Discovery Size Argument™ thread

[Longinus]

Even so its not exactly the Big E any more is it, would have liked it to be a bit bigger to better match the other large Starfleet ships we have seen like the Europa.

Or those ships didn't need to be this big. We only saw brief glimpses of them, most details were indiscernible, so they could have been pretty much any size without an issue. I'm fine with the idea that there are some 'battleships' or 'dreadnoughts' in the fleet and heavy cruiser Constitution is not the biggest, but it is a bit weird that there are now four ship classes that are more massive than it. I'm eyeballing here, Crossfield, Nimitz and Hoover are clearly much bigger than the Connie, while Cardena looks somewhat bigger. Walker and Shepard classes seem to be about the same size as Connie, while Malachowski and Magee are clearly smaller.

 

[Gonzo]

Or those ships didn't need to be this big. We only saw brief glimpses of them, most details were indiscernible, so they could have been pretty much any size without an issue. I'm fine with the idea that there are some 'battleships' or 'dreadnoughts' in the fleet and heavy cruiser Constitution is not the biggest, but it is a bit weird that there are now four ship classes that are more massive than it. I'm eyeballing here, Crossfield and Nimitz are clearly much bigger than the Connie, while Cardena and Hoover look somewhat bigger. Walker and Shepard classes seem to be about the same size as Connie, while Malachowski and Magee are clearly smaller.

I wouldn't have minded if they had kept all the ships at the same original ToS size or made them all even bigger than they are, as long as they are consistent with each other and the tasks they are meant to perform.

Like I said it really isn't the Big E any more, the Starfleet ships were designed to be larger which is fine by me as it means larger internal sets to act in and greater HD detail for the ships on screen but I think they played it too safe with the Enterprises size in comparison to the others, especially considering its 5 year missions away from known space or support.

Then consider the Kelvin Enterprise which is most definitely the Big E and is believable as a true explorer with the capacity to carry everything it needs within it, even down to having large numbers of shuttlecraft for emergencies which for me is a no brainer.

Its no different to an aircraft carrier in international waters far from shore, its essentially a moving platform of territory and a safe haven for its crew, able to carry years worth of food and water without the need for resupply, I pity the poor souls who work in laundry or garbage disposal though.

 

[Tuskin38]

Here's a size comparison of the TOS, TMP and DSC Enteprises, along with the Discovery herself. The size chart seems to corroborate the 1500-foot number floating around the internet for the Discoprise.

I think it's a bit smaller then that. Though the photo of the chart is at a bit of an angle which could throw this off. If everything is to scale.

Like I said it really isn't the Big E any more

Nothing in TOS ever said the Enterprise was the biggest ship in the fleet.

 

[Longinus]

I think it's a bit smaller then that. Though the photo of the chart is at a bit of an angle which could throw this off. If everything is to scale.

Shenzhou is 423 metres, and Enterpise here is a bit larger than it, so 457 sounds pretty accurate.

It is just that Discovery is crazy big. It is actually the one ship that looks out of place on that chart.

 

[Tuskin38]

It is just that Discovery is crazy big. It is actually the one ship that looks out of place on that chart.

Only because of the length of the nacelles.

 

[Tyr]

A 457m Enterprise? Well, "Prime Universe" my a**...

 

[Tuskin38]

Shenzhou is 423 metres, and Enterpise here is a bit larger than it, so 457 sounds pretty accurate.

Maybe that Fan model's saucer is too big then.

I'm sure someone can use photoshop magic to help even out that photo.

 

[Ronald Held]

Too much elephantiasis since the Kelvin movies.

 

[Gonzo]

Nothing in TOS ever said the Enterprise was the biggest ship in the fleet.

Yeah that was more of a fan based name for the ship.

Not really applicable now.

We never saw anything truly bigger or more powerful until the Excelsior, the Reliant and the Enterprise were roughly even.

Hard to imagine the Enterprise we see in Discovery as the flagship of the fleet, more likely that the Europa was as indicated by the Admiral in command.

