Sci Fi Room

[Palpatine001 57]

Welcome to the Sci Fi Room

This room/thread is dedicated to all things Sci Fi

Kicking us off is this map of the Galaxy 



Yes it's our Galaxy with Star Trek base map laid out of the 4 Quadrants and the Federation's teritory.
Feel free to add other Star Trek elements to it

OR
OR
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Feel free to rant on about (civil of course) about your favourite Sci Fi shows characters, ships etc.

And ummmmm cups are located to your rite for those who have drooling problems

[Micah 16]

WOW! Voyager sure had a long distance to travel!

[Zelgadis 638]

Indeed they did.  Lucky for the Borg transwarp conduit thingy.

Once, just once, I'd like to hear someone in Star Trek refer to something as a "thingy." 

So, where are the Romulan, Klingon, Cardassian, etc. borders anyway?

ISF

[The boy formerly known as Evil Muzz 27]

Hmmm, IMO, Star Wars is the best Sci Fi story. I have tried several times to get into Star Trek. It's alright, but for some reason it never appealed to me. I used to like the old Battlestar Galactica, but I don't like the new one...

My love for Star Wars began when I was 6, and the had these things called "Tazos" in crisp packets (I know, weird name). They were little discs that had grooves on the edges so that they could fit together, and they all had different pictures on them. When the special editions of the original 3 movies were released (about 1997) they put Star Wars pictures on Tazos... I barely noticed, but did admire the cool ships and stuff they had on them. Then using my Tazos I made a shape that my dad told me resembled a ship in Star Wars (TIE Fighter). He also told me that a film was coming out soon with these things in it, so I said I wanted to go...

I sat in the cinema with loads of other people come to see the re-release. And as soon as that Star Destroyer rolled over the screen chasing the Tantive IV, I knew that it was something special...

How right was I?

[Palpatine001 57]

If u wish I will draw in the other boundaries to the Klingon and Romulan Star Empires, as well as the Bajorian Wormhole and the path Voyager to to travel 70,000 light years to get home.

From some crude calculations it takes at Warp 9 1 year to travel 1,000 light years, so it was taking Voyager 70 years to return home without Borg Help.

Thats 83 Lightyears a month (1,000/12), or 2.74 light years a day. Now the Federation was 8,000 light years across from the Klingon Border at the Beta quadrant to where it stops near the Gamma Quadrant, so in essence the Federation is damn HUGE!

Moving along, yes Vaders Imperial Star Destroyer rolling over your screen chasing Leia's ship was something special, so was wundering what could shadow a Imperial Class Star Destroyer in Empire Strikes back only to find out that the Empire built the massive Super Class Star Destroyer, a sight that would of scared most planets into submission.

But then again one would also have to think WHAT IF, a Star Destroyers had phasers and photon torpedos in place for turbolasers and proton torpedos - although you would have to leave the 6 (3 each side) heavy turbo lasers there, they kick backside. (See EpIII)

So we keep on thinking what if.

Yes Star Wars and Trek appeal to different audiences because of the stories they are trying to get across.

Star Wars is somewhat a replication Nazi Germany and Caesar's Rome

with Star Trek based on a more Perfect UN as the World Government (Federation being that in ST) on current Earth, todays nations being the individual members of that UN World Government (like the individual members that make up the Federation) and the almighty Star Fleet being based on a Earth World Navy.

I'll leave you with that

[Odainsaker 2,135]

I always liked the universe of Frank Herbert's "Dune," which though roughly set in the year 10191, looks oh-so-suspiciously like the current middle east.

The known universe is dependant on the mysterious and highly addictive spice Melange, whose mind-altering properties are needed to see the probabilities of the future and so navigate the multi-dimensional possibilities of space-time and folded space. Without the Spice, there is no space travel, and without communication, the human universe will collapse into billions of isolated planets each suffering from deadly Spice-withdrawl. The Spice comes from a single source within the Canopus system, the desert planet Arrakis, also known as Dune.

