I like the E but I understand the criticisms and I might even be inclined to say TPTB should have just kept the D because of its familiarity for fans and iconic value for general audiences. One of the problems with the E was the structure of the TNG films themselves. We never really got to see the TNG crew on a prolonged adventure where they needed the E and it faithfully came through to save the day. We only got to see it in three films, whereas all other signature vessels (DS9 included) got enormously more screen time and grew on people through familiarity. The best way to counter this would have been to plan out a story that spanned across two or three films following First Contact (like TWOK through TVH) with the E and Our Heroes more "out there" on their own, relying on the ship for success and survival. As it was, the E was more of a glorified prop and there was nothing in the stories that made it special on its own terms. I don't agree that it's ugly, but we just never get to know her. No one ever brags on her or says how nice it is or how much they love her. It's just there as the TNG Movie Ship.
I really like the Enterprise E, ok so not as much as the Refit Enterprise but its far better looking than the Enterprise B (I'm an Excelsior fan).
Totally agree with this. My trouble with 1701-E is that it just feels like a placeholder ship in all three movies that it appeared in. For all its faults as a movie, I feel more of an attachment to events in GENS on the simple merit of it featuring a starship that I've grown to care about. I never felt like that about 1701-E. It was like the producers were trying to say "Hey, it's still the Enterprise, right?". But in my eyes, they never bothered to make it feel important to me that it was the Enterprise, they never really devoted any time to establishing it at all, it's just like 1701-E was there because it was expected to be there, and there was no emotional connection to that ship beyond her name. It's like they just didn't care.
That's true, I'm tempted to call the E the Dick Sargent of starships. It's just there to essentially be the new D.
To a certain extent, that was true of the Enterprise-D in the manner she was treated in TNG. It's just that we had nearly 180 episodes to become familiar with her (both in good times and bad) compared to just three movies with the Enterprise-E.
What they really needed was 5 minutes of Geordi and Picard flying around the E to Jerry Goldsmith music. I'm not sure if I'm kidding.
That was the problem with the Enterprise-D as well. It was just there most of the time. We didn't really get a sense that it was something to care about. It was just the place the story was taking place, or the thing that got the crew from one place to another. It wasn't its own character, like the original Enterprise seemed to be in TOS. When the -D exploded (any of the times), there wasn't a sense of great loss. When Kirk blew up the Enterprise, there was great sadness. It as a ship that people had become attached, and had a personality of sorts. Admiral McCoy's visit was about the closest we got to the new Enterprise getting treated like a character.
I'm a big 1707-E fan, and I think there's some merit to what you're saying. Whilst I accept that a TMP flyby type scene would never have happened, I always had a problem with the way the E was introduced in FC. It was just 'there' in that scene, no build-up no reveal, nothing. I would have loved to have seen a more fitting introduction to the new Enterprise, she is one of the characters and deserved better.
A great storming entry into battle would have been excellent; start the film with the Borg attack or approach on Earth and let the first big money shot of the film involve the Enterprise cleaning house.
I like the Enterprise-E casually. I would've liked to have seen the Enterprise-D last longer, but I have to admit that its destruction in the movie TOTALLY caught me off guard. Everyone seemed to know about Kirk's death, but I certainly don't remember hearing/reading any rumors about the Enterprise-D's destruction before going to the movie. This was actually one of the more effective segments in the movie and I was prepared for anything, including the death of any TNG characters. I figured, "If this movie has the death of Kirk and now the destruction of the Enterprise-D, what else can happen?" Anyway, one thing I didn't like about Generations leading into FC was that there was no mention of what happened to the crew between ships. Did Picard get reamed for losing the ship? That's when I learned that the TNG movies wouldn't be like the TOS movies. We wouldn't follow the characters as closely, they'd be a bit more detached. I still loved FC, but I overall prefer the TOS movie series by far. But I digress...
Really? I have always loved that first scene with the Enterprise coming out of the nebula, this ship looked best in FC.
It was a two-year period. The first year is anyone's guess, but during the second year they were putting the new Enterprise through her paces (in First Contact, LaForge said the ship had been in space for nearly a year). I'm sure there was a standard investigation into the loss of the ship (as would be for the loss of any ship, IMO) and found no evidence that Picard was to blame.
Does that make the D the Dick York of starships? The Enterprise B is the Chuck Cunningham of starships. The Enterprise E is the Steven Urkel of starships. EnriqueH, I wasn't suprised when the Enterprise D was destroyed, they showed it on the damn preview commercial on tv! What a crock.
Oh, man, that sucks! Jeez, EVERYONE knew Kirk was going to die, but I don't think anyone I knew that the Enterprise-D was going to crash and burn.
The refit Enterprise was shown being destroyed on television ads for Star Trek III, before the film was released. Maybe movie trailers too, though I don't recall right now. It was hard not to understand what was happening, since a sizable chunk of the saucer was blown away.
I hate trailers. It's one of the reasons I no longer go to movies. The Star Trek III trailer is an early, and great, example of why.
Interestingly enough an earlier draft of First Contact did start that way. Also it had the Federation fighting a Borg fleet and holding their own due to new technology and weapons (quantum torpedoes were apparently way more impressive anti-Borg weapons in this version instead of just being fancier photon torpedoes and the Enterprise-E was using some kind of Borg resistant armor instead of regular shields).