Mystery ship in opening credits?

[Mr. Laser Beam]

What is that ship that we see flying over the moon's surface (and, in IAMD, firing on it) in the opening credits? I don't think it ever appeared in an actual episode. Not with those huge aft impulse engines, I know that much. So what ship is that supposed to be? If it was never used, what's it doing there?

 

[SPCTRE]

It's the S.S. Emmette (inofficial behind-the-scenes name), Doug Drexler covered it on his blog

Not much is known about it, canon-wise and even inofficially. It was designed by Rob Bonchune, according to EAS.

Edit: It is not to be confused with this one, as the "Warp Delta" was actually seen on screen in ENT "The Expanse" and "Twilight".

 

[syc]

Both of the Delta-Shaped hulls, have always been very appealing to me. The primitive, dedicated designs, set them apart from other (even alien ships) throughout the series. The opening titles were in a chronological order... from what I remember it goes from the mars rover, to the International Space Station... Orbital shuttle to the Phoenix... and then this sorta inter-stage vehicle between the Phoenix and the NX-01. Correct me if i'm wrong on this one.

 

[RAMA]

Love both of those designs as the show what an upgrade the first Enterprise was for warp technology. These ships really destroy the myth that the tech of the show was too advanced for the 22nd century while still looking "cool" in their relative primitiveness.

RAMA

 

[InklingStar]

I always reminded me of the pictures of the SS Valiant from Mike Okuda's Chronology.

 

[Admiral Shran]

The opening titles were in a chronological order... from what I remember it goes from the mars rover, to the International Space Station... Orbital shuttle to the Phoenix... and then this sorta inter-stage vehicle between the Phoenix and the NX-01.

That's what I've always assumed - that it was simply an attempt to show us that they didn't go directly from the Phoenix to the NX-01.

After all, if all the ships in the opening credits had to be in the show somehow, why weren't sailing ships ever featured?

 

[Praxius]

For some reason it always reminded me of this:

 

[SPCTRE]

For some reason it always reminded me of this:

This image courtesy of Bernd Schneider's Ex Astris Scientia is a nice comparison reference vis-a-vis the X-30 for the Venture Star-like ship from the ENT opening credits:

 

[InklingStar]

Oh, that one. I thought we were referring to the one seen later over the moon. This one? It looks similar to Farscape 1.

 

[SPCTRE]

^ Yeah, the thread in general is about the one over the moon with the huge "exhaust pipes", similar in shape to the Warp Delta type.

But since Praxius brought up the Venture Star type shuttle, I thought I throw in that image

 

[Timo]

I rather like the unfinished look of the bow of the Emmette. Had the model been used in an actual episode somewhere, a conventional bridge and a couple of portholes and perhaps gunports would no doubt have been added. But as matters stand, we can at least pretend that here finally is an example of a Star Trek vessel without an exposed bridge that would compromise combat protection or atmospheric operations etc...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Vurok]

The opening titles were in a chronological order... from what I remember it goes from the mars rover, to the International Space Station... Orbital shuttle to the Phoenix... and then this sorta inter-stage vehicle between the Phoenix and the NX-01. Correct me if i'm wrong on this one.

That is how I saw it, from primitive beginnings, tracking the development over time, culminating in Enterprise.

 

[Leathco]

I thought the model ship that John and his dad Henry Archer worked on in Broken Bow was a model of that mystery ship. They look pretty similar to me.

 

[Timo]

The ship design represented by that flyable scale model apparently was a tiny thing, not much larger than today's aircraft, judging by the two guys sitting in the cockpit... Perhaps an early, "warp-augmented" shuttlecraft of some sort (the paint job suggests heat-resistant surfacing needed for surface-to-orbit operations), rather than an interstellar starship?

Yes, Earth designers seemed to like delta-shaped hulls coupled with two nacelles - there were three distinct designs of that nature in ENT. But these three didn't really appear to be attempts to represent the same design.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[SPCTRE]

^ What Timo said.

 

[syc]

^^See its been so long since I've seen the show I forgot all about that thing.

We shouldn't forget whats been seen on screen. The Conestoga doesnt really fit in with the chronology anywhere. We go from triangular hull designs to half-saucer and saucer designs. There was an strong attempt to keep from actually naming the service which launched the voyage to Terra Nova... referring to it simply as "--the Space Agency".

So it stands to reason that similar to the United States' own missile programs of the late 1950s, with the Army and Navy developing ICBM's separately; their existed several space fairing corporations utilizing warp technology.



Still, in any case, the triangular designs serve a much more practical purpose. Being able to realistically be built on the surface of the Earth and literally flown into space. What kind of space infrastructure would be left after the Third World War? Certainly not the means to assembly a warp capable starship in orbit.

Or maybe J.J. told them through the grape vein it looked cooler?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

We shouldn't forget whats been seen on screen. The Conestoga doesnt really fit in with the chronology anywhere.

Hmm, I didn't remember actually seeing that ship onscreen. Guess it's been awhile...

 

[SPCTRE]

We shouldn't forget whats been seen on screen. The Conestoga doesnt really fit in with the chronology anywhere.

Hmm, I didn't remember actually seeing that ship onscreen. Guess it's been awhile...