It seems there is a reason for the visual reboot and the producers aren't being honest about it.

[Dukhat]

So clean, 23rd century, Starfleet-like, and utilitarian.

This fan one is nice, the non-streamlined look gives it an industrial feel.

FYI, the first pic is also fan artwork, as Bad Robot has never released official CGI orthos of the Abramsverse ships, and the said ship above did not have a rollbar in the movies.

 

[ITDUDE]

The ship with 3 nacelles did.

I guess it's a combination of 3 nacelle ship with a rollbar on the left and a two nacelle ship without a rollbar on the right.
These ships look cool. Can we have a Kelvin Timeline based TV show?

 

[cultcross]

Can we have a Kelvin Timeline based TV show?

That was my main preference for a TV show, honestly, something contemporaneous with the films but set on a different ship. I really like the Kelvin universe aesthetic, and it avoids a lot of continuity whinging. Not all, sadly, but a lot.

 

[Krandor]

The same way similar episodes in any series get approved. A long-running series with no duds is the exception - and a lot of it's in the eye of the beholder.

It's pretty rare that producers knowingly move forward with bad stuff - at least on Trek. I was personally witness to the TNG folks moving Heaven and Earth on one occasion to buy themselves an extra week and a half to work on a troublesome script...and the show that resulted seems to have been a success as a result. It's usually in retrospect that you get the shrugging and the "you have to shoot the script you have" apologias.

I doubt anybody was happy with an ep like shades of grey. That is classic filler/keep budget low episode.

 

[The Wormhole]

I doubt anybody was happy with an ep like shades of grey. That is classic filler/keep budget low episode.

Shades of Grey was a bit of an emergency situation where they needed an episode and had no budget to do it.

 

[eschaton]

Shades of Grey was a bit of an emergency situation where they needed an episode and had no budget to do it.

Season 2 TNG was such a huge fucking mess behind the scenes that it's a wonder that they significantly improved on Season 1 in terms of product.

 

[pst]

CBS says it's not a legal matter:
Enterprise Redesign a Creative Decision for STAR TREK: DISCOVERY, Not “Legally Required” as Rumored

sounds legit.

 

[lawman]

It's not clear from the story who at CBS was the designated "representative" speaking on behalf of DSC, but the message seems clear enough:

"CBS TV Studios does, in fact, have the right to use the U.S.S. Enterprise ship design from the past TV series, and are not legally required to make changes. The changes in the ship design [for ‘Discovery’] were creative ones, made to utilize 2018’s VFX technology."​

At least this settles the question of the legal rights. The statement doesn't explain why the people actually making the creative changes were misinformed about the reason(s), and it perpetuates the conflation between designs and VFX that has been the source of much debate on these forums, and it doesn't explain what kind of specific changes were actually mandated or why... but it does confirm that the copyrights remain where we thought they were, and the producers could have used the original designs had they wished. (Which puts us right back where we started, really.)

(The story's side-by-side same-angle comparison of the season finale version and the painted version from the new calendar is interesting, too! And underscores how many design decisions really have nothing to do with the VFX technology used to realize them...)

 

[F. King Daniel]

CBS says it's not a legal matter:
Enterprise Redesign a Creative Decision for STAR TREK: DISCOVERY, Not “Legally Required” as Rumored

sounds legit.

CBS should probably tell their VFX guys this. And that their writers can use stuff from the movies.

Knowing why they're doing what they're doing will probably help.

 

[PixelMagic]

CBS says it's not a legal matter:
Enterprise Redesign a Creative Decision for STAR TREK: DISCOVERY, Not “Legally Required” as Rumored

sounds legit.

Gah, I just like it less and less every time I see it. They "updated" it but it still has way too much retro design in it. Heh.

I hope the interiors are awesome looking at least.

 

[lawman]

Heh. Classic YMMV situation. To my eye the update has way too little "retro design" in it!

Of course, they invited exactly this kind of criticism-from-both-sides by making any changes at all. If they'd just stuck with the original, the source of the design and the justification for using it would have been self-evident. Instead, we're all picking over every little detail.

 

[Jesse1066]

CBS should probably tell their VFX guys this. And that their writers can use stuff from the movies.

Knowing why they're doing what they're doing will probably help.

"Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die."

Somebody said to make it 25% different, so they did.

 

[BillJ]

I hope the interiors are awesome looking at least.

I hope they remind me of the original 1701 more than the outside does.

 

[pst]

I hope the interiors are awesome looking at least.

if you loved set for the bridge of the shenzhou, i'm sure you're going to love it even more as the bridge of the enterprise.

 

[Jesse1066]

if you loved set for the bridge of the shenzhou, i'm sure you're going to love it even more as the bridge of the enterprise.

Somebody mocked up a DSC style Enterprise bridge a while ago. I don't have the link, but I thought it looked really good.

 

[Krandor]

"Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die."

Somebody said to make it 25% different, so they did.

Exactly. The faceook comments were made by people who didn't know the actual legal situation or whys or the changes and were likely just repeating what they were told.

I still think the 25% was marchendise reasons but we'll likely never know and I still think the new model looks great. Very similar to the 1701 but updated to an astetic that fits in with DSC.

 

[ITDUDE]

CBS says it's not a legal matter:
Enterprise Redesign a Pure Money Grab Decision to Sell More Merchandise for STAR TREK: DISCOVERY, Not “Legally Required” as Rumored

FIFY

 

[Krandor]

if you loved set for the bridge of the shenzhou, i'm sure you're going to love it even more as the bridge of the enterprise.

That is what I'm expecting too. Enterprise will be a re-dress of Shenzhou.

 

[JamesRye]

The quote of Trek Core seems to clear it all up. But it's like the person writing it is saying that the concept art is the original ship and explaining why that doesn't tally with the one on screen -it's a weird addendum to the denial. Still, its good to know that DSC can use TOS designs. Hopefully they actually will use them and tie the show better into existing canon. Will Spock meet Burnham - will Sybok be referenced?

"CBS TV Studios does, in fact, have the right to use the U.S.S. Enterprise ship design from the past TV series, and are not legally required to make changes. The changes in the ship design [for ‘Discovery’] were creative ones, made to utilize 2018’s VFX technology.

The art that was used in the 2019 calendar is ‘concept art,’ which was completed long before the VFX process is completed."

 

[Jadeb]

"The changes in the ship design were creative ones, made to utilize 2018’s VFX technology."

And 1818's lighting technology.