I really like this... it shows, I think, that the STXI Enterprise isn't as far off from the mark as a lot of people think. 
"Challenger"
- Thread starter Admiral Buzzkill
- Start date
No, it's not - when I first took a good look at the JJPrise, I was surprised by the number of design cues that seemed to be carried forward from the TOS version of the ship almost bypassing the next three or four decades of ships.
The Church nacelles are like every other good Trek spaceship - they look really good from some angles and a little weird from others. I see the "droop" effect but it's only a nuisance in a still shot from one angle. If anything, the things seem to rise rather extremely from front to back in most views.
Kelso, I positioned the deflector - oddly enough - just about like the TOS deflector.
I started out somewhat further from the Refit, where the engineering hull is concerned, and moved back toward it. The front's different, the rear cove is longer...probably the closest bit to the Refit is the torpedo assembly, and its cross section is larger and rounder. Everything on this is just a little rounder than on the Refit. I wasn't able to use a single part of the mesh for the Refit that I did years ago, though I'd originally thought I would. Maybe I'll do a variation on a variation at some point, curving the pylons and so forth.
The Church nacelles are like every other good Trek spaceship - they look really good from some angles and a little weird from others. I see the "droop" effect but it's only a nuisance in a still shot from one angle. If anything, the things seem to rise rather extremely from front to back in most views.
Kelso, I positioned the deflector - oddly enough - just about like the TOS deflector.
I started out somewhat further from the Refit, where the engineering hull is concerned, and moved back toward it. The front's different, the rear cove is longer...probably the closest bit to the Refit is the torpedo assembly, and its cross section is larger and rounder. Everything on this is just a little rounder than on the Refit. I wasn't able to use a single part of the mesh for the Refit that I did years ago, though I'd originally thought I would. Maybe I'll do a variation on a variation at some point, curving the pylons and so forth.
If this had been the STXI starship, I wouldn't have complained. Oh, sure, I might have made a smart-as* comment or two about the locust wings or the Clinton eyes on the nacelles (a bit like casting a blue-eyed Kirk), but nothing here is so dramatic that it alters the character of the ship.
What Dennis has done here is corrected the Ryan Church 1701. Now, if he had been one of the designers in the movie, and this ship had been shown to J. J. Abrams, my guess is that Abrams would have rejected it as being too much like the original ship. I actually wonder if Church or John Eaves may have submitted a design that was much more like this Challenger in the beginning, and Abrams' reply was, "Make it different somehow," so to please the guy he jutted the nose forward and tipped the wings up. And he said, "Oooh, yeah, go with that!" Seeing the "making-of" video on the STXI Blu-ray gave me a little insight into that director's character, and I think there's more Ed Wood in that guy than most people give him credit for.
But I digress. This ship would've worked for me. Certain things don't require changing, and this design doesn't trample on those things.
DF "...And Starring Tor Johnson as Admiral Fitzpatrick!" Scott
What Dennis has done here is corrected the Ryan Church 1701. Now, if he had been one of the designers in the movie, and this ship had been shown to J. J. Abrams, my guess is that Abrams would have rejected it as being too much like the original ship. I actually wonder if Church or John Eaves may have submitted a design that was much more like this Challenger in the beginning, and Abrams' reply was, "Make it different somehow," so to please the guy he jutted the nose forward and tipped the wings up. And he said, "Oooh, yeah, go with that!" Seeing the "making-of" video on the STXI Blu-ray gave me a little insight into that director's character, and I think there's more Ed Wood in that guy than most people give him credit for.
But I digress. This ship would've worked for me. Certain things don't require changing, and this design doesn't trample on those things.
DF "...And Starring Tor Johnson as Admiral Fitzpatrick!" Scott
Well, I'll continue to disagree about the JJPrise. If I didn't like it so much, I'd never have borrowed from it - as far as I'm concerned, Church corrected things that I've never liked about the post-TOS Trek look.
I actually really like the new Enterprise. It isn't as graceful or elegant looking as my Enterprise (that is, that one from those 80's movies) but the new one looks fast and awesome- far more appropriate for a modern day summer blockbuster.
The only thing that still bugs me about the new one is the placement of the neck and deflector. That still looks weird to me.
The only thing that still bugs me about the new one is the placement of the neck and deflector. That still looks weird to me.
Love It!!!
Dennis, this is really nice work.
Thanks.
Really had to get this sucker out of the way so that I can concentrate on another mesh now, in my copious free time.
The deflector is a little too big in diameter relative to the engineering hull, for me - in fact, my least favorite part of Church's design is the engineering hull. It harks back in an exaggerated way to the underweight engineering hull on the TOS ship. One of the significant improvements that Jefferies made when he revised the lines of the model for "Star Trek Phase II" was to fatten that part of the ship up.
