I was reading this interesting article in indiewire (referenced below) where they talk about Yorktown's design and something which really caught my attention is that they mention that each "arm" of this station is based on a different culture or similar, something which reminded me of Babylon 5 and the Citadel in Mass effect. The most surprising fact in the interview was that there was supposed to be a KLINGON arm? Thoughts? Here's the article: http://www.indiewire.com/2016/07/st...peter-chiang-interview-justin-lin-1201709866/
Doesn't make any sense for there to be a Klingon arm, since they were still openly hostile. Plus, I didn't see anything that would point to a Klingon arm.
It reads to me like they had considered going that route, with different cultures represented in different arms of the station (comparable to ethnic neighborhoods in a large city, perhaps?) but ultimately decided against using it in the film:
I'm just going to use this thread to talk about how amazing Yorktown was. The starships in the docking tunnels being visible through the Yorktown rivers is brilliant. I also loved the defence platforms, which reminded me of the old video game, Star Trek: Armada. And the floating holograms in the control centre. And the transporters used to get around the station. And the gravity tricks. And... and...
...The fact that this place held millions, when planetary colonies in televised Trek basically never had more than thousands. And had its own industries, when TV Trek generally had subsistence farming. Just goes to show how much good government money can do, as opposed to secessionist hippie crowdsourcing. (The article also highlights the new warp effect. Since it's just about the only visual break from heretofore visual continuity, I'd like to dismiss it as the way warp looks like when you do it inside a nebula. After all, that's where these shots take place - with the hero ship approaching or departing Yorktown, which lies in the outer fringes of that ominous nebula. All the more reason to love the place, for the meta-scenery.) Timo Saloniemi
Among my favorite effects in the movie was seeing the ships travel under the rivers, along with the Inception-like effect of the buildings in different directions.
I'd certainly love to live on that place, if I had to choose among options that did not include any natural environments or virtual realities. Why so little natural environment there, though? Starships waste internal space for silly arboretums; surely a starbase like this could be at least 80% wilderness-like parkland for little or no extra cost, like it now is 80% thin air that doesn't even work as a substitute sky since it's littered with upside-down buildings? Timo Saloniemi
Actually, it make a lot of sence to live in space colonies (well... frankly, I prefer O'Neil cylinder type) rather than on planets. It would be really hard to found the planet, on which all conditions are ideal for humans (or other races) - gravity, temperature, radiation, local chemistry and biology... And even if we found such planet, there is little chances that it would be exactly where we want it to be. Easier to create the artifical environment in space - where the energy and materials are unlimited.
It would make sense if it were to be considered a neutral outpost along the lines of K7. Or even a neutral outpost that's autonomous but has Starfleet as an administrator or observer. It was ultimately dropped so it doesn't matter. But there's precedent.
...In our reality. In Trek, it's explicitly different, with endless Class M worlds available - and Spock has to give an exceptional rationale for Yorktown to McCoy who clearly feels that Yorktown is an exception to the style of UFP colonization or SF base-building familiar to him. That, too, was a nice touch in the movie (very little of the "cabbagehead" exposition trope there that didn't have a good in-universe excuse!). ...Why not make that spare space "natural" while it's waiting for the future construction? It does seem that humans in Trek are conservatives and somewhat vitally dependent on being in touch with nature and the good old way of life. (Or would they be opposed to the idea of the growing population eventually felling the artificial forests in order to erect their buildings?) Neutrality remains an attribute of Yorktown, the onscreen excuse for it being a space station rather than a planetside base/colony. They still dropped the multiculturality angle, and probably rightly so, as that would weaken Krall's racist motivations. Timo Saloniemi
By letting the affected people repeatedly and harmlessly fall up or sideways across the skies and feel the great joy of being free of Cartesian gravity coordinates? Some might go mad from the exposure. Many might be cured of silly vertigo forever. (And then die horribly and stupidly on visits to Class M planets where takeoffs are optional but landings are mandatory.) Timo Saloniemi
Before jumping into the tech forum, how big is the Yorktown anyway? 16 miles sounds very conservative - It sure blew my socks off!
Neutral Arms - the hotel where you can really be yourself. Just off hyperspace bypass 11 next door to Space Denny's.
I just want to say that the Yorktown completely blew my expectations out of the water. When I first saw it from a distance I thought it was sort of ugly and nothing particularly remarkable. When we saw it from the inside though I almost cried. It's probably the most gorgeous thing ever shown in Trek anywhere. The Escher like design, the trolleys, the ships entering under the rivers, everything about it was just visually amazing. And the fact that it represented societies from all over the federation coming together made it a perfect symbol of hope for a unified future.
Visually, Yorktown might be the most impressive thing in the entire 50-year history of Star Trek. In terms of concept design and on-screen depiction, it's truly fantastic.