(12-13-2022, 11:39 AM)FaceInTheCrowd Wrote: I don't think Genesis could have produced a new star or a planet from Mutara. As depicted on screen Mutara is too close and too small to have enough mass for either. Plus, the device as depicted just didn't produce a big enough effect. That's why I think the star and planet were already there: Regula and Regula I. Mutara was a cloud within the Regula system that was too small to fit our current definition of a nebula, and Genesis just sucked it in and used its matter as part of its reconfiguration of the nearest large enough mass within its range, the one the space station had been orbiting. Gas and dust don't have much mass at all, so it shouldn't have required a very strong attraction to pull them in.
Mutara is not depicted as being close to Regula I, in fact, I think it's much the opposite. We only find out about the nebula when Spock mentions it to Kirk. He says it's at one five three mark four. If Enterprise was so close to Regula I, Spock wouldn't need to tell Kirk about it. Kirk would have already seen it when Enterprise reached Regula I prior to being attacked by Khan.
The other thing that makes me think it's much further away is the speed at which Enterprise is traveling toward it. Kirk had time to make his escape before Khan even discovered him. So when did Khan actually locate the Enterprise? The movie shows some kind of planetary object behind him but there's nothing stating that it is Regula I. But for the sake of argument, let's say it is Regula I. The next question is, did Reliant's sensors pick up the Enterprise when Khan locates him, or did Khan see the ship through the window? I would say he used Reliant's sensors because Enterprise would have been impossible to see, even with his genetically engineered eyes. Was Kirk able to immediately detect Khan's pursuit? He never says anything about it, so that makes me think Khan was nowhere near him when he decided to make a break for it and continued his destination toward the nebula. He only mentions Khan when the Enterprise is about to enter the nebula.
Then there's the issue of power. According to Spock, the Enterprise has partial full power. Okay, that doesn't sound like much, but it would still have to be a lot of power, or Kirk would have maintained his hiding place on the other side of the planet. It's my speculation that if the Enterprise had full power, they would have outrun Reliant easily. Reliant has full impulse power and even though it begins to catch up, it can't overtake Enterprise. That also suggests there is a great distance between Regula I and the Mutara Nebula.
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