the Voyager shuttle theroy

FaxModem1 · Post by **FaxModem1** » 2003-01-02 10:06pm

I have a theroy as to where they get all their shuttles, this is most likely wrong so correct me if I goof up.

What is they only have one or two shuttles, and once those were gone, they went to a planet or asteroid belt, gathered materials, and made more shuttles.

p.s. if this has been discussed before, I'm sorry, I think this is a new idea.
Also, this might be how they always fixed whatever damage they got from their frequent battles with the alien of the week.

Tell me what you think.

jaeger115 · Post by **jaeger115** » 2003-01-02 10:20pm

Also, this might be how they always fixed whatever damage they got from their frequent battles with the alien of the week.

IIRC, even when the captain got reports of heavy damage throughout the ship, the show would switch to the outside, showing completely zero damage on the Voyager.

Darth Yoshi · Post by **Darth Yoshi** » 2003-01-03 12:33am

Yes, but when did we ever hear that the hull had taken damage?

consequences · Post by **consequences** » 2003-01-03 01:41am

Since Starfleet hulls have zero durability, clearly attacks pass straight through them without affecting them at all, since zero durability means they are as solid as your average hard vacuum. It is only when a Star Trek ship's systems are directly hit that the ship is affected.

[/i]

Darth Garden Gnome · Post by **Darth Garden Gnome** » 2003-01-03 01:49am

It's he reset button. It can activate moments after a battle to erase all battle damage anywhere on the ship, at any time. How convinient eh?

Keevan_Colton · Post by **Keevan_Colton** » 2003-01-03 01:53am

To paraphrase a wonderful piece on changing lightbulbs in Star Trek

"Chakotay : I could go charging off wildly in a shuttle against orders again....
Janeway : No! We'll be down to our last dozen any day now."

Perhaps they actually come with about 100 shuttles and keep them flat packed in some of those crates they like to duck behind.

Keevan.

Enlightenment · Post by **Enlightenment** » 2003-01-03 02:11am

I'm fond of this shuttle theory: http://www.st-minutiae.com/humor/voyagercutaway.gif

Yogi · Post by **Yogi** » 2003-01-03 02:53am

Considering that Voyager was able to design and built the uber-shuttle "Delta Flyer" in around a week, building "normal" shuttles shouldn't be that big a deal for them.

Cpt_Frank · Post by **Cpt_Frank** » 2003-01-03 04:32am

Yeah possibly half of the crew was constantly occupied building shuttles.

Darth Garden Gnome · Post by **Darth Garden Gnome** » 2003-01-03 04:44am

And where the hell are they getting all these supplies for shuttles? Noteveryother planet Voyager ran into had the no doubt complex materials needed to build something like a shuttle! Let alone dozens of them!!!!

Post by **Vympel** » 2003-01-03 04:45am

Has anyone done a definitive count of shuttles lost during the series?

Warspite · Post by **Warspite** » 2003-01-03 07:51am

There is a site that did the counting, I can't remmember it's URL, but it was posted around here in November, I think.

Anyway, how could they build the shuttles, even with raw materials you'll need heavy machinery for processing the minerals, building the structural components and equipment, in short, to manufacture a complex system like a shuttle. Engineers are trained for repair and maintenance of all systems, but not to build a system from scratch. They can only do so much.
Then there's the building process, and testing, since it would be a miracle if the shuttle would work at first try.
Basically, you'll need a shipyard facility, inside the Voyager, even with the magical replicators and transporters.
It would be easier to explain the shuttle magic, if they salvaged and cannabalized equipment, not manufacture from raw materials.

In conclusion, it's all a big red reset button, and lazy writing.

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2003-01-03 10:41am

Cpt_Frank wrote:Yeah possibly half of the crew was constantly occupied building shuttles.

Yup and the other half were busy working at the cloning vats to replace all the crewman Janeway got killed.

Cpt_Frank · Post by **Cpt_Frank** » 2003-01-03 11:13am

Stormbringer wrote:
Cpt_Frank wrote:Yeah possibly half of the crew was constantly occupied building shuttles.
Yup and the other half were busy working at the cloning vats to replace all the crewman Janeway got killed.

"Send in the clones."

jaeger115 · Post by **jaeger115** » 2003-01-03 02:05pm

I'm fond of this shuttle theory

There's two shuttles in one warp nacelle! That's why they have so much problems with warp drive!

