The One Thing You Could Change, ENTERPRISE Edition...

[WarpTenLizard]

They were Bland.

Jeri Taylor was an actual problem.

Oh my god, SECONDED! Alright, she did contribute some good things to the franchise, but her adolescent romance-novel episodes, and her Mary-Suing of Janeway's character, are a special kind of painful for a female Trekkie to see. It is NOT a coincidence that "Voyager" improved vastly after she departed.

 

[Oddish]

Mayweather especially, as all he got character wise was one episode in which he's in tears because of the death of his dad (I liked that moment, BTW), and he revisits his family ship.

And even in his own episode, he's awesomely bada**. Without his brother even noticing, he turns the freighter's toe-tickling plasma cannons into pirate-smashing death rays. Not exactly a Mary Sue, more an unsung hero type. My head canon is that by 2361, he was probably a commander and first officer of the NX-03. Riker's holodeck program was hastily cobbled together by Barclay, using a certain amount of outdated footage, which explains why nobody aged, cut/grew their hair, grew a beard, transferred, or increased in rank in six years.

If you were trying to create the world of 1810 in some form of media, are you telling me there wouldn't be a few things from 1805, or maybe 1815?

Alright, she did contribute some good things to the franchise, but her adolescent romance-novel episodes, and her Mary-Suing of Janeway's character, are a special kind of painful for a female Trekkie to see. It is NOT a coincidence that "Voyager" improved vastly after she departed.

I agree with you. My describing Janeway as the Chuck Norris of Star Trek (because of all the crazy Chuck joke level stuff she does) is meant to be humorous, and not entirely complimentary.

 

[gblews]

Cast Nathan Fillion as Archer.

 

[Vale]

Redesign the ship.

I love the NX-01 interior aesthetics*, I love the concept of a TOS prequel and the idea of the Enterprise being Earth's first explorer ship, I love the idea of it being a bridge between present-day humanity and the aspirational perfection we often see in other Star Trek series. But I still just can't accept the exterior design of the Enterprise.

Beyond the age-old "it looks too much like an Akira class, it's too advanced" arguments my issues are:

• The NX-01 is simply too big. One of the things they were going for with the interior design was the cramped "submarine" feel the Defiant had – yet the NX-01 is surprisingly large, about three-and-a-half times the size of the Defiant. The overall volume is slightly smaller than the TOS Constitution-class – 199,500m³ vs 211,200m³ – but because the Constitution-class's nacelles are proportionally much larger, the habitable volume of the NX-01 is actually bigger – 166,000m³ vs 156,000m³!

• The NX-01 sets the template for all future Starfleet ship designs for about a thousand years, which seems odd when you consider that at the time it's built it's more primitive than the ships of certainly the Vulcans and the Andorians, and also probably the Klingons. It would have been nice to see elements for future starship designs spread across the other founding Federation members. Hell, it would have been nice to see the NX-01 having a completely different design altogether – something more like the XCV-330, for example – or something that didn't already have all the major features of future ships out of the box, like the SS Emmette from Enterprise's title sequence.

• No transporters. They should have been entirely reliant on shuttles only.

*The one thing I'd change is the warp core.

 

[Farscape One]

One thing I definitely agree on is the transporters. Or at least have them be there, but can only be used for cargo and inanimate objects. Not people.

 

[Oddish]

Or just have other races use transporters, the ones who are more advanced than humans.

 

[FederationHistorian]

Redesign the ship.

I love the NX-01 interior aesthetics*, I love the concept of a TOS prequel and the idea of the Enterprise being Earth's first explorer ship, I love the idea of it being a bridge between present-day humanity and the aspirational perfection we often see in other Star Trek series. But I still just can't accept the exterior design of the Enterprise.

Beyond the age-old "it looks too much like an Akira class, it's too advanced" arguments my issues are:

• The NX-01 is simply too big. One of the things they were going for with the interior design was the cramped "submarine" feel the Defiant had – yet the NX-01 is surprisingly large, about three-and-a-half times the size of the Defiant. The overall volume is slightly smaller than the TOS Constitution-class – 199,500m³ vs 211,200m³ – but because the Constitution-class's nacelles are proportionally much larger, the habitable volume of the NX-01 is actually bigger – 166,000m³ vs 156,000m³!

Part of the problem is that its hard to get a sense of scale as to how small the NX class is, outside of the time it was alongside the Constitution class vessel in IAMD. It was never actually featured alongside the larger Galaxy class starship or Crossfield class (i.e. USS Discovery) starship, and no one realizes that the NX class is actually bigger than the Daedalus class by about 15 metres. Trekyards has the smallest Daedalus class variant at 104m and the largest variant at 209m; for further perspective size of the Defiant class is in between those size variations. Meaning the NX-01 Enterprise is also bigger than the 24th century USS Defiant.

