*Potential Spoilers* What will the Alternate Enterprise-A look like

After seeing the digital download this week, and getting a chance to examine the Ent-A more throughly, I just freakin' love it. On my first viewing I didn't hate it, but I kinda left the theater going "Hmm, I don't know about that, it's kinda different." Now I just love it. Not as beautiful as the prime refit, but it's really cool.

 

I agree! I just wish the nacelles mounted to the pylons just a little bit forward of where they do, now. Doesn't have to be much, even, just so the front of the actual nacelle isn't even with the pylon.

-Ricky

 

Can you post some pics by chance?

 

My first impression was that the secondary hull was massively oversized but on second viewing, it wasn't an illusion from the steep bevel on the saucer rim.

 

For sure. What I meant was that this saucer looks substantially thicker than the TOS saucer which could mean two things:
a) The saucer is indeed smaller in diameter
b) The saucer is now thicker.

I believe it's thicker, it looks like a 5 deck saucer, and it it were such a saucer, ti gives a Stargazer vibe to it.

 

I think it's still a two deck saucer on the edge. Just the upper, lower, and middle space is filled with components and gizmos same as the Beyond E and the popular mechanics cutaway. I definitely agree that the saucer has some girth to it now though.

 

you can kind of make out the decks during the construction scene, and it is indeed 2 decks similar to what was seen in the cutaway.

 

I already did a few pages back. Here is the link...

http://www.trekbbs.com/threads/pote...rise-a-look-like.279532/page-39#post-11774260

 

The popular mechanics cutaway shows a 15 deks high saucer with 4 decks reaching at its edge. Also, 2 of those decks at some point unite to create a 2 deck high room.

 

Ha, thanks for sharing. That's my model, made entirely from watching the construction scene on loop about 200 times. It's by no means definitive - we have no clear look at the rear underside so I just assumed it had a similar "inward trench" the last one had. I got a feeling this A won't hold up in the next movie though. The changes from the concept were fairly big, and the blink and you'll miss it nature leads me to believe it'll be tweaked some more for 4.

 

Thanks for creating it!

 

Well, you did an amazing job with the limited reference material we've been given. If the actual ship is similar to your design, I'll be one happy Trekkie!

 

The model is darn near perfect from what I can tell. The main things that seem off are the pylons, the point where they join the nacelle, and the fins(unless you're intending to show the ship preparing for warp). Obviously the shuttlebay and underside of the rear engineering hull are subject to artistic interpretation at this point since we have no shots of that area of the ship. Still, I wish it was uploaded to a site like Shapeways, I'd love to have a model of that ship.

 

You can see the fins briefly when its being built and they do stick straight up out of the nacelle instead of at an angle like the TOS Ent.

Now, the Pylon/nacelle connector I'll grant you isn't perfect because I did a lot of fiddling around with the placement of them.

 

No, the fact that the fins stick straight up is correct, but they're still at a slant towards the rear of the nacelle like her predecessor until they open for warp, which is when they appear rectangular. It's rather hard to notice, but if you pause the movie before the floodlights light up the underside saucer registry, you should be able to see.

Also, doing further examination of your model vs the movie, I think the front end of the nacelles is slightly off too. On your model, the front end is asymmetrical, but I'm fairly sure it's symmetrical, which might also solve the pylon connection. The pylons are also thicker and have a weird slant at the back that's really hard to see.

 

Ya know, for a brand new Enterprise, there's not much chatter or fanfare in the Trek fandom over this new 1701-A. Other than this thread, barely anyone on the internet is even talking about it at all.

 

Beyond is buzz less in general.

 

Trekyards have dedicated a couple of episodes to it, Ex Astris are probably halfway through writing their 12-page essay on why it's all wrong in every way imaginable. There have been interviews and podcasts with the designer. Not sure what more is expected?

 

Well, when the JJprise came out, there were at least half a dozen people building fan CG models or fan schematics, etc. With this it seems like nothing whatsoever.