TheDarkling · Post by **TheDarkling** » 2003-01-03 02:47pm

Here is the actual count http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/inconsistencies3.htm

Vertigo1 · Post by **Vertigo1** » 2003-01-03 05:10pm

My personal theory is that they fold up in to convenient travel size suitcases for storage.

Janeway: Damn, there goes another shuttle.
Chakotay: Don't worry, I'll have Torres replicate another suitcase.
Janeway: I thought we had like fifty in storage as it is?
Chakotay: Yeah, but at the rate we loose them we'll be out before the next episode!
Janeway: Good point!

Silver · Post by **Silver** » 2003-01-05 10:45pm

TheDarkling wrote:Here is the actual count http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/inconsistencies3.htm

That is a whole lot of shuttles... more than I'd even imagined! Ok... now for a show that supposedly put big emphasis on their "limited resources", that is one major foul-up.

Silver · Post by **Silver** » 2003-01-05 10:53pm

TheDarkling wrote:Here is the actual count http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/inconsistencies3.htm

That is a whole lot of shuttles... more than I'd even imagined! Ok... now for a show that supposedly put big emphasis on their "limited resources", that is one major foul-up.

Patrick Degan · Post by **Patrick Degan** » 2003-01-09 11:30pm

Maybe they were actually inflatable.

Enlightenment · Post by **Enlightenment** » 2003-01-09 11:42pm

Silver wrote: That is a whole lot of shuttles... more than I'd even imagined! Ok... now for a show that supposedly put big emphasis on their "limited resources", that is one major foul-up.

If we were to be fair to B&B (Knock it off. I can hear the laughter.) it could be argued that Voyager had such limited resources for things like replicators because it had to expend so many resources keeping its shuttle fleet in good order.

drifter god · Post by **drifter god** » 2003-01-10 12:19am

well. they did say that they built the flyer in about a week, and i if i remember that episode right, most of it was fabricated on the ship, so whats to say they cant build shutlecraft left and right. now as far realistic, this is star trek, you cant really expect them to be very realistic. hell, half of the ship could get blow off, and it would be back in a week too, mabye that reset button really does exist............

captain! we're out of torpedos and phasers are down,.....hmm....raming speed!!, expendable crewman #516 get to the reset button fast, we shall soon be needing it!

Kurgan · Post by **Kurgan** » 2003-01-10 09:08am

Maybe they secretly stored them all in the transport buffer (that's where all of Neelix's awful cooking ended up, but nobody told him).

He may not be able to cook a decent steak, but his meat makes good hull plating!

Chris OFarrell · Post by **Chris OFarrell** » 2003-01-11 06:37am

To be realistic (and not simply put it down to bad writing), its clear Voyager has shown an ability to sustain itself to a large degree over long periods of time. Its had massive damage at various times that was repared by the time of the next episode. They have lost god knows how many shuttles and replaced them. They were able to build the Mark 1 Delta Flyer in a week. Going from design stage to working prototype in that timeframe is rather fast.

I very much dobut they carried as many spare shuttles or hull plates as they did, especialy given that it looked like Voyager was only kitted out for a short term mission. It looks like they had to replicate all the replacement material. Of course this would be dependent on their energy reserves.

Tootootoo · Post by **Tootootoo** » 2003-01-11 07:10am

It could be possible.. most of the time when they mention resources they mean food and organic matter and engine stuff. It would probably be easy enough to get the resources to replicate mundane things like sheets of hull or cables or cheesecake leftovers or whatever infact makes up your average Starfleet shuttlecraft. Most planets have minerals and resources that could be mined, and I bet Voyager came across a few with already processed chunks of metal readily waiting there to be beamed up and I dont know, fed into the replicator systems through some hole like a food processor?
Anyway, given the crappiness of the shuttles and how they crash every time the wind blows, they're probably rather simplified and easy to make. Basically a box with a panel control in the cockpit, a small engine and a transporter and blam, you have a new shuttle to crash and bash in the next episode where the command crew does something stupid like go out on away missions when really extras should be sent. I mean, what insane Captain or first officer would go on one of those cardboard cutouts and travel to a completely unknown planet where it's almost guarenteed something will go horribly wrong and they will be stranded in some jungle with a cave beast eating children and some crazy dragon flying through the air shooting flames at them? WHY!? There is no logic in this! NO LOGIC. WHY DO YOU LET THIS HAPPEN TUVOK!??!?!!