I move we call it the Cheng-class variant, after its creator. Let the fandom zeitgeist take it from there.
Spoilers The Strange New Worlds Starship Thread™
- Thread starter Tuskin38
- Start date
Looks... Andorian
Since seeing the location diagram with the pipe cathedral being behind the deflector dish, I'm curious to see what the classic Enterprise would look like with that layout.
Ask and ye shall receive
Personally I'm kinda souring on the idea of the pipe cathedral, it doesn't give us a clear idea what in engineering actually IS the warp core like the warp towers in the TMP/TNG era or the warp boiler in ENT does. Instead the cathedral more lines up with the two impulse engines on the back of the saucer and I expect that was the plan until scripts called for scenes around the "warp engines" and they couldn't afford to have multiple sets for different engine rooms.
Wow thank you! And yes I agree, the function of the pipe cathedral bit seems extra vague now it's behind the dish in SNW. But I guess everything being vague makes it more true to TOS
Kelcie Mae reminds me of the 2001 spaceplane
To me, it looks more like a very early precursor to the USS AVENTINE ...
It could be argued the pipes are for tapping the raw output of the warp core and safely siphoning off fractions of plasma to feed the EPS grid that runs through the neck and into the saucer, but that still leaves the question "where is the warp core?" If we take the set diagram at its word then the intermix chamber (basically the core of the warp core cause its where the boomboom happens) is that modest black pillar full of salt crystals in the middle of the set and this is reinforced by broken circle where Michelle(?) messes with this pillar's console to fake a warp core breach, BUT in both "ghosts of illyria" and "those old scientists" the attention of the characters and the viewer is instead directed at the glowing spot on the far wall of the cathedral when admiring/messing with the warpcore, but according to the set diagram that's just the back side of the deflector dish...Wow thank you! And yes I agree, the function of the pipe cathedral bit seems extra vague now it's behind the dish in SNW. But I guess everything being vague makes it more true to TOS
I think we agree that one positive we can say about all this is SNW is going above and beyond being true to TOS by being not only vague, but inconsistent.
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Matt Jeffries' original concept with the Enterprise's design was that each warp nacelle was a fully self-contained engine unit with its own fuel supply – there was no warp core as we'd understand it today (or, rather, each nacelle had its own built in). Main engineering was a remote control centre for the engines and where power from the nacelles was converted into a form the rest of the ship could use. The precise function of the "pipe cathedral" was always ambiguous, especially as we might expect the diagonal conduits to go outwards rather than inwards if they really were supposed to be under the nacelle pylons where they attach to the secondary hull; it seems its main function was to suggest "big powerful machinery" rather than anything specific on the functioning of the warp drive.
So the Modern Airline Engine model where the Engine/Propulsor/Drive is hanging off a Pylon
Each Engine functions as Propulsion and as Power Generator Units.
The only difference was the fuel supply was distributed throughout the wings & fuselage of the aircraft and needed to be fed to the engines.
Matt Jefferies wanted to include the fuel into the Warp Nacelles as well, crazy!
It's probably a form of exposed piping that shows the flow leading to a central Manifold for distribution of the EP (Electro Plasma).
Again early eprisodes of TOS before these details were hammered out talked about engineering as if it was in the saucer
If that were the case the pipes in the cathedral would line up with the impulse engines like a pair of V-block combustion engines driveing a boat. This means the impulse engines are thier original function but nonetheless they reused the set for the engine room in the secondary hull in later scripts.
The fact engineering was in the saucer section just in front of the impulse engines is supported by a line from Spock in TOS S2 The Ultimate Computer:
http://www.chakoteya.net/StarTrek/53.htm
And I've always thought the piping behind the grill in the TOS engine room was supposed to be its two impulse engines.
The interesting thing about the SNW Enterprise is that the large Pipe Cathedral and the rear of the engine room honestly pretty much corresponds to the two much larger impulse engines on that ship.
The impulse engines are much smaller on the TOS version of the ship; but on the SNW Enterprise, you have two very large engines, each with three thrust vents on the right and the left side of the saucer; and the large cathedral piping is on the right and left sides of the engineering room.
Spock's bit at the start of the Subspace Rhapsody referred to the intermix chamber and the warp core as separate parts, curious...It could be argued the pipes are for tapping the raw output of the warp core and safely siphoning off fractions of plasma to feed the EPS grid that runs through the neck and into the saucer, but that still leaves the question "where is the warp core?" If we take the set diagram at its word then the intermix chamber (basically the core of the warp core cause its where the boomboom happens) is that modest black pillar full of salt crystals in the middle of the set and this is reinforced by broken circle where Michelle(?) messes with this pillar's console to fake a warp core breach, BUT in both "ghosts of illyria" and "those old scientists" the attention of the characters and the viewer is instead directed at the glowing spot on the far wall of the cathedral when admiring/messing with the warpcore, but according to the set diagram that's just the back side of the deflector dish...
I think we agree that one positive we can say about all this is SNW is going above and beyond being true to TOS by being not only vague, but inconsistent.
Insofar as the TMP refit and TOS Connies are one-in-the-same, I guess. If true, then the K'T'inga's are merely refits of existing D7's that followed the same path as Enterprise and her contemporaries. If asked why, then, does the newer ship have a different name than the original D7, one must necessarily re-open Pandora's box of, is the TMP Enterprise refit the class vessel of its own new Constitution offshoot (Constitution-II, Enterprise class, and so on)?
Best to leave sleeping targs lie on that one.
I look at it simply as D-7 is the Starfleet designation for that type of ship. K't'inga being the actual Klingon class name.
I could buy that. Unfortunately, DSC screwed up massively when they named some other ship a D-7 that looked nothing like the K't'inga. Canon weaves a stupid-tangled web for stuff like this.
Here's an easy fix. D-7 simply means it's a Klingon warships of a particular tonnage or set of abilities. Hell, dumb it down and just say D-7 means a "First-Rate" Warship.
It's as good an explanation as any, I guess, since it's mostly conjectural.
Yup. That's how I always took it. A Starfleet designation for a particularly capable warship.
Doesn't fuss me in the slightest.
I can already hear the screams of "Canon Violation" from the likes of TrekYards or EAS.
"The D-7 is not a K't'inga! Look at the differences!"
"More proof that Kurtzman doesn't care about Star Trek!"
"Whomever wrote that line should be dead in a ditch."
"The D-7 is not a K't'inga! Look at the differences!"
"More proof that Kurtzman doesn't care about Star Trek!"
"Whomever wrote that line should be dead in a ditch."
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