No, the triangle is the ugly part.
Why the Ralph McQuarrie-inspired USS Discovery is an incredible design
- Thread starter INACTIVEUSS Einstein
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![15209230785_7c40ef685a_o[1].png](https://www.trekbbs.com/data/attachments/1/1446-b924b9fe78564ce436556195e0156e3f.jpg "15209230785_7c40ef685a_o[1].png")
That big wide landing bay of Discovery's is both good looking and looks functional, unlike the ass end of most Trek ships.
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Yep.
The original Ralph McQuarrie design is ugly.
Well that's also true of saying it IS any other descriptor - beautiful, functional, cool. We're all stating opinions.It never ceases to amaze me how many fans keep saying 'it IS ugly'. When someone comes around and says, I kinda like how that looks, the first reply is always 'no no, you don't understand. It's ugly. We said so. You can't say it's nice. It's not. Because we say so.'
Some people are. Others are simply going on and on and on and on that it's ugly without actually going deeper into anything. Opinions are one thing, but at least try and give some foundation for it instead of just ranting like a child.
Personally, I'm liking some of what I'm seeing, and some aspects I'm not sure of. However, I'm waiting untill I know what's actually going to happen, and see if either broad lines or details will be changed when we actually see some highres pictures. There has hardly been anything substantial to actually base any real opinon on.
I mean, look at that wirefram ship. That's what it was. A wireframe. Nothing more. Suddenly, everyone KNOWS it's the Shenzou, and based on a half a second shot of a effing wireframe, have actually written near essays on it!! Really?? REALLY???
Give it some more time people.
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I won't lie, my initial reaction was revulsion and confusion. I think it was due to the fact that I honestly did not expect them to reach that far back into the well and pull out this design. Still, over the past year, I've warmed up to the ship's appearance and, yes, I see the more functional, utilitarian design. The more I dwell on it, the more the ship seems appropriate to this era. Of course, all of this is based on so little, but I have to trust that the showrunners know what they're doing, and that's what I've done. Regardless, the ship no longer seems ugly to me, but almost fitting as a starship created in pre-TOS Starfleet. I get the sneaking suspicion that once I see it in action on screen, it will feel right. That's what I'm hoping to see, anyway.
I love the teaser design to bits for the same reason I loved the 1970s sideburns and moustaches of SW:Rogue One: that's sheer gutsiness incarnated. That's what we're "supposed" to see in the context, and by golly, if that's what they're going to show us, there's nothing we can do about it. To reimagine it would be like reimagining Mad Men so as not to alienate the modern audiences...
Now, I have no high hopes that I actually get to see that ship beyond the teaser clip. But at least I did get the SW sideburns and moustaches.
Timo Saloniemi
Now, I have no high hopes that I actually get to see that ship beyond the teaser clip. But at least I did get the SW sideburns and moustaches.
Timo Saloniemi
The color is just a color cast from being lit by the sun, as well as the overall warm tone in the poorly made teaser (the asteroid even has a color cast). If you pause the behind the scenes teaser when they show those still of Discovery, it's a more neutral gray.
They can use more complex lighting these days and with the budget, they don't have to re-use shots of the ships (we hope).
They can use more complex lighting these days and with the budget, they don't have to re-use shots of the ships (we hope).
It never ceases to amaze me how many fans keep saying 'it IS ugly'. When someone comes around and says, I kinda like how that looks, the first reply is always 'no no, you don't understand. It's ugly. We said so. You can't say it's nice. It's not. Because we say so.'
Well I have tried to make it clear I personally find it ugly rather than attack others for liking it. I love the Shenzou design but it's getting a fair amount of flak in other threads.
To me, the circle and triangle are opposing shapes. The primary hull looks small, which throws off the balance. If you have an angular engineering hull, go with an angular primary hull. Give it some balance and complimentary geometry, and it will look fine.
Did Ralph come up with this, or was he paid to illustrate someone else's idea against his better judgement?
Did Ralph come up with this, or was he paid to illustrate someone else's idea against his better judgement?
It was his original drawing for Planet Of The Titans.
I like the design well enough. It wouldn't have been a good refit Enterprise, way too different from the TOS E.
I like the contrast between the triangle and the saucer, and I very much like the relatively smaller saucer in the McQuarrie drawings - basically, it makes the big wedge into the primary hull and main element, perhaps with the command and control functions located in the saucer.
Saucers on these things have been getting bigger with the so-called engineering hull being deprecated since the 80s. This design pushes in the other direction, rather like Excelsior did, and it looks great.
If anything, the saucer on Discovery is too big, elaborate and dominant.
It wouldn't hurt them to discard some of the other Trek standard elements, like plopping the bridge in a bump on top of the saucer; McQuarrie's version looks like it recesses it into the upper surface.
Saucers on these things have been getting bigger with the so-called engineering hull being deprecated since the 80s. This design pushes in the other direction, rather like Excelsior did, and it looks great.
If anything, the saucer on Discovery is too big, elaborate and dominant.
It wouldn't hurt them to discard some of the other Trek standard elements, like plopping the bridge in a bump on top of the saucer; McQuarrie's version looks like it recesses it into the upper surface.
I know it's Gene's thing to have the bridge on top, but that's never made any sense. It should be in the center deck on the saucer. If this design did that I would have no problem with that.
True.
Of course, in defense of the Jefferies design we might consider that, where the safety of the bridge is concerned, as soon as the shields fail it doesn't matter whether it's riding on top, buried in the center of the ship's mass or dangling on a string with a big "shoot at me!" sticker pasted across it - one direct hit from the kinds of weapons we see in Star Trek ought to destroy any of these vessels.
Good point. I guess you would just want to protect it that much more anyway, maybe time to get a couple more shots off and potentially save yourselves.
Yeah, it's annoying when people keep going on and on and on about the same thing...
But i don't mind in this case because the title of this posting is discussing the design. Not the people discussing it.
