I've heard it said that the reason Starfleet technology is more advanced in the Abramsverse is due to scans of the Narada made by the Kelvin, which enabled Starfleet to vastly upgrade their systems so they're comparable to a late 24th century level. But then how come Nero is still able to wipe the floor with them and barely receive a scratch from their weapons? You'd think that after 25 years to prepare, the Federation would be able to hold their own a little bit better with the Narada. The same goes for the Klingons.
Starfleet & Klingons trashed too easily?
- Thread starter EJA
- Start date
There's only so much a few scans can do. I would suggest the Enterprise's ultra-fast pulse phasers were designed to defeat Nerada's missiles - they did a far better job of it than Kelvin's TOS phasers and pulse phaser(?) turrets, and that perhaps the ship had more advanced shields to withstand the first attack of the Nerada when the rest of the fleet perished.
Since the Enterprise design features elements of the 2271 TMP refit Enterprise it could be argued that the alternate Starfleet's tech was about 15-20 years ahead of it's prime counterpart by 2258.
The new Enterprise is much bigger than the TOS version (725m vs 285m), but the Kelvin (457m) was huge too. It's possible Starfleet chose to make alt-Ent one of their bigger ships (23c equivelent to Enterprise-D) instead of smaller (equivelant to Voyager) like TOS.
Don't confuse the updated modern visuals for a ship "more advanced" than, say, the Enterprise-E. It's only been reimagined. A modern film with 1960's or 1970's style sets woudn't have worked.
Since the Enterprise design features elements of the 2271 TMP refit Enterprise it could be argued that the alternate Starfleet's tech was about 15-20 years ahead of it's prime counterpart by 2258.
The new Enterprise is much bigger than the TOS version (725m vs 285m), but the Kelvin (457m) was huge too. It's possible Starfleet chose to make alt-Ent one of their bigger ships (23c equivelent to Enterprise-D) instead of smaller (equivelant to Voyager) like TOS.
Don't confuse the updated modern visuals for a ship "more advanced" than, say, the Enterprise-E. It's only been reimagined. A modern film with 1960's or 1970's style sets woudn't have worked.
Of course, all that is just my fan speculation, nothing more 
The real-life reason for the "upgrades" is an excuse for a new artistic direction, no different to the "refit" of the TMP Enterprise.
Back about my theories: The idea that the TOS Enterprise may be a smaller Starfleet ship rather than the biggest possible size upsets some (no idea why - I think it's an ego thing
). I see it as the 23rd century versions of the Enterprise-D and Voyager, two ships vastly different in size but with the same abilities.
The real-life reason for the "upgrades" is an excuse for a new artistic direction, no different to the "refit" of the TMP Enterprise.
Back about my theories: The idea that the TOS Enterprise may be a smaller Starfleet ship rather than the biggest possible size upsets some (no idea why - I think it's an ego thing
). I see it as the 23rd century versions of the Enterprise-D and Voyager, two ships vastly different in size but with the same abilities.
From a story telling standpoint the Narada kicking the asses of the Klingons and Starfleet sets up the Narada as a formidable villian. A Goliath that our heroic Davids must slay.
In-Universe, the Narada has the real deal original tech, not some knock offs made from a scan. The UFP and the Klingons may lack the tech or knowledge to duplicate everything they've scanned.
It may also be that none of the Starfleet technology we saw was specifically created in response to the Kelvin incident. Perhaps no worthwhile information was ever gleaned from that. At least the movie doesn't indicate that this would have happened: Pike's dissertation on the incident is never brought up as a possible source of authentic/useful information on their new opponent, but merely as a curiosity, a source of vague implications.
Could be that the big Enterprise was built for a war with the Romulans. In the regular universe, nobody was expecting such a war in the 2250s. In the new universe, we hear that Starfleet has some sort of contact with Romulus - they know nuances of the language, they are not surprised by the fact that Vulcan-lookalikes would identify themselves as Romulan (or "former Romulan" or whatever), and overhearing a report on Romulan activity doesn't send Uhura babbling about the resurgence of a century-old threat. Perhaps the Romulans made themselves known a few decades earlier in the new universe, in a violent sneak attack just like the TOS one, and Starfleet responded by building a new battleship?
Timo Saloniemi
Could be that the big Enterprise was built for a war with the Romulans. In the regular universe, nobody was expecting such a war in the 2250s. In the new universe, we hear that Starfleet has some sort of contact with Romulus - they know nuances of the language, they are not surprised by the fact that Vulcan-lookalikes would identify themselves as Romulan (or "former Romulan" or whatever), and overhearing a report on Romulan activity doesn't send Uhura babbling about the resurgence of a century-old threat. Perhaps the Romulans made themselves known a few decades earlier in the new universe, in a violent sneak attack just like the TOS one, and Starfleet responded by building a new battleship?
