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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,
00:08likely because, by all accounts, the Enterprise-D is far superior to Kirk's NCC-1701.
00:15Starfleet made a lot of progress in the time between making these two ships,
00:19from the years 2245 to 2363.
00:22But what exactly is it that makes the next generation's Enterprise so dissimilar?
00:27So with that in mind then, I'm Ellie with TrekCulture here with the 10 biggest differences
00:32between Kirk's Enterprise and Picard's.
00:35Number 10. Size.
00:37Although the two starships had very similar designs,
00:41the Enterprise-D galaxy-class was much bigger than its Constitution-class counterpart.
00:46Picard's ship was more than twice as long, measuring in at 641 metres, that's 2,103 feet,
00:54compared to Kirk's ship at 288.6 metres, or 947 feet,
01:00and was also made much bulkier around weak spots like the neck and the warp nacelle pylons.
01:05Although 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.
01:18Both ships were among the largest and most powerful of their times,
01:22but by the 24th century, even ships that were considered small, such as Voyager,
01:27were much larger than Kirk's vessel.
01:29Weirdly, in the Star Trek 2009 film, Kirk's Enterprise was redesigned and scaled up
01:34to be about the same size as a galaxy-class,
01:37due to the size that they made the ship's windows on its 3D model.
01:41Number 9. Speed.
01:43Comparing the maximum speed of both ships isn't really fair,
01:47because although there was a writer's guide to calculate how long it should take the ship
01:51to travel anywhere, this guide was rarely consulted,
01:54and by the time of the next generation, an entirely new system replaced it.
01:58In Gene Roddenberry's initial draft proposal, Star Trek Is,
02:02he stated that the maximum speed of the original series Enterprise was 0.73 light-years per hour,
02:09which 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.
02:19Part of this confusion comes because in the next generation and beyond,
02:23new calculations were implemented, and Warp 10 was defined as infinite speed,
02:28a seemingly impossible velocity that would allow you to occupy every point in space simultaneously.
02:33The speed of warp factors increased exponentially,
02:36from 1 to 9 to 9.1, 9.2, and beyond, never reaching 10,
02:42as this would be infinite speed.
02:44The Enterprise-D was established in the show as having a standard maximum warp factor of 9.5,
02:50and given the speed of 0.73 light-years per hour,
02:53Scotty could apparently get the ship beyond Voyager's max speed of warp 9.975.
02:58It is safe to assume that this was merely a mistake,
03:01but maybe Scotty really was just a miracle worker.
03:05Number 8. Computer Systems.
03:07Starfleet's computers have gone through numerous changes over the years.
03:11Touchscreens were not commonplace in the original series,
03:14and most computers were bulky and had very indistinct buttons and dials plastered all over.
03:19Their design harkens back to early computers from the 60s.
03:22Presumably, the set designers failed to anticipate how far computers would advance.
03:27In the next generation, we are introduced to L-CARS, short for Library Computer Access and Retrieval System.
03:34L-CARS is the operating system that all Starfleet uses in the 24th century,
03:39characterized by its bright-colored borders separating different pieces of information,
03:43as well as its touchscreens, which greatly resemble the technology in modern smartphones.
03:48The design of the computers was not the only thing to change, however,
03:52as 23rd century starships operated with duotronic systems,
03:56whereas in the 24th century, they used isolinear cores.
04:00The 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.
04:08Number 7. Holodex.
04:11Holographic communication devices existed in Kirk's time,
04:15as we see in the Star Trek Discovery episode, The Vulcan Hello.
04:18But they had poor resolution, and at this time,
04:21the holograms were merely 3D projections of people that could not actually be touched.
04:26They fell out of use before the original series,
04:28and it wasn't until about 100 years later that we started to see some advancement in the tech.
04:33The next generation's pilot introduced us to The Holodeck,
04:37leaps and bounds beyond the holograms of old,
04:39able to render entire realistic worlds that fit within the confines of a small room,
04:44yet appear to stretch beyond the horizon.
04:47The Holodeck employed an extremely advanced system of lasers, force fields,
04:51optical illusions, and anti-gravity to make the simulated worlds indistinguishable from reality.
04:57The creation of The Holodeck was the greatest advancement in entertainment in human history,
05:02and by the late 24th century, they were on board nearly every starship in the fleet,
05:07every starbase, and even some people's homes.
