PIC S3 Ships & Tech
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Memory Alpha most likely
Dave Blass has posted the Enterprise-F specs: https://twitter.com/DaveBlass/status/1647227842093109255
Aside aside: it was just over twenty-six years between the time fans first saw the bridge of the USS Enterprise in 1966, and its (partial) recreation for the TNG epsiode "Relics" in 1992. However, it's now closer to THIRTY-six years between the first appearance of the Enterprise-D bridge in 1987 and this episode's recreation of the set in 2023. Feel old yet?
But about the E-D bridge:
- People commenting on the stark lighting should recognize that lighting technology is fundamentally different than it was in 1987. For one thing, there incandescent bulbs aren't being used anymore, and flourescents (the tube lights, which were used in a lot of the E-D set bridge both in the accent lighting and backlit displays) are rare. Everything is LED now, which tends to emit a harsher, whiter light than older tech. Here they filmed everything with LEDs and tone-matched it as much as possible in post. Robert Duncan McNeil has commented on the changes in lighting over the years in his Voyager podcast, noting you can't even do the old "flickering lighting" effects on battle-damaged ships with the tube lights that you used to.
- Geordi hasn't gotten around to finding a 2360s vintage forward camera - the viewer image looks like it's being shot through a layer of glass like on the Titan and other ships of this era, and not like there's basically nothing there. :P
- There's already been discussion about why LaForge chose THIS version of the Enterprise bridge. Given how trashed the bridge was at the end of Generations (you could literally see the bridge from holes in the ready room walls!), it does make sense that he retrieved a module from some other Galaxy-class ship (which had similarly been upgraded in the interim) and restored that. As it stands the dedication plaque is a replica, or at least the Starfleet logo is.
- On that, the TNG-TM suggested that the E-D launched with a temporary bridge module that was capable of ejection and independent flight, and THAT may have been the bridge we saw in the first season. That module may have been sitting in storage somewhere too.
- And it bears mention that Galaxy-class starships seem to be getting upgrades by the end of the TNG series run anyway - the USS Odyssey had a different bridge too, and if they were indeed plug-and-play, an older Odyssey bridge could be one of several Galaxy-class modules that were popped out and put away against future use. Noting of course that the big reason they didn't use the TNG bridge on the Odyssey anyway was because it was already being used on the TNG finale and was immediately refurbed for Generations.
- Variety has posted a very nice article on the recreation of the set:. Clearly the Okudas were brought on specifically with this set in mind, but their influence on the show's look was invaluable. And all the stuff on the set this week and that we'll see next week was shot in TWO DAYS..!
Edit: Dave Blass has tweeted that the dedication plaque was the original, which is strange because the aforementioned Starfleet logo is flatter and shinier than what we saw on TNG. Perhaps LaForge polished it down a bit TOO much as a sign of overwhelming nostalgia.
Mark
But about the E-D bridge:
- People commenting on the stark lighting should recognize that lighting technology is fundamentally different than it was in 1987. For one thing, there incandescent bulbs aren't being used anymore, and flourescents (the tube lights, which were used in a lot of the E-D set bridge both in the accent lighting and backlit displays) are rare. Everything is LED now, which tends to emit a harsher, whiter light than older tech. Here they filmed everything with LEDs and tone-matched it as much as possible in post. Robert Duncan McNeil has commented on the changes in lighting over the years in his Voyager podcast, noting you can't even do the old "flickering lighting" effects on battle-damaged ships with the tube lights that you used to.
- Geordi hasn't gotten around to finding a 2360s vintage forward camera - the viewer image looks like it's being shot through a layer of glass like on the Titan and other ships of this era, and not like there's basically nothing there. :P
- There's already been discussion about why LaForge chose THIS version of the Enterprise bridge. Given how trashed the bridge was at the end of Generations (you could literally see the bridge from holes in the ready room walls!), it does make sense that he retrieved a module from some other Galaxy-class ship (which had similarly been upgraded in the interim) and restored that. As it stands the dedication plaque is a replica, or at least the Starfleet logo is.
- On that, the TNG-TM suggested that the E-D launched with a temporary bridge module that was capable of ejection and independent flight, and THAT may have been the bridge we saw in the first season. That module may have been sitting in storage somewhere too.
- And it bears mention that Galaxy-class starships seem to be getting upgrades by the end of the TNG series run anyway - the USS Odyssey had a different bridge too, and if they were indeed plug-and-play, an older Odyssey bridge could be one of several Galaxy-class modules that were popped out and put away against future use. Noting of course that the big reason they didn't use the TNG bridge on the Odyssey anyway was because it was already being used on the TNG finale and was immediately refurbed for Generations.
- Variety has posted a very nice article on the recreation of the set:. Clearly the Okudas were brought on specifically with this set in mind, but their influence on the show's look was invaluable. And all the stuff on the set this week and that we'll see next week was shot in TWO DAYS..!
Edit: Dave Blass has tweeted that the dedication plaque was the original, which is strange because the aforementioned Starfleet logo is flatter and shinier than what we saw on TNG. Perhaps LaForge polished it down a bit TOO much as a sign of overwhelming nostalgia.
Mark
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Excellent article! It’s possible that the plaque itself was the original, but the insignia (identical to the ones worn on the uniforms) fell off over time and was replaced by the flat one. Strange, as they technically could have used the one that was chirping at Picard from the box holding his old uniform in the S3 premiere.
I think it works though, as they needed the flat, more chromed, version of the insignia to do that neat little focus-shift reflection sequence. The original had more of a matte finish and never could have allowed that.
I think it works though, as they needed the flat, more chromed, version of the insignia to do that neat little focus-shift reflection sequence. The original had more of a matte finish and never could have allowed that.
