I can see where you're coming from. I'm also getting faint USS Callister vibes.
Spoilers Star Trek: Lower Decks 3x04 - "Room for Growth"
- Thread starter Commander Richard
- Start date
Call me crazy but there are TONS of different concept designs the shows could have canonized as 'modern' ships... reusing old stuff just seems ridiculous at this point.
The Vulcans an Andorians have seemingly been using same designs for over 200 years now, whereas SF has been making new designs and upgrading old ones in the same century by a few times.
It's about nostalgia, which is a major component of what fuels this show. Besides, the other shows have always shown others constantly reusing the same old designs. Most notably, Klingons keeping the D-7/K't'inga design for over two hundred. And before you use the physical model vs CG argument, or the fact that this is animated and doesn't have to worry about budget the way live action does, one has to keep in mind that part of the point of Lower Decks is to mimic the live action Treks and the various creative decisions they made as closely as possible, again for familiarity and nostalgia purposes.
Besides, the dearly lamented Litverse Continuity had Kumari class warships still in service in the 24th century, and there are fans who insist the Litverse is more True Trek than anything to ever grace the screen.
Welcome to nostalgia. This is the purpose of the series is to take the view that things which are from the past are actually just fine. This is not about realistic, or any sort of development; this is about what makes Star Trek fans feel happy. And happiness is nostalgia, by and large. Or, as many others will tell me, "comfort food."
Star Trek was made to provide an optimistic view of the future.
Where exactly does 'lets reuse old designs' come into the view here? An optimistic view of the future would include proper progression and moving on from what came before while honoring it.
SF at least has designs that build upon each other.
All other races are portrayed as 'static'... which doesn't make sense.
You can satiate nostalgic views in other ways while moving on.
Star Trek was made to provide an optimistic view of the future. It is no longer that way. It prefers to maintain a certain level of comfort because it cannot change too much. So, it is designed to satiate nostalgic views, and that is it's primary purpose is that type of comfort food style storytelling.
It's not meant to make sense but to be a fantasy world for people to get lost in, to find comfort in it.
Lower Decks is a comedy so blatant fan service is more acceptable and welcome than it is in the serious shows.
I like the portrayal of engineers who can’t turn their urge to engineer off.
I like the portrayal of engineers who can’t turn their urge to engineer off.
This is a comedy series where part of the joke is the fact that it mimics how Star Trek has always been done in the past. Like it or not, reused ship designs is a thing that has frequently been done in previous Treks. Yes, that's largely been because they didn't have time/money to make new filming models, or even film new footage so they reuse models or even footage from previous episodes. Regardless the various reasons for it, this has become a primary part of the Star Trek viewing experience. As a comedy series where the joke is replicating the Trek viewing experience, we're going to see reused Trek ships and even recreations of well known scenes involving ships (like last week when they recreated the USS Hood flyby from Farpoint) exactly because that's what went on in the previous Treks. To expect different from Lower Decks is basically expecting it to be a completely different show than what it has been for the past three years and counting.
even in current Trek. See the fleet of 23rd century ships in Children of Mars (!) or even the Star Trek Online models on Picard.
Worth noting that even in the real world some vehicles can remain in service for a very long time.
The B-52 bomber entered service in the mid 1950s and is due to remain in service until the 2050s!
Some Royal Navy ships are still in service after 40+ years also. Obviously in many cases new ships/plane designs are about improving aerodynamics or hydrodynamics, neither of which is an issue in space, so why build a new battlecruiser when your D7 is perfectly serviceable, especially if you just upgrade its warp drive/weapons etc. and certainly if its crew actively don't want it to be any comfier inside!
The B-52 bomber entered service in the mid 1950s and is due to remain in service until the 2050s!
Some Royal Navy ships are still in service after 40+ years also. Obviously in many cases new ships/plane designs are about improving aerodynamics or hydrodynamics, neither of which is an issue in space, so why build a new battlecruiser when your D7 is perfectly serviceable, especially if you just upgrade its warp drive/weapons etc. and certainly if its crew actively don't want it to be any comfier inside!
The M-113 series of American armored personnel carriers have been in continuous service in the U.S. for about sixty years with no signs they're going away anytime soon even if the M-2 and M-3 Bradley series of IFVs and 6×6 or 8×8 wheeled vehicles have almost entirely replaced them as battlefield troop carriers. They just keep getting modernized with new equipment and functions.
The show does revolve around nostalgia, but based on how the writing has been very clever in sidestepping and/or addressing issues, even pointing out frequent uniform style changes, you know this is a juicy plot point they're going to bring about at some point.
it's not like the Romulans, Klingons, and others haven't changed or improved designs, either. The Federation is just more experimental, fickle, and/or vain.
Come to think of it, this helps explain
PIC season 3 and how it has new ships modeled loosely on older designs. The reveal of the restored 1701-D alludes of the larger picture as well, of re-using or outright recycling old components. Just re-weld or replace bolts on the metal hull and those nacelles are 80% like new again. Just put in the energy collecting and altering thingies, which glow some new shade of blue, and voila.
Reduce reuse recycle! I’m a tree hugger raised by a (Trekkie) hippie and in my idea of an idealistic future, this would be baked in. Waste not, want not.
I do not peer very deeply into how replicators are supposed to work and effect reality; is this a post scarcity quasi-economy? Is there no mining? No issues with waste disposal? No worlds still dependent on technology with attendant rare components? Is there no concern about any of those things in any conceivable future? I find a Federation that tries to limit throwing things away and tries to soften their impact on the galaxy appealing so (all continuity and the issues that come with matching the confines outside animation aside) give me all the reused starships.
I do not peer very deeply into how replicators are supposed to work and effect reality; is this a post scarcity quasi-economy? Is there no mining? No issues with waste disposal? No worlds still dependent on technology with attendant rare components? Is there no concern about any of those things in any conceivable future? I find a Federation that tries to limit throwing things away and tries to soften their impact on the galaxy appealing so (all continuity and the issues that come with matching the confines outside animation aside) give me all the reused starships.
oh, there is mining! Done by refurbished slave holographic doctors. With pick axes!
Real pick axes... then, in some episode, someone sneaks into the holographic emitter control room and changes the visage into a clown, a paddleboat wheel, a bunch of people bickering catch-22's back and forth complete with pop-up captions, a mobius strip made out of sandpaper - the possibilities are endless!
Fun, if unremarkable.
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