Why was Enterprise received so poorly?

[Henoch]

They would have to use 'subspace lanes' to get anywhere with reasonable speed. Which would limit their movement to places that would become important 'core' territories by TOS.

That would help explain some of why things are the way they are in TOS. Why certain civilizations were encountered first. Why some areas of space are more populated. How primitive warp vessels could end up so far out in TOS.

Nicely described theory on superhighways in space.

Similar to the idea of "subspace lanes", I have galactic magnetic ribbons/tubes/storms floating in interstellar space that can be entered and rode at increased speeds while at warp. The strength and length of these magnetic ribbons yield some with higher speeds and others with longer distances. Conveniently. many of the magnetic ribbons are stretched between the large magnetic fields of stars, so, travel between some stars is much quicker (such as Earth and Vulcan) than travel without a ribbon. Finding and mapping these magnetic ribbons is key to high speed warp travel; this is why obtaining the detailed space charts from the Vulcans was important. YMMV

 

[knightgrace]

I like Aethor's Daedalus class for most things in the early days. Don't like the mass, however...too great. Should be less than 80,000 metric tons. Taking into account the mass of the NX-01 Enterprise, and her size. Warp factor seven, with a maximum safe cruising warp factor of 6.3. But unable to sustain due to the time barrier of required maintenance.

 

[Jedi Marso]

In the spirit of this thread, for anyone interested, I wrote this several years ago and it details an 'Enterprise' era which I feel like is more along the lines of what people expected with the series:

The Long Sleep [Alternate Enterprise-era]

Introduction This is a story I wrote several years ago which takes place in what I consider a 'prime' Enterprise era timeline. That is to say that I consider the TV show 'Enterprise' to be an offshoot or alternate timeline from TOS due to the events of the movie First Contact. This seems borne...

www.trekbbs.com

 

[Checker222]

Yes, I think the "Death of the Valiant" animation, based on a novel, had Valiant being carried away by a 'subspace rift' or similar.


The way TOS / TNG describe things, it's likely that there are various subspace-type anomalies that throw ships off-course, and/or send them at accelerated speeds.

One person in threads like this one even suggested, for a prequel, the phenomenon of an uncharted subspace anomaly in the Sol system. It accelerates ships, which would explain why some early Earth ships are where they shouldn't be.


As you say, any stable 'lanes' that could be mapped would be highly valuable. Maps are extremely important in this era. We already know that Trek space is uneven, and anomalous.

There could even be a few points in space known to accelerate ships. They could become key strategic nodes that are fought over. Until faster warp drives make them irrelevant [another reason to develop faster drives - it changes the balance of power.]



As for the Daedalus, people have differing opinions on how it looked. I was first influenced by the model still in the TNG Encyclopedia / Chronology. I think it's okay to have at least two variants. Perhaps a shiny and metallic early variant, and later one in Starfleet colours. With warp engines closer to TOS.

There's more than one right way to depict a Daedalus:

Daedalus Class

https://www.daedalusclass.com/essexl1.jpg

If going with an era [later] around the formation of the Federation, I was really impressed by the aesthetics of of this comic:

No Good Deed - Page 1 - Star Trek - The Webcomic

trekcomic.com

It has this kind of shadowy, moody TOS lighting, and generally looks like a prequel to "The Cage." It's this kind of fleet that would be extant circa 2161.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Maybe it wouldn't have hurt.

But a season long war arc in the show's third year didn't make a difference?

Have you rewatched it?

The season was not mapped out before filming started, or before the writing finished.

 

[Riley]

I agree completely, and this is how I always envisioned it. Including the ship being more like the Conestoga.

Space is dark, cold, and foreboding. That's what TOS implied, especially about the pre-TOS period. The Constitution-class were the first multi-role starships capable of comfortably and quickly exploring the frontier.

But that was not the case pre-TOS.

If we go closer to the beginning, it's more like what happened to the S.S. Valiant.


