Different design for the NX-01

[Fer]

Also Enterprise shouldn't have been called Enterprise but something else yet still called Star Trek, UPN was stupid to have thought that Enterprise would attract anyone other than Trekkers.

It's that "branding name recognition" thing. The Enterprise is probably the most famous space ship in TV history, and they figured that was enough to grab people. It's the same mentality that inspires Hollywood to make movies based on The Beverly Hillbillies and Starsky & Hutch instead of a new concept.

The technology in Enterprise would have made more sense if it was more primitive than what it was ultimately depicted as.

Yeah, but that's one of those situations where you lose either way. The technology for TOS was meant to look advanced for 1963, and the technology for TNG was meant to look advanced for 1987. By the time ENT was made in 2001, they were both becoming outdated. So ENT needed to look futuristic by 2001 standards, yet more primitive than TOS and TNG, which now already didn't look all that futuristic. How do you win?

All relatively speaking, of course.

 

[Nerys Myk]

From what I recall the "technology" was more primative. No sheilds, no photon torpedoes,a new little used transporter. Phase weapons with only two settings. An engine that maxed at Warp 5.

Did anyone complain when TNG used the "same" tech as TOS?

 

[Skywalker]

One saucer connected by a pylon to a long secondary hull, connected with two upward engine nacelles in the rear. Constitution -> Excelsior -> Ambassador -> Galaxy -> Sovereign are all pretty much the same design with updated parts.

We don't know that the Constitution was the first Starfleet design to feature a saucer-shaped primary hull connected to a secondary hull supporting two warp nacelles on separate pylons.

I never meant to imply that it was, sorry if it came across like that. The point I was trying to make was that layout is what both the Constitution and Sovereign classes had in common, just as the other layout is what the NX and Akira classes have in common. Since Starfleet does stick with the same designs, it's easy for me to reverse it and say that story-wise, the Akira is simply the 24th century version of the NX.

True, but Earth's Starfleet could have had a different design philosophy than that of the Federation Starfleet.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Personally, I would have preferred "snub-nosed" or submarine-type primary hulls with warp nacelles myself.

 

[Fer]

True, but Earth's Starfleet could have had a different design philosophy than that of the Federation Starfleet.

Ahhh, I see where you're coming from now. That makes sense. And had they gone with calling it UESPA or something like that, I'd definitely agree. By calling it Starfleet, I got the impression that the Vulcans, Andorians, Tellarites etc. simply "joined" the Earth Starfleet and it was still Earth-centric in its designs.

But since it's never been stated one way or the other, your point makes a lot of sense.

 

[Zombie Batman]

I have long believed that the Conestoga should've been the NX-01, and said as much in many similar threads I started here years ago.

Glad to see people are still in agreement with me.

 

[Skywalker]

I think an interesting exercise would be to take the shape of the Conestoga and design a starship within it. To keep to the "primitive Starfleet" theme, I'm thinking of a kind of submarine-like design, though with the bridge occupying that front portion instead of being in the middle of the ship.

I'm picturing basically a long corridor connecting the bridge in the front to sickbay in the center to engineering in the back, where the warp core and sublight (no impulse) engines are held. Everything else, including the armory, officers' quarters, enlisted bunks, mess hall/galley, shuttle bay, cargo storage, and whatever else the ship might need would all be built around that main artery.

I also figure there'd be one or two lifts, both in the main hull behind the bridge section, to facilitate vertical movement between decks. No turbolift access to the bridge would be an interesting change to the usual Star Trek formula, I think.

What do you guys think? Any other ideas?

 

[Count Dracula]

I think an interesting exercise would be to take the shape of the Conestoga and design a starship within it. To keep to the "primitive Starfleet" theme, I'm thinking of a kind of submarine-like design, though with the bridge occupying that front portion instead of being in the middle of the ship.

I'm picturing basically a long corridor connecting the bridge in the front to sickbay in the center to engineering in the back, where the warp core and sublight (no impulse) engines are held. Everything else, including the armory, officers' quarters, enlisted bunks, mess hall/galley, shuttle bay, cargo storage, and whatever else the ship might need would all be built around that main artery.