The neck on the JJPrise actually makes a much stronger and more plausible connection between the two hulls; in that respect it's more similar to the 1701-D. It's pretty clear when you actually study the design that they did a lot of research into all the different versions of the Enterprise and to Trek starship design in general; there are visual references to the Excelsior as well.
Really had to get this sucker out of the way so that I can concentrate on another mesh now, in my copious free time.
The deflector is a little too big in diameter relative to the engineering hull, for me - in fact, my least favorite part of Church's design is the engineering hull. It harks back in an exaggerated way to the underweight engineering hull on the TOS ship. One of the significant improvements that Jefferies made when he revised the lines of the model for "Star Trek Phase II" was to fatten that part of the ship up.
The neck on the JJPrise actually makes a much stronger and more plausible connection between the two hulls; in that respect it's more similar to the 1701-D. It's pretty clear when you actually study the design that they did a lot of research into all the different versions of the Enterprise and to Trek starship design in general; there are visual references to the Excelsior as well.
ST-One
Vice Admiral
Venture NCC-1946/Challenger NCC-2099
Intrepid NCC-1986
Phoenix NCC-800
Where can i see these ships?
Here is a little glimpse of the Phoenix.
Dennis: She's a beauty. A very nice amalgam of the various styles.
Lovely Dennis, you certainly know how to find the right balance in these matters. The deflector isn't to my personal taste, but the only thing I would honestly say needs some tweaking is the transitions on either side of the nacelle struts. Both seem a bit 'goopy' compared to the hard lines on nearby areas of the ship.
Can't wait to see more.
Can't wait to see more.
Dennis ...
My god, she's beautiful! You've fixed the two biggest complaints I had with the Enterprise-JJ (the curved nacelle pylons and the proportions on the secondary hull) and left us with a ship that's almost perfect. The only changes *I* would make would be to add those three windows/lights/scanners at the front of the primary hull from the Enterprise-TOS, and perhaps explore some of the primary hull detailing and colors from Abrams' movie. Really trivial stuff, though.
Wow. This is as stunning now as that first time your original Phoenix slowly filled-in on my old Amiga monitor.
Would you say this ship is roughly the same size as the Enterprise refit or is it closer in scale to Abrams'?
My god, she's beautiful! You've fixed the two biggest complaints I had with the Enterprise-JJ (the curved nacelle pylons and the proportions on the secondary hull) and left us with a ship that's almost perfect. The only changes *I* would make would be to add those three windows/lights/scanners at the front of the primary hull from the Enterprise-TOS, and perhaps explore some of the primary hull detailing and colors from Abrams' movie. Really trivial stuff, though.
Wow. This is as stunning now as that first time your original Phoenix slowly filled-in on my old Amiga monitor.
Would you say this ship is roughly the same size as the Enterprise refit or is it closer in scale to Abrams'?
How you doing old beam? I found this thread, and I must say that your interpretation is excellent. Maybe one of the bests in combining the old and new elements. I tryed to PM you, but since you chosse not to receive PMs, I need to ask you here. Any chance of a release, like in the old 3DG times? 
In advance, a big thank you!
Any chance of a release, like in the old 3DG times? In advance, a big thank you!
ST-One
Vice Admiral
How you doing old beam? I found this thread, and I must say that your interpretation is excellent. Maybe one of the bests in combining the old and new elements. I tryed to PM you, but since you chosse not to receive PMs, I need to ask you here.
In advance, a big thank you!
I didn't dare ask.
So, thank you for doing so
Venture NCC-1946/Challenger NCC-2099
Intrepid NCC-1986
Phoenix NCC-800
Where can i see these ships?
Here is a little glimpse of the Phoenix.
Dennis: She's a beauty. A very nice amalgam of the various styles.
Buety indeed
Thanks for posting ST-One
Every time I near the end of one of these projects I think of that cliche aphorism about art being "abandoned, but never finished."
Well, after adding a couple more textures and tweaking the lights some more, sometime in the next 24 hours I hope to abandon this guy.
Until then I guess it remains a work in progress.
Wow. This actually works. Not as a pre-TOS design, but as a variation on a theme, this works quite well. Maybe as a TNG-era refit.
At least it doesn't seem like the wholesale molestation of the original design that the JJPrise does.
Huh? RCA, why do you think this comes across as a TNG-era refit? I'd think of it more as an alternate pre-TMP ... emphasis on the "alternate". That is, more advanced looking than the TOS Enterprise, but not quite as advanced as the original refit. This is something from a universe somewhere between TOS, the original movies, and the Abramsverse.