The universe is organized around the Great Convention, with the Imperium in the hands of the fascist Padishah Emperor, the many planetary fiefdoms in the hands of the feuding Landsraad Great Houses, and all intersellar economics in the hands of the universal devepment corporation CHOAM. They may plot and scheme as they wish, so long as the spice continues to be mined for the navigators of Spacing Guild, whose vast space-folding Heighliners are the only means of interstellar travel. The Spice must flow, and he who controls Arrakis, the source of the Spice, controls the Universe.

House Atreides, whose Duke has gained great popularity in the Landsraad and could possibly ascend to the Throne, has been transferred control of Arrakis by the Padishah Emperor to mine the Spice. This is surely a great prize that would seemingly seal the Duke's favored position, and House Atreides moves from its fortified home systems to the unfamiliar desert planet of Arrakis. Little do they realize that their hated feudal enemies, House Harkonnen, have covertly received the Emperor's aid to sneak attack Arrakis and wipe out all the exposed and vulnerable Atreides there once and for all. Though wary of the sole source of the precious Spice being used as a battleground, the Guild with their Spice-induced vision of space-time is deeply suspicious of something or someone within House Atreides, and will allow the troop transport on their Heighliners so long as they be sure to kill him. Along with the Harkonnen armies, the Emperor's own shock terror troops, the Sardaukar, are coming.

On Arrakis itself, within the deep desert, are the people known as the Fremen. Little is known of them, and they have never been fully counted by the Imperial Census. They have migrated there generations ago when the Third Prophet led his people from Old Earth in the ancient Zensunni migrations. The water scarcity and harsh environment has physically hardened them, and they await the coming of the Messiah and Mahdi, who will lead the people in the great Jihad to cleanse the Universe of its injustice and atheism. The Fremen dream of reworking the ecology of desert Arrakis into a green paradise. They similarly worship the gigantic Sandworms (Sigmund Freud would have a field day!). Wherever there is Spice mining there are Worms. The ecology of the Sandworms and their relationship to the Spice is the key to its control, and the future of Humanity.

Meanwhile, the Bene Gesserit sisterhood has quietly been manipulating human bloodlines in an elaborate breeding program to genetically create the Kwisatz Haderach, the One who will see everywhere at once through genetically-engineered hyper-dimensional awareness. Through his precient vision, they hope to guide the evolution of Humanity themselves. But they have unwittingly lost control of their carefully crafted program, and a Kwisatz Haderach has been unknowingly born a generation earlier than planned into House Atreides, and now he goes to Arrakis, single source of the mind-altering Spice, focal point of a growing political whirlwind, and foretold birthplace of the Messiah and his Jihad. Oops, oh crap...

Yes, its oil, Islam, Iran, Exxon, and the U.S. all stuck into sci-fi. The grandiose Padishah Emperor plots and schemes like the Shah of Iran, while behind-the-scenes the Guild/Exxon pulls all the real strings to maintain the flow of the precious Spice. The Great Houses of the Landsraad, not unlike the states of Europe, America, and the USSR, do open battle for control as infidels in a hostile land. The dangerously oppressed native population withdraws into deeper religiosity readying for a foreshadowed messianic uprising in the Holy Land. And all are addicted to that which drives it all...the oil must flow! If America is the Atriedes and Bush Sr. is the hapless fatherly Duke, I'm scared to think who could be the Duke's son and the prophesized Messiah Muad'Dib.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Well, interesting.  Something about science fiction at last.  We have finally shed the earlier scum fum.

As a novel, and a series, I really only liked the original Dune.  The sequels and prequels all seem like pot boilers to me.  I think I gave up on sequels after God Emperor of Dune.  I have read all the prequels to date, and yes, they do fill in some detail.  No imagination any longer required.

On the other hand, I really found the Foundation Trilogy and the robotic stories by Asimov most stirring.  For speculative stuff, as well as some good predictions, put yourself in a 1930's time frame and read Arthur Clark's A Prelude to Mars.

Some of us should go back to the roots, and try some Jules Verne (hopelessly outdated, but interesting), Edgar Rice Burroughs (who knew more about Mars than we do), and Eric Frank Russel who knew how to compose a space opera. 