I also figure there'd be one or two lifts, both in the main hull behind the bridge section, to facilitate vertical movement between decks. No turbolift access to the bridge would be an interesting change to the usual Star Trek formula, I think.

What do you guys think? Any other ideas?

Yes...please sketch what you described. I lack the mental eye to envision what you have so designed so well in words.

 

[DestinyCaptain]

The whole issue of using the Akira as the design speaks to a much larger attitude that Rick Berman and Brannon Braga had for TOS era Trek. They did not like it. They did not want to embrace it. The fact that there are some bones thrown out to those that do like TOS should not be construed at an indication that they respected those fans. I routinely give high praise and thanks to folks like Drexler and Eaves. They liked and appreciated TOS. That's why they tried to influence where ever they could. They got it. I believed then as I still do that Braga and Berman were actively trying to overwrite TOS with their Trek by tying direct lines from it to TNG and beyond. In essence they were trying to do what Team Abrams has done with Trek 11. If you render TOS mute, you don't have to deal with it. Consider the re-imagined dynamic of Archer, T-Pol, and Reed. It is clear that this was Kirk, Spock, and MCcoy. There was very little attempt to know TOS beyond the casual watching of the episodes. This kind of lazy history study is exactly how we got VOY's "Flashback". Sure they paid enough attention to get the names and sets correct. Sure they recreated the opening of TUC. The problem is that they paid so much attention to the episode that no one caught the Valtain did not die and lives to the end of the film that serves as the template for their story. So, to accept this we have say Tuvok's memory was affect by the virus and that caused him to fabricate Demetre's death. Honestly, how hard is it to write this thing without him dying? It's not. This is like the thing with San Francisco being attacked on DS9 and not a few weeks later on VOY. How hard was it to adjust the story to fit without using the "expensive" image? It's not. We know from various sources that they wanted something kewl for the ship. They wanted Akira. The assertion from people on this board and elsewhere that the Akira was little known ship is crap. FC was a hit. Trek geeks, nerds, and everything in between were talking about it, posting pictures of it, and building meshes of it. What they should have done, in my opinion, is used something that looked much less Treky. I would have liked the Conestoga. It was fine. I would have like this ship....

http://drexfiles.wordpress.com/2009/04/25/eureka-iss-emette/#more-8233

 

[Skywalker]

Yes...please sketch what you described. I lack the mental eye to envision what you have so designed so well in words.

I'd love to, but I'm afraid I have no talent whatsoever for drawing. I can picture things in my mind, but the only way I can effectively transfer it to paper is through words.

 

[The Wormhole]

Consider the re-imagined dynamic of Archer, T-Pol, and Reed. It is clear that this was Kirk, Spock, and MCcoy.

Strange, I always thought Archer, T'Pol and Trip were supposed to be Enterprise's "Triad" copying Kirk, Spock and McCoy.

This is like the thing with San Francisco being attacked on DS9 and not a few weeks later on VOY. How hard was it to adjust the story to fit without using the "expensive" image?

Admittedly, the first time I saw Pathfinder, it annoyed me a little that they didn't acknowledge the attack on San Fransisco. But, it's not really that bad when you think about it. First of all, the time between the episodes was significantly longer than "a few weeks." The Changing Face of Evil aired in April 1999. Pathfinder aired in December 1999. That's eight months in the real world. Possibly longer in show continuity. That's plenty of time for the damage to have been repaired.

Besides, because the shot of Starfleet command in Pathfinder was re-used from a DS9 episode, we see everyone outside wearing outdated uniforms. That bothers me more.

 

[DestinyCaptain]

Does it bother like the whole 0514 thing?

 

[The Wormhole]

Does it bother like the whole 0514 thing?

Yes and no. It does irritate me on the same levels, but I do understand the reason for having everyone in outdated uniforms was because it simply wasn't practical to insert the gray uniforms and that tempers my anger.

0514 on the other hand, was blatant disregard for the standards and methods of registry numbers. But this is not the Trek XI forum.

