Starship Design Peaked With The Galaxy Class

[USS Artorius]

Starship design in Star Trek has been a subject of endless fascination & creativity for me growing up. When I was younger (in the mid 2000s) I would sit doodling my own ships during school then again when I got home. I loved the Connie refit & all its FASA variations. But the Galaxy in my young mind was something too complex and elegant to replicate. There was always just something about it that set it apart from every other starship design that I just couldn't put my finger on. Now a disclaimer, this isn't a post saying "the Galaxy Class is the best starship ever" as the original Connie is iconic and every design since has its merits, but the Galaxy was such a contraversial & radical departure from what we saw before - an 'evolution' of starship design and what came with it was an evolved Starfleet & the Federation as a whole. Its one of only a few starship classes that was specifically designed during peacetimes for a primary exploratory & diplomatic role within its organisation (hence all the families on board). Even despite this evolved nature the Galaxy still boasted cutting edge defensive and offensive technologies, including the most advanced starship computer core of its time, according to some canon-ish sources. If we compare the Galaxy to the Connie Refit and Miranda classes, its simply a night and day difference. Fresh, curved lines, its sheer scale and yet just as robust and intimidating as any other starship to date. Its small warp nacelles relative to the connie gave the impression of refined technology & its massive saucer boasted more scientific and personell infrastructure than any other starship. Yes we have seen other radical starships such as the Enterprise J & Dauntless, but the Galaxy in my opinion still stood out as a huge leap after what came before. Was anyone on here around when it was first revealed in the 1980s? What was the reaction like? Did most fans like the design?

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

I loved it when I first saw it, it hit me in ways that the original Connie didn't.
It made the TOS Connie look "Primitive" with it's smooth curves, organic shaping, and complex layout, while being simple in over-all design. It's definitely the ship I would want to live on if exploring the frontiers of space.

As far as "Latest Hardware" for Offense/Defense/Sensors/etc, that will almost always advance with time.

But as far as shaping in terms of Aesthetic, it's hard to beat the "Galaxy-class".
It sets a very high standard that only the Odyssey class has really come close to, even then I think the Odyssey class made a few mistakes with it's "Neck Design".

 

[Macintosh]

I think it's certainly true that the Galaxy-class has a certain grandeur and vision that other classes of starship have just lacked, including later designs like the Sovereign. Reading up on Andrew Probert's reasons for why it's designed the way it is makes it much more difficult to criticise his design choices. He really thought it through beyond "I just think it looks cool". I am a complete convert to the Galaxy-class.

 

[Praetor]

I wasn't old enough in '87 to have an initial reaction, but I did get started on "Star Trek" with "TNG" and grew up with the Enteprise-D so to me she will always be more than a ship and more like a television home for me. It's hard for me to be objective when it comes to "TNG" and the D.

That said, I have always admired the sense of grace and presence the design has. As @Macintosh says when you read about how Mr. Probert developed her design and WHY things look the way they do, it's all the more easy to love her. I've never gotten the criticisms of the design, though I will say that special effects during "TNG" didn't fully do her justice. Some of my favorite moments in "DS9" were seeing Galaxy-class ships portrayed as more than space hotels.

I was pretty annoyed when "Generations" killed her, and still think the movies would have been fine using her.

Spoiler: Star Trek: Picard

And of course then there's "Star Trek: Picard"...

I'm so happy she got the museum retirement she deserved after getting to kick ass one more time.

Beyond the aesthetic, there really doesn't seem to be any other Starfleet ship that has been so good at everything in such ample abundance as the Galaxy-class.

 

[Macintosh]

One of my favourite Galaxy-class easter eggs in the whole franchise – this is the USS Galaxy herself, NCC-70637, kicking ass and taking names at the first Battle of Chin'toka!

 

[fireproof78]

The Galaxy class stands out in any scene it is in, for good or for ill.

I would be hard pressed to say it is a "peak" of starship design, especially given the limited knowledge of starship designs at the time it came out, but I always do appreciate the overly enthusiastic posts by lovers of the design.

 

[Arpy]

For me it's among the most realistic ships ever in Star Trek. Real space does not hide a Klingon around every asteroid. It's just far larger and emptier than most people choose to attempt to fathom. There will not be borders, or fleets facing off in it. At least not against comparable aliens. If we're to go out into it, unless we invent wormhole tech or some other form of short-duration travel, we'll likely want to go into space with our families in comfortable communities that make the journey bearable, and indeed enviable. The Galaxy has been the epitome of that. You'd barely miss Earth gone on some twenty-year mission into the depths of unexplored space.

The same cannot be said of many other Trek ships where it usually seems like you'd quickly get a concussion on a poorly designed bulkhead or bedroom. Where the thought might return to you again and again that maybe you walk out that airlock....or fire a torpedo right back at your fascist little tin prison.

 

[publiusr]

While TOS Enterprise was my first love—my appreciation for the -D has only increased.

Graceful and aqualinear without being swollen as so many designs are now.

This says it all
https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/science-fiction-cover-art.42779/page-6#post-665428

 

[B.J.]

This says it all
https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/science-fiction-cover-art.42779/page-6#post-665428

With regards to Trek specifically, I'd say it's gone both ways. Jefferies, Probert, Sternbach, and Drexler put a lot of thought into internals and systems, and their ships' external forms were still definitely works of art. Many of the more recent ships seem like they're mostly designed by "rule of cool" without much thought as to how it functions, even though their surface details are more complicated than ever.

