23

In the Next Generation episode A Fistful of Datas Worf is able to build a personal shield out of a telegraph machine and a standard issue communicator. Although Worf says it is highly unstable and won't last more than fifteen seconds, this is likely due more to the limited tools, technology and time that Worf had available to build it with than to the concept itself.

Once off the holodeck, why doesn't Worf or Starfleet research and developed a proper personal shield for personnel to use? It would make sense to have as standard equipment, stored right next to the hand phasers for away teams or supplied to troops deployed in a war. Even if it could only absorb a single shot before failing, that's still better than nothing.

Waddler
  • 109
  • 6
Xantec
  • 61,649
  • 46
  • 259
  • 438
  • Huzzah, seriously! – eidylon Apr 17 '14 at 22:06
  • 10
    Because plot devices require that people get phasered and stunned constantly. – Caimen Apr 17 '14 at 22:12
  • possible duplicate of Why don't Starfleet Officers wear protective gear when going abroad? – Valorum Apr 17 '14 at 22:17
  • 2
    @Richard Not an exact duplicate. Asking why Starfleet doesn't have any is not quite the same as asking why they don't wear any. Also, the answer to that question is a bit antithesis to the mission statement of Starfleet, that is, to the peaceful exploration of space. Many times have characters had to state that the phasers are defensive weapons only. An outstanding personal shield and no weapon would be a better way to show your defensive nature, rather than no shield and a weapon that can vaporize people. – Xantec Apr 17 '14 at 22:24
  • @Xantec - I've answered it, but I still think it's largely a dupe. – Valorum Apr 17 '14 at 22:30
  • 1
    It's routine for Trek episodes to invent some new technology and then forget all about it the next episode. I think questions about such things are generally unanswerable without wild retconning speculation or just admitting that there's some seriously sloppy writing going on. – Kyle Jones Apr 17 '14 at 23:13
  • 4
    They'll need to be careful; a slow blade will penetrate the shield. – asawyer Apr 18 '14 at 22:09
  • Holtzman Effect – Geobits Aug 05 '14 at 18:17

1 Answers1

16

They do have them, in large numbers. They just don't generally use them because...erm...mumbles incoherently

In DS9 : Homefront, there's mention that there are sufficient on Earth to equip an entire army;

"LEYTON: Mister President, we can use the Lakota's transporters and communications system to mobilise every Starfleet officer on Earth in less than twelve hours. We've been preparing for something like this for a long time. We have stockpiles of phaser rifles, personal forcefields, photon grenades, enough to equip an entire army. I can start getting men on the streets immediately.

JARESH-INYO: What you're asking me to do is declare martial law.

I think we can reasonably assume from Jaresh Inyo's instantly negative response that using personal shields is anathema to the Federation's principles of peace and viewed as the first step on the road to a police state.

On top of that, there's no real evidence that they'd be especially useful. There's a passing reference in DS9: "Business as Usual" that the sort of hand-held particle weapons that can be openly purchased would easily overmatch the sort of protection offered by a small personal shield

QUARK : The Breen CRM-one-fourteen works equally well against moving vessels or surface emplacements. It's guaranteed to cut through reactive armor in the six-to-fifteen centimeter range, and shields up to four-point-six gigajoules.

Admittedly this weapon is a very serious (and expensive) piece of kit, but I think we can presume that other races' standard particle weapons would be able to produce at least a reasonable fraction of this figure. Since the energy output of a communicator-sized battery would be tiny in comparison, the shield would be next to useless.

Breen CRM-114

Having said all that, we do see some applications of personal shield technology in Star Trek : The Animated Series, with the use of shield-based portable life-support systems. These are only used a couple of times but the principle seems solid;

portable life-support systems

Valorum
  • 689,072
  • 162
  • 4,636
  • 4,873
  • 5
    So they do have them then. I never caught on to that blip in the Homefront episode. Seems odd, however, that an organization claiming to be peaceful explorers of space go out of their way to be as aggressive as possible when exploring on foot (i.e. carrying weapons that can disintegrate objects but no defensive tools or apparatus). – Xantec Apr 17 '14 at 22:30
  • 3
    Also, I'd wager that Jaresh-Inyo's response was more towards deploying troops on the street rather than to those troops wearing personal forcefields. – Xantec Apr 17 '14 at 22:33
  • 1
    That device was probably to save money in animation costs for the cartoon. The old series had no such thing when they needed to go in space, and the movies also ignored them. – Oldcat Apr 17 '14 at 22:35
  • @Xantec - Check the edit. My guess is that they're pretty much useless against particle weapons. They'd only really be any good against physical attacks. – Valorum Apr 17 '14 at 22:40
  • 1
    @xantec - The UFPs phasers are set to "stun" as standard. Isn't that defensive enough for you? – Valorum Apr 17 '14 at 22:41
  • 1
    @Richard It is difficult to impossible to know what kind of gear would be needed to generate a personal shield of 4.6 gigajoules. As for a communicator sized battery, I'm sure the troops on AR-558 wouldn't have minded wearing a belt or small backpack with more capacity. – Xantec Apr 17 '14 at 22:51
  • @Xantec - My TNG Manual says that the kind of fuel cells used by the federation can produce a max of 1.3 x 10⁶ Megajoules per cubic centimetre. My maths is rubbish but that does seem to suggest that the power requirement could be quite easily met, even with a very small battery. Clearly Worf's home-made shield runs down almost instantly so the battery size may not be the only issue. – Valorum Apr 17 '14 at 23:02
  • 1
    @Xantec A weapon is nothing more than a tool. Offensive/defensive is in the use, not the inanimate object. I have here in my hand a crowbar; does that mean I'm going to go break into houses and/or bust some kneecaps? Or do I just need to pry up some stubborn boards while re-roofing my house? Given that personal shields are imperfect, the most reliable way to protect personnel seems to be to give them the means to effectively defend themselves when attacked (modus operandi being to stun, not kill, the aggressors), as opposed to making them stand there until their shields fail. – Kromey Apr 18 '14 at 14:54
  • 1
    @Kromey Sure, the use of a tool defines it's purpose when it is in use. But a weapon, whether default set to stun or not, is inherently more offensive than a shield. I would bet the first weapons ever used were used offensively rather than defensively (see the ape scene of 2001). But that aside, there is no reason that they couldn't have both a weapon and a shield. Think of all the disposable ensigns that could have been saved, or at least shot twice before dying. – Xantec Apr 18 '14 at 14:58
  • 1
    @Xantec Perhaps, my only point is that just because a phaser can be used offensively, doesn't mean that away teams carrying them regularly is anathema to a purpose of peaceful exploration. – Kromey Apr 18 '14 at 15:51
  • Their main enemies at the time - the Klingons and the Romulans - liked to use blades, and a slow blade can penetrate any personal shield. Besides, any phaser interaction with a personal shield would be extremely dangerous. – Omegacron Oct 28 '15 at 18:15
  • @Omegacron - I think you may have your canons mixed up a little. – Valorum Oct 28 '15 at 18:31
  • @Richard - shhh, I'm creating a NEW canon. An awesome one. – Omegacron Oct 28 '15 at 20:22