The New USS Discovery....

[Mudd]

The saucer looks great.
The wing looks pretty good.
The nacelles are weak.
The neck is shit.

All, obviously, my opinion. I'm sure a lot of folks will like it.

Someone said a few weeks ago that the overall look of the show is rather uninspired and generic. I'm beginning to agree. Love the Abrams movies or loathe them - and we got a lot of both, here - it's clear that tremendous inspiration and skill went into chasing visual design that really pops and makes a dynamic impression. I'm not seeing that so far in any visual aspect of Discovery. A lot of it looks like first-draft stuff at best.

 

[Michael]

The neck and the globe-in-the-saucer are the two things that really seem fresh and new about the design. I like it! Now I want to see it with windows, aztecing etc.

 

[Mudd]

The neck looks like something hand cut out of lumber, roughly sanded and clumsily fitted around the saucer. It's like very old CG design, simple shapes that just pass through one another without in any way tying together.

I guess someone was reaching for the TOS look, but it misses.

 

[Rahul]

Nope.



Within 90% accuracy...yes it is.

I did a quick illustration of the nacelles. Throw these on the fan art, and you've got it.

Not to come across as antagonizing or anything... just an honest question:
What is your postition to say you "know" how the final design looks like?!

 

[Michael]

Yeah, I can kind of see what you (@Serveaux ) mean about the neck. This issue of 3D objects merely passing uncreatively through one another is something that bothers me about some models, too. But here it kinda looks cool, the way the long neck is holding the two rings and the globe. Curious, how all of it will look in motion.

 

[Rahul]

Somebody else has seen the new ship. Aaron Harvey's updated poster

Also, even if that isn't just a fan design, and is ineed "the real thing" (even though I still doubt it...), it doesn't change the fact:
This looks worse than the Teaser trailer version...
(the ship. not the poster. that is great work)

 

[PixelMagic]

Not to come across as antagonizing or anything... just an honest question:
What is your postition to say you "know" how the final design looks like?!

I know people with ties to the show. Now, I will say it MIGHT have changed since then, but last I saw it, 3 months ago, it looked exactly like this.

 

[Rahul]

I know people with ties to the show. Now, I will say it MIGHT have changed since then, but last I saw it, 3 months ago, it looked exactly like this.

Errrm... yeah. Not to be suspicious or anything... but...yeah

 

[PixelMagic]

Errrm... yeah. Not to be suspicious or anything... but...yeah

I don't know what that means, but you can believe what you like.

 

[Mudd]

Well, it's good to hear that it might have evolved in detail some more.

Mostly what the neck looks like here is a good deal less refined than the other elements of the model - just a big, simply-modeled placeholder.

Of course, they laid off the original effects team in mid-February.

 

[Fandango831]

Errrm... yeah. Not to be suspicious or anything... but...yeah

Your sense of suspicion is hilarious. If you have doubts fine, but don't come off as so condescending about it. Just makes you seem like a prick. The man isn't lying to you and at this point multiple users on these forums can agree that the design you are seeing is pretty much the final design bar of course what we will see come release this fall and possibly at SDCC 2017.

 

[PixelMagic]

Of course, they laid off the original effects team in mid-February.

Yes, I was in talks to join the effects team, and I was going to be working on the starship shots. Sadly, the team was laid off before I could be hired on. Maybe I can work on season 2 if the show is successful.

 

[Jesse1066]

RAMA and PixelMagic both have inside info and they both say this is what the new ship looks like. That's good enough for me.
I've been thinking more about the negative space in the hull. Could it be some sort of cargo area? I can imagine large cargo containers being lowered into the spaces essentially as modular cargo bays. That could be a nice feature for long missions. I'm just trying to rationalize this somehow.

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

Guys and gals, let's be civil, yeah? Rahul didn't know, and folks claim to be all sorts of things on the net all the time, so a bit of suspicion is healthy. Now they know, and we can all thank PixelMagic for the swell confirmation.

Anyway, I like the look. I'll agree the neck is kind of wonky, but I'm sure it'll all look stronger on the show. The Shenzhou rocks my socks off, after all!

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

I wasn't a fan of the Ent-D when I first saw it. Looked like a squat duck. I got used to it.

Lets just hope for decent stories. Otherwise the neck of the hero ship will be the least of our problems.

 

[RAMA]

Yep. That is what Discovery will look like in the show 100%. Except with windows, aztec panels, registry numbers, etc. Every detail on that is correct, including the nacelles.

