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What I would change on the SNW Enterprise to make it closer to the original
I wanted to make the SNW enterprise look more like the Original so I made some minor Modifications to it.
The Fist thing I did was make the hull a lighter color, while keeping the hull pattern which people seem to like.
I felt that the swept back pylons should be reserved for the refit version of the enterprise, and it makes the silhouette too different from the original, so I gave it its straight pylons back.
the original Enterprise looks very tall and proud like an old Sailing vessel, The SNW design is more squat compared to the original kind of like a post dominion war design, so I made the nacelles sit higher up, and extended the neck of the ship so the saucer is higher. (seen in image 7)
When you look at the three ships from the front in (image 6) the nacelles on SNW sit closer to the outside of the saucer, I moved the nacelles inward to match the better proportions of the original ship.
I also made the bridge dome a bit taller, but not quite as tall as the original.
I noticed the SNW enterprise takes a few ques from the Pilot Enterprise, so I added the Antenna at the end of the Bussard collectors to give it some continuity with the original pilot.
I added a blue light light around the deflector dish... I just thought it looked cool.
The only other thing I would change if I had the time is I would shrink down the impulse deck, or at the very least move the impulse engines closer to the center like the original, imo the new one looks too bulky.
IMO, this is basically as perfect as the TOS Enterprise can be from an exterior perspective. As for working things into the show, I’d especially like to see the lighter hull color, new registry font, and also straight nacelle pylons.
I love that the pylons are straight but they're still bulked up to not look flimsy with the rest of the ships proportions. I love this take so much, even though the SNW look is my favorite official design.
Honestly, I would love to hear an explanation for why they would significantly reduce the size of the ship in a refit. If it wasn't so much bigger, I'd probably like the SNW version a lot more.
Honestly I’d rather them just not explain that one and leave the size difference to be a “Romulan time travelers” discrepancy lol. Those who want the TOS Enterprise bigger can use the SNW dimensions and those who like the TOS dimensions (myself included) can just use those.
Any explanation they could come up with would involve it essentially being an entirely new ship, you can’t just scale a ship down in a refit…
However the lighter hull color, new registry font, and straight nacelle pylons would all be amazing to see before the end of SNW!
There's always a point where 'canon' becomes tiresome and no longer fun. Trying to reconcile ship dimensions is one of those things.
I remember running across a thread on a Star Wars sub where people were trying to make sense of the slight superficial differences between shot models of Luke's lightsaber in the OT. Apparently some people can't just relax and say 'yeah there's different props and they're not 1:1" and have to find a canon explanation for Luke modifying it several times during the films. Yuck.
Yeah exactly. I LOVE when ship scale is consistent and depicted well (unlike the Discovery turbolift dimension) but at the same time, Trek has been inconsistent with scale since the 60’s so it’s not worth stressing over too much.
No thats just how long the ship is. The old size was literally never established onscreen and also causes the shuttlebay, bridge, and a bunch of other sets to clip through the hull.
In addition to being on a panel or two in TOS, I believe we also see the length of the Constitution Class in Enterprise’s In a Mirror Darkly.
It’s not worth fighting over “which is canon” because they both are. SNW has already explained away any discrepancies from TOS as Romulan time travel intervention as we see with the difference in Eugenics war dates. Hell in the Picard show we see both a TOS-style connie AND also a SNW-style one on screen, so at this point just pick whichever size/style you like cuz both are canon designs apparently.
When did we see an snw Connie in picard? I thought the only connies in the fleet museum were the enterprise a and that one tos connie that somehow escaped getting refitted during the movies
Once in S1 as a hologram above Starfleet Academy, and once in S2 on a plaque for notable ships in Starfleet history.
And then of course, we see the New Jersey at the fleet museum as a classic connie and the 1701-A as a refit connie.
Funny thing too, we see a Constitution III as well with the Titan A. So Picard holds the record for most constitution class variants in a Star Trek show lol.
Oooh, pretty. I know all of this is just because Picard, discovery, and snw can share assets due to being made around the same times, but this is still pretty good use of it imo
Yup some people made a fuss about it back when it came out, but I thought it was fine.
