Playing with the Enterprise...

[Warped9]

I love the TOS Enterprise. While I think the TMP may be the most credible looking of all the Trek ships the MJ original remains my favourite. And I think a lot of people feel the same.

That said how might you tweak the design, outside or in, to make it more to your liking?

 

[Captain Robert April]

Larger bridge dome so fewer shenanigans have to be pulled to get it facing forward.

A more clearly delineated engine layout.

Visible, yet subtle, weapons. Phaser emitters, torpedo tubes, that sort of thing. And maneuvering thrusters.

Establishing whether or not the bowling alley is a physical reality or one of the holodeck programs.

 

[B.J.]

Larger bridge dome so fewer shenanigans have to be pulled to get it facing forward.

Which reminds me of the one change I'd make: rotate the external turbolift nub to the left.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Beef up the struts

 

[Gagarin]

External:
Beef up the struts.
Beef up the dorsal.
Covers for or external nubs for weapons, also for thrusters.
3 decks between the command module and the flat part of the saucer, making decks 7 and 8 the rim of the saucer.

Internal:
More gray on the bridge.
Keep the pilot(s) version bridge controls (the white switches/buttons)...never was a fan of the jelly beans.
More of the archways (at intersections?), that once lined the corridor in The Cage, and was limited to the end of the corridor on the standing sets. Those looked like forcefield containment areas to me.
More symetry in the main engineering sets/location. Everything was so lopsided in each version.

 

[caisson2delta]

A little more surface detail on the exterior (some panel lines and possibly a slight aztec effect). I agree with the visible weapons points and the struts being modified. Perhaps a slightly different look to the deflector dish would be cool.

 

[gomtuu20]

The satellite dish looks a little silly considering that they had subspace radio and it was supposed to be a deflector dish. But then again, it looked really cutting edge in 1966.

 

[Herbert1]

I would build the shuttle craft as designed by Matt Jefferies and replace the AMT box design.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I actually like Matt Jefferies' idea that things like sensor arrays and phaser banks should be contained within the Enterprise hull to protect them from being fried from exposure to space radiation or whatever, so I really wouldn't have changed a thing except the aforementioned rotating the external bridge turbolift cap to port.

 

[Maurice]

Minor stuff: A few hatches, an obvious airlock or docking port...and get rid of the windows effectively on the floor on the ship's underside.

 

[scotpens]

External:
Beef up the struts.
Beef up the dorsal.

Heavens, no!

Those graceful, slender pylons, suggesting the masts of a sailing vessel, are a big part of the TOS E's classic look -- although the attachment point of the struts well forward on the nacelles has been the bane of model builders for the last 43 years. Droopy nacelles, anyone?

Larger bridge dome so fewer shenanigans have to be pulled to get it facing forward

Trek fans will argue until the apocalypse about this. Read my lips: In a ship that has artificial gravity and inertial dampers to nullify g-forces, THERE IS NO NEED FOR THE BRIDGE TO FACE DIRECTLY FORWARD! And only three of the bridge positions -- the command chair and the helm and navigation stations -- actually face "forward" anyway.

Establishing whether or not the bowling alley is a physical reality or one of the holodeck programs.

We're talking Trek TOS here. No such things as holodecks for another 80 years or so.

I always assumed the bowling alley mentioned in "The Naked Time" was a figment of Lt. Riley's imagination, and the inclusion of same in the Franz Joseph Enterprise blueprints was an intentional in-joke.

I would build the shuttle craft as designed by Matt Jefferies and replace the AMT box design.

I think Jeffries' rounded, streamlined design actually looks MORE dated today. It reminds me of something from Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers. The boxy design that actually got built, dictated by time and budget constraints, is classic and timeless. As Zefram Cochrane said, "It's simple and clean."

Which, coincidentally, is how I like my women.

 

[Navigator_NCC2120]

Establishing whether or not the bowling alley is a physical reality or one of the holodeck programs.

We're talking Trek TOS here. No such things as holodecks for another 80 years or so.

Actually, TAS episode "The Practical Joker" shows a holodeck on the Enterprise. Here is a link to pictures of it over at trekcore.


Navigator NCC-2120 USS Entente
/\

 

[Green Shirt]

I think Jeffries' rounded, streamlined design actually looks MORE dated today. It reminds me of something from Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers. The boxy design that actually got built, dictated by time and budget constraints, is classic and timeless. As Zefram Cochrane said, "It's simple and clean."

Which, coincidentally, is how I like my women.

Well, who doesn't like their women simple and clean?

 

[Forbin]

I think the only thing I'd do is what Franz Joseph did - add clearly-defined phaser emitters and torpedo tubes. That and maybe add a blue glow behind the nacelle grilles, and red glow in the impulse exhausts.

 

[GeorgeKirk]

I envision the bowling alley as yet another redress of the briefing room with a row of Nintendo Wiis against one wall.

Seriously, though, the only thing I'd do is add some maneuvering thrusters and some visible hatches or docking ports.

 

[Tan Ru]

I have no issues with the production Enterprise.

I like it as it is, or was........

 

[gomtuu20]

I saw the original 11 foot model at the Smithsonian in the 80's. They had made the nacelle caps look like red turkey eyes. Any way, it was hanging low enough to touch it. And I did! It is a very fond memory for me. I found that more thrilling than the stuff from real history. And I love history!

 

[YARN]

Those graceful, slender pylons, suggesting the masts of a sailing vessel, are a big part of the TOS E's classic look -- although the attachment point of the struts well forward on the nacelles has been the bane of model builders for the last 43 years. Droopy nacelles, anyone?

An issue I have with the skinniness of the struts and the "neck" is that there are windows (often lighted) depicted in these areas. If there are windows, then there must be people in these areas, but how? In the neck area, you'd have room for some rather narrow hallways in which people shuffle back and forth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tq0wVRuUFLk&feature=search

The nacelle struts are even worse. A person would really to squeeze into those.

If someone has a plausible explanation for this, I am all ears.

I don't mind the skinniness itself so much, because this is an aesthetic choice. It gives the ship a sort of whispy ethereal grace.

I know some people complain about torsional stresses and how it would be limited in maneuvering (yes, probably a result of frustrated modelers LOL), but there is another way to look at it: The whispiness of these connecting parts might be an overt sign of Starfleet power to the alien races they meet. That is, that they can build a ship that can trade blows with other ships and go through stressful maneuvers with such delicate lines is a sign that the ship must be incredibly well engineered to be able to pull it off.

 

[Forbin]

I've never been sure those three things on the struts are windows, but if they are, I imagine they're just little cubicles or platforms along the Jefferies Tube for people to rest while climbing up to the nacelles.

 

[Nero's Shadow]

Torp tubes section on the neck like the TMP apart from that the TOS enterprise still looks great and I've started to love it more than ever oh beef up the phaser banks too