Tag Archives: explosive

Star Trek: Section 31 — The Godsend

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As part of the Fritzes Best Interfaces award for 2026, I am reviewing the interfaces in Star Trek: Section 31. This post is about the quadrant-destroying weapon of mass destruction called the Godsend. Note this blog generally eschews analysis of weapons, but this one is more MacGuffin than blueprint, and it has the worst interface in the film.

Title card for 'Coded Transmission 2: The Godsend' featuring dynamic background effects.

The Godsend is a weapon that Georgiou had created when she was Emperor. It is meant to function as a scorched-earth deterrent to her enemies.

“It triggers a chain reaction, like a virus passing between planets. Everything in its path incinerates. An entire quadrant would be lost.”

To her credit, she says she ordered it destroyed, but it was secretly stored by San and later brought to Prime. It is a metal object, roughly a sphere, and slightly smaller than a human head. Around its “equator” it has a smooth belt punctuated by 10 mistily-glowing circles. The hemispheres outside this belt are faceted. There are lots of flat nurnies and greebles on the surface with no obvious purpose. They’re not even aposematic, which would be appropriate.

A metallic spherical device with intricate patterns and glowing elements, resting on a smooth surface.

When Georgiou and Sahar teleport to San’s ship, combat ensues, and in the fray San accidentally knocks the Godsend off its pedestal. It hits the floor and malfunctions, exhibiting a complex set of behaviors I’ll just call the “tick”:

  • We hear a mechanical clockwork ticking.
  • The belt rotates a few degrees clockwise (as seen from the north pole).
  • The upper hemisphere rotates a few degrees counter-clockwise.
  • One of the white circles turns pinkish-red.

(I know that north and south are arbitrary conventions here, but it helps with the description.) After the tick is complete, its computer voice says, “Detonation sequence activating”. The voice is low, raspy, and appropriately menacing.

A metallic spherical object featuring intricate geometric designs and illuminated colored orbs, placed on a surface.

After a beat, it ticks again. A second circle turns red, and the voice says, “Awaiting biosignature confirmation”. Amidst the ongoing fighting and ship careening, the Godsend gets kicked around a lot and, at intervals, continues to tick.

San and Fuzz are defeated, and as the ship nears the portal, Georgiou picks the Godsend up off the floor. It ticks again. She places her hand on the “north pole” for about two seconds.

A hand gripping a futuristic, spherical device with intricate designs and glowing elements, set against a blurred background of lights.

The remaining white circles turn red, and the voice says, “Biosignature confirmed…Detonation in 60 seconds.” It announces again at the 30 second mark and continues to rotate at intervals. The voice warning comes again at 10, and then each second from 5 to 1. At zero there is a blinding light as it explodes just inside the portal on the Mirror Universe side as Georgiou and Sahar beam back to safety on the scow.

OK. So this thing…

It’s almost purely narrative

…this thing is diegetic nonsense.

A futuristic black sphere with a geometric design rolling on a shiny surface, illuminated by warm lighting.
Thank you for turning me on.

It arms accidentally? From being dropped on the floor? That can’t be its intended operation, so, a quadrant-destroying weapon of mass destruction was just, you know, poorly engineered? No one thought that this heavy, spheroid, metallic object might ever slip out of a hand? Or was it sabotaged like the Death Star, adding this flaw somewhere along the engineering process? Let’s hope that saboteur also immediately fled the quadrant afterward, taking along…I don’t know…every single one of their loved ones with them, along with all the innocents who might get incinerated in the blast? What size getaway ship were they working with?

Next, why is there a countdown for a detonation sequence that still requires authorization? What would happen if the detonation sequence completed without being authorized?

  • If nothing, then the countdown is just a goofy, extradiegetic tension-building function.
  • If something, shouldn’t the voice alert the user to those stakes?

Why is the countdown visualizer spread in a ring around a sphere? That makes it entirely possible that those critical signals are hidden from view for about half the time they are relevant. And they’re inset, meaning that even when looking at the facing side, at most three of them are clear. We will just see slivers of the other two. The design hides most of the visual part of the countdown from view.

A futuristic, intricately designed robotic device with a geometric shape and illuminated features, set against a dark, red-toned background.
Either the countdown isn’t underway here, or it’s halfway through. Who knows?

The choice of authorization (two-second hand on the pole) is easily understandable by the audience, but seems really, really prone to accidental activation. The pole is how one might, you know, carry it, or hold the damned thing while dusting the shelf underneath it.

A close-up of a person holding a glowing, ornate metallic artifact with red elements, set against a dark background.

