So Was watching a couple clips from Wrath of Khan and TMP, and I recalled what had been implied about the five year mission by Gene, either in an interview or in the novel for TMP (I can't remember which, it's all osmosis at this point.) I remember him indicating that TOS was "not as we saw it" basically, in his mind. IE That the original series is basically the overly colorful, simplified, tall-tales version of events. Well it got me thinking about The Enterprise herself. Everyone knows that the TMP E is actually very different from the TOS ship to the point that some people are of the mind that it would have made more sense to just build a new damn ship. Well... I was thinking. What if that wasn't the case? What could the TMP Enterprise have looked like during the "reimagined" 5-year mission? Just some food for thought, and I was wondering if anyone had taken a stab at trying to "back engineer" and see what came out of it? Keep in mind. I'm not saying "re-imagine the TOS E with modern stuff on it." There have been many attempts at that. I'm thinking more, reverse engineer the TMP E into what it might have looked like on it's five year mission from within that very different look and feel. My initial thoughts on that would be: Engines would be the key change here. Fewer warp-grilles. Rounded shape at the front that flattens out and goes to more of a (|) shape near the rear. The inner-glowing grilles on the TMP E would be half as tall on these engines. I'd make the bussard cap similar to something like the Kelvin. No big glowy domes. Different, bulkier impulse engines. Make em take up more space on the aft of the saucer. Maybe have two impulse crystals on the top that flank left and right on the saucer? Reduce the double barrel torpedo launcher to a single tube that runs flush with the neck-line and is flanked by old-style tracking systems. | ; O ; | Nav-deflector. Sticks out further under the saucer. It would have some backlit style, but there would also be a solid element to it. The spike on Koerner's E might fit this look nicely. I'd change the hangar doors to be similar to the TOS-E, instead of those smooth doors, they'd be more segmented. Old style pennants/furniture from the TOS-E. Kelvin-ish font for the registries and IDs. NASA white hull coloring. Though, depending on which point in her life you'd want to show, i'd put a lot of weathering from "exposure" on her near the end of the five year mission.
Dennis Bailey pretty much had it nailed, I thought. I don't have the pics to hand, but he did a 'pre-fit' Enterprise that would have worked perfectly.
Here's a pre-fit I made a few weeks ago. I basically tried to apply the nacelles and details from the TOS-E while keeping the spaceframe shape and proportions of the TMP-E. I think it has a bit in common with what you described.
I'd like to think that the Enterprise went through several successive refits after starting with something similar to the profile -SS- posted for April's tenure as CO, followd perhaps by a minor one before Pike took over, and then evolving into the PhaseII refit prior to Kirk's five year mission. This would certainly make the TMP refit less jarring. I'd also imagine that the original Reliant and her ilk came out around the time of he start of Kirk's mission, so that they already had the "Phase II look" with relatively little needing done for the transition into what we saw in TWOK. All that said (and don't get me wrong because I love the refit the most out of all the Enterprises), I would make some minor changes to the refit, such as getting rid of the crossbars on the bussard grills, triangular vents on the nacelle pylons, and the horizontal "fins" on the ends of the nacelles; all of which to me look entirely frivolous. I'd also seal up the airlock aft of the bridge, as that's the last place I want to be hit by an errant travelpod!
I really like that. I think it would look perfect with slightly swept back nacelle pylons. Do the pylons connect to the Secondary Hull in about the same place as they would on the refit? -Ricky
Unfortunately not, the Refit pylons connect on the next segment forward and further upwards on the hull.
Makes sense though. Totally different warp engine, much further back than the one in the refit version, one that requires straight pylons to work. At least that's what the Doug Drexler cutaway map reasoned. Those orange pipes in the (forced-perspective) back chamber of the TOS Engineering room - that's where the nacelle pylons begin, right over them. With the refit proportions, that now leaves ample room for the shuttlebay too (it was a bit cramped before).
Funny, I just whipped this up to sort of pre-vis a model I am considering building. Basically the Refit body but with TOS markings. I always wondered why Starfleet decided to go with a totally different color scheme with the TMP era ships and this is what it could have looked had they stuck with the old style.