Cloak coverage draws poor parallels to Star Trek
By: Greg Filpus
Issue date: 3/7/07 Section: Letters
Last update: 3/7/07 at 6:49 AM EST
Last update: 3/7/07 at 6:49 AM EST
The Chronicle's recent comparison of the "invisibility cloak" to the "Starship Enterprise's cloaking device" suffers from yet another case of inaccurate reporting in the media-fueled hype of the so far benign research project ("Duke scientists work to imitate 'Star Trek,'" Feb. 20). It would be more appropriate to attribute the cloaking device to the Romulans or any of the other races that used cloaking technology regularly; while some of the various incarnations of the Enterprise have used a cloaking device on isolated occasions as a temporary measure (Most notably the original Enterprise in "The Enterprise Incident"), no Enterprise was permanently outfitted with one aside from the alternate future "Enterprise-D" in "All Good Things...". (Of course, in the canonical timeline the Enterprise-D was destroyed in "Star Trek: Generations" years before the events of "All Good Things..."'s alternate future take place.) Moreover, the Federation was not bound to develop or implement cloaking technology under the Treaty of Algeron, the terms of which span three of the five TV series. Associating the cloaking device primarily with the Enterprise is misleading and a disservice to both the continuity of the Star Trek universe and the United Federation of Planets.
Greg Filpus
Pratt '09
Greg Filpus
Pratt '09
Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 73
Sarah
posted 3/07/07 @ 7:57 AM EST
Thank goodness somebody pointed this out! I was literally banging my hesd against a wall, reading those earlier gross distortions of the Star Trek timeline. (Continued…)
Sarah
posted 3/07/07 @ 8:02 AM EST
PS: You could have said the Pegasus also. It has an interphase cloak, meaning it could pass through matter too. What about the breen? Didn't they have cloaks too? Am I missing anyone here?
Star Trek is on channel 35 from 2-6 each day. (Continued…)
Steve
posted 3/07/07 @ 2:53 PM EST
I hope you all go to UNC
Andrew
posted 3/07/07 @ 5:50 PM EST
Greg Filpus is my Hero
Barry
posted 7/15/07 @ 12:58 PM EST
Nerds.
dc
posted 7/15/07 @ 3:45 PM EST
http://img354.imageshack.us/img354/4441/nerdsyo6.jpg
El Freak
posted 7/15/07 @ 4:30 PM EST
Its nice to know that there are people who need to get laid even more than I do.
Sam Elrod
posted 7/15/07 @ 5:10 PM EST
Have any of you guys ever actually seen or touched a woman?
Dervish
posted 7/15/07 @ 5:10 PM EST
He forgot to mention the Defiant.
lancaster505
posted 7/15/07 @ 5:56 PM EST
Wow. If these folks would concentrate on their academic studies or sports as much as Star Trek, Duke would have less suck.
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