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What did Starfleet improve on in the last 100 years, and what did they make worse?
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00:00One of the most hotly debated questions in science fiction is Kirk or Picard,
00:05but these arguments usually don't factor in their ships, likely because by all accounts
00:10the Enterprise D is far superior to Kirk's NCC 1701. Starfleet made a lot of progress
00:16in the time between making these two ships from the years 2245 to 2363, but what exactly is it
00:23that makes the next generation's Enterprise so dissimilar? So with that in mind then,
00:28I'm Ellie with Trek Culture here with the 10 biggest differences between Kirk's Enterprise
00:33and Picard's. Number 10. Size. Although the two starships had very similar designs,
00:40the Enterprise D galaxy-class was much bigger than its Constitution-class counterpart. Picard's ship
00:47was more than twice as long, measuring in at 641 metres compared to Kirk's
00:55ship at 288.6 metres, or 947 feet, and was also made much bulkier around weak spots like the neck
01:04and the warp nacelle pylons. Although the number of people on both ships fluctuated,
01:08the original Enterprise never had more than 500 people on board, typically around 200,
01:13whereas the Enterprise D consistently housed a little over 1,000 people. Both ships were among
01:19the largest and most powerful of their times, but by the 24th century, even ships that were
01:24considered small, such as Voyager, were much larger than Kirk's vessel. Weirdly, in the Star Trek 2009
01:31film, Kirk's Enterprise was redesigned and scaled up to be about the same size as a galaxy-class due to
01:37the size that they made the ship's windows on its 3D model. Number 9. Speed. Comparing the maximum speed
01:45of both ships isn't really fair because although there was a writer's guide to calculate how long
01:50it should take the ship to travel anywhere, this guide was rarely consulted, and by the time of
01:55the next generation, an entirely new system replaced it. In Gene Roddenberry's initial draft proposal,
02:01Star Trek Is!, he stated that the maximum speed of the original series Enterprise was 0.73 light-years
02:08per hour, which would mean it could travel Voyager's 70,000 light-year journey home in about 11 years,
02:15as opposed to 70, and Voyager was much faster than the Enterprise D. Part of this confusion comes
02:20because in the next generation and beyond, new calculations were implemented, and Warp 10 was
02:26defined as infinite speed, a seemingly impossible velocity that would allow you to occupy every point
02:31in space simultaneously. The speed of warp factors increased exponentially from 1 to 9 to 9.1, 9.2,
02:39and beyond, never reaching 10, as this would be infinite speed. The Enterprise D was established
02:46in the show as having a standard maximum warp factor of 9.5, and given the speed of 0.73 light-years
02:52per hour, Scotty could apparently get the ship beyond Voyager's max speed of warp 9.975. It is safe to assume
02:59that this was merely a mistake, but maybe Scotty really was just a miracle worker.
03:058. Computer Systems
03:07Starfleet's computers have gone through numerous changes over the years. Touchscreens were not
03:12commonplace in the original series, and most computers were bulky and had very indistinct
03:17buttons and dials plastered all over. Their design harkens back to early computers from the 60s.
03:22Presumably, the set designers failed to anticipate how far computers would advance. In the next generation,
03:28we are introduced to ELCARS, short for Library Computer Access and Retrieval System. ELCARS is
03:34the operating system that all Starfleet uses in the 24th century, characterised by its bright coloured
03:40borders separating different pieces of information, as well as its touchscreens, which greatly resemble
03:46the technology in modern smartphones. The design of the computers was not the only thing to change,
03:51however, as 23rd century starships operated with duotronic systems, whereas in the 24th century,
03:58they used isolinear cores. The differences between these two types of computers are not clearly defined,
04:04but it's safe to assume that the isolinear circuitry is much faster.
04:087. Holodex
04:11Holographic communication devices existed in Kirk's time, as we see in the Star Trek Discovery episode,
04:17the Vulcan Hello. But they had poor resolution, and at this time, the holograms were merely 3D
04:23projections of people that could not actually be touched. They fell out of use before the original
04:28series, and it wasn't until about a hundred years later that we started to see some advancement in
04:33the tech. The next generation's pilot introduced us to the Holodeck, leaps and bounds beyond the
04:38holograms of old, able to render entire realistic worlds that fit within the confines of a small room,
04:44yet appeared to stretch beyond the horizon. The Holodeck employed an extremely advanced system
04:50of lasers, force fields, optical illusions, and anti-gravity to make the simulated worlds
04:55indistinguishable from reality. The creation of the Holodeck was the greatest advancement in
05:00entertainment in human history, and by the late 24th century, they were onboard nearly every starship
05:06in the fleet, every starbase, and even some people's homes.
05:116. Replicators
05:13The 23rd century predecessors to replicators, known as food synthesizers, operated on a similar
05:19principle, the main difference being that while replicators can rearrange individual atoms to
05:24create virtually any object, food synthesizers were more limited, only able to rearrange select
05:30amino acids and other substances available onboard the ship to create meals. The invention of the
05:36replicator meant that the Enterprise-D did not have to keep stock of individual ingredients for food,
05:41as nearly every meal could be constructed using miscellaneous particles in space. The replicators
05:47could also create weapons, clothing, and nearly anything else imaginable given enough power.
