Space Battle at the end of Serenity by BWare42

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

Space Battle at the end of Serenity

POSTED BY: BWARE42
UPDATED: Friday, March 3, 2006 14:51
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Friday, March 3, 2006 10:02 AM

I watched Serenity (again) last night. I noticed there were none of the "Dortmunder" class ships during the battle. Why? Was chasing down Serenity less of a priority so they sent smaller forces or not? Just posing the question.

Time for some thrilling heroics.

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Friday, March 3, 2006 10:14 AM

JOSSISAGOD

I don't believe it was less of a priority for the alliance, as Shepard Book said "As much as they want her, they want her hid." In my opinion, The Alliance didn't want it known that they were chasing after river. So, they wouldn't send the larger class warships after one small (supposedly) unarmed ship.

JOSSIS(Most Definitely)AGOD

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Friday, March 3, 2006 10:17 AM

DUG

Hmmm.

Well, the Dortmunder had fighters that were launched to actually engage the enemy. Perhaps it functions more like an aircraft carrier and stays clear of the actual battle, managing the events from a distance.

Wasn't the city ship in "Bushwhacked" of the same class as the Dortmunder? Since it had a nursery, that pretty much says that there are non-combatants on such ships. That also would fit the "stay clear of shooting" idea.

Because unlike the idealistic (and poorly written) Federation in ST:NG, not even the Alliance would be cruel enough to put its children into an active battleship.

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Friday, March 3, 2006 10:17 AM

PURPLEBELLY

Perhaps Dortmunder class ships have a design suited to long-duration patrol and bringing the light of civilisation to the the border regions rather than the seek-and-destroy functionality of the vessels sent to eliminate River.

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Friday, March 3, 2006 10:23 AM

HOTPOINT

Judging from their design the big Alliance Cruisers have a lot more mass relative to the size of their engines

Maybe they were just too slow to get there?

...................................
Hurrah, hurrah, when things are at their worst
With cries of “Death or Glory” comes the mighty Twenty-First

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Friday, March 3, 2006 10:27 AM

SERYN

Wasn't it the operatives gig? He had his own ship there, which, to me, looked much sportier, of advanced tech, and much better for chasing and fighting than one like the Dortmunder. Also, if he was operating above and beyond the legitimate, public government, it seems right that the legitimate, public government wasn't there.

What Dug said about the Dortmunder being like a city ship with civillians on boeard seems very logical aswell.

But you know what? I never noticed that there wasn't one there. I'm always to busy gritting my teeth against what comes next.

*a moment of silence if you will...

**********************************************************
Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative. O.W.

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Friday, March 3, 2006 10:43 AM

THESOAPBOXER

I too always assumed that the Dortmunder-type vessels were more on the lines of command stations rather than warships (maybe like military outposts or such). The general design of the cruisers don't particularly lend themselves to being useful in firefights or in any case where shots being thrown. Joss said in the "Serenity" (episode) commentary that the cruisers were desgned vertically "almost to a point of being inefficient."

Also, and this is the very essence of speculation, but what if there is some difference between Alliance Military warcraft and Interplanetary Parlaiment warcraft?

And another question: Upon reflection it does seem slightly odd for so goddamn many ships to be there just to shoot a tiny Firefly-class ship out of the sky. As memory serves, the Operative only ordered a couple vessels (maybe just one) to "lock on and fire." What were the other ships there for? Just to watch? Celebrate at the big after-destruction party that was scheduled to follow?

_____________________________________________
Could you please just make it stranger? Just stranger. Odder. Could be weirder. More bizarre. How about uncanny?
~Joss Whedon

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Friday, March 3, 2006 12:21 PM

OCT0GEN

Quote:
Originally posted by thesoapboxer:

And another question: Upon reflection it does seem slightly odd for so goddamn many ships to be there just to shoot a tiny Firefly-class ship out of the sky. As memory serves, the Operative only ordered a couple vessels (maybe just one) to "lock on and fire." What were the other ships there for? Just to watch? Celebrate at the big after-destruction party that was scheduled to follow?

