Why did Picard order the Promellian battle cruiser destroyed instead of preserving it?
Posted by ShiroHachiRoku@reddit | TNG | View on Reddit | 33 comments
What was so hard about leaving warning buoys around it and having Federation archeologists and engineers come and disable the booby trap later on?
Scrapla@reddit
Yea that always bugged me. Like RLM discussed why not put out a warning buoy and preserve it to be studied.
seantubridy@reddit
I think they just didn’t want anybody to get stuck. Someone might ignore the warning beacons and get trapped there. And it’s not like it was a boat just off the coast of Nantucket. Space is big and it could’ve taken years to get around to retrieving it.
Significant_Monk_251@reddit
Rewrite that as "Someone might not understand the warning beacons and get trapped there" and I'll be a lot more sympathetic to the argument.
gwhh@reddit
No other dead ships was around it. So it only worked once so far.
Tucana66@reddit
This post begs to be cross-posted to r/ShittyDaystrom ...
LouRG3@reddit
Thank you, kind stranger. That sub is...
bassman314@reddit
… the best place, ever!!!
patty_OFurniture306@reddit
Iirc they destroyed it because it was in the way and they didn't have to power to take it with them. They barely had enough to get out themselves
Whig@reddit
That episode was short on action, throw in an explosion at the end!
Dickgivins@reddit
The real answer.
thorleywinston@reddit
Between the time that the Enterprise leaves the area any any Federation archeologists and engineers return, the Promellian battle cruiser could be looted and the technology gets in the wrong hands. The best way to prevent that from happening is to destroy it when you have the chance.
Brilliant-Deer6118@reddit
The ship was a thousand years old! What technology could get in the wrong hands?
Ahielia@reddit
It may be old, but could be lightyears beyond.
thorleywinston@reddit
I wouldn't assume that because technology is old that it's not dangerous. Between the Iconians, the Preservers, the Tkon, etc. Star Trek is filled with lost lost technology from dead civilizations that's advanced by modern standards. And even if the species might not be as advanced as the Federation is when they find it, we've still seen species like the Vaadwaur and Krenim that they might be more advanced than the Federation in a couple of areas or that their technology is still powerful enough to be dangerous.
Remember the Promellians and Menthars fought each other to *extinction* - if the Menthars were able to come up with the "booby trap," who knows what the Promellians may have come up with and what if one of their devices is on the ship but the away team didn't have time to discover it while they were over there?
Lousyfer@reddit
The technology that almost killed the entire crew of the federation flagship
shaundisbuddyguy@reddit
That was the Promelians opponents the Menthars. If someone wanted that it's probably still there. Seems like a trickier booby trap to set up then it's worth though.
Flat_Suggestion7545@reddit
There are species on Star Trek are thousands of years ( or more ) more advanced than the Federation. Maybe they had a slightly different way of looking at something that would accentuate what the Federation ( or other space faring civilizations ) do. Maybe there is some virulent disease.
EnsignMJS@reddit
No one knew it was there.
thorleywinston@reddit
If the Enterprise found it, so could someone else. Also if the Federation flagship puts warning buoys out, there's a chance that a hostile party might be curious and investigate. How many times have we seen the Ferengi or Romulans or some other villain of the week disregard a warning from the Enterprise about something dangerous because they assumed it was a "trick" and that there was something valuable that the Federation didn't want them to know about? Unless they could tow it with them or have someone stand guard, there's a pretty decent chance it wouldn't be there or it would be looted by the time the Federation sent someone out there to take care of it.
seantubridy@reddit
Yeah, it’s not like it was a boat just off the coast of Nantucket. Space is big and it could’ve taken years to get around to getting it.
strangway@reddit
Because…IT’S A TRAP
floofymonstercat@reddit
I thought that too. They had grapplers on the NX-01, use those and tow it to safety.
crapusername47@reddit
https://i.redd.it/df7klaviqvtd1.gif
Professional-Trust75@reddit
Or attach the little thruster pods like they did in the final mission episode where Wesley and Picard crash on that planet with durgo and the enterprise has to move an irradiated barge.
HookDragger@reddit
“Take that, asshole!”
That’s pretty much the reasoning.
BecomingButterfly@reddit
Yea. Send in a tiw cable by drone, pull it out, then destroy the field to prevent any other ships being caught in it. Then examine at your leisure.
longlivelevon@reddit
It blowed up real good! 🤣
shaundisbuddyguy@reddit
That last scene bugged me when I was a kid. I get it with that asceton(sp?) assimilator field it would be basically impossible for a tug to get it out of there but...put out a bunch of warning buoys or something.
It's not like a historian couldn't come near by and put his view screen on full zoom to study it. The cruiser was probably one of a kind given its age.
Abject-Management558@reddit
Did you even watch the episode?
milaga@reddit
It was never gone into in the show, but Picard was in deep with Big Lang Cycle Fusion Engines.
dracelectrolux@reddit
"This thing is amazing af, Riker! I'm going!
...
OK, bridge looks cool. I've seen everything there is to see! Back to the Enterprise."
KelseyOpso@reddit
Because as an archaeologist, he is a dilettante. Making sure he was the only non-Promellian captain to check out the ship in the bottle was a total flex.
BigMrTea@reddit
Welcome to my channel, where safety is number one priority.