Design the Next Enterprise

[Vektor]

I don't think they're going to cancel the contest or re-run it.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

A "story of the week" was appealing when people had to turn on their TV and watch at the exact same time every week to see every episode. Most people couldn't be expected to do this, and would get lost if you changed things from one episode to the next. Therefore everything had to end as it started, so you could pick up again from zero next week, and you could air re-runs and play episodes out of order and it wouldn't disrupt continuity.

In the modern world we have Tivo, Hulu, torrents, and boxed sets. How often do you sit and watch an entire series at a go now rather than tuning in one night a week?

If I devote an hour to watching something and they can't deliver a satisfying story with a beginning, a middle and an end then I can't usually be bothered to come back. There's too much going on in life other than television.

It might be different if more skiffy shows with "arcs" actually delivered something more intriguing for the time invested than some supposedly cosmic, thrice-told "revelations" which are no more thoughtful than crossword puzzles. There are more reality-mimetic series that do this - mainly through the use of evolving character arcs rather than nonsensical meta-plotting - but skiffy fans tend to dismiss that human drama stuff as "soap opera," so there you go.

Now, as for sitcoms - there's a format that sees good times, and hard times, but again is more reliably successful and appealing decade after decade than all the skiffy shows on television have ever been.

 

[Fuzzy Modem]

If I devote an hour to watching something and they can't deliver a satisfying story with a beginning, a middle and an end then I can't usually be bothered to come back.

You must have hated Babylon 5 and Deep Space 9.

If you aren't planning on watching every episode in order, why tune in at all?

That being said, I bailed on BSG when they colonized Elbonia. For me, the high point of that series was the raid on the asteroid mine when Apollo flies up the conveyor chute.

 

[Mojomoe]

Oh man, I haven't seen BSG, but I really hope that's a euphemism.

 

[Dac]

If I devote an hour to watching something and they can't deliver a satisfying story with a beginning, a middle and an end then I can't usually be bothered to come back.

You must have hated Babylon 5 and Deep Space 9.

If you aren't planning on watching every episode in order, why tune in at all?

That being said, I bailed on BSG when they colonized Elbonia. For me, the high point of that series was the raid on the asteroid mine when Apollo flies up the conveyor chute.

You mean New Caprica? That arc was the second high point of the series for me.

 

[sojourner]

^Elbonia is the fictional land of mud from Dilbert. I think he was making a joke.

 

[Dac]

^Elbonia is the fictional land of mud from Dilbert. I think he was making a joke.

I knew he was joking, I just wasnt sure what episode he was talking about.

 

[Fuzzy Modem]

^Elbonia is the fictional land of mud from Dilbert. I think he was making a joke.

I knew he was joking, I just wasnt sure what episode he was talking about.

Is there another mud planet in BSG?

To me that show felt schizophrenic. Every time they found purpose and direction they were immediately derailed by political idiocy or preachy religious buffoonery, the specifics of which didn't even remain consistent. I wanted a sci-fi war epic, not "The West Wing meets Touched by an Angel... in Spaaaace."

 

[Dac]

The Algae Planet, which had more muddy castmembers to my memory than New Caprica did.

 

[publiusr]

Dac, I really like your design -- it's really nice. The only thing that bothers me, and others may disagree, is how the nacelle pylons attach to the secondary hull. I feel like it's attached with a few bolts on the bottom of the hull, especially when viewed from above the centerline and from the back. Perhaps that's deliberate -- a number of engines can be strapped onto this design for testing. But to my eye, it looks fragile and incongruent with the robust saucer/secondary hull connection, and its seems like a complex path for the conduits between the warp core and the nacelles. I'd like to see the pylon assembly embedded more in the secondary hull, I think.

Well, admittedly that's a case of aesthetics over design. I wanted it to share a front profile with the Galaxy class, with the nacelles being below the saucer. That is what ultimately led to the low down position of the pylons, that, and originally I wanted the pylons to be an uninterrupted U or V shape that wrapped around the bottom of the secondary hull.

Eventually they found themselves embedded a few decks up though, and I "placed" (in my mind at least) the deuterium/antimatter storage tanks in the area below the pylons. Also, in my mind, those Pylons are at a minimum 1 deck thick, which I think is more than can be said for the E-D and E-E? Also, due to the size of them I figured they could also store emergency supplies in vast cargo bays.

Here's a very dirty and not so quick MSD i've knocked up. (It's my first MSD. Be kind. )

It looks like a Federation ship after Xindi inclusion. I like it.

Here is my guess on the reason for the second contest.
The CBS folks probably like this:
http://www.startrekonline.com/enterprise/gallery?share=869
And Cryptic wanter something more post TNG, and perhaps something with simpler lines that is easier to refresh for game use, but also love the intricate design.

