Plus I think the Excelsior Class was meant to replace the Constitution Class, especially since we see quite a few of them even in the TNG era, and some with high registry numbers, suggesting the Excelsior Class had a fairly long production life.
Was the reveal of the Enterprise-A a big surprise?
- Thread starter Amasov
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I remember reading somewhere that it was. Why else would the Enterprise-B be part of the class?
--Sran
That only speaks to ships of the Enterprise's age, not the entire class. The Admiral felt a refit would be wasted on a ship of that age. But there easily could have been many Constitution-Class ships that were of a younger vintage that were still serviceable.
Sure, but since the 1701-A was launched in the mid 2280s, that leaves 15-20 years left before the beginning of the 24th century & nearly 80 years before the NextGen era, where we see an absence of the Constitution-Class. There is no reason to believe that Starfleet wasn't still constructing new Connies in the 2280s-90s while developing the new Excelsior-Class. Once the new class was in production (In say, the 2290s-2410s), no new Connies were built and as they were replaced with the newer Excelsior-Class as they were removed from service, a process that likely would have taken decades as the ships reached retirement age. Sure, we don't see any Connies after the 1701-A was retired, but we don't see much of anything between TUC and TNG.
I've never understood why folks think the Enterprise was decommissioned at the end of TUC. The crew was, yes. But the ship? Kirk's final Captain's Log at the end confirms that the ship will go on.
Sure, he was really talking about the TNG crew and "this ship" was symbolic of the Enterprise's legacy rather than the physical vessel itself...but in-universe the line confirms that the ship would remain in service. It's just that nobody gave a damn about it since it wasn't Kirk's.
Sure, he was really talking about the TNG crew and "this ship" was symbolic of the Enterprise's legacy rather than the physical vessel itself...but in-universe the line confirms that the ship would remain in service. It's just that nobody gave a damn about it since it wasn't Kirk's.
He stopped a war !
And yet, in Generations, the 1701-B is commissioned. Same year as VI I think.
We know the Constitution Class still had a few years left in their service lives, there was one in the aftermath scene at Wolf 359 in BOBW (a re-use of the wrecked hull from TSFS).
I suspect the A was just a last-through-the-gate refit. This could explain the problems in V, as if they incorporated every advance up to that date, the space-frame just found it difficult to cope?
That would mean that new-construction ships would be fine as they could be 'future-proofed', but the older refitted ones just could not be advanced any further, hence why a relatively new ship would be decommissioned.
As to a surprise, it was to me. I too was convinced they'd just get handed the Excelsior.
I suspect the A was just a last-through-the-gate refit. This could explain the problems in V, as if they incorporated every advance up to that date, the space-frame just found it difficult to cope?
That would mean that new-construction ships would be fine as they could be 'future-proofed', but the older refitted ones just could not be advanced any further, hence why a relatively new ship would be decommissioned.
As to a surprise, it was to me. I too was convinced they'd just get handed the Excelsior.
Exactly. My impression at the end of TUC was that the crew was standing down (Being decommissioned is an odd way of saying this) and that a new crew would be taking over the Enterprise, which would have a good 10+ years of service left. I was a little miffed to find in GEN that the 1701-B was launched within a year of TUC (if you do the math), making that assumption impossible. In-Universe it would appear that Kirk thought the ship would remain in service, but was wrong.
Maybe the Enterprise-A's name was changed after her crew stepped down. The vessel stayed in service, but was given another name and number, sort of like changing license plates when a car changes ownership.
--Sran
^Indeed...if, as speculated by some, the name and number had been changed to suit Kirk's crew, perhaps the ship's old name and number were restored after that crew stepped down, to make way for the new Enterprise.
FWIW to the debate over the Constitution's longevity...the original intent was for Picard's earlier command, the Stargazer, to be a Constitution-class ship...the reason it was changed was the usual bit about not wanting to use the hero ship from the films elsewhere. They named the new design the "Constellation-class" so that the word could be easily dubbed over where the actors had been filmed called it a "Constitution".
FWIW to the debate over the Constitution's longevity...the original intent was for Picard's earlier command, the Stargazer, to be a Constitution-class ship...the reason it was changed was the usual bit about not wanting to use the hero ship from the films elsewhere. They named the new design the "Constellation-class" so that the word could be easily dubbed over where the actors had been filmed called it a "Constitution".
Interesting idea.
Yes. I don't see why the ship would have to be scrapped. It was damaged in the battle with Chang's ship but should still have been flyable after minor repairs. Even in the twenty third century, it's probably not easy to build new vessels, so scrapping them just because their crews are moving on doesn't make a lot of sense.
--Sran
I didn't think that it made much sense to suggest that the main crew were all retiring at once, either, since there was more than a twenty-year age difference from oldest to youngest...and Chekov should have been the captain of the Ent-B...but that's another issue....
Well, if you believe the novels, only Kirk and Scotty actually retired. Spock took a teaching position at Starfleet Academy similar to what he did during TWOK. McCoy worked at Starfleet Medical. Uhura worked for Starfleet Intelligence. Chekov transferred to Excelsior to be Sulu's executive officer.
--Sran
For me, the reveal was not so much a surprise as it was a relief. To me Star Trek was the Enterprise. How can you have Star Trek without the Enterprise. So going into the movie I was more anxious to see what ship they got. I hoped it would be very similar to the one they had. I did fear that they were going to get the Excelsior.
For me, at 15, the Enterprise in the first three movies was Star Trek. It needed to be the same class ship or very similar to work for me. The Excelsior didn't have the grace that the other did. Renaming it wouldn't have helped. With that being said the "D" was even worse.
By that point the Star Trek that I really enjoyed was over. This was a new Star Trek, an expansion. I didn't have as much emotionally invested in it like I did the other. So it was just a meh for me.
I remember feeling that way when I first got into Trek. The Enterprise was like a main character, and I didn't like having any ship other than her.
--Sran
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