How big was the Enterprise?

[ZapBrannigan]

My point was the Franz Joseph plans depict how 430 people can comfortably function in that space. Plenty of room to work, sleep, eat, and recreate.

Yeah, and not only that, but some fan meticulously counted FJ's work stations onboard, and came up with something extremely close to one-third of 430, for three 8-hour shifts.

And I think FJ has 500 beds or so, which allows for stuff like "Journey to Babel." And I myself counted 14 science labs, which jibes with "Operation: Anihilate." And there's a Deck 6 Briefing Room, per "Return to Tomorrow." It's pretty great.

 

[Houston Trekker]

The Original Series Enterprise was approximately 1,000 feet in length with like 24 decks from the top of the primary saucer section to the Secondary Engineering Hull.

 

[HotRod]

The Original Series Enterprise was approximately 1,000 feet in length with like 24 decks from the top of the primary saucer section to the Secondary Engineering Hull.

Was it though?

 

[Tallguy]

There are good reasons it is and good reasons it might not be. It's certainly not twice that.

 

[Houston Trekker]

Was it though?

Original Series Enterprise was 947 feet in length (still an approximate number oddly enough) according to multiple sources from the web.

 

[Tallguy]

Original Series Enterprise was 947 feet in length (still an approximate number oddly enough) according to multiple sources from the web.

Forget the web. That used to be the official number. In these more enlightened times there are many who don't believe a word of it. Just cuz, apparently.

The closest that number ever came to appearing on screen was the comparison chart between the Klingon and the Enterprise in The Enterprise Incident.

 

[HotRod]

Original Series Enterprise was 947 feet in length (still an approximate number oddly enough) according to multiple sources from the web.

The old 289m length may have been the most common number thrown around, but its status as canonical is somewhat in question. Strange New Worlds presents us with the larger size of 442m, a size that works much better with what we've seen presented on screen.

 

[Tallguy]

Just looking at the shuttle deck alone in SNW it's clearly a MUCH bigger ship. So either the 442m is a better fit for SNW (I rather suspect it isn't) and the TOS numbers are fine (close enough) or the 442m is finally a realistic number for the TOS ship and the SNW ship is actually much bigger than that.

 

[Henoch]

The Original Series Enterprise was approximately 1,000 feet in length with like 24 decks from the top of the primary saucer section to the Secondary Engineering Hull.

Original Series Enterprise was 947 feet in length (still an approximate number oddly enough) according to multiple sources from the web.

True-ish. The most "official" length is ~947 feet with 11 decks in the saucer and ~23 decks overall, but exactly which external shape is official? Is it the 33 inch filming model, the 11 foot filming model, the Matt Jefferies sketch, or some sort of mishmash design of our own making? What is a "deck" in dimensions and design; how thick are the hull and deck spacings? How important are fitting the internal stage sets as seen on-screen into it? We don't even know where main engineering is located?

IMHO, no posted Enterprise Deck Plans live up to my expectations. These are some of the best thread topics on this site!

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

For what it's worth, I scaled a model of the TMP Enterprise to match a screencap of the Rec Deck and it came out to be about 450 metres long.

Here's my TOS Enterprise scaled to 442m overlaid onto Dennis Bailey's model of the TMP Enterprise scaled to 450m.

It's not a huge shock that if you scale up both ships to around the same size they'd match pretty well, but it makes me happy when the numbers seem to make sense.

And a bonus shot of how the bridge would look in a 442 metre Enterprise. (I'm sorry I never got around to modelling the chairs, or the consoles, or much of anything.)

 

[Maurice]

When I saw it at the Smithsonian, it was like 11'2" long, tops.

 

[Richard S. Ta]

@Maurice

As amusingly snarky as that may be, it is also the only objective and verifiable answer. *thumbs up*

 

[Daedalus]

Does my old Dinky toy count? I swear it was about 7 inches.

I have a distinct memory of flying that toy, minus nacelles, through my mother's cigarette smoke and reenacting the destruction scene from ST:III.

 

[Henoch]

Does my old Dinky toy count? I swear it was about 7 inches.

I'm reading more into this than I should.

 

[Daedalus]

I'm reading more into this than I should.

You just can't avoid it with a word like "Dinky". Oh to be young and oblivious again.

 

[Tallguy]

For what it's worth, I scaled a model of the TMP Enterprise to match a screencap of the Rec Deck and it came out to be about 450 metres long.

I assume that you're scaling the exterior rec deck windows to the size of what we saw on set? Nice.

Of course the only two interior places on the Enterprise that have an exterior detail that we can match (rec deck on TMP and shuttle bay in TOS and TMP) are the two sets / models where the builders knew they couldn't fit inside the stated hull but someone said "screw it, it needs to look big and cool!"

Based on that I wonder if anyone has ever argued that the 1701-D should be SMALLER based on the windows of Ten Forward?

 

[David cgc]

Of course the only two interior places on the Enterprise that have an exterior detail that we can match (rec deck on TMP and shuttle bay in TOS and TMP) are the two sets / models where the builders knew they couldn't fit inside the stated hull but someone said "screw it, it needs to look big and cool!"

I'm not sure making the sets more impressive (or less terraced) is the only reason. A lot of the windows are just too tight. You should be able to get the height of a full deck (including the margins) by measuring the bottom edge of the lower saucer window to the bottom of the one above it. That ends up being about 1.93 m (6'4") on the TOS ship, and 1.63 m (5'4") on the TMP version (at least on the CG models I have at hand). You can resolve this by saying the windows aren't always the same height above the deck, but I've seen it tried, and it leads to things like one deck having windows you have to stand on your toes to look out of, and the next having ones that are down at the floor.

Based on that I wonder if anyone has ever argued that the 1701-D should be SMALLER based on the windows of Ten Forward?

Wouldn't that also make the ship much bigger, because they expanded what were supposed to be waist-high windows into floor-to-ceiling ones?

I have been thinking recently about mocking up Ten-Forward with alternate windows that better fit the model as designed. A C-shaped wall that took up the full rim of the saucer, like originally intended, or the four big ones under the registry that are sometimes called out as a back-up deflector that were also supposed to be for a lounge.

 

[Tallguy]

Wouldn't that also make the ship much bigger, because they expanded what were supposed to be waist-high windows into floor-to-ceiling ones?

Don't know. TNG isn't my playground. I thought the Ten Forward windows make the forward edge of the saucer only two decks high? If I'm way off I will stop spouting ill considered opinions about TNG tech and go back to spouting ill considered opinions about TOS. (That I at least have read much more of and care more about.)

 

[David cgc]

Don't know. TNG isn't my playground. I thought the Ten Forward windows make the forward edge of the saucer only two decks high? If I'm way off I will stop spouting ill considered opinions about TNG tech and go back to spouting ill considered opinions about TOS. (That I at least have read much more of and care more about.)

The rim of the Enterprise-D was supposed to be only one deck thick (and not even a full deck, just a bit more than standing height). That got retconned for season 2 when they built the Ten Forward set. The 4-foot model built for season 3 makes the rim a bit thicker to account for that, but it doesn't really make sense if you look closely, since the single-deck rim was supposed to be deck 10, so to make just the bottom half deck 10, you have to add a deck to the rim and remove one from the top half of the saucer.

EAS, naturally, has more detail than is required.

 

[Tallguy]

EAS, naturally, has more detail than is required.

Ahhhh I had it completely backwards. Thank you.