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Thoughts on the USS Shenzhou (Trailer Edition)

Mark_Nguyen

Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral
Jotting down random thoughts for discussion:

- No, it doesn't look congruous with what could be inferred with the prime timeline's starships of that era. But putting that aside for now...

- So, this ship is indeed the "not-Discovery" wireframe we saw in the previous production start teaser video.

- And as people noted from the absence of the traditional dorsal location of the bridge, we confirm that it's indeed on the bottom. Why? I'd like to think that, since we see the Shenzhou apparently in the atmosphere of the planet we see at the same time, perhaps this ship was built with extended atmospheric flight operations in mind. As such, and as on blimps and dirigibles, it makes sense to have the big window on the ventral side so you can easily see the ground you're crossing.

- Tangentially from this, does the Shenzhou look capable of landing? It's not like the NX had gear, so it's hardly a requirement...

- Yes, the bridge has not only the main window, it's got side-facing windows too! There are side-stations in "pit" areas that have windows that seem to complete a forward arc of viewports. Being able to look out the windows beyond the usual single front screen is a (pricey) first in Trek, I'm sure, not counting shuttles or runabouts.

- The bridge is fairly traditional in setup but incorporating TNG-esque free-standing consoles that never really showed up in TOS or the Kelvin timeline:

* Aside from the usual CO chair and forward stations (TWO of them! Take THAT, NX-01!), there are two free standing stations for Saru and Burnham flanking the CO chair's raised dias.

*The aft wall seems to have no chairs but a bunch of displays and another free-standing console facing forward.

* Port and starboard, there are two distinct types of stations: something akin to the aft wall with displays and what looks like another free-standing console, and the aforementioned "pit" stations with windows and room for two seated people. This is where the scaly (?) blue crewman and Lobot were sitting.

- Compared to most Bridge sets, there ISN'T much apparent room between the forward stations and the front windows. Most sets have a large empty space between the Con/Ops seats and the viewer, which is nominally where the cameras go. The Enterprise-E was the most guilty of having the most wasted forward space on a set. Here there isn't much at all, which may have been a deliberate choice given the show's amount of practical lighting and how much smaller film-making stuff is these days.

- Aside from the bridge, we see three areas of note from the ship: a corridor, a generic crew quarters or office set (which may be two separate rooms redressed from the same set?) and an airlock, which may be CG. The corridor is also pretty generic, which may be indicative of how relatively temporary this ship may be before Discovery herself is seen.
 
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I have to say I didn't like the Shenzou. Nor its bridge so far(not the scheme, rather the materialization). The metallic pattern/color though is nice. Also it looks like some Axanar ships cross imo. I do like the stations placement though.
 
Looked like a decent ship, not overly pretty but nice enough. Better looking than Discovery herself was last time we saw her.
 
I love that it's under the saucer. I welcome variations on the functionality of the bridge, especially if it is as OP suggests mission specific for atmospheric flight. Seeing some variation on the design and function of bridges is great. It doesn't seem likely that in all the fleet, every ship has to have the same basic layout for their bridge.

However, I wish the colors were just a liiiiiiitle bit lighter, or maybe a few more overhead lights to brighten up the space. Perhaps its only that dark during red-alert? And I believe the free-standing consoles mentioned refer to the consoles the officers stand at that are not connected to the walls.
 
It looks like they're going with the same strategy as in TWOK, where the two Starfleet ships have nacelles pointed opposite directions to make them distinguishable at a glance.

Any thoughts on the size? Based on the two decks behind the bridge and between the pylons, it feels like it should be about the same size as the Miranda, discounting the nacelle length.
 
The carpets are gone. I noticed that right away.

There's a nice mix of self-lit displays which does give some natural looking lens flares, as opposed the added and planned overabundance in the Kelvin movies. I think lens flares can add a nice touch of realism, but can also be overdone.

The console columns are nicely shaped.

It's both Kelvinesque, yet more hi-tech and polished than that ship.

