Spoilers Starship Design in Star Trek: Picard

[cooleddie74]

And the saucer and nacelle design doesn't even start with the NX-01. The Intrepid-class Earth Starfleet vessels that predate Enterprise have a semi-circular primary hull with two warp nacelles attached and the Franklin was also built and launched before the NX-01 and has a saucer-shaped main hull with two nacelles trailing behind.

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

I get the impression that Federation starships actually are built for stylistic concerns for the most part. Sure we see ships like the Defiant which are very functional and I'm sure that Voyager's nacelles swing for a purpose, but the TOS Enterprise with its tiny pylons and thin neck implies that Starfleet has had the ability to make its spaceships look like whatever it wants them to for a long time. I think the new Stargazer looks different to the old one mostly because that's what a modern starship should look like, to the designers and the Admirals. Its sleek appearance is influenced more by the evolution of design trends rather than technology.

If they want to make a brand new ship that looks a lot like an Excelsior there's no reason they can't. It won't be at a disadvantage due to the shape of its hull as long as it's big enough to fit all their hardware inside and the warp nacelles are in a good place to generate the kind of warp field they're into. Though really I'd prefer that each era had its own look.

 

[danellis]

So let's talk about the ships they used in episode 1.


New ships 3-5: Seeing the Inquiry class again was pretty much a given, although I don't know if the CGI model was the one they used last season or the one from STO. I'm of two minds about the Luna. On one hand I'm glad it finally crossed the line over from animation to live-action, for the people who like the design. However, as with the Akira, I was never a fan of it. It looks too much like a cross between a Sovereign and an Akira (both of which conveniently show up here, hmmm....) Anyway...The Sagan class Stargazer is obviously the winner here as far as new ship designs go. It fits perfectly into the design lineage of the time, is a good design, and makes a great hero ship.

New ships 6-10: So here's where things start to go downhill for me. The Excelsior II class, while a neat homage to the previous class and to the Excelsior herself, suffers from what I can only describe as 'New-Design-Looking-Like-Old-Design' Syndrome. It happened with the Obena class from LDS, and it's happening in STO with DSC season 1 ships being 'refitted' into 25th century versions (more on that later.) There is really no logical reason why 25th century starship designers should mimic ship designs from a century or more before. Starships aren't built for stylistic concerns; they're built for functionality. There's a reason why Ford isn't producing new cars in 2022 that resemble Model T's. There's no inherent reason why a brand new ship from 2401 should remotely resemble an outdated ship from 2285. Now if it was an older Excelsior that had been refitted, I could understand. That would even explain the 4XXXX registry numbers. But from everything I've read, they seem to be implying that the Excelsior II class is brand new and not a refit. And if that's the case, why the registry is 4XXXX is unknown. The Obena class is definitely new, and the one ship we've seen had an 8XXXX registry. So what's the difference?

What are your thoughts?

Ford don't make a Model T (so far as I'm aware), but they *do* make new Mustangs (60 years old) and Fiestas (40). Somebody makes new Minis (1960s again), Volkswagon make Beetles and Golfs (60 and 50 years old). A Chrysler Cruiser looks a lot like a 1930s gangster's car, though I don't know if there was a "Cruiser" model back then.

All of these are as distinctly the-same-but-different as the Starships you mentioned. Given how little StarFleet technology seems to have progressed over the 200 years we've seen, I find it hard to believe the ASDB wouldn't do a similar thing .

dJE

 

[Caeruleus]

So let's talk about the ships they used in episode 1.

Obviously this came about because of the negativity with the cut-and-paste Inquiry fleet from S1 (which I personally had no problem with.) So this time they decided to go all out and show a large amount of different classes, mostly new designs with a few older ones thrown in (but 'old' as in: the newest ships we last saw from the Berman era):

1. Sovereign class (old)
2. Akira class (old)
3. Inquiry class (new as of PIC season 1)
4. Luna class (new as of LDS season 1)
5. Sagan class (new)
6. Excelsior II class (new)
7. Sutherland class (from STO, new for PIC)
8. Ross class (from STO, new for PIC)
9. Reliant class (from STO, new for PIC)
10. Gagarin class (from STO, new for PIC)

What are your thoughts?

11. Galaxy class (old)

Don't forget that from episode 1.

 

[Dukhat]

11. Galaxy class (old)

Don't forget that from episode 1.

You mean episode 1 of season 1? Because they didn’t use a Galaxy class in the fleet for episode 1 of season 2.

 

[Tuskin38]

Does the OV-165 count as a Starship? Nice Enterprise opening credits callback.

 

[cooleddie74]

It was a beautiful moment. And the model of the Nomad probe in the same display area was a great touch!

 

[137th Gebirg]

You mean episode 1 of season 1? Because they didn’t use a Galaxy class in the fleet for episode 1 of season 2.

