Klingon WARBIRDS?

[Aragorn]

Losers freaking out over terminology is really no different than freaking out over a zero to lead a starship registry number.

 

[M'Sharak]

Losers freaking out over terminology is really no different than freaking out over a zero to lead a starship registry number.

You didn't need to use the word "losers" here, and you must know by now that Wormhole's "freaking out" over a leading zero is part of an elaborate joke, more than it is anything else. Don't get personal, okay?

 

[Nerys Myk]

When you see the Bird of Prey in STIII, you even see the Romulan style wing paintings at the under carriage. This is because originally the bad guys in STIII were Romulans, so a Romulan ship was designed.

Mostly fanon and rumor.
[snip]
The change from Romulans to Klingons was made pretty early in the development of ST III - apparently after a story treatment was approved but before the first revised screenplay - and well before decisions would have had to have been made about ship designs and effects model detailing.

Mostly wrong, but you should be getting used to that.

ILM was doing their designwork very early on, not just for fx but also for production (tricorders and such), and the BOP ... I just came across an old CFQ covering TWOK-TVH yesterday morning and there's mention from somebody (par art dept guy?) saying it was definitely supposed to have been mentioned in the film that the ship had been stolen from the Romulans to account for the look of the ship.

The switch from rom to kling only got passed on to ILM after a lot of the design work was done, and with the approved design already finding favor, the 'cover story' of the stolen from roms thing came into play, only to be dropped, presumably because 'who would care?'

Nice try though.

The ship always had a Klingon look to me: The Bridge/Gooseneck/engineering combo.

It has little in common with this ship.

The BOT ship look more like a Starfleet design. I recall a rumor that originally it was intended the Romulans had stolen the design form an "Earth Base".

 

[DiSiLLUSiON]

The BOT ship look more like a Starfleet design. I recall a rumor that originally it was intended the Romulans had stolen the design form an "Earth Base".

It does look exactly like a small Starfleet cruiser, except for the big piece of 'art' at the bottom. Would be so like the Romulans to try and steal the plans, and then go to war with the Federation and fighting them with their own ships.

 

[Nerys Myk]

It also has blue nacelle caps!!!!! OMG!!!!!!

 

[JuanBolio]

The ship always had a Klingon look to me: The Bridge/Gooseneck/engineering combo.

It has little in common with this ship.

The BOT ship look more like a Starfleet design. I recall a rumor that originally it was intended the Romulans had stolen the design form an "Earth Base".

After the Klingon/Romulan alliance, Romulan ships started to look a bit more Klingon, and Klingons of course got the Bird of Prey. Take the TNG Romulan warbird - it looks like a green, double-layered Klingon battlecruiser. Check out this intermediate design:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v222/JuanBolio/RomulanVTeridixClass.gif

Its not too big of a stretch [That image size is, though. Converting to link. - M'] to imagine that when the Romulans got their hands on the Klingon D7 it nudged their design principles down a new path.

I do agree, though, the the Romulan BOP looks like an Earth vessel. Perhaps the Romies are an immitative species, and after Earth pounded the shit out of them in the 2150's they started building ships along Earth design principles.

 

[Nerys Myk]

The BOT ship look more like a Starfleet design. I recall a rumor that originally it was intended the Romulans had stolen the design form an "Earth Base".

It does look exactly like a small Starfleet cruiser, except for the big piece of 'art' at the bottom. Would be so like the Romulans to try and steal the plans, and then go to war with the Federation and fighting them with their own ships.

You flip it and it looks a bit like this ship.

 

[Hartzilla2007]

The BOT ship look more like a Starfleet design. I recall a rumor that originally it was intended the Romulans had stolen the design form an "Earth Base".

Inerestingly enough I read somewhere that the Romulan ship in Balace of Terror was originally going to be an exact copy of the Constitution-class.

 

[JuanBolio]

The BOT ship look more like a Starfleet design. I recall a rumor that originally it was intended the Romulans had stolen the design form an "Earth Base".

It does look exactly like a small Starfleet cruiser, except for the big piece of 'art' at the bottom. Would be so like the Romulans to try and steal the plans, and then go to war with the Federation and fighting them with their own ships.

You flip it and it looks a bit like this ship.

Check this one out: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v222/JuanBolio/PeregrineClass.jpg

 

[QuasarVM]

I think they should have been called Klingon Birds O' War.

Blame it on the change in timeline.

 

[Peter the Younger]

Yeah, the original BoP was silly similar to Starfleet ships. I've often wondered if that - along with the lack of funds for new models - influenced their decision to use the D-7 models in "The Enterprise Incident."