One of the key principles for deterrents (we got “good” at this during the Cold War) is automaticity. If the one person who can trigger it can be killed before they activate the deterrent, then it’s just a tactical exercise: separate the authorizer from the device, or assassinate them quickly before they can activate it. If it’s biometric, tactics can be just making sure that body part is destroyed first. Both of these interventions are possible given the design of the Godsend. Really it should have a dead man’s switch, not an activation trigger.

If it was left as an activation trigger, the biosignature long-hold is the moment that a countdown is relevant. It would give the carrier a beat to think, “Oh, gods, no. I was just cleaning!” and reposition their hand for safety before going to change pants. The moment her hand is in place, the device should then signal a countdown in a way that it is undeniably perceptible to Georgiou—no matter in what orientation she is holding it. And it shouldn’t just be visual with intermittent audio, as we hear in the film. The audio should be constant, visuals should be on every side of the device, it should provide rising haptic feedback, and reach out to all nearby computer-controlled actuators to have them broadcast that everything’s about to be borked, send a last 🩷 SMS to your loved ones. Having it announce that it’s going to blow after a silent long-hold is very, very bad design. We can argue security through obscurity here, but the cost of accidental activation is far too catastrophic.

Maybe the thing that’s been keeping the Prime Universe safe all along from the fascists in the Mirror Universe is that they’re terrible designers and rotten engineers. It is a testament to how much I like the other interfaces that this one didn’t drag the rest of them down with it, because it’s just an immersion-breaking misery.

Next up: The Section 31 report card

ZF-1

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Amongst its many holdings (including taxi cab companies) Zorg industries manufactures weapons, including their flagship weapon, the ZF-1. It has a great many features. It stores as a sealed pod, and can be activated by a remote control. With a press of a button, shielding retracts and parts extend so it can be handled like a traditional small arms weapon.

Zorg makes a pitch to the Mangalores for the ZF-1, so we’ll just let his own words sell it.

It’s light. The handle is adjustable for easy carrying. Good for righties and lefties. Breaks down into four parts. Undetectable by x-ray. Ideal for quick, discreet interventions. A word on firepower: Titanium recharger. 3,000 round clip with liquid bursts of 3-to-300.”

Next he pitches something quite unique to the weapon.

“With the Replay™ button—another Zorg invention—it’s even easier. One shot…and Replay™ sends every following shot to the same location…”

As he turns and points the weapons at the Mangalores, the ammunition arcs around to home in on the first shot.

TheFifthElementZF1-018

But wait, don’t answer. The ZF-1 has other features as well.

…And to finish the job, all the Zorg oldies but goldies: Rocket launcher, arrow launcher with explosive, poisonous gas heads (very practical), our famous net launcher, the always-efficient flamethrower (my favorite), and for the grand finale, the all-new Ice Cube™ System.

After the Magalores fail to uphold their end of the bargain, Zorg leaves them to play with the weapons. As they do, one discovers that the glowing red button on the side is actually an explosive self-destruct.

TheFifthElement-ZF-010

Analysis

I know Mangaglores are not meant to be shining examples of intellect, but if I was considering a purchase, I would yes, compliment the incredibly nifty technology of Replay, but follow it up with four more important questions about the design of the thing.

First, Mr. Zorg, what good is the remote control? Doesn’t this make the weapon hackable remotely? Isn’t that device easy to misplace? What on-weapon means do we have to unlock it?

Second, how are you selecting from among the six different types of ammunition?

TheFifthElement-ZF-006

On the exterior, we only see that red button. There might be some other subtle switches somewhere on the exterior, but you had to support the weight of the device with your left hand, so it’s fairly immobilized and I didn’t see you moving it. Unless it can only fire in exactly the order we saw, there’s got to be some other control. With your right hand hidden up inside the weapon, there must be other activation switches there. What switches are tucked up in there that are easy to differentiate by touch and easy to activate with your palm remaining against the grip?

Third, there’s that red button. Sure, who wouldn’t want to carry around a device that could erupt as an all-consuming fireball, but I notice that it doesn’t have a safety cover on it, gives no pause or warning during which the command can be retracted, and draws attention to itself by its glow. Isn’t that going to be increadibly easy to, you know, accidentally kill all my troops?

Fourth, during the demonstration we got a good glimpse at the front of the weapon. It’s got animated, blinking red LEDs whose pattern merges together to form a bright red diamond shape near the top of the weapon before looping over again.

reddots

I’m not a militarily-minded person, but isn’t it counter to a soldier’s goals to have anything blinking, glowing, or pinpointing the soldier’s exact midline to enemies, much less something that does all three at once, and in red, the color that travels the farthest in atmosphere?

What was that about “discreet” interventions?