Spoilers NX Class in Beyond

USS Franklin in the film reminds me of one of the ships that greet the Enterprise at the conclusion of Storm Front. See the extreme left side of the screen in the last shot.

 

you mean an intrepid or neptune?

 

Or a Steamrunner, out of all things...

But I guess there's something Intrepidish about the not-quite-complete saucer and the upswept pylons.

Incidentally, is it USS Franklin or USS Frank Lin on the hull? The heroes may pronounce it without the pause, but they tend to be in a hurry - and the dedication plaque does appear to include the gap!

Timo Saloniemi

 

The ship also had an inferior transporter to the NX-01, being only able to transport cargo until Scotty tinkered with it to transport people.

 

All official material list it as Franklin, one word. It was named in honor of Justin's father 'Frank Lin' however.

The QMx model doesn't have a space on the hull.

 

Do you mean the "Warp Delta" type? It has never been canonically connected to the unseen Neptune class. The ENT novels call it the Ganges class.

 

Although it seems to in fact be mostly coincidence going by designer Sean Hargreaves' statements, I do like that the Franklin's appearance seems to fit well right in between the "Warp Delta" and the the NX-01 designs:

 

I'm not sure where I got Neptune from.

 

There were Neptune-class survey ships, Warp 2 vessels in service with Starfleet for over a decade before NX-01 with the same design of captain's chair, mentioned but not seen in "Singularity" (ENT).

 

I've seen the "warp delta" ships referred to as Neptune class sometimes.

The Intrepid/NV ship is this:

 

Not in any official capacity I know of.

 

Yeah I looked it up on Memory-Alpha/google, Neptune is a fan moniker for the Warp Delta, there is no official connection I can find.

 

The novels nowadays call that delta shape the Ganges class, a name introduced by Christopher Bennett.

The other class for which the Intrepid is the one known onscreen example is unimaginatively known as the Intrepid class.

That leaves two onscreen candidates for the "Neptune class survey ships" that we might argue are of Earthly origin: the one used by the arctic research team in "Regeneration", and the one ferrying Emory Erickson in "Daedalus". Although it may just as well be an unseen class, and for all we know the Franklin is a Neptune class vessel.

Timo Saloniemi

 

I *want* to say as well that the Franklin's transporter signature visually evokes more of the NX-01 transporter, in that the energy flows into/outward the body during transport (depending on dematerialization/rematerialization). Although the Franklin's transporter is definitely more erratic, probably unstable, as indicated by the random flashes of blue sparks.

Beyond got me to start rewatching the Xindi Arc, so I think the intent was there to make the Franklin's transporter somewhat similar to NX-01, or at least a hybrid between Enterprise and the JJverse.

 

Whether the Franklin's transporter was in any functional way different from the Enterprise's, we don't really know. The latter device was "cleared" for use on people for "Broken Bow", and might well be the very same thing installed on Franklin, considering the visual effect and the fictional timeline.

It just gives Scotty a certain feeling of unease that the builders of the device thought they were making a cargo transporter!

Timo Saloniemi

 

If it started out as a pre NX ship, later incorporated into the UFP fleet. It is possible it received an upgrade which made it more capable for lifeform transportation.

 

With the exception of the dedication plaque everything else inuniverse including the Franklin uniforms crearly reads "FRANKLIN":
http://trekcore.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/patch-zoom.jpg
http://trekcore.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/header-franklin-uni.jpg
http://trekcore.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/franklin-maco.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/Cp0zW2G.png

To my eyes there is also a nice and clear starship evolution between Earth/early Federation starships:
Warp Delta/Ganges-class
http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Ganges_class
NV/Intrepid-class
http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Intrepid_class_(Earth)
Poseidon-class
http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Poseidon_class
USS Franklin/"Starship"-class
http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/USS_Franklin
NX-class
http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/NX class
NX refit/Columbia-class
http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Columbia_class

 

Funny - the MACO badge actually has the gap. The oddly thin-armed A can be explained by wrinkling - the greater-than-usual separation between the K and the L cannot.

Just as clearly, the Starfleet badge in the clear shot from the props collection lacks the gap.

Timo Saloniemi

 

To my eyes there is a crease in the fabric between the "K" and the "L" in the MACO t-shirt but my old eyes could be deceiving me.

What is also funny is the printing of the tegistry in the QMx Franklin replica model: http://mightymega.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/qmx_2016_spaceship_models_4.jpg
Again, to me it looks something more like "U.S.S. F R ANKL IN".

 

Such creases could hide parts of either dark of light material, but how could they increase the width of either? It's not as if the vertical line of the L is thinner than usual, either.

And yeah, it really looks like F R ANKL IN on that model... Amusing how there are no good images of the real deal available yet! Then again, the movie never did a good beauty shot; we mostly got butt shots instead, as if we were the ones flying the ship. A directing doctrine carried over from the F&F series? (Gotta confess I never watched a single one.)

Timo Saloniemi