The Enterprise-E is so ugly

[Melakon]

Well, as long as the topic has established itself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItbjtWa_DNM

What, were they all stoned, or what? Weird times...
It's scary I'm (we're!) old enough to remember this.

I think they taped a week's worth of shows in a single night, with a dinner break. During those dinner breaks, booze flowed freely. By the time they'd tape the Thursday & Friday shows, they were all tipsy.

 

[Smellmet]

I think both designs had their faults, but overall I'd give the nod to the E outside, it just looked sleeker and more badass for me, but the bridge and the interior looked awful and had no character, whereas the reverse is true of the D.

 

[Maurice]

The E had no cohesion to its design. It felt like what it was: a mashup.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

I think the Ent-E looked good from maybe one or two angles, such as the top-aft-side, like here. From almost every other angle it looked horrid.

 

[Smellmet]

The E had no cohesion to its design. It felt like what it was: a mashup.

That's a great pic though. The only angle I don't like is from underneath where it looks like it's got no 'neck' but I'd still rank it as my second favourite behind the Refit/1701-A

 

[Relayer1]

I'll take the Enterprise-E over the D anyday!

Same here. The D was repulsive - squat, forward heavy, squashed like it had run into a wall. Just plain ugly - a pig of a ship.

The E is elegant, refined and much better proportioned.

 

[2takesfrakes]

I'm in total agreement with those who find the ENTERPRISE-E to be an "ugly" design and rendering. It's entirely too "busy" looking and gives the impression of having been stretched out, which can be very distracting, from certain angles. No. For me, the equation that works is the ENTERPRISE-D. Truly a very beautiful representation of 24th Century technology and design aesthetic. When the "D" met its untimely end in GENERATIONS ... I died inside!

 

[The Old Mixer]

It was superficially cool-looking but had no character. It was only featured in three films, and two of them stank, so it never had a chance to grow on me.

And I still want to see Fannie Flagg's answer.

 

[BillJ]

This is the ship I imagine as the Enterprise-E whenever I read the TNG novels now (which is rare).

http://www.trekbbs.com/showpost.php?p=9683923&postcount=1460

Designed by Vektor.

 

[Smellmet]

I think that looks excellent

 

[The Old Mixer]

^^Something along those lines would have been a better "movie upgrade" to the D. The problem with TNG's movie replacement ship was that it was a completely new and different ship. TOS's movie replacement did a credible job of pretending to be the original with a makeover.

 

[SPCTRE]

The problem with TNG's movie replacement ship was that it was a completely new and different ship.

Well, that aspect of it is a matter of personal preference. I liked the E-E a lot because it was a completely new and different ship (I also really, really like the Probertprise E-D).

 

[Brutal Strudel]

Can we hate them both? Coz I do.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

I loved the E in "First Contact." It was new and different, and it looked so badass going up against that Borg cube.

But in INS and NEM, it just seemed...off. It had no character, and it was just too damn big. The bridge is overwhelmingly large, and the way it was filmed never really gave a good sense of its design. It just felt like a giant room with too many damn work stations.

Well, for INS & NEM, the E had the engines and nacelles moved back about a foot. That's probably what's bothering you.

In universe, the flatter shape was probably for better warp dynamics, after the warp speed limitation went into effect.

 

[mos6507]

I do think the plating was overdone on the E, and the main dish is too small. Other than that, I think it's a huge improvement over the D, and the bussards with the lava-lamp effect in them are awesome.

I don't find the E sterile, but maybe too glamorous. The D was too much of a lumbering cruise-ship and the E is maybe too much of a sports-car. The sweet spot for the Enterprise is something in the middle, which is the refit.

 

[Robert Comsol]

I think the sports-car analogy fits. I prefer the D because it had the balls to visualize "form follows function" and represented a credible technological evolution, i.e. smaller but powerful warp engines that would allow to increase the mass of the ship for larger crew accomodation.

When every starship has more or less the same proportion-ratio of warp nacelles, engineering and saucer section, it starts to look stale. Where is the credible evolution, where do we see a visual proof of a technological breakthrough? This remains the Enterprise-D, IMHO.

Bob

P.S. John Eaves deliberately went for a "Porsche" look, here is an interesting article on the design story of the "E": http://ottens.co.uk/forgottentrek/designing-a-sovereign-enterprise/

 

[TheSubCommander]

This is the ship I imagine as the Enterprise-E whenever I read the TNG novels now (which is rare).

http://www.trekbbs.com/showpost.php?p=9683923&postcount=1460

Designed by Vektor.

I REALLY dike that design. It is very reminiscent of the Star Trek Online Excalibur class http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Excalibur_class

I think either of those designs would have been a great Enterprise-E and a return to a more classic Constitution Class-style ship.

 

[BillJ]

This is the ship I imagine as the Enterprise-E whenever I read the TNG novels now (which is rare).

http://www.trekbbs.com/showpost.php?p=9683923&postcount=1460

Designed by Vektor.

I REALLY dike that design. It is very reminiscent of the Star Trek Online Excalibur class http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Excalibur_class

I think either of those designs would have been a great Enterprise-E and a return to a more classic Constitution Class-style ship.

I actually see the Grandeur as an evolution of the Galaxy-class for a Federation that now has the Borg to deal with.

 

[Richard Baker]

One sure sign you have a weak design is that for it to look 'right' you have to put stripes or color panels on it. A ship should look good without any embellishment- an unpainted hull shape with only a single light striking it.
There are elements of the E-E I do like, the 'no neck look and inset ring under the primary hull with windows (I always wondered what he view would be like from those). Other parts I do not care for much at all- the racing wedge on the top of the primary hull is too heavy handed and the swooping cut out from the deflector dish forward reminds me of my favorite part of female anatomy.
What the designers called 'homages' (like the two triangles underneath reflecting the TOS saucer detail) to me give it a mash up look of all the different ships preceding it.

The Nemesis refit looks better with the shuttlebay chines and reworked engine/pylon setup, but it is not my favorite ship.

The Newer bridge (once they got rid of that stupid holographic floated viewer (imagine flying the ship all day staring at a wall until the viewer was activated), was functional, but I never could get a feel for its shape. As mentioned, lots of workstations and fancy lighting, but no direction. IMO nothing to date has even matched the TOS Bridge in design, even the refit. The interiors did not bother me much, I felt the D's looked a bit too much like a hotel chain, especially in the first season when you had flower planters in places (Encounter at Farpoint).

 

[Franklin]

One sure sign you have a weak design is that for it to look 'right' you have to put stripes or color panels on it. A ship should look good without any embellishment- an unpainted hull shape with only a single light striking it.

I think that puts the finger on why I never cared much for E-E. Other Enterprises (well TOS, A, and D) look good from almost any angle and there aren't a lot of distractions to taking in the overall design. "Grace" was always the word that came to my mind when I thought of the Enterprise's look. E is sleek, but does not have any grace. The nacelles don't work for me on the E, either.

I gotta say I like it better than B and C, however. They truly look cobbled together with odd proportions, and have no grace, either.

Mainly because it looked so different than the TOS Enterprise and A, it took me a while, but D grew on me over time because it had it's own style and grace, was simple in shape and detail, and looked good from a lot of angles.