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Star Trek: Starships Model/Magazine Subscription

There's the main one in the usual spot and then another one, more Sovereign looking, halfway behind between the main bridge and the shuttle bay where the two "wings" meet at the top.
 
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In the two circled areas. Maybe the rear one is some sort of control room & it’s a shuttle bay ? I can’t figure out where that’s supposed to be.
 
What’s wrong with shroom as opposed to any other translocation catalyst, say tapping into extradimensional energy, drawing planetary life-force or using another substance/crystal (like when Equinox harvested nucleogenic particles)?

Star Trek is, and always has been, more on the pulpy side of science. So I actually wouldn't even have a problem if they would use some magic alien mushrooms as part of their engines.:guffaw:

And I also don't have a problem with this new version of travel - immediate jumps. Only that it clashes with canon and is way too early in the timeline (Voyager would have needed just one(!) jump to get back home! They shouldn't have any problems recreating 100 years old technology).

My major concern is the worldbuilding behind that. Basically only the exposition they used to justify that concept. The idea that there is a giant fucking mushroom spanning the entire universe. Because while treknology always has stressed disbelief, this is fucking ridiculous. What would that mushroom eat? Where did it gets it's energy from? Where does it grow? From which plants did it evolve? Why the fuck does it have human DNA? How can anything subspace even have DNA? Also, and this is the even bigger problem: Today's humans already know a whole lot of the cosmos, the universe, and how the universe is built. A GIANT FUCKING MUSHROOM is NOT part of this universe! Period.

This is simply gross stupidity in storytelling, on a level which wasn't even reached by "Threshold" or "Spock's brain" - and they built their entire series premise around that. They could have come up with literally any other pulp-SF explanation for their plot drive - Slipstream, super Warp, a new kind of wormhole technology, something something quantum - and it would have been acceptable with the existing science of Star Trek.

But a giant, multidimensional mushroom network - that's simply such an enourmus, universe changing addition to the Trekverse - it'd be like suddenly Angels and the literal biblical God appearing in Star Trek, or the Force, or wizards, or learning the Federation is actually a futurist Middle Earth from Tolkien. It's simply elements from another type of speculative fiction: In this case, science fantasy. Not fiction. There is absolutely no possible way what has been depicted in this show is in any way compatible with our real, perceptible reality. And that's a problem. Because Star Trek, how ever pulpy it might be, is still intended to show our future, a possible real one, not a Warhammer 40k fantasy one with Orcs and starships travelling through literal hell to bend space.
 
w7VlFZI.jpg



In the two circled areas. Maybe the rear one is some sort of control room & it’s a shuttle bay ? I can’t figure out where that’s supposed to be.

Maybe some kind of observatory or sensor dome? I can think of a thousand useful things on a starship. It's probably something that normally is in the same dome as the bridge (maybe shield generators?) - the usual bridge modules are oftentimes several decks high. Looks cool though. And functional. So I don't have any problem with it.
 
Maybe it's a spare. You know, in case their tactically-catastrophically-placed bridge gets blown up, there's another, equally catastrophically placed bridge a little further behind.
 
Star Trek is, and always has been, more on the pulpy side of science. So I actually wouldn't even have a problem if they would use some magic alien mushrooms as part of their engines.:guffaw:

And I also don't have a problem with this new version of travel - immediate jumps. Only that it clashes with canon and is way too early in the timeline (Voyager would have needed just one(!) jump to get back home! They shouldn't have any problems recreating 100 years old technology).

My major concern is the worldbuilding behind that. Basically only the exposition they used to justify that concept. The idea that there is a giant fucking mushroom spanning the entire universe. Because while treknology always has stressed disbelief, this is fucking ridiculous. What would that mushroom eat? Where did it gets it's energy from? Where does it grow? From which plants did it evolve? Why the fuck does it have human DNA? How can anything subspace even have DNA? Also, and this is the even bigger problem: Today's humans already know a whole lot of the cosmos, the universe, and how the universe is built. A GIANT FUCKING MUSHROOM is NOT part of this universe! Period.