 

[Ithekro]

If you look at some the thought put into the refit Enterprise and Enterprise-D, half of the incidents that happen on ship should not be possible, or at least the safety gear needed should be easy to find anywhere on the ship

The NX-01 also has a lot of those features. Some not as advanced but they are there.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I'm immediately reminded of the fan-made Ships of the Star Fleet article, "is the Galaxy class a failure?" owing to the number of ships lost and often preventable circumstances.

 

[Praetor]

To be fair, it's a lot of eggs in a very big basket.

 

[Macintosh]

I'm immediately reminded of the fan-made Ships of the Star Fleet article, "is the Galaxy class a failure?" owing to the number of ships lost and often preventable circumstances.

Only the Enterprise-D loss was silly and avoidable (and ultimately reversed, hurrah).

The Yamato was destroyed by Iconian computer code, which could have taken out any other ship. It is only sheer luck that the Enterprise-D and the Romulan Warbird Haakona didn't go the same way.

The Odyssey was destroyed by the Jem'Hadar specifically to show that the Dominion weren't messing about and were a real threat, and it took a hell of a lot of punishment before half of its secondary hull was destroyed by a kamikaze attack. Again, any other ship would have been taken out the same way.

We know of no other Galaxy-class starship losses. Of all the ships we see being destroyed during the Dominion War, we do not see a single Galaxy (apart from the aforementioned Odyssey).

 

[Blip]

As a little kid I didn't like the E-D, but that was because I'd been introduced to the Refit/A first, plus the fact that "the fat curvy one" was a lot harder for little me to draw!

Nowadays I love the Galaxy-class, especially after the interior upgrades for Generations and the USS Venture modifications seen in DS9. Writing the entire design off for the movies was nothing short of brainless - and what's worse is that its departure set the ball rolling for logic & common sense to be increasingly sacrificed at the altar of what somebody inexplicably thought was kewl.

All of this said, I probably love the Ambassador-class the most; with just a little more finesse the version we got onscreen woulda been the perfect balance between two of my all time favorite designs

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

All of this said, I probably love the Ambassador-class the most; with just a little more finesse the version we got

I prefer the Probert Ambassador class over the one we got.

That one was much "Curvier".

I also prefer the Galaxy Class as well, she's a beauty with curves galore.

 

[Blip]

I prefer the Probert Ambassador class over the one we got.

That one was much "Curvier".

I also prefer the Galaxy Class as well, she's a beauty with curves galore.

See, I do love the Galaxy; I consider it and the Intrepid to be pinnacles of C24th design. But those same curves look out of place on a design which supposedly originated 40yrs prior... If the Ambassador-class had been literally only 20yrs old by TNG, then Probert's version would definitely have worked IMO.

As it is, I'd love a version of the canon Ambassador with Probert & Richter's gorgeous hull texture treatment.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

In 1987, I thought the saucer was too big. When she separated, I felt the cobra head was a better size. Then, when the E-D was in formation alongside the Hood, I was staring at (what is still my) all-time favorite starship more than the Enterprise herselt. Still, I very quickly grew to love the shape, the size, and very importantly how they made her MOVE on screen. The ship just doesn't have any bad angles on her.

Mark

 

[Qonundrum]

In 1987, it was a headscratcher to me as to why the nacelles were so teensy tiny and constantly glowing blue. The movie refit had "the proper" size and glowed blue only when in warp drive. Seemed like an energy waster to have them warp puppies barkin' all the time.

Plus, some lighting and camera angles of the then-new ship caused goofy shadows.

Obviously, certain angles give the ship a true magnificence. That, along with how graceful the ship moved while in space when turning, won me over in the end and IMHO the "D" is just a hair better than the TMP refit. Each has its strengths, though.

Not to mention, the neck of the "D" fixes a big problem with the original and refit Constitution class design, where its neck is somewhere between 12 and 20 feet wide. That's not much for maneuverability, or practicality and possibly stability as well. That said, the "D" has windows in the nacelles yet there's no turbolift access. Maybe they do intraship beaming, that was "a thing" since latter-era TOS and was also shown in "11001001".

Plus, I drooled incessantly over the alt-future version in "All Good Things", which is simply gorgeous and works that third nacelle proper.

In later years, I did wonder why the saucer lacked its own warp drive as the crew and families and all their teddy bears would still be stranded (that ship from VOY that split into three and each had its own warp drive fixed that little iffy in a jiffy, though!) I'd also read there was an early attempt to have the red Bussard collectors with random glowing lighting (a la the TOS's animated effect for the collectors), but that was discarded.

I also think the original 1701-C design looked better than what was ultimately made for the tv episode, but the changes were necessary for cost and the end result still looked fairly great...

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

That said, the "D" has windows in the nacelles yet there's no turbolift access.

Where do you get that idea?

The battle bridge (which sits at the top of the neck) has turbolift access and travellers can pass through the neck into Engineering proper.

 

[Macintosh]

That said, the "D" has windows in the nacelles yet there's no turbolift access.

We see crew access the nacelle interior in TNG: "Eye of the Beholder". It'd be a hell of a climb to do without turbolifts. Also – not everything that looks like a window may be a window.