back to article Original USS Enterprise model set to boldly go… on display

Researchers at the Smithsonian Institute are preparing to show off every Trekkie's dream: the original model of the USS Enterprise. The model is the original version of the fabled Starfleet craft, last painted in 1991 for a taping of Star Trek The Next Generation The museum said it will be returning the ship back to it's …

  1. ShadowDragon8685
    Alert

    I know I'm going to be hated for this...

    I really, really hate the original Enterprise design.

    NOW, before you get out the laser pitchforks and prepare to castrate me with a bat'leth, hear me out!

    In terms of the Constitution class starships, I always preferred the refit - the swept-back nacelle pylons, the non-glowy-ball-fronted, oblong nacelles, the neck-mounted photon torpedo pods. The movie version, in other words, the version that shares a lot of parts commonality with the Miranda class.

    I just think it looks better.

    1. VinceH

      I suspect your opinion is shared by those involved - hence the changes. I suspect the whole point was to improve on the original design, aided by a larger budget for the effects.

      1. AbortRetryFail

        I agree. The original is a little pants really, but that's a reflection of the budget and the (real world) technology of the time.

        It has caused a hell of a headache for things set before ToS though - same issue they had in Prometheus, and also the Star Wars prequels. How to explain away the fact that the technology in something ostensibly older / earlier / less advanced can look so much more advanced.

        1. ShadowDragon8685

          In Star Wars, at least it makes some sense; the march of Galactic technology has been glacial for millenia, to the point where you can plausibly hurt or destroy a modern vessel with an ancient one. (For comparison, imagine a Greek Trireme destroying an Aegis-class missile destroyer.)

          Between that, and the Galactic Empire which almost certainly would have clamped down on a lot of technology to better improve their grip on the galaxy, it's not entirely implausible.

          But, yeah. It's not so entirely bad, though - I mean, comparing the Movie-era TOS stuff with the ENT stuff and the movie-era stuff, while still a bit pants, definitely looks like it could plausibly be the result of a hundred and some years worth of advancement on the same technologies, whereas the TOS stuff just looks campy.

  2. ukgnome

    I could never understand having the nacelles on pylons. It looks like it gives the ship a bigger target for stray torpedo. Something like the USS reliant just made more sense.

  3. Intractable Potsherd

    "The model of the USS Enterprise is set to go on display later this year as part of the Boeing Milestones of Flight Hall exhibit".

    So in the early 23rd Century, Boeing will still be getting highly lucrative government contracts? I suppose this makes a sad sort of sense - companies like Boeing will never actually die.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      They won't die, they will just speak more asian.

  4. Jeff Cook
    Happy

    On display - Again

    I basicly grew up in the Washington DC area and remember when the Air and Space Museum first got the Enterprise model. They had it hanging from the ceiling in the experimental craft section and then moved it to the gift shop when they moved the gift shop. I was disappointed that it wasn't on display the last couple of times I was there. Now I know why.

  5. Stese

    Don't quote me

    I'm not 100% sure, but I've a recollection that the reason the nacelles are outside the ship is to reduce the risk to the crew from various forms of radiation...

    How they get round this in the Defiant Class, I don't know... but the nacelles are 'outboard' just not on sticks.

    I know, I'm on my way out... (taps combadge and fizzles away)

    1. Smallbrainfield

      Re: Don't quote me

      It depends. Later versions of warp technology possibly allow the warp field to be manipulated without risk to the crew. There are warp capable shuttles by the time Picard was commanding the Enterprise D, so I guess they got the kinks ironed out.

      Perhaps bigger warp fields are harder to manage safely so the nacelles have to be set away from the ship? This would make a kind of fictional-universe sense as it's usually the bigger ships that have nacelles set away from the main hull. Defiant is pretty small compared to a Galaxy class.

      (I'm trying to think of a federation ship that breaks this 'rule'. The Nebula class possibly, it has a Galaxy class size saucer section with a Miranda style nacelle layout.)

      Probably thinking too hard about this now.

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like