There's something to it being designed like a cruise ship 
:
https://gamerant.com/star-trek-why-enterprise-d-badly-designed/
:https://gamerant.com/star-trek-why-enterprise-d-badly-designed/
"Why the Enterprise-D Was Badly Designed"
- Thread starter Danja
- Start date
Blasphemy. The Galaxy class starship is the peak of Star Trek design, and easily the most beautiful spaceship design in the history of science fiction. It was the catalyst of my fandom as a child, and remains my favorite thing about Star Trek ever.
Another one where they seem to think that the outside dimensions equals too much space inside. Do they not understand the space taken up by decks, conduits, jeffries tubes, holodecks, computer cores, engines, arboretums, stellar cartography, etc?
The second so-called design issue is that 'some fans thought it looked disproportionate'. I can safely stop there I reckon.
The second so-called design issue is that 'some fans thought it looked disproportionate'. I can safely stop there I reckon.
Ambivalence from me.
On one hand, the added windows and phaser arrays were a nice innovation. The neck connecting the saucer to the stardrive is a huge improvement, since the original's width isn't all that big (TMP showcases to scale how inefficient the neck section is.) The ability to separate was pretty cool, just don't think about the lack of warp drive (but the goal here is crew and complement safety and a tow ship would arrive.)
The ship's appearance, depending on angle, is still far more disproportional than the original never was, making some camera angles more awkward as a result.
Less importantly, having the warp nacelles glow constantly may look pretty, but the 80s movies had the extra nuance of keeping them unlit until warp drive is activated, where only the insides of them glow. Or, perhaps, the 1701-D's design improved power for tractor beam, towing, and other functionality for such a large ship - albeit requiring them to be running constantly - but to the point that the fabric of space time would be shredded as per that episode from season 7 ("Force of Nature").
The tl;dr version: It's a design that grew on me and is one of my favorites as well. The 1701-E took the best of both TMP and 1701-D and made a terrific design. A shame it doesn't feel like a character in the way 1701 and 1701-D had. But I digress as much as a fish swims in water.
On one hand, the added windows and phaser arrays were a nice innovation. The neck connecting the saucer to the stardrive is a huge improvement, since the original's width isn't all that big (TMP showcases to scale how inefficient the neck section is.) The ability to separate was pretty cool, just don't think about the lack of warp drive (but the goal here is crew and complement safety and a tow ship would arrive.)
The ship's appearance, depending on angle, is still far more disproportional than the original never was, making some camera angles more awkward as a result.
Less importantly, having the warp nacelles glow constantly may look pretty, but the 80s movies had the extra nuance of keeping them unlit until warp drive is activated, where only the insides of them glow. Or, perhaps, the 1701-D's design improved power for tractor beam, towing, and other functionality for such a large ship - albeit requiring them to be running constantly - but to the point that the fabric of space time would be shredded as per that episode from season 7 ("Force of Nature").
The tl;dr version: It's a design that grew on me and is one of my favorites as well. The 1701-E took the best of both TMP and 1701-D and made a terrific design. A shame it doesn't feel like a character in the way 1701 and 1701-D had. But I digress as much as a fish swims in water.
Part of the reason for the "cruise ship in space" feel was that the original intention when they were creating the show was that the Enterprise-D would be on an extended (20-year?) mission exploring the unknown, so you'd have crew bringing their family with them, you'd have more luxurious quarters, you'd have more places for people to hang out and relax in their downtime. But they kind of abandoned that idea pretty quickly, and the Enterprise became the Federation's "flagship," they reintroduced the Romulans as adversaries, and the kids & families aspect was downplayed except when they wanted to tell a story about it (e.g. "The Bonding," anything involving Alexander).
@Danja Not clicking on some random link, Please summarize what they said.
As for the question? Loved the Enterprise D, it is HUGE like you could go for 5x the crew and still be good. But as said. you have everything that a city needs to be in there. and the stuff that it needs to be a starship. atleast a quarter is devoted to machinery, ship stuff. another quarter to recreation, another quarter to labs, and other science stuff, and the last quarter to crew quarters. still spacious, but been doing warp flight for 300 years. bout time to see how comfortable it can be.
