If You Could Re-Imagine the Constitution-Class Refit...

Discussion in 'Fan Art' started by CuttingEdge100, Dec 5, 2008.

  1. CuttingEdge100

    CuttingEdge100 Commodore Commodore

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    I know most members are perfectly happy with the Constitution Class Refit design, but "most" doesn't mean "all"...

    So I ask, if you could re-imagine the Constitution-Class design's exterior/interior design and details to virtually any degree that you want, how would you go about it?


    CuttingEdge100
     
  2. Herkimer Jitty

    Herkimer Jitty Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    -Go with the Probert concept sketch for the rec room which would have put it below the bridge superstructure, with those big, cool windows.
    -Liven it up a bit. Some of the orange accents were well-intentioned, but the whole thing comes off a bit... bland. Put some potted plants, vary the lighting, maybe paint different areas different colors, that sort of thing.
     
  3. Johnnymuffintop

    Johnnymuffintop Commander Red Shirt

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  4. Wingsley

    Wingsley Commodore Commodore

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    I think I would go in a very different direction.

    OVERALL

    The overall shape of the ship and its parts would be almost identical to the TOS Enterprise, but everything would be larger. It would be as if the Federation took the original ship, tore it completely apart, recycled its components and rebuilt a larger ship to replace it. I would also give it a new class name, like "Magna Carta" class or "Liberty" class, to continue in the same vein as the "Constitution" class.

    AFT HULLS

    I would start with the cylindrical nacelles, and the roughly cylindrical secondary hull, and make them all longer. The nacelle pylons would be a little bigger and fatter, but not back-swept like TMP. The big dish would not protrude from the front of the secondary hull, but also not be flush with it either. If it had to glow, it would glow more softly like the Enterprise-E's dish glowed.

    I like the fatter and swoopier JJ Abrams "interconnecting dorsal" neck, but without all the little details. No torpedo banks in the neck. Secondary hull torpedo tubes would be located either in the base of the nacelle pylons or the bottom of the hull (bomb-bay-style). The hangar deck and service bay would be longer and larger, as the overall secondary hull would be substantially longer and larger. There would be a small micro-saucerette at the top of the connecting neck underneath the primary hull's impulse engines. This structure would be large enough to house a TNG-style "battle bridge" and "ready room" command deck, but would not be bulky enough to obstruct aesthetic views of the lower primary hull from the rear.

    SAUCER

    The saucer would be largely the same in overall shape as the TOS Enterprise, but the aft upper saucer dome would grow its own hanger deck. The impulse engines would be split to closely flank the saucer's flight deck. As with TOS, the upper and lower saucer domes would glow. The lower saucer would also house at least one torpedo tube. The phasers would be pure TNG, though not as visible. The saucer would also house small, retractable warp nacelles which could only be used after separation; they would typically be concealed. These would give the saucer limited independent deep space and combat capability.

    The saucer hull would have a very similar texture to the TOS Enterprise, but it would have some more portholes. Just don't go overboard like TNG. The overall color of the ship would be more silvery like what Vektor did with his re-imagination. The "air force" style block lettering on the hull would be the same as TOS, and in the same general arrangement, except that flight deck fantails would include "ENTERPRISE".

    I would want the upper saucer to be shaped much the same as the original, and also the shape of the outer saucer rim, but I'm not sure if I'd want the undercut around the inner-rim.

    INTERIORS

    The only major change overall would be to replace some of the colored wall and "support girder" structures with a more metallic finish. Color would be toned down but not eliminated. The overall bright look and texture of the interiors would remain largely the same, with some TNG influences. Control consoles would be only somewhat more sophisticated. Switches' levers and knobs would still be used, but so would touch-screens.

    The TOS bridge is the best of all of them, in my opinion. I would want the same general arrangement and many of the same specifics. The refit bridge would be overall the same general design, but maybe a little larger. I like how the TOS consoles along the outer bridge ring flowed, and how the flat-panel displays flowed up from there, and how the overhead displays flowed (but were distinctive) from there.

