Skip to main content

star trek - Why are quarters on the Enterprise-D so spacious?


Watching TNG I noticed that nearly every crew member has very spacious quarters, which is something that does not seem practical on a space vessel.


Today's aircraft carriers house 3 officers to a room and 8 or more enlisted men to a room.


Why are quarters on the Enterprise-D so spacious and is there evidence that lesser crew members had more confined/shared living quarters?



Answer



Why the quarters are so spacious;





  • Ship space isn't at much of a premium. The ship can readily hold ten times the present crew when the need arises (for evacuation missions and emergencies) which means that for most of the time, the ship is 90% empty.




  • The Enterprise is not a military vessel. Their primary mission is one of peaceful exploration. In addition to there being a considerable number of civilians on board, the crew are not expected to maintain military discipline in their quarters. Providing them with spacious accommodation would obviously lead to less stress and a happier and more productive crew.




The TNG Technical Manual has this to say on the subject;




Starfleet believes that providing comfortable living quarters to all crew and attached personnel to be of primary importance. Indeed, living accommodations are one of the most visible displays of Starfleet's commitment to caring for its single most important "system," its people.


...


The living areas of the starship have been designed for maximum comfort and safety while the crew is conducting a mission. Long-term studies of humanoid cultures have confirmed that as each race embarked upon permanent occupation of space, large personal living spaces had to be established, especially on early sublight expeditions. The Enterprise allows for some 110 square meters of living space per person, in addition to community space and the areas allocated to purely working functions.


While some engineers on the Galaxy Class Project questioned the relatively large size of the vessel, opting for a smaller, more efficient design, it was conceded that the large size provided a greater number of mission options, given the changing social, political, and economic conditions in the Milky Way.




Do lesser crew members have less space?


Yes, crew quarters aboard the Enterprise-D (at least for Starfleet personnel) are assigned and sized according to rank. In the episode TNG : Lower Decks, we learn that enlisted crewpersons are required to share quarters until they reach the rank of Lieutenant.



LAVELLE : Promote me, please -- so I can make Lieutenant and have my own room.



TAURIK : If you aren't happy sharing quarters with me, then you should put in for a new room assignment. Just in case you're not promoted.



Above the junior ranks, Senior officers are provided with staterooms and at least one extra room for work/study. Picard and Riker use this extra space as separated visiting areas, Data uses his extra room as a private workspace and Troi uses hers as an informal workroom with her famously messy desk. The ship also contains "apartments" for officers who choose to bring their families on board, comprised of two normal sets of quarters combined into a single living area.


Picard's quarters


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

harry potter - Do the Kwikspell courses work?

In Harry Potter we are introduced to Kwikspell course in The Chamber of Secrets (and never hear about it again). We see Filch taking courses, presumably by mail. The descriptions of Kwikspell make me think it is for people who are weak in magic (kind of like how Neville was supposed to be when he was younger), but had magic in them nonetheless. However, Ron's comments later in the chapter make it sound like it is mainly for Squibs to learn magic. However, it is strongly implied through out all the books that Squibs are essentially Muggles, and will never be able to do magic. How then is a Kwikspell course supposed to work? Do we have any information to know if it works at all? Is it a scam? An answer from any level of canon is welcome. Answer Kwikspell courses are (probably) useful to some wizards, but not to squibs. The Kwikspell course literature comes with two testimonials. Madam Z. Nettles of Topsham writes: ‘I had no memory for incantations and my potions were a family joke...
Post a Comment
Read more

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

star trek - Warning regarding forward saucer section in Nemesis?

In Star Trek: Nemesis , just before the Enterprise rams into the Scimitar, Picard sends a text message from his captain's chair arm pad to Troi — who is manning the helm in lieu of the crewman who was just blown out through what was once the view screen — indicating that she should put full impulse on standby. (Literally, if you watch the scene closely, Troi's console prefaces the order with "TXT MSG" !) My question is: Did Picard also somehow warn crew members in the forward saucer section about what was about to happen? The ramming of the Scimitar was a heat of the moment decision. Considering that he also resorted to calling the auto-destruct sequence shortly after (which ended up being offline), he probably was of the mindset that any losses would be acceptable in order to hault Shinzon's march to Earth. Still, I'm curious. Answer The original script indicates that he called for the crew to " brace for impact ". Whether that call (or the comma...
Post a Comment
Read more

star wars - What "exactly" happens when someone turns to the Dark Side?

When I saw the original Star Wars saga as a kid, the concept of the Dark Side imprinted in me was quite simple. You did a bad thing, so you're a bad person so you go to the Dark Side and keep doing bad things. Now, obviously this doesn't hold true in reality. In my mind it is perfectly reasonable for Luke to kill the Emperor and Vader and then just flee the Death Star and rejoin the Alliance. After all they are at war, those are enemy officers that have captured him and are taunting him by threatening with death of all loved ones and the whole operation was intended to kill the Emperor anyway. The same would hold true for Anakin. He could have killed Mace Windu to save the Chancellor and Padme but that doesn't mean he's going to then go mad and kill all Jedis including children. It doesn't add up from a merely psychological point of view. He had a set of objectives and that made him want to keep the Chancellor alive (quite valid by the way, Mace Windu is quite clums...
Post a Comment
Read more