D or E?

[RobertScorpio]

See? It's all just personal preference.

For some reason, the model version of the E looked more 'related' to the D than the CGI did. I can't place why. But the CGI versions of the E looked like crap. I'm sorry, but they did. Especially in 'Insurrection.'

I totally agree.. I only like E in FC...And I am assuming it was a model..hard to tell these days...

In fact..the opening sequence of DS9 when they altered it to show the DEFIANT? I thought that the Defiant was a model...I Just found out last year it was CGI....that was good CGI in my opinion since I couldn't tell..though, I am not an expert like most of you at seeing CGI and not seeing CGI..All I know is that NEMESIS and INSURRECTION didn't look good..

Rob

 

[Praetor]

I can't remember if they used a CGI E at all in FC. If I re-watch I can spot it. I can almost always spot CGI vs. model.

I didn't realize that the Defiant in the opening was CGI though. I know there was one CGI model of the Defiant on DS9 that looked really bad - misshapen nose, and a few other things.

 

[RobertScorpio]

I can't remember if they used a CGI E at all in FC. If I re-watch I can spot it. I can almost always spot CGI vs. model.

I didn't realize that the Defiant in the opening was CGI though. I know there was one CGI model of the Defiant on DS9 that looked really bad - misshapen nose, and a few other things.

I may be wrong about the opening sequence..I just read it somewhere...

So which movie (and I mean all movies) has the best CGI space ships..or has that yet to happen??

I didn't like the D because it just didn't seem graceful enough.. if that makes any since...

Rob

 

[Praetor]

FC and Nemesis both had good quality ships. In FC, it was mixed with models too - named the Borg ships and the Enterprise. I believe the Defiant in the movie was completely CGI. IIRC, it was made specifically for the movie.

We might get close to perfect quality-wise with the new film, since the technology has advanced. I personally find there's something to be said for old-fashioned physical models. I like CGI too, but sometimes models just look better to me.

 

[Tomalak]

I don't understand the claims that the Galaxy class doesn't look good on the big screen. How does that make any sense?

Exactly. I've never bought the argument that it was designed for the TV, because on the face of it, the wide, graceful Enterprise-D is perfect for the cinema screen. It looked amazing in Generations, if any more proof were needed. The interiors held up as well, though admittedly that was mainly achieved by turning most of the lights off. The additions to the bridge beefed it up, giving it more lateral activity for a wide cinema screen.

I think it's probably dated better than the E-E, even though the latter is the newer ship. I feel it looks more like it's been designed by the Starfleet engineers following from the Excelsior and Ambassador design. The Sovereign just comes out of nowhere with a load of strange design features that we've never seen before.

I like the Voyager design - it still looks like it's based on the same technology as the Galaxy and the Nebula. But for the basic saucer-engineering hull-two nacelle configuration, the Sovereign could have been anything. It's got the pointy, dagger-like design features that every John Eaves ship seems to have. Other Starfleet ships just don't look like that.

 

[Praetor]

To be fair, they designed the Ambassador to purposefully fit between the Galaxy and the Excelsior design-wise...

I wouldn't blame Eaves. He's a good artist. He was just giving the producers what they wanted. His first sketches for the 'E' were much curvier and had a bit more of a neck.

 

[RobertScorpio]

To be fair, they designed the Ambassador to purposefully fit between the Galaxy and the Excelsior design-wise...

I wouldn't blame Eaves. He's a good artist. He was just giving the producers what they wanted. His first sketches for the 'E' were much curvier and had a bit more of a neck.

I'm not blaming eaves because of the modern TREK ships (meaning TNG on) I think the E and the Defiant were the only ones I liked...Voyager looked like a garden shovel and the Ambassador class looked like a mutation....And the only part of TREK XI I don't care for is the NARADA or whatever they call it....so far I am not impressed with it...the new NCC-1701 I will have to see in action..

But all those goofy ships in TNG-DS9-VOY-ENT that were alien of the week ships (including the Romulan Warbird and Neg'var) never did anything for me...well..then again, I did like the Vorcha...but the Neg'var was a bit too much...and the Warbird/Feringi ships seemed to come from the same vision and never really impressed me...

Oh..there is one more I did like..the kickin ass ship that attacked the D in the shipyard in the spock episode..I did like that one...

Rob

 

[Santaman]

I'd rather have the D, yes she's got some flaws but at least she doesn't blow the nacelles right of the pylons when using the impulse engines. the E is one of the most stupid designs in Trek IMO

 

[Myasishchev]

The Sovereign doesn't look to me like a mutant. Indeed, it looks like it fits in with its collateral lines just fine... the Defiant and particularly the Akira (as well as the inbred cousins of the Sovereigns seen in FC, like the Norway) appear to have been designed by the same inspired committees...

Its relationship to the Galaxy/Nebula paradigm is not immediately apparent, I'll grant, but neither is the Constitution to Excelsior jump in the 2280s (90s? whenever).