This is simply gross stupidity in storytelling, on a level which wasn't even reached by "Threshold" or "Spock's brain" - and they built their entire series premise around that. They could have come up with literally any other pulp-SF explanation for their plot drive - Slipstream, super Warp, a new kind of wormhole technology, something something quantum - and it would have been acceptable with the existing science of Star Trek.

But a giant, multidimensional mushroom network - that's simply such an enourmus, universe changing addition to the Trekverse - it'd be like suddenly Angels and the literal biblical God appearing in Star Trek, or the Force, or wizards, or learning the Federation is actually a futurist Middle Earth from Tolkien. It's simply elements from another type of speculative fiction: In this case, science fantasy. Not fiction. There is absolutely no possible way what has been depicted in this show is in any way compatible with our real, perceptible reality. And that's a problem. Because Star Trek, how ever pulpy it might be, is still intended to show our future, a possible real one, not a Warhammer 40k fantasy one with Orcs and starships travelling through literal hell to bend space.

I still haven't seen a single episode of Discovery (the bizarre looks of everything, particularly the Klingons, and the fact that they resorted to mirror universe stories in their first blessed season were a major turn-off) and this is not making me want to get around to it.
 
w7VlFZI.jpg



In the two circled areas. Maybe the rear one is some sort of control room & it’s a shuttle bay ? I can’t figure out where that’s supposed to be.
That's the one! :) I haven't looked at the book to closely yet. Did John Eaves or the modeler who built the mesh give any indication as to its purpose? It really is a cool design.
 
I still haven't seen a single episode of Discovery (the bizarre looks of everything, particularly the Klingons, and the fact that they resorted to mirror universe stories in their first blessed season were a major turn-off) and this is not making me want to get around to it.
You're not missing much. Sure, the production values are high, the acting is pretty good, but the magic mushroom drive and the huge tardigrade are beyond silly. The ridiculous science in Threshold made more sense...
 
I still don’t see the problem with having a fungus network underpin the fabric of reality by growing in one of the layers of subspace. We have super-beings with massive powers, hinting at a higher-dimensional ecosystem.

The fungus may have originated on a planet somewhen, by fluke prodded out of its native phase-state, and found an energy-rich layer of subspace where it could expand without interference from its natural predators.

And then you can travel by “surfing” down its branches, like Tarzan swinging from tree to tree.
 
I still don’t see the problem with having a fungus network underpin the fabric of reality by growing in one of the layers of subspace. We have super-beings with massive powers, hinting at a higher-dimensional ecosystem.

The fungus may have originated on a planet somewhen, by fluke prodded out of its native phase-state, and found an energy-rich layer of subspace where it could expand without interference from its natural predators.

And then you can travel by “surfing” down its branches, like Tarzan swinging from tree to tree.
In that case, perhaps all it needs a Phil Collins soundtrack then...
 
I still don’t see the problem with having a fungus network underpin the fabric of reality by growing in one of the layers of subspace. We have super-beings with massive powers, hinting at a higher-dimensional ecosystem.

The fungus may have originated on a planet somewhen, by fluke prodded out of its native phase-state, and found an energy-rich layer of subspace where it could expand without interference from its natural predators.

And then you can travel by “surfing” down its branches, like Tarzan swinging from tree to tree.

Well, "suspension of disbelief" is a bitch.
It varies completely from person to person. I can easily see why you can accept it. And I have to say, the presentation of it in the show itself was much more believable than if you plainly think about the underlying idea afterwards. But for me - the Trek universe was always a more technological one. Where you can achieve wonders - beaming, faster-than-light-travel, holograms, medicine technology - with machines.

That's the underlying idea, technological progress. Which has hold true through the last few hundreds years of human progress. That we can create our way to a better future. That's why I say the very same concept would have been much more believable if explained by "slipstream, wormholes, or something quantum".

