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There is no point to this page. I enjoyed the Galaxy Quest movie, and like all geeks I have compulsive tendencies that drive me to over-analyze the things I enjoy. Think of this page as a place dedicated to my unhealthy psychological quirks.
Enjoy
The Protector's Drive
For my first trick, some pointless speculation on how the Protector�s drive works.
Based on the special effects from the movie, the boxy modules on either end of the nacelles seem to provide thrust. We�ll call them the quantum rockets, referred to in the script but not in the actual movie dialogue. The quantum rockets manipulate the surrounding zero-point energy field (The quantum flux) to create kinetic energy - Movement - focused on the mass of the ship. In simpler terms, in sublight flight the quantum rockets accelerate the ship, at whatever Gs of thrust Mark 2-3-etc work out to.
There must be a reason the nacelles exist, so call them the FTL drive. The 'quark accelerators' from the script are housed in the nacelles. They form a quantum flux field around the ship slightly offset from normal quantum reactions, thus sidestepping inertia and relativity. In FTL mode the quantum rockets can accelerate the ship to truly massive speeds, set by the power of the engines and drag effects from the local interstellar medium (The ISM is gas and dust, mostly hydrogen). This is a blatant rip-off of E.E. 'Doc' Smith's inertialess drive, from the Lensman Series, so I'll call this the quantum inertial cavitation drive, or just inertialess drive for short.
In sublight mode each 'mark' equals - Who knows? 1G is a nice round number. In inertialess mode we really have no idea how fast the ship can go. For now we�ll just have to assume that it�s a plot-drive - The ship goes as fast as the story needs it to go.