• The NX-01 sets the template for all future Starfleet ship designs for about a thousand years, which seems odd when you consider that at the time it's built it's more primitive than the ships of certainly the Vulcans and the Andorians, and also probably the Klingons. It would have been nice to see elements for future starship designs spread across the other founding Federation members. Hell, it would have been nice to see the NX-01 having a completely different design altogether – something more like the XCV-330, for example – or something that didn't already have all the major features of future ships out of the box, like the SS Emmette from Enterprise's title sequence.

An episode depicting the previous ships of the line (XCV-300, Daedalus class and Warp Deltas) would have shed some much-needed light on this subject. As would an episode or scene set in the future where the nacelles of the Warp Delta or Intrepid-type, the secondary hull of the Daedalus class, and the saucer section of the NX class inspire a new ship design. It could have been either the NX refit, the Constitution class, or a completely new design.

The ENT novels suggest that the Vulcans, Andorians and Tellarites shared their tech with the Starfleet during the early days of the Federation, with varying success.

 

[Oddish]

The ENT novels suggest that the Vulcans, Andorians and Tellarites shared their tech with the Starfleet during the early days of the Federation, with varying success.

And THAT should be when they acquired transporters, tractor beams, and photonic torpedoes. Shuttles, grapplers, and spatial torpedoes should have been the tools of the trade throughout Enterprise's run.

 

[Farscape One]

It actually makes sense that the NX class would be bigger than the Defiant.

First, the Defiant, if I remember correctly, has a regular crew of about 40 or 50. Enterprise had 80 plus about 20 MACOs.

Second, the machinery that keeps the 22nd century ship running would be much larger than a 24th century one. Especially since the NX is an entirely Earth made ship. The Defiant has the resources of a 24th century Starfleet, a combined service of many different races and technologies. Much of it is bound to do more with smaller space.

 

[FederationHistorian]

And THAT should be when they acquired transporters, tractor beams, and photonic torpedoes. Shuttles, grapplers, and spatial torpedoes should have been the tools of the trade throughout Enterprise's run.

The transporters likely got taken out at some point. Transporter psychosis must have been a real thing early in its existence, otherwise Barclay wouldn’t have brought it up at all. The yellow hue of the transporters used in both TOS & DIS suggests that they do get upgrades to address that.

Enterprise never used tractor beams during the series. The Vulcans, Andorians, and Klingons did though. And the NX-refit was supposed to have one of its own, but refit never made it to tv.

First contact with the Vissians is where they got their photonic torpedoes. Why Starfleet did not adapt to be used with the spatial torpedoes casings though, particularly after the Xindi mission, to claim it as their own I have no idea. Headcanon wants to believe that they did just that after the Terra Prime crisis, and their use in S3 & S4 were just field tests using Vissian design.

 

[Oddish]

Given what happened when the Enterprise met the Vissians, they must be a very forgiving people...

 

[Vale]

It actually makes sense that the NX class would be bigger than the Defiant.

First, the Defiant, if I remember correctly, has a regular crew of about 40 or 50. Enterprise had 80 plus about 20 MACOs.

Second, the machinery that keeps the 22nd century ship running would be much larger than a 24th century one. Especially since the NX is an entirely Earth made ship. The Defiant has the resources of a 24th century Starfleet, a combined service of many different races and technologies. Much of it is bound to do more with smaller space.

Which is kind of my point really – Enterprise doesn't feel like the technology it's using is unnecessarily big, clunky, and low-tech most of the time, which comes back to the whole "it looks too advanced" thing. If the warp core filled half the ship instead of half of one room I'd be much happier with the NX-01 being the size she is.

 

[Farscape One]

Compare that room size to the Defiant's engine room. Enterprise's is a LOT bigger.

Plus, the Defiant's nacelles are small enough to be embedded inside the central part of the ship, on port and starboard. The Enterprise's nacelles are almost as long as the primary hull. I call that a huge difference.

One other thing to consider is the Defiant had NO knobs or buttons. It was entirely touch screen. The Enterprise had a fusion of buttons and touch screen, which given the advancement of real life technology from the TOS days, I think that was a best case scenario in terms of believability.

 

[Aragorn]

Give Mayweather something to do. Imagine having the most space experience out of everyone on the bridge yet you're the ensign. That kind of drama practically writes itself.

