It’s sounding more and more like the original starship USS Enterprise – NCC-1701 has indeed been redesigned for Star Trek (11).
First came a report from IESB a month ago stating that the ship will have a new design in the movie. Now TrekWeb points us to a post over at the Star Trek New Voyages forum where James Cawley claims that he has seen the new starship Enterprise NCC-1701. Cawley is producer of the New Voyages fan-made Star Trek series and plays Captain Kirk as well.
He was not pleased with the new look of the iconic NCC-1701.
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On the forum, Cawley makes clear that he wants the film to succeed:
“I understand the reboot thing, it is simply business and a way to hopefully sell many more new action figures and toys based on new designs, it always comes down to the money to be made. I just don’t agree with changing such iconic designs that are so ingrained in pop culture, it is really needless.”
“I would be a hypocrite if I did not believe in recasting these iconic roles, I do in fact support it. I just don’t want the production design radically changed. I see Matt Jeffries’ designs as ‘TIMELESS’ and as ‘Pure Science Fiction’, I feel the Big E as designed by Matt deserves it’s day on the big screen.”
There’s no doubt that Cawley is a huge Star Trek fan as evidenced by the fact that he has put together enough money, people and resources to have created multiple “webisodes” of a series with very impressive sets and production values (they even had George Takei guest star in one episode). There’s no doubt that’s pretty hard core, but I think from his statements that he’s at least open to the concept of rebooting the series, even if he’s not totally in favor of it.
As to his specific thoughts on the redesigned Enterprise:
“Yes, I have seen the New REBOOTED Enterprise… at any rate, I don’t like it. It is supposed to be NCC-1701, no bloody A,B,C,D or E! and it sure does not look like the 1701 I grew up with!”
“I have seen what was purported to be the final design of the New Enterprise, and I don’t like the changes. Period.”
And what does it look like, exactly?
“…all I will say is that the ship design seems to borrow heavily from ‘Contemporary Trek.’”
From his comments it sounds like the ship will retain it’s overall saucer, main hull and twin nacelle configuration but within the confines of those elements you can still have a design that is very different from the original.
For reference purposes, here is a history of the design of the USS Enterprise on TV and in the movies:
This was the first Enterprise designed for the screen. The image above is from the newly remastered version of The Original Series and is a new CGI model. Notice how they avoided the temptation to “upgrade” it in any way. It’s completely faithful to the original.
This was the upgraded version used in the six films starring the original cast.
This ship was highlighted briefly in the awful Star Trek: Generations. It was on it’s inaugural journey and was the ship on which Captain Kirk was supposedly killed.
This ship was highlighted in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Yesterday’s Enterprise where it traveled through time to the future to meet Captain Picard and crew. You can see that it has more in common with the original ship and the 1701-A than it does with the 1701-B. That’s because it was designed in 1990 while the 1701-B was designed in 1994.
This is the ship that came about 100 years after Kirk’s era. It is monstrously huge and I was always torn regarding the look of it – from some angles it looks great but from others I always thought it look very ungainly.
This is the version that followed the destruction of the 1701-D. In my opinion it’s ugly as sin and I believe that it is supposed to be even larger than the already huge “D.”
Finally, here is the prime example of a new take on what is supposed to be a ship built 100 years before the NCC-1701:
Long time Trek fans went nuts when they first saw this design for the TV show Star Trek: Enterprise. It was obviously based on a flipped over version of an Akira-class ship from the Next Generation era of Star Trek, therefore looking much more advanced than the original Enterprise. This, despite the fact that it was supposed to have been built and designed 100 years before the NCC-1701.
Now granted, there is a brand new production team working on the new film. As far as I know no one associated with the old production is on this including any of the art/design team that defined the look of Star Trek for so long. Still, I think they may go a little bit overboard on the Enterprise redesign in order to make it more suitable for the big screen. I would have been ok with them using the same ship as the frame but adding a bit more detail to the exterior, but I get the feeling that they’re going to fiddle with the core look of the ship.
It will be interesting to finally see what they come up with, but personally I’m nervous about it. Star Trek is almost as much about the Enterprise as it is about it’s crew.
