Right! I'm now poking my head out of the fallout shelter once again to
make a few points. First of all, I humbly withdraw my plea for a
B5-based mailing list. However, the fact that it's the one almost
everyone talks about (until lately!) led me to believe that it would be
worthwhile.
Secondly, all this business about Dr.Who - at last! Rassilon isn't the
Doctor - at least not according to Ben Aaronvitch in his book version of
Remembrance of the Daleks - present at the first big time travel
experiment were Rassilon, Omega (who died and came back in "The Three
Doctors") and "The Other". No prizes for guessing who he must be.
Possibly, he travelled back in time to try and change Gallifreyan
history for the better - in the book sequences, he's always predicting
doom and gloom about time travel in general.
Thirdly, about planets exploding as rings! Gahh!!! I agree that it
would probably be a weak point like the equator along which a planet
would explode; however, this doesn't explain why the USS Excelsior just
happens to be in the line of such an explosion in Star Trek VI!!!
Artistic license, presumably - or, perhaps, this was the sub-space
manifestation of all that energy going ker-pow, and we just saw the edge
of a giant sphere of it (which is how it got to where the Excelsior was
so damned quickly, as well). Note that in the first proper Star Trek
"Where No Man etc.", the Enterprise goes towards the energy barrier at
the edge of the galaxy...and it's a thin strip! Probably this is just
the part which is "vertical" with respect to our viewpoint, and
therefore visible (for whatever reason).
Finally... this thing about lasers spreading out is a fair point -
physicists know all about diffraction - but, since the wavelengths of
these lasers will be VERY small (so that they'll have some energy), the
gaps through which they get fired will be nice and large anyway by
comparison, so diffraction won't be a problem! (The reason torch beams
spread out is because the light bulbs inside are firing light out in all
directions, not because the torch neck is diffracting the beam!)
Phew. Two or three more E-mails came in while I was writing this.
Incidentally, the character upon whom was based that page I mentioned
(the lengths I go to to avoid ending a sentence on a preposition!) was
Bert from Sesame Street, a "nerdy" guy who collects bottle caps and
paper clips, and who lives in an apartment with the far more "American
kid" character Ernie - the point is that such two vastly different
people can be best buddies. Although, according to that page, Bert
actually has far different motives... (but I digress!)
David "Dave-ros" Chilard
make a few points. First of all, I humbly withdraw my plea for a
B5-based mailing list. However, the fact that it's the one almost
everyone talks about (until lately!) led me to believe that it would be
worthwhile.
Secondly, all this business about Dr.Who - at last! Rassilon isn't the
Doctor - at least not according to Ben Aaronvitch in his book version of
Remembrance of the Daleks - present at the first big time travel
experiment were Rassilon, Omega (who died and came back in "The Three
Doctors") and "The Other". No prizes for guessing who he must be.
Possibly, he travelled back in time to try and change Gallifreyan
history for the better - in the book sequences, he's always predicting
doom and gloom about time travel in general.
Thirdly, about planets exploding as rings! Gahh!!! I agree that it
would probably be a weak point like the equator along which a planet
would explode; however, this doesn't explain why the USS Excelsior just
happens to be in the line of such an explosion in Star Trek VI!!!
Artistic license, presumably - or, perhaps, this was the sub-space
manifestation of all that energy going ker-pow, and we just saw the edge
of a giant sphere of it (which is how it got to where the Excelsior was
so damned quickly, as well). Note that in the first proper Star Trek
"Where No Man etc.", the Enterprise goes towards the energy barrier at
the edge of the galaxy...and it's a thin strip! Probably this is just
the part which is "vertical" with respect to our viewpoint, and
therefore visible (for whatever reason).
Finally... this thing about lasers spreading out is a fair point -
physicists know all about diffraction - but, since the wavelengths of
these lasers will be VERY small (so that they'll have some energy), the
gaps through which they get fired will be nice and large anyway by
comparison, so diffraction won't be a problem! (The reason torch beams
spread out is because the light bulbs inside are firing light out in all
directions, not because the torch neck is diffracting the beam!)
Phew. Two or three more E-mails came in while I was writing this.
Incidentally, the character upon whom was based that page I mentioned
(the lengths I go to to avoid ending a sentence on a preposition!) was
Bert from Sesame Street, a "nerdy" guy who collects bottle caps and
paper clips, and who lives in an apartment with the far more "American
kid" character Ernie - the point is that such two vastly different
people can be best buddies. Although, according to that page, Bert
actually has far different motives... (but I digress!)
David "Dave-ros" Chilard