A flare for the dramatic (flaunting oneself)

[NewHeavensNewEarth]

Whether you liked or hated "The Chronicles of Riddick," I was intrigued by the concept of flare in sci-fi - no, not that kind of flare, JJ. The Necromonger fleet plows into Helion Prime with all the attitude and showmanship that you would expect from a race that relies partly on presentation and propaganda to intimidate entire planets into buying into their dogma.

Star Trek is generally remarkably restrained when it comes to the idea of flaunting power. For individual characters, there are lots of exceptions to this (shoutout to the Grand Nagus), but I'm thinking more about ships and whatnot, particularly with those "Riddick" examples in-mind.

Traditionally, this was accomplished by size alone: a gigantic Borg cube, the Voth/Dinosaur city ship, Dominion ships that never seemed to stop getting bigger, the Reman ship Scimitar. Size is cool (to a point), but is there room in the ST universe for some extra attitude that would make the good ol' Lord Marshal proud? DSC has dabbled in this with things like the Terran flagship, but I'd like to see it developed more if it would enhance the characters and their species.

I still love it when the Enterprise gets nose-to-nose with a Romulan warbird, and there's still a strong sense of suspense along with the projection of power, but I just wonder if there's even one race in the ST universe that would turn intimidation (or other concepts like beauty) into an artform in the design of its ships. The pragmatic approach ain't bad, but if there's a highly-evolved peacock species out there, you'd better believe their ships will let you know when they want you to tremble.

 

[StarCruiser]

Well - the Klingons definitely used their reputation to intimidate others...

The predatory look of a Klingon Battlecruiser was definitely intimidating as well.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6f/Klingon_D-7_class.jpg

 

[NewHeavensNewEarth]

Reputation is important, for sure, but not the same as showmanship in design. I think we regard the battlecruiser as intimidating because we associate it with the fierce warriors it carries, along with the suspenseful music that always accompanies its approach. But it's still a very *functional* approach to design that isn't radically different from a Federation ship: 2 warp engines at the back, main bridge and weapons in the front, pretty much 1 color all over, etc. This applies to other species' ships, too. It's not a bad design by any means, I just wonder if there's room for the kind of "attitude" in design that's described in the OP.

 

[X24actor]

I will go with the First Federation from the original series

 

[F. King Daniel]

The Ba'ul from Discovery did everything in their technological power to appear terrifying, when

Spoiler: Disco S2

They were actually weak and frail

 

[Frostscape One]

That is a very good point and example.

Also, shouldn't it be 'flair', not 'flare'?

 

[Delta Vega]

Guys who drive big fuck off cars tend to be overcompensating for their rather average size penises
So space faring Empires could give the wrong impression by flaunting mega fuck off ships
Just saying like

 

[NewHeavensNewEarth]

The Ba'ul from Discovery did everything in their technological power to appear terrifying, when

Spoiler: Disco S2

They were actually weak and frail

The Ba'ul certainly did try to intimidate, but still in the traditional way of bigger-is-better. Instead of big Borg cubes, they had big humming pillars. Back in ancient times, folks used to mount images of deities to the front of ships. Granted, it was in the hopes of getting divine protection for their perilous voyages, but these days we still mount stuff to the hoods of cars. I've seen some sick spinners, too. So aside from size, what are some other examples of impractical displays of interstellar "overcompensating," as Delta Vega entitled it?

 

[Frostscape One]

When Paris suggested fins while designing the Delta Flyer. He thought it would make hostiles think twice before attacking

 

[NewHeavensNewEarth]

When Paris suggested fins while designing the Delta Flyer. He thought it would make hostiles think twice before attacking

That's an excellent example. And of course he got voted down, so it never happened.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Do the Klingon ships on Discovery count? Because damn, those things is hideous.

 

[NewHeavensNewEarth]

Do the Klingon ships on Discovery count? Because damn, those things is hideous.

I think the Ship of the Dead could be counted, yes. Attaching caskets of dead warriors is not practical, but it does send a message and has other significance. The bridge also seemed to have a lot of excess that went beyond functionality, so that's a good example of "flaunting" it.

 

[MacLeod]

Size matters not, one of the most formidable ships of the late 24th Century was the Defiant Class ship. It doesn't matter how impressive your ship is if it is unable to perform.

 

[NewHeavensNewEarth]

Size matters not, one of the most formidable ships of the late 24th Century was the Defiant Class ship. It doesn't matter how impressive your ship is if it is unable to perform.

And yet it was always referred to as "that little ship" in a condescending way, always having to prove its place among the big dogs.

I totally agree that performance is the main thing, and the Defiant was more than up to the challenge, but this is just a question about the extra stuff that tribes, cities and nations have done for millennia which almost never shows up in Trek-verse on a large scale.

 

[drt]

I think that might have been the original thought behind the giant bird deco for “Balance of Terror” Romulans, but the idea seems to have been largely dropped along the way, although there are still flashes of such with the 24th century Warbird and Scimitar. pretty impressive

 

[DanGussin]

The Dominion ships from DS9 always looked very intimidating to me, like giant attacking insects.

And while we did not get a great look at it even in the remastered version, the Orion ship in "Journey to Babel " certainly gave Enterprise a difficult fight. I have wondered what a better Captain might have been able to do with a ship using 100 % power in an attack.

 

[NewHeavensNewEarth]

The Dominion ships from DS9 always looked very intimidating to me, like giant attacking insects.

And while we did not get a great look at it even in the remastered version, the Orion ship in "Journey to Babel " certainly gave Enterprise a difficult fight. I have wondered what a better Captain might have been able to do with a ship using 100 % power in an attack.

They certainly followed the rule of bigger-is-better/scarier, but I guess I'm wondering if there's a species that would strap conquered enemies to the fronts of its ships or transmit slideshows of worlds they'd decimated, as a means for terrifying. But BEAUTY is also a concept that I wonder about in ship design. We can find beauty in all kinds of things, but not all things are made specifically to be beautiful. With art going into so many things, I wonder about that in ship design, too. Awesome examples by all, though.

 

[The Old Mixer]

or transmit slideshows of worlds they'd decimated

"They're making us watch a slideshow! WE SURRENDER!!! WE SURRENDER!!!"

 

[NewHeavensNewEarth]

"They're making us watch a slideshow! WE SURRENDER!!! WE SURRENDER!!!"

I definitely typed that with a snicker at the time. But I'm sure they have some very nice 3-D/holographic PowerPoint presentations in the future.

 

[NewHeavensNewEarth]

I think we can add the Klingon cleave ship to the list. Not only for its size, but also its attitude inside and out. The Klingons understand presentation and intimidation.