Let's talk about the times when we see a starship on screen, when it really should've been some other design than what we saw! Here, I'll list off the ship, analyze my reasoning, and suggest two fixes: one if they could have fixed it at the time of airing if they’d had resources available, and a second, "pie in the sky" sort of fix in hindsight from 2026, if I were in charge of (say) a new remaster of the show. I'm sticking to Starfleet examples, but feel free to add you own:
Ship: USS Pegasus
Episode: TNG "The Pegasus"
Ship Model: Oberth-class
I'm starting with this one as a clear example of a mismatch. In dialogue, the ship was billed as "a prototype. Experimental engine, new weapon systems. In fact, some of our designs were used in constructing the Enterprise", per her former CO, Admiral Pressman. However, when we saw her, the Pegasus turned out to be an Oberth-class ship, first seen in-universe as the USS Grissom some 85 years prior.
According to behind-the-scenes stuff, the ship was originally meant to be a new design, probably the Cheyenne-class four-nacelled ship previously seen as a wreck in TNG "The Best of Both Worlds Part II". It went as far as the Pegasus engineering set showing four nacelles on its LCARS. However, for whatever reason the show didn't have the time or budget to create a new model, so instead they redressed the 1985 Grissom model and glued some orange rocks around it.
In-context fix: If they could've, it would be really cool to see the Cheyenne-class model, building it from AMT models at the time, or using a cast of the two-foot Enterprise studio model to create the parts they needed.
2026 fix: re-create the ship and asteroid in CG. Keep it the Cheyenne for continuity with the Pegasus engineering set LCARS.
Ship: USS Prometheus
Episode: DS9 "Second Sight"
Ship Model: Nebula-class
From the same production year as the above, we're introduced to the USS Prometheus, aptly-named for the Greek titan who game mankind the ability to create fire. In the episode, the ship was relatively slow, and needed O'Brien to soup up the engines to make warp 9.5 in case Seyetik's experiment went sideways (why?). The bridge was a nondescript Starfleet design seen as the USS Saratoga and other "guest" ships previously, and most interestingly, the ship was commanded by Lieutenant Junior Grade Piersall.
The ship's class was not specified in the shooting script, only that she was "a Federation science vessel, not in any way noteworthy or obtrusive", so the studio probably just went with whatever they decided would look cool. However, the Nebula-class model they settled on was previously seen as a much larger ship, a counterpart to the "hero" Galaxy-class in many ways, with notable firepower and crew count. Ostensibly they went with a junior officer in charge such that Sisko and his crew could upstage the Prometheus' staff when the story called for it.
In-context fix: Use the Oberth-class model. It was already seen as the Pegasus that production year (perhaps why it wasn't available?) and fits the bill of a small, unremarkable science vessel. In a pinch, use the Jenolan model instead, as well as its bridge.
2026 fix: CG re-creation, but put in the Nova-class model instead to keep it relatively modern.
Ship: USS Rhode Island
Episode: VOY "Endgame"
Ship Model: Nova-class
Harry Kim finally gets a promotion and even a command of his own, but it's a) from an aborted future timeline, and b) it's a little Nova class ship. As it's effectively a "What if" sort of episode, the fandom has been a little more forgiving of this choice. However, the last time we saw the ship model used, it was explicitly meant to be a smaller, slower, less capable ship than Voyager. Here, we see it not only catch up to the renegade Admiral Janeway, but also fight toe-to-toe with two "future" Klingon ship designs (themselves modified Negh'var models, the biggest the Klingons could offer at the time).
The shooting script doesn't specify the class of ship, only that it was "massive", which is of course subject to interpretation. Unlike other examples of miscast ships though, the production deliberately chose this class to use, and went so far as to give the limited bridge set an MSD of the modified Nova-class model (with its own registration number, but that's another topic). I'm guessing they used it simply because it was a popular design from "Equinox", and had a pretty detailed model to use or modify at hand, representing "modern" Starfleet design. They were certainly under the finale’s time and budget pressures by then anyway, so they couldn't come up with an entirely new model. Fandom has justified that in the intervening years a Nova-class ship could have been upgraded to be a faster, beefier ship, and I'm okay with that, but IMO they really should have chosen another ship design to match how it appears in the script and honestly what Kim deserves IMO.
In-context fix: Make the Rhode Island a Prometheus-class ship, as they already had the model. Modify it if need be to make it a non-MVAM version, which was a silly-if-cool idea to begin with. Swap it with the Prometheus model seen at the end of the episode as a similar easter egg.
2026 fix: Use one of the assorted ship models made in the intervening years to represent the Rhode Island, as by "Picard" we're roughly where the timelines meet up anyway. The Rhode Island would IMO look and shoot really well if she were a Sagan-class ship!