I think Caeruleus was referring to the E-D used in Picard's dream when he was playing poker with Data in the opening scene. There was also the holo-E-D at SFC when Picard went to visit Admiral "Fucking Hubris".

If we're counting non-fleet operation use of ships, we could also include the DSC E-nill holo in the same scene, as well as the Stargazer model in the vault. There also appears to be a gold Ambassador class model (assuming E-C) on the shelf at his vineyard house.

 

[UssGlenn]

we didn't get new shots in DS9 of the Defiant NX-74205-A after the first Defiant (NX-74205) was destroyed - despite the 2nd Defiant having the very same registry number as the first (again 74205).

The original Defiant could (should?) have been upgraded to NCC-74205 after she was upgraded to operational status, like the Excelsior was. But regardless, the replacement should be NCC-74205-A since it isn't the prototype.

 

[Tuskin38]

The original Defiant could (should?) have been upgraded to NCC-74205 after she was upgraded to operational status, like the Excelsior was. But regardless, the replacement should be NCC-74205-A since it isn't the prototype.

RDM wanted to change the registry, but it was too late into the series, budget prevented rendering new shots of the ship.

 

[Dukhat]

I was originally only referring to the new CGI ships in the fleet. But according to Matalas,

Spoiler

Season 3 will have lots of new Starfleet vessels, presumably better quality CGI ones than the STO ships used for this fleet. Maybe even a peek at the never-before-seen Starfleet Museum? And possibly a new Enterprise? (although the blurred out LCARS looks unsettlingly like the top view of a STO Odyssey class, so I'm not happy about that...

RDM wanted to change the registry, but it was too late into the series, budget prevented rendering new shots of the ship.

They also didn't change the registry because 75% of the fleet scenes in the series finale were just stock footage from a previous battle.

 

[Vale]

Does the OV-165 count as a Starship? Nice Enterprise opening credits callback.

Well it was in the Eaglemoss Official Starships Collection, sooo... sure! It's a beautiful spacecraft either way.

 

[137th Gebirg]

It was also in the "Enterprise" commemorative alcove in the rec deck of the refit in TMP and a desk model... somewhere. DS9 or Into Darkness, maybe? Can't remember. Although its official designation as a "starship" vs. "spaceship" may be in question. I think it comes down to semantics at that point, though.

 

[cooleddie74]

I think it appears on Jellico's desk in the Enterprise-D ready room in one of the two parts of "Chain of Command."

 

[Tuskin38]

It was also in the "Enterprise" commemorative alcove in the rec deck of the refit in TMP and a desk model... somewhere. DS9 or Into Darkness, maybe? Can't remember. Although its official designation as a "starship" vs. "spaceship" may be in question. I think it comes down to semantics at that point, though.

This design only ever appeared in ENT opening sequence before this episode.

Although according to M-A there was a similar design in the spaceflight chronology book, and that one also had an aerospike engine.

The reference book Star Trek Spaceflight Chronology, published in 1979, featured a similarly shaped craft on page 40. It was called the Space Ferry, the successor of the space shuttle from 2003 to 2015. It was equipped with an aerospike engine and did not require booster rockets for lift-off.

 

[Vale]

This design only ever appeared in ENT opening sequence before this episode.

Although according to M-A there was a similar design in the spaceflight chronology book, and that one also had an aerospike engine.

The OV-165 in the Enterprise title sequence was heavily based on the then-current VentureStar concept for a successor to the Space Shuttle. Sadly the VentureStar project was cancelled later in 2001.

 

[UssGlenn]

They also didn't change the registry because 75% of the fleet scenes in the series finale were just stock footage from a previous battle.

My personal "in universe" explanation is they used the old registry as a bit of psychological/information warfare against the Dominion. You can't destroy the Defiant, even if you see it blow up.

 

[137th Gebirg]

This design only ever appeared in ENT opening sequence before this episode.

Although according to M-A there was a similar design in the spaceflight chronology book, and that one also had an aerospike engine.

AH! My mistake! I was thinking about the ringship (XCV-330). Apologies.

 

[Tuskin38]

The OV-165 in the Enterprise title sequence was heavily based on the then-current VentureStar concept for a successor to the Space Shuttle. Sadly the VentureStar project was cancelled later in 2001.

Oh I know. I just meant with in Star Trek Works.

 

[NCC-73515]

I think it appears on Jellico's desk in the Enterprise-D ready room in one of the two parts of "Chain of Command."

Just checked the screencaps, no ship models there

It was also in the "Enterprise" commemorative alcove in the rec deck of the refit in TMP and a desk model... somewhere. DS9 or Into Darkness, maybe? Can't remember. Although its official designation as a "starship" vs. "spaceship" may be in question. I think it comes down to semantics at that point, though.

Don't see it there either

Well it was in the Eaglemoss Official Starships Collection, sooo... sure! It's a beautiful spacecraft either way.

One of quite a few I absolutely had to get!