..When some unknown ship whisked out of the depths of space, and ramscooped its way into your memories. Remember when we didn't know a starship was going to be on an episode until it actually aired? Yes, those are the heady days I am talking about.
For me, I recalled seeing the Excelsior in STIII at the movie theater as a young lad. It was gigantic and sleek, and had shiny, blinky doodads on its control surfaces, with a female helmsman with equally blinky doodads..well these were the days when we saw one new starship every 3 years if we were lucky.
RAMA the ancient
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
When Defiant first fires her pulse shasers and anhiliates a Jem Hadar bug for the first time in "The Search". I fell in love with that little ship right then.
Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
That was also during the time between series, so we hung on every movie, wondering if and when the next would appear....
Posted by The Red Admiral (Member # 602) on :
I will not ever forget the first appearance of the Reliant. It was the first time we were presented with even the concept of 'other class' ships, beyond the Constitution (or Enterprise/Starship Class as it was in the old days known).
Posted by SoundEffect (Member # 926) on :
I remember my jaw dropped when the Prometheus split in three for the first time!
I was also impressed the first time they showed the Bozeman exit the rift for the first time with the light flooding out ahead of it!
Posted by LET CAPTAIN = MIKE THEN GOSUB 420 (Member # 709) on :
"The Cage" the Enterprise hovers into view and we fly into the bridge dome.
Likes there's any other ship...
Posted by Timo (Member # 245) on :
Paint me weird, but I got the biggest kicks out of seeing the convoy of gigantic Klingon freighters in "Sons and Daughters", preparing to get underway, and the tiny BoP swooping in with the grandiose agenda of "protecting" these monsters...
...And before that, out of the first appearance of the Cardassian version, the Groumall, in "Return to Grace". The camera just loved the vessel - they even invented the beautiful "top view of DS9 with ship flying above" shot for the Groumall.
Still, the Klingon jolly green giants were an order of magnitude cooler. I like my freighters big. And ugly. And green, when applicable.
Timo Saloniemi
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Hmm - this is tricky - trying to think about when you enjoyed the first time you saw a particular starship.
OK, clear moment - it was before the net (for me) and we all knew it was coming and it took 2 and a bit years... and then the awesome blurry credits ended - and the veil of nebulous gas moved aside and there was the Enterprise-E!! (Wish they lingered on it a bit longer).
That is a main complaint with CGI nowadays - especially in the movies - the editing is WAY TOO FAST - you can't fix your eye on any one starship for too long. Even on Voyager and late DS9 (yes the movies is what I'm mainly talking about - well FC -->) It's as if they cut it up your eye can't follow and focus to much and thus you can't tell it's CGI - which I think is CRIMINAL considering now CGI can look like physical models (if enough work is done on them).
Reading through that Communicator edition with the making of the Excelsior and Bill George? It was interesting to note how he mentioned how Trek wanted him to make his shots long... beautiful shots that depicted these slowly moving beheomths!
He was used to Star Wars where Lucas ordered him to get as much 'stuff' going on in 40 frames as possible (like 1 second).
That's why Trek effects were so magnificent in II and III.
They need to return to this - hopefully they do for Nemesis - that crash scene from the preview looks like a nice long shot.
Andrew
Posted by Vogon Poet (Member # 393) on :
Given they didn't exactly go out of their way to let anybody see the Sovereign-class Enterprise design prior to the release of ST:FC, the actual first appearance of the ship was really rather low-key. Just floating in space with a nebula in the background. So we were like, "Okay. . ." Then it went to warp and I thought "Woah! 0 to 60,000,000 in no time at all!" Then, finally, you had the end of the build-up as teh Definat redshurt (He = SuXXor! Ti shood have been Dxa!) said "There's another ship coming in - it's the Enterprise!" 8)
Mind you, nobody's mentioned the first view of the refit E-nil, either. As someone said, there is no other ship. . .
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
The future Enterprise-D's first appearance in "All Good Things...". Decloaking and flying perpendicular to the Pasteur and those Klingon ships - hot damn! And then firing the BFG and tearing apart the Klingon before flying through the explosion - hotter damn!
Mark
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Too bad that ship looks so silly standing still.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
In FC when a tiny Sabre class hauls ass past on the viewscreen I was shocked into saying "What the HELL was that?! I like the Akira dipping down into frame and puking out seven or eight torpedos in FC alot, too!
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
quote: Mind you, nobody's mentioned the first view of the refit E-nil, either. As someone said, there is no other ship. . .
Well considering I was too young when TMP came out. The E-refit is my fave ship though.
I think someone around here DID post a rather inspirational description of their first sight of the E-refit. Mentioned how fans cheered!! When they first saw it!
Maybe I read that in a magazine like The Star Trek magazine?? I'm sure it was here though.
