Starfleet Academy Starship Thread

[tenmei]

Genesis runs from the Airlock to the second floor of the Atrium within minutes, so internal context clues are that they're nearby.

Also that Darem walks using grav boots from the same airlock to the top of the saucer - near the arrowhead window over the top of the atrium, which is unlikely in eight minutes, given that the ship is apparently the size it appears to be.

The atrium decks appear to stretch out to the left and right of the stairs more than the neck would allow.

Also in the shot youve posted, if the Atrium window was at the bottom of the neck, then surely we would be able to see more of the ground compound than just some flags?

 

[Tuskin38]

The giant window is on the saucer section between the delta and the name and registration decal. It can be seen in this forward facing view of the ship.

That's the bridge window, not the atrium.

as Jack pointed out, you can literally see the Atrium through the big neck window

It's an inconsistency.

 

[tenmei]

As a possible compromise, we know we have Sato Atrium in Episode 1, but there was an interview (Trek Culture, I think), that said the Betazoid Conference was held in Uhura Atrium, so possibly Sato Atrium in the saucer and Uhura Atrium in the neck?

 

[Fateor]

Given we can see the "roof" of the atrium in the central saucer in Episode 1, how can that be the atrium viewport?

It's the 32nd century and they've been messing with internal spatial dimensions since at least the 31st century.

Which means there's literally no point in trying to map internal spatial dimensions any longer.

 

[Discovery McDiscoveryFace]

I've been watching the series on my small laptop as have had trouble getting my TV hooked up. Now looking at the stills and screenshots on this thread, reminds me how easy it is to forget how friggin beautiful the visuals have been on a lot of new Trek. We take so much for granted but it gives an appreciation why the series do spend so long in post-.

Separately, the distance shots of the ship parked at the campus remind me a lot of how living on islands trains you to be conscious of our weekly supply ships; in Bermuda I could walk up the road and see if the Oleander had got in on time; in Alderney in the Channel Islands I could see our ship Trinity from my kitchen window and gauge what time to head to the shops to get something that had sold out. Strong emotions on that one.

 

[Jack Watford]

That's the bridge window, not the atrium.

as Jack pointed out, you can literally see the Atrium through the big neck window

It's an inconsistency.

The staircase to the lower level of the atrium ...

The same staircase through the window just above the deflector ...

 

[Michael]

Oh wow, color me very surprised, I had not gotten that at all. So that tracking shot from the premiere must have been a production mistake. Or we are somehow to believe that there’s another delta-shaped ceiling window inside the neck? Or, alternatively, there’s just supposed to be two large rooms with large windows, one in the saucer and one in the neck.

 

[Arvis Tadjik]

The window above the deflector is definitely the atrium and the window on the top of the saucer is definitely the bridge (all the outline shapes match for both).

With regards to the atrium's verticality, I'd say the landings are actually every 2 decks, making the atrium in the range of 26 decks with the entire central part of the ship being 30-34 decks (ish).
It's also relatively easy to chock up the fact that the atrium has to be slanted forward in order to work to a sort of forced perspective/optical illusion of being perfectly vertical when it's actually sloped.

Either way I think they're trying to convey the concept of the atrium and how it's laid out and the VFX are just falling a bit short of translating that perfectly. I still think it works decently in the show and at least gets the idea across well enough.

Besides, Trek is so full of visual inconsistencies already (like the Ent-D firing phasers from its torpedo launcher or the Dis firing torpedoes from its bussards...VFX issues happen ) that this is simply another one for the list lol.

 

[fireproof78]

Oh wow, color me very surprised, I had not gotten that at all. So that tracking shot from the premiere must have been a production mistake. Or we are somehow to believe that there’s another delta-shaped ceiling window inside the neck? Or, alternatively, there’s just supposed to be two large rooms with large windows, one in the saucer and one in the neck.

Given that it doubles as a building two windows wouldn't surprise me.

Grif: two windows. Some people are so materialistic.