Yeah that's basically it.

The interpretations of the fan art may be off in terms of the nacelle struts and engines somewhat, but it's close. Remember, even with plenty of cgi model views from Beyond, people were still getting the diagrams wrong.

Also, there's a possibility the CGI model may look somewhat different, as last minute tweaks and SFX team choices sometimes play a part. Remember that the FX team changed the designs of the NX-01 somewhat last minute, as well as both Enterprises in ST:Beyond.

RAMA and PixelMagic both have inside info and they both say this is what the new ship looks like. That's good enough for me.
I've been thinking more about the negative space in the hull. Could it be some sort of cargo area? I can imagine large cargo containers being lowered into the spaces essentially as modular cargo bays. That could be a nice feature for long missions. I'm just trying to rationalize this somehow.

I've speculated that in the in-universe 2255 timeline, saucer separation may be relatively new, and at the time, it may have been easier to simply eject parts of the saucer or bridge rather than the entire thing.

RAMA

 

[F. King Daniel]

Putting the bridge on top makes no sense. Having a big glow-y dome thingie on the bottom of the saucer that looks nearly identical to the bridge dome while serving a completely different purpose makes no sense.

I really liked the Kelvin movie Enterprise re-purposing them as observation domes at the top and bottom of the atrium.

Is anyone else thinking of Eaves' USS Vengeance, not only in the negative space in the saucer, but the bridge tower and the redone shape of the saucer edge?

Wildly speculating for a sec, if Discovery's "NCC-1031" is a Section 31 reference as some fans suggested, perhaps were seeing something of a Section 31 starship design philosophy emerging.

 

[captainkirk]

I really liked the Kelvin movie Enterprise re-purposing them as observation domes at the top and bottom of the atrium.

Is anyone else thinking of Eaves' USS Vengeance, not only in the negative space in the saucer, but the bridge tower and the redone shape of the saucer edge?

Wildly speculating for a sec, if Discovery's "NCC-1031" is a Section 31 reference as some fans suggested, perhaps were seeing something of a Section 31 starship design philosophy emerging.

There's also something similar about the nacelles. Okay, sudden crazy theory. The Discovery is a Section 31 ship and Lorca is part of some shady plan. In the season finale Burnham is forced to kill him and takes command. Okay that's probably a little too out there, but it's more interesting than Again with the Klingons.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Your sense of suspicion is hilarious. If you have doubts fine, but don't come off as so condescending about it. Just makes you seem like a prick. The man isn't lying to you and at this point multiple users on these forums can agree that the design you are seeing is pretty much the final design bar of course what we will see come release this fall and possibly at SDCC 2017.

I get that the excessive suspicion can be aggravating, but let's please avoid resorting to insults. Even though you tried to sugar-coat it a bit by prefacing it with "makes you seem like," calling him a "prick" crosses the line.

Infraction for flaming. Comments to PM.

 

[Rahul]

Your sense of suspicion is hilarious. If you have doubts fine, but don't come off as so condescending about it. Just makes you seem like a prick. The man isn't lying to you and at this point multiple users on these forums can agree that the design you are seeing is pretty much the final design bar of course what we will see come release this fall and possibly at SDCC 2017.

I really doubt either PixelMagic or RAMA are willfully lying here. What happens all the time is this: Someone knows someone who is familiar with the production, someone makes his or her own little sketches of his own little design variants, either just for fun or to show their superiours, they got shown around to friends, get posted in a closed facebook group, and 2 or three connections later you have a big "scoop" with multiple people having "inside information" of the new design.

As a rule of thumb: If it's authentic, it would be stupid to show around before there exist official images of it. There are NDAs for that (remember the guy who posted a photo of the klingons?). Exceptions are websites with behind-the-scenes visits, or sketches from models on a toy fair. None of which I have heard of thus far.

Yes, I was in talks to join the effects team, and I was going to be working on the starship shots. Sadly, the team was laid off before I could be hired on. Maybe I can work on season 2 if the show is successful.

Case in point. I am sorry if it came across as condescending, Pixelmagic, it wasn't meant that way. If you really have worked on shots of the show that would make you a lot more credible. Untill we see pictures of toys or new images I'll still remain sceptical of this "new" design though. Still, I wish you best of luck for season 2! (And for all of us, insofar as we get a season 2)

There might be a bit of whishful thinking involved in my case tough, as I find the "new" variant a lot worse than what we saw in the Teaser...