[UPDATE: Here it is, the brand new USS Enterprise]
Oh, and finally… here is one fan’s interpretation of what a redesigned NCC-1701 should look like (I think I would have preferred this over what they came up with):
Source: Star Trek New Voyages forum (registration required) and images from Memory Alpha
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169 Comments
I’m done with the Constitution class era…..GTFOOHWTS!
This is all you need for the next Star Trek tv show, Captain Tuvok, Voyagers advanced technology, section 31, Jake Sisko, and a war accross the multiverse.
Ok forget the Mulitverse war.
But seriously I’m fricken done with Kirk and fricken spock ok…..
I’m 50/50 on this new film.
Sure would be cool if its good, sure would be good if it bombs… Those are my Trekker gut feelings. Ether way were gonna have lots to chat about soon.
Sacrilege!! Kirk and Co. are the BOMB!
Plenty more stories to tell in that era as far as I’m concerned.
Vic
Gene Roddenberrys Star Trek world of Infinite Diversity, in Infinite Combinations, is tearing us apart!!!!
FlameStrike does make a lot of points in his last entry. There are many timeline gaps Paramount could have chosen that would have made great areas to explore in movies and television. The fact that so many writers are filling in those gaps with ‘non-cannon’ material, should give people an indication that there is a deep interest in those areas. Why Paramount never bothers to check this out is beyond me. But it’s this lack of listening to fans and following where they think they can make the most money that has brought the franchise where it is today. It is also the reason fans are beating themselves silly over the topic of putting Trek to rest. If they’re going to be ignored, they’re not going to watch it anymore. It’s as simple as that.
LOL!! I think all of us should just get together and save Star Trek. What do you all say?
!!!
Well, if any issue should rally “Trekkers” to do something positive and meaningful these days, it shouldn’t be for a television show, it should be to save this country from ruin. I think the real world needs us more than Paramounts’ pockets.
Hey Jeff. Have you heard of “Homeland Security emergency mandate order 20″?
That’s scary!
What mandate is that 790?
Oh its just a special homeland security law that bush signed into effect last year.
It gives a President the power to suspend congressional law in times of extreme emergency and or crisis in any state or states.
The state of crisis will be decided on by the President and his staff.
Something like that,,,
Alexander, I’m all with ya on rebuilding a new Star Trek series. I’m sure between all the awesome writers that come here every day we could do it easy. The prob is the execs at paramount studios. They don’t want to commit to a weekly tv show til after this new film comes out.
And then I’m still betting unless the movie does Iron Man numbers they won’t do one.
They’ll prob give the film a sequel and see where it goes from there.
I would love to see a tv show that carrys on past the DS9, Voyager timeline.
Bring back the actors that want to do it and go!!!!
790, I completely agree. I wish i was rich and had the resources to do such a thing.
At least we have the dvds.
The only way this new Movie is going to bring a turn out that’ll mean a relaunch of the franchise, is if the movie starts and finishes with blood and guts, and Captain Kirk is being dragged through space clinging to his ship by a whip. LOL! What I’m saying here is that in order for this movie to work, they’re going to have to aim for a different kind of audience and not the loyal ‘Trek’ fan base that is already upset with this idea.
Well the fact that JJ. Abhrams is now in charge, is deffinitly going to bring in a new demo.
However will that audience relate to Star Trek?
I think the biggest problem with this (going backwards to Kirk & Spock) is what do you do if the film is a success?
Ok you make a sequel or two, then what?,,, Are we then going to be stuck in TOS timeline? A timeline that if made into a new tv show will prob look more high tech then the Next Generation…?
(Imo).
I think the vfx are going to make the hardcore fans happy but overall ,I think its a big mistake in so many ways going backwards.
Well, if going backwards in the timeline has some relevant meaning to the overall timeline, then this movie can be done. Like if someone from the future went back to save history from being changed. But if every movie after that is a sequal to the continuation of the story of Kirk in the 23rd century, then it becomes a problem. So this movie, good or bad, can only be a one time thing if the story is done right. If it’s not then they run the risk of making continuity problems which could really tick off a lot of people who know Star Trek better than they do.
