Date: Fri, 19 Jan 1996 09:16:38 -0800
From: Ryan Minor (hunter@elder44hostel.org)
Subject: Stuff (Tony, Eagles)

(1)  My guess is that Tony worked the night shift
during the first season or was stationed elsewhere
on Alpha during Season One.  (Maybe he was in
rehab .)

(2)  Mark, the highest Eagle number I remember
hearing mentioned was 27 (_Guardian of Piri_);
the highest actually shown (again, to the best
of my knowledge) was Eagle 24 (same episode). 
 Someone on this list last summer was keeping 
track of Eagle info and may no longer be around, 
but I'll try to help out.  Crashes and alien death 
rays have doubtless removed a number from the 
rolls (referring to Eagles, not subscribers to the 
list {sheepish grin}).

As to their repair and maintenance, Alpha had very
large Eagle hangars beneath each launch pad which
Anderson made sure to show each time Operation
Exodus was activated.  Although it was never
explicit, the set-up, range, and characteristics of the
basic Eagle suggests that they were used in inner-
planet transport, probably to support mining, research
and colonization efforts not just on the Moon but
also on asteroids and Mars).  They were also meant
to serve as defenses for Earth and Moon from alien 
attack (if you are inclined to see _S1999_ as existing 
in the same "multiverse" as _UFO_, another subject 
entirely).  The number of Eagle pilots on the base 
further suggest that Eagles were crucial to Alpha's
mission or missions.

I imagine that - without support from Earth - Alpha's
Eagle maintenance personnel were forced to 
cannibalize parts from some Eagles to keep others
in service.  If you assume Alpha started with 27 or so
actual Eagles (the command module, thruster/landing
pods, spine, and engine assemblies) and roughly the 
same number of midsections (crew/supply/fuel modules, 
rescue and medical modules, scientific and geological
sections, and crane assemblies shown in various 
episodes), Alpha could keep a small group of Eagles 
very active.  

Since Eagles 1-4 were used most often in the show, I 
would guess that these were the ones with the longest 
ranges and/or best reconnaissance equipment.  Eagles
in the 20's seem to be reserved for  medical and/or rescue 
use.  Eagles may have been assigned pilots and/or
been reserved for use for certain Alpha personnel
(i.e., Eagle 1 could be the Alphan equivalent of the
American Air Force One that carries the President
and his family).

A real world analogy for Alpha is a modern railroad.  
Many railroads - and every large one in the U.S. - have
extensive shops that are capable of a wide variety of
maintenance and repair activities.  Larger ones 
can even make locomotives (and did throughout the
steam era).  Older engines are often kept in storage and
scavenged for parts including their prime movers,
wheel assemblies, cabs, etc.  Today, even NASA
"recycles": the Galileo probe was composed of many
components used by back-ups and prototypes of 
prior probes including Voyager.

I would love to keep track of any Eagle esoterica
that fellow Alphans encounter while watching 
episodes.  I am unfortunately one of the very
deprived (and very numerous) who access to 
very few episodes.



Date: Thu, 25 Jan 1996 15:04:30 -0800
From: MMeskin@aol4tag.com
Subject: Re: Stuff (Tony, Eagles) -Reply -Reply

I don't think they would be able to reproduce everything, hard parts, low
tech peices surely, but some of the more specialized pieces would most likely
be made at a dedicated facility.

-Mark



Date: Sun, 28 Jan 1996 21:11:28 -0800
From: Claudia Coles (ccoles@dcez.dcez4tag.com)
Subject: Re: Eagle Spare Parts

Wasn't there an episode showing crashed alien ships on the moon's surface?
If I am not mistaken, it seems as though it was a literal alien spaceship
junkyard in that particular quadrant of the moon.  Could'nt spare parts or
needed metals come form those abandoned alien ships?  Just questioning :). 



Date: Wed, 31 Jan 1996 15:41:59 -0800
From: MMeskin@aol4tag.com
Subject: Re: Eagle Spare Parts

I officially withdraw my previous statement, after consulting my tech manual
which states the shops and machines on Alpha would be able to BUILD or repair
anything up to and including the Eagles. However, my own experience working
in a high tech enviroment is that some components of the Eagle would have to
be stored, and once exhausted would be very difficult for a 312 person
community to replace.  Then again the tech manual states 40 Eagles were
stationed on MBA, so perhaps plenty of parts would be stored.

As to the alien "junkyard", I doubt that as other than raw materials or crude
replacement parts the technology of these ships would not be compatible with
human technology. If anyone doubts this, try using parts from a Mac on PC.
And these two are built on the same planet. Even the software is
incompatible(Except Powermacs which are able to emulate a PC- which in my
experience runs like mollasses in winter even on a fast Mac).  With much
fiddling some components could be used in some capacity, but I doubt you
would be able to swap in a component as a replacement part. 

Just my .02 credits worth,

Mark



Date: Wed, 31 Jan 1996 20:28:23 -0800
From: "Lil 'M" (Teppic@umist.ac4tag.uk)
Subject: Re: Re: Eagle Spare Parts

SIMM memory chips are interchangeable between the two! They also work on
Atari ST's (remember them?), but I get your point.
Thinking about it, Win95/VB code is s'posed to be almost directly
transportable to Macs, too. That's if you can get Win95 to work on your
"standard" PC.
Sorry, off topic bitching there.
Anyway, are you trying to say someone from Earth actually invented PC's? {g}

Your operatic/techie/security guard
____________________________________________________________________
 The UGSS & MUGSS Homepage: http://cs1.un.umist.ac.uk/societies/g&s
              The Man: Matt B. aka Teppic@umist.ac.uk
         Part time doorman : Part time unpaid tech support engineer
   Part time VGA Planeteer : Part time Command & Conqueror
     Part time pasta eater : Full time layabout
   
   Oh, and time-and-a-lot UMIST Gilbert & Sullivan Soc Chairman.

  Come and see the show - Ruddigore, end of Feb, UMIST, Manchester.
                It'll be great.  We've rehearsed lots.
                               Honest.
_____________________________________________________________________



Date: Wed, 31 Jan 1996 15:50:26 -0800
From: MMeskin@aol4tag.com
Subject: Re: Re[2]: Eagle Spare Parts

Ok, when you work on your Chevy you usually can't use Ford parts? Right?.
Especially anything specialized. What I'm trying to say is that if Alpha used
ALIEN ships for replacement parts it wouldn't take long before the Eagles
stopped looking and working like an Eagle.  The Human space probe docked in
Dragons Domain would be a different story, it looks like many of its
components were "sourced" from Eagle technology.

Your Eagle grease monkey,
-Mark