I’m personally a big fan of the late TMP designs like the Excelsior and Centaur, what do you guys like?
TNG movie era - Sovereign, Sabre, Steamrunner, all of it!
A user of taste and discernment, I see.
I’m going to get crucified for this, but I really dig Discovery’s design language (both the show in general and the ship herself). In particular (I’m ready for those nails), I like their take on the Enterprise in season 2 (and subsequently SNW). In my mind it’s tied with late-TNG era stuff which is what I grew up watching. I have mad respect for the older designs, but I find that modernizing the classics isn’t diminishing my enjoyment even though I’m very acutely aware of the canon issues.
I *really* hate the transparent consoles they use in new Trek. I would be so angry being forced to work on one those ~8 hours per day. How can you see anything with zero contrast and background disruptions?! Like trying to read a web page with a movie going on behind it.
My computer terminal is at 75% opacity just for the novelty and visuals, but it makes it harder to work with. I wouldn’t have it if I were working in the terminal all day.
My only problem with Discovery era is that the areas are made to be more spacious than TNG, which was supposed to be cruise ship quality. The design language is modern, but it feels way too spacious.
I bet if you sailed on a late-80s unrefurbished cruise ship, it’d feel dinky and small.
Probably, but that isn’t the feel.
I’m just saying, our definition of luxury has moved since they built those sets in 1987.
That’s really my point as well. The modern updates of ships are because our expectations have definitely shifted. I feel like disparate design languages of the shows don’t necessarily have to detract from the shared universe. Though, don’t get me wrong, Star Trek is many things but one thing it isn’t, and has never purported to be, is a documentary. By that I mean that the set dressing, the costumes, our “presence” as the audience, everything about the way the shows are produced tells me we’re watching a dramatization of the “real” events. Contrast that with something like the 2000s era Battlestar Galactica which had a lot of elements in its filming that were designed to make it feel more like a documentary and we, the audience, were watching footage captured of “real” events.
I agree with this. It looks really good, but it was weirdly huge.
Discovery S3+
Especially in later seasons. Where did all that space come from? Or was all that extra space we see later specifically added during the retrofit?
I guess you can blame it being a platform for experimentation. They wanted it to be able to produce the stuff they’d need even away from stations? Still feels weird though.
I found myself quite taken with the post burn fleet in Dis, just because it pushed the boundaries of the designs seen in the past. Shame we’ll probably never see any of them explored further.
No one’s shown any love for my favourite ship design yet, so I’m gonna speak up about my love for the Intrepid class. Voyager just looked so sleek and graceful compared to other ships of the era — the comparatively lumbering Galaxy glass, the oddly square shaped Defiant class, or the cold and sterile Sovereign class.
@Digital_Cam The II - VI OG movie era. Harder lines but upgraded from the series. There was a harshness and realness to the ships, almost armored looking which fits the more conflict oriented tone of those movies.
Probably the TNG films… or maybe call it “post Wolf-359?”
Defiant, Steamrunner, Luna, Akira, and my dear, sweet, beloved, gorgeous Sovereign; everything produced in response to The Borg just looked so fuckin’ good.
I love the late TNG / Dominion War era, but less for the designs themselves and more for how many different ship types we see from all over the Alpha and Delta quadrants.
Dominion War/TNG film era for me, and further stuff that’s extrapolated from that. I prefer ships to be flatter, having a neck just seems to scream “weakpoint”.
It’s hard to watch The Wrath of Khan where the Reliant fires and hits the Enterprise’s neck and not think “Gee, if Khan had got a bit more of a shot in, that would’ve been the end of the movie right there.” Beyond even followed through on that. I love the Enterprise’s design and love the way that it shows that it’s in space by not being constrained by the rules you need to follow in gravity but it’s definitely not a tactically sound design.
But then my favourite ship design is the Steamrunner which is equally impractical so sometimes tactics can go out the window for a pretty ship.
Honestly? Probably the ‘Lost Era’ between TOS and TNG.
Excelsior and Ambassador classes were excellent.
Era: TNG
Specific ship: NX-01
Connie Refit. Mmmhm those are gorgeous lines. 80s swagger on top of that classic chassis.
Sometimes I watch TMP just for the Enterprise porn (yes, some is also in TWOK, but sometimes the slow pacing is warranted).
Edit: and speaking of TWOK, Reliant/Miranda Class was nice too. Same parts mostly, different configuration. Exactly what I would expect from a vessel serving a research group; no nonsense.
Hell yes! The constitution refit is my all time favorite! I watch TMP all the time just to watch that beauty grace her way across the screen.
It peaked with the Excelsior.
The Enterprise F we briefly saw was also an absolute beaut.
The Excelsior was definitely a good-looking ship. VI remains my favorite of the movies. (Slightly controversial, I know.)
The long line ships of STO are beauties, I agree.
I wish Terry Matalas hadn’t been so keen to push them out of use in Picard.
The Vesta class is also a favourite of mine. Mark Rademaker’s designs are very compelling.
ENT era.
Externally speaking Starfleet ships march to the beats of NACA/NASA X-planes, Klingon embrace a very soviet yet alien look in contrast, Vulcans look advanced and sleek yet ancient and mythical with the biggest pointiest toys on the block.
Internally speaking construction is depicted as having limits, tech and interfaces are familiar to real world, cramped ship like rooms are the norm, and there’s no handwaving over how everything might fit inside the ships.
The Dominion/Borg/DS9 era of ships. The Akira, Steamrunner, Defiant, Prometheus, Sabre, and Sovereign are awesome (and the Galaxy even though that came earlier). It represented a reality check when Starfleet finally snapped out of complacency.
TOS or OG movies for me. They are just too iconic and cool. I am also a sucker for retro-futurism so I love to see those chunky computers paired with unbelievably high tech spaceships. Plus Kirk’s charisma somehow improves the ships too, at least in TOS.
TMP Era is just the best looking classic Star Trek experience some of the designs in my opinion were in things like Starfleet Command the video game like the Akula class, but I have a soft spot for the DS9/First Contact/Star Trek Armada period.
The TMP nacelles are very 70s (lol), but the rest of the ship looks so good that it makes you overlook it.
