Akiraprise Question? Why?

[Dayton3]

The NX-01 Enterprise was widely criticized for closely resembling from a number of angles the Akira class starship created for First Contact.

The Akira class was featured in a number of DS9 & Voyager episodes as well.

Why then, given the massive amounts of design talent and staggering number of ships designs to borrow from did the Enterprise producers decide on such a derivative looking design for their featured ship?

I though all the Trek series producers wanted their feature ships to be very distinctive from what had come before?

 

[Kpnuts]

Because only hardcore Trek fans know or care what an Akira class ship is.

The rest don't know or care and simply accept the NX-01 for what it was, a cool looking Trek ship.

 

[DarthPipes]

Because only hardcore Trek fans know or care what an Akira class ship is.

The rest don't know or care and simply accept the NX-01 for what it was, a cool looking Trek ship.

Agreed.

 

[dave_R_treker]

I had the same thought about the NX-01.

You know if you think about it The Consition class, The Excelsior class, the Ambassador class, and the Galaxy class all resemble each other as well.

 

[Dayton3]

Because only hardcore Trek fans know or care what an Akira class ship is.

The rest don't know or care and simply accept the NX-01 for what it was, a cool looking Trek ship.

Hardcore Trek fans are your base audience.

They should be the ones that producers strive to satisfy first.

 

[Dayton3]

I had the same thought about the NX-01.

You know if you think about it The Consition class, The Excelsior class, the Ambassador class, and the Galaxy class all resemble each other as well.

That is one reason I think the NX-01 should've been part of that general design pattern.

Primary hull, secondary hull, two engine nacelles.

You could even have made the Horizon class look good on screen if you modified it properly.

 

[MattJC]

Because only hardcore Trek fans know or care what an Akira class ship is.

The rest don't know or care and simply accept the NX-01 for what it was, a cool looking Trek ship.

Hardcore Trek fans are your base audience.

They should be the ones that producers strive to satisfy first.

If only the producers of Trek XI had that sort of mindset.

 

[Michael]

^ Then we'd get Nemesis II.

Hardcore Trek fans are your base audience.

No, they are not. Every Trek series should try to gain a new viewership.

You could even have made the Horizon class look good on screen if you modified it properly.

Horizon class?

 

[MattJC]

^ Then we'd get Nemesis II.

I thought the producers were trying to attract a new audience with Nemesis.
Stuart Baird even said that he was treating Nemesis as if it was the first Star Trek movie.

 

[Michael]

^ Then we'd get Nemesis II.

I thought the producers were trying to attract a new audience with Nemesis.
Stuart Baird even said that he was treating Nemesis as if it was the first Star Trek movie.

Yeah, they tried hard. Very hard. And they failed.

 

[MattJC]

On topic, I'm a pretty hardcore fan and the design of the NX-01 never bothered me at all.

 

[EEE]

Hardcore Trek fans are your base audience.

No, they are not. Every Trek series should try to gain a new viewership.

That's a really unique and I'd think, a self-defeating marketing strategy... aim at a NEW audience, and not MORE audience. While I claim no special knowledge, I gotta' believe that is a poor marketing strategy. But then again, that does pretty much work for the Franklin Mint Company, so what do I know? *shrug*

 

[pookha]

Because only hardcore Trek fans know or care what an Akira class ship is.

The rest don't know or care and simply accept the NX-01 for what it was, a cool looking Trek ship.

Hardcore Trek fans are your base audience.

They should be the ones that producers strive to satisfy first.

the kind of hard core that cares about that kind of thing probably are about a thousand of so.
i have heard from so many people who have been trek fans who wondered just what was akiraprise and why all the fuss.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I remember before "Broken Bow" debuted there was much speculation that the ship we were going to see was going to be an older modified version of the Dadelus class starship which would have been cool. One of the problems I had with the Akiraprise was that it reflected doing a prequel series with modern day technological advances (I mean in the realm of visual and special effects). You go from watching an episode of Enterprise to an episode of Star Trek and think to yourself...damn what the hell happened here? Was there some kind of technological recession or something? The obvious answer is that they didn't have the type of visual effects we have now...

Its funny how so called non-hardcore trek fans are classifying hardcore trek fans and they're posting on a Star Trek BBS, kind of contradictory. We're all nerds so get over it.

 

[EEE]

... posting on a Star Trek BBS ... contradictory. We're all nerds so get over it.

Hear! Hear! (or is "here, here!" more appropriate in context? *grin*)

 

[number6]

I'm a hardcore TOS fan and I don't really mind the NX-01 looking Akira-esque.


Was it a design I had hoped to see? No.

I,too, was looking forward to seeing something akin to the original MJ sphere design. The shuttlepods certainly take a cue from MJ's original shuttle concepts.

The NX-01 wound up working for me because it actually looks like something we could actually build in our not too distant future.

Even with all of that, the Mirror Enterprise crew entrance onto the bridge of the Defiant is proof positive that the TOS style still can look sleek and futuristic in ENT's era.

So yeah.
I'm a hardcore fan that likes the NX-01 design.
The fact that it wasn't an "original" design is a non issue. The point is the design seemed to work best for the show. I think it made ENT more believable.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I think you hit it on the head number6...the producers might've been trying to go for that "realistic" feel that previous Star Trek series didn't have. Since the series was going to take place a hundred plus years removed from us they wanted something that reflected our current technology. I think they made it too futuristic though. Despite this there were nods to the original series like T'Pol's sensor viewer...and to be clear despite the fact that it bothered me, I kind of like it too...as a hardcore Trek fan

 

[Timo]

Because only hardcore Trek fans know or care what an Akira class ship is.

I thought I read in one of those "making of" interviews that the product was specifically aimed at those hardcore fans - that the designers went for those elements that came from the most popular ships as polled from the fandom, and used them in what they hoped would be a novel combination. And then they were surprised that this wasn't what the fans wanted after all.

I'm only slightly disappointed at the needless reuse of certain recognizable details (such as the top of the saucer and the bow notch), as minor signs of lack of imagination. I'm more annoyed at the general approach of doing a recognizable starship - this would have been an opportunity to do something completely different, perhaps without a saucer or pylons or other such features.

Another "classic", on the general lines of Kirk's, Sulu's, Garrett's or Picard's ships, I would have balked at. The artists can't be that starved of ideas!

Timo Saloniemi

 

[SFRabid]

Because only hardcore Trek fans know or care what an Akira class ship is.

The rest don't know or care and simply accept the NX-01 for what it was, a cool looking Trek ship.

Hardcore Trek fans are your base audience.

They should be the ones that producers strive to satisfy first.

the kind of hard core that cares about that kind of thing probably are about a thousand of so.
i have heard from so many people who have been trek fans who wondered just what was akiraprise and why all the fuss.

You will have to count me in that group. I post on ST forums, I have all the DVD's except Voyager, and I have no idea what akiraprise is or why the fuss.

My guess is when you are creating a show on a budget, use any previous work you can that is not too obvious and stretch out those "effects budget" dollars.

 

[SFRabid]

Hardcore Trek fans are your base audience.

No, they are not. Every Trek series should try to gain a new viewership.

That's a really unique and I'd think, a self-defeating marketing strategy... aim at a NEW audience, and not MORE audience. While I claim no special knowledge, I gotta' believe that is a poor marketing strategy. But then again, that does pretty much work for the Franklin Mint Company, so what do I know? *shrug*

Considering the small size of the Trek fan base, and the connotation that ST = nerd, they have to push to new audience viewership while moving ST from nerd base to retro cool.