Planet of the Titans U.S.S. Enterprise
- Thread starter LordSarvain
- Start date
Have I ever mentioned how awesome I think this ship is? Seriously, this is one of my all-time favorite Trek variant designs, which is saying something considering I never cared much for the McQuarrie version. What you've done with it simply amazing, and I love the texturing style you've started to use for it.
Keeping an eye on this one.
Keeping an eye on this one.
Amazing work. Interestingly enough, I rather wish they'd gone with this design for the E-D. I've always thought that (intentionally or otherwise) the E-D shared many of the same general lines as this ship. Unfortunately, the E-D wound up with a big, duck-billed primary hull that kind of makes the design less attractive, IMHO.
This design, with the circular rather than ellipse-shaped primary hull looks much nicer.
Who knows ... 30 years from now when it occurs to someone to reboot TNG a la TOS, perhaps a design like this will find a place.
I definitely like the telescoping radar dish, but I'd probably place it directly behind the bridge rather than off to one side. Something about symmetry in starships feels sleeker to me.
Dakota Smith
This design, with the circular rather than ellipse-shaped primary hull looks much nicer.
Who knows ... 30 years from now when it occurs to someone to reboot TNG a la TOS, perhaps a design like this will find a place.
I definitely like the telescoping radar dish, but I'd probably place it directly behind the bridge rather than off to one side. Something about symmetry in starships feels sleeker to me.
Dakota Smith
I didn't think this design could get any better, but you have done it.
In the other McQuarrie-prise threads here, we learned that Ken Adam, who did the space station in MOONRAKER, wanted a very flat saucer that was designed to become a base, where the bridge, landing pad, and antenna farm would all rise up, making for a very busy design. McQuarries own saucer had a rounder edge than Adams did.
This design here is an excellant intermediate choice. It might be nice to perhaps have a similar extensible dish on the bottom of the secondary hull. You might remember the SNARK, a proposed design for the Nostromo in ALIEN, that had an entire topside that was a dish. A smaller version of that on the bottom would allow this very large ship to be like our old submarine, the Triton--a radar picket sub that was very large and was the only dual reactor sub the US ever had.
This ship, what with the dish treatment you have added, screams section 31--a ship designed to be a mobile listening post as much as a carrier...
In the other McQuarrie-prise threads here, we learned that Ken Adam, who did the space station in MOONRAKER, wanted a very flat saucer that was designed to become a base, where the bridge, landing pad, and antenna farm would all rise up, making for a very busy design. McQuarries own saucer had a rounder edge than Adams did.
This design here is an excellant intermediate choice. It might be nice to perhaps have a similar extensible dish on the bottom of the secondary hull. You might remember the SNARK, a proposed design for the Nostromo in ALIEN, that had an entire topside that was a dish. A smaller version of that on the bottom would allow this very large ship to be like our old submarine, the Triton--a radar picket sub that was very large and was the only dual reactor sub the US ever had.
This ship, what with the dish treatment you have added, screams section 31--a ship designed to be a mobile listening post as much as a carrier...
So here's the pics...
Beautiful ship! I would love to have seen this design used as the Enterprise-D in TNG. Much better looking!
In a way I kind of agree - it'd be interesting to see a TNG-aesthetic applied to these proportions.
As it looks right now, it makes me think of some kind of late TOS / pre-TMP era Excelsior concept testbed (maybe one that ended up being lost for some Treknical reason?). Either way, it looks gorgeous - and much better without the blue glowy thing above the deflector
As it looks right now, it makes me think of some kind of late TOS / pre-TMP era Excelsior concept testbed (maybe one that ended up being lost for some Treknical reason?). Either way, it looks gorgeous - and much better without the blue glowy thing above the deflector
Ana absolutely gorgeous design which defies traditions. The antenna dish seems a bit out of place, but overall this is a truly amazing ship design.
An unorthodox primary hull, nice saucer, big powerfu; ylons... What's not to love?
An unorthodox primary hull, nice saucer, big powerfu; ylons... What's not to love?
I think it was mentioned earlier in the thread, but if not...
The Main hull of this concept as originally drawn was able to land on planets and act as a research base. That's when the dish would be deployed normally.
Ahh, she's capable of landing, eh? That makes it a good deal more interesting and practical to have some sort of a dish on the ship.
This is the same sort of mission the later Nova class ships were designed to accomplish. Nice to see some vessels designed to incorporate landing and research capacities into their mission profiles.
Will there be any landing pads incorporated into the design?
This is the same sort of mission the later Nova class ships were designed to accomplish. Nice to see some vessels designed to incorporate landing and research capacities into their mission profiles.
Will there be any landing pads incorporated into the design?
Thanks for the comments everyone. As for the position of the dish, I like it off center, a little asymmetry breaks up the mirror effect. As for landing pads, I'm leaning towards no. I realize that in the concept drawings the antennae are only deployed when the primary hull is shown on a planet's surface, however, I really don't see a need for that in a universe with transporters and shuttlecraft. So why did I bother with the dish at all, just more of nod to the original concept and I thought it might generate some thoughtful speculation as to what it's purpose actually is. Is it another deflector? A sensor array? Communications? A weapon? I'm just going to leave the explanation blank for now. I'm planning on getting some work done on it this weekend so hopefully I'll have some more pics up soon. In the mean time...
Some other stuff I'm working on...
Some other stuff I'm working on...
I keep coming back to this, I can not help but feel this is one of the best starship designs there is. Truly one of the most evocative design I've seen. Powerfull, gracefull, looks like she's build for speed and power yet somehow when you see it there's a tranquill effect to her.
Simply stunning.
Simply stunning.
Bluefin and Sineus both look promising; not so sure about the other two just yet - I'm ready to be persuaded otherwise though! 
On the antenna: I think it looks better when not deployed, as though it might some some other kind of high-powered sensor dome (kept separate from the Bridge dome to allow easy swapover of either unit without having to dick about with the other...)
I too would love to see a TNG version of the NX-27CLN; or even a commissioned TMP/Excelsior production run, assuming trials were successful.
On the antenna: I think it looks better when not deployed, as though it might some some other kind of high-powered sensor dome (kept separate from the Bridge dome to allow easy swapover of either unit without having to dick about with the other...)
I too would love to see a TNG version of the NX-27CLN; or even a commissioned TMP/Excelsior production run, assuming trials were successful.