 

[Nardpuncher]

I'm not sure what the board rules are, but I believe Vektor made this a few years ago...I like it: http://www.vektorvisual.com/projects/misc/NX-00.jpg

 

[Timo]

Word of God from Doug Drexler himself, one of the production designers on the show, confirms this as fact. I think his blog entry was the first place this was ever mentioned, actually

It sounds a lot like Drexler is doing the good old not letting the facts get in the way of a good story thing. I mean, I'm sure the big brass came to Zimmerman and pals with a picture of a starship and said "we want this", but I'm also sure they didn't literally mean that. It's the paid job of the art department to create acceptable art out of such suggestions, not some sort of saintly service to the fandom and continuity. I'd be much more surprised if TPTB bothered to spell out "we want this, with modifications" to these people who should know better from the start.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Glacial]

I think Drexler did a fine job on the NX-01 (now). I hated it too when I first saw it, but it's actually become my favorite science fiction vehicle of all time. The amount of thought and detail the man put into the ship is stunning, if easy to miss. Which in a way is a compliment as well.

Of course, I also understand that Star Trek is not real, and therefore did not immediately get my undies in a bunch over the perceived 'wrong' look of an imaginary spaceship in an imaginary universe, especially one as full of internal contradictions as Trek is

 

[Dukhat]

0514 on the other hand, was blatant disregard for the standards and methods of registry numbers.

No it wasn't. If anything, the registry was an in-joke in a movie filled with in-jokes. 21st century Vulcan landers peppered throughout the Narada. References to Cloverfield everywhere. A ship called the Mayflower with the registry NCC-1620 (which happens to be the date the real Mayflower landed at Plymouth). A ship named after JJ Abrams's grandfather, who was most likely born in May of 1914. If Grandpa Abrams had been born in December, the Kelvin's registry would have been NCC-1214, and no one would be bitching about it. But it certainly wasn't any "disregard for the standards and methods of registry numbers" nonsense you keep spouting.

 

[DestinyCaptain]

Word of God from Doug Drexler himself, one of the production designers on the show, confirms this as fact. I think his blog entry was the first place this was ever mentioned, actually

It sounds a lot like Drexler is doing the good old not letting the facts get in the way of a good story thing. I mean, I'm sure the big brass came to Zimmerman and pals with a picture of a starship and said "we want this", but I'm also sure they didn't literally mean that. It's the paid job of the art department to create acceptable art out of such suggestions, not some sort of saintly service to the fandom and continuity. I'd be much more surprised if TPTB bothered to spell out "we want this, with modifications" to these people who should know better from the start.

Timo Saloniemi

Check his blog. There is a post about them telling him that he can't call something a warp nacelle unless they have rulled on it. It does not surprise me that there are VERY specific directions coming down from on high on any number of things. Ron Moore mentioned at one point there was a rule about not letting either DS9 or VOY use a model of the Sovereign class because fans might get confused and think the Enterpise was appearing on the show that week. Nevermind the fact that all three of these branches of the franchise took place in the same era and at various times the same places. Naw, it doesn't surprise me one bit.

 

[Disillusioned]

The NX-01 looks interesting enough, and having seen some fan versions of the Daedalus and other original ships from the era they've based on it, I have to say that I like it. Still, it might have proven more interesting had they broken away from the saucer design and gone with something like the Conestoga. At the very least as nice as the Conestoga looks, it would have been better had the ship gotten better exposure on the show as one of the older Starfleet designs.

 

[Fer]

Check his blog. There is a post about them telling him that he can't call something a warp nacelle unless they have rulled on it. It does not surprise me that there are VERY specific directions coming down from on high on any number of things. Ron Moore mentioned at one point there was a rule about not letting either DS9 or VOY use a model of the Sovereign class because fans might get confused and think the Enterpise was appearing on the show that week. Nevermind the fact that all three of these branches of the franchise took place in the same era and at various times the same places. Naw, it doesn't surprise me one bit.

Yeah, that always bugged me that we didn't see any other Sovereign-class or Intrepid-class ships. I had guessed that was the reasoning behind it, but had never read it officially anywhere.

It struck me as really dumb, because they used other Galaxy-class ships in DS9. Especially in light of the fact that in TOS, any time we saw another Starfleet ship it was always another Constitution. Thankfully with the launch of the NX-02, we seemed to get away from that. I wonder if we wouldn't have been allowed to see any NX ships anymore if Enterprise had a spin-off?