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If anyone here has seen the cover art for the upcoming New Frontier hardcover, I think that its a safe bet that the next Federation starship to bear the name Excalibur is going to be a Galaxy-class vessel.
Damm. I was hoping that the next Excalibur would be a Sovereign-class. Personally, I would rather take a Sovereign than a Galaxy into Thallonian space. Besides, having a large number of noncombatants aboard a ship that might possibly go into a fight is asking for trouble.
Any thoughts on this?
------------------ I do what the voices in my head tell me to do
posted
Well, that's another reason why to count books non-canon...
------------------ The world is not enough, but it is such a perfect place to start my love And if you're strong enough, together we can take the world apart my love
posted
The original Excalibur in NF was IMHO a very nice choice. The Ambassador model is very rarely seen in the actual episodes, so using this ship class lent the NF series a personality of its own. Also, Ambassadors are big ships that could very well be tasked with independent missions like the one described. One of the Enterprises was an Ambassador, suggesting that the ship class is capable of performing the sort of wildly varying missions any good "hero ship" should be capable of.
Switching to a Galaxy means the series loses some of its personality. On the other hand, the arguments about this ship type being the most suited for independent, multi-faceted operations remains. A dedicated warship (or a dedicated anything, really) would narrow down the scope of storylines too much.
Ambassador and Galaxy are basically identical in their "status", except that Ambassador is an older model, and giving that to Calhoun may have reflected Starfleet hesistancy in committing to him. A top-of-the-line ship would indicate Starfleet wants Calhoun to keep up the good work (I trust it is a spoiler to nobody that Mac will survive - PAD simply has no other choice). No radical changes in mission profile or Calhoun's instructions.
Using a big ship like a Galaxy also virtually seems to ensure that the crew will not be split up. PAD needs all his characters to fill up the ship, and may even have to add some.
Does a Galaxy differ from an Ambassador at all from the storytelling POV? Perhaps PAD will use the Captain's Yacht. Saucer separation and reattaching capability will probably also play a role. Hopefully, PAD will also mention other differences, established or newly invented (McHenry could complain about the sublight sluggishness of the design, or Soleta could praise its superior computers, or something).
posted
Funny that you say "split up"! Somewhere i heard the rumor the new Excalibur would be a Prometheus-Class... that would be a cool idea! Even the Prometheus was not really used and i would like to see (or read) more of her. Imagine a discussion between Burgoyne and EMH Mark2!
------------------ This is how i prefer the borg... in pieces!!! -- Janeway in Dark Frontier
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Did something happen to the old excalibur? I am still reading book 5 of new frontier and they still use the old ship. Does the ship get destroyed later on?
------------------ "We set sail on this new sea because their is new knowledge to be gained and new rights to be won" John F Kennedy
The TNG TM hints that the Enterprise isn't the only ship honoured with a letter suffix. It's rare but it's not unique. The destroyed Ambassador class is NCC-26517. So NCC-26517-A is the first ship named in honour of the Ambassador class USS Excalibur. Perfectly okay.
The only cock-up would be if the dedication plaque says something like 'second starship to bear the name' as that would be wrong because of the Constitution class vessel (and any other, unseen Excaliburs). However, the books are very unlikely to give us a description of the dedication plaque.
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*Spoiler warning (coming much too late)* $ $ $ $ $
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$ $ $ In the last published New Frontier novel (I don't recall the name), the very last sentence in the book goes something like "...five minutes before the Excalibur blew up..." No other info.
------------------ Captain Tenille: "Oh, Simpson, you're like the son I never had." Homer: "And you're like the father I never visit."
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About this Final Frontier book series, does anyone care to tell me the summaries of each book? I am just wondering since I don't feel right now to spend $30-$40 to buy all the books unless I know the series is good.
------------------ It is better to walk the path of the devil than to be in the path of the devil. Though it still might not be the right path.
posted
I suggest you buy a standalone book first, and then decide if you want to go for the series. Peter David wrote "Once Burned" as his contribution to the "Captain's Table" series. In this one, the New Frontier main character captain Calhoun relates a tragic story from his past. It has nothing directly to do with the setting of the New Frontier or the plotlines there, so there are no big spoilers, but it outlines the main character and introduces you to the writing style PAD uses.
The Calhoun guy is a total maverick who disregards rules whenever he can, he rarely communicates with others and has a sort of condescending attitude to everything, there's more explicit violence and sex than in Trek novels in general, and PAD seeds lots of in-jokes and surprise plot twists everywhere. Multiply all that by ten, insert half a dozen minor characters borrowed from PAD's other books or favorite TNG episodes, add a pseudo-continuous plotline throughout all the books, and you get New Frontier. *I* like the series, even though it's rather over the top.
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