USS Hood and USS Farragut

[Sector 7]

What's so bad about that ship that would make Uhura so angry about being assigned to it?

We don't know this of course, but perhaps her main reason for wanting to be on the Enterprise was not because of it's status, but because her boyfriend was first officer?

Perhaps, if Spock was assigned to the Farragut, that is where she would have wanted to be assigned.

We'll never know, since that's not how the movie plays out. And Uhura is certainly a capable Starfleet officer looking for a distinguished career, not just a fangirl of a dreamy half-Vulcan. But humans often give relationships top priority in career choices; if she is in love with him, it would be quite reasonable for her to do so as well.

Does anyone else think Academy Instructor Spock's relationship with Student Uhura to be a violation of ethics? Spock said he wanted to avoid the appearance of favoritism, so he did not assign her to Enterprise. He knew it was not an appropriate relationship or he would not have tried to hide it. Kirk was obviously surprised on the transporter pad to learn of their relationship. Whenever Uhura approached Spock it was in an elevator or other discreet location until that scene.

 

[RapidNadion]

^ Doubtless a violation of policy, sure. But we're not talking about elementary school here. I'd like to think that in 200 years, we'll have grown up enough to leave the Puritanical B.S. even further behind than we already have, and give consenting adults the latitude to do what they want with their instructors (and students).

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

So even though Spock *tried* to avoid the appearance of favoritism, how do you know he didn't - however unintentionally - actually practice it?

That's the problem with instructor-student relationships. You can't *avoid* favoritism when you allow that.

 

[Timo]

You probably can't avoid it no matter what: there'll always be favorites judged by merits other than the ones listed in the study program.

Whether the Enterprise was the first, second or sixteenth of her kind in the movie was not clearly established. Whether she was of Constitution class was never mentioned. Whether the ship being built at the Riverside, Iowa yards was the Enterprise or some other random ship of the class depends on how one's television repeats the widescreen images...

Certainly the Enterprise was the only Starfleet ship seen that would have had the bright white finish and the groovy engines, perhaps signs of novelty and advanced technology. Just as certainly, she wasn't the biggest ship in Starfleet, since we saw a saucer in the wreckage much bigger than that - and she wasn't the fastest, since she never caught up with the main fleet after being delayed by a few minutes in the "parking brake incident".

Timo Saloniemi

 

[OneBuckFilms]

Timo,

- All online sources point to the Enterprise being a Constitution Class, though never established on screen.
- The fact that we see the shuttle with Kirk and McCoy leaving, and "NCC-1701" is seen on the hull at the Riverside Shipyards establish that it is indeed the Enterprise.
- We don't know for sure how quickly the other ships were dispatched, since they were likely vastly outmatched and caught by surprise, though the Enterprise may have been running slow.

 

[BenRoethig]

Yes, I thought the Enterprise's status as Federation flagship was a bit strange too, there's no real reason why it should be.

Because of (presumably) the threat that the Narada represented, the JJ-Verse Connie was built to a size that wasn't achieved in the prime universe for another 100 years. Much much bigger than other mid-23rd century federation ship. Seeing that Connie was probably used for trials, Enterprise makes a perfect flagship.

 

[JuanBolio]

Yes, I thought the Enterprise's status as Federation flagship was a bit strange too, there's no real reason why it should be.

Because of (presumably) the threat that the Narada represented, the JJ-Verse Connie was built to a size that wasn't achieved in the prime universe for another 100 years. Much much bigger than other mid-23rd century federation ship. Seeing that Connie was probably used for trials, Enterprise makes a perfect flagship.

A flagship is a ship with a flag officer (Commodore or Admiral) onboard to command a fleet, not simply the biggest or spiffiest ship in the arsenal.

Also, in the spacedock scene, the Enterprise wasn't shown as being particularly larger than any other mid-23rd century ship present.

 

[Kaych]

Yes, I thought the Enterprise's status as Federation flagship was a bit strange too, there's no real reason why it should be.

Because of (presumably) the threat that the Narada represented, the JJ-Verse Connie was built to a size that wasn't achieved in the prime universe for another 100 years. Much much bigger than other mid-23rd century federation ship. Seeing that Connie was probably used for trials, Enterprise makes a perfect flagship.

A flagship is a ship with a flag officer (Commodore or Admiral) onboard to command a fleet, not simply the biggest or spiffiest ship in the arsenal.

Not necessarily, its possible the Enterprise is a ceremonial flagship. For example, the HMS Victory is the flagship for the Commander-in-Chief Naval Home Command (of Britain). However, the c-in-c, doesn't actually reside on the ship.

 

[Sector 7]

Since in the last Academy scene Pike is an admiral, then Enterprise was his flagship prior to being relieved by Kirk.

I think JJ & Co. could have saved a lot of grief by adding a simple "Three Years Later" title to that scene. Many have complained of Kirk's jump from cadet to captain, but what about Pike's jump from captain to multi-starred admiral?
From: Captain ||| [wide-thin-wide stripes]
To: Admiral |||| [thin-thin-wide-thin stripes]

 

[nx1701g]

Since in the last Academy scene Pike is an admiral, then Enterprise was his flagship prior to being relieved by Kirk.

But he was promoted at the end of the film. The rank braids Pike has during the film are those of a Captain.

Maybe there was an Admiral killed in the Battle of the Laurentian System and Pike was promoted.

 

[Plecostomus]

My take...


She's the second of her class, behind the Connie. After whatever happens, they go into mass production and build a dozen more like her. Each named for a ship lost in the Battle Of Vulcan. That's what makes them special.

As for the design changes... I personally retcon TOS, it always looked like this. Not a big deal in my mind.

Prehaps.. just prehaps in the next movie the ship will be trashed, and rebuilt closer to "traditional" lines. I hope not... because as I said I can imagine the Shiny-E on TV replacing the Original E. Not a problem in my mind... I'm not a stuborn canon-wanker who worships at the alter of continuity.

 

[Shazam!]

I try to avoid nitpicking as much as possible, but when the Federation fleet warps to Vulcan from Earth, the Enterprise appears to be the only Constitution-class vessel in the group. But dialogue in the film cofirms that the USS Hood and the USS Farragut were among those starships, and shouldn't they have been Constitutions as well, considering that they were in the Prime Universe?

I'm also a little bit miffed that the film seems to treat the Enterprise as though it's the only one of its kind in Starfleet, but to me this just doesn't make sense. There's some indication that the Constitutions had been around for quite a long while by the TOS era of the prime universe (The Constellation had a much lower registry number, NCC-1017, suggesting it was commisioned decades earlier than Enterprise), and the new reality can't be that different from the prime one.

Pretend everything is a reboot. It's the only way it makes any kind of sense.