Mystery Starfleet starship seen at Spacedock [BEWARE SPOILERS!]

[saddestmoon]

Hey Peeps

Hi Been discussing this with some fellow Trek fans, over at Rebelscum, and thought it worth raising here...

During my first and second screenings of Into Darkness something caught my eye when seeing the Enterprise moored at the Spacedock: a three-nacelled red starfleet vessel (in the bottom left of a panning shot of the Enterprise) with a brown/red paintjob - almost Vulcanesque in colourscheme - and similar in appearance to the USS Armstrong (Armstrong-Class) starship.

Initally, I thought it really strange (and perhaps my eyes were decieving me) but on my second viewing, I confirmed that my eyes were seeing it correctly.

I then found this image of the Enterprise moored at the dock, and if you look at the bottom left corner of the image, you can see a partial sliver of this mysterous red starfleet vessel (links below):

Link:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KXcyN1oKc5...+spacedock.jpg

If that link is dead, try this instead:
http://www.ncc1701shipyard.com/images/highres/spacedock4.jpg

UPDATE: try this link below (and resized image):

http://cdn3.whatculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/enterprise.png

^ [located just above the arrow]


The plot thickened even more when a friend of mine then did some digging, and discovered this image, from The Art Of Star Trek (2009):

http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/schematics/stxi-concept-chart.jpg

The red / brown starship in this art page is called the USS Excelsior, and it is the same class as the USS Armstrong (three nacelles, primary saucer, etc)... so you can see where all this is going...

Is this the USS Excelsior, as seen in the NuTrek universe, and also seen in Into Darkness?!?

Extremely intriguing is the colour of this particular starfleet starship - which makes me wonder if this is somekind of Vulcan / Starfleet crossover (perhaps a ship involved with the colony of NuVulcan?).

Worth noting is the registry of this starship: NCC-1729.

Thoughts / discussion...?

 

[WarpFactorZ]

Apart from all your links being broken or blocked, I see no other starship in that image. Can you elaborate?

 

[Norsehound]

Not seeing the red ship anywhere in your (large, please downsize...) photo from Trek 11...

...but I recall not seeing the red ship in the fleet that took off for Vulcan anywhere, but was surprised to see it when I saw Into Darkness the other day! I can accept this being the Excelsior, especially since the Excelsior concept seems to have been commandeered to become the Vengeance.

What I AM interested in seeing is what looks like a Newton-class refitted with Enterprise Nacelles. It's visible through the viewscreen as the Enterprise is panning away from Spacedock, just before going to warp. I recall seeing bright blue buzzard intakes, which at present are only on the new 1701 (and Vengeance, though slatted).

 

[saddestmoon]

I've resized the enterprise movie shot (scaled down). Apologies for not finding a link that works (been difficult locating images, so bear with me while I try...)

The image with the broken links I first posted shows part of a red object (in the bottom left corner of this shot). The shot itself pans right to left, past the Enterprise at dock, and on the far bottom left of the shot, you can see this red / brown starfleet vessel from the front.

The red / brown starship seen at the Spacedock in Into Darkness bears a striking resemblence to the Excelsior concept shown in the previous movies art book.

Personally speaking, I find that very interesting...

 

[Norsehound]

Yeah now I see it, your previous shot was from Trek 11 and didn't show any other ships.

But yeah, pretty sure that's the Excelsior. Wonder if they intend for these ships to be Vulcan... either way, it's a nice change from the all-white hulls of the Federation.

 

[saddestmoon]

Yeah, I had problems the other day (posting this on Rebelscum): what displayed as a shot of the Enterprise at dock from Into Darkness, sometimes displays as a reverse view of the Enterprise at dock, from Trek XI (not sure why it displays differently from what I'm seeing on my screen... weird!).

I agree - it's a nice change to see this red ship, in light of the predominant colourschemes of other starships...

 

[EightiesKid]

Another cool homage to the original movies. Interesting new take on the ship design, i wonder if they will introduce transwarp drive as well? The Vengeance had the new warp system, which could be the nutrek version of transwarp drive.

As a side note, Scotty's shutting down of the Vengeance felt a lot like his sabatoge of the Excelsior in ST3.

 

[saddestmoon]

^^^ Thats a good point, regarding the Vengeance's warp capabilities, incorporating a TransWarp drive.

Scotty certainly did it again - in both Prime and Abramsverse timelines!

 

[Dukhat]

The red / brown starship seen at the Spacedock in Into Darkness bears a striking resemblence to the Excelsior concept shown in the previous movies art book.

Personally speaking, I find that very interesting...

What's even more interesting is the infamous cut scene from STII where Kirk congratulates Sulu on his imminent promotion to captain of the U.S.S. Excelsior, which at the time of TWOK was just a generic ship (the name would be recycled for the "Great Experiment" in TSFS, which Sulu would ironically end up captaining as well...)

Perhaps this is the generic Excelsior that Sulu will end up commanding in the nuUniverse?

 

[Kpnuts]

What I AM interested in seeing is what looks like a Newton-class refitted with Enterprise Nacelles. It's visible through the viewscreen as the Enterprise is panning away from Spacedock, just before going to warp. I recall seeing bright blue buzzard intakes, which at present are only on the new 1701 (and Vengeance, though slatted).

I though tit looked better in the previous film without the blue bussards but maybe that's just me. Hopefully we'll get a better look at other Federation ships in the next film.

 

[shapeshifter]

How are people getting 'Excelsior' out of that tiny bit of visual?
3 Nacelle's? I can only see a tip of what might be one.

The color though does indicate 'Vulcan'... http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/schematics/vulcan_ships.htm

 

[Dukhat]

How are people getting 'Excelsior' out of that tiny bit of visual?
3 Nacelle's? I can only see a tip of what might be one.

Because the OP indicated he saw the ship in its entirety when he saw the movie, and that it was or resembled the Armstrong type ship because it had three nacelles. He then compared this to the ship graphic from the last movie. The ship may not in fact be labeled as "Excelsior NCC-1729" like the graphic shows. That's just speculation on the OP's part. But if it is, it's a nice homage.

 

[shapeshifter]

Ah, thank you.

My apologies to saddestmoon. In my haste to see what you were talking about I forgot to pay attention to what you saying.

*adds to list of things to look for at next viewing*

 

[Norsehound]

The "Art of Star Trek" artbook for the last movie has a small poster image showing a few other starships in comparison to the Enterprise. One of which is the "Excelsior", NCC-1729, which seems to be a sub-class of the Armstrong type.

Ex Astris Scientia has a link to that page.

 

[RAMA]

If true its just another reason to love the movie, theyre really paying attention to the fans as well as general moviegoers.

 

[Norsehound]

well, they're paying attention to the fans who aren't screaming into their ear, "YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG!"

I have hopes to see more starfleet ships in the future of the New Trek universe... I loved the Vengeance, and seeing the stuff around Spacedock was fun.

 

[saddestmoon]

Ah, thank you.

My apologies to saddestmoon. In my haste to see what you were talking about I forgot to pay attention to what you saying.

*adds to list of things to look for at next viewing*

No worries at all.

Sorry that my first post wasn't the clearest either - I had trouble finding links / images that worked, and I probably wasn't the most succinct in my observations...

To clarify: the red ship seen in Into Darkness may not (in fact) be the Excelsior - my reasoning is only based on the earlier concept art, which seems to best match it (as very little can even be made out of the starship, in the Into Darkness movie image, registry and name included).

For those who are going for another viewing of Into Darkness, I recommend looking out for it!

It would mean taking ones eyes of the beauty that is the NCC-1701 however...

 

[Kpnuts]

So in what shot from the film is it best shown off?

 

[saddestmoon]

The red / brown starship seen at the Spacedock in Into Darkness bears a striking resemblence to the Excelsior concept shown in the previous movies art book.

Personally speaking, I find that very interesting...

What's even more interesting is the infamous cut scene from STII where Kirk congratulates Sulu on his imminent promotion to captain of the U.S.S. Excelsior, which at the time of TWOK was just a generic ship (the name would be recycled for the "Great Experiment" in TSFS, which Sulu would ironically end up captaining as well...)

Perhaps this is the generic Excelsior that Sulu will end up commanding in the nuUniverse?

Interesting point! Thanks for highlighting that.

I still have high hopes that Abrams' movies will be a springboard for another Trek TV series.

Personally-speaking, it would be cool to see Sulu take up the helm of a vessel and perhaps head off to explore the galaxy in the opposite direction to the NCC-1701... "Boldly going (in the opposite direction) where no-one had been before..."

 

[SalvorHardin]

I'm watching the History channer Star Trek special and got a low quality screenshot from it. It does indeed look like the Excelsior, 3 nacelles, red color and all.