We have a production designer, and Bad Robot may be involved

[Rahul]

Here you go:

I'm not entirely sure if that's supposed to be a starship, or some sort of hand weapon. Very much detail, but nothing giving a sense of scale or function. I can't identify what's the front or rear, weapons, engines or anything else really. Not a big fan. I much more prefer the industrial "form-follows-function" look of classic Trek, and the brute functionalty of klingon designs in particular.

I really like those designs. My only complaint would be the organical "wings" on top. But for a new alien race that's quite a new and distinctive look! I just only really hope that, despite it's naming ("klingon fighter" or something?), it isn't of klingon origin. If you are reimagining the klingons this massive, why not just instead introduce a completely new alien warrior race entirely? Also, I wonder how much if those intricate ornate details will translate well into a cgi-model of this ship?

Somebody took Galactus' helmet from F4 and made a spaceship out f it. Reminds me a bit of "Event Horizon", clearly mixing a gothic cathedral with a spaceship. "klingon sarcophagus"? Apparently Bryan Fuller's weird obsession with death shines through there... If it's some kind of "ancient" mythical klingon ship I can live with it. If it's the new standard klingon design.... well... it better not be.

What the hell is this? Looks like some kind of "Final Fantasy"-shit. I wouldn't mind that in some weird anime whre teenage girls are battling angels (I just wouldn't watch that), but... eh? Star Trek?

Same problems as with the "klingon sarcophagus". Way too "gothic" for my taste, and functionaliy is completely thrown out of the window in favour of some obscure ornate tile patterns. Hope those guys in the chairs are wearing seatbelts. Also, what's with all those stairs inside a starship?




All in all, some weird design choices. Very busy, but without much distinctiveness. This guy was the production designer for Lost, American Horror story and ugly Betty. I haven't watched any of those shows, but the promo shots of those look like very well produced shows. So there's hope. There is always a big difference between the first "throw on the wall what sticks"-drafts and the final design. But I admit at the moment I'm not too happy about the general style of those early artworks. I much more prefer the simple, realistic, industrial look focusing on functionality that Matt Jefferies introduced, with very clear shapes and structures, that was honoured by Hermann Zimmerman and co. Also, I would like to see more colour again in Star Trek production design, like in the early days of Tos or the last season of Enterprise. Whatever you can say about the JJ-movies, they were pretty much on spot with the general production design and look and feel (brewery notwithstanding). I hope this series will be as well, and that these overly gothic ornate designs without any clear structure are only an outlier, and not the new general look of the new series.

 

[Greg Cox]

What is a core fan? Someone who eats the whole apple?

Don't be silly. It's obviously somebody who has all the photos of the warp core flagged in their technical manuals.

 

[mos6507]

Whatever you can say about the JJ-movies, they were pretty much on spot with the general production design and look and feel (brewery notwithstanding). I hope this series will be as well, and that these overly gothic ornate designs without any clear structure are only an outlier, and not the new general look of the new series.

The problem with the JJ designs wasn't so much the surface detail but the whacked out proportions. Nacelles are too inflated and too close together, plus the neck shifting back which makes the nuPrise look like a hairdryer. The only real good thing about the nuPrise is the lens-like main dish.

This production designer suffers from the "more is more" school of thought. In other words, he's an artist and the only way to show off is to have lots of detail. It's the equivalent of a speed metal guitarist just sitting there playing fast 16th notes. All sound and fury signifying nothing.

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Tasteful designs are really an endangered species these days because technology makes it so much easier to load up detail (or lens flares, or whatever else).

 

[BorgMan]

Wait... Those are all the Klingon pieces right? I saw those. I was more curious about the pieces labeled "Federation" that I seemed to have missed...

 

[CorporalClegg]

Only n00bs play 16th notes.

 

[Dukhat]

Wait... Those are all the Klingon pieces right? I saw those. I was more curious about the pieces labeled "Federation" that I seemed to have missed...

You didn't miss anything. The artwork that was originally labeled "Federation" was mistakenly attributed to the ship with the wings.

 

[Kor]

To signal a move toward Trek aimed at a more adult demographic, the marketing slogan should be "Not your kid's Star Trek."

Kor

 

[Greg Cox]

To signal a move toward Trek aimed at a more adult demographic, the marketing slogan should be "Not your kid's Star Trek."

Only if the new show is airing on MeTV.

 

[Kor]

Only if the new show is airing on MeTV.

I was thinking more along the lines of HBO or Showtime.

