Enterprise Era Starship Thread

[HauntRod]

I know this thread is long now and this has probably been talked about but what Enterprise did with the Vulcan ships was a highlight of the series for me. They were big and beautiful looking and looked very Vulcan if that makes sense.

I also loved how each Xindi had its own unique ship. I wish we could have seen them more.

The ship designs throughout Enterprise were definitely a highlight. Easily some of the best in the franchise.

 

[tomalak301]

The ship designs throughout Enterprise were definitely a highlight. Easily some of the best in the franchise.

It really made Enterprise actually feel like a sequel.

 

[Boo-khat!]

I mean, like I said, it depends on how much you want to go outside what is actually stated on-screen. Medicine is science though, so you can argue a Medical vessel is functionally a science vessel.

Sure. But going by the evidence presented to us, it simply doesn't seem like Starfleet builds ships with only one stated purpose. Although to be fair, I'm sure a garbage scow isn't going to resemble a Galaxy class starship, but then we've never seen one so who knows? And calling a ship a 'science vessel' is a bit less technical, since we've had at least five different classes of ship which defined that role. If anything, I would call most Starfleet ships 'multi-purpose' rather than a more specific moniker like science vessel, scout ship, battlecruiser, etc.

Heck, the California class is supposed to be a 'second-contact' ship, but there's nothing about it that looks any different from any other Starfleet vessel, or that any other vessel couldn't do that job either.

Is it not called that in the Decipher/Last Unicorn RPG? I know it appears in Beta Canon somewhere.

I will admit that I don't give much credence to non-canon material. And especially not Last Unicorn. They had little understanding of the TNG universe when it came to starships. Their designs were awful, as if the artist was asked to make the ships look like abstract art instead of how they actually looked. And their designs also did not reflect the era in which they were operating.

It really made Enterprise actually feel like a sequel.

Don't you mean prequel?

 

[tomalak301]

Sure. But going by the evidence presented to us, it simply doesn't seem like Starfleet builds ships with only one stated purpose. Although to be fair, I'm sure a garbage scow isn't going to resemble a Galaxy class starship, but then we've never seen one so who knows? And calling a ship a 'science vessel' is a bit less technical, since we've had at least five different classes of ship which defined that role. If anything, I would call most Starfleet ships 'multi-purpose' rather than a more specific moniker like science vessel, scout ship, battlecruiser, etc.

Heck, the California class is supposed to be a 'second-contact' ship, but there's nothing about it that looks any different from any other Starfleet vessel, or that any other vessel couldn't do that job either.



I will admit that I don't give much credence to non-canon material. And especially not Last Unicorn. They had little understanding of the TNG universe when it came to starships. Their designs were awful, as if the artist was asked to make the ships look like abstract art instead of how they actually looked. And their designs also did not reflect the era in which they were operating.



Don't you mean prequel?

Yes I did.

 

[Eudoxia]

The one thing that still bugs me to this day (because I am a big starship nerd) is that the Oberth class was never supposed to have been represented by the Grissom model from STIII. Okuda's dedication plaque for the Tsiolkovsky in "The Naked Now" indicated that the ship was commissioned the same year as the Enterprise-D, and its registry number was indicative at the time of a ship that was brand-new. Obviously Okuda was assuming that the producers were going to build a new science vessel model contemporary to the Galaxy class, but instead the VFX guys reused the Grissom (without even relabeling it from its last use), and the production designers reused sets from the TMP films for the ship's interiors. So because of that, the name "Oberth" was given to this ship, and we never got a proper 24th century science vessel until the Nova class in VOY.

BTW, going back to this, I may have an answer for you soon (I have a friend who is personal friends with Okuda. Like, they hang out together on the porch.)

 

[Boo-khat!]

BTW, going back to this, I may have an answer for you soon (I have a friend who is personal friends with Okuda. Like, they hang out together on the porch.)

Let me make it clear that my post was just supposition based on the information on the dedication plaque. I don’t claim to think for Mr. Okuda. Let’s just say that if it were me, I would have assumed that the VFX people were going to build a new model rather than reuse a ship design that in-universe was over 80 years old, so I would have made that plaque exactly the way Okuda made it. The reality was that the producers didn’t want to spend the budget building new Starfleet ship models because they wanted to reuse the movie models whenever they could to save money, despite the fact that those ships would have been outdated by the TNG timeframe.

 

[Eudoxia]

Let me make it clear that my post was just supposition based on the information on the dedication plaque. I don’t claim to think for Mr. Okuda. Let’s just say that if it were me, I would have assumed that the VFX people were going to build a new model rather than reuse a ship design that in-universe was over 80 years old, so I would have made that plaque exactly the way Okuda made it. The reality was that the producers didn’t want to spend the budget building new Starfleet ship models because they wanted to reuse the movie models whenever they could to save money, despite the fact that those ships would have been outdated by the TNG timeframe.

Oh yeah, I understand. I just meant that I might have an answer on if that was exactly the intent.