Spoilers Ah, the NEW uniforms...!

Discussion in 'Star Trek: Discovery' started by Blue Squadron, Nov 5, 2020.

  1. Biggles

    Biggles Lieutenant Red Shirt

    Joined:
    Dec 29, 2020
    Location:
    UK
    Wow, I never noticed this! There really was a curious lack of effort involved in that show in some respects. The infamous Akiraprise, the rush to introduce not only TOS but TNG-level tech. Yet in other aspects (NX-01's detailing, the uniforms, the sets) they did great.

    The issue with that is 'The Cage' taking place in the same timeframe, but I guess if we pretend those uniforms are somehow the ones from DSC season 2 on board Enterprise, it still works.
     
    Phaser Two and Markonian like this.
  2. fireproof78

    fireproof78 Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2014
    Location:
    Journeying onwards
    I imagine that there were, given Starfleet's love of different uniforms and variants.
     
  3. Blue Squadron

    Blue Squadron Captain Captain

    Joined:
    Aug 18, 2010
    Location:
    Mostly just wherever I happen to be at the time.
    Yeah, it was a weird mix -- some of it was relatively well done but other things were ridiculously short-sighted
    I thought the rather retro look of the flight suits was a great idea but they should have looked straight to TOS for the division colours and the admiral uniforms needed more work too.

    The design of the ship was unfortunate; but I guess they liked the Eaves concept and figured that the Akira had, at best, been a background ship so it was no big deal; fans might notice (and did...) but the general audience would not (or wouldn't care). The purported but unused upgrade / re-fit NX-01 to turn it into a smaller version of an early Constitution class was a great idea and it's a shame we never got to see something like that on-screen.


    It's Trek -- there is no perfect continuity... (!) :D


    You may think that; I couldn't possibly comment... :angel:
     
    Phaser Two likes this.
  4. Biggles

    Biggles Lieutenant Red Shirt

    Joined:
    Dec 29, 2020
    Location:
    UK
    That was entirely Eaves, post-hoc, wasn't it? Just a fanwank, basically. Cool idea, I agree, although I think I prefer the Connie to be the first of its configuration rather than having such a close forebear.
     
  5. fireproof78

    fireproof78 Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2014
    Location:
    Journeying onwards
    It's Trek. It just requires creativity.
     
    Markonian likes this.
  6. Blue Squadron

    Blue Squadron Captain Captain

    Joined:
    Aug 18, 2010
    Location:
    Mostly just wherever I happen to be at the time.
    Yeah, but some of those "creative" solutions get so convoluted that sometimes I just can't be bothered anymore and it's easier just to say "yeah, whatever..."

    :vulcan: :hugegrin:
     
    Richard S. Ta likes this.
  7. fireproof78

    fireproof78 Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2014
    Location:
    Journeying onwards
    Fair enough. Bothers me less.
     
    Blue Squadron and KimMH like this.
  8. Richard S. Ta

    Richard S. Ta Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 10, 2021
    I'm a fan of the new uniforms. TMP inspired indeed. It's about time that wheel turned around. But then I liked the previous Discovery uniforms. And the DSC Enterprise uniforms. I like uniforms. Uniforms.
     
  9. Sci

    Sci Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 2, 2002
    Location:
    Montgomery County, State of Maryland
    I'm afraid you're both mistaken here. The NX-class was designed by Doug Drexler, not John Eaves. (Eaves designed the Enterprise-E and, later, the Shenzhou and Discovery, and re-designed the 1701 for DIS.) According to Drexler, Rick Berman had originally just wanted to use the Akira class from Star Trek: First Contact (which had been designed by Alex Jeager) with no modifications; it was Drexler and the Art Department who convinced him to let Drexler design an era-appropriate ship that looked like the Akira, hence the NX-01. Drexler is also responsible for the apocryphal "refit" NX-01, which was dubbed the Columbia-class in the Star Trek: Enterprise - Rise of the Federation novels.

    I agree. Introduce that configuration so early and the Constitution class no longer seems all that special
     
    Phaser Two and Markonian like this.
  10. Tuskin38

    Tuskin38 Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jul 24, 2011
    I disagree. There's 100 years between ENT and TOS, I doubt the design just came out of nowhere, it also doesn't make it less special.
     
    jackoverfull and Markonian like this.
  11. fireproof78

    fireproof78 Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2014
    Location:
    Journeying onwards
    I see nothing in any show that takes away from the Constitution/Starship class.
     
