Best ship explosion?

Post by **Vympel** » 2004-12-07 11:10pm

Candidates:

1. The destruction of the Reliant
2. The self-destruct of the Enterprise
3. Death of Chang's BOP by torpedo barrage
4. Enterprise-D core breach/ crash
5. Numerous DS9 ramming incidents (can't remember them all, the Galaxy loss was impressive)

I vote 2. That self-destruct really lingered and *hurt*.

Stofsk · Post by **Stofsk** » 2004-12-07 11:15pm

Number 2. It was like a bird on fire, falling to the earth. A Phoenix.

Reliant's death was ok, I guess. Chang's BoP was meh. The E-D's crashland was impressive-looking, but the cause too stupid that I couldn't like it. Nice going Deanna. You can't drive for shit.

DS9 ramming incidents...

I loved it when the Jem Hadar Beetles would fire on the BoP, miss, and for some reason decide to just turn and crash into it instead. It's like STAR TREK - according to Monty Python.

Stravo · Post by **Stravo** » 2004-12-07 11:16pm

Weird choice for me. I always enjoyed the destruction of the Seatak in the Episode Sacrifice of Angels where Sisko retakes the station. The Seatak was a Miranda class cruiser that is escorting the Defiant in the thick of the battle when she takes a direct hit from a Dominion cruiser that tears through her saucer section. The Seatkl begins a quick spin on its side and you can see her hull eaten away by venting plasma slowly revealing her skeletal superstructure underneath until it finally continues pinwheeling now to the bottom of the screen and explodes.

There's something about that level of slow death that I really enjoyed. It wasn't a quick death and showed some imagination on the part of the FX crew to give us that kind of shot.

It lasts all of 3-4 seconds on screen but I always look for it when I see the episode.

Then I would say the self destruct of the Enterprise for sheer emotional impact. The saddest part of all is when she is slowly soaring above the planet and you think she's going to get away but then falls down trailing fire to the planet's surface. Great music cue on that scene as well.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2004-12-07 11:17pm

Number 2. It's the only one that has any real emotional impact.

Post by **Vympel** » 2004-12-07 11:25pm

"The ship appears to be run by computer. It is the only thing speaking."

"Speaking? Let me hear."

"9 ... 8 ... 7 ... 6 ... 5..."

"GET OUT! GET OUT OF THERE! GET OUT!!!!"

*bridge explodes, Klingon's go flying, saucer slowly disintergrates. Bird of Prey moves away from the Enterprise. Enterprise drifts towards camera head on ... last second ... one of the most unique explosion sound effects I've ever heard as half the saucer disappears. Then the slow drift towards Genesis ...*

Which poses a question- why the saucer and not the "main" section, if that's the right terminology.

ST 3 also wins points for two of the coolest scenes/combined with music in ST- the escape from Space Dock ("we have cleared space doors!") and the lead-up to when Kruge uncloaks in front of the Enterprise.

Patrick Degan · Post by **Patrick Degan** » 2004-12-07 11:40pm

Definitely, the loss of the Enterprise at Genesis.

One explanation for the damage wrought through the self-destruct was the overloading and exploding of the emergency batteries and the phaser banks, which compromised the structure of the saucer.

Jon · Post by **Jon** » 2004-12-07 11:41pm

Stravo wrote:Weird choice for me. I always enjoyed the destruction of the Seatak in the Episode Sacrifice of Angels where Sisko retakes the station. The Seatak was a Miranda class cruiser that is escorting the Defiant in the thick of the battle when she takes a direct hit from a Dominion cruiser that tears through her saucer section. The Seatkl begins a quick spin on its side and you can see her hull eaten away by venting plasma slowly revealing her skeletal superstructure underneath until it finally continues pinwheeling now to the bottom of the screen and explodes.

Just so happened to have that scene on my HDD:

Quite... Some awesome battle scenes in that story arc.

Stofsk · Post by **Stofsk** » 2004-12-07 11:44pm

Jesus miranda's suck. You do that to a Defiant and you only make him madder.

/Defiant fan whore.

That is a majestic explosion.

Pun intended.

Shouldn't this be a poll, Vympel?

Stravo · Post by **Stravo** » 2004-12-07 11:45pm

Thanks Jon, it's as beautiful blown up like that as I remember it.

As to the saucer section going up I think there was a tech manual or diagram floating around that explained that there are two seperate self destructs in the TOS era in case the main self destruct failed or the warp engines were unable to ignite - charges were placed throughout key points on the starship and what we saw were the charges in the saucer section detonating.

Alyeska · Post by **Alyeska** » 2004-12-08 12:07am

Stravo wrote:Weird choice for me. I always enjoyed the destruction of the Seatak in the Episode Sacrifice of Angels where Sisko retakes the station. The Seatak was a Miranda class cruiser that is escorting the Defiant in the thick of the battle when she takes a direct hit from a Dominion cruiser that tears through her saucer section. The Seatkl begins a quick spin on its side and you can see her hull eaten away by venting plasma slowly revealing her skeletal superstructure underneath until it finally continues pinwheeling now to the bottom of the screen and explodes.

Sitka, its named after a town in Alaska.

