Whoever designed this knew exactly what they were doing. It's resemblance to the Valiant is striking but different enough to allow it to have a different mission profile. I'd be interested to get a better look at those log transmissions, they might contain some interesting tidbits...or just mindless jibberish.
Out of interest I decided to look up the word "Conestoga". I was quite amused to find that was the name given to those old american western wagons, sounds like a tip of the hat to Roddenberry's "Wagon Train to the Stars" to me.
Being a country-bound Brit I'm not up on much of American history so my apologies to all those yanks slapping their foreheads and saying DUH!.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
Actually, I'd say people would more likely say "duh" because that fact was discussed so much back when the episode came out last year.
Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
Just a random thought.. but could the Conestoga be the ship from the intro?
Posted by Timo (Member # 245) on :
Not very likely. The wide diamond-shaped stern and relatively short pylons look very different from the tapered stern and rather long pylons of the Conestoga, and the main hull isn't bulging into our view like the bloated hull of the Conestoga should.
Clearly, TPTB created some CGI just for the opening sequence, including subtle things. The lifting-body spacecraft and the ship we are talking about are both custom CGI, and I think that the submarine scenes are, too (the people actually designing and constructing that submarine don't have this vidclip on their site, at least). And the shuttle on the ground has been CGI-renamed, and the MMU EVA "footage" altered. The ISS construction sequence probably isn't original NASA promo material, either.
So it's clear TPTB didn't worry about wasting money on something that would see action nowhere else besides the opening credits. I doubt we'll ever see the nacelled ship from the credits anywhere else... And the Conestoga probably won't reappear, either: it's old tech by the 2150s, and the model probably wasn't all that detailed.
Timo Saloniemi
Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
You're probably right.. but I am kind of hoping we'll get to see a regular Warp 2/3 Starfleet vessel some day.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Yeah, surely Terrans have moved out into space using their lower-warp vessels. There should be a whole lot of little planetary outposts started up.
What year did that crew in Power Play crash? It was at least after the Federation was founded.
Etan Naru SP? was their commanding officer from Starbase 12? (That place with the purple sky)
Posted by Dr. Phlox (Member # 878) on :
quote:Originally posted by Reverend: Out of interest I decided to look up the word "Conestoga". I was quite amused to find that was the name given to those old american western wagons, sounds like a tip of the hat to Roddenberry's "Wagon Train to the Stars" to me.
Being a country-bound Brit I'm not up on much of American history so my apologies to all those yanks slapping their foreheads and saying DUH!.
I picked up on that because of the Star Trek novel "Wagon Train to the Stars" in which Conestoga class ships are used to transport colonists to the planet Belle Terre. Infact, the whole episode reminded me of that book. They even had the problem with radiation. I wouldn't be surprised if one of the writers read it before coming up with the episode.
Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
The USS Essex from Power Play was lost in 2167, or so says the Encyclopedia. And I only just realized that the Captain Shumar from the Starfleet: Year One novel is from this episode Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
Uttan Narsu, Andrew. And Timo, that shuttle wasnae CGI-renamed.
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