The Valiant, one of the first warp ships humanity sends into the stars, gets off-course. 'Magnetic space storm.' A whole misadventure ensues. Ship is lost for 200 years.

That's what interstellar exploration was like at the beginning. There's a wonderful animation out there called "Death of the Valiant." That would be part of the vibe for an "Enterprise" series.


So the technology is really clunky and uncertain. Just going to warp is a big deal. Especially in early seasons. There would be a countdown and everything. People fastening seatbelts or strapping into crash harnesses. Inertial dampeners aren't perfectly tuned.

No transporters. Shuttles only. The ship can land if it has to.

If the NX Enterprise is an experimental ship, then it should look and act like one. Nothing is 'routine' about a mission to another star system. Including the smallest practices. Many interstellar 'missions' were one-way. Either by design, or by accident.


It would also be more 'political,' in a way that would build up to your proposed second series.




For example, I recently wrote [in another thread]:


I feel that a better "Enterprise" series would have explored more the contradictions between the exploratory and military aspects, being embodied directly in agencies such as UESPA and Earth Starfleet.

For example, Enterprise [let's face it, a different ship really] would have been launched by UESPA to follow up on its initial probes and colonization missions. In a more sober series, a "mission" could take half a season, and "Enterprise" would be part of a flotilla. It doesn't have the capabilities to do all the jobs.

Just following up on one colony could take like, six episodes. There are fewer colonies to explore in that era, more intrigue, and it takes longer to travel between them.

As things get more complicated, with the introduction of Klingons, Romulans, etc..., Archer's UESPA mission would start to really conflict with Starfleet. Who want a more defensive approach. And part of Archer's job would involve navigating these bureaucracies and the conflicts between them. UESPA funding is always in danger of being pulled, as politicians squabble back on Earth. [He'd probably need a political / diplomatic attache even more in this revised series.]

And because Earth is still recovering from world wars and the Eugenic War, the remnants of nation-state federations that exist on United Earth are jockeying for position, prestige, contracts, trying to push Enterprise in this direction or that. Altering it's mission. Pacific 201 explored this a little.]



[After posting that, I wrote some further notes]:




"Enterprise" is on a tight-leash. It is constantly reporting back home, whenever communications allow. [Often, they don't.]

The ship represents a massive investment on the part of UESPA, and possibly Earth militaries. The whole United Earth, which supercedes the UN, is breathing down their necks.

The whole mission plan was probably created in detailed form by a committee back on Earth, with different paths to follow depending on circumstances. Which would quickly come into contact with reality, and have to be further revised. Archer would be struggling against Earth bureaucracies over the mission plan. [Very limited time and resources to make decisions about.]


So Archer is not just a dashing cruiser captain exploring the far frontier. He has to become an Earth politician, of sorts. At least navigate it. He didn't expect it to such a degree when he accepted the commission. [The whole structure of managing a 'starship' is very new and shaky at this point.]




The ship wouldn't be called "Enterprise," because that introduces problems. It would perhaps be called "Intrepid," because our daring crew is intrepid. Or one of the TOS Constitution names, or named after the brave Valiant.

The "Intrepid" could even be the S.S. Emmette of the Ganges-class. A very rudimentary ship. But if it is storied enough, it could eventually become the delta symbol that is used on Enterprise, and eventually Starfleet. It could receive upgrades, such as a secondary-hull.

Honestly, the Conestoga would have been great, if going for a more rudimentary approach.


Maybe the Intrepid's first mission could be rescuing the XCV-330 S.S. Enterprise from some kind of disaster. That would be a nice tongue-in-cheek tie-in to TMP, and showing that this is not the settled Federation of TOS and beyond.



When things get closer to the Romulan war, there could be a need to produce a vast number of ships. Hence the Daedalus. Which could be the first "Starfleet" vessel. That would explain a lot.