A massive mashroom underlying the whole fabric of reality OTOH - that's too much stress on disbelief. At least for me. It sounds like an idea a middle aged hippie would have come up with about how the universe works while massively tripping balls on LSD at home, sitting on a couch, and having ideas, man. There is, at least for me, not even the pretense of plausible science beneath it, let alone real one, which Trek usually tries to abide by (at least for it's major recurring concepts like space travel - singular episodes more often go down the realm of balls-to-the-wall crazy. At least in the good old time).

Again: This is a weird one for me. I would have easily accepted the "mushroom universe"-explanation as a side gag in a single episode where Q tells Picard how the universe actually works. Like Terry Pratchets Turtle discworld universe. But I simply don't believe it as a corner stone for the concept of this particular series, and it being treated as a more grounded and serious thing in a grimdark world.

It's hard to explain why though - and I have absolutely zero problem with other people having different opinions about this specific viewpoint - but this is my attempt at explaining why I have a problem with it.
 
Got my Klingon Warbird today (ordered it just shy of 2 months ago), and I love it. The model is HUGE, with awesome detail.

Also really enjoyed the magazine, which has nice pics of the actual CG model from the movie (or so they claim, but it looks authentic), showing tons of tiny, scale-redefining windows. I don't know how big she is, but it's a lot more than the 228m of the original D7/K'tinga. Interesting to note the Warbird began life as a Photoshop mod to a K'tinga, hence many parts not seen in the movie being suspiciously 100% identical to that class (like the impulse engines)
 
Another moving day today. Johnny Lightning’s USS Excalibur NCC-1664 didn’t survive the trip - gotta hope the glue can fix it when the dust settles.

But I did notice that on the old Johnny Lightning Enterprise refit the stripes, windows and even the text are on the saucer rim. And that ship is the same size as the regular Eaglemoss rendition. I wonder that was doable because it was a full plastic model? Does using metal impair quality in some cases?
 
With regards to surface details, it can. Remember the Breen Warship was especially problematic in the detail quality of the metal bits, dull and rounded off, but the plastic pieces were much crisper. As far as problems with decals and painting are concerned, no it shouldn't, if they were applied properly.
 
Another moving day today. Johnny Lightning’s USS Excalibur NCC-1664 didn’t survive the trip - gotta hope the glue can fix it when the dust settles.

But I did notice that on the old Johnny Lightning Enterprise refit the stripes, windows and even the text are on the saucer rim. And that ship is the same size as the regular Eaglemoss rendition. I wonder that was doable because it was a full plastic model? Does using metal impair quality in some cases?

If the the Johnny Lighting Excalibur NCC-1664 is anything like the Johnny Lighting Defiant NCC-1764 (and I would presume it is), it's hard to imagine it getting any worse. Of the handful of JL ships I have, that's the only one that I found truly dreadful. I was really happy when I got the Connie Enterprise and later Defiant. Other than that, I thought JL did a good job on the rest, especially Voyager and the refit Enterprise 1701.

With regards to surface details, it can. Remember the Breen Warship was especially problematic in the detail quality of the metal bits, dull and rounded off, but the plastic pieces were much crisper. As far as problems with decals and painting are concerned, no it shouldn't, if they were applied properly.

Really? I thought the Breen ship looks great. I was nervous that the pictures made it too toy-like, but in person, I was really happy with it.
 
Oh sure, it was a great model. Certainly better than the recent XL E-A release. I’m just saying there is a noticeable physical difference between the quality of detailing of metallic and plastic pieces. Metal bits don’t seem to hold crisp edges like plastic does. Probably has to do with the process of separating the pieces from the molds.
 
look who finally decided to show up.
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nacelle housings were popped, so had to glue them back in place. and the deflector is slightly crooked, but nothing more glue won't fix.

anemic is the word that comes to mind when i look at this ship on my desk. but glad to have her.
 
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