As for the question? Loved the Enterprise D, it is HUGE like you could go for 5x the crew and still be good. But as said. you have everything that a city needs to be in there. and the stuff that it needs to be a starship. atleast a quarter is devoted to machinery, ship stuff. another quarter to recreation, another quarter to labs, and other science stuff, and the last quarter to crew quarters. still spacious, but been doing warp flight for 300 years. bout time to see how comfortable it can be.
One way of looking at it could be that Enterprise-D is like a spacestation with all the comforts but it's also capable of moving around, fast.
What would be a point of a space station anyway in a galaxy big as it is?
What would be a point of a space station anyway in a galaxy big as it is?
It's big and oversized for its crew complement. The design itself is impractical.
I don't read anything I really disagree with. But, to the author's point, the ship is meant to evoke size and awe in the viewer, demonstrating the incredible things the Federation could do. At that point, it quite well succeeded because it looks impossible.There's something to it being designed like a cruise ship
https://gamerant.com/star-trek-why-enterprise-d-badly-designed/
I may not be the biggest fan of the Galaxy class, but it's iconic. Can't take that away from it.
Not sure you'd want 1000+ people cramped together? (If you're lucky it's like Woodstock. If you're not lucky, you'll think the folks at Altamont were lucky by comparison.)
Also, they can put in tons of cargo with ease, or even transport a small colony (10,000 hapless peeps?).
And, of course, the oft-told point that the bridge is centered on the thing much like that bright yellow dot is on an archery target's bullseye zone.
As the size of the crew grows, so does the amount of consumables and stores needed to sustain that crew and run the ship: the water, nitrogen / oxygen and other atmospheric gasses, raw replicator matter, blue barrels full of junk to fall on Worf, nitroglycerin to lubricate the exploding com-panels, foam rocks and ceiling braces to fall on the bridge crew... You know, the essentials.
Plus, I'm assuming when they count the 1,000+ crew that they're counting all the cetacean crew members in that as well and not just the "humanoids". I would imagine beyond the existing enormous amount of seawater tankage and realistic habitat necessary to not make the cetaceans go stir crazy like they do in enclosed water tanks today (though the fact that it would be a voluntary choice to be there on their part rather than captivity would certainly help their disposition —and presumably the ability to beam into any friendly and environmentally compatible planet's oceans occasionally rather than being locked-in place for years) you would also need to have an equivalent amount of replacement seawater on-hand in case of introduction of a toxic substance into their habitat that requires all the water to be purged and replaced. Then you have all their consumables to deal with.
Then you have its multi-mission nature. It was designed to be a deep space explorer out beyond the frontier for decades at a time, which requires huge amounts of raw materials stores.
But it can also serve as a more localized flagship to show the flag on the Federation's borders and protect the interior.
It can also possibly serve as the carrier vessels for all those little fighters we saw in DS9 'Sacrifice of Angels' in her enormous main shuttle bay. It can carry runabouts for personal use or for ferrying to deep space stations too.
In the earlier Ed Whitefire Enterprise-D blueprints, there were gigantic spaces left in reserve for modular special mission equipment, consumables and stores, technical systems, etc.
https://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/ed-whitefire-enterprise-ncc-1701d.php
Plus, in both those and the Rick Sternbach Enterprise-D blueprints the stuff we got to see onscreen, like sickbay, was only a tiny part of the full medical complex. They had to be prepared to treat tens of thousands of sick refugees from a planet being evacuated at a time, so the necessary treatment facilities and housing for all those people would be huge, and you'd have to be able to provide for their food, water, clothing, hygiene, and medicinal needs.
Plus, compared to the ridiculously oversized ships and stations of the Star Wars universe, Star Trek ships, even the bigguns like the Ent-D, are rather petite.
