With all respect to John Eaves, I don't like his take on NX-01 with a secondary hull. It doesn't make sense to me that the way the nacelles are connected would be utterly changed - almost might as well build a new ship. I envision a secondary hull refit as being the existing design with just enough changes to support ventral connectors to a separate hull. The secondary hull should look at least a little "after market". I'm hoping Doug Drexler will agree with me in his design. I'm already leary, though, with the way he's implying he will change the hull coating for the whole ship.
Umm, isn't that Eaves drawing simply an alternate original take on NX-01, one that was not adopted for the TV show? (And rightly so, because it's so unimaginative.) Timo Saloniemi
I would have always liked the NX-01 to bring a bit more of modern shuttle design into the mix, kinnda like the model Archer pays with in the pilot and the "future ship" we see in the opening credits just before we see the nx-01 herself. That would have made the ship a sort of bridge between now and the 1701.
That's my impression as well. I seem to recall it being reproduced on some toy packaging a long time back, well before this "fifth season redesign" idea was ever around. When Doug talks about adding a secondary hull, I imagine he's thinking more along the lines of slinging that central pod down below the midline and beefing it up somehow, along the lines of this CG doodle I did a few years ago when I was playing around with a similar idea. http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2526/4132676079_b790440d55_o.jpg
The Nebula and Akira class ships do have secondary hulls, look underneath... (another reason the NX is NOT the Akira upside down). The Miranda class has a redistributed secondary hull attatched to the back of the saucer, the Defiant (of ds9) is a wholly different design, no saucer, and no extended pylon fitted nacelles.
One of the most striking comments ever made about the Original Series was how viewers back in the '60s, saw the crew on that bridge and its representation of a united humankind. I think it was George Takei who once said that. What better structure for a ceremony in which different kinds of aliens come together and commit to founding the Federation? But yeah, it does look like a ramp leading to a reused bridge module modified for the occasion. Maybe there's more that story or just pure coincidence. The avatar comes from Zero Hour but that location reappears in These are the Voyages... one of few things I liked about the finale. Of course, Archer's big moment was abruptly cut off by somebody saying "End Program"... It probably wouldn't have been as good as that speech from Terra Prime anyway, I guess.
Curious.... why hasn't anybody suggested a design similar to this: They could certainly get away with something like this with a few modifications..... and I always kinda like this ship design cuz it was so odd compared to most other starships, I just didn't like how it was a mere science vessel and kinda wimpy. Just make the new Enterprise like this design, but with the warp nacelles further behind then shown above.
Maybe becoming more like this? http://media.moddb.com/images/mods/1/8/7240/MonarchClass2.jpg This design comes from an old favourite haunt of mine, EnterpriseTCW. Sadly no more.
Really, when I first saw the NX-01 I didn't see the Akira. I saw the Constitution class with the secondary hull shaved off and the two nacelles suspended in the same place. I thought it looked neat. I still don't understand the furor, uproar and bitterness that fans still have for that design, even ten years after the fact.
I know, I just thought this one, with the big boat on the bottom would have all sorts of neat stuff, like a bunch of shuttle craft or torpedo bays, etc. It reminded me of an aircraft carrier in space. I always felt the Miranda class should have been a science vessel moreso.
I dig the Eaves secondary hull refit design...this makes me wish that Enterprise was never canceled, and I guess Starfleet would eventually refit all of it's NX class starships at some point.
The only way I could ever believe a refit of that scale is possible is if they eluded to the NX being upgraded like this. As if it was designed for this upgrade and the secondary hull just slid on. But it makes you wonder why they would do it, when they only have 2 possibly 3 NX ships.
There's too much going on with those, it should be smoother and less 'sleek' looking. I think the NX-01 refit will need to lose a lot of surface detail on the hull.
It does at that. Maybe I'm imagining it, but it has a sort of post Nemesis feel... beyond dropping an NX saucer and nacelles into place. The downswept tailfins (while being a sort of 50's throwback) are design cul-de-sac aren't they? They don't turn up on future starships that I've seen. I don't really do that kind of artwork myself. Pencil sketches are pretty much my limit. But noticed that among some test work done for that Half-Life gaming mod. Something else I'm not heavily into, but I appreciate the hours of work which goes into the animation and starship modelling. This was done by somebody for Bridge Commander: http://bridgecommander.filefront.com/screenshots/File/41035/6 Maybe the dinky secondary hull dedicated to the deflector and engineering section (relocating the warp reactor maybe?) is the kind of look Doug and Pierre are going for.
This design is wicked cool, and a has very believable "upgrade" look... I can easily see this being a link in evolution between the NX-01 and the 1701.