The Mothballing of the NX-01

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Okay I was forced to watch it again, TATV. They are what.. 5 or 7 years after Terra Prime and the NX-01 is going back to earth to be mothballed. I don't get it. Sure they can go Warp 7 now and don't need this class of ship to explore with but is earth so replete with warp vessels that they don't actually need this still relatively young starship?

 

[Timo]

One might speculate that getting Earth warp technology up to the suggested 2160s performance wore down their primary testbed vessel, in a bit less than a decade. By the time of "TAtV", the ship could be too brittle to go to warp, too bent to fly straight at impulse, and too irradiated to stay crewed for more than a week at a stretch.

She was subjected to quite a bit of pounding, after all. And designed and put together by people who had never built a warp five starship before... Keeping her spaceworthy might not have been cost-effective, and the newly founded UFP might have needed cost-effective ships rather than well-preserved museum pieces.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[SRFX]

No, the real reason is that TATV is badly written in every capacity.

It would've at least been nice to have the ship refitted with the extra drive/deflector assembly that was planned.

Or have the ship passed on to a new crew.

Or any minor change to the story which shows it wasn't written in 15 seconds by an idiot.

 

[Timo]

Naah. Getting rid of an old piece of junk is realism, plus good dramatic closure for a show centered on said piece of junk. Clinging onto it because "it's an Enterprise!" would be silly.

Prototype ships of today are lucky to see two years of service. If NX-01 managed ten, she's definitely overstayed her visit...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[SRFX]

I guess I never saw the NX-01 as an experimental craft! Sure the NX designation suggested that initially, but then ship became called "NX class" and the Columbia became NX-02... and so forth.

I also expected them to eventually refer to it as NCC-01, kind of like how the Excelsior went from NX-2000 to NCC-2000 (which is btw, where the experimental NX designation came from).

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Naah. Getting rid of an old piece of junk is realism, plus good dramatic closure for a show centered on said piece of junk. Clinging onto it because "it's an Enterprise!" would be silly.

Prototype ships of today are lucky to see two years of service. If NX-01 managed ten, she's definitely overstayed her visit...

Timo Saloniemi

But why is it actual junk? The Horizon was like 30 years old and still hauling cargo. Surely it could still be used even for that, even short range? Unless it was actually going to crack in two from stress as Timo suggested.

 

[Dancing Doctor]

Okay I was forced to watch it again, TATV. They are what.. 5 or 7 years after Terra Prime and the NX-01 is going back to earth to be mothballed. I don't get it. Sure they can go Warp 7 now and don't need this class of ship to explore with but is earth so replete with warp vessels that they don't actually need this still relatively young starship?

That's if you believe that These Are The Voyages... actually happened that way.

 

[Timo]

I guess I never saw the NX-01 as an experimental craft! Sure the NX designation suggested that initially

Might also be that X in NX meant eXplorer. After all, it didn't look as if Starfleet had operated any exploration starships before the Enterprise (not much to explore if your engines can't take you beyond the rim of the known!).

But why is it actual junk? The Horizon was like 30 years old and still hauling cargo. Surely it could still be used even for that, even short range?

I doubt a purpose-built explorer or combatant could ever become a profitable cargo hauler... Having once been Starfleet's most modern and complex machine would probably doom NX-01, because anything built later would be better (Starfleet having learned its lessons from this pathfinder ship), and anything built before would be simpler and cheaper to maintain.

Sure they can go Warp 7 now

Or at least in 2161, they think they can build ships that can do warp 7 in the near future. Perhaps they think wrong?

I mean, Vulcan ships of that time already could do dashes at warp 7, but perhaps our heroes were speaking of Earth tech, and it didn't evolve quite as fast as they hoped. Or then dash speed wasn't what they were speaking about, but sustainable speed. Kirk's ship was always stuggling with sustaining warp eight; perhaps the century of work that preceded her did start with reaching sustainable warp seven in the 2160s, but then stalled
there?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[F. King Daniel]

We don't know what Enterprise went though in the six years between "Terra Prime" and "These are the Voyages...". She may have fought in the Romulan War and incurred all sorts of damage (or perhaps she was off at Risa and missed the entire conflict ). It's also possible all that warp 5.2ing took it's toll.
Then again, "E2" gave us a 100-year older, even more damaged NX-01 that still flew. And didn't Troi say she visited the 200-years-older NX-01 in a museum when she was little?

