I think whatever history may say about the contest in and of itself, in the end, the judges picked a quality design and Ihlecreations gets my congratulations both for the win and a superb design.
I may not have said this to anyone, but I actually haven't played STO myself. My work and my lifestyle at present don't afford me that kind of time. Ironically, I'm kind of an archivist (and occasional co-author) of some of the earliest Star Trek games ever translated to a computer, including for the TRS-80 and the Apple II. So I know what it feels like (or used to feel like) to play a captivating Trek game. One of my earliest programming projects was updating an already popular Trek game (unlicensed, back in the days before Paramount had worked that out). I migrated a game based on TOS to the TMP era (back before The Wrath of Khan, so that'll give you a timeframe), and one of the additions that my friends and colleagues insisted I try was: Put a future Enterprise into the game.
We didn't have great graphics back then, but I still asked the question, what would make for a cool next-gen big-E?
Ihlecreations has got a design that definitely answers that question in several regards. First of all, that deflector screams power. It's a "Don't Tread on Me" deflector. (Are those torpedo launchers in the center of it, Ihle, or is that just a double-port vent?) A lot of folks forget the degree to which the deflector is the analog of the front grille on an automobile. If you reduce the size of it or eliminate it, it doesn't matter how big you make the car, the reduced size of that element says "small" to the viewer. The newest renditions of the Chevy Camaro and Dodge Challenger have front grilles that are geometrically shaped in clever ways to make them seem bigger than they are, and to make the rest of the car feel bigger than it is. It's the front, not the tail, that screams power. Ihle's "F" screams power.
It also has a side-view silhouette that says "Enterprise" to any everyday passer-by, even a non-Trek fan. They're going to know what ship this is. This is even though the connecting element between the primary and secondary hulls is no longer the neck, because there ain't no neck (the Sovereign class eliminated the neck by fusing the hulls, and Ihle's F separated the hulls and no one misses the neck). My guess is, CBS insisted on a ship whose silhouette said "Enterprise." And Cryptic probably wanted a ship that said, "Wickedly cool variation."
There were a (small) number of beautiful renditions in this contest that did not take tremendous license with the basic style of the ship, but which I really adored. And there were other designs like Fuzzy Modem's which were out-freakin-standing, but which stretched the Enterprise concept in new directions. Ihlecreations is a very clever hybrid without a hint of compromise. Its side-view silhouette is a very clever combination of the Galaxy and Sovereign classes, integrating the best elements of both. But the new side-panel connections introduce a truly new design element that, when you rotate it toward the front, give the ship that "OOOh, wickedly cool!" aspect that you need if you're going to sell a new game around it.
When presenting a new work of art to any business for its approval, you must take account of the politics involved in the process, and you must accept that politics will be present in that process. You cannot assume that any concept, no matter how radical, will inspire your benefactors to leap beyond the boundaries of their original design specifications or requirements. (Just think of the rejected Doug Drexler or John Eaves or Rick Sternbach concepts for NX-01 that we'll never know about, because Paramount brought in an Akira photo and said, "Here, use this!") There were some magnificent design concepts put forward in this contest. But the one that wins is the one that stays ingenious while at the same time logically plays into the hands of all the benefactors involved in the process. And I can see where Ihlecreations succeeded brilliantly on all these fronts. It's a great ship that gives everyone some, or even a lot, of what he wants.
Again, well done, congratulations, and I really can't wait to see this baby fly.
D "F" Scott
kidding kidding. Fuzzy your design was great and it should have been a finalist but please remember it was just one contest and don't take it so hard.
