Docking
is the act of joining -- in a mechanical
sense -- two craft, either at sea, or in space.
In
cult-television history, the visual of two ships “docking” has become a de rigueur part of the genre.
For
one thing, “docking” adds a sense of realism to future-based or space based
productions.
When
we see spaceships dock, we understand precisely how supplies are transferred,
and how cargo and personnel are moved, for instance.
One
notable instances of ship’s docking occurred in Star Trek: The Animated Series
(1973), in the episode “The Time Trap.”
There,
the Enterprise docked with a Klingon ship so that their engines could be joined
as one, and both ships could escape a kind of outer space Bermuda Triangle.
Gerry
and Sylvia Anderson’s Space: 1999 (1975 – 1977) was
really the early king of “space docking” TV programs, perhaps because this
universe had no teleporters or transporters to make personnel/cargo transfer
easy. Instead, Moonbase Alpha’s Eagles
had to join up directly other Eagles, as well as other ships featuring human-built
and alien technology.
One
of the most memorable episodes off the series, “Dragon’s Domain” features a
docking between the Ultra Probe and a ship in an alien graveyard around a
mysterious planet. Delightfully you can
see docking “doorways” on the miniatures.
But
an Eagle docked with a Kaldorian spaceship in “Earthbound,” and with a large
derelict vessel in “Space Warp.” In
episodes such as “Guardian of Piri” and “The Testament of Arkadia,” we
witnessed Eagles docking with one another. In the series' premiere episode, we also saw the Meta Probe docked with a space station or space platform, prepped for launch.
We
never saw Captain Kirk’s Enterprise docked on television, but the Enterprise-D
often docked at star-bases in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987
– 1994), and when it visited Deep Space Nine.
Occasionally,
on Blake’s
7, such as in the episode “Ultraworld,” we saw the impressive alien
battleship Liberator docking with other vessels. In the second episode, “Spacefall,” the
prison transport carrying Blake and Avon had to dock with the Liberator too.
On
the short-lived Firefly (2002), Serenity often docked with wrecked spaceships
for purposes of salvage, and also with space stations.
John nice thoughts on sci-fi docking, especially Space:1999.
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