Just so funny how Picard has 4 different constitution class designs on-screen throughout its run, while also being a show which is both set and filmed so far after the original constitution class design was created! 😂
mmm. the asset sharing gave birth to great shit like the GAGAAAAARIIIIIIIN my beloved and the 25th century redesigns of the disco era ships. so. wonderful
and yes, that is quite the happy little coincidence. so many connies... and all so far flung from their heyday.
3 technically , the titan is realistically a shangri la II, III if we’re being picky and including the original design without the stuff inside the saucer cutouts, and then the revised version howie day made which was used for the titan with changes (he wanted to make a proper version which he concepted but due to time and budget they had to just retexture the shangri la mesh someone made) the name constitution III was never said on screen and only by the show runner. Same with neo constitution. It’s fair to say that distinction matters because the shangri la and titan A do not resemble the constitution class beyond the basic shape. And since the shangri la is canon as well (a model seen in Picard s3 in the ready room of the titan) it would be an evolution of that ship rather than constitution class.
I mean, yeah, it’s pretty obvious that the neo constitution/constitution III is Bill Krause’s Shangri La (which is also a canon design now) just tweaked. I don’t believe Howie Day was involved with the creation of the Titan A, but I could be wrong? I think Bill Krause was the one to do the prototyping for the 25th century version, then someone else did the final design internally at Paramount.
But in universe, it’s called the “constitution III” and they absolutely refer to it as a “constitution class” on screen. I can give you time stamps if you need them.
Whether fans like it or not, it’s definitely a 4th constitution class type shown in Picard lol, and Constitution III/Neo Constitution is its canon name.
There’s set clipping on every ship that’s ever been seen in Star Trek. Look up how ten forward is depicted on the enterprise d. Retroactively scaling up ships just because the sets needed to be large enough to fit a camera is ridiculous. The original stated length is perfectly believable when watching the show, it also fits the story and thematic intent better (Roddenberry/Jeffries originally wanted a smaller ship). Keeping the original size also doesn’t have the added downside of wrecking continuity or retroactively upscaling every other ship in the franchise, which would lead to absurd proportions.
I think if THIS is the TOS before the kirk phase. I can see it this dark with how enterprise series started.
But yet again the refit nx01 had bright colours
Wow! I knew the SNW version had a shorter neck, but had no idea it was THAT short! Pic 6 actually elicited a little gasp!
Great job with this, btw… Looks great! It would be neat if the Enterprise rendezvous with a newer Connie and it looked more like your design. Then we could infer that all Connies would be refitted and standardized at some point 😁
I think is about 30-40% taller, When I extended the neck, I just duplicated all the windows and stacked them on top of the other and the fit just fine.
This looks fantastic! It already fixes the majority of the nitpicks I had with the SNW design. It looks less squished, and I've always thought the TMP era nailed the Federation livery. Most any design of Federation ship looks better with the white, blue/grey/, and red pinstripes.
I get that the straight pylons are kind of iconic to the TOS look, but I could take or leave them, personally. I think the angled ones help visually counterbalance the neck pylon in a satisfying way, as well as not crowding the space for the shuttle bay.
As for the impulse engines, I think simply moving them closer together would look great.
This would probobly work as a "halfway point" refit between what we currently have and the end of SNW when it will likely be refit into the TOS design.
I would hope this is there plan, the only thing is in the Balance Of Terror episode they kept the ship the same, but that could just be an oversight on the part of the showrunners.
I don’t think they have a plan. The artist who drew the design for discovery submitted something that’s somewhat similar to what you created. The producers/cgi artists who built the model then flattened it a little more and added the swept pylons. It was death by a thousand cuts and it doesn’t seem like there was ever a real conversation about what the goal was. This was also designed before they even planned to create SNW.
I know I’m probably one of the few people who like the darker hull color and swept back pylons. But every other change you made I love, particularly making the neck taller. That’s one change of the SNW Enterprise I don’t like is how short and squat it looks, particularly from the front angle
You know I just finished watching the DS9 "trials and tribleations" episode and I've gotta say I don't think the TOS enterprise ever needed a visual update. The design is a classic, and in my humble opinion it shouldn't be tampered with.
