Quick Notes on First Contact

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Jedi Master Spock
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Quick Notes on First Contact

Post by Jedi Master Spock » Mon Aug 13, 2007 4:02 am

Expect some of these to show up in the "Movies" category sometime when I have time - September or show.

It's been a long time since I actually watched ST:FC (STVIII) and there was plenty I forgot or didn't notice that wasn't covered in the script. Some quick preview notes:
  • Yes, the script is not very accurate to the movie. (Something to keep in mind.)
  • 3.25 hours to meet up with the Borg... Borg 1 hour outside of the "Federation border."
  • Data does a little Superman act - he jumps down a missile silo in two hops, only bending his legs to land, and then takes a full clip from an automatic weapon to the back and chest without as much as flinching. As a quick reference, braking from a 15m fall in 0.5m distance takes about 300 N/kg. Accordingly, since he's only braking from the legs, that fits, and Data should be able to leg press ... what does the back of my napkin say... oh, right, 9300 pounds, or around seven times what you might expect from a human his size in reasonable condition to manage.
  • Phaser blasts, as usual, supplying 0.5-1 m/s to humanoid targets on impact. Much easier to clock in space, though.
  • Worf takes a flashy phaser shot: Blasting a ~3m wide plate (front end of deflector dish) like skeet. If you usually shoot skeet using high explosive ammunition, that is. Oh, and Picard tells Lily that she would have vaporized him using the top setting of his hand phaser. Nothing really unusual, though.
  • I forgot just how tactically unaware Borg drones are in this movie.
  • I think Worf took down about a half dozen drones with melee attacks. Unlike in other cases, the Borg don't do anything except come to grappling range and grab onto people.
  • The speed ticker on Cochrane's ship gives acceleration, although it's of limited use.
  • Tactical STL acceleration figures can also be derived from the tight turns around the Borg cube by simplifying behavior. Back of envelope estimate: 5 km diameter circle, 5 seconds for a full orbit judging by segments seen; pi^2/2.5 (v^2/r) gives 4 kps-squared, or on the order of 400 g combat maneuvers.

Socar
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Re: Quick Notes on First Contact

Post by Socar » Mon Aug 13, 2007 4:21 am

Jedi Master Spock wrote:Yes, the script is not very accurate to the movie. (Something to keep in mind.)
Did you manage to find a copy of the script that actually wasn't the first draft? Because it seems like 95% of the First Contact scripts I've found on the internet are from the first draft only. If you actually managed to find one, I sure would like to know where.

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