Spoilers Star Trek: Prodigy 1x18 - "Mindwalk"

[jackoverfull]

I think that my confusion came from 21 minutes 19 seconds in to the episode Asylum where Janeway asks ‘What would cause a Federation station to tear itself apart’. It is possible that the Living Construct could be both an AI virus infecting computer systems and also a gravimetric weapon, it could be a bit like a ‘Swiss Army knife’ using a multi pronged attack both software based and physical. There is no guarantee that a Starfleet ship would even have weapons. If the Living Construct is purely a virus, then perhaps it can affect inertial dampeners and artificial gravity as well as the weapons systems, this could result in it causing damage using the effects of gravity and inertia with these systems being used against the ships physical structure.

There is no indication anywhere of gravimetric weapons.

I think people tend to forget that the 1701-D had a skylight, so if windows are an issue, the problem started in 1987.

more like in 1965. Or at least that was the implication in the beginning shot of the cage…

 

[drt]

more like in 1965. Or at least that was the implication in the beginning shot of the cage…

Yeah, forgot about "The Cage" shot, although I suppose some would argue that zoom in was artistic license. On the other hand, the pilot version of the model had a rectangular window on the front of the bridge module, which may have indicated the original idea was to have a window instead of a viewscreen.

 

[Timofnine]

It is sort of forgiveable in TOS, where the weapons were so powerful it was heavily implied (if not shown outright in "Day of the Dove"), once shields were down, the next shot would completely destroy a ship; therefore, it didn't matter where the bridge was located. This was pretty much lost from TWoK onwards, so burying the bridge would make more sense for the later shows.

But how would the bridge be modular and easily replaceable if it was not on the top of the ship? An entire starship is equally delicate and vulnerable to destruction, risk is a part of the business. Starships are not meant for battle anyway; they are primarily meant for exploration so let’s not forget this. A starships hull is not necessarily its armour, unless it has ablative armour such as the Defiant and the Lexington. I think that the combination of navigational deflector technology and shielding would sufficiently protect a dome mounted bridge module as in the same way that these systems would equally protect the rest of the ship.

How would the crew look out of the view screen in Google glass mode like a window if it was not at the top of the ship? Yes, they could use a TV like screen, but what if the electrics stopped working and the viewscreen can no longer be powered? The crew would need a big transparent aluminium window ‘viewscreen’ so that they could still navigate and fire weapons manually. This argument is all a bit like asking why do astronauts travel at the nose tip at the top of a rocket shuttle where they are most vulnerable - the answer is that they are equally vulnerable no matter where they are travelling on the rocket. But they *do* have a nice window to look out of.

Now, as for Klingon bridges…

 

[Yale]

I think people tend to forget that the 1701-D had a skylight, so if windows are an issue, the problem started in 1987.

I thought it was supposed to be made of transparent aluminum, but in Generations it shattered like glass when the ship crash landed

 

[jackoverfull]

The fact that even the battle bridge is located on top of the star drive section and species such as the Klingon and the romulan place their bridges in exposed areas seem to imply that location is not that important.

Viewing things trough a
Window to “pilot the ship manually” in case of a power outage doesn’t make sense though. If there is no power there is no way to steer the ship.

 

[Timofnine]

It is sort of forgiveable in TOS, where the weapons were so powerful it was heavily implied (if not shown outright in "Day of the Dove"), once shields were down, the next shot would completely destroy a ship; therefore, it didn't matter where the bridge was located. This was pretty much lost from TWoK onwards, so burying the bridge would make more sense for the later shows.

This, absolutely. They probably wanted to make spaceship battles look cooler like in that Star Wars movie. I guess that some low powered directed energy beam weapons could ‘sting’ a hull though and scratch it a bit. Laser blasters perhaps.