Ship: USS Saratoga
Episode: DS9 "Emissary"
Ship Model: Miranda-class
The Saratoga is introduced as Ben Sisko’s ship in the DS9 premiere. It was deemed to be suitable to send against the Borg in the first wave of ships, complete with a full complement of civilians. Interesting tactical decisions aside, I was surprised to see the Saratoga be a re-use of the venerable Miranda-class model, which didn’t even have a class name at the time.
I’ve read that the model was selected because of its level of detail and size. The shooting script doesn’t mention a class of any kind, and the bridge didn’t have an MSD, so it’s another case of “whatever looks cool” and matched the filming schedule. The limitations of the model were also in evidence, as the ship was only filmed up close from the bottom, meaning that when it was struck with a “direct hit, decks 1-4” it was actually hit from the bottom; also the modifications (resulting from the roll bar portion of the model being damaged) meant that the ship had no visible torpedo launchers anymore, so it could only fire phasers unlike what the script said.
IMO, especially given the presence of civilians, I always thought they should’ve used a larger ship. The Miranda-class ship is fine, and the modifications were welcome, but IMO it should have been something more modern to better reflect the “best” of Starfleet at the time being helpless against the Borg, versus another decades-old design.
In-context fix: Use the Ambassador-class design, which was already in the episode as the USS Yamaguchi, sprucing it up a bit for close ups. It’s bigger, can more believably accommodate civilians (which the USS Ghandi of the same class is stated to do later this same production year in “Second Chances”).
2026 fix: A CG version of the Nebula-class model with the extra pair of smaller nacelles seen in Sisko’s DS9 office later, to maintain continuity.
Ship: USS Defiant
Episode: DS9 “Favor the Bold” et. al.
Ship Model: Defiant
Okay, I’m starting to go a little afield here, but bear with me. By the beginning of the sixth season, DS9 as a show had expanded into a galactic-level conflict, with fleets of ships in combat around the quadrant. Starting with “Favor the Bold”, the “tough little” USS Defiant is seen several times acting as a fleet flagship for hundreds or more combatants, despite having a questionable capacity to do so as well as leading from the front of the battle line. Comms were routed through Nog, a competent but fresh Ensign with no experience at this level, though his time as the squawk box of the disabled Defiant the previous year surely helped.
Obviously the ever-present budget is at work here, as they really had access only to the Defiant sets. Functionally, a flagship should have been a bigger combatant kept well back from the fighting, instead lending support in the way of fighter launches or long-range support firepower. Heck, Sisko was himself removed from command of the Defiant for that exact reason earlier in the same season, so the ship could keep fighting while he handled more strategic planning. By all rights, Sisko should’ve commanded the whole battle from the rear, aboard one of the many Galaxy-class ships we saw in the fray.
In-context fix: Put Sisko on the franchise’s “guest” bridge (at that point in the show, the original USS Saratoga bridge was gone, but VOY had a bigger one that had been seen as the Excelsior and later the Prometheus and Equinox) and have him be the Fleet Captain from there. Thereon, whenever a fleet scene came up, use the same bridge to represent some other big ship that could act as the flagship. Ideally a Galaxy-class, but maybe even a Sovereign (and use the Enterprise-E bridge accordingly).
2026 fix: We can’t really CGI the crew into another ship with the available footage and scripting, so how about instead modifying the Defiant’s exterior to have extra communications modules or greeblies to justify its role as a ship coordinating a large fleet?
Ships: Yorktown, Excalibur, Potemkin, Lexington
Episode: TOS “The Ultimate Computer”
Ship Model: Constitution
This one is a case of fixing what seemed to be okay in the original airing, but which seems less likely in the modern context of Trek. Here, we have the Enterprise in wargames against four other Starfleet ships, which all happen to be of the same class and type as hers.
At the time, the show only had ONE Starfleet ship model, which stood in as EVERY other Federation ship seen up close in the three years of the show. That made sense at the time, but in practice, there were only “twelve like her in the fleet”, with encounters with other starships being rare as they were. Here, we have FIVE Constitution-class ships, half of the class remaining by that point (the Constellation and Intrepid having been lost by that point in the show; and if you count the USS Cayuga, it’s more than half the remaining ships!), involved in a single action. Possible? Sure, but IMO not likely. Better to have a mix of ships shown.
In-context fix: Build another ship model. The Franz Joseph designs wouldn’t exist for another few years, but surely the model makers of the time could have come up with another large capital ship counterpart given enough time and budget.
2026 fix: CG at least a couple of the other ships as non-Connies (Nonnies?). Use the Franz Joseph designs as a baseline. Note that this is something that the fandom actually wanted for the 2006 remastered series, but all we got was an extra window on the front of one of the Connies as a sort of wink to the audience, as the intent was more to recreate the original footage more than change it a la Spielberg.
