Enterprise-A Questions

[Brannigan]

After watching Star Trek V I started to think about the service life of the Enterprise-A and some questions came to mind:

1. Was it really a new build or was it the former Yorktown as has been theorized?

I lean towards the latter as it being the former Yorktown. I know Yorktown was disabled by the whale probe in IV but perhaps a hasty refit turned her into the A. This allowed for the symbolic gesture of giving Kirk and crew a new ship dedicated to their old one. However the A required further modifications and refits to bring her up to operational standards as seen in V.
I don't like the idea of the A being a new build ship because by 2286 the Constitution Class represented a generation old technology. We know Starfleet was well under way with the Excelsior program despite it having development issues. It would be akin to the US Navy building a brand new Essex-class Aircraft Carrier in 1955 when the larger and more advanced Forrestal Class was being built.

2. Was the Enterprise-A a "hangar queen"?

For those not familiar a "hangar queen" is an aircraft that has been grounded for a number reasons for a lengthy period time. The aircraft is either being used for spare parts or has functional difficulty and is constantly under repair.
What if Enterprise-A was merely used a test bed for newer tech (perhaps for the Excelsior?) as conjectured elsewhere, and as a training ship? In this respect Enterprise-A rarely ventured far outside of the Federation home planets and was instead used to test new tech for other ships or used to train. She was brought out for ceremonial purposes such as the Khitomer Conference because she was the Enterprise and because her crew was renowned.

3. The Enterprise-A was always supposed to be an Excelsior class ship

In fandom I had read that the Enterprise-A was supposed to be an Excelsior class ship but fan reaction the Excelsior in III was less than enthusiastic so the producers made the A another Constitution class ship. But in universe was the A always intended to be an Excelsior class ship?

By 2285 the Excelsior class was slated to replace the Constitution class as Starfleets next capital ship, however we know that the Excelsior program had developmental issues that delayed its entry into service. By 2286, wanting to replace the destroyed 1701, Starfleet hastily renames and recommissions the Yorktown "Enterprise-A". By the time the Excelsior program finally becomes operational an improved designed is developed and this is chosen as the Enterprise-B. The A was only supposed to be a placeholder name until the improved Excelsior class became operational.

Im sure some of this is covered in fan fiction and elsewhere but I admit that I have not delved deeply into Star Trek Fan Fiction.
What are others thoughts?

 

[Dukhat]

1. There has never been a clear canon answer as to whether the A was a brand-new ship or an older ship renamed.

2. There’s no indication that this was the case.

3. No, the original idea was that Kirk and crew would get the Excelsior. But that ship had such a negative connotation that the idea was dropped and the TMP Enterprise was reused at the last minute, much to the annoyance of the VFX personnel who hated filming the model.

 

[tavor]

why were they annoyed ,what was the difference?

 

[Snowdrop82]

I have some of my own questions, was Kirk the Captain of the Enterprise A for its whole run, or were there other captains?

 

[Dukhat]

why were they annoyed ,what was the difference?

It was a very large and unwieldy model to film, and it was difficult to get the cameras around it.

 

[UssGlenn]

why were they annoyed ,what was the difference?

the TMP model was very heavy and hard to move around. But the biggest issue they had with it was that ILM used bluescreen, and the original pearlescent paint job didn't work with that technique. So they had to coat the whole model with a dulling coat of translucent paint. They always preferred to their own models anyway vs ones they inherited. They built the Excelsior, so they preferred it.

 

[Firebird]

the TMP model was very heavy and hard to move around. But the biggest issue they had with it was that ILM used bluescreen, and the original pearlescent paint job didn't work with that technique. So they had to coat the whole model with a dulling coat of translucent paint. They always preferred to their own models anyway vs ones they inherited. They built the Excelsior, so they preferred it.

Whomever was responsible for putting the dullcoat over the Refit model committed a crime against humanity.

IIRC, I think Bran Ferren made it even worse during production on The Final Frontier, because I remember Bill George or someone else from ILM saying the model was in bad condition when they got it back for The Undiscovered Country.

 

[somebuddyX]

I wrote this in this thread:

It's kind of a choose your own adventure at this point. Some ideas I've heard were:

• It was the old Yorktown that we saw renamed to Enterprise at the end of IV or some other old ship, which was going to be mothballed too but got a reprieve and you just forget what Scotty is saying in V.
• It's a new ship and the battle damage in VI is what got it canned or Starfleet demilitarised the Constitutions all around the same time or it had a hard life in 7 years. And there's precedent in real life because CVN-6 got booted after 13 years.
• There might have been plans for a new Enterprise leading up to a planned NCC-1701 decommissioning but it might not have been named NCC-1701-A at first. The ship that came NCC-1701-B might have been the intended next Enterprise and named as NCC-2025 or whatever. NCC-1701-A came about because Kirk saved the Earth so they gave him a temporary ship in the lead up to the launch of the Excelsior class ship which was now renamed to NCC-1701-B to carry on a tradition.

So I one thing I just try to go with is all the different theories happened but in alternate timelines. In a timeline with no whale probe there's the NCC-2025 Enterprise (I gave it to Captain Chekov). Or there's a timeline where the Enterprise-A continued past 2393 and really did get passed to "the next generation." Or an Excelsior Enterprise-A. It's just a fun thought experiment. I like there being alternate versions of the ships out there.

