TOS planet killing

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2002-11-14 06:34pm

In "Mirror, Mirror", when Kirk brings up the record of his evil counterpart, the first official action listed is the suppression of an uprising by "destruction of the rebel home planet".

Post by **Mr Bean** » 2002-11-14 06:37pm

And?

Many ways to kill a planet

SPOOFE · Post by **SPOOFE** » 2002-11-14 06:39pm

Even if we assume that, in this case, "destruction" refers to "shattering the world to itty-bitty pieces"... it still only happened in an alternate universe.

Grand Admiral Thrawn · Post by **Grand Admiral Thrawn** » 2002-11-14 06:56pm

And they target...CITIES!

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2002-11-14 07:01pm

Jesus christ. No reason to jump down my throat, I just thought this was interesting... hadn't noticed this until now.

GAT: Destruction of the Halkan planet would have been ultimately counter-productive, as it would have destroyed the dilithium deposits on the planet as well. The empire wanted the Halkans dead (as an example to other races) while still being able to get the crystals.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2002-11-14 07:02pm

EDIT: er, not quite jumping down my throat. But still... not like I was trying to make a point.

Patrick Degan · Post by **Patrick Degan** » 2002-11-16 06:51pm

There is no canon demonstration of Starfleet planetary destruction capabilities in TOS. All we do have to give any indication to the level of destruction they could inflict was from Proconsul Claudius Marcus in the episode "Bread And Circuses":

Of course, why risk bringing anybody down. With the weapons of your ship, you could lay waste the entire surface of the world. But then, there's that Prime Directive again; can't do that.

The Proconsul of course was getting his information from his aide, First Citizen Merrikus a.k.a. Capt. R.M. Merrick, a one-time Federation Starfleet cadet, and his quote seems to indicate that a Federation starship could wreak destruction comparable to a nuclear war.

In "Mirror Mirror", Kirk states to the Halkan leader: We will level your planet and take what we want. That is destruction. You will die as a race. and Sulu was targeting Halkan cities. Since the ISS Enterprise was essentially the same ship as the USS Enterprise, there does not seem to be any support for the notion that the destructive capabilities of this class of starship exceed that of a 20th century superpower-level nuclear arsenal.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2002-11-16 06:56pm

Not to mention the fact that the E-D would have needed its entire photon torpedo arsenal to destroy a hollow 6km wide asteroid in "Pegasus".