Ship: USS Pegasus
Episode: TNG "The Pegasus"
Ship Model: Oberth-class
I'm starting with this one as a clear example of a mismatch. In dialogue, the ship was billed as "a prototype. Experimental engine, new weapon systems. In fact, some of our designs were used in constructing the Enterprise", per her former CO, Admiral Pressman. However, when we saw her, the Pegasus turned out to be an Oberth-class ship, first seen in-universe as the USS Grissom some 85 years prior.
According to behind-the-scenes stuff, the ship was originally meant to be a new design, probably the Cheyenne-class four-nacelled ship previously seen as a wreck in TNG "The Best of Both Worlds Part II". It went as far as the Pegasus engineering set showing four nacelles on its LCARS. However, for whatever reason the show didn't have the time or budget to create a new model, so instead they redressed the 1985 Grissom model and glued some orange rocks around it.
In-context fix: If they could've, it would be really cool to see the Cheyenne-class model, building it from AMT models at the time, or using a cast of the two-foot Enterprise studio model to create the parts they needed.
2026 fix: re-create the ship and asteroid in CG. Keep it the Cheyenne for continuity with the Pegasus engineering set LCARS.
Ship: USS Prometheus
Episode: DS9 "Second Sight"
Ship Model: Nebula-class
From the same production year as the above, we're introduced to the USS Prometheus, aptly-named for the Greek titan who game mankind the ability to create fire. In the episode, the ship was relatively slow, and needed O'Brien to soup up the engines to make warp 9.5 in case Seyetik's experiment went sideways (why?). The bridge was a nondescript Starfleet design seen as the USS Saratoga and other "guest" ships previously, and most interestingly, the ship was commanded by Lieutenant Junior Grade Piersall.
The ship's class was not specified in the shooting script, only that she was "a Federation science vessel, not in any way noteworthy or obtrusive", so the studio probably just went with whatever they decided would look cool. However, the Nebula-class model they settled on was previously seen as a much larger ship, a counterpart to the "hero" Galaxy-class in many ways, with notable firepower and crew count. Ostensibly they went with a junior officer in charge such that Sisko and his crew could upstage the Prometheus' staff when the story called for it.
In-context fix: Use the Oberth-class model. It was already seen as the Pegasus that production year (perhaps why it wasn't available?) and fits the bill of a small, unremarkable science vessel. In a pinch, use the Jenolan model instead, as well as its bridge.
2026 fix: CG re-creation, but put in the Nova-class model instead to keep it relatively modern.
Ship: USS Rhode Island
Episode: VOY "Endgame"
Ship Model: Nova-class
Harry Kim finally gets a promotion and even a command of his own, but it's a) from an aborted future timeline, and b) it's a little Nova class ship. As it's effectively a "What if" sort of episode, the fandom has been a little more forgiving of this choice. However, the last time we saw the ship model used, it was explicitly meant to be a smaller, slower, less capable ship than Voyager. Here, we see it not only catch up to the renegade Admiral Janeway, but also fight toe-to-toe with two "future" Klingon ship designs (themselves modified Negh'var models, the biggest the Klingons could offer at the time).
The shooting script doesn't specify the class of ship, only that it was "massive", which is of course subject to interpretation. Unlike other examples of miscast ships though, the production deliberately chose this class to use, and went so far as to give the limited bridge set an MSD of the modified Nova-class model (with its own registration number, but that's another topic). I'm guessing they used it simply because it was a popular design from "Equinox", and had a pretty detailed model to use or modify at hand, representing "modern" Starfleet design. They were certainly under the finale’s time and budget pressures by then anyway, so they couldn't come up with an entirely new model. Fandom has justified that in the intervening years a Nova-class ship could have been upgraded to be a faster, beefier ship, and I'm okay with that, but IMO they really should have chosen another ship design to match how it appears in the script and honestly what Kim deserves IMO.
In-context fix: Make the Rhode Island a Prometheus-class ship, as they already had the model. Modify it if need be to make it a non-MVAM version, which was a silly-if-cool idea to begin with. Swap it with the Prometheus model seen at the end of the episode as a similar easter egg.
2026 fix: Use one of the assorted ship models made in the intervening years to represent the Rhode Island, as by "Picard" we're roughly where the timelines meet up anyway. The Rhode Island would IMO look and shoot really well if she were a Sagan-class ship!
Ship: USS Saratoga
Episode: DS9 "Emissary"
Ship Model: Miranda-class
The Saratoga is introduced as Ben Sisko’s ship in the DS9 premiere. It was deemed to be suitable to send against the Borg in the first wave of ships, complete with a full complement of civilians. Interesting tactical decisions aside, I was surprised to see the Saratoga be a re-use of the venerable Miranda-class model, which didn’t even have a class name at the time.
