Spoilers Ah, the NEW uniforms...!

[Biggles]

In fact, it was fairly well reported at the time that they were quite a ways down the road with the designs and construction using the TNG colours before someone pointed out that to be closer to TOS they needed to flip the burgundy and mustard so that command had yellow and operations/services had red...! That's the reason that the Enterprise-era admiral uniforms still have burgundy division colour around the shoulders instead of gold -- they just never bothered to go back and rectify those, even though, to be correct, they should really have been changed to the mustard yellow, the same as Archer...!

Wow, I never noticed this! There really was a curious lack of effort involved in that show in some respects. The infamous Akiraprise, the rush to introduce not only TOS but TNG-level tech. Yet in other aspects (NX-01's detailing, the uniforms, the sets) they did great.

The blue of the original Disco uniforms does, broadly, suggest an evolution from the ENT-era flight suits. Whether there were meant to be any intermediary stages we may never know...

The issue with that is 'The Cage' taking place in the same timeframe, but I guess if we pretend those uniforms are somehow the ones from DSC season 2 on board Enterprise, it still works.

 

[fireproof78]

The blue of the original Disco uniforms does, broadly, suggest an evolution from the ENT-era flight suits. Whether there were meant to be any intermediary stages we may never know...

I imagine that there were, given Starfleet's love of different uniforms and variants.

 

[Blue Squadron]

Wow, I never noticed this! There really was a curious lack of effort involved in that show in some respects. The infamous Akiraprise, the rush to introduce not only TOS but TNG-level tech. Yet in other aspects (NX-01's detailing, the uniforms, the sets) they did great.

Yeah, it was a weird mix -- some of it was relatively well done but other things were ridiculously short-sighted
I thought the rather retro look of the flight suits was a great idea but they should have looked straight to TOS for the division colours and the admiral uniforms needed more work too.

The design of the ship was unfortunate; but I guess they liked the Eaves concept and figured that the Akira had, at best, been a background ship so it was no big deal; fans might notice (and did...) but the general audience would not (or wouldn't care). The purported but unused upgrade / re-fit NX-01 to turn it into a smaller version of an early Constitution class was a great idea and it's a shame we never got to see something like that on-screen.

The issue with that is 'The Cage' taking place in the same timeframe, but I guess if we pretend those uniforms are somehow the ones from DSC season 2 on board Enterprise, it still works.

It's Trek -- there is no perfect continuity... (!)

I imagine that there were, given Starfleet's love of different uniforms and variants.

You may think that; I couldn't possibly comment...

 

[Biggles]

The purported but unused upgrade / re-fit NX-01 to turn it into a smaller version of an early Constitution class was a great idea and it's a shame we never got to see something like that on-screen.

That was entirely Eaves, post-hoc, wasn't it? Just a fanwank, basically. Cool idea, I agree, although I think I prefer the Connie to be the first of its configuration rather than having such a close forebear.

 

[fireproof78]

It's Trek -- there is no perfect continuity... (!)

It's Trek. It just requires creativity.

 

[Blue Squadron]

It's Trek. It just requires creativity.

Yeah, but some of those "creative" solutions get so convoluted that sometimes I just can't be bothered anymore and it's easier just to say "yeah, whatever..."

 

[fireproof78]

Yeah, but some of those "creative" solutions get so convoluted that sometimes I just can't be bothered anymore and it's easier just to say "yeah, whatever..."

Fair enough. Bothers me less.

 

[Richard S. Ta]

I'm a fan of the new uniforms. TMP inspired indeed. It's about time that wheel turned around. But then I liked the previous Discovery uniforms. And the DSC Enterprise uniforms. I like uniforms. Uniforms.

 

[Sci]

The design of the ship was unfortunate; but I guess they liked the Eaves concept and figured that the Akira had, at best, been a background ship so it was no big deal; fans might notice (and did...) but the general audience would not (or wouldn't care). The purported but unused upgrade / re-fit NX-01 to turn it into a smaller version of an early Constitution class was a great idea and it's a shame we never got to see something like that on-screen.

That was entirely Eaves, post-hoc, wasn't it? Just a fanwank, basically.

I'm afraid you're both mistaken here. The NX-class was designed by Doug Drexler, not John Eaves. (Eaves designed the Enterprise-E and, later, the Shenzhou and Discovery, and re-designed the 1701 for DIS.) According to Drexler, Rick Berman had originally just wanted to use the Akira class from Star Trek: First Contact (which had been designed by Alex Jeager) with no modifications; it was Drexler and the Art Department who convinced him to let Drexler design an era-appropriate ship that looked like the Akira, hence the NX-01. Drexler is also responsible for the apocryphal "refit" NX-01, which was dubbed the Columbia-class in the Star Trek: Enterprise - Rise of the Federation novels.

