Bajoran lightship
From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference.
| Bajoran lightship | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Affiliation: | Bajor |
| Type: | Lightship |
| Active: | 16th century - 22nd century |
| Decks: | 1 |
| Crew complement: | Could be operated by a single individual |
| Speed: | Warp-capable via tachyon eddies |
A Bajoran lightship was a type of early Bajoran spacegoing vessel that utilized solar sail powered space flight. These vessels were used by the Bajorans as early as the 16th century, at a time prior to the Fall of their First Republic. (DS9: "Explorers")
Bajorans first traveled from Bajor to Cardassia, and established first contact between the two worlds. For many years the Cardassians disputed this claim, referring to it as a "Bajoran fairy tale," because they refused to admit that the Bajorans had achieved interstellar flight before they had. (DS9: "Explorers")
These vessels would continue to be used by the Bajorans as late as the 22nd century. (DS9: "Accession")
[edit] Ships of the Class
- Akorem's lightship
- Sisko's lightship (replica)
[edit] Background Information
Illustrator Jim Martin described the idea behind the lightship's design as a "Bajoran turtle with gossamer wings." (Sailing Through the Stars: A Special Look at "Explorers", DS9 Season 3 DVD, Special Features)
Production designer Herman Zimmerman, illustrator Jim Martin and set designer Scott Herbertson envisioned the Siskos as "sailors in space" and intentionally made the set of the lightship similar to a sailing boat. Writer René Echevarria even told Zimmerman and Martin that he wanted the ship to have a "Jules Verne look, a wooden cabin outfitted with brass." Indeed, some real sailing equipment can be seen in the background at various points. Both Martin and Zimmerman count the lightship among their favorites to work on from a design point of view, and Zimmerman mentions it in the Star Trek V: The Final Frontier Special Edition DVD special feature "Herman Zimmerman: A Tribute". They also both discuss how much they enjoyed the project in "Sailing Through the Stars: A Special Look at "Explorers"", a featurette on the DS9 Season 3 DVD.
The design of the lightship itself was inspired by the Kon-Tiki, a deliberately primitive sailing craft that Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl used to sail from Peru to Tahiti in 1947, substantiating his belief that it was possible that a Pre-Columbian South American civilization could have settled Polynesia by making a trans-oceanic voyage.
As Jim Martin explains, in reality, a solar sail would need to be several miles wide to propel a ship like this. As such, "We needed to take it into the realm of fantasy. But that was a very whimsical idea, and we could be very whimsical with it, and do something that was kind of in a fun fantasy vein." (Sailing Through the Stars: A Special Look at "Explorers", DS9 Season 3 DVD, Special Features)
- John Knoll at Industrial Light & Magic rendered the lightship as a CGI model. He later used the model for Akorem Laan's ship in "Accession".
- At its 1995 convention, the Space Frontier Foundation recognized this episode for exemplifying "the most imaginative use of a vehicle to travel in space," and awarded the episode the "Best Vision of the Future" award. The award was presented by Robert Staehle, the world's foremost expert on solar sails.
- Most shots of the lightship are from the aft (rear) because, being powered by solar "currents", the ship always has its back to the Bajoran sun.
- The computer graphics for the sails seen in "Explorers" are very similar to the Son'a collector's sails seen in Star Trek: Insurrection, but their use is quite different.