Plus, I'm assuming when they count the 1,000+ crew that they're counting all the cetacean crew members in that as well and not just the "humanoids". I would imagine beyond the existing enormous amount of seawater tankage and realistic habitat necessary to not make the cetaceans go stir crazy like they do in enclosed water tanks today (though the fact that it would be a voluntary choice to be there on their part rather than captivity would certainly help their disposition —and presumably the ability to beam into any friendly and environmentally compatible planet's oceans occasionally rather than being locked-in place for years) you would also need to have an equivalent amount of replacement seawater on-hand in case of introduction of a toxic substance into their habitat that requires all the water to be purged and replaced. Then you have all their consumables to deal with.
Then you have its multi-mission nature. It was designed to be a deep space explorer out beyond the frontier for decades at a time, which requires huge amounts of raw materials stores.
But it can also serve as a more localized flagship to show the flag on the Federation's borders and protect the interior.
It can also possibly serve as the carrier vessels for all those little fighters we saw in DS9 'Sacrifice of Angels' in her enormous main shuttle bay. It can carry runabouts for personal use or for ferrying to deep space stations too.
In the earlier Ed Whitefire Enterprise-D blueprints, there were gigantic spaces left in reserve for modular special mission equipment, consumables and stores, technical systems, etc.
https://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/ed-whitefire-enterprise-ncc-1701d.php
Plus, in both those and the Rick Sternbach Enterprise-D blueprints the stuff we got to see onscreen, like sickbay, was only a tiny part of the full medical complex. They had to be prepared to treat tens of thousands of sick refugees from a planet being evacuated at a time, so the necessary treatment facilities and housing for all those people would be huge, and you'd have to be able to provide for their food, water, clothing, hygiene, and medicinal needs.
Plus, compared to the ridiculously oversized ships and stations of the Star Wars universe, Star Trek ships, even the bigguns like the Ent-D, are rather petite.
By episode two, and I've never understood why. It was emphasised in 'Encounter at Farpoint' that the ship would be exploring "the great unexplored mass of the galaxy" beyond Farpoint station, the farthest point in explored space. I wonder what the Doylist and Watsonian reasons were for that?
The Honest Trailers take on TNG described the Enterprise-D as "a cross between cutting-edge spaceship and a Marriot convention center."
Indeed, in the "Yesterday's Enterprise" timeline, she was capable of transporting over 5,000 troops.
Okay, back of the hand math. Probably hugely wrong, correct if wrong.
1 deck, lets say deck 10. it is 480 meters wide by 380 meters long. ( Length and width of the saucer)
Take the area, Pie R 2, you get 1.54 Million square feet. HUGE for 1 deck.
put 1000 people on 1 deck, you get the having roughly 1500 Sqft. of room. Quite commfy. And everybody is on 1 of the biggest decks.
So say you give them 500 sqft, you get 3000 people on the 1 deck, semi commfy. size of a medium studio appartment.
So in the end, you could cram in in ALOT of people into the saucer section.
1 deck, lets say deck 10. it is 480 meters wide by 380 meters long. ( Length and width of the saucer)
Take the area, Pie R 2, you get 1.54 Million square feet. HUGE for 1 deck.
put 1000 people on 1 deck, you get the having roughly 1500 Sqft. of room. Quite commfy. And everybody is on 1 of the biggest decks.
So say you give them 500 sqft, you get 3000 people on the 1 deck, semi commfy. size of a medium studio appartment.
So in the end, you could cram in in ALOT of people into the saucer section.
Important details, to be sure! Yet do they appear in the technical manuals that were published? Nope! I know what the Ent-D warp coils are made of, but no mention of the composition of rocks from exploding consoles. They can't be foam rocks, that's just weird!
I agree with what people have said, there aren't as many good camera angles on the D as on the good ol' TOS Enterprise. The classic left to right planet orbit/ship pass just doesn't do it for me on the D.
In the words of Captain Kirk in The Voyage Home, a Ship is a Ship. I never really let the designs bother me, or else I would have hated the Defiant and that's one of my favorite ships in Star Trek.
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