USS Enterprise (eventually) on Discovery?

[CorporalCaptain]

I'm good either way. I feel too old to care one way or another; I'm more interested in whatever art is being presented. Criticism is easy, but it's also time-consuming and pointless when it comes to things like nacelle shape, nacelle color, etc. TOS enriched my life in ways I can't calculate, but I don't need to look back. Full speed ahead!

All that said, if it were up to me, I'd take a conservative approach generally, but while not feeling inhibited to make various well-recognized improvements as well as being open to any that my coworkers might propose. Introducing at least one other bridge exit comes to mind, say as proposed by TAS & (independently?) FJ.

 

[Mudd]

I imagine that most fans would be relieved if the Enterprise shows up looking like the TMP version at this point, maybe with cylindrical nacelle - the other possibilities are more radical.

 

[Mr Awe]

If one takes a close look, those "simple shapes" of the original 1701 aren't quite as simple as some folks here are claiming. I know I'm biased, but I still think the 1701 is the best looking ship the franchise has ever produced. But, I also think a '64 Mustang is better looking than any of the cars that came after it that carry the name.

God, I love the original 1701! So much of that is nostalgia of course because I grew up watching this ship. It felt like a real place as a kid. When I first saw the filming model it was in the basement of the Smithsonian. I sat down right next to it for probably an hour amazed that I was mere feet away from the ship that I grew up watching!

 

[Kevin Wolff]

I love it too but love the refit more. That's why I'd rather them redesign it (for better or worse). We don't need another explanation of how retro design fits the period. It's corny and a waste of storytelling time. It's the future. It should be redesigned by each new generation. Leave our beloved TOS and TNG universes untainted.
I'm actually more concerned with the crew. That's where they need to get it right. Pike (Jeff Hunter's, not Greenwood's) seems to be the most logical choice but Spock is the wild card. We don't need to see him again anytime soon. And they should avoid anything within the 5-year mission if they do Kirk (post 5yr, pre-TMP? NuPhaze2?).

 

[Mr Awe]

I'm on both sides of the argument here. I don't agree the TOS Connie looks primitive, but I also agree they need to update the design so it fits with the rest of the show's aesthetic.
.

Same boat here. I can see how the saucer/cylinders/straight struts can be construed as more primitive to a degree. But, I do think texturing, details, and lighting can counter that to a noticeable degree. You can find home grown versions of that on the web. No telling what professionals could do.

I also think that because a Connie is not the hero ship it gives them some leeway because they can get away with the nostalgia card. A Connie is likely to appear in only a few episodes at most. Some of those times it may be only in the background at a space dock.

So, it could go either way. Same shape but improved texturing, details, and lighting. Or, an update. It probably depends on what they're going to do with it in the show. The more appearances in which a Connie is heavily involved in the plot, the more likely they'll update it. But, if it's a few appearances and usually not too involved, they might just leave the shape alone.

Personally, I'd be fine either way. I don't think it's something worth getting worked up over.

 

[mos6507]

The thing is, we have a trend here. The farther in the future, the less a starship bridge is going to feature blinking things, blue glow and odd interfaces, and the more it is going to look like a bare-walled room with a black tabletop or a dozen.

This question of making Trek's speculative future plausible is a Pandora's box because even at its most basic level, Trek's vision is becoming less and less plausible.

All you have to do is look at the evolution of A.I. and genetic engineering (CRISPR) to see that if we don't kill ourselves due to limits to growth that humanity as we know it will either be phased out by A.I., coddled by it, or that we will engineer ourselves into some other form.

We will not have some Horatio Hornblower space navy replete with bosun's whistles and a captain manually barking orders to a helmsman. Focusing on whether the helmsman is pressing jellybean buttons or tapping on a flatscreen is not seeing the forest through the trees.

So while sure, you can point to tons of anachronisms in TOS, as long as you hold onto the core premise of Trek you're forced to embrace an increasingly unlikely future society no matter what.

The reputation of Trek as plausible sci-fi is something that really persists only due to tradition, but it has not and can not keep pace with where we really are headed.

