Thoughts on the USS Shenzhou (Trailer Edition)

[Longinus]

While I don;t think it's the Akiraprise drama all over again, isn't the Shenzhou just the one-off cameo ship USS Centaur from DS9 again?
USS Centaur:

Good catch. Considering how briefly we saw the Centaur, I'm willing to pretend that they're of the same class.

 

[Mad Jack Wolfe]

... can PR materials be art?

Of course it can. Just ask Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

 

[jamestyler]

Of course it can. Just ask Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

A significantly more talented individual than I (though as a matter of chance, a bit of an inspiration )

 

[tenmei]

Has anyone tried to sketch a Bridge layout?

 

[Mirror Mirror]

Good catch. Considering how briefly we saw the Centaur, I'm willing to pretend that they're of the same class.

The center just shares a rough shape. Most of trek ship classes share a very roughly related shape.

 

[RAMA]

Listen guys...there are only so many ways you can put these parts together before some of them are the same.

RAMA

While I don;t think it's the Akiraprise drama all over again, isn't the Shenzhou just the one-off cameo ship USS Centaur from DS9 again?
USS Centaur:

 

[INACTIVEUSS Einstein]

They're only, like, the most important things ever. They seem to cause more arguments than almost any other element of starship design. People have a chronology of warp nacelle design in their head that is very rigid and it tends to be what people pick up on when 'dating' a ship design. The nod to the TOS nacelle caps on the Phoenix in ST:FC is probably at least partly to blame, it set in stone for some people that nacelles had round caps like that from the dawn of warp drive up until TMP.

Exactly!

Apologies for always flooding people with pictures, but they are good at illustrating things like this:

2160 (ENT)

2233 (Kelvin)

22?? (DSC)

22?? (DSC)

2265 (TOS)

2273 (TMP)

I'm really not sure where I would place the USS Shenzhou if I had just seen it completely out of context, guessing just off nacelles and stuff - probably somewhere around DS9, or maybe just after ENT - at first I thought she was a relic, perhaps from just after Archer's era, due to the similarity with the NX class. But now, she seems to have a higher registry than the USS Kelvin and USS Discovery (which probably means later design), and lacks the smooth hull of the TOS Constitution class.

I kinda thought that maybe John Eaves would make less angular designs than his signature stuff, i.e. going on the Kelvin era designs being very reminiscent of TOS with a TMP vibe too. But anyway, it's always justifiable - just another branch of the design family tree of Starfleet, that perhaps got phased out quickly.

This size might need reconsideration that we have seen her - the bridge window might give clues - maybe someone with experience could revise the size guess?

Discovery on the other hand always looked the part - hope they haven't changed too much.

 

[Mirror Mirror]

YOu are assuming the two TOS ships we have seen even matter any more. Care to point out when any of them were seen after TMP?

 

[INACTIVEUSS Einstein]

I'm not assuming anything, just a fun look at how they might fit.

 

[cultcross]

By the way, what decides who gets a chair? I've always wondered about Starfleet making certain officers stand for their entire duty day, while their colleagues sit comfortably. The TOS bridge gave everyone a chair or at least the option of a chair. Since then, at least one person has had to stand. Seems harsh. I see our death sensing alien dude seems to be on his feet at his station, and there doesn't seem to be a first officer's chair at first glance either. I wonder if you have a particular job you long to serve on a class that has a seat for that role. Like, ops officers long for galaxy rather than intrepid class postings...

 

[Jesse1066]

By the way, what decides who gets a chair? I've always wondered about Starfleet making certain officers stand for their entire duty day, while their colleagues sit comfortably. The TOS bridge gave everyone a chair or at least the option of a chair. Since then, at least one person has had to stand. Seems harsh. I see our death sensing alien dude seems to be on his feet at his station, and there doesn't seem to be a first officer's chair at first glance either. I wonder if you have a particular job you long to serve on a class that has a seat for that role. Like, ops officers long for galaxy rather than intrepid class postings...

There've been stations like that on almost every bridge since the Enterprise D. Not really sure why. I guess that's Star Trek for ya. Maybe it has tactical benefits.
EDIT: A chair for the first officer seems fair. Though a single central chair exudes power in a way that it doesn't with others next to it.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

By the way, what decides who gets a chair? I've always wondered about Starfleet making certain officers stand for their entire duty day, while their colleagues sit comfortably. The TOS bridge gave everyone a chair or at least the option of a chair. Since then, at least one person has had to stand. Seems harsh.

Starfleet General Order 36 mandates that at the start of each duty shift rotation the incoming shift crew must play a game of musical chairs to determine who will wind up sitting or standing for the entirety of that shift.

Worf just really, really sucked at musical chairs.

There've been stations like that on almost every bridge since the Enterprise D. Not really sure why. I guess that's Star Trek for ya. Maybe it has tactical benefits.

In-universe reason:
It makes sense to have your security-tactical officer / biggest baddest crewmember on their feet to respond to boarding parties. Alternatively, it makes sense to have your jack-of-all-trades / senior chief or officer character who oversees the other bridge crew to be mobile and move between bridge stations to keep an eye on everyone.

Out-of-universe reason:
It frames characters in the direct background in the shot, whereas most of their body would be concealed if they were sitting down directly behind the captain.

 

[JTL]

The guidance counselor on the bridge, in a prominent chair no less, makes less sense than the MD standing around on the bridge.

 

[OpenMaw]

Though i *doubt* this'll actually play in the series at all. Looking at her engines and the way she's revealed in the trailer... What if the Shenzou is a ship designed specifically to stealthily patrol the Klingon border? She's got engines that give a bit of a klingon vibe, and her "sneaky" reveal almost makes me think that.

Just a thought.

I've never liked the idea that the entire Federation fleet had to share the same kind of nacelles. Just look at the First Contact fleet, all those ships have different looking engines. Similarities, sure, but they're not all identical.

 

[Dac]

That looks really nice, but what's the source?

The wireframe from January and the underside shots from the trailer. 3 hours of modelling plus 3 hours of printing resulted in that...

 

[Prax]

When the ship comes through the clouds, it looks an awful lot like the akira. Is that a deflector dish on the underside?

 

[Mad Jack Wolfe]

When the ship comes through the clouds, it looks an awful lot like the Akira. Is that a deflector dish on the underside?

She's more likely to be an early Centaur class ship. Dig around a little on the internet and you'll see what I mean. Or look a few posts above. That works too.

 

[Prax]

Or the Cakiraur class.

 

[Captain of the USS Averof]

While I don;t think it's the Akiraprise drama all over again, isn't the Shenzhou just the one-off cameo ship USS Centaur from DS9 again?
USS Centaur:

She's more likely to be an early Centaur class ship. Dig around a little on the internet and you'll see what I mean. Or look a few posts above. That works too.

Yeah. I also noticed that all the way back in February...

WTF? The "wireframe ship" looks just like the USS Centaur! It even has those two winglets in the saucer that the Centaur had from the kitbashed Excelsior saucer!

 

[jamestyler]

When the ship comes through the clouds, it looks an awful lot like the akira. Is that a deflector dish on the underside?

The deflectors at the front of the saucer, like like the NX Class. The bit on the underside is an oddity I'm curious about though - it's a weird chunk connected to the nacelles and sweeping up to reach underneath the saucer. Could be an engineering section or shuttle bay?

Edit: Here's a closer peek thanks to TrekCore: