Date: 25 May 2003 19:26:22
From: spam@astronerdboy.com (AstroNerdBoy)
> Synopsis: Synopsis: Archer receives news that A.G. Robinson, his old
> rival in the early days of the NX test program, has died.
>
<snipped for space>
>
> 5) Robinson seems to act more like Kirk.
>
>
Robinson was well cast. He felt like one of those starship captains
from the TOS series of which Kirk is included (obviously). Ah, the
good old days when a starship captain didn't wait to return fire until
his shields were almost gone. ;-D
Date: Mon, 26 May 2003 08:38:22 GMT
From: Barry Margolin <barmar@alum.mit.edu>
> In some ways, the NX-Alpha destruction was analogous to Space shuttle
> tragedies that have happened. After it's destruction, there was doubt
> if space flight would continue. It took the few with strong passion
> and perseverance to show that it can happen and safely.
Wouldn't it be more like the explosion of Apollo 7 (I think that's the
number) or the flying wing that was used in the opening sequence of "6
Million Dollar Man"? These were experimental ships, and failures of
experiments are not unexpected. The Space Shuttle accidents have all
involved proven technology; the disasters weren't because shuttles don't
work, just because they're not 100% foolproof.
> 2) I guess it's easy to steal prototype ships in the 22nd century. Can
> you imagine a NASA astronaut trying to steal the Space Shuttle?
Science fiction almost always takes liberties with the processes of
research and development, because the real way that it works is way too
slow to make good drama. That's why you have pilots stealing ships (you
couldn't do that with a 20th century rocket -- they can't launch without
a well-staffed Mission Control), biologists experimenting on themselves
(e.g. Dr. Jekyll -- could you imagine an AIDS researcher giving himself
a vaccine and then exposing himself to HIV to see if it works?), and the
scientist in "The Fly" taking the first test-run of the machine. In the
real world, R&D costs big bucks, but in the movies you often have rogue
scientists building things in their basements (like the Doc in "Back to
the Future").
Date: Mon, 26 May 2003 14:43:26
From: Forrest Lymburner <phlmarlowe@y...>
>2) I guess it's easy to steal prototype ships in the
>22nd century. Can you imagine a NASA astronaut trying
>to steal the Space Shuttle?
It takes three hours to drive the space shuttle from
the hanger to the launch pad. If they tried today, i
think theres a good chance theyd be caught. hehe