Fan artwork only, speculation on an NX-class refit. Maybe when they underwent the refit, the class was renamed as they were no longer experimental.
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- Thread starter DarkHorizon
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Not just fan artwork; the conjectural redesign was a personal project of Doug Drexler, the man who designed NX-01 in the first place. From what I understand, Drexler's ideas for what the ship should look like differed considerably from the producers' -- for some reason, Berman was insistent on an Akira-like design -- and I think Drexler's recent redesign was his attempt to show something closer to his vision for the ship.
But yes, it is conjectural and it hasn't been incorporated into the novel continuity, at least not yet.
Are you referring to the refit pics he created that added a secondary hull?
The one I am thinking of can be found here:
http://drexfiles.wordpress.com/2011/03/26/nx-refit-plans/
That is one awesome site for Trek fans that Doug has put together.
I meant fan artwork because of the fact that it is neither canon nor in the litverse, and therefore remains just an incredible piece of fan artwork.
I would have loved to see the NX Enterprise look more like Drexler's work than the ridiculous retro-Akira that we got but we have what we have. It remains to be seen what happens after the war.
^But calling it "fan artwork" can be misleading to readers of this thread who don't know it's by Doug Drexler. It implies it's something some random guy somewhere did in his spare time, when it's really something the ship's actual designer did in his spare time. I think it's worth clarifying that distinction.
Point conceded.
We should have a term for people like Doug, Masai, Mark, Dru, Sean and the others that make 3D digital artwork (sculptures?) which may make it into the canon or litverse.
A-Canon for Developer Artwork or B-Canon for behind the scenes
Huh? There is no way in which the term "canon" can apply to this.
Instead of trying to find a label, why not just describe the specific item as what it is, as I already did?
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first of all, what I said was joke, secondly let's label the process of labeling the new cannon as P-Canon for Processor Canon.
Perhaps Drexler's refit design can be written into a post Rom War Enterprise era story, during which time the NX ships are retasked to exploration and discovery. How many years lie between the end of the war and the founding of the Federation - is it known? If there are anymore Enterprise era books, that is. I'm not convinced there will be.
Not canonically. The Star Trek Chronology gives conjectural dates of 2156-60 for the Earth-Romulan War, and we know the UFP was founded in 2161, so that's not a lot of time. But the recent books have the war beginning in '55, diverging from the STC's conjectures (which is unusual), so we don't know for sure when it'll end.
Well, he also did it for a licensed Trek book, the Ships of the Line calender, did he not? I'd say that makes it just as much a piece of licensed fiction as any ENT novel.
ETA:
Not an awful idea, but I don't necessarily like it, mostly because I object to the basic aesthetic behind Drexler's re-design.
What bugs me about Drexler's refit is this: It seems to me that a 22nd Century United Earth ship should not look like it's the direct ancestor of a 23rd Century Federation starship. The Constitution-class should not look like a direct descendent of the NX-class.
Simply put, Federation starships should be Federation starships, not Earth ships. They should reflect design influences from, at the very least, the four founding cultures of the Federation -- Vulcan, Andorian, and Tellarite, too.
I didn't necessarily like that the NX-class already looks very close to the Constitution-class in some ways, but I think we could fudge it a bit. The Constitution dorsal section and the engineering hull, for instance, could be interpreted as being Vulcan and Andorian influences, respectively, with the saucer hull as an Earth influence.
But with Drexler's refit, well, the idea that any real design contributions to 23rd Century Federation starships came from non-Humans basically goes out the window. It, frankly, re-enforces the idea that the Federation is some sort of Human hegemony, an instrument of dominance for Earth over Andor, Vulcan, and Tellar, and I don't like that. The Federation shouldn't be a homo sapiens-only club, and its technology shouldn't all be Human technology.
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Good point. That makes it "pro" artwork rather than "fan." Although I believe Doug started the project as something for his own satisfaction and only later put it in the calendar.
That's a good point, but maybe that's what we're already seeing in the redesign. If the novels incorporated it as a postwar upgrade, then it could reflect design principles that Earth has learned from its allies.
I was just thinking the same thing. And it would be only logical if one of the outcomes of the Romulan War was greater cooperation between the Coallition members, including technology sharing.
I'm very much in agreement with Sci. Earth Starfleet and the other military/exploration agencies of Vulcan, Andor and Tellar very likely had plans for what their fleets and organizations would be c. 2165, but thanks to the Romulan War and the Federation, those went out the window.
Uniforms and other traditions are another area where you would expect a good deal of mixing to occur. That's the way it works in real-life militaries, it's just basic psychology. You want to make everyone feel valued in the new order of things and make them feel like they've contributed something.
It's not a bit of catering to overly geeky fans, it's actually a dose of realism.
Uniforms and other traditions are another area where you would expect a good deal of mixing to occur. That's the way it works in real-life militaries, it's just basic psychology. You want to make everyone feel valued in the new order of things and make them feel like they've contributed something.
It's not a bit of catering to overly geeky fans, it's actually a dose of realism.