Re: Star Trek Teaser Trailer Now Up On The Internets

Steven L. wrote:
> Wouter Valentijn wrote:
>> Steven L. wrote:
>>> Anybody wrote:
>>>> In article <13p4up5p3dmsaec@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>, "Steven L."
>>>> <sdlitvin@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>>>>
>>
>> <snip>
>>
>>> Well, like we've already been discussing, Star Trek vastly
>>> underestimated what automation would be capable of in the future.
>>> Even 1966-era Boeing 707 airliners had autopilots.  Today's
>>> autopilots, just 40 years later, can handle complex courses with
>>> multiple waypoints, and can even land the plane by themselves.  The
>>> autopilots in today's supertankers can steer the ship by themselves
>>> similarly.
>>> In fact, you got to see the NCC-1701 on "autopilot" just once--in
>>> "The Menagerie," when Spock fed a course into the ship's computers
>>> and the computers steered the ship.
>>>
>>
>> I'd say 'The Ultimate Computer'  and 'I Mudd' also qualify as
>> examples. Maybe even 'Day of the Dove'.
>
> I wouldn't.
>
> In "The Ultimate Computer," the M-5 had taken control of the ship.
> But it wasn't a normal part of the ship's systems.
>
> In "I, Mudd," the android Norman had taken over the Auxiliary Control
> Room and fed the course corrections into the ship from there.  But
> Auxiliary Control is designed for manual navigation anyway (in case
> the bridge is damaged).
>

Au contraire. Auxilliary control is actually the nerve centre of the ship.
Everything is controlled from auxilliary control, except weapons which are
controlled from the phaser room, and communications which are controlled
by
Mr Spock while Uhura plays second tambourine (why else is Spock always the
one that tells us what a mysterious signal is, when supposedly it's on
Uhura's board? Eh? Eh?) But that's besides the point. The helm doesn't
control anything, and neither does navigation. They just have microphones
in
which relay Kirk's command to the real controllers, in auxilliary control.
There's circumstantial evidence for this in The Doomsday Machine when
Decker, the one man left flying the ship, is found in auxilliary control.
But the real proof is in And The Children Shall Lead, when the ship leaves
Troyackerman III or whatever it is. Why does Scotty shout abuse at the guy
at the control panel in auxilliary control? "We're off course, ye bogus
frat!" he shouts. Not "Och aye look, Mr Sulu's off course!" or "What are
the
bogus frats playing at on the bridge? Where are we going my bairns?!"

Oh no, he presumes that the man in auxilliary control is flying teh ship
wrongly. That's because the man in auxilliary control is flying the ship.
It's always the man in auxilliary control flying the ship. It's the only
possible explanation. Sulu's job is purely decorative; his only specific
function is to be unable to close the doors on the hangar deck.


Ian

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