I’ve read that the model was selected because of its level of detail and size. The shooting script doesn’t mention a class of any kind, and the bridge didn’t have an MSD, so it’s another case of “whatever looks cool” and matched the filming schedule. The limitations of the model were also in evidence, as the ship was only filmed up close from the bottom, meaning that when it was struck with a “direct hit, decks 1-4” it was actually hit from the bottom; also the modifications (resulting from the roll bar portion of the model being damaged) meant that the ship had no visible torpedo launchers anymore, so it could only fire phasers unlike what the script said.
IMO, especially given the presence of civilians, I always thought they should’ve used a larger ship. The Miranda-class ship is fine, and the modifications were welcome, but IMO it should have been something more modern to better reflect the “best” of Starfleet at the time being helpless against the Borg, versus another decades-old design.
In-context fix: Use the Ambassador-class design, which was already in the episode as the USS Yamaguchi, sprucing it up a bit for close ups. It’s bigger, can more believably accommodate civilians (which the USS Ghandi of the same class is stated to do later this same production year in “Second Chances”).
2026 fix: A CG version of the Nebula-class model with the extra pair of smaller nacelles seen in Sisko’s DS9 office later, to maintain continuity.
Ship: USS Defiant
Episode: DS9 “Favor the Bold” et. al.
Ship Model: Defiant
Okay, I’m starting to go a little afield here, but bear with me. By the beginning of the sixth season, DS9 as a show had expanded into a galactic-level conflict, with fleets of ships in combat around the quadrant. Starting with “Favor the Bold”, the “tough little” USS Defiant is seen several times acting as a fleet flagship for hundreds or more combatants, despite having a questionable capacity to do so as well as leading from the front of the battle line. Comms were routed through Nog, a competent but fresh Ensign with no experience at this level, though his time as the squawk box of the disabled Defiant the previous year surely helped.
Obviously the ever-present budget is at work here, as they really had access only to the Defiant sets. Functionally, a flagship should have been a bigger combatant kept well back from the fighting, instead lending support in the way of fighter launches or long-range support firepower. Heck, Sisko was himself removed from command of the Defiant for that exact reason earlier in the same season, so the ship could keep fighting while he handled more strategic planning. By all rights, Sisko should’ve commanded the whole battle from the rear, aboard one of the many Galaxy-class ships we saw in the fray.
In-context fix: Put Sisko on the franchise’s “guest” bridge (at that point in the show, the original USS Saratoga bridge was gone, but VOY had a bigger one that had been seen as the Excelsior and later the Prometheus and Equinox) and have him be the Fleet Captain from there. Thereon, whenever a fleet scene came up, use the same bridge to represent some other big ship that could act as the flagship. Ideally a Galaxy-class, but maybe even a Sovereign (and use the Enterprise-E bridge accordingly).
2026 fix: We can’t really CGI the crew into another ship with the available footage and scripting, so how about instead modifying the Defiant’s exterior to have extra communications modules or greeblies to justify its role as a ship coordinating a large fleet?
Ships: Yorktown, Excalibur, Potemkin, Lexington
Episode: TOS “The Ultimate Computer”
Ship Model: Constitution
This one is a case of fixing what seemed to be okay in the original airing, but which seems less likely in the modern context of Trek. Here, we have the Enterprise in wargames against four other Starfleet ships, which all happen to be of the same class and type as hers.
At the time, the show only had ONE Starfleet ship model, which stood in as EVERY other Federation ship seen up close in the three years of the show. That made sense at the time, but in practice, there were only “twelve like her in the fleet”, with encounters with other starships being rare as they were. Here, we have FIVE Constitution-class ships, half of the class remaining by that point (the Constellation and Intrepid having been lost by that point in the show; and if you count the USS Cayuga, it’s more than half the remaining ships!), involved in a single action. Possible? Sure, but IMO not likely. Better to have a mix of ships shown.
In-context fix: Build another ship model. The Franz Joseph designs wouldn’t exist for another few years, but surely the model makers of the time could have come up with another large capital ship counterpart given enough time and budget.
2026 fix: CG at least a couple of the other ships as non-Connies (Nonnies?). Use the Franz Joseph designs as a baseline. Note that this is something that the fandom actually wanted for the 2006 remastered series, but all we got was an extra window on the front of one of the Connies as a sort of wink to the audience, as the intent was more to recreate the original footage more than change it a la Spielberg.
) It's a much larger ship than the original BoP (sometimes called B'rel class), but absolutely nothing changed with the model.