05:53Food synthesizer technology appears to be limited to rearranging organic matter. The operation of these
05:58devices was also very different. Replicators responded to voice commands, whereas people ordered meals
06:04from food synthesizers by inserting a small program tape into the device. Replicators on the Enterprise-D
06:10freed up storage space, gave the crew more food options to choose from, and allowed for more long-distance
06:15missions, as the ship did not need to constantly replenish specific ingredients.
06:195. Shuttle bays and the captain's yacht
06:24Both the original Enterprise and the Enterprise-D had shuttles on board that could transport members
06:29of the crew on special missions away from the mothership, or land on a planet's surface. They
06:34were warp-capable and armed with phasers, but much slower and less powerful than a starship.
06:39The shuttles were stored, launched, and maintained in shuttle bays. Kirk's ship only had one shuttle
06:44bay, whereas Picard's had at least three. Interestingly, the Enterprise-D was also equipped with another small
06:50vessel known as a captain's yacht. Picard's yacht was known as the Calypso, and was never used on screen,
06:57though you can make out the outline of it on the underside of the saucer section. It makes sense that
07:02Picard would barely use his yacht, as it seems more like a pretentious status symbol than anything practical.
07:094. Families on Board
07:11One of the oddest changes from the original series to the next generation was that the Enterprise now
07:16inexplicably had families and children on board at all times, a fact that Picard himself expresses
07:22disagreement over in the pilot episode Encounter at Farpoint. The Enterprise-D even had a school,
07:28and many children would spend years of their lives on the ship. This is terrifying when one considers
07:33how often the ship is threatened by aliens, anomalies, and other disasters. When the entire crew
07:39de-evolved into prehistoric animals in Genesis, all these children were affected too. They were subjected to
07:44memory loss in the episode Conundrum, and nearly assimilated by the Borg in Q-Who, not to mention
07:50the near-weekly space battles. Clearly, a starship is no place for children. Starfleet in the original
07:56series was much more logical in this regard, treating starships more like military vessels than luxury
08:01cruises, only allowing civilians and children on board for short periods when necessary.
08:073. Cetacean Ops
08:10In Kirk's time, whales were extinct, and humanity did not yet know of theirs and the dolphins' highly
08:16advanced intelligence. When the whales were brought back from the past to repopulate in Star Trek The
08:21Voyage Home and Starfleet discovered that they were sentient, they learned to communicate with them
08:26and formed an alliance. Many whales and dolphins, or cetaceans, would even join Starfleet, and in the next
08:32generation, some starships, such as the Enterprise-D, had an area on board known as cetacean ops,
08:38huge water tanks where cetaceans would use their advanced brains and unique physiologies to assist
08:43the ship with navigation, greatly improving efficiency. We never got to see cetacean ops on
08:48the Enterprise-D, but in the Lower Decks episode First First Contact, the crew of the Cerritos pays
08:54a visit and is greeted by two adorable beluga whales in Starfleet uniforms.
08:592. Weapons
09:02Surprisingly, the weapons on Starfleet's ships didn't change much at all from the 23rd century
09:06to the 24th. Both enterprises were equipped with photon torpedoes and phasers. It wasn't until the
09:12first invasion of the Borg when Starfleet began to develop more destructive weapons like quantum
09:18torpedoes and tricobalt warheads. Prior to this, the Federation had been experiencing decades of
09:23unprecedented peace. The Enterprise-D did have one major advancement to its phasers, with the
09:28inclusion of phasor arrays, linear arrangements of phasor emitters that could fire from virtually
09:34any angle. This was a massive improvement from the traditional phasor cannons of Kirk's time,
09:39which could only fire in a very limited path.
09:411. Saucer Separation
09:43As mentioned earlier, the Enterprise-D, as opposed to Kirk's ship, had a large number of civilians and
09:50children on board. When the ship was under attack, it needed a way to evacuate all of these non-Starfleet
09:55people to safety, and this was the rationale behind the Enterprise-D's saucer separation.
10:01Saucer separation could be done with the original series-era ships, but the procedure was dangerous and
10:06could not be undone except at a starbase. Perhaps the coolest, yet most underused feature of Picard's
10:13ship, saucer separation could also be used to flank enemies, attacking them from two angles at once.
10:19Both parts of the ship functioned completely well on their own, equipped with warp nacelles,
10:23weapons, and shields. It would have been nice to see more combat scenarios involving this maneuver.
10:29Saucer separation was only used in a couple of episodes for many reasons. Mainly, it's just because of the high
10:35cost of filming the model to do it. But also, separation took a long time, as they had to
10:40wait for all non-Starfleet personnel to move to the saucer and the crew to split between the two
10:45sections. And that concludes our list. If you can think of any that we missed, then do let us know
10:50in the comments below, and while you're there, don't forget to like, and subscribe, and tap that
10:54notification bell. Also, head over to Twitter and follow us there, at TrekCulture, and I can be
10:58found across various social medias just by searching Ellie Littlechild. I've been Ellie with TrekCulture,
11:03I hope you have a wonderful day, and remember to boldly go where no one has gone before.
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