The Saratoga's Dedication Plaque

[t_smitts]

I was watching a clip from "Emissary" the other day and noticed that the dedication plaque for the Saratoga is visible on the bridge for a second. (You can see it in the shot right after J.G. Hertzler's Vulcan captain meets his fiery demise).

I was curious what the plaque said, particularly the traditional quote at the bottom. I sent a message to the Okudas on Facebook and while they weren't 100% sure, they thought it was...

"If you build it, they will come."​

(It's a line form the movie "Field of Dreams", in case anyone doesn't know).

This is actually a neat quote. Not only does it tie into Sisko's love of baseball, but it actually works as a nice theme for the series itself and of Sisko as a builder. Unfortunately, we'll probably never know what the rest of the plaque said, though. What happened to it (along with other one shots like the Brattain or the Sutherland) is anyone's guess.

I always liked the plaques. Since assignment patches apparently didn't carry over into the 24th century, it was a little way of giving each ship a bit of a unique identity.

 

[Dukhat]

I've always wanted to know what the plaque's registry number and class designation for the Saratoga was. I always had a sneaking suspicion that it wasn't the same as the model used or the registry number printed on it.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ Most plaques did have the same number as the outside of the ship. The Prometheus is the only one that hasn't.

 

[t_smitts]

I've always wanted to know what the plaque's registry number and class designation for the Saratoga was. I always had a sneaking suspicion that it wasn't the same as the model used or the registry number printed on it.

^ Most plaques did have the same number as the outside of the ship. The Prometheus is the only one that hasn't.

Indeed. The Saratoga actually apparently had a different number in an early Okudagram in "The Measure of a Man".

 

[Dukhat]

^ Most plaques did have the same number as the outside of the ship. The Prometheus is the only one that hasn't.

The Tsiolkovsky's plaque read NCC-53911, but the model was printed NCC-640 (a holdover from when the model was last used in STIV as the U.S.S. Copernicus.)

 

[Timo]

Were any of the Okudagrams customized for the pilot episode? There don't seem to be any pictures (say, MSDs) included, just generic columns of colored blobs and numbers. But even those, or some of them, would have to have been made for the episode, rather than yanked from TNG (the Sutherland Okudagrams?). Would a registry number have been included?

It's slightly different art again when the bridge reappears as that of the Norkova in "The Passenger", so Okuda might have made the customizing effort.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Tomalak]

I'm surprised they didn't keep the plaque graphics - he Okudas seem pretty good for that sort of thing. Is there anything in the latest Encyclopedia I wonder?

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

In 1993? I'm sure they had it on a floppy disk somewhere. And I'm sure 23 years later they have the facilities to read those disks.

Mark

 

[Tomalak]

Plenty of other stuff from the time survives! I've got a floppy disc drive they can borrow.

 

[kkt]

I have several floppy disc drives too.
Anyone still have the special Next floppy disc drive that held double capacity discs?

 

[t_smitts]

It's possible that they missed archiving some things, like the Saratoga plaque, even though other one-time plaques (like the Brattain and Sutherland) were documented for the Encyclopedia.