 

[UssGlenn]

Whomever was responsible for putting the dullcoat over the Refit model committed a crime against humanity.

IIRC, I think Bran Ferren made it even worse during production on The Final Frontier, because I remember Bill George or someone else from ILM saying the model was in bad condition when they got it back for The Undiscovered Country.

They made the Universal Studios Star Trek Adventure between ST 4 and 5.

When that production crew needed a couple new shots of the Enterprise, Paramount sent them the filming model. They proceeded to paint half of it matte white. So it had to be completely repainted after that.

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[Ithekro]

It would be interesting if the Enterprise-A was returned to its original name after Kirk's crew left and the Enterprise-B was launched. It would continue to serve under that name for a decade or two and then retire to be redone as the Enterprise-A for the Starfleet Museum.

 

[Dukhat]

the TMP model was very heavy and hard to move around. But the biggest issue they had with it was that ILM used bluescreen, and the original pearlescent paint job didn't work with that technique. So they had to coat the whole model with a dulling coat of translucent paint. They always preferred to their own models anyway vs ones they inherited. They built the Excelsior, so they preferred it.

From what I understand, it was also ungainly to get cameras around it, which was why later ship models like the Reliant, Excelsior and Enterprise-D were flatter than the TMP Enterprise.

It would be interesting if the Enterprise-A was returned to its original name after Kirk's crew left and the Enterprise-B was launched. It would continue to serve under that name for a decade or two and then retire to be redone as the Enterprise-A for the Starfleet Museum.

That would have made more sense than to decommission it after only 7 years.

 

[Ithekro]

I imagine with today's smaller cameras that wouldn't be as much of a problem. The ILM motion control cameras use to be huge.

 

[Dukhat]

I imagine with today's smaller cameras that wouldn't be as much of a problem. The ILM motion control cameras use to be huge.

Unfortunately it’s a non-issue, as CGI has made motion control virtually obsolete.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

Unfortunately it’s a non-issue, as CGI has made motion control virtually obsolete.

But Motion Control has found new life for taking "Plate Shots" of IRL scenes that need to have multiple comps and they need repeat-ability to film multiple scenes / layers together.

So it's not like Motion Control doesn't have it's place.

That programmable precision has made it easier for editors to line up shots & angles.

And I know for a fact that on "The Mandalorian", they used the motion control rig to film certain shots of a Practical Model of the RazorCrest on flybys.

But the vast majority of Vessel Shots are still CGI.

 

[Albertese]

I like the fan theory that retiring all the Constitution class ships was a symbolic gesture that was part of the Khitomer Accords. That class was the main actor during the height of tensions with the Klingons and they were mostly old and about to be scrapped anyhow, so the brass was happy to make a show of retiring them for political reasons. So 1701-A leaves the stage too, regardless of how new or old it was.

--Alex

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

I like the fan theory that retiring all the Constitution class ships was a symbolic gesture that was part of the Khitomer Accords. That class was the main actor during the height of tensions with the Klingons and they were mostly old and about to be scrapped anyhow, so the brass was happy to make a show of retiring them for political reasons. So 1701-A leaves the stage too, regardless of how new or old it was.

--Alex

Me too, especially given how old the fundamental design was by the time it got retired & how the Excelsior was coming online at that time to take it's place.

 

[Newt]

Think its one of these personal head cannon situations.
Personally like the idea of she was the Yorktown and not brand new, hence the older style bridge in IV.
Scotty did a lot of updates and refits between IV and V.

 

[Mage]

3. No, the original idea was that Kirk and crew would get the Excelsior. But that ship had such a negative connotation that the idea was dropped and the TMP Enterprise was reused at the last minute, much to the annoyance of the VFX personnel who hated filming the model.

I believe there was a comic run at that time where Kirk and crew did indeed crew the Excelsior.

*EDIT* Quickly googled it.
The plot of the 1984 DC series picked up immediately after Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. After eight issues the series took place after Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.[9] In these later issues, Kirk, after a multi-issue showdown with the Mirror Universe, takes command of the Excelsior. Spock is mentally restored after mind-melding with his mirror self and takes command of the USS Surak. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home took place right after Star Trek III: The Search for Spock left off, so the series wiped the slate clean by having Kirk lose command of the Excelsior and Spock return to the state he was in at the end of III. After The Voyage Home, the series continued with Kirk commanding the Enterprise-A. These issues re-introduced Arex and M'Ress from Star Trek: The Animated Series, and featured a Klingon who was a member of Starfleet, predating the same concept being featured in Star Trek: The Next Generation by several years. The first series ended in 1988 after 56 issues, 3 annuals, and two film adaptations, when Paramount required all tie-in licenses to be renegotiated.

 

[Dukhat]

Yep, I remember reading those comics. I probably even have some issues somewhere.

 

[Henoch]

• SCOTT (OC): U.S.S. Enterprise, shakedown cruise report. I think this new ship was put together by monkeys.

I like to believe that the Enterprise-A was the last "new" Constitution class ship that was cobbled together from unused production structures / spare parts and possibly reused structures/parts from scraped ships. Historical similarity is the Space Shuttle Endeavor:

From Wiki: NASA chose, on cost grounds, to build much of Endeavour from spare parts rather than refitting the Space Shuttle Enterprise, and used structural spares built during the construction of Discovery and Atlantis in its assembly.