Put it down to the cosmic force that retired the 1701-A after just two movies.

I'm just glad the Enterprise was never given that (imo) horrible Doug Drexler NX-01.5 upgrade, although I wouldn't be suprised if the upgrade appears on the cover of the next Enterprise novel.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

But why is it actual junk? The Horizon was like 30 years old and still hauling cargo. Surely it could still be used even for that, even short range?

I doubt a purpose-built explorer or combatant could ever become a profitable cargo hauler... Having once been Starfleet's most modern and complex machine would probably doom NX-01, because anything built later would be better (Starfleet having learned its lessons from this pathfinder ship), and anything built before would be simpler and cheaper to maintain.

eh, well they should give it to me to live in then. I would be quite happy with it parked in a field as my personal housing

 

[Dancing Doctor]

Put it down to the cosmic force that retired the 1701-A after just two movies.

Plot Device. It's a terribly cruel, cruel cosmic force.

 

[Admiral Shran]

Okay I was forced to watch it again, TATV. They are what.. 5 or 7 years after Terra Prime and the NX-01 is going back to earth to be mothballed. I don't get it. Sure they can go Warp 7 now and don't need this class of ship to explore with but is earth so replete with warp vessels that they don't actually need this still relatively young starship?

That's if you believe that These Are The Voyages... actually happened that way.

I refuse to accept that it happened that way. And now, having finally read The Good That Men Do, I feel perfectly justified in feeling that way.

As for that abomination of an episode - I would think that that shortly after the Earth-Romulan War, Starfleet would want to keep as many ships as they could in service. Even if the NX-01 wasn't going to be the pride of the fleet or the flagship any longer, it should have served some purpose besides just sitting in a museum.

 

[Dancing Doctor]

Beneath The Raptor's Wing is just as good as TGTMD

 

[timelord1010]

I'm just glad the Enterprise was never given that (imo) horrible Doug Drexler NX-01.5 upgrade, although I wouldn't be suprised if the upgrade appears on the cover of the next Enterprise novel.

I kind of liked Doug Drexler's NX-01.5 upgrade, it is moving towards the starfleet designs. I look at Mr. Drexler's design as a further testbed of technology from possibly Vulcan and Andoria among others.

 

[SRFX]

I'm just glad the Enterprise was never given that (imo) horrible Doug Drexler NX-01.5 upgrade, although I wouldn't be suprised if the upgrade appears on the cover of the next Enterprise novel.

I kind of liked Doug Drexler's NX-01.5 upgrade, it is moving towards the starfleet designs. I look at Mr. Drexler's design as a further testbed of technology from possibly Vulcan and Andoria among others.

Seconded!

Put it down to the cosmic force that retired the 1701-A after just two movies.

Beyond plot devices, I always got the impression the A wasn't a very good ship.

The 1701 was likely built on a Wednesday with all-hands on deck and the A was built on a Friday, with everyone half-asleep, waiting for the weekend to come.

 

[AstroSmurf]

I always just assumed that the NX-01 had seen A LOT of action over the years with the Xindi Mission and the Romulan War. You can only patch something together so many times before she starts to fall apart.

And I would bet money that she only lasted as long as she did because Archer wouldn't let Starfleet retire her. It was his ship... and his father's ship... and at that point Archer had made a name for himself and could throw his weight around to get what he wanted.

 

[TerraUnam]

When 2161 comes around and the Federation is formed, there has to be a lot of administrative upheaval when you try to merge the space forces of five independent worlds into one single Federation Starfleet. OK four if Earth and Alpha Centauri always co-operated.

Still, merging the Vulcan Defence Force, Tellarite Forces, Andorian IMperial Guard and Earth Starfleet into a single organization sure provides one heck of a reset lever.

 

[RandyS]

I'm just glad the Enterprise was never given that (imo) horrible Doug Drexler NX-01.5 upgrade, although I wouldn't be suprised if the upgrade appears on the cover of the next Enterprise novel.

I hope it does since I've never seen it and never knew about it. Know anyplace I can see a picture?

 

[Dancing Doctor]

Here

And here

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Here

And here

HORRIBLE. Where is all the grace? The NX-01 is IMHO the best looking ship ever and now it looks all lumpy and awkward.