The Enterprise through the ages

[ART!]

That Excelsior is the Frank Lloyd Wright-iest ship ever. I love the lines on that things.

 

[the Jester]

I really like the Sovereign (E) design. My second favorite is the refit (A)/original Enterprise.

The Galaxy class is really far down my list- probably last. I just don't like its looks, and never have.

 

[Bladesinger]

It was a new-built Constitution II class ship and not a refit. Scotty states this in ST:V.

It was rechristened from either the Atlantis or Ti-Ho before its trials.

Starfleet built several of these before switching to the Excelsior class.

I have heard these also, however, they are all non-canon, including my version. The Yorktown version comes from the AMT model kit, while the Atlantis is from the Voyage Home Supplement from FASA Games. The Ti-Ho is mentioned in Mr. Scott's Guide to the Enterprise, but that reference claims the ship has Transwarp Drive and seems the least likely.

Personally, I like the Yorktown option, as it seems to fit the scenario as I see it. YMMV, of course.

 

[Belen]

I have heard these also, however, they are all non-canon, including my version. The Yorktown version comes from the AMT model kit, while the Atlantis is from the Voyage Home Supplement from FASA Games. The Ti-Ho is mentioned in Mr. Scott's Guide to the Enterprise, but that reference claims the ship has Transwarp Drive and seems the least likely.

Personally, I like the Yorktown option, as it seems to fit the scenario as I see it. YMMV, of course.

I have seen the Yorktown thing too but Scotty says in ST-5 that it was newly built.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

It didn't hurt that The Motion Picture was about 25% Enterprise porn with the camera lovingly caressing it for an inordinate amount of time. That's probably what did it for a lot of us right there. I'm with the refit being the best looking ship as well. One of the reasons I like it is it doesn't look like it was designed to be cool. It was designed to be a ship.

But I think it's really the other way around - they made a really good design that worked from many angles, starting with the classic look, removing anything that makes it look dated, and giving it a really futuristic/advanced look.

Of course, the TOS Constitution also was a lot like that, it just that the model seems to lack a bit of... in details. Of course, one could argue the lack of features or smooth curves suggest something highly advanced, it also looks like they just couldn't do more when model-building on a TV show budget. And the satellite dish deflector and the rotating nacelle caps just make it look dated. Even though the dish for example actually has some quite nice details directly behind it, that I found fascinating to notice in photos and digital models (like the Star Trek Online one). But TOS just didn't do (couldn't do maybe, due to the cameras and lenses they had avaialble?) such close-ups.

By comparison, the Galaxy definitely has a lot of angles where it doesn't look anywhere as good as the Refit.

 

[Ryujin]

For those who haven't seen it. There's also a write-up on the National Air and Space Museum's website.

 

[Ryujin]

There's also Mike Nevitt, aka "Mr Trek", in the UK who is building a 1/25th scale, 40 foot long and internally detailed TOS Enterprise. His Youtube channel details the work from the beginning. This is just the most recent post.