Cool idea, I agree, although I think I prefer the Connie to be the first of its configuration rather than having such a close forebear.

I agree. Introduce that configuration so early and the Constitution class no longer seems all that special

 

[Tuskin38]

I agree. Introduce that configuration so early and the Constitution class no longer seems all that special

I disagree. There's 100 years between ENT and TOS, I doubt the design just came out of nowhere, it also doesn't make it less special.

 

[fireproof78]

I see nothing in any show that takes away from the Constitution/Starship class.

 

[Biggles]

I'm not claiming some objective truth, it's a matter of opinion.

 

[fireproof78]

Yes, but I'm trying to understand this point of view. If it takes something away then what might it be? The configuration of ships is something I almost always saw in some variation of the Constitution in other media until we got things like FASA and such.

Not saying it isn't an opinion. It's an opinion I would like to understand.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I hate the NX-01.5 refit. It takes a sleek, graceful design and makes it clunky and awkward.

If they started with it and clunky and awkward looking Constitution-predecessor was the initial idea then great. But they started with a sleek Akira-predecessor

 

[137th Gebirg]

Which was an arguably anachronistic design and too futuristic-looking for a 22nd century starship. I agree with you that the Drexler refit is what they should have started with (if a Daedalus-type or ringship design was deemed too distasteful to the suits at the time). Akira is one of my all-time favorite designs and I never liked that they took way too much of it for a ship that was supposed to be 200+ years older. This is Starfleet - not the IKF that keeps the old D7 design around for just as long.

The Kelvin-era Enterprise, IMO, had way too many PU refit design elements, but that could be more easily explained away in-universe by the timeline drastically changing post-Narada. Also helps explain the egregious size discrepancies between timeline ship scales.

 

[Tuskin38]

Which was an arguably anachronistic design and too futuristic-looking for a 22nd century starship.

Do you meant the shape, or the overall detail? Because I disagree if you mean the detailing. All the exposed machinery and the emphasized hull panels make it look less advanced than the Connie (both the TOS and DSC versions).

Doug designed it to look less advanced that the TOS connie, details wise.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Both. Ex Astris did a comparison.

I agree that greebling up the surface can make a design look less advanced, but they chose to identically replicate many surface details directly from the Akira, particularly on the dorsal view.

 

[Blue Squadron]

I'm afraid you're both mistaken here. The NX-class was designed by Doug Drexler, not John Eaves. (Eaves designed the Enterprise-E and, later, the Shenzhou and Discovery, and re-designed the 1701 for DIS.) According to Drexler, Rick Berman had originally just wanted to use the Akira class from Star Trek: First Contact (which had been designed by Alex Jeager) with no modifications; it was Drexler and the Art Department who convinced him to let Drexler design an era-appropriate ship that looked like the Akira, hence the NX-01. Drexler is also responsible for the apocryphal "refit" NX-01, which was dubbed the Columbia-class in the Star Trek: Enterprise - Rise of the Federation novels.

I agree. Introduce that configuration so early and the Constitution class no longer seems all that special

Thanks for the clarification -- I admit it's been quite a while since all the hoopla around ENT and the Akiraprise...

...I had mostly forgotten Doug Drexler's involvement (my bad...!) and the story that Berman had wanted to use the Akira undifferentiated from FC (baaaaaaaad idea). In that respect, NX-01 was a fair compromise if that's what the producers constrained them to. The basic tenet of what I said holds true though, which is that, at most, the Akira design was a background extra from one movie relative the the main star which was 1701-E, so for most casual viewers it wouldn't be that big a deal.

Probably the most important thing they did visually (other than size and scale) was to move the nacelles to above the saucer, in a much more TOS-type configuration; it worked and helps the look quite considerably.

I usually detest the necessity that is convoluted retcon but I suppose it's not unreasonable to suggest that, in-universe, the Akira design was the product of an evolutionary line that began with NX-01 or was designed in the TNG-era as a homage to NX-01.

For what it's worth, had they gone on to use Drexler's rather clever re-fit concept, I don't think it would have been a detraction from the TOS Constitution class at all -- but I accept this topic is purely one of subjective preference. As they say, YMMV...

 

[jackoverfull]

As someone who didn’t know the Akita at all at the time I remember not finding the NX-01 very believable as a ship that predated the 1701 by a century.

Not to mention the bridge, which I never found a particularly well though of set (the screens being the worse offenders: they really looked dated and clunky even back in the early 00s).

Of course all the complaints one could have with these sides of Enterprise paled once discovery came around.

 

[fireproof78]

Honestly, the NX-01 interior design and uniforms were the one thing I genuinely enjoyed about ENT.