Kor

 

[USS Triumphant]

Unfortunately I didn't get to save the larger versions but it's still better than nothing. Just don't tell CBS about it.

Thank you very much - those were plenty big for my purpose. Which was really just to get a feel for what direction they were thinking in. As to what I think of them... well, I think I'm in the same camp as Rahul in feeling that these would have been better for a new species. But I'm still mulling them, and trying to keep an open mind.

 

[jamestyler]

You won't have to keep your mind open too much.

This might be a new species, it might be a reboot in style - but it's also very likely that it's all just early scribbles. Pretty much all generations of Trek had vastly different (and often overly done) sketches in place.

Far too early to hit the panic button. Though I do like the shape of that big winged ship for a Narada inspired Romulan ship. And the large bridge/hall reminds me of Shinzon's big entrance in the "I like windows!" room in Nemesis.

 

[Rahul]

Yeah, it's way too early to panik! For all we now those could be just some personal sketches that have nothing to do with the series, which is why he put them on his webpage, and CBS ordering them to put down for them not to be associated with the final product....

I'm just a little bit disappointed in the general art style of those pieces. Matt Jefferies started out with composing basic shapes, seperating engines, living habitats and other parts, and only after he was satisfied with the basic shape he added detail. That's why both the Enterprise or klingon ships have such striking and recognizable silhouettes and features. This one seems to have the opposite apporach, starting with much ornate detail in the beginning, to cover up the fact that there are no striking shapes or features. I just hope they get back to the clean, industrial look on the finished series.

 

[captainkirk]

Well some of the early designs for Voyager bore almost no resemblance to the final design or Federation ships in general:

http://fsd.trekships.org/art/images/dv-6.gif

But in the end we got a fairly standard design so that could easily happen here.

 

[Rahul]

In the end I think Voyager was a bit too much "standard design".

I would like "standard shapes", but "new designs" on them. Basically keeping a standard saucer-^section/primary hull/warp nacelle - shape, but each with new designs. I like to see Bussard collectors, but nobody said Bussard collectors have to look identical on every single starfleet design over centuries.

 

[captainkirk]

In the end I think Voyager was a bit too much "standard design".

I suspect we're going to see something similar here with the Klingon ships. They start out with the most outlandish possible versions before returning to something more traditional, but with some elements of these designs retained.

 

[mos6507]

In the end I think Voyager was a bit too much "standard design".

I would like "standard shapes", but "new designs" on them. Basically keeping a standard saucer-^section/primary hull/warp nacelle - shape, but each with new designs. I like to see Bussard collectors, but nobody said Bussard collectors have to look identical on every single starfleet design over centuries.

And this time, resist the temptation to make the shapes longer and more oval-like. There's nothing wrong with a perfectly round saucer, for instance. The lengthening and flattening out of the ships was really more of a 90s style and I think it's had its day.

 

[SpaceLama]

Yeah, those ships really do look like something out of Warhammer 40,000 or Final Fantasy - detail for detail's sake, etc.

I'll reserve judgement - this may not even be anything that the final show will incorporate.

 

[Shalashaska]

Fuller seems to have a good idea of what looks good and what doesn't. Hannibal and Pushing Daisies were absolutely gorgeous shows to look at.

He understand visuals and admits openly that he writes for the camera lens and not for the screenplay. If something looks too outlandish or out-of-place with previous canon, then it'll be scrapped. Keep in mind that these are just early production sketches and nothing more. The production designer's job is to come up with all kinds of wacky shit, he'll surely be providing Fuller and Kurtzman with a lot of options and this is probably just one of them.

 

[JD]

There were a lot of crazy designs for the refit Enterprise before the motion picture, so stuff like this isn't always an indication of the final designs.
But even if these exact designs aren't on the show, I still wouldn't be to surprised if we saw a bit of gothic influences. Hannibal was very gothic looking at times.

 

[INACTIVEUSS Einstein]

The original shape is so recognizable for a reason - its a classic - John Eaves just busied it up for the D4:

Likewise for Star Trek 2009 - I really wish we could see more of this, instead of brief Kobayashi Maru simulations:

This design was always very interesting - very clean and Trek-like, whilst looking cutting edge:

If the went down the full on TNG route I guess it would result in something Vor'cha/Negh'var like:

Or going down the ENT route would probably result in something like this:

I was always quite partial to a class from Klingon academy that had multiple torpedo holes on the head:

Poor image - but imagine giving one of the other designs say four torp tubes at the front...