 

[Mike Doyle]

The Sovereigns, Defiants and Akiras I get…but 16 Centaurs? Huh? Not to mention that they used the inaccurate Eaglemoss version where the ship is scaled to a normal Excelsior class rather than being much smaller relative to the filming model’s Constitution/Reliant bridge dome, among other inconsistencies. And I guess having 16 of them makes it clear that the ship is its own class rather than a ‘wartime bash of Excelsior parts.’ I wonder if they will give the class name in dialogue.

The hero ship of Star Trek: Resurgence (upcoming video game and prequel comic) is also of this class.

 

[Dukhat]

The hero ship of Star Trek: Resurgence (upcoming video game and prequel comic) is also of this class.

Actually, it is a modified version of the Centaur with even more changes from the original filming model than the EM model has.

 

[StewMc]

Have to say, based on the first episode alone, did anyone expect that 18 episodes later there would be Sovereign and Defiant class ships flying around?

Looking forward to a rewatch of the whole first season once it’s done, to see how well it all flows together.

 

[Dukhat]

Have to say, based on the first episode alone, did anyone expect that 18 episodes later there would be Sovereign and Defiant class ships flying around?

Well, not to be pedantic but there were mostly Sovereigns, Akiras and Centaurs. There were only two Defiants.

The Sovereigns I can understand. The Akiras were there only because it seems every Trek producer for the last 20 years has had a hardon for that ship. The Centaurs, I have no clue why they used them. It seems to be a very odd combination of ships.

Honestly, I was hoping for something a little more original. We got the great Protostar and Dauntless designs, and then the fleet ends up being boring.

 

[Oddish]

They can only change up so much in the five years it's been since Voyager returned.

 

[StewMc]

Well, not to be pedantic but there were mostly Sovereigns, Akiras and Centaurs. There were only two Defiants.

Sure, it was just a simplification, it was more that the show started mostly unfamiliar (aside from Janeway) and we’ve ended up where we are now.

And the Centaurs, yeah agreed, odd choice.

 

[jackoverfull]

Have to say, based on the first episode alone, did anyone expect that 18 episodes later there would be Sovereign and Defiant class ships flying around?

Looking forward to a rewatch of the whole first season once it’s done, to see how well it all flows together.

very true, the first few episodes seemed to hint that the series would be extremely generic, barely Star Trek, and then something awesome started happening.

 

[Wouter]

Sure, it was just a simplification, it was more that the show started mostly unfamiliar (aside from Janeway) and we’ve ended up where we are now.

And the Centaurs, yeah agreed, odd choice.

That may be because a Centaur (though with a changed model, apparently larger than the Centaur that appeared in DS9) appears as the "hero ship" in an upcoming game named "Resurgence", done by people that used to be at Telltale games (so an interactive movie/choice game in the vein of usual Telltale games). Maybe they could use assets of said game, that they could import.

very true, the first few episodes seemed to hint that the series would be extremely generic, barely Star Trek, and then something awesome started happening.

The pilot may have seemed barely Star Trek (from Starstruck on it felt a lot more Star Trek anyway, IMO), but animation, characters and story were good right from the start. And even so, the universal translator (and lack of it) playing a major role is very Star Trek.

 

[Tuskin38]

The hero ship of Star Trek: Resurgence (upcoming video game and prequel comic) is also of this class.

The one is Resurgence is modified. It has a forward shuttle bay and a deflector dish under the saucer.

 

[Wouter]

Much of the interaction between Janeway and the teens wasn't shown, specifically the part where they tell her about the weapon (and I suppose, about Tars Lamora, their escape and the confrontation with the Diviner there). So we don't know if Janeway told them about Ascencia (even if only that she found a weird robot and a Vau N'akat in Ascencia's chambers, maybe not 100% certain yet that Ascencia and the Vau N'akat are the same person). This is something that Gwyn could have picked up on, but nothing was shown.

The behaviour of the Diviner was weird: what did he think would happen after he freed Janeway? As far as he knew, she had brain damage. And if he thought a little rest and medication would cure her sufficiently so that she would register his words, wasn't he actively sabotaging "the mission" by giving her the opportunity to sound the alarm (even if she wouldn't be believed, Ascencia and Diviner would at least come under scrutiny).