I don’t know if this issue has ever been discussed, maybe it has but I never seen it or heard about it. Does anyone recall how when ENTERPRISE started on television, we were introduced to 22nd Century Vulcan’s. Aside from the fact that they seemed more emotional, which I know everyone picked up on, did anyone pick up on the notion that humanity was being depicted as a hopeless race?
Yet another reason why I hated ENTERPRISE.
Let me be more specific. Gene Roddenberry’s view of the future was that at some point, humanity would come out of the ashes of a terrible war and the survivors would finally realize that hatred and violence wasn’t the way. Peace and mutual cooperation for a higher good had to be the way or humanity could never survive. On ENTERPRISE, we were basically told that humanity owes it’s thanks to the Vulcan’s for being able to leave the solar system and make a new future for themselves. But we could only achieve that goal if we abided by the lessons taught us by the Vulcan’s. Those lessons being, peace is the way and mutual cooperation if we are to survive. You see how that got twisted?
Basically what Rick Berman was saying is, Gene was wrong. Humanity will never learn how to stop being violent unless a superior outside force is brought in to teach us how to act like them, and then dangle a carrot in front of us (that being the right to leave the solar system) as a goal so humans will keep trying. This is nice, but it’s flawed. How many prophets and statesmen have we been treated to over the centuries that have done the same thing? Moses, Jesus, Gandhi, JKF…etc., the list goes on. But humanity never seems to alter it’s direction. Gene was right. When humans or just a person is faced with their possible extinction, we wake up real fast and as they say, ‘we get into religion and realize what’s important in life.’
Also, since RB decided that the basis for the prime directive is a Vulcan belief, which humans had to adapt to in order to travel in outer space, why would they violate their own belief to assist such a savage race as us?
Well Jeff. That’s a pretty vague point since well never know what Gene would have done. I didn’t see a problem with the Vulcans in Enterprise , maybe it was the fact that they got allmost everything else wrong during those first two seasons.
(I will say this, about your humanity theory) Vulcans, would be targeted and their ships shot at if they tried to land her now…
And humanity had to go thru WW3 before we calmed down enough to make First Contact.
(Also this statment)
We get into religion and realize what’s important in life.
Maybe during the 40’s. I don’t see this happening in todays culture…..
Allways enjoy reading your stuff Jeff….;-)
Gene was an idealist but like many liberals, naive in thinking that mankind will “evolve” out if it’s base, ingrained tendencies. There will always be good people but there will also always be bad. Give certain people everything they want and they’ll STILL be unsatisfied and want what others have.
Socialism operates under the idea that the above is not true, but it is. While I love Star Trek, the undertone is socialist IMHO.
Vic
“Gene was an idealist but like many liberals, naive in thinking that mankind will “evolve” out if it’s base, ingrained tendencies. There will always be good people but there will also always be bad. Give certain people everything they want and they’ll STILL be unsatisfied and want what others have.
Socialism operates under the idea that the above is not true, but it is. While I love Star Trek, the undertone is socialist IMHO.”
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You’re assuming, Vic that Gene’s idea that humans in the future would be all perfect isn’t exactly what Gene’s original Star Trek series portrayed. And it wasn’t what I was trying to say. If you recall we saw crazy psychologists, drug smugglers, people blinded with revenge and obsessions, political snobs…etc., there was a definate sign that humanity was still dealing with the basic deamons we deal with today. But what Gene was trying to say in Star Trek was that humanity can still achieve great and wonderful things and create for ourselves a future worth living for, as long as we control and remain cautious to our darker tendencies. By doing this we could eventually find new meaning to our existance that includes a new awakening to a society based on improving ourselves for the greater good of human evolution, besides resigning to the single goal of satisfying our selfish wants or needs.
I can certainly see humans one day becoming that in some form or other. It wouldn’t mean that we’d be out galavanting the stars, but the world would be united in a common good that would only be possible when humanity is really tired of the status quo.
I don’t think that Rick Bermans’ idea that having an outside influence (Vulcans) guide us to a better day would be as defining and meaningful a moment for humanity. Imagine what kind of Americans we’d be today if other countries supported us in every way and we did absolutly nothing? Our flag would be meaningless, our convictions empty, our path paved for us. How does that make a nation great or it’s people patriotic enough to keep it alive?
