Realistically depicting space stuff on TV is difficult. We are all, like Khan, trapped in a surface-dweller's 2-D perspective.
(h/t +DeAnna Knippling; original by Dave Kellett at http://www.sheldoncomics.com/archive/150423.html)
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"His pattern indicates two-dimensional thinking"
The irony, of course, is that even the scene following that quote illustrated a heavy amount of two-dimensional thinking when we see a shot of the two ships on parallel planes.
+Allen Firstenberg Yup — spacecraft "rising and falling" like submarines is very limited 3-D thinking.
(Still a freaking awesome space battle, of course.)
Obligatory link to Squadron Strike: http://www.adastragames.com/squadron-strike/
Actually, it would make sense to have technology that would orient the craft in relation to the opposite vessel or vessels. Especially in the case of a battle were your weapons are set in certain fixed positions.
You might not need to be perfectly level with the opposing ship, but you do need to be able to maneuver effectively and attack.
Anyone who's ever played EVE knows what's up
+Tracker Buckmann I can see that as an explanation for a point-toward orientation down a central axis, but not along an X and Y axis both; standing off head-to-head with a Klingon craft makes sense, but the Klingons could be (relatively) upside down and still be facing you with all forward arrays.
I could possibly see an argument that races that evolved on a planet would psychologically tend to want to orient "right side up," even in space. Though that could make for some amusing scenes both in first-contact situations (which side/end is up?) and in pissing matches where which ship rotates to bring the other to the proper relative orientation would become a matter of contention.
+Dave Hill I agee, in fact it could be used with camera angles to show the immensity of space. It would give it more dimension than just two ships on a flat screen facing each other shooting.
But as for one klingon vessel pointing straight down and away from the enterprise (like in the picture above) and saying that would be more realistic.. i have to disagree.
They are warships, after all.
+Tracker Buckmann Maybe they are super drunk.
(Or maybe that's a particular three-ship fighting pattern adopted by the Klingons for such matters, taking into account not only weapon battery locations but ability to immediately accelerate, cloak, and, um, drop mines in front of the opposing Federation starship …)
+Dave Hill That is a possibility. A real still frame of an actual space battle would, in actuality look something like that.
But in these shows the enemies almost always square off. So if we are talking about the inception of the battle, assuming there is any tactical advantage in such a gunslinger fashion (truthfully, I don't think there is- it only ever happend once in the old west).
+Tracker Buckmann Never mind that such battles would start (and probably finish) with the ships nowhere in sight of each other …
Never noticed this
Well, the ships should be thousands of miles away from each other, unless future space ship to ship weapons will have less range than current wet navy ones…