Dal's flippant answer seemed to puzzle him, rightly so as it didn't seem a natural response from a (non insane/possessed) Janeway. Janeway has never met Gwyn and should know next to nothing about her at that point, so why would she "do anything for her"? It could have been phrased differently and more believably as "I would do anything for my daughter/son too (if I would have one)", but that wouldn't have been a flippant answer.

I feel this episode was not quite as tightly plotted and connected to the overall plot as Prodigy episodes usually are (also with the lack of an explanation of the slightly puzzling actions and inactions of the Construct), here the priority seemed to be the mindswap gag and the meeting of the Janeways.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

But how would the bridge be modular and easily replaceable if it was not on the top of the ship?

Just BEAM the bridge module in or out, as needed.

 

[Deks]

Thinking further about the placement of the Bridge... well, is it possible that placing it in the middle of the ship wouldn't really be the best possible solution?
The Warp core is near the center of the ship. In a tense situation, you want to be as far away as possible from the main power source if things go awry and you have exploding conduits.

The bridge seems relatively far away from internal conduit breaches after all.
Sure, it may be a tactical disadvantage to place it on Deck 1 (at the very top of the ship), but with the weapons these ships have, not sure placing the bridge deeper in the ship would be of much use (secondary explosions and bleedthrough could easily cripple the internals of the ship).

Plus, most other species seem to have bridges near the edge of the ship's hull. Klingon ships have distinctive 'neck's which can be blown off just as easily a bridge can be blown apart.

Just BEAM the bridge module in or out, as needed.

You'd think so, but I'm sure the producers of Trek will never use transporters like that. Constructing a ship by combining transporters and replicators would after all be possible, and yet its alluded its not possible to replicate ships into existence (which technically should be possible in-universe).
Heck, even if you can't replicate a whole ship into existence, they could still replicate pieces and transport them directly into place.
Internal upgrades and damage repair could easily be done by using transporters to beam out the old/damaged section, decompose it into base materials, restructure it into new one and beam it back into place (and presto).

 

[Jinn]

Constructing a ship by combining transporters and replicators would after all be possible, and yet its alluded its not possible to replicate ships into existence (which technically should be possible in-universe).

That seems odd, considering the vehicle replicator in Prodigy is basically that exact thing on a smaller scale.

 

[Deks]

That seems odd, considering the vehicle replicator in Prodigy is basically that exact thing on a smaller scale.

Exactly.
Given the principles of transporters and replicators in the 24th century, turning drydocks (which are used to build, repair and refit starships) into massive pattern buffers and merging both replication and transporter capabilities should be doable.
There's a thicker section of the drydock at the 'top' usually (most of which can be used to store multiple industrial grade replicators... just line and network them up to occupy most of that space, power them with solar and or/fusion and M/AM (whichever is needed) and start replicating ships into existence.

Problem is that some writers have said they intentionally limited functionality of replicators to just not be capable of replicating whole ships into existence because it makes UFP too powerful (apparently), and that for some reason, you wouldn't really need ships with that kind of capability.

But even if that's the case, again, nothing stops Starfleet/UFP from replicating bits and pieces of ships into existence and assembling them (sort of like prefabrication today).
Transporters onboard a starship can easily beam a shuttle/runabout sized object... just imagine what a networked amount of transporters and industrial grade replicators could do.

Since the vehicle replicator onboard the Protostar can already make a shuttle or various vehicles... scaling up the process to make something like a starship wouldn't exactly be THAT problematic... but again, we can easily just say they can replicate portions of starships and just beam them into place (since starships are supposed to be modular).

Either way, building a starship the size of a Galaxy class (or larger) wouldn't take very long using these methods.

You just establish a forcefield that has the shape/size of a ship you want to create, and star beaming/replicating stuff into it and drop forcefields as sections are created.