05:11Number 6. Replicators.
05:13The 23rd century predecessors to replicators, known as food synthesizers, operated on a similar principle,
05:20the main difference being that while replicators can rearrange individual atoms to create virtually
05:25any object, food synthesizers were more limited,
05:28only able to rearrange select amino acids and other substances available on board the ship
05:33to create meals. The invention of the replicator meant that the Enterprise-D did not have to keep
05:39stock of individual ingredients for food, as nearly every meal could be constructed using
05:44miscellaneous particles in space. The replicators could also create weapons, clothing, and nearly
05:50anything else imaginable given enough power. Food synthesizer technology appears to be limited to
05:56rearranging organic matter. The operation of these devices was also very different. Replicators responded to voice commands,
06:02whereas people ordered meals from food synthesizers by inserting a small program tape into the device.
06:08Replicators on the Enterprise-D freed up storage space, gave the crew more food options to choose from,
06:14and allowed for more long-distance missions, as the ship did not need to constantly replenish specific ingredients.
06:20Number 5. Shuttle bays and the captain's yacht.
06:24Both the original Enterprise and the Enterprise-D had shuttles on board that could transport members of the crew on
06:30special missions away from the mothership, or land on a planet's surface. They were warp-capable and armed
06:36with phasers, but much slower and less powerful than a starship. The shuttles were stored, launched,
06:41and maintained in shuttle bays. Kirk's ship only had one shuttle bay, whereas Picard's had at least three.
06:47Interestingly, the Enterprise-D was also equipped with another small vessel known as a captain's yacht.
06:53Picard's yacht was known as the Calypso, and was never used on screen, though you can make out the
06:58outline of it on the underside of the saucer section. It makes sense that Picard would barely
07:03use his yacht, as it seems more like a pretentious status symbol than anything practical.
07:09Number 4. 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 Far Point. 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
07:38crew de-evolved into prehistoric animals in Genesis, all these children were affected too. They were
07:44subjected to memory loss in the episode Conundrum, and nearly assimilated by the Borg in Q Who,
07:49not to mention the near-weekly space battles. Clearly, a starship is no place for children.
07:55Starfleet in the original series was much more logical in this regard, treating starships more
08:00like military vessels than luxury cruises, only allowing civilians and children on board for short
08:05periods when necessary.
08:07Number 3. Cetacean Ops.
08:09In 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
08:20Star Trek The Voyage Home and Starfleet discovered that they were sentient, they learned to communicate
08:25with them and formed an alliance. Many whales and dolphins, or cetaceans, would even join Starfleet,
08:31and in the next generation, some starships, such as the Enterprise D, had an area on board known as
08:37Cetacean Ops, huge water tanks where cetaceans would use their advanced brains and unique physiologies to
08:43assist the ship with navigation, greatly improving efficiency. We never got to see Cetacean Ops on the
08:49Enterprise D, but in the Lower Decks episode First First Contact, the crew of the Cerritos pays a visit and
08:55is greeted by two adorable beluga whales in Starfleet uniforms.
09:00Number 2. Weapons.
09:02Surprisingly, the weapons on Starfleet's ships didn't change much at all from the 23rd century to the
09:0724th. Both enterprises were equipped with photon torpedoes and phasers. It wasn't until the first
09:13invasion 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 phaser arrays, linear arrangements of phaser emitters that could fire from virtually any
09:34angle. This was a massive improvement from the traditional phaser cannons of Kirk's time,
09:39which could only fire in a very limited path.
09:41Number 1. Saucer Separation.
09:44As 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
10:06and could not be undone except at a starbase. Perhaps the coolest yet most underused feature of
10:12Picard's ship, Saucer Separation could also be used to flank enemies, attacking them from two angles at
10:18once. Both 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
10:34because of the high cost of filming the model to do it. But also, Separation took a long time,
10:39as they had to wait for all non-Starfleet personnel to move to the Saucer and the crew to split between the
10:44two sections. And that concludes our list. If you can think of any that we missed,
10:49then do let us know in the comments below. And while you're there, don't forget to like,
10:52and subscribe, and tap that notification bell. Also, head over to Twitter and follow us there,
10:57at TrekCulture, and I can be found across various social medias just by searching
11:01Ellie Littlechild. I've been Ellie with TrekCulture. I hope you have a wonderful day,
11:05and remember to boldly go where no one has gone before.
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