If you dare, try to find an unexpurgated copy of the Skylark of Space and its sequels by E. E. Smith.  The last version I saw had been politically corrected.  The same thing happened to Smiths great space opera starting with Triplanetary.

Anyone ever heard of Ralph 124C21+?

[callagrafx 3]

Jules Verne is definitely on my list of best reads...From the Earth to the Moon is one of my favourites...also, his British contemporary H.G. Wells also wrote some of the finest works of fiction ever (War of the Worlds, The First men in the Moon).

From a motion picture aspect, Fritz Lang's Metropolis has to be one of the most innovative films ever, considering the era in which it was made.

[Odainsaker 2,135]

Oooh, the Asimov's Foundation series is a classic...even suspiciously reads in some places like the orignal that Star Wars would one day rip. I was always wondering of the final chaotic breakdown of the planet-city Trantor, which I always imagined resembled the last overrun gasps of Rome and Byzantium, or perhaps even Shanghai or Nanking in the 1930s and 1940s.

However, Asimov's Robot Detective series with Elijah Baley and R. Daneel Olivaw, though its scope was less historically convoluted, was more personable and fun. Star Trek's Data pales in comparison to the cool R. Daneel. The overbuilt, resource-obsessed, crowded arcologies of a decayed and emasculated mother Earth threated by her former rebel colonies were also fascinating.

[Merauder 0]

Give me Fasa's Battletech universe any day. Especially the bits about the clans.

Anyone who has ever played Mechwarrior will know what I'm talking about.

[BlondeTwiggy 43]

hmm... I love Star Trek, esp the Borg, my fave species... not really that much into star wars... I also liked Isaac Asimov's "I, Robot"

[Skyfire2275 23]

You like the borg!?!?! They are so creepy. They gave me nightmares until I was about 12... lol

I like Star Wars more than Star Trek, but I think both are excellent... It like the difference between 1st and 2nd in a field of 1 million... hardly any. But I still prefer Star Wars. It just seems more "fun" if you know what I mean.

[Joesocwork 4]

I love all kinds of science fiction and fantasy.  

Out of curiosity, in the Star Trek universe, I've forgotten (if I even knew) where the other end of the wormhole of Deep Space 9 ended up at, where Voyager was placed during its pilot, and the physical origin of the Borg, at least where Enterprise D from "Q Who" on TNG (I think that was the episode .  Any cool maps depicting them? I also wouldn't mind seeing the growth of the Federation starting with First Contact.

[Easy Bakes 253]

Originally posted by: N_O_Body Well, interesting.  Something about science fiction at last.  We have finally shed the earlier scum fum.

As a novel, and a series, I really only liked the original Dune.  The sequels and prequels all seem like pot boilers to me.  I think I gave up on sequels after God Emperor of Dune.  I have read all the prequels to date, and yes, they do fill in some detail.  No imagination any longer required.

If you dare, try to find an unexpurgated copy of the Skylark of Space and its sequels by E. E. Smith.  The last version I saw had been politically corrected.  The same thing happened to Smiths great space opera starting with Triplanetary.

+?quote>

Those Lensmen books of Smiths were exelent. i read them long ago and I recently found some old copys of them that i bought ,but am still missing Triplantary.

As for Dune I realy loved the original 3 books. and  SciFi Channl's Dune & Childern of Dune

Were a ton better then the 80's movie version.

Heres a  nerdy topic to Debate:

Walter Keonig:

Pavel Chekov  or  Alfred Bester?

Discuss

Speaking of Alfred Bester

Anyone ever read

The Demolished Man?

[Zelgadis 638]

This is likely going to be the geekiest thing I've ever said, but...

I have always wondered which would win in a fight.  The Enterprise E or a Star Destroyer.  Star Destroyers are much bigger and have lots more weaponry.  But the Enterprise E appears to have more advanced weaponry and better shields.

But then, I haven't even factored in the super-star destroyer.  ("Executor" was the name, I believe.)  How many Federation ships would it take to blow up that thing, I wonder. 

On the other hand, I do theorize that a Federation ship is small enough to cruise into that giant cargo hatch on the Star Destroyer's belly and start shooting.  That would do some real damage.

