Shields (Star Trek)
- "Balance of Terror"
- Star Trek
- December 15, 1966
Gene Roddenberry
(Episode)
Paul Schneider
In the Star Trek fictional universe, shields refer to a 23rd and 24th century technology that provides starships, space stations, and entire planets with limited protection against damage. They are sometimes referred to as deflectors, deflector shields, or (in Star Trek: The Original Series) screens. Types of shields include navigational deflectors.
History
The term 'shields' first appears in the Star Trek episode "Balance of Terror", in which they were deployed, albeit to little effect, by a Federation outpost under attack from a Romulan Warbird. The first depicted use by a starship was in the Star Trek episode "Arena", in which the USS Enterprise raises its 'screens' after being attacked by an alien warship although the term 'shields' is not used in this episode. Shields are not mentioned during the earlier seasons of the Star Trek: Enterprise series, starships instead using "polarized hull plating" to make their hull more resistant to damage.
Design
Like most technologies in the Star Trek fictional universe, the exact operation of shield technology is never precisely described. Characters discuss its existence and manipulation, while only superficially describing its exact physics, which result in a field being projected around a ship or other body, deflecting or dispersing projectiles and energy weapons. Shields are not shown unless struck, and are then often shown briefly for dramatic effect as a translucent bubble of energy.
Shields are said to be made of a screen of gravitons that can deflect beam and projectile weaponry.
In The Making of Star Trek, authors Gene Roddenberry and Stephen Whitfield write that shields are force fields similar in nature to the navigational deflector, while Mr. Scott's Guide to the Enterprise further states that shields on post-refit Constitution-class vessels - of which the USS Enterprise of Star Trek: The Original Series is an example - were generated by the subatomic scan and replication of an alloy known as diburnium-osmium, and then projected as a force field beyond a ship's hull along the shield grid. In "That Which Survives", the alloy of diburnium and osmium is stated to be the hardest alloy known to the Federation.
Shields can be weakened by attack, and are often shown to collapse after prolonged bombardment.[1][2] Shields may be unable to repel certain types of weapons; the phased polaron weapons used by the Dominion - one of the primary antagonists of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - are initially unhindered by the shields of Starfleet ships.
The USS Defiant, introduced in the third season of Deep Space Nine, was said to use ablative armor in addition to shields; this technology also appeared in the alternate time line of the early 25th century shown in the Star Trek: Voyager series finale "Endgame", where it withstood repeated assaults by Borg weaponry and tractor beams.
Another type of shield, the navigational deflector (also known just as the deflector, the deflector array, the deflector dish, the main deflector, the nav deflector, or the parabolic dish), was a force beam generator, usually a dish on the front of a ship, that was primarily used to deflect objects that might collide with the ship specially when traveling using Warp drive when even minute particles could cause serious damage.[3]
See also
- Force field (technology)
Notes
- ^ Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
- ^ Q Who? (TNG episode)
- ^ "Collective". startrek.com. CBS Studios Inc., Paramount Pictures Corporation, CBS Interactive Inc., and Paramount Companies. Retrieved 17 June 2022.
References
- Drexler, Doug; & Sternbach, Rick; & Zimmerman, Herman (1998). Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Technical Manual. Pocket Books. ISBN 0-671-01563-X.
- Okuda, Michael; & Sternbach, Rick (1991). Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual. Pocket Books. ISBN 0-671-70427-3.
- "StarTrek.com Technology Library". Star Trek Library: Shields. 2006-12-11. Retrieved 2006-12-11.
- "TrekCore.com". Shield Diagram Screenshot. 2010-02-20. Retrieved 2010-02-20.
External links
- Deflector shield at Memory Alpha
- Navigational deflector at Memory Alpha
- v
- t
- e
Broadcast |
|
---|---|
Streaming |
|
The Original Series |
|
---|---|
The Next Generation |
|
Reboot (Kelvin Timeline) |
|
Television |
|
Characters |
|
---|---|
Concepts | |
Locations |
|
Cultures and species |
|
Technology |
|
- List of staff
- Gene Roddenberry
- Norway Corporation
- Composers and music
- "Where no man has gone before"
- "Beam me up, Scotty"
- Redshirt
- Accolades (film franchise)
- The God Thing
- Planet of the Titans
- Phase II
- Star Trek 4
- Games
- Comics
- Novels
- Reference books
- Stage
- Very Short Treks
- Trekkies
- Mind Meld
- Trekkies 2
- How William Shatner Changed the World
- Beyond the Final Frontier
- The Captains
- Trek Nation
- For the Love of Spock
- What We Left Behind
- Kirk and Uhura's kiss
- Comparison to Star Wars
- Fandom
- Kirk/Spock
- Memory Alpha
- Shakespeare and Star Trek
- The Exhibition
- The Experience
- "The Last Voyage of the Starship Enterprise" (1976 SNL sketch)
- Free Enterprise (1999 film)
- Galaxy Quest (1999 film)
- "Where No Fan Has Gone Before" (2002 Futurama episode)
- The Orville (2017 television series)
- Please Stand By (2017 film)
- "USS Callister" (2017 Black Mirror episode)
- Category