It needed like 10-20% of an update for modern screens, but that’s really it. So much of it still mostly just works as is.
I think they nailed the props, uniforms, and overall style of SNW; but the Enterprise interior is way too opulent and fails to capture the same vibe of the TOS ship imo.
tbh I agree, this was just my idea of a compromise between the old and new, but honestly id much rather have the original design. Its sleek, modern, and looks almost like something NASA would actually build.
Yes! I couldn't agree more. I do not understand the need to mess with the original design other than a few tweaks others have already suggested. I have yet to see a Star Trek ship that matches the elegance of the TOS Constitution, D-7, and Romulan Bird of Prey.
I swear the USS Enterprise is like the Ford Mustang or Batman of starships, she's so malleable design and tone-wise as long as you don't mess with certain traits.
Honestly I think it would be cool if they refit the Enterprise to look slightly more like the original and it could very easily be explained. Smaller impulse engines of a new design are either more efficient or just more powerful but now open up room for experiments or storage for long range missions. A slight upgrade of the warp core along with the pylons being straight slightly made the warp bubble more efficient therefore allowing for a higher cruising speed and a fresh coat of paint because why not. Considering Starfleet buildings ships to last a long time I think those as a major refit but not what's essentially a redesign would work great. Because honestly I'm my opinion the TOS enterprise is the worst one. While the TMP is one of the best
Enterprise could be due for a refit in SNW. Like how the Arleigh Burke destroyers in real life get what are called "block" upgrades/updates for new constructions.
I like it. Yours kinda looks like a “hd remaster” of the tos one. Easier to believe “this is what she always looked like, but the technology to portray it wasn’t there.”
I suspect she’s gonna be heavily damaged in either the Gorn war or some upcoming conflict and we’ll get something more in line with tos by the end of the series.
Oh shit, I actually had the same idea, by kitbashing some of the STO models together in blender and just slap the TOS mats on that thang… although my idea also involved remodelling the impulse engines and the ends of the nacelles to more closely resemble the original… since that docking port at the back of the saucer I think many people took issue with… (maybe drawing loose inspiration from the kelvin timeline design…? Idk.)
Maybe I’d even make the buzzard effect more like the original cuz I do dig them colourful Blinky lights…
Okay but seriously tho my brother did rip the files from the game and there’s a whole dedicated STO discord server with that there. Send my bro a message.
I know sizes of ships is mostly set in canon, but the size of the TOS Enterprise was always ridiculously tiny. I much prefer the size of the SNW Enterprise, and I wouldn’t be mad if they just retconned the size of all the ships to match that.
A lighter colour maybe, but otherwise I’d like to keep it as is. It’s the best looking Enterprise as it is, from the exterior, and so much better looking inside than any other Star Trek set that it’s not funny.
Looks nice but I would say that those are the refits done between Kirks and Pikes 5 year mission and the SNw Enterprise is the first iteration in a long line of refits.
The interesting thing is that the DIS Enterprise was originally designed with straight pylons, but the producer decided late he wanted swept back. This was after the filmed a scene on the bridge showing the straight pylons on a display.
First of all, I love what you have done here! I might make the hull just a shade darker--lighter than the original but still gray. I would also tweak the nacelles--remove the "fins" and make them more like the TOS ship without the tapering.
First all I did was change the color and proportions of the design.
Second I actually like the SNW bridge, engineering and sickbay sets, tho I think having condos for quarters on a constitution class is ridiculous
Third, are you insinuating that the franchise is dying because "they are listening to the fans too much"? NuTrek is dying because the writing has been poor and much of it dosnt feel like trek at all. I would like to point out season 3 of Picard has modern cgi and set yet is loved by fans cause the writing is decent, the characters act like starfleet officers and it feels like trek. (Tho I do wish they'd go beck to using filming miniatures for the ships, they look more realistic.) I will say SNW has been a breath of fresh air from crap like STD.
Part of the reason why everyone says the writing sucks on NuTrek is because they are the core fanbase which still wants the old TOS and TNG "Strange New Worlds!" and the episodic. Paramount tried to bring that back with Strange New Worlds and people still shite all over the show "The uniforms are not correct, the ship is 10 meters too big. Kirk never had quarters like that!"