 

[Michael]

So this shot is basically supposed to show the view through the entire ship, from the saucer’s top all the way down to the one of the deepest decks in the neck? Go figure. If we’re taking this literally than the ship is much smaller than I thought. Basically only like 15 decks high.

 

[Markonian]

The external and internal structure of the Academy class seems to be so different from "common" starship designs, it looks like we're going to have a lot of fun to in discovering and understand the hull in the time to come.

 

[Detached Nacelle]

Ake did order the ship to enter "academy mode" which I suppose is its morph but maybe the internal structure shifts around between ship mode and academy mode.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Ake did order the ship to enter "academy mode" which I suppose is its morph but maybe the internal structure shifts around between ship mode and academy mode.

That was in reference to the warp core breach simulation that they used to get the Venari Ral out of engineering.

 

[Detached Nacelle]

That was in reference to the warp core breach simulation that they used to get the Venari Ral out of engineering.

Ah never mind then.

 

[Galaxy]

So this shot is basically supposed to show the view through the entire ship, from the saucer’s top all the way down to the one of the deepest decks in the neck? Go figure. If we’re taking this literally than the ship is much smaller than I thought. Basically only like 15 decks high.

Initially I thought the ship would hold the entire Academy, which, once it is up an running at capacity, should be 10,000 + students, but I guess they will have one Academy class ship for ~200, 300 students, which I guess makes sense from a safety perspective.

 

[Janewaysson]

Someone make a diagram of Athena's size based on window placement with some other ships!

I know there's that one with the Crossfield refit

 

[Detached Nacelle]

An interesting thing about the Athena's potential carry capacity. Everyone at the Academy seems to all be first years at this point. Like did they let the enrolled cadets from Discovery season 4 enroll and then just not admit any cadets between then and now so they could start fresh when reaching Earth? Also if season 2 is going to be their second year they'll have to acknowledge new cadets joining surely. I mean only having one new wave of officers join every 4 years isnt sustainable

 

[Michael]

^ I think there was a bit in the Collider interview with Noga Landau where she acknowledged that they had taken new classes of cadets starting each year into account. Of course she doesn’t spoil how they’ll do it. And we should probably keep in mind that one season does not necessarily equal one school year. So the idea could also be that new people come on at a later point and not when season two premiers.

 

[Enterprise1701]

Concept art of the U.S.S. Athena by Lee Fitzgerald on ArtStation:

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/vbGvZx

Starfleet Academy S1 - USS Athena
I had the honour and privilege of designing the hero ship for Starfleet Academy, the USS Athena! Here are a couple of my approved design concepts made under the direction of PD Matthew Davies and ADs Anne Malee Van Koeverden and Matt Morgan. These images have been shared publicly in ADG's Perspective Magazine, so I think it should be okay to share these now.
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A few other artists explored ideas for Athena before I was brought on, including Mike Stanek and Alyssia Ma. Some of the DNA of their early sketches carried on through my designs, so full credit to them for getting the ball rolling! There was lots of great direction coming from Matthew that needed to be unified here - including references to the goddess Athena and her owl, classical Greek sculpture, high-performance concept cars, parametric architecture, and of course the long history of Starfleet designs that have come before. As scripted, there was also a 20-storey internal atrium and a full campus transformation mode to consider!
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Even though this is a far-future design, it's also a hero ship, so there was a desire from the showrunners to stay true to the core principles of classic Trek ships to make it instantly recognisable. I wanted to include as much of the functionality and familiar landmarks from past designs as I could, while still making the Athena feel like something new that belonged in the 32nd century. Lots of little references here to my favourite Trek design, the Enterprise Refit from TMP.
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I produced a lot of images for Athena (including a full internal deck plan blockout) and will hopefully get clearance to share more soon, so stay tuned!
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All images copyright CBS Studios Inc. and Paramount Pictures. STAR TREK® and related marks are trademarks of CBS Studios Inc.

 

[Tuskin38]

The Athena might be the first 32nd century ship I would want in STO purely for the visuals. Outside of the Crossfield refit