So here is a solution.

A tech manual of all top submissions from Pocket.

 

[Fuzzy Modem]

The Algae Planet, which had more muddy castmembers to my memory than New Caprica did.

Ah. Must have missed that one.

 

[Dac]

The Algae Planet, which had more muddy castmembers to my memory than New Caprica did.

Ah. Must have missed that one.

It was after New Caprica, so if you did in fact bail there then I guess you won't have seen it.

 

[Fuzzy Modem]

The Algae Planet, which had more muddy castmembers to my memory than New Caprica did.

Ah. Must have missed that one.

It was after New Caprica, so if you did in fact bail there then I guess you won't have seen it.

Yep. I quit cold turkey just prior to fat Apollo and didn't come back until the series finale.

Here is my guess on the reason for the second contest.
The CBS folks probably like this:
http://www.startrekonline.com/enterprise/gallery?share=869
And Cryptic wanter something more post TNG, and perhaps something with simpler lines that is easier to refresh for game use, but also love the intricate design.

It also occurred to me (and I have nothing to back this up) that Cryptic might have rigged the vote by giving CBS their favorite design and 24 others that were all obviously unacceptable for various reasons, thereby forcing CBS to acquiesce to their choice of winner. CBS didn't fall for it, having had a different winner in mind themselves. Hence the gridlock, and the remark about "not liking any of the entries" where 'any' would refer only to Cryptic's choice for top 25, and not all ≈1,000 entries.

Not saying this is what happened, but it seems at least a remote possibility.

 

[Mojomoe]

Fuzzy -

I must say that one of the upsides of neurotically refreshing this page in hopes of hearing some speck of news, is the ability to watch your posts evolve in realtime through edits.

In this era of binary news headlines and blog posts, I must say it's anachronistically refreshing. Thanks .

 

[Fuzzy Modem]

Fuzzy -

I must say that one of the upsides of neurotically refreshing this page in hopes of hearing some speck of news, is the ability to watch your posts evolve in realtime through edits.

In this era of binary news headlines and blog posts, I must say it's anachronistically refreshing. Thanks .

Lol! Yeah. I'm a compulsive editor. Grammer and spelling errors drive me nuts, and I generally think of ways to rephrase or elaborate that demand implementation.

In a world of tweets and texts, I still prefer articulate, unabridged discourse. Newspeak is ++ungood.

 

[sojourner]

Here is my guess on the reason for the second contest.
The CBS folks probably like this:
http://www.startrekonline.com/enterprise/gallery?share=869
And Cryptic wanter something more post TNG, and perhaps something with simpler lines that is easier to refresh for game use, but also love the intricate design.

So here is a solution.

A tech manual of all top submissions from Pocket.

There is no second contest. We were spitballing about what the hold up was.


Edit to add: Sigh, tomorrow is the 3 week mark.

 

[Dac]

This second contest thing is complete BS. It won't happen. As it stands, I think the current one has been a waste of money, they wont spend that again on a second chance.

And now its getting to the point that even if I win, im going to still be pissed off for waiting so long.

 

[Fuzzy Modem]

This second contest thing is complete BS. It won't happen. As it stands, I think the current one has been a waste of money, they wont spend that again on a second chance.

What money? They never advertised it and the prizes were donated!

And now its getting to the point that even if I win, im going to still be pissed off for waiting so long.

You have an unbalanced perspective IMHO. I'd wait a lifetime, and if on my deathbed, many years from now, they announced that I was the winner, I would feel nothing but blissful gratitude.

 

[Dac]

This second contest thing is complete BS. It won't happen. As it stands, I think the current one has been a waste of money, they wont spend that again on a second chance.

What money? They never advertised it and the prizes were donated!

And now its getting to the point that even if I win, im going to still be pissed off for waiting so long.

You have an unbalanced perspective IMHO. I'd wait a lifetime, and if on my deathbed, many years from now, they announced that I was the winner, I would feel nothing but blissful gratitude.

Well, from the point of view of a second contest it'll have all been a waste of time at least if not money.

And the one time I forget a fucking smiley im called up on it.

(Nothing to do with you, im always told I use the emoticon waaay too much, and the one time I dont use it....you get the idea).

 

[Fuzzy Modem]

Like I said before, the longer they wait to announce the winner, the longer we get to imagine having won. Without evidence to the contrary, our delusions of grandeur seem almost plausible. I'm almost dreading the announcement at this point. Almost.

You know when you meet a girl you really, really like, and you aren't yet sure if she likes you too? This is the period of time when you're crushing the hardest, because while she hasn't indicated an interest, at least she hasn't rejected you.

[edit]
Or to misquote The Shawshank Redemption:

This uncertainty is funny. First you hate it, then you get used to it. Enough time passes, you get so you depend on it.