    Chairs for officers and crew would be made so that they would "attach" to the deck with the flick of a switch, but they could be easily decoupled from the deck for removal. Chairs would also include padded safety restraint armrests. I suppose the best (if somewhat cheesy) example of all of this would be the Excelsior bridge chairs as seen in TMP3. (Actually, the Excelsior bridge had many design cues that would've made a great refit Enterprise bridge.)

    The Engine Room, Sickbay and crew quarters would've been much the same, but bigger and with a little more ENT-like metallic decor. The Jefferies Tubes would've been more like a cross between TOS and the TNG Enterprise. I'm not sure what amenities the crew would have, but civilian scientists, specialists, observers and dignitaries would be along for the ride. The whole TNG idea of families would not be part of the mix, though.

    Hand devices and sidearms would be sleeker than TOS, with some TMP3 influence.

    Interior corridors would be bright and functional, like TNG, but with a little metallic touch like ENT.

    Uniforms would be a cross between TOS and DS9. From the time I first saw TOS, I thought the long-sleeve T-shirts and black trousers and boots looked so cool as well as being practical. The same for DS9 jumpsuits. I'm not sure if characters would use commbadges or hand-talkies.

    Shuttlecraft would be sleeker and less bulky than the Vulcan courier. The Enterprise would carry at least two runabout-style ships, several shuttlecraft and some smaller fighter-like probecraft. There would also be greater use of robot probe-missiles and some robots for servicing the Enterprise. A landing party crew might be supplemented with a robot.

    Overall crew complement would be at least 500.
     
  5. Captain Robert April

    Captain Robert April Vice Admiral Admiral

    I'd probably do something more like the Phase II version, with sturdier nacelle pylons.

    Not sure what I'd do with the nacelles themselves, but the art deco Bussard collector grille would be gone in favor of some sort of lighting effect.
     
  6. Admiral Buzzkill

    Admiral Buzzkill Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I'd make the engine nacelles cylindrical in cross-section to more closely resemble the TOS ship.

    Other than that, there's nothing I'd change about the TMP ship.
     
  7. HRHTheKING

    HRHTheKING Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Lower the neck by 50%
     
  8. PixelMagic

    PixelMagic Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Nothing. The Enterprise refit is perfection.
     
  9. ncc-1017-e

    ncc-1017-e Captain Captain

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    ^ You are so right! The refit is the best looking ship in all of Trek!
     
  10. davejames

    davejames Vice Admiral Admiral

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    The only thing I would do is change the color. I love how it appears in STIII, when there was more of a blueish-gray cast to it. But in the other movies it's just this dull off-white color that I find completely unattractive.
     
  11. Venardhi

    Venardhi Vice Admiral Admiral

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    My one big complaint about the refit is the nacelle struts, and well, the nacelles in general aren't my favorite. Make them upright (with the back edge sweeping back with a bit of a curve to it to give the illusion of the 'OMGfaster' shape) and a bit sturdier looking and it would go a long way. The nacelles themselves I'd mostly just lean towards a more cylindrical shape with a round glowing bussard collector on the front like the TOS ship.
     
  12. RyanKCR

    RyanKCR Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I like it as is. I would only add a slight rainbow effect to the dark areas on the nacelles.
     