Or, take a Galaxy class starship, evac everyone from the stardrive section to the saucer.  Separate the ship.  Send the stardrive section into the big cargo hatch in the star destroyer, and initiate a warp-core overload.  That'd do it. 

Okay, enough uber-geekiness...

As for the meeting with the Borg, I believe it was stated that the system's name was J2-5.  Whatever that means.  That's where Picard encountered them for the first time.  Anyone know where that is?

[Joesocwork 4]

Originally posted by: Easy Bakes

Heres a  nerdy topic to Debate:

Walter Keonig:

Pavel Chekov  or  Alfred Bester?

Discuss quote>

 

Chekov.  Even though he was a goofy Monkees/Beatles like attraction for 60's teeny boppers, he stayed heroic throughout, especially in the even numbered Star Trek movies.   Bester, on the otherhand, started out as a cool villian in Babylon 5 but he was too snarky and wimped out in the end. 

[Odainsaker 2,135]

Insurance Agent: We're sorry, but failing to close the small thermal exhaust vent to your power core during rebel attacks is an owner's negligence that does not fall under your limited policy coverage for the Death Star--ack, *choke* *choke*

Darth Vader: I am renegotiating the deal...pray I do not renegotiate it any further!

Yep, there are details to Star Wars we will never know. Like why didn't the Evil Empire just napalm the Ewok forest, rather than sending in hapless speedbikers to fly between the trees. One nuclear missile could take care of any approaching swarm of Rebel fighters. Donald Rumsfield must be managing the Imperial forces! And if a Death Star the size of a small moon just exploded beside the forested moon of Endor, why didn't the shockwave and debris devastate that's moon's facing surface and again wipe out the Ewoks.

Another good book to find is Carl Sagan's "Contact." The movie was okay, but it speedily breezed over the interesting scientific particulars in order to push the drama. In the book, I could not help but reread the the great shocking scene and perfectly rational explanation of how Hitler of all people was the first important television signal broadcasted to the stars as our first witless message to any aliens. That freakish and creepy in-depth explanation, like other meaty sections of the book, was sadly given a glib half-second blurb in the movie.

Another ramble...who or what were the Space Jockeys? If you remember the horror space movie "Alien," the Space Jockey was the fossilized pilot in the derelict alien craft. He did look like a funky vinyl disc turntable, but his bizarre ship is perhaps the most disturbingly "alien"-looking craft I have ever seen in sci-fi. Giger can be a genius when he isn't trying to be blatantly demonic or explicit. The wicked moon LV-426 and the derelict ship, in the real star system Zeta II Reticuli, deserves a spot on the map...with a big warning beacon "Stay Away."

[BlondeTwiggy 43]

sky: Yeah, I think they're cool, b/c they rely so much on technology, and they're really hard to beat...

Joesocwork: Yes, it was "Q Who" when they made their first appearance I'm pretty sure, they don't seem to come up often in TNG though, except for the couple of two-parters(and Hugh episode)..

[callagrafx 3]

@Zelgadis...really no contest, as the Enterprise is more manouverable, has multiple phaser and Photon Torpedo banks and is (or was) piloted by a kid ()

@Easy Bakes: Chekov...Davy Jones in Space Poor guy got so typecast as Chekov he couldn't land another role (much like a lot of the others, except Shatner).

As for expressing a preference between ST and SW, I can't, as SW was a great adventure story, in the confines of 3 good movies and 3 mediocre ones, whereas ST is a series based on a universe created by the genuis of one man (Roddenberry) and as such the possibilities for narrative are quite wide.

[NicolaiS 8]

I am a big science fiction fan ... especially in the reading departement. A big fan of SciFi ... a HUGE fan and collector of the Dune series by Frank Harbert. Odainsaker already explained very thoroughly what the Dune Universe is about ... so I will not repeat that.

I started reading SciFi when I was about 8 years old and "nicked" the book my father was reading ... Durdane by Jack Vance. In the 30 years since then I have read at least 6 or 700 SciFi novels, some twice ... others a doze times ( Dune ). I own about 400 science fiction novels in either English or Dutch and plan to continue to collect them as long as I live.

