The Enterprise-E: 24, 26 or 29 decks?

[Lance]

There is a school of thought that the MSD of the ship (which clearly shows 24 decks) is the most accurate, and that the verbal references to Deck 26 (in First Contact) and 29 (Nemesis) are mistakes.

However, could it not be the other way around? The MSD is easily found online and in reference books etc, but is barely visible on screen at the back of the Bridge, whereas clear dialogue confirming more than 24 decks is audible in two of the three movies that the ship appears in. One might suggest therefore that the MSD is the less reputable evidence of how many decks there are on the Enterprise-E.

What are our views on this? Which evidence is more persuasive to you?

 

[F. King Daniel]

I like to think the Enterprise-E's deck 29 is the 13th floor of Star Trek. Weird shit happens there, including but not limited to a bottomless pit.

 

[Timo]

Except, of course, that the movie never specifies the deck on which the fight takes place, beyond showing how the two parties meet, the two Boss Fight participants dive down one deck, then Riker climbs up one deck, and then we get the shaft. The Viceroy was headed up, Riker was headed down, and the two probably met at roughly halfway.

If the ship has 29 decks, then this is 10% underrepresented in the MSD - better than the 20% underrepresentation on the Defiant MSD, say. And the more, the merrier - 24 is on the low side for a ship that big.

So I'm ready and willing to ignore the onetime suggestion of 24 decks by the stressed-out Picard. It's a case of dialogue vs. dialogue in any case, with both 24 and 26 spoken out loud in ST:FC; we have to plead "fallible characters" no matter what.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[F. King Daniel]

Except, of course, that the movie actually shows the pit starting at deck 9.

If you pause and zoom in on a door label you can only see if you're watching the bluray

Was it even intentional or did they just forget/not bother to alter the labels on their generic corridor set?

 

[Timo]

I'm pretty sure they intended for the action to take place on Deck 9 specifically all along - and then dubbed it over to 29 to better match the circumstances of the evolving story...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Lance]

If the bottomless pit is intended to be on the ninth deck, any idea what it's meant to be? Computer core? Giant drained pool deck? Or maybe just a cavernous space that hasn't been allocated a function? (ISTR the TNG technical manual suggesting that in the Galaxy Class at least, the spaces were modular and capable of being specifically refitted for any anticipated mission requirements.)

 

[Timo]

A big ship might simply need big ventilation shafts, which would also nicely explain all the smoke inside. It's not a particularly "cavernous" hog of pressurized volume IMHO, but the physical properties of air do put lower limits on ventilation shaft cross section and this could well be close to it.

A big square shaft with small square side openings could of course also be a travel path for turbolifts, but the side openings are awfully small and there's that bolted-on catwalk blocking the way...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Lord Garth]

The Enterprise-E, in First Contact, has two basement levels. So Worf and Picard are both correct.

No one ever went into the sub-basement. Until the Borg.

 

[David cgc]

A big ship might simply need big ventilation shafts, which would also nicely explain all the smoke inside. It's not a particularly "cavernous" hog of pressurized volume IMHO, but the physical properties of air do put lower limits on ventilation shaft cross section and this could well be close to it.

A big square shaft with small square side openings could of course also be a travel path for turbolifts, but the side openings are awfully small and there's that bolted-on catwalk blocking the way...

I saw somebody theorize that the turboshaft running the height of the ship on the MSD was actually two shafts on either side of the centerline, and one of them was semi-permanently closed.

 

[marsh8472]

Maybe they're all right (different quantum realities)

 

[thribs]

Ship could have been refitted over time to include more decks, or they were relabelled.

 

[Timo]

...So in the ship's debut, the crew has hands-on knowledge that Deck 26 exists, but Picard still quotes the factory specs that are out of date? But "over time" means "during the shakedown year". And if the ship indeed were modified during that year, wouldn't Picard have all the more reason for being aware of it, with nothing much else happening in his life and career?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[F. King Daniel]

I wonder if they had the bottomless pit installed at the same haunted shipyard that outfitted the (3 deck) USS Franklin with one?

 

[Timo]

Bottomless? The structures leading to the engine booms have window rows for six decks, and Jaylah probably would be descending through that part of the ship to reach her nest at Engineering. The shaft can fit in there just fine.

Whether the ship photographs as smaller than this design-indicated size can be debated. But all the sets we see are fairly expansive, and best served by not limiting the exterior size too much.

No MSD or other onscreen cutaway to worry about in this case...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[thribs]

We know from Enterprise that eventually they get “Tardis” tech by using a layer of sub space to make things bigger on the inside than the outside. Perhaps they were experimenting with it then.

 

[Timo]

If anything, mere 29 decks is on the low side for a ship as big as the E-E. Perhaps the true number is 34, and Picard misspoke the first digit only?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

Given that startrek.com says 24 decks I'm inclinded to favour two references to that (and 23 decks per the MSD is similar enough that it was probably intended to be the same).

 

[shapeshifter]

NOTA It has at least 78 decks.

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[Tenacity]

I like to think the Enterprise-E's deck 29 is the 13th floor of Star Trek.

that very well could be it, some number are not used for cultural reasons.

 

[BillJ]

If the A has 78, then the E has to have about 500.