Someone said the flat-badge plaque was used in Generations.
Dave Blass has posted the Enterprise-F specs: https://twitter.com/DaveBlass/status/1647227842093109255
Honestly, I never liked the look of the F... it just looked.... off.
I was actually surprised that design was picked as the ENT-F in ST:O originally....
My main issue was the gap in the neck, there really isn't any need for it.
But they went with a thin spindly neck (relative to the width of the StarDrive section) w/ the various Constitution Classes.
To a thick stout neck, like Otis from WWE, for the Enterprise-B when they went with the Excelsior Class.
That toughens out the neck structure with just more mass and thickness / armor.
Then the Ambassador Class maintains a similar neck thickness to the the Excelsior Class, but widens the StarDrive section again.
Then the Galaxy Class does the same thing and just sizes everything up.
Then the Sovereign Class gets rid of the neck and directly bonds the Saucer to the StarDrive section, therefore eliminating the weakness of having a neck.
Now with the Odyssey Class, they bring back the thick neck but have 2x of them on the outter ends.
Why bring back structural weakness and have a gap that a shuttle can fly through?
If the gap was used as a carrier launch deck, I could understand, but it wasn't used for that purpose.
There's a giant gap for the sake of it.
What next, adding a 3rd neck in the center for whatever class gets assigned to the Enterprise-G?
I’ve always said that the Odyssey class suffers from Oberthitis. If you look at it, it really is an upscaled Oberth.
While I agree that having two necks doesn’t make any conventional sense, neither does stuff like the giant honking gap in the middle of a Romulan warbird, or proportionately tiny warp nacelles on an Intrepid compared to every design before and after, or <waves at 99% of 32nd century Federation starship designs> all of THAT. It’s all sci-fi, it’s all good, and there is absolutely some unfathomable science behind every one of these design choices that makes sense to someone. Warp field dynamics for that size, saving mass in that part of the hull to make up for somewhere else, structural limits for the alloys that make them up, who knows?
Mark
Mark
The picture on Memory Alpha is the first version of the plaque. They replaced it in later seasons. https://tng.trekcore.com/hd/albums/season-5/5x04/silicon-avatar-hd-085.jpg
Springfield.
Style points.
Or Miranda, for that matter. Why support the torpedo pod with a big arching superstructure when a single, short pylon can handle it? And two more shorter ones for those phaser mounts? Because it looks cool...
Mark
I like Ex-Astris-Scientia's description of the Enterprise-F: "pompous fat bucket". Ex Astris Scientia - Star Trek Picard (PIC) Season 3 (ex-astris-scientia.org)
Dave Blass gave us a closer look at the graphic display seen early in "Vox". A second Clark was replaced with the Cobb.
(5) Dave Blass on Twitter: "In #StarTrekPicard "Vox" FRONTIER DAY has finally arrived. Starfleet has assembled an impressive display and so did out Playback Team. The Twisted Media team with @ajarvis_art Casey Felt, Graphics with @MikeOkuda Geoffrey Mandel and @ToddVideo with Video Tech. Stellar work The… https://t.co/nBVSfqf916" / Twitter
And they goofed up with the shuttle taking the TNG regulars to the Enterprise-D. An interior schematic showed a shuttle with a different configuration to the Type 14 shuttlecraft, which is seen transporting them. This goof is made possible by a tightened budget.
Dave Blass gave us a closer look at the graphic display seen early in "Vox". A second Clark was replaced with the Cobb.
(5) Dave Blass on Twitter: "In #StarTrekPicard "Vox" FRONTIER DAY has finally arrived. Starfleet has assembled an impressive display and so did out Playback Team. The Twisted Media team with @ajarvis_art Casey Felt, Graphics with @MikeOkuda Geoffrey Mandel and @ToddVideo with Video Tech. Stellar work The… https://t.co/nBVSfqf916" / Twitter
And they goofed up with the shuttle taking the TNG regulars to the Enterprise-D. An interior schematic showed a shuttle with a different configuration to the Type 14 shuttlecraft, which is seen transporting them. This goof is made possible by a tightened budget.
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The neck as a "structural weakness" argument never made much, if any, sense. For starters the bridge is right on top of the ship waving its willy about, and the warp pylons are much more effective targets for crippling, if not, destroying a starship. The Sovereign-class is even more vulnerable with two great big honking warp nacelles attached atop very thin and wide pylons. Easy targets all round. The Intrepid-class makes more sense, but that ship gets shit for its tiny warp engines and pylons.
Don't even get me started on mounting the Bridge on top like a Sea Faring Naval vessel. I've never agreed with that design decision. My Head Canon has the Bridge moved to be somewhere inside the center of the Saucer some-where.
Even the same StarShip class might have a few options on where to mount their bridge in the middle of the Saucer so as to not be a tactical weakness.
The one aspect of the 32nd century that I really found interesting is the independent flying Warp Nacelles, but that seems to be a few steps into the future.
In my Head Canon for the 26th century, the Warp Nacelles are modular and can be detached & re-atached in the field at STL speeds, like docking the captain's Yacht or Saucer section. New safety systems allow for no back pressure from the anything happening to the Warp Nacelles to feed back through the EPS systems if one goes down.
Also Backup Mini Warp Nacelles for Warp Coasting like Commander Cockings USS Horizon becomes standard.
This way, if a "Primary Warp Nacelle" gets damaged mid battle, you can shunt it and continue Warp travel w/o losing your Warp Bubble and getting kicked out into Normal space.
Personally, I'm a big fan of smaller Warp Nacelles and pylons, but not everybody agrees for various reasons.
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