The Doctor's mobile emitter

Captain Picard's Hair · Thu Dec 13, 2007 8:56 pm

It doesn't seem too sturdy for 29th century tech: "Equinox" is on (Spike network) now and the Equinox' EMH knocked the Doctor's mobile emitter off with a swipe of a PADD and the Doctor went offline. This is not the only time this has ever happened, either. It's another of the writer's pet Plot Devices, but in-universe just another example of weak tech.

I'm not sure if we've had a thread about this, so any thoughts about the emitter could go here. For example, would the stuff in the emitter be enough to create the superborg "One" in "Drone?" It's advanced tech, but only a very small sample of it. We couldn't build a shuttlecraft if a communicator fell into our hands, or even if a tricorder came to us.

Sionnach Glic · Post by **Sionnach Glic** » Thu Dec 13, 2007 10:00 pm

No, we haven't had a thread on this yet, as far as I know.
If they could be mass produced, there are some interesting possibilites. Holographic soldiers, anyone?

Captain Picard's Hair · Thu Dec 13, 2007 11:15 pm

Well, to have effective soldiers you would need to take care of the tendency of the hologram to go offline whenever a butterfly touches the emitter, as I said in the first post.

It does raise a question as to why the temporal "police" allowed a piece of 29th century technology to remain in the 24th century - especially if it's possible to do what Rochey suggests once Voyager gets home.

Enkidu · Post by **Enkidu** » Thu Dec 13, 2007 11:23 pm

It was one of the things I hated about Voyager, which I did enjoy but felt it pulled up the drawbridge for future series's. With the introduction of the EMH (probably the best character in Voy) there is no reason why SF couldn't have new ships with largely holographic crews, and then chuck in the mobile emitter - once that gets back to the alpha quadrant organic crew become obsolete.

Post by **Tsukiyumi** » Thu Dec 13, 2007 11:40 pm

I've always thought a holographic supplementary crew would be an obvious development, as the system seems to use less power than you would think. When you see a bunch of people getting tossed around or set on fire in Engineering, imagine holographic replacements appearing automatically to take up the slack. Intruder alert? Holographic security materializes at the location of the breach. Too much radiation in a key section? Holograms. It seems obvious to me. At least they addressed the Emergency Command Hologram in one episode of Voyager.

Post by **Mikey** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 12:11 am

The pretty answer lies in all of Picard's "we strive to better ourselves" rhetoric. The UFP (and Starfleet) take upon themselves a responsibility to provide that opportunity to their crews. What happens to all those potential officers (because they have precious few enlisted men) when they crew their ships with holograms?

Post by **Tsukiyumi** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 12:33 am

I meant for emergency use only, of course.

Post by **Mikey** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 1:20 am

I meant for emergency use only, of course.

Or inherently hazardous duty. But that makes far too much sense for Starfleet, no?

Post by **Tsukiyumi** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 1:51 am

Seems so. How many hours could be better utilized by saying:
" Activate Logistical Support Hologram," instead of having senior officers take inventory of cargo? With a mobile emitter, they could even perform hull repairs on long-range assignments. The 'Hazardous Environment Engineering Hologram', or some such. As you said, though, the writers- er, I mean Starfleet can't seem to grasp these sorts of innovations.

Captain Picard's Hair · Fri Dec 14, 2007 2:32 am

IN whatever episode of TNG it was where Troi took the Bridge Officer Qualification Test, the Engineering qualification was about ordering an officer to his death. That's where you'd use a hologram.

Monroe · Post by **Monroe** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 4:26 am

Yeah and Trek seems to use holograms as the next step up from androids. Data is cool and all but all of his superiority can be outdone by a tiny mobile emitter.

And on the Temporal Police it also begs to question that why is it that police from the 29th-31st century are doing all the work. Wouldn't it make more sense to have beings from a billion years or more in the future fix all the problems?

Post by **Tsukiyumi** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 4:38 am

Perhaps the Federation doesn't exist in the 32nd century...

Jordanis · Post by **Jordanis** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 10:54 am

Time travel makes my head hurt.

Thorin · Post by **Thorin** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 11:41 am

It's possible that due to the very nature of time travel; 'billions of years in the future' doesn't exist - and everyone lives in different timezones in the 29th century, so they keep on travelling back in time as it naturally progresses forward.

Sionnach Glic · Post by **Sionnach Glic** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 12:11 pm

Or it's possible that time travel really takes you into a different, but almost identical, universe. This would explain how they're able to screw around with the timeline without any problems.