DumbDumb2007
Commander
Should the NX-01 have gotten Shieldss in the early or late part of season 1. Or should the show have startd out with the ship simply having defelctor shields.
NX-01 : Should it have gotten shields in Season 1
- Thread starter DumbDumb2007
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Well, I for one, was a hue ENT fan, and it was only second to DS9.
But no, I liked the lack of sheilds. The whole idea was to show that ENT was behind the other series' and they lacked the fancy toys that made life comfortable from TOS on.
But no, I liked the lack of sheilds. The whole idea was to show that ENT was behind the other series' and they lacked the fancy toys that made life comfortable from TOS on.
Not having shields and having "Polarized Hull Plating" is what made Enterprise... Enterprise! Shields would've diminished the initial feel to the series IMO. Shields later on would've been an ok addition, like during the Xindi Arc or even in Season 4. Would've much rather seen an episode about Energy Shielding being installed and used then "Daedalus" or "Observer Effect".
Aint you open minded
I think they should have jury rigged something from a downed ship during the Xindi ark, that way they could have had some improvements but it could possibly stop working after abuse because it wasnt meant to work with Earth systems and was patched together.
For a ship to travel at the speeds Enterprise did, it had to have some kind of deflector, or it would have been obliterated by space dust, IMO. If not, they'd have to be out replacing the hull plates every time they turned around. It was dumb not to acknowledge the presence of that technology and just put shields on the ship. They anachronistically put just about every other Trek tech on it, why not shields?
[EDIT] It did have a navigational deflector, so the tech existed. It was a plot device to artificially amp up peril and underscore that "we're a prequel" not to use it. See: http://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/blueprints/starfleet-vessel-enterprise-nx-01-sheet-9.jpg
[EDIT] It did have a navigational deflector, so the tech existed. It was a plot device to artificially amp up peril and underscore that "we're a prequel" not to use it. See: http://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/blueprints/starfleet-vessel-enterprise-nx-01-sheet-9.jpg
I was not glad to see the upgrade to photon(ic) torpedo's, so no I didn't want to see tractor beams or shields, even though hull polarisation was basically just shields under a different monicker.
Herrumph. Enterprise was a decent show. It struggled because all fans were doing online was knocking it. We were lucky to get a Season 4, which was a pretty good darn season.
... as people were falling all over themselves with delight and wonder at the concentrated awesomeness of ``Oasis'', but took one look at online chatter and decided, ``Well, I must have been wrong and thought it was a dull retread of yet another blasted holodeck story'' instead.
Granted, polarized plating was pretty close to shields (except sparks started flying a lot sooner and they weren't imune to transporters), but, no, they shouldn't have had shields (I would have changed the dialogue for polarized plating and at least remove percentages). Shields would be a nice thing for later, to show technology progressing, though.
Aside from the grapnel hook, the polarized hull plating was really the only thing that conveyed NX-01 was a pre-Federation starship to me. But once they started that stuff about hull plating down X-percent during battle, then it became a case of why even bother. You might as well have shields or perhaps just "force fields" (something that might sound more primitive or less powerful than deflector shields).
The polarized plating should be a case of either it works or it doesn't--and when it doesn't, parts of the hull go bye-bye and the ship has to get the hell out of there before she's destroyed...
The polarized plating should be a case of either it works or it doesn't--and when it doesn't, parts of the hull go bye-bye and the ship has to get the hell out of there before she's destroyed...
Completely agree. Part of the point of ENT is that everything is supposed to be less-advanced than the 23rd and 24th centuries. The NX-01 shouldn't be this perfect ship with all sorts of fancy gizmos and capabilities. I liked that aspect of the series, up until the writers kept forgetting what timeframe the series was set in, and ended up making it just like the previous 24th century shows.
Even if they didn't have "shields", WHATEVER idea they came up for with protection would basically would have just been a shield with some fancy name. You know what I'm saying? No matter what fancy gimmick they came up with, it would boil down to being a shield. The only other option (which would have been quite bold) would have been to have NO shielding. But then I feel the show would probably have been a bit more diplomatic, and the non-watching casual "target" audience of UPN would have been bored without the stimulation of "exciting" space battles.
As has been said, the 'polarized hull plating' did the same thing as 'shields.' In practice, there was very little difference.
The problem I saw was that many if not most of the other races did have shields, phasers, photon torpedoes... everything the NX-01 didn't have that Kirk's ship and later did have. So the NX-01 was at a disadvantage to just about everyone they came into contact with. And that is why the hull plating, which should have been somehow less than shields, had to be used in just about the same fashion.
If technology levels were more similar, then you could have hull plating work differently from shields.
The problem I saw was that many if not most of the other races did have shields, phasers, photon torpedoes... everything the NX-01 didn't have that Kirk's ship and later did have. So the NX-01 was at a disadvantage to just about everyone they came into contact with. And that is why the hull plating, which should have been somehow less than shields, had to be used in just about the same fashion.
If technology levels were more similar, then you could have hull plating work differently from shields.
I've run across quite a few stories with starships featuring shields of various kinds; many of them come up with clever ideas that avoid looking alike. For example, an early Asimov short story (``Black Friar of the Flame'') with otherwise no merit has a neat shield that very effectively blocks incoming attacks, but also leaves the defender completely blind and unable to fire out -- so a battle becomes a much more mysterious and suspenseful thing, sitting tight and peeking out in the attempt to find where targets are and do something in the narrow moments of vulnerability.
Then in Arthur C Clarke's outstanding and absolutely must-read short story ``Superiority'' created a field that warped space and made it nigh-impossible for the shielded ship to be attacked and mighty easy for it to attack.
Take an afternoon at it and someone with a modestly devious mind could probably come up with a half-dozen credible shielding systems that don't lend themselves at all to ``port shielding down to 47 percent!'' blather, to the general improvement of the show's uniqueness and individuality.
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