I've finally realized why we didn't get to see any new ships during the end of the episode. The fact of the matter is that every single one of those ships except for the Prometheus has become a TNG staple. Easily recognizable. Seeing that fleet would have instantly told them... "home."
I'm not so disappointed now.
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
I thought it was a simple matter of Foundation using every model they had at their disposal without creating anything new. The notable exception was the Nova class, which they didn't use having modded it to be the Rhode Island.
Plus, Mojo has reported that the usual season ending crunch meant they had little time for artistic liberties such as creating new ships that'd be used only in the background. As it stood, they had to work up the Rhode Island, the Borg transwarp hub, the future Klingon ships, the Batmobile Voyager and the timeshuttle, to say nothing of the relatively complex opticals involving all these new models and plenty of existing ones. I'm pretty sure that opening shot with Voyager swooping by the futurized Golden Gate Bridge with fireworks in the background is hardly a "stock shot" kind of effort, for example.
In short, I'd say we were lucky that Foundation managed to give us the Alpha quad fleet scenes we ended up with. The Prometheus was the real icing on the cake for those uf us who'd been endlessly whining to see more of her. I wonder if that was an unscripted Foundation thing, or a specific request for the extra wow factor... Ditto for modding the Nova instead of making a new ship - personally, I think the Nova mod was a bad idea. After decades of being dumped on and never promoted, the best Harry could manage was a puny little NOVA class? I mean, as cool as it looks, it's hardly what Harry deserves after all he'd been through.
Mark
Posted by pIn'a' Sov (Member # 293) on :
You know, "puny little Nova" is not what I�d call it. Harry did attack two klingon ships with it, and by the look of it the "Nova"-class we see is bigger and better armed than the Equinox nova-class.
I think it�s a new ship-class alltogether.
Posted by CaptainMike (Member # 709) on :
I'm pretty sure they didnt change the windows or scale it any.. probably still Nova-class but outfitted as more of a cruiser than a scout by that timeframe, using their magic-technology
Posted by Dukhat (Member # 341) on :
The Rhode Island is not a new class. It is the same size as the Equinox. You can plainly see that when Janeway's shuttle flies alongside. As to why Kim takes on two huge Voodieh class ships with his puny Nova science vessel is beyond me. THIS is where we should have seen a new ship. If the writers knew Kim's ship would be taking on Klingon battlecruisers, then they should have at least designed a more powerful ship instead of reusing the Nova.
The beef I have with "Endgame" (aside from the story being pretty lousy IMHO) is that Sternbach stated in an interview that there would be new ship designs. There weren't. All they had were old ships or modifications of old ships.
Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
The shuttle was new...though it looked alot like Voyager's speedboat shuttles.
He was probably talking about the Rhode Island since it was a new kind of Nova.
Posted by David Templar (Member # 580) on :
Hell of a new kiind of Nova, too. Starfleet's certainly packing a lot more heat in the future, even on little short range survey ships.
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
We can't really say that either - Kim said he'd been in deep space for over three years. I'm betting that the RI was some Nova variant capable of such stuff.
And besides, upon studying the scene it appears that it's the Voodieh that's out of scale.. We see the RI pass over one of them in one scene, making her look disproportionately large, but the comparison with the shuttle makes it clear that it's not some scaled-up Nova.
Additional: Mojo tells me that he's responsible for the Prometheus in the end scenes, precisely because everyone wanted to see her again. Also, he was figuring that at least one would be in active service with the fleet by that time. However, as we know he didn't change the reg numbers.
As for the Rhode Island, it was another Foundation decision rather than Paramount. Rob Bonchune wanted to "fix" the Equinox model (I assume to show it in a pristine state), making him responsible for it.
Mark
[ February 27, 2002, 16:32: Message edited by: Mark Nguyen ]
Posted by Timo (Member # 245) on :
One wonders if the RI in fact represents the true shape of the Nova class, and the lower-profile bridge and the big bow cut-out etc. were in fact signs of battle damage and makeshift repairs performed by Ransom's crew...?
Timo Saloniemi
Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
I doubt they would've been able to make such large scale repairs...it would've required a huge deflector to have been fabricated. Of course...we all know that crews sent to the Delta Quadrant suddenly become capable of doing Starbase-level repair jobs and constructing state of the art shuttle craft in a matter of days...so I guess it's plausible.
I'd rather assume that either A) The RI was a modification to the original Nova Class, beefed up for more patrol-like duties by the time of the episode, or B) The Nova Classes were made for a variety of mission types originally, and the RI and Equinox are two different examples.
The RI's seemingly more advanced speed and defence capabilities seem to suggest the former.
Posted by Vogon Poet (Member # 393) on :
Given the 20 years in between, who knows? Advances in technology in between could well lead to all sorts of reasons why they'd make these changes. Maybe the Rhode Island also had the Bat-armour but it didn't work too well around these large recesses in the hull. . .
And, as regards the final fleet, it could have been worse. There could have been a Dauntless in there. Imagine the fuss that would have caused! 8)
Posted by Phycro Onyx (Member # 579) on :
why the hell dont they merg all the licences i mean its all star trek...so really i just dont get it, it would make gamers lives and producers lives a lot more fun
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
As tempting as it is to post "My cat's breath smells of cat food", I'll just go with the following. What?
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)