Object

Grenthemen Water Hopper

Named only in dialogue and invoked as an explanatory prop, the Grenthemen Water Hopper appears as a small, engine‑driven hopper/maintenance vehicle in the minds of speakers. The mention emphasizes a temperamental clutch that 'pops' and stalls if mishandled; characters reference its behavior rather than physically handling the machine. Physical details remain vague in the scene, but the hopper functions as a concrete, motorized image—short, utilitarian, and mechanically finicky—used to dramatize the hazard of a sudden, high‑risk burst of power.

1 appearances

Purpose

To serve as a concrete, vehicle‑handling example used by officers to explain and justify the tactical/technical risk of a brief, high‑power maneuver (the danger of popping the clutch and stalling).

Significance

Acts as a rhetorical fulcrum that translates a technical risk into a familiar mechanical image, helping Riker and Geordi persuade others to accept a one‑hour deadline and a desperate, high‑risk micro‑burst warp gambit; it raises tension and frames the moral/operational stakes without becoming a physical prop in the scene.

Appearances in the Narrative

When this object appears and how it's used

1 moments

S2E21 · Peak Performance

Two‑Second Warp Gambit

The Grenthemen Water Hopper appears only as an analogy invoked by Geordi to communicate the sudden, binary failure mode of a clutch — a terrestrial image that translates engineering risk into lived experience for Riker. It functions narratively to ground abstract failure modes in a tactile, memorable image.

Before: Conceptual — referenced by engineers as a familiar metaphor, not physically present.

After: Remains a rhetorical device; its mention lingers as the illustrative image of what 'popping the clutch' would do to the Hathaway.

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