Watching SciFi in movies or on TV is for me usual a disappointment. Although I like certain movies, like StarWars, they lack the depth most novels have. Exceptions are , in my opinion: Blade Runner, Brazil, Metropolis ( 1927 ), 1984, Soylent Green, Gattaca ... and a few I can not think of right now.

My favorite writers are: Frank Herbert ( of course ), Robert A Heinlein, Frederik Pohl, Dan Simmons, Peter Hamilton, Orson Scott Card, Philip K. Dick, K.W. Jeter .... and many many others.

[Odainsaker 2,135]

Frank Herbert is by no means easy reading, as his language is very convoluted. I had to reread "Dune" several times to fully understand what he was describing, but his universe has breathtaking density and scope once you can penetrate the style. In many ways, "Dune" with its byzantine cynical traps involving prescient vision is his response to Asimov's mechanistic psychohistory of the "Foundation" series.

Another good one is Herbert's "Hellstrom's Hive," which feels like a long X-Files episode investigating the freaky ideas of an underground human colony organized into insect hive patterns. If you follow anything about social insects or the history of the recent spread of Africanized killer bees, this will scare the daylights out of you. In many ways, the Tleilaxu are modelled after the twisted ideas here, and it would make a frighteningly disturbing movie.

For you "Matrix" and "Ghost in the Shell" fans out there, try to find the book that helped introduce the cyberpunk world, William Gibson's "Neuromancer."  Though too yakuza slick and hacker pop for my taste, it had great ideas about the internet.  For us anime fans, I dream of the day when the astoundingly vast space fleet opera "Legend of the Galactic Heroes" (Ginga Eiyu Densetsu), against which even the great Star Wars pales, ever makes it to the States for official release.  Nothing brings out the history fan in me like the Imperial Japanese Navy and the German High Seas Fleet recast as a battling space armadas set to Wagnerian classical music!  If Star Wars and "2001: A Space Odyssey" have tought us anything, it's that spaceflight is all about the orchestral background music.

At the other end of the spectrum is L. Ron Hubbard's "Battlefield Earth," which is one of the few sci-fi space operas I actually put down in disgust.  It was so hokey (right down to the blue-collar alien lunchpails) that later I was not surprised John Travolta's movie turned into such an awful bomb.

[Easy Bakes 253]

Originally posted by: callagrafx 

@Easy Bakes: Chekov...Davy Jones in Space Poor guy got so typecast as Chekov he couldn't land another role (much like a lot of the others, except Shatner). 

@Odainsaker 

At the other end of the spectrum is L. Ron Hubbard's "Battlefield Earth," which is one of the few sci-fi space operas I actually put down in disgust.  It was so hokey (right down to the blue-collar alien lunchpails) that later I was not surprised John Travolta's movie turned into such an awful bomb.

.quote>

 

I thought he was very good as Bester in B5, one of my Favorite subplots was him and Garibaldi's Issues.

Odainsaker: 

I Actualy enjoyed the novel  Battlefield Earth, so much more story line  then was addressed in the Movie( which i thought was good awefull  * Not supprized*  cant stand Travolta).

At his best  L. Ron Hubbard was a  medicore at best scifi writer.

[beebs 129]

Originally posted by: Joesocwork I love all kinds of science fiction and fantasy.  

Out of curiosity, in the Star Trek universe, I've forgotten (if I even knew) where the other end of the wormhole of Deep Space 9 ended up at, where Voyager was placed during its pilot, and the physical origin of the Borg, at least where Enterprise D from "Q Who" on TNG (I think that was the episode .  Any cool maps depicting them? I also wouldn't mind seeing the growth of the Federation starting with First Contact.quote>

Wormhole went to Gamma, Voyager went to Delta, Borg seem to be based in Delta... as for the Enterprise D, I think it went to either the Beta or Delta quadrant.

[The boy formerly known as Evil Muzz 27]

Originally posted by: zelgadis But then, I haven't even factored in the super-star destroyer.  ("Executor" was the name, I believe.)  How many Federation ships would it take to blow up that thing, I wonder. 

quote>

 

Yeah, the Executor was a big thing, but remember that it crashed into the second Death Star and exploded after a small 4m across starfighter crashed into the bridge.