 

[Vale]

Compare that room size to the Defiant's engine room. Enterprise's is a LOT bigger.

Going off the set floor plans, the Defiant's engine room is approximately 7.6m ✕ 8.5m (25ft ✕ 28ft), and the NX-01's is 12m ✕ 7.8m (39ft ✕ 25.5ft), so the NX-01's engine room is about 50% bigger. But also remember that the NX-01's warp core is entirely in the engine room, whereas the Defiant's warp core extends above and below it; and the Defiant's engine room is a significantly higher percentage of its internal volume than the NX-01's is.

Plus, the Defiant's nacelles are small enough to be embedded inside the central part of the ship, on port and starboard. The Enterprise's nacelles are almost as long as the primary hull. I call that a huge difference.

The NX-01's nacelles account for ~10% of its total volume, which is roughly in line with the Galaxy-class, and significantly less than the TOS Constitution-class, which is about ~25% nacelle. The Defiant's nacelles also account for ~25% of its total volume; proportionally the Defiant is "more nacelle" than any other Starfleet ship we've seen apart from the Constitution and Miranda.

One other thing to consider is the Defiant had NO knobs or buttons. It was entirely touch screen. The Enterprise had a fusion of buttons and touch screen, which given the advancement of real life technology from the TOS days, I think that was a best case scenario in terms of believability.

Are you suggesting that buttons took up all the extra space on the NX-01?

 

[Oddish]

Give Mayweather something to do. Imagine having the most space experience out of everyone on the bridge yet you're the ensign. That kind of drama practically writes itself.

Not just experience, COMPETENCE. I don't think Mayweather made a mistake in all the time we saw him. He should've been a lieutenant by "Home".

 

[Farscape One]

Going off the set floor plans, the Defiant's engine room is approximately 7.6m ✕ 8.5m (25ft ✕ 28ft), and the NX-01's is 12m ✕ 7.8m (39ft ✕ 25.5ft), so the NX-01's engine room is about 50% bigger. But also remember that the NX-01's warp core is entirely in the engine room, whereas the Defiant's warp core extends above and below it; and the Defiant's engine room is a significantly higher percentage of its internal volume than the NX-01's is.



The NX-01's nacelles account for ~10% of its total volume, which is roughly in line with the Galaxy-class, and significantly less than the TOS Constitution-class, which is about ~25% nacelle. The Defiant's nacelles also account for ~25% of its total volume; proportionally the Defiant is "more nacelle" than any other Starfleet ship we've seen apart from the Constitution and Miranda.



Are you suggesting that buttons took up all the extra space on the NX-01?

Fair points, but the Defiant was only 4 decks. NX-01 was 7.

Regarding the knobs and buttons, I was talking about the look of the tech, not the space it uses up.

 

[Vale]

Fair points, but the Defiant was only 4 decks

Plus a fifth. Sort of. Maybe

Regarding the knobs and buttons, I was talking about the look of the tech, not the space it uses up.

Oh, I ADORE the look of the NX-01's interior. Everything from the uniforms to the controls to the wall panelling to those little spotlights to the handholds they put on all the walls in case of artificial gravity failure is fantastic. I'd absolutely keep that unchanged (apart from the transporter). It's just the external appearance and the size of the ship I have issues with.

 

[FederationHistorian]

It actually makes sense that the NX class would be bigger than the Defiant.

First, the Defiant, if I remember correctly, has a regular crew of about 40 or 50. Enterprise had 80 plus about 20 MACOs.

Second, the machinery that keeps the 22nd century ship running would be much larger than a 24th century one. Especially since the NX is an entirely Earth made ship. The Defiant has the resources of a 24th century Starfleet, a combined service of many different races and technologies. Much of it is bound to do more with smaller space.

Considering that there is a model of a Daedalus class ship on his desk, I wonder how much that ship class influenced Sisko in designing the Defiant? Since a crew complement of 40-50 seems about right for a ship of that size for mid-22nd century Starfleet.

Given what happened when the Enterprise met the Vissians, they must be a very forgiving people...

I guess they are. Maybe they saw Trip as not representative of the crew as a whole, since there were positive experiences had with Archer and Reed.

Not just experience, COMPETENCE. I don't think Mayweather made a mistake in all the time we saw him. He should've been a lieutenant by "Home".

Even the ENT bible suggests that he should have been a lieutenant. It suggested Trip was to be one too, but we saw that in the flashback to before Enterprise's launch in "First Flight". We never saw Mayweather as a lieutenant, even in an alternate reality scenario.

 

[Farscape One]

Had they cast someone a few years older as Travis, he likely would have been a Lt.