How would you re-imagine the NX-01 Enterprise?
- Thread starter Wingsley
- Start date
Yeah. They're so unlike the weird bulgy things on the ends of the nacelles on the Ent-Nil.
My "NX-01" would have followed the design aesthetic of NASA combined with the more rugged industrial look of modern naval vessels. No primary colored neon lights that are always on, just a faint glow from the front of the nacelle and maybe some 'electric blue' pulsing on the inside of the nacelles when going to warp. The hull would be light gray, with visible paneling but not stepped.
The deflector/sensors on the front would be an array of parabolic dishes and antennae inset and appearing heavily guarded inside hull cowling, possibly retracting when not at warp to avoid the risk of stray space junk in orbit. There would likely be some lighting inside the cowling just for looks.
Weapons would be retractable explosive-slug-firing turrets, a directional EMP and tactical nuclear torpedos. Later, the need for energy weapons able to penetrate shields would be used to transform the EMP into something more directly offensive.
Basic form would be centered around the saucer, and look clunky enough to expect it never to enter orbit. Nacelles would NOT be swept back. Hard to say the exact shape I'd go for. I'd lean towards something that doesn't look pretty, but has more of a tank-like appeal. Solid. One of my main complaints about the NX-01 was the front-heaviness of it. the pontoons and nacelle struts were sticks and the nacelles rather small. With them raised above the saucer section it made it look rather fragile compared to the heavy armored look of the front.
I might have a few visible tanks and hatches and greebling on the back and bottom of the ship, but not enough to give it the BSG/SW look.
Really though, the weakness wasn't the tech on-board or the design aesthetic. It was the form, the basic shapes of the ship. Fix that and you fix the problem without having to change anything else.
The deflector/sensors on the front would be an array of parabolic dishes and antennae inset and appearing heavily guarded inside hull cowling, possibly retracting when not at warp to avoid the risk of stray space junk in orbit. There would likely be some lighting inside the cowling just for looks.
Weapons would be retractable explosive-slug-firing turrets, a directional EMP and tactical nuclear torpedos. Later, the need for energy weapons able to penetrate shields would be used to transform the EMP into something more directly offensive.
Basic form would be centered around the saucer, and look clunky enough to expect it never to enter orbit. Nacelles would NOT be swept back. Hard to say the exact shape I'd go for. I'd lean towards something that doesn't look pretty, but has more of a tank-like appeal. Solid. One of my main complaints about the NX-01 was the front-heaviness of it. the pontoons and nacelle struts were sticks and the nacelles rather small. With them raised above the saucer section it made it look rather fragile compared to the heavy armored look of the front.
I might have a few visible tanks and hatches and greebling on the back and bottom of the ship, but not enough to give it the BSG/SW look.
Really though, the weakness wasn't the tech on-board or the design aesthetic. It was the form, the basic shapes of the ship. Fix that and you fix the problem without having to change anything else.
ancient: I dig it. A lot. I could almost see your ship and mine being part of the same fleet together. Mine would be a frigate/destroyer while yours would be a full-blown cruiser.
Superman said:
I continue to maintain to this day that the Enterprise production staff already had a great design for their Enterprise, but for some reason (i.e., The Killer B's) they had to ignore it.
I refer, of course, to the SS Conestoga.
I love this ship and would love to take a stab at modelling it. Does anybody know of any additional images from different angles of it? www.starshipmodeler.com has two additional pics, but I'm looking for some from the back and bottom of it.
I really like this concept! I especially find energy weapons coming from EMP weapons as an inspired notion... One of my main gripes was that nothing on the NX seemed reinforced enough... I wanted something that suggested that Starfleet or whoever) wasn't sure how well the ship was going to hold together at 'high' warp. Meself, I would have liked to have seen nacelles 'strapped' to the hull.
Which makes me wonder what a saucer with two nacelles attached at the port and starboard rims would look like...
(A bird of prey, I know.)
NO SERIOUSLY! A nacelle at either side of a clunky saucer, strapped with a strut above and a strut below, also directly connecting to the rim, with impulse rockets extending at roughly the position where the 'catamarans' were on the NX. It might even be interesting to have a conning tower rather than a bridge...
Hm, I think this might be a cool idea... I may have to draw what I mean.
And Ancient good to see the 770 again! I do love that ship.
Vektor's Vanguard design is the only way to go. Barring that, his April Fools E (minus the turrets syndrome) woulda been okay.
Vektor really should be working for Paramount...
Vektor really should be working for Paramount...
the SS Conestoga is the ship I was thinking about. I just couldn't remember the name.
The aft part of the hull is a mixing of DS9's Defiant NX ship.
Ancient, great design! :thumbsup:
The aft part of the hull is a mixing of DS9's Defiant NX ship.
Ancient, great design! :thumbsup:
Much as I do love the NX-01, if it had to be any other ship, that would be the one I would want to see as well. His design for the Vanguard is amazing!
It's a mash up of the Discovery, Botany Bay and Enterprise. What's not to like?
I like the ESS Aldrin design, particularly the blending of the saucer and conning tower - a nice evolutionary element. I'm not quite as enamored with the "Discovery" middle section, I think moving the aft engineering section immediately behind the saucer section would look good, imho. Nice design! :thumbsup:
The April-E with turrets would kick ass. I may be a touch of purist, I am also an artist myself.
As Chris Reid's girlfriend might say:
"Greatness is greatness sucka!"
Irishman,
I really like your Canopus concept.
There is, however, one thing that your Canopus shares with the Akiraprise that never looked right to me:
The double passageways that lead back to the almost-Reliant-style rollbar engineering section all seemed too busy and off-balance for me. More than anything else about Archer's ship the whole are assembly between the nacelles looked too TMP or TNG for me.
Maybe it's just me, but it seemed that if the NX-class had any hull/pod aft of the saucer, it should've been a more tubular secondary hull (a small one, of course), maybe shaped like a DYellow submarine hull, connected to the saucer via a single dorsal shaped like the DY conning tower. Mabe the impulse engines could've been mounted on wings on either side of the tower.
I've been trying to draw it in pencil to see if I could get the idea to make sense, but so far I haven't had much time.
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