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Tuesday, July 6, 2010

NX-01 Enterprise REFIT

Click on the images to see them at a higher resolution...

I think there MIGHT have been a better reception for Star Trek: Enterprise if the ship had actually looked like this from Day 1…or rather Season One Episode 1.



To this day, I still have rather horrid memories of how a starship that was supposed to be in existence a little over one hundred years BEFORE the days of Kirk and Spock was looking way too much like the Akira Class…over two hundred years into the TNG Era.



From what I understand, the basis behind this new schematic is that sometime after the events of Season Four (after the series was canceled) the Enterprise was supposed to undergo a refit process to the configuration shown.

The familiar connection to the Constitution Class is quite literally there now...and a far better design lineage can be seen between the two types of vessels.



There was far earlier attempt to do this, which wasn’t quite aesthetically pleasing (at least for myself and apparently many other starship geeks) as you can see here.



Also, it never occurred to me that where the shuttle doors were in the original configuration of the NX Class was a great place for the dorsal connector (also known as "the neck") for the engineering section and it makes great sense from a design point of view.

Here’s a preview of an artistic rendition that will be featured of this ship in next year's Ship of the Line Calendar.



In a previous SotL, there was a depiction that showed, coincidentally enough, the Enterprise’s sister ship, the NX-02 Columbia, having crash landed on a desert planet with TNG Era Starfleet personnel investigating that scene.



This image actually caused a lot of speculation with fans, and was the motivation for the Star Trek: Destiny Saga. (Which, by the way, has turned out to be one of my favorite Star Trek Novels to date.)



I have no doubt that there will be a similar inspiration to provide a story that explains the reason and method behind the Enterprise’s refit...and that is one I am definitely looking forward to hearing about.

5 comments:

  1. This would have been a much better look for the NX Class Starship it would have made Captain Archers Mition look like it had so truth and vilidety to it witch would have made the fans more excepting to the show

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  2. I must be one of the few who loved the NX01 design.

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  3. I guess a lot of trek fans have a specific view of technology and design that is strictly confined to the sphere of "what came before" in the Star Trek universe. I can respect that...to an extent. The NX Enterprise – having been designed and built a century prior to the simple constitution class design (conceived in the 1960's and built with a low budget into a very simple model) – would not be a familiar-looking configuration to something that won't be built in the same lifetime. The basic elements of a warp-capable vessel would be there (such as warp nacelles), and perhaps some basic hull design elements would carry over (such as a saucer-shaped primary structure with a command center perched on top), but just as an F-117 shares elements with its Wright brothers predecessor, there exist a great many differences in design.
    It is also reasonable to assume that the industrial look of the NX-01 Enterprise is due to the more realistic approach that function must supersede fashion (hence, the industrial ugly of the NX ship). Don't get me wrong: The TOS Enterprise – to me – is a thing of beauty that will never fade from my mind. The first space-borne fantasy of a little boy. However, you can't dwell on the visual discontinuity and disregard that the 1701 was made on-the-cheap in the 1960's. I can't fathom half of the arguments made against Enterprise (for the NX-01 or its technology), because it seems to me that if you think the TOS is in any way realistic... anyway... ok I won't go there.
    The Akira Class ship bears A LOT OF RESEMBLANCE to the NX-01 Enterprise. It's true. It does. I think it was lazy of the artists and designers. But we could, if we try REALLY hard, use the excuse that the Akira Class was a retro-look in homage to the NX-01. That could very well (as an excuse) be the case.

    Sincerely, Alec Kelsey

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