  13. CuttingEdge100

    CuttingEdge100 Commodore Commodore

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    Externally

    -I'd want to de-clutter the design, in other words, remove all unnecessary junk. The photon-torpedo box has a bunch of gadgety things on them for example, the warp-nacelles on the front have small box shaped thingies, the warp-engine's amplification crystal, and the lighting boxes (which extend out from the nav-dome) are unnecessary (The early TMP design didn't have them until Doug Trumbull got his hands on it).
    -I'd want to make sure all the docks are correctly to scale (7-feet); and to remove the dock on the side of the torpedo-tubes
    -I'd want to remove the grilles on the front of the nacelle and instead use a smooth nacelle cap like some Phase II designs (no grilles), with a flat gray color that's a little darker than the rest of the hull so it stands out.
    -I'd want to round out the gangway hatch on the edges and add another hatch to the starboard side.
    -I'd want to drastically reduce surface detail to make the ship look more clean-cut like the TOS design. The pearlescent coat I actually do like but the detail is otherwise too much.
    -I'd want to move the windows slightly higher on the saucer-rim as they are a little too low for observation ports.
    -I'd want to reduce the size of the windows of the O-lounge as they're more than 1.5 decks high.
    -The area which houses the airlock and hatch behind the bridge, I'd prefer to slightly (mostly the vertical lines) round it's edges a bit... it appears just too boxy and unrefined.
    -I'd want to either make the impulse-deflection crystal glow pattern more like the Enterprise-E's deflector (in otherwords most of the surface doesn't glow, with a small amount of glowing area rather than the impulse crystal which is the opposite) or just keep the impulse-crystal a gray or white color with no glow -- it looks good that way (I saw some early pictures of the model -- not bad)
    -I would want to rid of all the crazy gridding on the saucer rim. Too much deflector gridding, not needed! The radial grid lines could simply go from top to bottom along the rim and that would be good enough.
    -I at least would consider replacing the recessed grilles on the TMP design and replace them with the raised grilles like on the TOS design (The skin is kind of thin and those grooves could cut into hull-space) although the grid lines on the secondary and primary hull I'd keep the same (except on the saucer rim)
    -Remove unnecessary windows on the engineering hull (particularly the back area)
    -Remove the botanical garden windows -- cool as they look I don't know why you'd need them (It's technically possible to produce light at the wavelengths produced by the sun and at appropriate energy levels and to supply the plants with CO2/O2, and water) unless it was a rec-room like facility -- but that's supposed to be up on the saucer...

    Basically, I'd want to de-clutter the design, simplify it, improve the accuracy of the sizes of the hatches and stuff and make sure all the windows are in the right place, and make sense.


    CuttingEdge100
     
  14. therealfoxbat

    therealfoxbat Commander Red Shirt

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    Assuming that the new Abram's Enterprise is considered canon, it would have been refitted to look like the TOS Enterprise, then another refit to that would make the TMP Enterprise. Of course, there could have been a (very) few ships exploring out in far off sectors that never received the TOS refit. FASA Star Trek mentions something similar - USS Ark Royal, a TOS Constitution class that was never refitted to TMP specs...

    And what does it mean if the new Abram's Enterprise is considered canon?

    It means the TOS Enterprise is now the Constitution Refit, and the TMP Enterprise becomes the Constitution Second Refit...
     
  15. ncc-1017-e

    ncc-1017-e Captain Captain

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    ^ For me it is not canon!
     
  16. Santaman

    Santaman Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I wouldn't mess with the design, at the moment I only want someone to get the original model and have Olson repaint it so it will be back to its 1979 appearance.
     
  17. RyanKCR

    RyanKCR Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Who won it? Also are they going to put it on display? I've always wanted to see it in person.
     
  18. largo

    largo Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    i'd make it a perfectly smooth, featureless sphere. so nyah.
     
  19. davejames

    davejames Vice Admiral Admiral

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    So basically.... you'd turn it into the TOS Enterprise. :D
     
  20. CuttingEdge100

    CuttingEdge100 Commodore Commodore

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    davejames,

    No. The design would retain it's basic shape. Saucer would be the larger size used on the TMP and of pretty much the same shape, the bridge would the be pretty much the same shape, it's warp nacelles would be the new rectangular design, the torpedo tubes would be in the neck.

    The surface detail of the design would be closer to the TOS design yes, and the nacelle frontcap would be a smooth structure like in Phase II -- but it would not have cylindrical nacelles.