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[jpch]

LOL Voyager keeps getting barraged by haters

 

[sojourner]

Holey crap dude! A 5 year old thread???? are you on crack?

 

[Kemaiku]

 

[Tomalak]

Hey, this is some awesome nostalgia!

 

[F. King Daniel]

jpch is on a holy jihad of thread-resurrection today.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Yeah, but why did they never use it, when there were many good occasions to do so? I tend to agree with the Mr. Sternbach in rationalizing that away.

It was going to be installed on Tuesday.

Tuesday, a very special day in Starfleet indeed.

Plus, consider how many aircraft a naval carrier actually has, and how many can be launched at one time.