DIS' art department had a devil of a time trying to come up with a final design for the Discovery that Bryan Fuller would sign off on. The square nacelles, the copper hull color, and insistence that Starfleet ships of this era be more flat--those were things Fuller demanded because he wanted to see something different or something that gave DIS a distinct look separate from other Trek shows.
On a related note, I wonder what the Lancelot-class would look like 'in reality', so to speak, as opposed to the silhouette which is our sole visual. I guess the Lancelot is the canonical counterpart to STO's TMP-era Georgiou. Meanwhile, I strongly appreciate the 25th century Shenzhou-class with its colour breakup on the external hull and distinct Bussard collectors on the nacelles. I wish the Shenzhou had appeared in PIC to honour both DIS and STO with in-universe design progression. As well as the Glenn-class update to the Crossfield-class.
Fun fact, Thomas Marrone based the Shenzhou's saucer off the unused Saucer concept for the Wallenberg Class transposters from Season 1.
Just an image I found online of the Discovery, as she appeared in the very first teaser trailer for the series.
Huh. Thanks for the visual information! I never thought to read closer on the relevant Memory Alpha article that the finalized design had undergone such significant changes. https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Wallenberg_class
Whoa, that's amazing! Next time I'm in the game I gotta try if I can recreate the Wallenberg's color scheme on the Shenzhou's saucer. EDIT: Okay, it's not possible because we can't give the ship a red base color.
That's pretty! I really wish we could see some more Fed hull painting. They touched on it a bit with the different Cali-class ships in LDS, but I really do think that starship livery should have a more prominent role in Starfleet. They missed an opportunity for that during the Dominion War - it's a great way to boost morale and build unit cohesion.
I don't mind the trailer version, but the final Discovery is an amazing looking ship. The long, tapered nacelles are elegant and add balance to the brutalist triangular hull. It's a great design for what was intended to be a new kind of Star Trek, but clearly honours the past with its origins. Whatever feelings I had about the show, I always loved the ship.
I'm not sure who it was, might have been Doug Drexler and commenting on the E-J.....Might have been something completely different. But he was talking about those thin nacelle struts on the Original Enterprise, and how it seemed so advanced and outerwordly... Those thin struts that looked like that could break off with any kind of speed or momentum but never did. The kind of tech that kept it all together. That is was the Crossfield class does for me. Those long nacelles that seem like they could just snap but never do.... The make believe of it all. Yes I know none of that makes sense. I'm talking about the feeling it all gives, not the actual science behind it all.
Just my personal taste but I'm not a fan of the painted ships. To me it gives them a race car vibe which I think is more suited to something like Star Wars. Masao Okazaki's Starfleet museum designs would be the exception though. I could imagine the more homogeneous starfleet of that era having those type of designs but in the modern multicultural Federation era I can't see them pinning down a specific type of hull painting. It's more fitting to a race that doesn't incorporate other worlds, such as the Romulans.
Agreed! I always thought it would have been cool see "nose art" on ships during wartime. Perhaps it's a very human thing, but it's still cool to see. A quick search shows me that STO also liked the idea. Love the shark mouth.
I've seen the Defiant Project Development patch before but not the nose art. That stuff is downright beautiful! Thank you for sharing that.
Speaking of livery / paint-jobs, I quite like the Eleos blue markings, on that particular starship. Am hoping that, in the absence of Eaglemoss, another company starts producing trek diecast starships, and makes a rendition of the SS Eleos, as well as other ships from Picard.
It’s beautiful (YMMV) https://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/11545243-the-enterprise-f-remaster
I love the Picard has very firmly established that the classic lines of the Constitution, Constitution Refit, Excelsior, Constellation, Galaxy, and Intrepid classes are all firmly placed in history. I consider that so much better than totally ignoring Trek's rich design history.