after the operative kills mr. u he says something like "call in every ship in the quadrant. we'll meet them in the air". in the commentary it was noted that part of the reason the operative stabbed mr. u was to show that mal et al is really beginning to get to him. he is probably thinking this "bring back the 17 yr old girl" mission really shouldnt be this difficult for him even if she is being protected by some lowley ex-indepentance grunt. i also think he opting for overkill and not taking any chances since he lost serenity several times:

1. cant fire missiles on serenity, mal has pulse beacon
2. cant finish beating up mal due to flashbomb
3. cant send ship to intercept as serenity lunches several navsat transponders.
4. cant find serenity even after attacking all the hideouts
5. cant find serenity when they go to miranda. the op: "define: lost"

i guess the op has to retract his "you cant make me angry" statement.

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Friday, March 3, 2006 12:52 PM

STEVETHEPIRATE

Quote:
Originally posted by dug:
Because unlike the idealistic (and poorly written) Federation in ST:NG, not even the Alliance would be cruel enough to put its children into an active battleship.

Not an entirely fair comparison. The Enterprise was never considered a battle ship during TNG. There were battles, but the ship's main mission was exploration. A shade of grey, sure, but enough justification for having kids on the ship, as far as I'm concerned.

Of course, there was enough crazy crap going on thoughout the galaxy just on the planets in TNG that there really wasn't any place to put kids and think they were any safer than anywhere else. So I guess it's more of a wide-ranging flaw than I'd ever really considered. Thank you, dug, for making me honestly reconsider how much of a TNG fan I ever should have been.

Roddenberry sucks!

----------------------------------------------
"MY APOCALYPTIC TENOR HAS NOT BEEN DISPELLED!" - T-Rex ( www.qwantz.com)

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Friday, March 3, 2006 1:04 PM

HOTPOINT

Quote:
Originally posted by dug:
Because unlike the idealistic (and poorly written) Federation in ST:NG, not even the Alliance would be cruel enough to put its children into an active battleship.

Yes but in the post-war situation it would be unlikely that there were any active "battleships" after all why would the Alliance maintain a combat fleet of Capital Ships when the most dangerous thing out there is a few Pirates and Reavers? The old Independent Navy (they must have had one or the war would have lasted weeks at most) isn't there any more and there doesn't appear to be another great power in the 'Verse.

The Alliance would likely keep a few Cruisers to fly the flag and keep the former Rebels fully aware they were still being watched (which would explain the quite unmilitary design of the Cruisers as they are for intimidation not actual warfare) and a number of faster smaller ships (Destroyer equivalents) to keep the spaceways clear of undesirables.

Why not have children on ships. Who is there to shoot at them?

...................................
Hurrah, hurrah, when things are at their worst
With cries of “Death or Glory” comes the mighty Twenty-First

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Friday, March 3, 2006 1:25 PM

SICKDUDE

Just going to throw this out with the hopes that someone can do screencaps....

As I recall from the BDM, there were several long ships with straight sides. Could these have been the same "towers" we see on the Dortmunder? What if the "towers" detach from the "boomerang"/ engine assembly?

Or am I just plain crazy?

"It's a cow."

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Friday, March 3, 2006 2:51 PM

CYBERSNARK

In the Federation's defense, the Galaxy class were exploration and diplomatic ships --"general practicioners" intended to show the glory of Starfleet technology. Good for "showing the flag" within Federation territory and mapping small, reasonably predictable events (comets, gas clouds, stellar nurseries, etc).

For the risky stuff, they had smaller, more specialized ships. Plus, the Galaxy line was started in a time of particular peace: the Romulans had been quiet for decades, the Cardassians were keeping to their own territory, the Klingons were allies, the Borg and Dominion were unheard of, the Tholians weren't much more than petty thugs and pirates, and the Ferengi were barely regarded as a threat. The Federation probably hadn't had more than a few big "police-actions" in years.

It's not their fault they happened to be in service when numerous things went to hell simultaneously.

Anyway, I'd imagine that the "families on ships" issue was revised post-haste when the Dominion War started (if not earlier). These days, Galaxy ships are used mostly for ferrying refugees, specialists, or Starfleet marines (another type of "specialist," so to speak) to and from operational theatres.

-----
We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.

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