Enterprise-E VS Enterprise (STXI)

[sovereign]

Hey guys,

Can someone explain to me what they like so much about the "New" Enterprise from the last film? People make fun of the USS Enterprise -E for looking unrealistic and fanboyish, but honestly in my opinion compared to this new Enterprise it looks quite realistic!

I think the new Enterprise is bulky and generally just an ugly ship. The Enterprise E on the other hand was sleek. Considering that the Enterprise E was designed in 1995 (and still looks "current"), I think that the designers really dropped the ball with this last film. I would have rather it looked more like the NX-01 to be honest, and I am generally not a fan of that ship either.

As far as the interiors are concerned, ugh. Engineering is a joke and the bridge is going to look laughable in 5+ years. I wish Rick Berman was given a proper budget to finance his films, because even with limited funds, I think they did a MUCH better job with the Enterprise E. Thoughts?

 

[F. King Daniel]

I like both, but I prefer the 2009 Enterprise. It's like a supersized, organic-looking version of the TOS ship. A hybrid of human and alien technology. I thought the engineering complex (/brewery) and huge window on the bridge brought an epic sense of scale (ditto the Kelvin).

There's no sense of scale on the Enterprise D, E, Voyager or Defiant sets - you'd never know the Enterprise-E was meant to be much bigger than Voyager just by looking at the innards. Most of TNG's sets were recycled TMP ones. Voyager's sickbay was the Enterprise-E's.

Of course, the new Enterprise and it's sets will eventually look dated - just like the TOS, TMP and TNG ones do now. It's a product of it's time, just like every other version of Trek.

 

[sovereign]

I thought the Engineering set of the Enterprise E represented a sense of scale......

 

[RavenCWG]

I thought the Engineering set of the Enterprise E represented a sense of scale......

No, it represented the fact that the film makers were too cheap (or lazy or both) to build a real set.

 

[plynch]

Had we never seen the original Ent, would the Trek09 Ent look so weird? Probably not. It does suffer by comparison to 66 and 79 ENT. I do like Ent-E for returning to upswept nacelles.

 

[Cyke101]

Hey guys,

Can someone explain to me what they like so much about the "New" Enterprise from the last film? People make fun of the USS Enterprise -E for looking unrealistic and fanboyish, but honestly in my opinion compared to this new Enterprise it looks quite realistic!

I think part of the complaints about the E-E was that it looked more hostile and fairly contrary to usual Trek hero ship design, which usually embodies the spirit of their respective Trek show. The E-D was an all-eggs-in-one-basket design, Voyager was a speedy, aerodynamic thing (even though that's pretty nonsensical in space), and Defiant was meant to be underestimated.

However, I found the E-E to be unnecessarily dark -- sure it fit with First Contact, but what about those other movies where the ship *wasn't* being invaded? It looked like the spiritual successor to DS9's ops, which itself was Cardassian -- the design had a significant plot point in DS9 but not really suitable for a Federation ship. Even the more combat-focused Prometheus had a bridge closer to the JJprise than the E-E.

I have problems with the JJprise's design, but I consider her superior to the Sovereign overall. For comparison, I think the E-D bridge in Generations is superior to the E-E bridge -- it wasn't as flamboyant as the JJprise, but certainly brighter, less militaristic, and less Cardassian than the E-E. In terms of kinetic energy and motion and background activity though, which greatly adds to the feel of the bridge, I'd give it to the JJprise.

On a side note, I think Voyager's bridge has aged the best out of the 90s shows and movies, but they all look fairly dated now themselves.

 

[BlobVanDam]

I thought the Engineering set of the Enterprise E represented a sense of scale......

No, it represented the fact that the film makers were too cheap (or lazy or both) to build a real set.

*cough*brewery*cough*

I like both ships. Some of the proportions of the new 1701 look a bit off to me, mostly the width of the nacelles, and the secondary hull position, but I don't mind the design changes. It looks futuristic, while maintaining a bit of the retro-ness of the original. I love the E because of it's sleek design, it's distinctive look, while maintaining the clear link to the Enterprise line, and it just looks damn sexy. However, the back of the secondary hull looks a bit too organic and curvy for me.

I don't think either ship is any more or less realistic than the other. They're both nice ships. Just a matter of preference.

 

[Kertrats47]

I thought the Engineering set of the Enterprise E represented a sense of scale......

No, it represented the fact that the film makers were too cheap (or lazy or both) to build a real set.

What do you mean? The Enterprise-E's engineering set was huge, with multiple levels and a massive warp core dominating the space. Mind you, I liked the cleaner, lighter Enterprise-D main engineering, but I definitely wouldn't call the designers and builders of the Enterprise-E's set cheap or lazy...