This is why I say that Gene’s vision of humans beating the odds stacked against it to be a better race ON IT’S OWN, makes for a better impact on his Star Trek ideology than what Rick Berman tried to create on ENTERPRISE.
As a child, none of us could understand what it was like to be an adult until we became one. Right now, the human race is too child-like in nature to envision a better and mature human race…for now.
Jeff, the human race is child-like because our state leaders and religious leaders keep the truth to themselves.
(The truth will set us free)
If they were to come out and tell us the truth about our orgins, the truth about ET’s, the truth about death, the truth about mankinds destiny then you could have the baseline of a potential Federation of Planets.
Until, then get in line…..
Jeff, your points are valid in relation to TOS, but TNG fell in line completely with my description above. The premise there was that we (humans on Earth) finally “made it.” and all problems had been taken care of and everyone was free to pursue what they wanted to improve themselves and not worry about earning a living or shelter, etc.
Your points are actually one of the reasons that TOS is my favorite of them all: They’re still recognizably human and not walking around like a bunch of new age so-called enlightened beings.
Vic
The Next Generation was just the evolution of the original Star Trek series as far as the human condition goes. They still had some problems with corrupted Admirals and issues of trust, but we were shown in TNG that humanity was still making strides forward from the original series. Having a Captain who would negotiate before reacting emotinally was a way to show us that people were thinking differently by the 24th century. In another 100 years, humanity in the 25th Century would be a little more different.
Jeff, the human race is child-like because our state leaders and religious leaders keep the truth to themselves.
(The truth will set us free)
If they were to come out and tell us the truth about our orgins, the truth about ET’s, the truth about death, the truth about mankinds destiny then you could have the baseline of a potential Federation of Planets.
Until, then get in line…..
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I gave a lot of thought to your statement and with all honesty and no hostility intended, I can’t agree with it. I don’t think leaders of any kind have that much influence over the personal thoughts of a whole society. They may direct a populace to go in a certain direction but to influence individual thought and opinion is something even God hasn’t been able to do, otherwise there wouldn’t be so many different religions.
Since I was talking about immaturity in the context of current human nature, I was implying a train of thought that dictates actions. You see a mature society wouldn’t keep putting leaders in power, and back in power again, to continually oppress them economically and socially, yet we see it happening all the time. A mature society would remove such corrupted individuals for the sake of the greater good in order to progress forward. This is not to say that we don’t have some mature thinkers in our world, which, by the way, are often ridiculed and labeled as liberals, environmentalist whacko’s and extremists by those who obstruct and pull back on the reins of required social progress. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough of them to actually make much of a difference so long as the majority continue to act immaturely.
There are some nations in the world, we call third world, where the leaders are corrupt and try to oppress it’s citizens, but they often find themselves rebelled against by there people. If the citizens of the United States had rebelled against George Bush after learning of his deception in involving us in an illegal war, he probably would have never finished his term. But instead we complain and argue amongst ourselves and take little to no action in order to do what we know is right, and then on top of that, we return him to the seat of power to continue breaking laws mature thinkers set in place to guide our society to greatness. Our actions, the American citizens in this case, are measures of immaturity because we’re not using “our common sense” and acting for the greater good, which in this case would be to save lives by stopping this massive foreign policy error. But there are signs, even in the bleakness of all this that the rest of the world is maturing more than we are, because we see many other countries and leaders shunning us and our President because they know what we’re doing is wrong. So there is hope that mankind will rise above all its foolishness and finally see things in a way that benefit all of us and not just some of us. It may take more than 200 years, but it will happen.
“So there is hope that mankind will rise above all its foolishness and finally see things in a way that benefit all of us and not just some of us. It may take more than 200 years, but it will happen.”
I applaud your optimism, I just don’t agree with it.
We’ve been around for thousands of years and we haven’t gotten there, no reason to believe we’ll suddenly get there in another 200 years. Whether you believe in the Bible or not, if nothing else it’s clear evidence that in over 3,000 years people are the same today as they were back then.
Vic
Well I see your point Jeff and I don’t think there’s much difference in our views. (Please don’t ever worry about offending me btw).
