What's The Point Of The Type-8?

[Bry_Sinclair]

Throughout TNG (including movies), DS9 and VOY we've been exposed to many different types of shuttlecraft: the utilitarian Type-6, the curvey Type-7, the fast Type-9, the sturdy Type-10, and the big Type-11.

So what was the point of the Type-8? It was basically a Type-6 but with different nacelles and pylons. It wasn't any bigger or more advanced so it didn't really need to be classed as a different type of shuttle, but could have just been an upgrade to the Type-6.

Ok, I know its not much of a question but its something that's bugged me for a while and I was just wondering if anyone else found it a pointless addition.

 

[Mytran]

It had the super-groovy Voyager style nacelles!

Honestly, I've never much liked this shuttle either. It lacks both the simple honesty of the Type 6 constuction without the sleekness of the Type 9, plus there was that weird beak-like front. I'm glad they phased it out.

 

[MacLeod]

My guess it's just an upgraded version of the Type VI shuttle. Though rather call it a Type VI/B or something similar they just went with the designation Type VIII. As it appeared on VOY I'm guessing they wanted the shuttles to have similiar characteristics to the the mothership.

After all just imagine if the nacelles looked totally different it would confuse the audiance.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

I know, good gods how could we cope!?!?!?!?

 

[C.E. Evans]

It could be an issue of performance. The Type-8 shuttle could be faster and have a longer operational range than the Type-6.

 

[SchwEnt]

Because somehow, it became important that shuttles have matching mini-versions of their mothership's nacelles.

 

[Sumghai]

Because somehow, it became important that shuttles have matching mini-versions of their mothership's nacelles.

Something to do with being able to identify what class ship a particular shuttle belonged to just by looking at their nacelles?

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Its been established that ships have transponder codes that they can read to help identify each other, so each shuttle would have one that could show which ship it came from.

There is also the little thing of name and registry number across the sides of the shuttle as well

 

[Timo]

One thing that actually makes a treknological difference here is that Type 8 nacelles sport visible ramscoops, whereas the small "windows" on Type 6 nacelle tips are there only if you squint real hard and imagine a lot. This might translate to a greater range for Type 8, or whatever it is that these ramscoops do (the one thing they have never been stated to do in onscreen dialogue, or shown doing, is replenishing of fuel!).

In more general terms, Starfleet has apparently long ago decided that the only correct way to build a shuttle is to have a simple box for a hull, with the latest engines etc. attached. Type 8 complies with that.

The real mystery lies in Starfleet abandoning that approach in ST:INS and ST:NEM, in favor of weirdly shaped shuttles that don't even have cabin access doors!

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Tomalak]

The real mystery lies in Starfleet abandoning that approach in ST:INS and ST:NEM, in favor of weirdly shaped shuttles that don't even have cabin access doors!

Timo Saloniemi

They must get in and out through those little escape hatches in the top and bottom. Not very accessible!

 

[Timo]

The shuttle from ST:INS at least has this stern door, which is fairly narrow and awkward; apparently, the two small doors on the sides of the cockpit set (relics of the original use of the set as a runabout cockpit) lead to lateral corridors that access the rear door. Probert's Type 7 had the bow door we never saw in action, and an equally awkward stern door. But in order to get out of the ST:NEM cargo shuttle, one apparently has to open the big cargo door and shove the dune buggy out of the way...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Sumghai]

Its been established that ships have transponder codes that they can read to help identify each other, so each shuttle would have one that could show which ship it came from.

There is also the little thing of name and registry number across the sides of the shuttle as well

From an in-universe perspective, that's probably how it was done, although to a TV audience, the visual impact of the overall shuttle profile speaks greater volumes.

Interestingly, Doug Drexler had the following to say in his blog entry on the Type-10 Chaffee:

We both liked Matt Jefferies idea of identifying the mothership by the shuttles nacelles.

I guess it's a tradition perpetuated by the production staff.

 

[Hugh Mann]

That is also the reason for the design of the nacelles on the Shuttlepod Chaffee, a craft assigned to the USS Defiant:

I took a cue from Walter "Matt" Jefferies once again when coming up with the concept. The original Galileo shuttle as seen in TOS had the same nacelles as the Enterprise. That way the audience would have instant recognition as to who the shuttle belonged to. The Chaffee carried the unusual looking drum shaped nacelles as the Defiant. I'm sorry we never saw it again. Foundation Imaging did their usual great job showing the Chaffee exiting the mother ship.

http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Chaffee_type_shuttlepod

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

So does that mean that shuttles assigned to Constellation-Class ships have four nacelles?

I know that designers want things to match for audiences, but does that actually matter to anyone?

Maybe the type-8 is like the DS9 minefield and is self-replicating. It would help answer the VOY shuttle puzzle

 

[Sumghai]

So does that mean that shuttles assigned to Constellation-Class ships have four nacelles?

I know that designers want things to match for audiences, but does that actually matter to anyone?

Four narcelles, you say?

I kid, I kid - this is the Dragonfly from the aborted Star Trek: Final Frontier animated series :P

But seriously, I suspect that since the TV series didn't go into a terrible amount of detail for the Constellation-class, their shuttle designs are anyone's guess.

Maybe the type-8 is like the DS9 minefield and is self-replicating. It would help answer the VOY shuttle puzzle

Whilst the following is not exactly canon, Strategic Design's Intrepid-class deck plans from Cygnus-X1.net suggests that Voyager most probably had a large number of shuttles to being with, stored in a parking bay on Deck 11. They could be bought up into the main shuttlebay on Deck 10 via a elevator platform.

And of course there's an industrial replicator for shuttle components, again also on Deck 10 to the starboard side of the shuttlebay.

 

[TommyR01D]

We could class it as a major internal update of the Type 6, but retaining the original platform and body/shell. Obviously, the real life reason is that they needed a shuttlecraft that looked up to date (since the TNG beige wouldn't really match VOY silver/grey), but didn't yet have the budget for the Class 2 shuttle introduced in Threshold.

 

[Timo]

...They never did, as all they ever built of it was the interior and a scale model (later CGI). Which is what Type 8 was as well: an interior, coupled with a virtual (originally scale model) exterior.

Creating an exterior scale model that looked roughly like Type 6 would have cost no less or more than creating an exterior scale model that looked radically different. All they would have needed was some sort of commonality in the windshield shape...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[TommyR01D]

That was why the Type 6/8 hung around, and why they always had to revert to it whenever they needed to show people going in and out of a shuttle, or the craft parked somewhere. Of course, once the old shuttle prop finally died (I think we last saw it in VOY: Gravity, then it got turned into "Alice"), such scenes were cut out altogether. You can see this in VOY: Fury, which is supposed to take place back in Season 1, when the Type 8 was the only shuttlecraft seen. It no longer existed, so they had to use a Class 2 (which is fine in-universe, but it wasn't introduced until Season 2), and mock up the rear end so we could see Paris enter.