Star Trek Court Martial talk

[Mikey]

Was watching the classic Star Trek episode Court Martial last night and everytime I see it i'm always left scratching my head what Ben Finney was suppose to be doing during the ion storm.

Ok, we know he was in a "pod"

The search for him was "in and around the ship" --- which means this pod must somehow go in and out of the ship.

The pod can be jettisoned during an emergency

I'm trying to imagine what this pod actually is and where it goes.

Why must it be jettisoned (and the man killed) on some occassions ?

Jettisoned from where ?

[trekman101]

This should help you Ion pod - Memory Alpha, the Star Trek Wiki

[johnmiic]

I don't think it makes much sense. It's a story element that is kind'a dumb but necessary for the plot to move forward. It seems to me with 23rd Century technology they would use an un-manned pod for dangerous situations like that.

That link is to images from re-mastered ST episodes. I have a technical manual by Doug Drexler from the 1980's that shows a blueprint of the Ion Pod being in the tip of the lower dome on the underside of the saucer. I'll have to scan it and post it. Interesting to note on the Enterprise that followed, The Motion Picture Refit and all after, I don't think there is an ion pod on any of those other ships. It wasn't included and completely forgotten.

[Mikey]

I don't think it makes much sense. It's a story element that is kind'a dumb but necessary for the plot to move forward. It seems to me with 23rd Century technology they would use an un-manned pod for dangerous situations like that.

.

That's what I was thinking

Their explanation is very vague and doesn't seem to make sense.

If there was a little repair pod that could scoot around the outside of the ship it should have a life support system already in it ... or does the user just hold his breath when outside ?

[johnmiic]

Here's where they used to say the Ion Pod was:

[ctc]

>It seems to me with 23rd Century technology they would use an un-manned pod for dangerous situations like that.

True; but they made a point of eschewing robots in the original show. The idea was that it took human effort and nerve to achieve. (Hence why every robot they met was evil and/or insane.) Even the ship weapons required tenders; like an old schooner.

Don C.

[JediJaida]

They didn't bother to put in a toilet?

What did they expect the engineer to do if he had to do something of that nature? Hold it in? For how long?

Or, stop whatever he was doing, re-dock the pod, do his business and then go back to his repairs?!

In battle or an ion storm or anything like that, that kind of thing seems pretty stupid.

You could put it into a retreating cabinet marked, 'Toilet', that comes out of a wall with a push of a button.

[Mikey]

Here's where they used to say the Ion Pod was:

http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._1452501_n.jpg

That's weird

I never would have expected it to be there of all places

[thunderbolt]

They didn't bother to put in a toilet?

What did they expect the engineer to do if he had to do something of that nature? Hold it in? For how long?

Or, stop whatever he was doing, re-dock the pod, do his business and then go back to his repairs?!

In battle or an ion storm or anything like that, that kind of thing seems pretty stupid.

You could put it into a retreating cabinet marked, 'Toilet', that comes out of a wall with a push of a button.

Maybe by the 23rd century all the food and drink are so well made that there are no waste products?

[johnmiic]

In the U.S.S. Enterprise Blueprints ad The Starfleet Tech manual the author/artist, Franz Joseph, included spots for toilets on the ship. They just didn't show them in the TV series for whatever reason.

That's weird

I never would have expected it to be there of all places

I think you would have a better vantage point there. Still imagine the view you would get of the ship from there. It's not official. That is from a book called The Starfleet Officers Manual written and drawn by Doug Drexler and Geoffrey Mandel of the Star Trek Posterbooks publication from the 1970's.