Trek's future is something that appeals to the romantic humanist. The antipathy in which Trek handles automation (think The Ultimate Computer) is a case in point. Consider the aspiration to become human or human frailties as a transformative force as expressed through Data, V'Ger, the holo-Doctor, etc... Oh what a work is man (as Picard quotes Shakespeare). The unfolding of the human experiment is going off in quite a different direction.

 

[CorporalClegg]

If the Enterprise does ever show up, I expect them to draw-up a few designs that incorporate the detailing and such of the new show into the classic look.

Forcing the old look into the show solely out of some false sense of obligation would be silly

 

[N-121973]

Wouldn't that be "older than the CVN-65"?

Don't you mean the CVN-80?

The thing is, we have a trend here. The farther in the future, the less a starship bridge is going to feature blinking things, blue glow and odd interfaces, and the more it is going to look like a bare-walled room with a black tabletop or a dozen. In that sense, Kirk's ship fits right in, already omitting most of the bizarre 21st century gizmoes and introducing the black tabletops...Timo Saloniemi

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Blinking lights like they put on the Excelsior Bridge in Star Trek III (Goto approximately 2 minutes 20 to see what I mean, it looks like they took their cues from the TOS bridge)?
As for featuring a Connie, I'm sure nobody is thinking about this level of FX :

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[KirkusOveractus]

Don't you mean the CVN-80?

Not sure which of the carriers is being referred to, since both are Enterprise.

 

[Tuskin38]

There have currently been 2 Enterprise Aircraft Carriers, the CV-6 and CVN-65.

There is a third, CVN-80 in planning.

 

[WarpFactorZ]

Crewman 1: "Is that 1701? She looks completely different."
Crewman 2: "No she doesn't, She's exactly the same."
Crewman 1: "Huh. I guess she is then."
[canon preserved]

Better that than:

Crewman 1: "Is that 1701? She looks completely different."

Crewman 2: "Yes.... It is a long story. We do not discuss it with outsiders."

 

[Robert D. Robot]

Let 'em..........they explode about anything these days.

"I do not see why everything... must inevitably explode."

 

[KirkusOveractus]

Better that than:

Crewman 1: "Is that 1701? She looks completely different."

Crewman 2: "Yes.... It is a long story. We do not discuss it with outsiders."

Maybe the Enterprise becomes a victim of some kind of augment virus and its appearance changes...

 

[Mirror Mirror]

Maybe the Enterprise becomes a victim of some kind of augment virus and its appearance changes...

That was the stupidest fanwank in the history of trek. Gods I hope they retcon that drek

 

[KirkusOveractus]

That was the stupidest fanwank in the history of trek. Gods I hope they retcon that drek

I agree. When I saw the episode, I thought it was something they went waaaaaaaaay to far over the edge with. Worf's throwaway reference in "Trials and Tribble-ations" was enough. It was funny, it addressed it, and it moved on.

 

[PixelMagic]

The JJ folks resign of the Enterprise obviously leaned toward "bad ass hot rod". I would hope if it's redesigned for Discovery they would lean more toward "elegant beauty" instead, without parroting the refit.

 

[Tuskin38]

That was the stupidest fanwank in the history of trek. Gods I hope they retcon that drek

I hope they don't retcon it.

 

[Mirror Mirror]

I agree. When I saw the episode, I thought it was something they went waaaaaaaaay to far over the edge with. Worf's throwaway reference in "Trials and Tribble-ations" was enough. It was funny, it addressed it, and it moved on.

Agreed, it was something that never needed addressed. But because fans demaned answers to a real world make up change, they created this gods awful fanwank. We have a vaccine that can reworked a species enite skeletal structure at a genetic level in seconds. Pain free.

I hope they don't retcon it.

I think we have already seen it. The New Klingon design are not human shaped. They do not have human skulls. That whole story was based off a joke and is the stupidest thing ever done in trek.

 

[BillJ]

I think we have already seen it. The New Klingon design are not human shaped. They do not have human skulls. That whole story was based off a joke and is the stupidest thing ever done in trek.

But is canon and part of the Prime continuity.

 

[PixelMagic]

Agreed, it was something that never needed addressed. But because fans demaned answers to a real world make up change, they created this gods awful fanwank.

Are you suggesting that anal fans who obsessed over stupid and unimportant details to the overall story are both annoying in forums and ruining Star Trek? I concur.