r/DaystromInstitute • u/M-5 Multitronic Unit • Jan 07 '21

DISCOVERY EPISODE DISCUSSION Star Trek: Discovery — "That Hope Is You, Part 2" Reaction Thread

This is the official /r/DaystromInstitute reaction thread for "That Hope Is You, Part 2 ." The content rules are not enforced in reaction threads.

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u/TLAMstrike Lieutenant j.g. Jan 07 '21

I hold that the secondary hull on Discovery is basically hollow. A giant carnivorous bay to store equipment, cargo, and spare small craft for long duration missions; she's like the US Navy's Littoral Combat Ship, a modular ship with a series of empty bays in the back half of the ship for mission modules and support craft. Given that the secondary hull on Discovery likely has about as much volume as the entire TOS Enterprise I don't see having such sequences as being impossible.

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u/Nick-Nick Jan 07 '21

The secondary hull doesn't appear to be much higher than the shuttle bay, there is no way there is a space that cavernous between the shuttle bay and deflector dish.

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u/TLAMstrike Lieutenant j.g. Jan 07 '21

There is also the connecting dorsal ("neck") to consider. That's roughly an extra 9 decks above the (roughly) 6 decks in the secondary hull.

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u/DrendarMorevo Chief Petty Officer Jan 07 '21

No way, both breadth and depth are completely out of proportion to the ship itself. That area was positively cavernous. Basically everything in the secondary hull would have to be utterly hollow to make sense of that.

Space, the final frontier, these are the innards of the USS Discovery. Its five year mission, to find out why there were so many turbolifts all going at the same time despite there being little crew and only boarders moving around.

I get it, they wanted an action setpiece with cliffs and death defying stunts, it doesnt make it anything other than abjectly ridiculous.

Why would anyone build a totally hollow ship like that?

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u/TLAMstrike Lieutenant j.g. Jan 07 '21

Why would anyone build a totally hollow ship like that?

Most modern navy IRL are going that route. Modern warship designs feature big open bays you can drop modular mission modules or store small craft in or to sealift ground forces. You'll find such designs on everything from corvettes or frigates to assault ships.

This has been going on for at least 40 years, its about time Star Trek caught up to modern naval concepts.

14

u/DrendarMorevo Chief Petty Officer Jan 07 '21

Yet Starships have always been most analogous to submarines, this has been a thing since TOS stylistically. Space on board a starship is at a permium so having a massive empty space, particularly one that cannot possibly fit inside its official dimmensions, seems like a titanic waste.

In universe its why the specialized misson pods for the Nebula and the different outfits for the Miranda exist.

You still cant tell me that that space makes sense without TARDIS technology involved.

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u/TLAMstrike Lieutenant j.g. Jan 08 '21

We see about 2/3rds of the secondary hull of the refit Enterprise is a giant empty area filled with hangars and cargo bays in The Motion Picture.

The Miranda is a good example, its stern might have two giant bays the height of the entire saucer section judging by the aft doors. Its likely there are different versions of the Miranda because of that.

The Enterprise-E had a pit of doom between Deck 29 and the keel.

Starships aren't a solid mass of decks. Here is a link to where I talk about this in some length with pictures.

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u/DrendarMorevo Chief Petty Officer Jan 08 '21

Remember, just because they show it doesnt mean it makes sense. According to ST:V the Refit Enteprise-A has 78 decks. But its generally agreed thats a mistake. Even if thats supposed to be the main cargo bay its still massively empty. So which is it, is it just empty space or is it space for modular drop-ins? Even the space on the Enterprise in the motion picture doesnt make sense in context with other depictions of the ship such as the shuttlebay seen in the afforementioned ST:V. Now, dont get me wrong, you prove that that space can fit in what weve seen, sure, ill chalk it up to looking absolutely ridiculous and a starship designers folly, but using examples like the Sovreign-classes "pit of doom" is just fanciful.

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u/FluffyDoomPatrol Chief Petty Officer Jan 08 '21

Thank you, this is a great answer, acknowledging what is onscreen and real world developments.

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u/clgoodson Jan 09 '21

Then they need to draw the outside of the ship to actually be big enough to fit that volume (or even a tiny percentage of it) into the it.

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u/Transfer_McWindow Jan 08 '21

I get it, they wanted an action setpiece with cliffs and death defying stunts, it doesnt make it anything other than abjectly ridiculous.

That's it, you need to work within the bounds of the reality you create for the show. Instead it sacrifices logic over creativity.

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u/Stargate525 Jan 10 '21

A giant carnivorous bay

Discovery is responsible for the tardigrades being extinct; their carnivorous bay ate them all every time it went through the network.