Re: Andromeda and Salute figures

And it came to pass that the Wondrous St^3 Jon didst opine:

> The "Heavy Cruiser" bit may be just an odd bit of nomenclature 
usage, simliar to B5 calling the Omega class "Destroyers" when they're 
effectively battleship/carriers. I'd always assumed that Rommie and her 
sisters were the High Guard's main Line of Battle ships. <

I'd agree. Remember that Andromeda the series is based on a Gene 
Roddenberry concept, and Gene had a thing about the military -- 
"StarFleet is _not_ a military organisation", etc. He also seems to 
have had a fondness for the idea of heavy cruisers as the optimum size 
for "warships" (even if they weren't, officially). The Enterprise was 
originally supposed to be a cruiser-class ship, but was later 
"upgraded" to "starship" class to make it that bit more special, and 
the number in the fleet was set at a microscopic 12 to explain their 
scarcity.

I think Gene thought that a cruiser would, as its name implied, 
_cruise_ by itself, thereby allowing more opportunities to encounter 
something new and plot-worthy. By contrast, "battleships" tend to be 
kept in fleets, or at least form the command element of a squadron, and 
don't move around so much -- not into unexplored territory, anyway.

Amusingly (?), in the novelisation of the first ST film (supposedly 
written by Roddenberry), he has Kirk muse that the refitted Enterprise, 
though termed a heavy cruiser by StarFleet (after Franz Joseph, 
methinks), could be called a battleship in terms of its capabilities, 
but really ought to be known as a research and exploration ship, 
because that was its prime mission. Hey, we always knew that the 
phasers and torpedoes are only there as a back-up to Kirk's 
charisma/chutzpah/chest peeking out from a ripped shirt, or Picard's 
surrender reflex, didn't we? <g>

Later, the not-quite-so-saintly Jon mused (in the form of "typing out 
loud"):

> Good thing I never mentioned Alyson Hannigan and Jessica Alba in the
jacuzzi then... <

Oh, _please_ tell me that this is the next figure set in the GCS 
range... <eg>

Phil -- see you all at Salute, gang. I'll be the stereotypical 
overweight, long-haired, bearded, bespectacled guy flanked by two very 
large offspring, both with coppery-brown hair! We're fairly 
recognisable... <g>
----
"If you let a smile be your umbrella... you'll get wet teeth!"
  -- a forgotten comedian, quoted by me: Phil Atcliffe