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Starship design history in light of Discovery

Mr. Laser Beam said:
I still wish the Discovery looked more like the version in the teaser trailer. :sigh:
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I much preferred the shorter, wider nacelles. To me it also looked a lot more industrial and less elegant than the Constitution class which i thought was cool. It gave off the vibe that the ship was a workhorse, cheap to build but tough as nails.
 
I like the version with the short nacelles we saw in all the promo material shortly before the show aired (and still shows up in some Promo material, and was even on Computer Displays in some set tours). I would have just moved the nacelles further back wards.
 
Christopher said:
which was why he felt free to update all the designs for TMP. So his intent was probably that Starfleet tech (and Klingon anatomy) had always looked more like it did in TMP
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I absolutely agree with Gene Roddenberry on this one, only I would go even further. I've never liked the TOS aesthetic at all, and my headcanon is that the Constitution-class has always looked like the TUC Enterprise-A. (Only now, in light of the changes introduced in Discovery, I guess it should probably have a window-viewscreen.)

USS Einstein said:
@Christopher - I just started book two, so look forward to see what you think up in future :)

p3watd7.jpg


There are quite a few flat looking classes as the Battle of the Binary Stars - I remember a forum member a while back said they would like to see like a mini-constitution-shaped vessel in DSC like John Eaves original design for the NX-01 - acting like a smaller support vessel for Discovery's fleet - it struck me as a nice idea since the classic layout is so often associated with the best/biggest classes of Starfleet - it could be cool to see a smaller ship.
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That NX-01 concept is beautiful.

Kor said:
I like the Franklin better than the NX-01.
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To be honest, so do I.
 
USS Einstein said:
@Christopher - I just started book two, so look forward to see what you think up in future :)

p3watd7.jpg


There are quite a few flat looking classes as the Battle of the Binary Stars - I remember a forum member a while back said they would like to see like a mini-constitution-shaped vessel in DSC like John Eaves original design for the NX-01 - acting like a smaller support vessel for Discovery's fleet - it struck me as a nice idea since the classic layout is so often associated with the best/biggest classes of Starfleet - it could be cool to see a smaller ship.
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Wait a second, the nacelles on this, the intercoolers are on the side of the nacelles, sort of like the Defiant in DSC, and the rear of the nacelles are sideways.

I wonder if John did the Defiant redesign.
 
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Different Starfleet ships are likely built by different contractors, and therefore don't have the exact same design features etc.

For example, it's clear that the Enterprise-refit and Reliant were built by the same contractors. The Grissom (Oberth-class) was probably built by a different contractor.

You can find examples throughout Trek history of ships having different nacelles types / configurations, completely different bridge modules , etc. I never liked or bought into the idea that all Starfleet ships from a certain era were all designed the same way.

The 1701 refit, the 1701-A and the Excelsior (Trek III) are all contemporaries of each other...and their bridge designs are nothing alike.
 
Is there any fan art out there of TOS-design Constitution class but depicted with ulltra realistic textures?
 
mickmike said:
I much preferred the shorter, wider nacelles. To me it also looked a lot more industrial and less elegant than the Constitution class which i thought was cool. It gave off the vibe that the ship was a workhorse, cheap to build but tough as nails.
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Yeah the Discovery looks WAY better here and also in general the VFX here look better than what we actually get in the show.
 
drmick said:
Is there any fan art out there of TOS-design Constitution class but depicted with ulltra realistic textures?
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David cgc said:
What does "ultra-realistic" mean? My personal favorite is MadKoiFish's version, which is extremely faithful to the original design and texturing, but I suspect you're thinking of something more like Vektor's version, deg3D's TOS.5 or even Serveaux's Phoenix.
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For those who don't want to click the links, here are those fantastic TOS ships in high detail:

6y3zDax.jpg


NJpkAK5.jpg


2IunLYM.jpg


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vrtrrc7.jpg


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More than good enough to appear in a modern show.
 
Galaxy said:
Also it would appear that they are going for the Constitution class having a unique design language.
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USS Einstein said:
It suggests that the Constitution class are the top-of-the-line explorers, which fits nicely with what Burnham said about getting a posing on a Constitution class - they are like a special assignment. If Star Trek: Discovery's uniforms represent the mainstream duty uniforms, and Pike's uniforms are the special ones for the 5 year missions, that would make sense.
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Yes. Remember what 'Captain Merrick' said about Kirk's ship... (paraphrased) 'It's not just a spaceship, procounsel, it is a Starship. A very special ship, and crew.'
 
Here is my idea of progression least to most advanced--just on visual cues.



IiolOdv.jpg

Daedalus-class

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Bonaventure-class


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Constitution-class

8Ume90w.jpg



vZpJl3N.jpg

Einstein-class


ztjPcqX.jpg

???-class


Iu4UiSQ.jpg

NX-class refit

eMIKA36.jpg

Shepard-class



These two are very close actually

Mzx6hsm.jpg

Baton Rouge-class

JEzZk49.jpg

Crossfield-class

dtqfmiG.jpg

Constitution-class refit


un7nVAo.png

Constellation-class


rKFjt3e.jpg

Cardenas-class



kEJ6uj4.jpg

Walker-class


fAZZIfb.jpg

Excelsior-class



6Q9mEyC.jpg

Oberth-class



In my view

This


Docks here:



**********************************************************************************************************


But this:


Docks here:

space-station-james-bond-moonraker-1979-BP44W6.jpg
 
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Tuskin38 said:
Ohh, alright. My bad

Ironic, the ships take some design queues from 40s-60s aircraft. Heh.

ut0x1PP.png
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I read this originally when my Eaglemoss Shenzhou showed up in the mail, and I continue to be puzzled by this... because nothing on the Shenzhou looks ANYTHING like the F-104. He's talking about the "blades" as being the little fins and shit on all his ship designs, but I don't see that AT ALL in 1950s aircraft. Hell, the F-104 is pretty much a flying lawndart with almost totally cylindrical no-frills body that is, IMO, the most brutally strict example of Area Ruled design in history.

In fact, the Shenzhou and the Walker both kind of remind of the F-14 Tomcat more than anything else, especially with the little "fins" or "blades" as he calls them all over their hulls. Could be Eaves is confused?
 
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