Wrath of Khan: What ship would you replace with Khan's ship?

[dcm]

I never liked the ship, they gave Khan in the movie. The reliant didn't feel like a villain ship to me. It was too round and squat. It felt like a dockyard vessel. It wasn't elegant nor menacing enough to be a true villain ship.

Hypothetically if you were to change the ship used in the movie what ship would you use?

I would've given khan either a pre-refit constitution class. Or something more aggressive looking. Maybe even a romulan or klingon ship.

 

[fireproof78]

Tholian ship.

 

[Qonundrum]

Interesting idea!

I still like the idea that one of the Federation's own is Khan'andeered* and it's part of Starfleet's design style.

Had they found another ship to overtake, the plot would then have to account for Chekov and whomever else being there. And why they'd go investigate the planet, then how to get to Regula without raising eyebrows or alarms or dinner forks or anything else.

That, and Reliant was a science wessel. Khan used his infiltration to overtake a more powerful heavy cruiser (Enterprise) by surprise. Could that really be believably widened to encompass so many more plot points?

That said, I agree with @fireproof78 with a Tholian ship. There have bound to have been skirmishes since "The Tholian Web" and it would have been cool to have seen. The only conceivable issue is to fold in the needed plot elements while continuing to successfully sell all of the movie's themes (of which "Khan's revenge" is just a smaller part of.) Ultimately, TWOK starts to expand on the Federation, with III-V building up more and more, with culmination via VI.

* sorry, but the pun was just begging to be used. I Khan try not to do that again... Unless I Khan't...

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[valkyrie013]

Tholian? Have fun in the heat!

Maybe a section 31 black ship.

 

[Grant]

I thought the OP was referring to a more menacing Fed ship. Because it needs to be Terrell and Chekov.

I would have liked to see them use a somewhat bigger and fiercer looking ship. Reliant is iconic at this point but really neither attractive or menacing looking.

 

[Vger23]

I can’t imagine it being any other ship besides the Reliant.

 

[wayoung]

The only ship worth a damn is friend-ship.

 

[Doug Smith]

If you watched the making-of documentary it was a deliberate design choice to make it feel opposite of the the Enterprise. Down vs up.

 

[Doug Smith]

I can’t imagine it being any other ship besides the Reliant.

Yeah that Miranda class really became a workhorse for the Federation.

 

[StarCruiser]

Reliant's design was meant to recognizably different from the Enterprise, but definitely recognizably Star Fleet..

It's become nearly as iconic as the Enterprise herself.

 

[Richard S. Ta]

If you watched the making-of documentary it was a deliberate design choice to make it feel opposite of the the Enterprise. Down vs up.

Not exactly intentional. I recall the Reliant was supposed to be up but someone held the drawings upside down by accident and went from there. The Reliant was supposed to be 'up', but serendipity resulted in it being 'down'.

 

[publiusr]

I can’t imagine it being any other ship besides the Reliant.

Agreed.

---her underslung nacelles added just a hint of Klingon.

 

[dcm]

Agreed.

---her underslung nacelles added just a hint of Klingon.

I still disagree. It just felt too obvious. I'd much prefer a pre-refit constitution class with those red tips on the warp engines. Really up the contrast. Old vs New. It could've still been named the reliant. The backstory could've even been slightly altered to explain why it was a pre-refit. The best explanation is always the simplest; Star Fleet just didn't have the resources to upgrade all the constitution classes all at once.

 

[Supervisor 194]

I kind of like the idea of Khan taking over the Excelsior---perhaps under the command of Capt. Sulu while doing a scouting mission for project genesis. This would give the desired difference in appearance between the ships, as well as giving more of an underdog feel to the Enterprise in their combat.