 

[JuanBolio]

Here's an idea - present-day and historical combat aircraft are often referred to as "warbirds". Perhaps warbird is simply a generic term for combat-oriented spacecraft.

 

[QuasarVM]

Here's an idea - present-day and historical combat aircraft are often referred to as "warbirds". Perhaps warbird is simply a generic term for combat-oriented spacecraft.

Heyyyy! You may be onto something!

 

[number6]

Yeah, the original BoP was silly similar to Starfleet ships. I've often wondered if that - along with the lack of funds for new models - influenced their decision to use the D-7 models in "The Enterprise Incident."

No. They used the D-7 model because the BoP model was missing.

 

[Sci]

Where did that come from?

Who cares?

 

[Hartzilla2007]

Yeah, the original BoP was silly similar to Starfleet ships. I've often wondered if that - along with the lack of funds for new models - influenced their decision to use the D-7 models in "The Enterprise Incident."

No. They used the D-7 model because the BoP model was missing.

Wait they lost the BoP model!?

 

[Spork111]

BTW, do we have any clear pics of the "Klingon Warbird" from STXI? I know we see a couple in the Kobayashi Maru test where they look a lot like D-7's from TOS. I almost wonder if they borrowed the CG model of the D-4 that was designed for ENT but never used...
http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/7940/d4ortho.jpg

 

[Hartzilla2007]

BTW, do we have any clear pics of the "Klingon Warbird" from STXI? I know we see a couple in the Kobayashi Maru test where they look a lot like D-7's from TOS. I almost wonder if they borrowed the CG model of the D-4 that was designed for ENT but never used...
http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/7940/d4ortho.jpg

Wow that would make for a good update of the D-7 actually.

 

[JuanBolio]

BTW, do we have any clear pics of the "Klingon Warbird" from STXI? I know we see a couple in the Kobayashi Maru test where they look a lot like D-7's from TOS. I almost wonder if they borrowed the CG model of the D-4 that was designed for ENT but never used...
http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/7940/d4ortho.jpg

Wow that would make for a good update of the D-7 actually.

I disagree - looks more primitive than the D-7 by far, to me. The warbird in the new movie looks strikingly similar to the old D-7/K'tinga classes, with perhaps a little alteration of the command section. The nacelles glow on the inside, but we've seen that before.

 

[Praetor]

The ship always had a Klingon look to me: The Bridge/Gooseneck/engineering combo.

It has little in common with this ship.

The BOT ship look more like a Starfleet design. I recall a rumor that originally it was intended the Romulans had stolen the design form an "Earth Base".

After the Klingon/Romulan alliance, Romulan ships started to look a bit more Klingon, and Klingons of course got the Bird of Prey. Take the TNG Romulan warbird - it looks like a green, double-layered Klingon battlecruiser. Check out this intermediate design:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v222/JuanBolio/RomulanVTeridixClass.gif

Its not too big of a stretch [That image size is, though. Converting to link. - M'] to imagine that when the Romulans got their hands on the Klingon D7 it nudged their design principles down a new path.

I do agree, though, the the Romulan BOP looks like an Earth vessel. Perhaps the Romies are an immitative species, and after Earth pounded the shit out of them in the 2150's they started building ships along Earth design principles.

That linked ship is awesome. I've never seen that specific ship before, but I've seen similar concepts before.

Anyway, I think it's pretty easy to also imagine taking the TOS Romulan ship, adding an inverted fuselage above, and then you basically have a D'Deridex.

Also, as someone pointed out above, there was a line from "Balance of Terror" that indicated that there had indeed been espionage on the part of the Romulans, accounting for the ship design, and meant to implicate Spock.

The BOT ship look more like a Starfleet design. I recall a rumor that originally it was intended the Romulans had stolen the design form an "Earth Base".

It does look exactly like a small Starfleet cruiser, except for the big piece of 'art' at the bottom. Would be so like the Romulans to try and steal the plans, and then go to war with the Federation and fighting them with their own ships.

You flip it and it looks a bit like this ship.

Well, mystery solved. They stole plans for the pre-refit Miranda.

It makes the situation a little more mind-bending when you consider the Miranda would have had nacelles above had Harve Bennett not approved the drawing upside down.

Inerestingly enough I read somewhere that the Romulan ship in Balace of Terror was originally going to be an exact copy of the Constitution-class.

That's new to me but interesting; where'd you read that?

Here's an idea - present-day and historical combat aircraft are often referred to as "warbirds". Perhaps warbird is simply a generic term for combat-oriented spacecraft.

I'd tend to agree with that idea.