[Zelgadis 638]

Originally posted by: The boy formerly known as Evil Muzz

Originally posted by: zelgadis But then, I haven't even factored in the super-star destroyer.  ("Executor" was the name, I believe.)  How many Federation ships would it take to blow up that thing, I wonder. 

quote>

 

Yeah, the Executor was a big thing, but remember that it crashed into the second Death Star and exploded after a small 4m across starfighter crashed into the bridge.quote>

True that, but that was only after the Executor lost it's bridge shields after heavy fighting.

Still seemed a bit  of a wimpy way to go for such a big thing.  Couldn't the Imperial Starfleet have backup systems in case the bridge was knocked out?  Dumb dumb dumb dumb...

BTW, I've heard rumors that Cartoon Network has been commissioned to make an animated version of what happens between Episodes III and IV, much like Clone Wars.  Anyone know if that's true or not?

ISF

[jacqulina 162]

i myself love startrek voyager i can watch all of it over and over again

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Originally posted by: Easy Bakes

Speaking of Alfred Bester

Anyone ever read

The Demolished Man?

quote>

Many years ago.  One of the best of the best.  Poor Ben, quite a freudian mess.  The typography in that book was quite amazing at times.  Perhaps it gave the best picture of telepathic babble ever.  I think it was the first use of symbols to produce words like @kins and ¼main.

"Who stole the moon?"

[Palpatine001 57]

Ok some facts regarding Star Trek and Star Wars for you all.

Starting with Star Trek: The Bajorian Wormhole featured in ST DS9 links the Alpha to the Gamma Quadrants, remembering the Federation and Cardassian Union are in the Alpha Quadrants and the Dominion in the Gamma Quadrant. While I am at it, the Romulans and Klingons are in the Beta Quadrants and the damned but loveable Borg are in the DELTA QUADRANT where Voyager got stuck. As for first contact with the Borg it was mentioned in Star Trek Generations that the Borg were first heard of during the time of the Enterprise B (that so called Killed Kirk) when they attack the home world of the character played by Whoopie Goldburg - HOWEVER first contact between the Borg and the Federation was when Q sent the Enterpirse D into the DELTA Quadrant into a meeting that ensured a vicious battle (Wolf 359) some months later that destroyed 49 Federation ships.

The Q Quantum as such don't live in the same fabric of space we do as such, they live on a higher plain like the Accients from Star Gate.

Going to the Executor, now thats debatable on her WIMP ending in Ep 6, yes she was in very heavy fighting and her bridge sheild were destroyed after repeated bombardment by the Rebel Cruisers and fighters, Admiral Piett (the fool) ordered his foward batteries to increase the intensity of their firepower to stop the Rebel fleet breaking through, however that damned A Wing crashed into the Excutor's Bridge shattering the controls and sending it into a death dive into the Death Star BEFORE the secondary bridge could kick in and take control. Sadly Imperial starships are a bit slow compared to Star Trek Starfleet ships.

You see this is two fold, most larger Federation ships have 3 control centres with the exception of Galaxy Class (Enterprise D which had 4) and the Promethus Class having upwards of seven due to her spliting in 3 warp capable ships (making it damn lethal and a favourite target of the Romulan Star Empire. Smaller Starfleet warships such as the Defiant have two main centres.

Anyhow the main control centres for all Warp 9 capable Federation ships are the Main Bridge and Main Engineering, larger ships such as Soverign Class (Enterprise E) will have the Main Bridge, Main Engineering and a Secondary Bridge, Galaxy Class Starships had 4 control centres due to her saucer separation, Main and Secondary Bridge(s) on the Saucer section, the Battle Bridge on the Battle or Star Drive section (allowing the 2 sections to operate independently or an emergency back up) and again Main Engineering. The Promethus class - well just say for each warp section there was the Main Bridge and Main Engineering as well as Overal Tactical Control on the front section and a overall Engineering Control in the Transwarp capable back section - wow that vessel makes the Romulans crap them selves silly - REALLY!

