Doomsday Machine (ST) vs. Star Destroyer (SW)

[Patrick Degan]

Um-since when do transporters CANONICALLY convert stuff to energy?

That was how Kirk described the function of the transporter to the Abraham Lincoln entity in "The Savage Curtain". A "matter/energy scrambler". Kirk used it as an analogy to Trelaine's machinery used to create the drawing room and Earthlike environment on Gothos (to which Trelaine replied that the transporter was a "crude example of a far more sophisticated process") in "The Squire Of Gothos".

Does a modern nuclear submarine commander have a nuclear physics degree? Is it entirely possible that he could get the concept wrong, or that it has been grossly oversimplified for his benefit?

True enough. Kirk would have been giving a layman's description at best to "Lincoln".

[NecronLord]

For a really reliable explanation, one could always try and hunt for quotes of O'Brian explaining the things. He was a specialist in using them after all.

[Darth Wong]

For a really reliable explanation, one could always try and hunt for quotes of O'Brian explaining the things. He was a specialist in using them after all.

Then again, he was also sitting there nodding sagely as Dax explained that someone had made a machine which could alter mathematical laws.

In Star Trek, an "engineer" is actually a technician, and scientists design everything back at Starfleet HQ.

[NecronLord]

Which goes a long way to explaining why some of thier inventions are so insanely unsafe and poorly designed. Then again, the engineers do seem to make things quite frequently, as plot requires.

They just don't get paid for it.

[Ender]

Um-since when do transporters CANONICALLY convert stuff to energy?

That was how Kirk described the function of the transporter to the Abraham Lincoln entity in "The Savage Curtain". A "matter/energy scrambler". Kirk used it as an analogy to Trelaine's machinery used to create the drawing room and Earthlike environment on Gothos (to which Trelaine replied that the transporter was a "crude example of a far more sophisticated process") in "The Squire Of Gothos".

Does a modern nuclear submarine commander have a nuclear physics degree?

To command a nuclear ship, you have to go through the nuclear pipeline (Power school and Prototype) which leaves you with enough credits for a degree in Nuclear Technology and Engineering (minus a few english and history courses). THe officer, having been through college, would have those credits.

So yes, they do.

[Patrick Degan]

Incidentally, I too like the photon-torpedo as a super-mass-driver idea. It would make battles, such as in TWoK (where they'd obviously have to implement this first) much more interesting, and make Kirk's three-dimensional manouvering victory more sensible.

One hitch of course is that with the physics involved in the idea proposed above, one hit on an unshielded ship (as both vessels in the Mutara Nebula were) would pretty much end the fight.

(EDIT: since the time of posting, I've found that this rebuttal was erroneous: according to the folks at Atomic Rocket, a relativistic slug hitting an unshielded ship would simply punch through both ends of the ship —but that would be interesting in and of itself: shooting up a ship until its swiss cheese, only a captain would have to think where his slugs might end up at some point in the future and would therefore not be able to use them on an unprotected ship for risk of unintentionally hitting a possibly inhabited planet somewhere else decades or centuries hence)

That said, it would presumably appear (you'd have to have some shiny effect) as a sort of beam-weapon looking device, which would be a continuity problem.

Not necessarily. The same glowing light-ball or light-smear effect could still be used as in TOS and the movies (as unscientific as it would be —necessary concession to artistic license). You just explain it by way of the proposed relativistic mass-driver mechanism, or alternatively by no explanation whatsoever. It just works. Period.

[Darth Wong]

To command a nuclear ship, you have to go through the nuclear pipeline (Power school and Prototype) which leaves you with enough credits for a degree in Nuclear Technology and Engineering (minus a few english and history courses). THe officer, having been through college, would have those credits.

So yes, they do.

I would be curious exactly what courses are required for this. Because even nuclear power plant engineers aren't equivalent to nuclear physicists. And in Star Trek, I have always gotten the very strong impression that everybody's more like a mechanic. They sort of understand how things work, and they can take things apart and put them back together again or mix and match off-the-shelf parts with fair results, but shitloads of detail have been glossed over for their benefit.