Basically (all I’m saying) the things that are holding us back from learning are, real news about other cultures, cures to disease, real space exploration, free energy and cars that could get 150 mpg. All these high (Star Trek) technologies are being hidden from the population.
And yeah people that come out as mature are laughed at for saying the very thing I’m typing right now. (I get it all the time). They call me a Geek!!!! Tha bastards!!!! Lol.
But seriously.
Until these truths are blown out and reveiled we will be conditioned to sleep, work, and eat. Like slaves for the global elite. Society has done a great job in that standard of life. (You don’t know how many times Jeff I just wished I had a Class 4 Federation Shuttle craft so I could leave this place). Maybe later….
So we see alike I think, but I sure hope your wrong, because this planet won’t wait 200 years……
I don’t have the all the answers on what to do in the meantime.
“We’ve been around for thousands of years and we haven’t gotten there, no reason to believe we’ll suddenly get there in another 200 years. Whether you believe in the Bible or not, if nothing else it’s clear evidence that in over 3,000 years people are the same today as they were back then.”
And our species will still be the same as it was then, and now, in another 3,000 years. Unless something happens to drive us to extinction before then.
It’s sad to see some people have sort of given up on the idea that things could get better. Maybe that’s part of the reason why Rick Berman could sell his version of Star Trek for so long. Besides, how many times does a baby fall before it learns to walk? Just because the last 3000 years was so bleak, doesn’t mean that the next 3000 will be the same unless you’ve resigned yourself and society to failure. Noone, and certainly not me, ever said that geating anywhere worth geating to was going to be easy, but if you fight for it everyday and your children take up that torch and do the same, things will change. But you have to try. You’ve got to otherwise we’re just living out our days for nothing. I certainly won’t throw away 60+ years, or however long I’m going to live on this world, just to eat, sleep and make babies. Their’s got to be more to life than that. And I certainly won’t allow anyone to oppress me so that I become a robot for society. I have goals and I’m going to see them realized come hell or high water.
We try to educate our kids on eating the right foods and put away the junk, they don’t like it, but we know it’s to give them a healthy life and eventually they figure that out. Humanity is in much the same way. We have people out there who are trying to teach us how we can live better and happier lives and by God, I intend to learn it and pass it on.
Once you discover the realities of death, you no longer fear it.
Mankind will go thru a real shitty time but will come out ok. (Thanks to our space connection).
The ones that put us here can’t afford to wait any longer and extinction is out of the question!
790……!
“Their’s got to be more to life than that.”
There is. Check out this little book called “The Bible.”
“We try to educate our kids on eating the right foods and put away the junk, they don’t like it, but we know it’s to give them a healthy life and eventually they figure that out. Humanity is in much the same way.”
LOL, a perfect example that actually supports my point of view. Look at how obesity in the U.S. has skyrocketed over the last 20-30 years.
The problem is humanity as a whole. You will never weed out the bad apples no matter what is implemented by government or whatever. It’s just human nature.
Great dialog!
Vic
“Their’s got to be more to life than that.”
There is. Check out this little book called “The Bible.”
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I am aware of the bible, Vic. I’ve been a good Catholic my whole life. I was hoping not to get into a religious theme here as to not offend anyone who doesn’t share my beliefs. But the point I was trying to make was not just for myself but for all of us. As a race trying to evolve, we need to find more to life than just eat, sleep and making babies. Unfortunatly, not everyone believes in that or the way to get to it as the bible lays it out. But even if you’re not Catholic, the bible still has a good road map, in the teachings of Jesus, to show us how to lead a better life that, if we all followed, would make our society better as a whole. The problem is no one seems to be listening too it these days, or they just pick what they like and ignore the rest. So that leaves the ones who read it and understand, the task of setting the example for everyone else. Then maybe people will understand and warm up to it.
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“The problem is humanity as a whole. You will never weed out the bad apples no matter what is implemented by government or whatever. It’s just human nature.”
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I’m under no illusion that there will always be bad apples, but we have to make sure those bad apples don’t dominate our lives and that is what we need to do; get ourselves out from under the thumbs of the bad apples. Then we can start maturing as a race…but always keep a watch for the bad apples.
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