 

[RobertScorpio]

The Sovereign doesn't look to me like a mutant. Indeed, it looks like it fits in with its collateral lines just fine... the Defiant and particularly the Akira (as well as the inbred cousins of the Sovereigns seen in FC, like the Norway) appear to have been designed by the same inspired committees...

Its relationship to the Galaxy/Nebula paradigm is not immediately apparent, I'll grant, but neither is the Constitution to Excelsior jump in the 2280s (90s? whenever).

If I said sovereign looked like a mutant, I meant the Ambassador..I don't like that ship at all...

Rob

 

[Praetor]

Huh. I think you're the only person I can remember saying they dislike the Ambassador. Not that there aren't necessarily more...

 

[swaaye]

I'd rather have the D, yes she's got some flaws but at least she doesn't blow the nacelles right of the pylons when using the impulse engines. the E is one of the most stupid designs in Trek IMO

lolz. It never occurred to me that the impulse engines line up with the warp nacelles.

 

[RobertScorpio]

I'd rather have the D, yes she's got some flaws but at least she doesn't blow the nacelles right of the pylons when using the impulse engines. the E is one of the most stupid designs in Trek IMO

lolz. It never occurred to me that the impulse engines line up with the warp nacelles.

Who cares...the E just looks better and thats all I care about...I could care-a-less where the engines and the dooohickies are. That is in the category of 'technobabble' and is the kind of logic, IMO, that started TREK down the path to the "DARK SIDE" or...oblivion..

Rob

 

[kitsune]

I agree about the Excelsior. She's long been my favorite. I know there are a lot who dislike her, but to me she's the perfect balance of, well, everything.

The Excelsior is my favorite, but I don't think it's perfect. I'd eliminate the trench on the underside of the saucer, the elliptical dome between the nacelle pylons, and redesign the structure at the tail of the secondary hull, and lower the nacelles a bit so they're more in line with the ship's center of mass.

The Enterprise-B had better impulse engines, but they should've removed the dinky little ones that they replaced, and the fairings on the secondary hull completely ruined the ship's elegance.

 

[kitsune]

It bothers me that the registry isn't centered (it's too far to the left by half a lifeboat). It looks like they moved the "NCC" to the left to accomodate five-digit registries, and the two 1s in 1701-E are so narrow that the difference becomes apparent.

 

[rramarr]

I don't like the way the Galaxy-class looks from the bottom.
The defiant looks like an ant trap.
The rest our hotels.

The best IMHO is the Intrepid-class Voyager. Its sleek; looks faster, more military combat ready like a federation starship, and it has a cool astrometrics dept.

Having 7 of 9 on the crew is a bonus within herself.

If you don't agree you will be assimilated!

 

[kitsune]

The best IMHO is the Intrepid-class Voyager. Its sleek; looks faster, more military combat ready like a federation starship, and it has a cool astrometrics dept.

Having 7 of 9 on the crew is a bonus within herself.

If you don't agree you will be assimilated!

I find the Intrepid to be the ugliest canon Starfleet ship class myself...and 7 of 9 was annoying.

 

[Rii]

Voyager is a well-rounded ship, it's not awe-inspiring but has no awkward angles. As much as I love DS9 the Defiant is ugly as sin.

 

[kitsune]

Voyager is a well-rounded ship, it's not awe-inspiring but has no awkward angles. As much as I love DS9 the Defiant is ugly as sin.

Too bad the Intrepid class looked bad from every angle

The Defiant class would be significantly improved by shortening the "nasal warhead" (the nose was supposedly a torpedo weapon of last resort).

Sisko said the Defiant almost flew itself apart at high warp. <sarcasm>Gee, I wonder why.</sarcasm> The freaking warp coils weren't even parallel. By all rights they should fly apart. Duh!

The Galaxy class' saucer was too gigantic. The ship did look good from the top, though.

The Constitution class had a flimsy neck and nacelle pylons. One torpedo hit to the neck and the ship would be rendered in two.

The Miranda class solved the Constitution class's problems by eliminating the neck and nacelle pylons entirely

I just bought kits of the Sovereign, Enterprise-B, Excelsior, Defiant, and Danube...I plan to label them with my own ship names and registries, though, since the canon ships had boring names. I'm going to mate the saucer of the Enterprise-B with the secondary hull of the Excelsior, and vice-versa, so I'll have one good-looking Excelsior-class ship and one bad-looking one.

 

[rramarr]

The best IMHO is the Intrepid-class Voyager. Its sleek; looks faster, more military combat ready like a federation starship, and it has a cool astrometrics dept.

Having 7 of 9 on the crew is a bonus within herself.

If you don't agree you will be assimilated!

I find the Intrepid to be the ugliest canon Starfleet ship class myself...and 7 of 9 was annoying.

When you wake up tomorrow with Borg implants in your head don't bother showering - resistance is futile!