 

[YARN]

Hey guys,

Can someone explain to me what they like so much about the "New" Enterprise from the last film? People make fun of the USS Enterprise -E for looking unrealistic and fanboyish, but honestly in my opinion compared to this new Enterprise it looks quite realistic!

I think the new Enterprise is bulky and generally just an ugly ship. The Enterprise E on the other hand was sleek. Considering that the Enterprise E was designed in 1995 (and still looks "current"), I think that the designers really dropped the ball with this last film. I would have rather it looked more like the NX-01 to be honest, and I am generally not a fan of that ship either.

As far as the interiors are concerned, ugh. Engineering is a joke and the bridge is going to look laughable in 5+ years. I wish Rick Berman was given a proper budget to finance his films, because even with limited funds, I think they did a MUCH better job with the Enterprise E. Thoughts?

I think they're both ugly, so how does that square?

 

[BillJ]

If it's a beauty contest... both would be disqualified.

 

[antiquityscion]

I thought the E-E was just fine and reminded me more of an update to the E refit\E-A design. I never understood the E-E is ugly argument. IMHO, E-D was the ugly duckling (it grew on me though, but was ugly to me at first) and should have looked more like E-E to be consistent.

The alternate time line E-1701 is something that from certain angles looks good (Top view front, top view rear), but other angles (side, or bottom angle), it is ugly, IMHO.

 

[Tomalak]

I never liked the Enterprise-E much. It's not ugly, I'm just not a fan of John Eves' designs in general. It's just a personal taste thing, I suppose I prefer Probert/Sterbach type ships, they somehow look more realistic. The Enterprise-E looks too much like it's consciously trying to look cool. The Enterprise-D and the refit from TMP are my favourites.

The 2009 ship grew on me, it was graceful, though I thought the engines looked too big. It was well photographed though, they made the most of the sense of scale. There aren't actually many shots of the Enterprise in previous films that do that.

 

[Gojira]

I like them both. The E is a return to a more classic trek look although I am not crazy about the no neck part of the ship. I love everything about the new Enterprise. It is one of the best looking designs.

 

[Gojira]

I like them both. The E is a return to a more classic trek look although I am not crazy about the no neck part of the ship. I love everything about the new Enterprise. It is one of the best looking designs.

 

[Gotham Central]

Personally I think that they are both ugly for different reasons.

The Enterprise E looks like it was massively over designed and was way to busy. It's pokey they kept throwing crap on the saucer for no reason. Why is the underside of the saucer stepped, why is the saucer no longer smooth...but instead has the unnecessary raised edges and a sharp slope. They they got all silly and started placing torpedo launchers all over the damn thing. The biggest problem that I had with the ship is that it just seemed to toss away the design aesthetic that had been developed for the 24th century. The E looks more like a bridge between the Excelsior and the Ambassador classes. The oversized warp nacelles and HUGE impulse engines were contrary to every other ship of the era. Even the deflector seemed wrong (why is it yellow?).

The enterprise E looks very retro to other ships of the era...and not in a good way.

 

[RavenCWG]

I thought the Engineering set of the Enterprise E represented a sense of scale......

No, it represented the fact that the film makers were too cheap (or lazy or both) to build a real set.

What do you mean? The Enterprise-E's engineering set was huge, with multiple levels and a massive warp core dominating the space. Mind you, I liked the cleaner, lighter Enterprise-D main engineering, but I definitely wouldn't call the designers and builders of the Enterprise-E's set cheap or lazy...

Oops! Kertrats47, you are absolutely correct. Somehow I managed to completely misread Sovereign's post. I thought he was talking about what was laughingly called an Engineering set (i.e. brewery) that was used in STXI, instead of the one used for the Enterprise-E, hence my reply. Sorry about that Sovereign!

 

[Kertrats47]

No, it represented the fact that the film makers were too cheap (or lazy or both) to build a real set.

What do you mean? The Enterprise-E's engineering set was huge, with multiple levels and a massive warp core dominating the space. Mind you, I liked the cleaner, lighter Enterprise-D main engineering, but I definitely wouldn't call the designers and builders of the Enterprise-E's set cheap or lazy...

Oops! Kertrats47, you are absolutely correct. Somehow I managed to completely misread Sovereign's post. I thought he was talking about what was laughingly called an Engineering set (i.e. brewery) that was used in STXI, instead of the one used for the Enterprise-E, hence my reply. Sorry about that Sovereign!

Oooooh! Okay, yeah, that makes much more sense. I was also very disappointed in the brewery-thing that was Engineering in the new movie. Very jarring, and took me out of the film at times.