Spoilers Starship Design in Star Trek: Picard

[Dukhat]

Young Jean-Luc has two starship models on a table. They are a Miranda class starship and an NX class with the Drexler-designed secondary hull. I’m not sure if the NX is an Eaglemoss toy or a Polar Lights/Round 2/AMT model kit, but the Miranda is definitely a model kit, as its rollbar was glued on backwards.

 

[Tuskin38]

Young Jean-Luc has two starship models on a table. They are a Miranda class starship and an NX class with the Drexler-designed secondary hull. I’m not sure if the NX is an Eaglemoss toy or a Polar Lights/Round 2/AMT model kit, but the Miranda is definitely a model kit, as its rollbar was glued on backwards.

The NX-Refit was also a model kit, it had the secondary hull and the original Warp Field Governor (that thing between the nacelles). It was also on backwards like the Miranda's weapon pod.

Probably the Polar Lights model as it comes with parts for both configuration.

 

[F. King Daniel]

With all those parts on the wrong way, it's no wonder Picard got Riker to dock the saucer section in "Farpoint"!

 

[publiusr]

Trekyards has some nice official drawings of the new Excelsior we saw in ep 1, designed by none other than Eaves and Drexler. It is the USS Eureka, Excelsior II Class. Note that the ship is not simply a refit. It is a new Excelsior design, the Excelsior type II class.

Discussion:

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I like the design a lot. The ship looks great. And it is still very recognizable as an Excelsior class while also being updated and looking more modern. The nacelles look like they would allow transwarp or slipstream which is also cool.

How do they compare with the Excelsior like ship from Lower Decks?—that was the Obena class…forgive me. Perhaps the hull form was made slippery enough for Transwarp to the point that—even if that drive itself doesn’t work—it is still a good hull design for other drives.

 

[Dukhat]

How do they compare with the Excelsior like ship from Lower Decks?—that was the Obena class…forgive me. Perhaps the hull form was made slippery enough for Transwarp to the point that—even if that drive itself doesn’t work—it is still a good hull design for other drives.

Both the Obena and the Excelsior II seem to be more fanwanky than actually practical. There's no real reason why Starfleet of 2380 and 2401 would need to upscale a design from 2285, stretch the saucer into a long elliptical but basically still have the same side view as the original Excelsior, or slap Sovereign nacelles onto what's basically an Enterprise-B hull. Now the Obena gets sort of a pass because it's from an animated show and I don't expect much design-wise. But the Excelsior II really just doesn't do it for me. If it was actually a refit of the original Excelsior class, then I might understand the design. But a brand-new design in 2401 doesn't make sense to me other than a tribute, but why would Starfleet need to tribute anything?

 

[fireproof78]

But a brand-new design in 2401 doesn't make sense to me other than a tribute, but why would Starfleet need to tribute anything?

Because Starfleet is all about honoring its history.

 

[JRob94]

So excited to see the NX refit in this episode! Hopefully the finale will contain some new ships like the season opener did. Not sure how if it’s all in the past, though.

 

[Dukhat]

Because Starfleet is all about honoring its history.

In this case, Starfleet honors history by naming ships after previous ships. They don't try to actually make the ship resemble the older design, other than the basics of saucer, secondary hull and nacelles in a similar configuration.

 

[fireproof78]

In this case, Starfleet honors history by naming ships after previous ships. They don't try to actually make the ship resemble the older design, other than the basics of saucer, secondary hull and nacelles.

Why not both? They have unlimited resources but revisiting an older design is unthinkable? I highly doubt future humanity will be free of nostalgic tendencies.

 

[Dukhat]

Why not both? They have unlimited resources but revisiting an older design is unthinkable? I highly doubt future humanity will be free of nostalgic tendencies.

I didn't say it was unthinkable. I said it was impractical.

 

[danellis]

In this case, Starfleet honors history by naming ships after previous ships. They don't try to actually make the ship resemble the older design, other than the basics of saucer, secondary hull and nacelles in a similar configuration.

Might 50 years of Constitution class, and double that of Miranda and Constitution class ships differ you on that?

dJE

 

[fireproof78]

I didn't say it was unthinkable. I said it was impractical.

So is the bridge on the top.

I see no reason why they wouldn't use old designs.

 

[Dukhat]

Might 50 years of Constitution class, and double that of Miranda and Constitution class ships differ you on that?

dJE

Huh? I'm talking about designing a new ship to look like a ship from 100 years before.

So is the bridge on the top.

I see no reason why they wouldn't use old designs.

Good for you. I don't feel the same way.

 

[fireproof78]

Good for you. I don't.

Good for you.

 

[JRob94]

To me, it seems perfectly normal that a starship designer might draw from the past, either subconsciously or perhaps from a sense of nostalgia.

 

[Markonian]

Seems natural enough for me that Starfleet would build a new class to resemble a classic design every once in a while, e.g.
NX - Akira
NX - Universe
Intrepid - Intrepid 31c/Janeway
Constitution - Constitution 31c/Kirk

 

[cooleddie74]

In my head canon the Akira-class of the 2370s and beyond is the result of a fanboy of Starfleet history looking back at the NX-class of United Earth and wanting to honor it with technology on hand in the late 24th century.

 

[137th Gebirg]

My thoughts exactly. I was actually kind of miffed that they ripped Akira for the NX, but since they ripped one of my favorite all-time designs, I decided I could live with it.

How many literal centuries have Klingons used ship designs that look generally identical? D-7/K'tnga and Birds of Prey, anyone?

 

[fireproof78]

The Excelsior class served for an absurdly long time. Starfleet trying to recapture that success is logical.

 

[Dukhat]

My thoughts exactly.

How many literal centuries have Klingons used ship designs that look generally identical? D-7/K'tnga and Birds of Prey, anyone?

That's only because Star Trek had a budget where they hated building new filming models unless they absolutely had to.

The Excelsior class served for an absurdly long time. Starfleet trying to recapture that success is logical.

Then why not just build more Excelsiors? Come to think of it, why not just build more Excelsiors instead of all the other ship classes they have?