 

[Tuskin38]

Hard to imagine the Enterprise we see in Discovery as the flagship of the fleet

The Enterprise was never called the Flagship either.


Oh right we have a length for the Shepard Class now, 505.5 Meters, the enterprise is right above it so that gives better scale then the Discovery.

 

[Longinus]

Original Enterprise was never a flag ship, and it was never said it was the biggest ship in the fleet, though it was strongly implied it was among the best. I wish there weren't so many ships that are bigger than the Connie, but it is not terrible. Excelsior however was depicted as a big super ship. Now, its old semi-official size was 450ish metres, but if Enterprise is that long, then this obviously this cannot be the case. Now, as describe in this old EAS article a lot of design details suggest much larger size for Excelsior, something between 600 and 700 metres. This would go well with this new size of Enterprise. Then again. I'm not sure how far in this rabbit hole we want to go. Enterprise D wall display seems to show Enterprises in scale, so is Galaxy class now nearly a kilometre long? At least ten forward would finally actually fit...

 

[Tuskin38]

It can be the best without being big. Depending on what its role is.

 

[Longinus]

It can be the best without being big. Depending on what its role is.

It can, and now it is at least a mid sized ship. In the old size it would have been ludicrously tiny nest to these giants though, and I really don't think that could have worked.

 

[fireproof78]

Too much elephantiasis since the Kelvin movies.

 

[Tomalak]

Original Enterprise was never a flag ship, and it was never said it was the biggest ship in the fleet, though it was strongly implied it was among the best. I wish there weren't so many ships that are bigger than the Connie, but it is not terrible. Excelsior however was depicted as a big super ship. Now, its old semi-official size was 450ish metres, but if Enterprise is that long, then this obviously this cannot be the case. Now, as describe in this old EAS article a lot of design details suggest much larger size for Excelsior, something between 600 and 700 metres. This would go well with this new size of Enterprise. Then again. I'm not sure how far in this rabbit hole we want to go. Enterprise D wall display seems to show Enterprises in scale, so is Galaxy class now nearly a kilometre long? At least ten forward would finally actually fit...

I'm totally on board with that. Trek ships always seemed too small to fit the sets into their stated sizes. Upscale everything by about 50% and it's a lot more comfortable.

 

[Tuskin38]

here are the "Klingon" ships. The so called "D7" (I think that's it) isn't called D7, but by a Klingon name which means 'Torch'.

 

[Mytran]

A 457m Enterprise? Well, "Prime Universe" my a**...

The creators have stated that the new series is only consistent with Prime narrative continuity, leaving them free to reimagine the visuals as they require. These designs of vehicles are clearly not intended to have existed in this form in TOS

Which makes me wonder - what would their TOS equivalents have looked like?

 

[Tyr]

The creators have stated that the new series is only consistent with Prime narrative continuity, leaving them free to reimagine the visuals as they require. These designs of vehicles are clearly not intended to have existed in this form in TOS

So when did they (who?) say that? What sense does it make to tell people that they return to the Prime Universe, when that just means that they want to use Characters, Names an Races that are known from the PU?

 

[Tuskin38]

that they return to the Prime Universe

Because it is Prime Universe.

But this isn't the thread for this, we already have a thread dedicated to arguing this point.

 

[Gonzo]

The Enterprise was never called the Flagship either.


Oh right we have a length for the Shepard Class now, 505.5 Meters, the enterprise is right above it so that gives better scale then the Discovery.

The Enterprise 1701-D was the flag ship of the Federation for quite a while though, not too mention we have seen how so many of the crew consider a position on the ship with Pike as a real feather in their cap as shown in Discovery.

I do wonder at how the design on the ships was arrived at, did they update the Enterprise and intentionally make many of the others larger on purpose, or did they create the rest of the ships and was then ordered to add the Enterprise in at the end of the season as a hook to keep the fans interested.

The whole affair must have been so disjointed with all the changes behind the scenes.