Timo Saloniemi
OTOH, the big Enterprise might also have been built because the new timeline features fewer military threats than the TOS one did.
After all, most of the Enterprises (ENT, TOS movies, TNG) have been bristling with clearly visible weapons. However, the big ship of STXI only has six visible twin phaser turrets (these are constantly visible, making it a bit unlikely although not impossible that there would be invisible or retracting ones in addition), which is fewer than in any other design save perhaps the somewhat vaguely armed TOS ship. Apparently, the big mama has no secondary hull weapons.
Perhaps even the uniquely bright white finish of the STXI ship could be used to argue that this is not a military vessel that would want to hide in the darkness of space?
Timo Saloniemi
After all, most of the Enterprises (ENT, TOS movies, TNG) have been bristling with clearly visible weapons. However, the big ship of STXI only has six visible twin phaser turrets (these are constantly visible, making it a bit unlikely although not impossible that there would be invisible or retracting ones in addition), which is fewer than in any other design save perhaps the somewhat vaguely armed TOS ship. Apparently, the big mama has no secondary hull weapons.
Perhaps even the uniquely bright white finish of the STXI ship could be used to argue that this is not a military vessel that would want to hide in the darkness of space?
Timo Saloniemi
The STXI Enterprise has two aft-facing photon torpedo launchers on the arch beneath the shuttlebay (and oddly only one forward launcher in the neck).
Considering the NX01, the Kelvin, the TMP and STXI Enterprises all had visible hull plating and weapons ports, I'm of the belief that the TOS Enterprise was some experiment in disguising agressive features in frontline ships that was quickly abandoned.
About the size, it would appear that a movement toward compact ships with similar abilities (i.e. 23rd century equivelents of Voyager instead of the Galaxy class) occured in the prime universe between 2233 and 2245, which didn't occur in the alternate universe. The cause of that could be something as simple as Dr. Marvick ("Is There in Truth No Beauty") not being involved in this Enterprise's design.
Considering the NX01, the Kelvin, the TMP and STXI Enterprises all had visible hull plating and weapons ports, I'm of the belief that the TOS Enterprise was some experiment in disguising agressive features in frontline ships that was quickly abandoned.
About the size, it would appear that a movement toward compact ships with similar abilities (i.e. 23rd century equivelents of Voyager instead of the Galaxy class) occured in the prime universe between 2233 and 2245, which didn't occur in the alternate universe. The cause of that could be something as simple as Dr. Marvick ("Is There in Truth No Beauty") not being involved in this Enterprise's design.
Of course, NX-01 did have gunports to cover the armament most of the time, and the Kelvin had at least some retractable guns (although the red-beam guns may also have been retractable, and Robau simply extended them from the very start as a precaution). Kirk's ship could have had the same stuff, merely constructed to somewhat higher standard of finish, and the soft focus of 1960s, sorry, 2260s camera work did the rest...
"In a Mirror, Darkly" gives us neatly retracting phasers on the sister ship Defiant. The gunports on the Kelvin need to be bigger because the multi-barrel swiveling guns beneath are bulkier. For all we know, the STXI ship can also go porcelain smooth if she really wishes - or then protrude all sorts of plot devices from unexpected locations if the script so requires.
Marvick looked a bit young to have affected the design as such. Probably, much like Leah Brahms, Larry Marvick only influenced the design of the latest standard of engines installed aboard the veteran Enterprise... So without him, Kirk in TOS might have been flying a compact ship that had nacelles like those of the Kelvin generation!
To be sure, the jury is still out on how big the STXI ships really are. The hero vessel comes in a variety of sizes, with some surface features favoring the 700m and some the 300m ballpark. The supporting Kelvin style ships have few or no surface features for establishing scale (comparisons with shuttles or spaced bodies are a bit too ambiguous), so we're left with only one hard (that is, thoroughly consistent) fact: that the Kelvin style of ships was more or less the same size as the Enterprise herself, with saucers of similar diameter and engines of similar length.
The next movie will hopefully help us out here. Until then, we need not assume that Kirk in TOS had a ship barely one third the length of his STXI ride - she could have been merely 10-15% smaller.
Timo Saloniemi
I subscribe to the "alternate universe before Nero arrived" theory, so that would explain away the differences between TOS and Star Trek XI. But in regards to the Narada totally pwning Starfleet and the Klingons, I just chalked that up to the Narada having 24th-Century technology that made almost everything in the 23rd-Century Abramsverse weak in comparison--nothing short of a red matter detonation could really stop it, IMO...
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