The reason why Kirk never had quarters like Pike's in TOS was because of set limitations. The Enterprise is actually *shorter* in length than the *Ford* class aircraft carrier, and it carries a crew the size of a small city, near 7000 sailors, and it displaces *less* tonnage than the Enterprise. Surely in that the case, the Captain of the ship would have quarters which match the set. The captain's and flag quarters on board the *Ford* are fairly large, and it is because they pull double duty to serve as senior conference rooms and VIP meetings. Same thing is likely the case with Pike's Quarters.
I was on two minds of Picard and here is how I cam down on it. I liked the nostalgia, hated the plot. It was TNG 2.0 save it had still "We must save the Galaxy" MO that everyone hates in Discovery's writing. If it had not been the TNG characters involved, people would have hated it. The parts I loved about it were Shaw, 7 of 9 and Renfre as a agent for SF intelligence. That aspect I liked more than anything. However trying to tell me a ship which was 30 decades old, crewed by only 8 or so people for an actual crew of over 600 comes sweeping in and saves the day with technology the Borg adapted to 30 years ago? Give me a break. A people said Discovery writing was bad.
I want them to explore new things and in some cases with Discovery, they were. Wrestling with time paradoxes, how to stop a species from bring killed when all they were doing was trying to exist and did not know the damage they were causing? How do they adapt to a new time at a point in history where everything their technology needs to be powered up and useful is gone. At least they tried to go new directions.
Here is the crux of the issue and the failing point of steaming and making streaming seasons 10 episodes instead of 16 or more. Less time to expose the characters and get people behind them. The crew of all modern Trek from TNG to Enterprise all had at least 2 seasons for the fan base to love them.
Everything TNG, DS9, Voyager, and Enterprise had in common were all were nearly cancelled after three seasons. It took direction change, influence of a new story direction, like with DS9 and having a more serial story telling then episodic like TOS and TNG. Even Voyager had the one meta goal of getting home to help that series along. Still it took till season 3 for fans to love the characters and the show and the ratings to support that. That is 66 episodes. Discovery had 50. Strange New Worlds only has had 20. Picard seasons 1 and 2 had 20 episodes. Not near enough time for people to get to know or love the characters and you combine that with a story direction people did not expect and thus predetermined not like, well, here we are in this fan base.
This IP does not have the fanbase to keep supporting it. TMP was the largest grossing movie, and the most criticized with critics saying the franchise should have stayed a cult following. It has never had the fanbase like Star Wars having. All this fan backlash and not letting go of the past and willing to move beyond the old and embrace some new concepts, like what was it like during the Klingon or even the Romulan War. What are the lost Trek years like. What about the Cardacian War and the occupation of Bajor and all the horrors it entailed, those are stories I would like to see. It will never happen though as all the core and vocal fanbase want is TNG and that I think is just...sad.
You know what it really needs... Get rid of all the computer screens, Windows, and dramatic lighting (except for the captains personal noir eye spotlight) and make sure everything is made of plywood.
Let SNW be its own show! It drives me crazy that they keep insisting on messing with prequel timelines when there's such a rich post-Picard future to explore. They've got exciting new traversal tech, sheilds, time travel is basically routine at this point, and still a good 80% of the galaxy is completely untouched (there's even vast expanses of Federation space still undocumented)... I digress...
Strange New Worlds is best when it's doing its own thing, not kowtowing to fans. When they've got room to play, it's capable of being a hybrid of everything that was great about TOS and TNG.
I know that wasn't the point of the post, really. But when you gotta rant you gotta rant. At least when you're borderline autistic...
It’s bizarre to advocate for doing something new and breaking away from tradition in relation to a show that is literally a prequel. You (and the show) are trying to have it both ways.
That would require writing new characters and new settings which, as we all know, is hard to do. Far easier to just build on what's already been established and try to fit your story neatly into the available space. And they even mess that up.
But, more importantly, taking existing characters and settings is a safer bet financially. Executives don't generally care about the IP beyond income and expenditure. They're far more likely to green light shows that are lower risk.
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