I'm dying to see the Discovery.

RAMA
 
I dig it. This is clearly and ENT derived design. I know people are screaming "Kelvin!" but really Kelvin was a ENT derived ship as well. We are not looking at 1960's ships, we have not since ENT. We are looking at modern versions of those designs and I find this ship in line with ENT ships.
 
What I see here is an actual legacy ship with lotsa ENT influences (the saucer shape, esp. the edge, the dorsal ridge, the detailing) because that's what was in vogue when she was built, but with upgrades (mainly internal) to keep her competitive for the new century. The only part I hate, the generic engines, could be what the UFP Starfleet experimented with after its founding, until realizing that all this alien junk was inferior and all the contracts ought to go to Earth nacellesmiths after all.

The Kelvin would be the thing that replaces the Shenzhou style. Or even replaces the successor of the Shenzhou style for all we know. Things then move through the Discovery to Kirk's Enterprise, herself old news by the time of TOS. Brand new ship styles are in fact rarely seen, and the entire fleet agreeing on a style at any given moment is unheard of.

Basically, Not Worried Because Gone Tomorrow - I doubt this style will feature again any time soon. Unless that tactical display with multiple Klingon warp signatures emerging but multiple blue signatures already in place depicts a Federation fleet of Shenzhou lookalikes...

Timo Saloniemi
 
I love that it looks lived in, and just a little bit Star Wars grungy.

Really does look like a contemporary of 1701-E and/or USS Vengeance.
Well, it's a typical John Eaves design, with nacelles that look like they're straight off a Jem'Hadar battleship from DS9.
I thought they were Vor'cha nacelles from Next Gen
 
I liked the exterior, which is a rarity when it comes to new Federation ships (the Starfleet ship configuration is really hard to make attractive when trying to do something original with it).

So yeah, I liked the exterior but didn't love it.

What I've seen of the interior I love. In fact the interior seems to take influences from both the TMP and TNG bridge.

I'm not bothered that it looks more advanced than TOS. It's about time we just admitted that props and costumes in a 60's sci-fi show look really dated.

If I'm really pushed to explain it, I'll just handwave it by saving it's close parallel universe to prime.
 
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Really does look like a contemporary of 1701-E and/or USS Vengeance.
Most Starfleet ships look pretty damn similar one you exclude TOS's unique colour scheme and smooth exteriors. The fact that the Excelsior and Miranda classes span near 100 years of in universe time without looking out of place shows how little real evolution there was.
 
I liked the Bridge under the Saucer, it could be the Bridge of the captains yacht too, or maybe its seperateable for escape reasons. Over all, i liked the whole exterior design, it looks raw and heavy used, like an older ship has to. It looks very functional. Interior is nice too, little jj-ish, but thats okay its state of the art. Really, really nice ship so far. I´m looking forward what trekyards has to say about it.

Sorry my english is not very good... Austrians :beer:
 
Heck, perhaps ships of this class had extra facilities for that purpose, and the poor old S never got a replacement for the main bridge when that trispockium asteroid swept it away... Instead, she got an upgrade to the landing gondola.

I don't mind, it's cool and cool is important. But obviously it's not what they'll do with the Discovery so we might expect never to see this bridge design again. Even if they keep the consoles and just spraypaint them or something, losing the windows will be a major change in the look and feel.

Timo Saloniemi
 
I'd bet that the Discovery will have its own design, and this bridge ends up being the equivalent of the endlessly-redressed battle bridge.
 
Really does look like a contemporary of 1701-E and/or USS Vengeance.

And that's the problem. A 2250s ship with 2370s ship aesthetics. And not very inspired aesthetics at that.

I thought they were Vor'cha nacelles from Next Gen

No, @Dukhat is correct. They're the same curved/angular nacelles that Eaves likes to draw on every starship despite the race.

USS Shenzhou

Federation starship

Jem'hadar battle cruiser

Dominion battleship
 
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