    Markonian likes this.
  12. Biggles

    Biggles Lieutenant Red Shirt

    Joined:
    Dec 29, 2020
    Location:
    UK
    I'm not claiming some objective truth, it's a matter of opinion.
     
  13. fireproof78

    fireproof78 Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2014
    Location:
    Journeying onwards
    Yes, but I'm trying to understand this point of view. If it takes something away then what might it be? The configuration of ships is something I almost always saw in some variation of the Constitution in other media until we got things like FASA and such.

    Not saying it isn't an opinion. It's an opinion I would like to understand.
     
  14. F. King Daniel

    F. King Daniel Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Nov 5, 2008
    Location:
    A type 13 planet in it's final stage
    I hate the NX-01.5 refit. It takes a sleek, graceful design and makes it clunky and awkward.

    If they started with it and clunky and awkward looking Constitution-predecessor was the initial idea then great. But they started with a sleek Akira-predecessor:shrug:
     
  15. 137th Gebirg

    137th Gebirg Admiral Premium Member

    Joined:
    Aug 31, 2000
    Location:
    Go Lick The World!
    Which was an arguably anachronistic design and too futuristic-looking for a 22nd century starship. I agree with you that the Drexler refit is what they should have started with (if a Daedalus-type or ringship design was deemed too distasteful to the suits at the time). Akira is one of my all-time favorite designs and I never liked that they took way too much of it for a ship that was supposed to be 200+ years older. This is Starfleet - not the IKF that keeps the old D7 design around for just as long.

    The Kelvin-era Enterprise, IMO, had way too many PU refit design elements, but that could be more easily explained away in-universe by the timeline drastically changing post-Narada. Also helps explain the egregious size discrepancies between timeline ship scales.
     
    jackoverfull likes this.
  16. Tuskin38

    Tuskin38 Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jul 24, 2011
    Do you meant the shape, or the overall detail? Because I disagree if you mean the detailing. All the exposed machinery and the emphasized hull panels make it look less advanced than the Connie (both the TOS and DSC versions).

    Doug designed it to look less advanced that the TOS connie, details wise.
     
    Markonian likes this.
  17. 137th Gebirg

    137th Gebirg Admiral Premium Member

    Joined:
    Aug 31, 2000
    Location:
    Go Lick The World!
    Both. Ex Astris did a comparison.

    I agree that greebling up the surface can make a design look less advanced, but they chose to identically replicate many surface details directly from the Akira, particularly on the dorsal view.
     
  18. Blue Squadron

    Blue Squadron Captain Captain

    Joined:
    Aug 18, 2010
    Location:
    Mostly just wherever I happen to be at the time.


    Thanks for the clarification -- I admit it's been quite a while since all the hoopla around ENT and the Akiraprise...

    ...I had mostly forgotten Doug Drexler's involvement (my bad...!) and the story that Berman had wanted to use the Akira undifferentiated from FC (baaaaaaaad idea). In that respect, NX-01 was a fair compromise if that's what the producers constrained them to. The basic tenet of what I said holds true though, which is that, at most, the Akira design was a background extra from one movie relative the the main star which was 1701-E, so for most casual viewers it wouldn't be that big a deal.

    Probably the most important thing they did visually (other than size and scale) was to move the nacelles to above the saucer, in a much more TOS-type configuration; it worked and helps the look quite considerably.

    I usually detest the necessity that is convoluted retcon but I suppose it's not unreasonable to suggest that, in-universe, the Akira design was the product of an evolutionary line that began with NX-01 or was designed in the TNG-era as a homage to NX-01.

    For what it's worth, had they gone on to use Drexler's rather clever re-fit concept, I don't think it would have been a detraction from the TOS Constitution class at all -- but I accept this topic is purely one of subjective preference. As they say, YMMV...
     
  19. jackoverfull

    jackoverfull Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Jun 22, 2020
    Location:
    Italy
    As someone who didn’t know the Akita at all at the time I remember not finding the NX-01 very believable as a ship that predated the 1701 by a century.

    Not to mention the bridge, which I never found a particularly well though of set (the screens being the worse offenders: they really looked dated and clunky even back in the early 00s).

    Of course all the complaints one could have with these sides of Enterprise paled once discovery came around.
     
  20. fireproof78

    fireproof78 Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2014
    Location:
    Journeying onwards
    Honestly, the NX-01 interior design and uniforms were the one thing I genuinely enjoyed about ENT.