What would you change about the TOS Enterprise?

Yes. I forgot about that.

An internal change to really free things up: eliminate the horizontal turboshafts. They seem neat on TV, but they make the deck plans impractical by walling everything off.

 

The impulse engines would have to be in the primary hull, in case it ever had to be separated from the rest of the ship. I know that "saucer sep" never happened onscreen in TOS like it later would in TNG, but I believe that it was at least mentioned in the TOS writers guide, and also in a line of dialogue by Kirk.

The original Enterprise is a beautiful design, like an old classic car, so I would leave it alone.

 

The effects were shot on 16mm.

 

Owing to the lack of the weight in the appropriate place that would represent the weight of the actual aircraft's engine/engines. I maintain my position that if the warp engines possess more mass than the average for the majority of the ship, the center of mass would pass through the impulse engines.

Quite the opposite, TNG established that the impulse engines deprive their propulsion from a "mass driver" which uses ship's power to accelerate the plasma output of fusion reactors past a series of coils (which generate a subspace field), the accelerated plasma then exits the ship.

The output of the reaction chambers acting alone generate practically no propulsion, so not a "rocket engine."

Of course the possibility exists that TOS era and TNG era impulse engines work fundamentally different. I've held for years that the events of WNMHGB suggest that the Enterprise's impulse engine was capable of FTL, which is why I call it a "baby warp drive." This would explain some things in that episode.

 

This or something similar. They are not thrusters anyway - the films seem to suggest that impulse engines and thrusters are different things.

I think the quote is from Star Trek VI when Kirk orders Impulse and Valeris reminds him that regulations state "thrusters only" whilst in Spacedock.

 

Yeah, I agree. There doesn't seem to be enough space for things like the 14 science labs Kirk mentioned.

 

I probably wouldn't make any external changes.

If I had to, I'd probably limit it to swapping the nacelle pylons to the ones from the refit and do something with the deflector dish. I do like it how it is though.

 

I'm not a big fan of the refit nacelles. They look fine in profile, but seen from any other angle they look too slim. In that respect I prefer the TOS nacelles, but the refit nacelles (in profile) suit the swept back support pylons.

 

Do you have a source for that statement? It seems unlikely, as it's difficult enough to get precise registration of composite shots in 35mm.

Of course, the final prints that were actually broadcast on TV in those days were 16mm prints running on a telecine machine.

 

And still it would be the thing I'd change given the chance. That and the uniforms.

I'm aware that the color palette was chosen to promote colour TVs, but that doesn't stop it from making my eyes bleed.

 

Here's what I'd change:

- First and foremost, make those overhead displays on the bridge actually DO something. (I wish they had done this for TOS-R.)

- Cut down on the gray, a bit. There's gray EVERYWHERE on this ship. At the very least, use strategically placed lighting to, maybe, make each deck a different color.

- Change the viewscreen. Make it configurable so you can turn it off when not in use (like in ST:FC), or at least provide more useful information.

- Lose the blinkenlights all over the control panels on the bridge. I always wondered how, in-universe, crew members were supposed to know what buttons to press, when they're not even labelled! Just a bunch of random Jolly Rancher-like things.

 

The overhead displays were always supposed to be active--and they were used on occasion--but they simply didn't have the budget to allow for them to always be active.

The forward viewscreen being interactive was an idea that just wasn't really thought of then, but it was occasionally used for something other than just looking forward or aftward of the ship.

The controls and blinking lights I don't really have a problem with because I assumed I just didn't understand how it all worked. Seriously if you showed someone from the 19th century the control systems of a modern aircraft or even a tablet they would most likely find it totally alien and incomprehensible.

Not everything has to be explained.

The colour scheme was another consequence of budget--they simply couldn't afford to dress the sets more. By all rights it should have been more dressed in similar fashion as TMP or TNG, but the budget simply wasn't there to allow for it.

Thats why in my suggestion I opted for giving the series another ten to twenty thousand per episode--to allow for extra things they otherwise couldn't then afford. Their imaginations and creativity would have filled in the rest.

 

I love the TOS sets and think it's tragic that there's no existing proper photographic document of the Soundstage!

All that survives is Matt Jeffries model for directors, I believe.

I would love to see how it was for the crew to go from the bridge set to corridors,sick bay, or onto the lot.

They didn't realize they were making TV history back then

Would love to see pics of the demolition after cancellation. I would love to see footage of the DS9 promenade getting the wrecking ball too. Too bad this wasn't an Easter egg on a DS9 DVD.

 

Add a secondary, unpowered exit from the bridge.

 

The shuttlebay has the capability to provide exit/entrances. A door to get into the shuttle bay is an Airlock Hatch if you open the doors.

 

And yet, if you're on the bridge or sickbay or someplace anywhere in the main section and all power's out, it's a long walk to the flight deck. Nope, this is something that Probert definitely got right on his TMP design. And I think it's telling that even MJ's early stuff for Phase II had some ideas for more external docking (an inset pentagonal port on the lower forward area of the engineering section.)

I just remember a number of old Gold Key comics which featured more hatches and airlocks in various places of the hull and always thought they were a good idea.

You asked what I would change and I told ya.

And to respond to your idea, I would leave the saucer impulse engines right in place. The TNG tech manual states that the E-D warp coils themselves account for 25% of the ship's total mass. Assuming similar proportions of distribution on the TOS ship, then I do think the impulse deck as built probably does line up closely with the center of mass. And since we do know that the secondary hull does have big empty volumes, like the shuttlebay and the engine room(s), then we know the density of that section would be lower than in the saucer. So, I'm quite comfortable with the impulse engines where they are supposed to be.

--Alex

 

I'd make the overhead displays on the bridge look like this.

 

Blue theme instead of red. For example, blue railing on bridge, blue turbolift doors, etc.

 

I would leave it as is.