Alyeska · Post by **Alyeska** » 2004-12-08 12:08am

The death of the USS Oddessey was pretty cool. The self destruction of the Enterprise in ST3 is classic. The destruction of the Valiant was also well done.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2004-12-08 12:31am

Wow, are the saucers of Mirandas filled with explosives?

ST3, definately.

Alyeska · Post by **Alyeska** » 2004-12-08 01:05am

Post by **Vympel** » 2004-12-08 01:10am

Tell me that it's Majestic and that you accidentally added a k ...

Stravo · Post by **Stravo** » 2004-12-08 01:14am

My bad, Majestic is it. I assumed phoentical spelling for Seatak assuming that it was a Vulcan name the way Sisko pronounced it.

Sarevok · Post by **Sarevok** » 2004-12-08 01:27am

I have to go with number 1 and 2. The destruction of the Oddysey was also cool.

brianeyci · Post by **brianeyci** » 2004-12-08 01:55am

Stravo wrote:...two seperate self destructs in the TOS era in case the main self destruct failed or the warp engines were unable to ignite -

Dammit what happened to the Feds in the TNG+ (Nemesis) era, did the Enterprise-E not have these charges or was nobody around to fire a phaser at the warp core holy shit why can't writers think of these things ahead of time. However dramatic it is having the self-destruct failing, its not something that is likely to happen and the writers turned the whole senior staff of the Ent-E into idiots for not suggesting firing a phaser at the warp core.

Brian

Jason von Evil · Post by **Jason von Evil** » 2004-12-08 06:40am

I thought the Yamato's destruction was pretty impressive, especially watching the upclose view of it's saucer disintergrating.

Those are pretty high quality pics there, Jon.

Chris OFarrell · Post by **Chris OFarrell** » 2004-12-08 08:05am

And if you look at Alyeskas pic, you can make out the Jem'Hadar Battlecruiser lining up for the coup-de grace. THat is the shot that sends it spinning out of frame, a direct torpedo hit to its aft starboard. I never even notcied it until I had watched that scene about fifty times.

I would say its the most effective simply because of what it is. A gignatic free for all fleet battle, but with the ship being shown to be hammered and go spinning off, rather then simply exploding or something. The E-Nills death was moving, but it was the whole focus and very in your face. The poor Mirandas in SOA simply were mown down without pause.

And it also tied in with the scene before. You had the Sitak fire her phaser at a Jem'Hadar fighter as it flew past, not even denting it. And its return fire blew her nacelle. Then as that death scene comes, she launches two torpedoes and blows anotehr fighter point blank...just in time for a Cardasian phaser to blow right through her saucer. And I LOVE the NDF effect still eating away at her hull even as the beam as cut off, showing the skelaton.

Works wonderfuly.

Post by **Dalton** » 2004-12-08 08:44am

Definitely 2...it marked the end of an era and a glorious death for one of the greatest ships ever.

Old Plympto · Post by **Old Plympto** » 2004-12-08 09:12am

Agreed. TSFS Ent explosion is not just spectacular, but packs an emotional wallop.

Hmm... I've always thought it was spelt Sitak or Setak. Oh well. Shows how much I know.

Jason von Evil · Post by **Jason von Evil** » 2004-12-08 09:48am

Stravo wrote:Weird choice for me. I always enjoyed the destruction of the Seatak in the Episode Sacrifice of Angels where Sisko retakes the station. The Seatak was a Miranda class cruiser that is escorting the Defiant in the thick of the battle when she takes a direct hit from a Dominion cruiser that tears through her saucer section. The Seatkl begins a quick spin on its side and you can see her hull eaten away by venting plasma slowly revealing her skeletal superstructure underneath until it finally continues pinwheeling now to the bottom of the screen and explodes.

There's something about that level of slow death that I really enjoyed. It wasn't a quick death and showed some imagination on the part of the FX crew to give us that kind of shot.

It lasts all of 3-4 seconds on screen but I always look for it when I see the episode.

Then I would say the self destruct of the Enterprise for sheer emotional impact. The saddest part of all is when she is slowly soaring above the planet and you think she's going to get away but then falls down trailing fire to the planet's surface. Great music cue on that scene as well.

"My God, Bones! What have I done?"
"What you had to do. What you always do. Turned death into a fighting chance to live." - Kirk and McCoy.

Batman · Post by **Batman** » 2004-12-08 11:53am

E-nil in TSFS, no contest.
While the execution of Chang's BOP in TUC was enormously emotionally satisfying, the death of NCC-1701 marked the end of an era. It was like losing an old friend, and Trek fans got a small taste of what it must have felt like for Kirk.

drachefly · Post by **drachefly** » 2004-12-08 06:16pm

It makes sense, aside from that antimatter having to go somewhere. Let's release it into the planet to explode in their faces rather than detonating it here in orbit! Maximal destruction!

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2004-12-08 08:51pm

I'm not clear on the Miranda thing. A penetrating hit on the saucer causes a runaway series of explosions throughout most of the saucer? Why? Don't just point me at a picture thats already been posted you smarmy git; I want to know if this is normal, and an arguably minor hit to an apparently non-volatile area can engulf most of the saucer. Since when did the NDF effect spread so much? Are Mirandas really that outclassed in armour, even compared to (I assume) Cardies?