So if one control centre goes down on a Federation ship, the next control centre takes over as all centres were crewed and on Alert 1 during Red Alert status - something the Executor was not and cost the ship dearly, her secondary bridge wasn't quick enough.

And yes Bridge Controls can be routed through Main Engineering (ST First Contact) or Engineering Controls can be controled by the Chief Engineer from the Bridge if the Warp Core decides to flood Main Engineering with Radiation (ST TNG Best of Both Worlds and ST Nemisis) or if the Warp Core has to be ejected (which has saved Voyager and the Enterprise E more than once)

Now the old argument on who would win in a Empire vs Federation (Star Trek) head to head fight, ummmmm I put my money on the Federation for these reasons. Star Destroyers are damn slow in moving around unlike Starfleet ships, therefore relying on her fighters to beat off other fighters and small craft while leaving her sheilds and meduim turbolasers to get everything else and god forbid the Heavy Turbolasers if you stupid to go broad side to a Star Destroyer (see Star Wars Ep3 when Grevious tries and loses big time). All Starfleet ships including large ones like Enterprise can move damn fast at sublight let alone Warp, their phasers can target and fire (and more to the point HIT) anything moving at any speed at less than or FASTER light speed* - trust me rapid fire phasers I have seen. Starfleet also has a small fighter group that can take on TIEs and X-Wings making their lives a misery. Now the famous photon torpedos can pack more than a punch then nuclear based proton torpedo and move a warp speed making them hard to hit by turbolasers, also with them Warp capable Federation ships can be at warp speed firing their torpedos and Star Destroyers can't do anything about it. Federation ships can change frequency modulations on their torpedos allowing them to go straight through sheilds (Poor Enterprise D was taken out that way) as well as their shields (good for Borg strikes) for defence. * yes it is possible and I have seen it, Phasers can shoot down photon torpedos, Star Bases especially Earth Defence Platforms can do it as well as any starship carrying Type X Planetary Phaser Emitters (usually Enterprise does) so proton torpedo have no show in hell against Federation ships. Also with me mentioning all those redudant control centres above, the Federation ships can stand a good beating - hey the Enterprise E was looking a little worse for wear in Nemisis but she and her crew (Minus Data) survived. So again my money is on the Federation winning a fight against the Galactic Empire anyday.

Hmmmm so what's your favourite SCI Fi?

[Zelgadis 638]

Wow, palpatine, you wrote a lot. 

Couple of things:

I think first contact between humans and Borg was with the original NX-01 Enterprise.  However, the Borg were rather underdeveloped at the time and the Enterprise only encountered one Borg ship, in which Captain Archer and crew managed to kill them all.

I was going to mention about the Enterprise D being destroyed in a wimpy way.  A bird of prey!  I would have liked an ending in that movie that features Picard slapping Riker around a bit. 

"You let the Enterprise get destroyed by a WHAT???"  *Slap!*

On Nemesis though, my review:  Good story but HUGE mistake making Picard's nemesis a clone.  I mean, how original...    It would have been just as good and only needed a small rewrite to make it somebody else.  (Think Khan.  Now THAT was a nemesis!)  But the best part?  Incredible space battle.  Star Trek often lacked in that department. 

Favorite Sci-Fi...

That's a toughie.

I can narrow it down.  It would be between Voyager and SG-1.  At least, until lately.  I don't know what to think of SG-1 after season 8 with Richard Dean Anderson gone...

ST:  Voyager had me hooked fairly quickly.  But it got great after Kes left (Blech!) and even better with the "Bride of Chaotica" episode.   Kate Mulgrew was genius in that episode.

Janeway:  "I've always been impressed by your (pause) clever fiendishness!"

ISF

[callagrafx 3]

I was going to mention about the Enterprise D being destroyed in a wimpy way. A bird of prey! I would have liked an ending in that movie that features Picard slapping Riker around a bit.quote>

Not half as wimpy as a collision with an old Soyuz Class in Cause and Effect (season 5, ep18)...although the Kelsey Grammer cameo was quite good.