Interestingly the Picard season 2 premiere was the first time we saw the Sovereign class properly in an episode
Well if season 3 tanks, we know it's because they showed a Sovereign-class for a few seconds among the large fleet.
Well...I think I understand the real-world reason why we never saw the Enterprise-E or another Sovereign-class ship in DS9 and the last episodes of VOY--it was the movie ship design at the time and was being reserved for the movies. Some studio exec probably thought it would make the movies less special if audiences could see the design in action on the small screen for free. I can't really argue that if that's the case, but from an "in-universe" perspective, it could be that there just weren't that many Sovereign-class ships around at the time--maybe it was only the Sovereign and the Enterprise for all we we know--and they simply were elsewhere during the Dominion War and equally unavailable later to welcome the Voyager home. But since the Sovereign-class is no longer the movie ship design, it's free to appear in PIC, LD, and any other show set around the same time period, IMO.
Iirc it was an exec or producer worried fans would confuse any sovereign in DS9 for the enterprise. Which did happen with Picard Season 2. I saw a lot of people asking if any of the sovereigns were the enterprise I was watching a TrekYards video on the fleet, and one of the hosts said he used to believe that was a terrible reason for not having the Sovereign Class in DS9, until that PIC episode aired and people started asking.
I get their reasoning behind not using the Sovereign in DS9 or VOY. I just don't think it was that big a deal. I mean, so what if the audience thought one of those Sovereigns was the Enterprise?
I think the studio really wanted the Enterprise to be exclusive to the movies and keep her appearances very special (so we'd buy movie tickets to see her). Money may have been the real rationale behind it, IMO.
Always is. However, there's also no secrets being made about the fact that the suits in charge never seemed to have a very high opinion of the fandom's average intelligence. Many times in the past they've opted against doing one thing in favor of another because they felt it would "confuse" us.
I remember when a VOY episode showed Starfleet Academy intact when it had been completely destroyed in DS9 in a Breen attack. Their rationale? They didn't think the VOY audience was also watching DS9, so they would be confused about the destruction. So they just ignored it.
Money is always the main motive, as 137th states. Also, they want the ships to be special and distinct within their own realm. Which is funny because in the first movie with the Ent-E it also featured an EMH same as the one from Voyager. That and narrow sighted. If it isn't important to them then the fans must not care.
I always saw the appearance of the "Zimmerman-type "EMH as just being a cameo, perhaps just a giant easter egg. Those who followed VOY got it and those who didn't just saw him as a new sickbay feature on the Enterprise.
Which Voyager episode? They were on the other side of the galaxy, so I'm curious. Also, the Breen attack completely destroyed Starfleet Academy????
I'd rather the name USS Enterprise, gets migrated peacefully, without incident between the Enterprise-E to Enterprise-F. No need for some special circumstance to destroy the old vessel. Just have the Sovereign class get renamed and the Enterprise-F to take over carrying the flag. We can even use the Modified Odyssey class as the Enterprise-F. Just fill in the gap between the neck, that gap is too ugly IMO.
I like the dual neck of the Odyssey-class. I think its the boldest departure from previous Enterprises. I just think it's still too early for an Enterprise-F, regardless of the design.
That's another can of Worms. Sometimes those buildings are, sometimes they're not, sometimes it's somewhere else. But yeah in the actual episode they say Starfleet Command.