These are all spectacular ideas. This is exactly what the show should have been. I think the Conestoga design would be perfect, as it's similar to a secondary hull with nacelles. In my head canon, the saucer section was something that originated either with another UFP founding species or through collaboration. The same goes for transporters and phasers.

That works. I still think UESPA might conflict with other Earth agencies, not to mention everyone else.

But "Starfleet" could be a post-Federation development.

The hero ship of the show would not start with the primary/secondary hull arrangement. Although if it is a warp delta, it could get a secondary hull after Starfleet is founded.


With regard to auxiliary craft, I should add that shuttles are a conceit to TOS and TNG.

The ship should use landers. Big bulky things that land in a showy way. Like the Vulcan lander in First Contact.

I love the idea of landers! Makes me think of the Nostromo landing in Alien. Landing on a planet, even one with M-class conditions, should be a deadly dangerous experience. The shuttlepods operated no differently than the far more advanced shuttles and related craft of centuries later.

I am referring to Riley's concept, in which the show takes place about 30 years earlier than Enterprise. Sorry, I should have made that more clear.

In fact, I'd consider starting the series about 30-40 years after First Contact with the Vulcans. We're talking warp 3 or 3.5 ships. They would have to use 'subspace lanes' to get anywhere with reasonable speed. Which would limit their movement to places that would become important 'core' territories by TOS.

That would help explain some of why things are the way they are in TOS. Why certain civilizations were encountered first. Why some areas of space are more populated. How primitive warp vessels could end up so far out in TOS.

As for Sloane being too old in the Enterprise series, it could have introduced one of her descendants. You'd want that connection to First Contact, I think. Whether it's direct, or fainter.



The existence of the Conestoga and the warp deltas in Enterprise is frustrating, because it shows that the VFX team knew exactly what to do. But they were being overridden by the network, forcing Enterprise to look more like a TNG ship. Or more bland, at least.

The warp deltas are particularly good, because they are 'half-a-starship.' Really, a warp ship that uses impulse drive. The one in the opening sequence might even have actual rockets. Roddenbury didn't want any on the Enterprise, but this isn't the Enterprise.

Overall, I always assumed a prequel series would be like what Riley described: something much closer to Cochrane's first flight. A much more rugged and foreboding frontier, where nothing is routine or taken for granted. Dark and gray and carbon-scarred ships. More 'Botany Bay' and 'Friendship One' than the TNG ships backported to 2150.

That's precisely the time I'd have set the show. It is incredibly frustrating that the Conestoga and the other designs existed alongside the Akiraprise. I seem to recall reading somewhere that the Conestoga was either intended to be the hero ship or was one of the options before the Akira was forced on the design team. It's definitely the most fully developed of those designs, even more than the deltas.

 

[Boo-khat!]

It was implied that the Horizon from ‘A Piece of the Action’ actually landed on the planet. Which is why I don’t like that it was retroactively given the class of the Daedalus, because that ship doesn’t look like it can land.

 

[Count Korbula]

to be fair, neither does Voyager, and she is demonstrably able. of course, that is centuries later...

 

[Boo-khat!]

to be fair, neither does Voyager, and she is demonstrably able. of course, that is centuries later...

There’s a bit of a difference. Voyager’s landing capability was not something that was necessary to use other than for plot reasons. At the time the Horizon was operating, it didn’t have transporters or probably even shuttlecraft, so landing on planets would have been its primary function. Therefore the ship should logically have resembled a landing craft like what the Vulcans used in FC rather than the sphere, secondary hull and nacelles design of the Daedalus.

 

[Count Korbula]

maybe the sphere of a Daedalus can detach in non emergency situations, like a trade federation battleship, and land :P

not that i disagree with you, i can envision something like the warp deltas, maybe somwhat larger, that can land, although i think having "ship's boats" that can do it instead wouldn't be out of the question. one of the things about enterprise i didn't like was the shuttle pods, or at least, i think there should have been a larger small craft for planetary landings, or some sort of "booster" add-on.