Spoilers Starship Design in Star Trek: Picard

[Kpnuts]

Please define cutouts, because as far as I can tell a vast majority of Eaves designs don't have cutouts, unless we have a different definition of cutout.

A lack of clean lines. Angles and curves being interrupted by differently angled geometry.

ie. elevations and variations on the saucer and nacelles here:

https://www.eaglemoss.com/uploads/153901325373795/original.jpg
https://www.syfy.com/sites/syfy/files/styles/1400xauto/public/trek_4.jpg
https://www.eaglemoss.com/uploads/153313205827159/original.jpg

 

[Spock Must Diet!]

But then you lose the stealth fighter look, which it was designed to evoke. You need harsh angles for that, and sadly harsh angles = low poly to some.

I don’t know that it was meant to appear stealth so much as mean and eeeeeeevil. The stealth thing maybe is a beneficial afterthought. I mean, I don’t think sensors work like radar, and the ship can’t cloak.

The designer probably went with what he knew. Unfortunately, what he knew was about as smooth as a character from Goldeneye for N64.

 

[cooleddie74]

The NX-01 looks better than any Starfleet ship we've yet seen in either DSC or PIC with the arguable exception of the DSC Enterprise, and that's just a Matt Jefferies design altered for the new series.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

The NX-01 looks better than any Starfleet ship we've yet seen in either DSC or PIC with the arguable exception of the DSC Enterprise, and that's just a Matt Jefferies design altered for the new series.

I thought the NX-01 was just the Akira Class flipped upside down, scaled down, and modified?

 

[cooleddie74]

It pretty much is, but it still looks better than most of the Starfleet ships in the new series.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

It pretty much is, but it still looks better than most of the Starfleet ships in the new series.

Well yeah, they actually put in significant effort in designing it, down to each deck.

 

[cooleddie74]

"But it's just an Akira ripoff!" Well, if you want to spin what Doug Drexler did as "ripping off" the FC starship design I guess you're entitled to hold that view. But the Shenzhou has a lot of echoes of both the NX-01 and the Akira-class starships and some people treat that starship design as the greatest thing in DSC.

To each their own but as Doug Drexler himself once said and I paraphrase: "all Star Trek starships echo the original Matt Jefferies Enterprise and they're all just variations on the one theme."

 

[valkyrie013]

Vektor came in 2nd or 3rd.. I love the design of the Megelanic class.. ( Sorry.. I go for original designer name than some tools at Cryptic..)
I do like the Oddesey class, but i REALY like the Aventine design by Mark!

 

[Spock Must Diet!]

Odyssey, but especially the Aventine, would have done nicely as well.

There is some good work out there, if they would just tap into it.

 

[Dukhat]

The NX-01 looks better than any Starfleet ship we've yet seen in either DSC or PIC with the arguable exception of the DSC Enterprise, and that's just a Matt Jefferies design altered for the new series.

I thought the NX-01 was just the Akira Class flipped upside down, scaled down, and modified?

"But it's just an Akira ripoff!" Well, if you want to spin what Doug Drexler did as "ripping off" the FC starship design I guess you're entitled to hold that view. But the Shenzhou has a lot of echoes of both the NX-01 and the Akira-class starships and some people treat that starship design as the greatest thing in DSC.

To each their own but as Doug Drexler himself once said and I paraphrase: "all Star Trek starships echo the original Matt Jefferies Enterprise and they're all just variations on the one theme."

Do you know why the NX-01 looks so much like the Akira? Drexler mentioned on his now defunct blog that the producers of ENT actually wanted the Akira class ship as the NX-01, without any modifications at all. Their rationale was that it was just a background ship in FC and nobody noticed it; therefore it would be perfectly fine as a believable 22nd century Earth ship. Yes, this is true.

Drexler was the one who made modifications to the original Akira design to turn it into the NX-01 we know. I've never liked the design, but at least Doug went out of his way and did his best to correct a stupid decision on UPN's part (one of many stupid decisions from UPN, as was learned later.)

 

[cooleddie74]

Yep. I knew. He was given the ship to use and did his best to make it as pre-TOS retro as possible, and I think he did a great job.

 

[Gonzo]

NX01 always looked believable to me.

It fit pretty well, they kept the external style for the Discoprise which looks OK as well.

 

[Timo]

...It's almost as if they cared. That is, as if the folks doing the bidding of the folks in charge had ideas about how it all fit together.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Ronald Held]

NX-01 looks reasonable from the exterior.

 

[David cgc]

"But it's just an Akira ripoff!" Well, if you want to spin what Doug Drexler did as "ripping off" the FC starship design I guess you're entitled to hold that view. But the Shenzhou has a lot of echoes of both the NX-01 and the Akira-class starships and some people treat that starship design as the greatest thing in DSC.

I always thought the critical mistake was the first unveiling of the NX-01 was a top-down thumbnail view, where the similarities are greatest and, at the size, it was impossible to see the differences aside from the nacelles. As soon as I saw the three-quarters view a few days later, I was like, "Oh, wait, it doesn't look that much like an Akira after all," but the larger fanbase wasn't so forgiving. I'm sure if those pictures came out in the opposite order, a lot of heartache would've been avoided.

 

[Tuskin38]

There is enough differences between the two that it never bothered me. It keeps the same basic shape, but nearly every component of it is brand new.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Yeah, I just look at it like the Akira’s designers in the 24th century saw an old NX when they were visiting the Starfleet Museum one day looking for inspiration and thought, “We can do something with that.”

 

[cooleddie74]

And it's pretty clear that most Federation starships after 2161 followed the basic 22nd century Intrepid- and NX-class lines with a saucer or semi-round primary hull, a stardrive section or engineering struts or pontoons and two warp nacelles.

 

[Kpnuts]

From directly above, the NX-01 and Akira look similar, but thats about the only angle they do.

 

[Dukhat]

I always thought the critical mistake was the first unveiling of the NX-01 was a top-down thumbnail view, where the similarities are greatest and, at the size, it was impossible to see the differences aside from the nacelles. As soon as I saw the three-quarters view a few days later, I was like, "Oh, wait, it doesn't look that much like an Akira after all," but the larger fanbase wasn't so forgiving. I'm sure if those pictures came out in the opposite order, a lot of heartache would've been avoided.

From directly above, the NX-01 and Akira look similar, but thats about the only angle they do.

Unfortunately, as @David cgc pointed out, that was the first view the world got of the ship.

(Actually, I remember my actual first view, even before the TV Guide article came out, was of one of the production personnel taking a selfie where he was wearing the NX-01 shoulder patch:

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net...ision/latest?cb=20060911093233&path-prefix=en

Which was even worse because the patch shows no detail.)