While I would have liked to have seen the TMP Enterprise model used at some point, I think I'm glad they made the decision they did with the Stargazer. To have Picard's first command, the ship he always still pines for, his "one true love" as he discussed with Scotty... to have that ship be the same as Kirk's ship... that just doesn't work for me.
Should "Star Trek IV" have introduced a different NCC-1701-A?
- Thread starter dswynne1
- Start date
The change in bridge is compelling. I liked the idea of Ent-A being a rechristened Yorktown, but it made little sense onscreen against all the ship's systemic problems in TFF. And what of Yorktown's crew? Marooned on Ceti Alpha V?
I also have a hard time believing Starfleet just has a ship lying around, but this is easier to swallow assuming this is a TMP/TWOK design (and build) Yorktown undergoing a MAJOR internal upgrade to bring its systems up to Excelsior standard. Scotty's line makes sense in this context, again assuming this ship was built from scratch as the TMP-refit design. From his perspective (a very old TOS enterprise), even a TMP era ship would be new.
OK lots of rationalizing going on here. Feel free to pick apart. All in good fun, of course.
Sigh. You win. I would have LOVED to see a Connie in TMP, but, yes, it would have taken away from TMP. Even pulling out all the stops in "All Good Things" and having Kirk and Ent-A show up to help at the temporal anomaly is just fanwank. Fanboys can't win on this one. The best we get is the tease in "The Best of Both Worlds"
YARN
Fleet Captain
The best we get is the tease in "The Best of Both Worlds"
What tease is this?
The best we get is the tease in "The Best of Both Worlds"
What tease is this?
My guess is he's referring to what looked to be a refit secondary hull in the debris field at Wolf 359.
The best we get is the tease in "The Best of Both Worlds"
What tease is this?
The destroyed model of the Enterprise from STIII was used as wreckage in BoBW. The saucer was seen at the start of the scene, and the secondary hull was seen before the commercial break. Both pieces being quite large, they were prominently seen in the shots. However, since there was never a scene of the ship intact, we can speculate that either there was in fact a Connie at Wolf 359, or that we simply saw similar-looking parts from an entirely different class of ship.
Same goes for DS9's "Sound of Her Voice." The STIII saucer was used again as wreckage of the U.S.S. Olympia (along with a destroyed Reliant nacelle and pylon from STII). Since neither of those parts go together in any combination of ship class we know of, it's possible that the Olympia was not a Connie but another class which used similar parts.
The best we get is the tease in "The Best of Both Worlds"
What tease is this?
My guess is he's referring to what looked to be a refit secondary hull in the debris field at Wolf 359.
Which would be this screencap.
Bob
Or assigned to a brand-new USS Yorktown (in VOY's "Flashback," Tuvok's father was said to be aboard a Yorktown at the time of Star Trek VI). Maybe that Yorktown was an Excelsior-class ship.
The change in bridge is compelling. I liked the idea of Ent-A being a rechristened Yorktown, but it made little sense onscreen against all the ship's systemic problems in TFF. And what of Yorktown's crew? Marooned on Ceti Alpha V?
I've always figured that it was a refit-in-progress when the big giant log thing showed up. After Kirk & co.'s adventures in 80s land, Starfleet was instructed to slap 1701-A on it and it was given to Kirk as part of his "punishment."
Whether it was Yorktown, or Ti-Ho, or whatever, it doesn't matter. The previous crew was probably assigned to other postings, and the CO overseeing the refit was likely not going to take command upon completion anyway.
As for the crew? They weren't technically being punished by being assigned to the -A, but their careers were probably damaged enough that they wouldn't be posted anywhere better. Except for Sulu, who finally got Excelsior (that bucket of bolts!).
Spock stayed on because he would "stand with [his] shipmates," and as he told Sarek, "they are [his] friends."
That's how I see it.
Whether it was Yorktown, or Ti-Ho, or whatever, it doesn't matter. The previous crew was probably assigned to other postings, and the CO overseeing the refit was likely not going to take command upon completion anyway.
As for the crew? They weren't technically being punished by being assigned to the -A, but their careers were probably damaged enough that they wouldn't be posted anywhere better. Except for Sulu, who finally got Excelsior (that bucket of bolts!).
Spock stayed on because he would "stand with [his] shipmates," and as he told Sarek, "they are [his] friends."
That's how I see it.
And being severely crippled, not even able to keep its life-support systems going.
I always got the impression that the Enterprise-B was the first Excelsior class ship produced after the prototype. But that's just my speculation. Honestly, I'd prefer that the Enterprise-A wasn't the Yorktown (but was an older ship that was renamed), and that Tuvok's dad was serving on the Yorktown we see in STIV.
Was the Enterprise-C an Ambassador-class?
Yup.
But that doesn't explain why it was decommissioned only after six years.
I was thinking that if it was rushed into service and the Excelsior class was now the new standard and after all the damage from Chang it wasn't worth repairing and putting her back in service. It is also possible that there was more time between TFF and TUC. We did see another bridge upgrade. So it might have been more than 6 years.
There's the problem of Uhura receiving a subspace transmission ordering them home (ship and crew) to be decommissioned...too soon after the battle for Starfleet to even know what condition the Enterprise was in.
The matter was discussed, approved, the signal sent, and it arrived shortly after the battle.
Starfleet was already going to mothball the A regardless. The Excelsior class was just the way Starfleet wanted to go, and with the new era of peace, shedding the old wartime motif to the fleet (ie getting rid of the Constitution class that did most of the fighting) was probably high on their list of priorities after Khitomer.
The matter was discussed, approved, the signal sent, and it arrived shortly after the battle.
Starfleet was already going to mothball the A regardless. The Excelsior class was just the way Starfleet wanted to go, and with the new era of peace, shedding the old wartime motif to the fleet (ie getting rid of the Constitution class that did most of the fighting) was probably high on their list of priorities after Khitomer.
But: (from IMDB)
"Captain's Log, stardate 9529.1. This is the final cruise of the Starship Enterprise under my command. This ship and her history will shortly become the care of another crew. To them and their posterity will we commit our future. They will continue the voyages we have begun, and journey to all the undiscovered countries, boldly going where no man... where no *one* has gone before."
Implying that ENT-A is not to be decommissioned, but turned over to new hands. I know this is supposed to be a metaphorical baton passing to TNG, but in-universe, I have to assume this means ENT-A will live on. Uhura's earlier statement about being decommissioned, appears to have been countermanded by this point (we don't know how long after the battle this log is actually recorded). Perhaps Kirk showed that there's life in the Connie after all. ENT-A did after all beat Chang's cloaked BOP, while all Excelsior did was take torpedo hits. YMMV.
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For how long? Just the span of time before they christened the Ent-B? How long was that? I think Kirk was just being overly dramatic.
How can Kirk countermand a Starfleet order?
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Because, "only Nixon could go to China."