Posted by Proteus (Member # 212) on :
The Akira-Class in First Contact. When it lauched a few torpeedos from its weapons pod over the Enterprise-E i was in love.
Also, in "Message in a Bottle" (VOY), when it comes to do the work the Nebula-Class (my old favorite ship) couldnt, it was perfect.
Posted by Dr. Phlox (Member # 878) on :
It was the Akira class(and the other FC ships) for me too. When I first saw a clip of the battle I saw all these dark and unfamiliar ships with strange configurations. The Akira was the most obvious of course. I thought "what the hell was that?!" I think I was disapointed that they seemed so different from all the other ships we'd seen in the past and that it looked so dark and grim, but I was incredibly excited at the same time. Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
I was in the same boat as Jason when the Defiant first open up her can of whoopass pulse phasers on the Jem'Hadar. I was expecting some torps and was curious as to where the phasers would come from... then... phoom, phoof, phoof, phoof....
That was very sweet.
I also remember being completely floored by the FC ships. "What!?! 4 new ships!! At once!!! oh... my... goodness...." I remember I went home and tried to sketch them out from memory.
I'm too young to remember anything before TNG. I don't think I even saw movies 1,2 or 3 in the theaters. I think 4 was the first one I saw on the big screen.
Posted by Wraith (Member # 779) on :
The E-nil; I can't remember the first time I saw it but really every time it just look so... Enterprisy . That is THE ship. I can remember seeing the refit for the first time in TMP though, even on TV that looked good. I mean, yeah the movie did drag a bit but that first shot of the Enterprise in dock must have looked amazing in the cinema.
Posted by Fleet-Admiral Michael T. Colorge (Member # 144) on :
The first ship I fell in love with was the Enterprise-D when I saw the third season.
And then I saw the 5 minute TMP view of the Enterprise after refit...
Posted by Vogon Poet (Member # 393) on :
quote:"What!?! 4 new ships!! At once!!! oh... my... goodness...."
Sorry, I refuse to believe anyone managed to identify there were exactly 4 new classes on first viewing. Why, even a year later Utopia Planitia still had it at nearly six (although two of them were obviously duplicates). And what everyone thought was the Norway was the Akira from another angle. No retconning of nostalgia allowed, Alan! 8)
Posted by SoundEffect (Member # 926) on :
I counted four new designs watching the battle for the first time. It's not impossible.
I surprised the hell out of a friend of mine when we watched Generations for the first time and I caught the split second shot that the registry (the whole frame) was reversed during the crash of the saucer. He didn't think I could catch something that happened so quickly, so it wasn't until the movie was out on video that we could freeze-frame that spot and confirmed i saw it reversed....gotta be quick!
Posted by Austin Powers (Member # 250) on :
It was? I have to look that one up immediately... Hey wait, impossible, I'm at work at the moment... Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
Well, it was a long time ago. Let me put it this way... I know I counted at least four designs. And I was very excited.
The Akira I definitely got. Same with the Steamrunner because I remember trying to figure out how the underslung pod had been attached.
Posted by Dr. Phlox (Member # 878) on :
I remember the Steamrunner totally confused me when I first saw it. I remember seeing the shot of it from the front and underside firing its phasers while moving downwards. For some reason it looked like a Constitution refit to me. Even though I knew they wouldn't still be using them and it didn't look right, I couldn't work out any other posibility. Makes me feel like an idiot now. Posted by SoundEffect (Member # 926) on :
I found out later, the reason the Generation saucer was reversed for one shot, is that they dragged the model directly into a mirror and filmed the mirror instead of the ship. That way they could film the saucer getting insanely close without risking damage to the camera. They must've forgotten to 'flop' the frame back so the registry was right.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
I seem to recall there being problems with Steamrunners looking like Constitutions fairly often over the course of DS9, which always surprised me, because you wouldn't think they'd look anything alike.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
I'm going to be anti-Simon and go with the obvious. The Refit-Enterprise in TMP. Yeah, it dragged, and had far too many SFX. But there's a world of difference between watching a purple cloud for 4 hours, and watching...that ship. It's perfect. Perfectly balanced, designed, everything.
And for an honourable second, the Defiant. First thought "Cool, it can cloak!". Second thought "Cool, it has actual running lights!". Third thought "What the fucking hell were those phasers?!"
Posted by Vogon Poet (Member # 393) on :
Actually, I've seen where the problem lies - it's in the front view. Small shots of the Steamrunner in the background from the front do look like the Constitution - flat-looking saucer, large deflector dish below, struts coming up from that at roughly right-angles to each other (and at their ends, what appears to be nacelles, even though they're just the Bussards on the sides of the saucer). . . it's uncanny.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Yes the main culprit Steam/Con confusion was originally in CTA.
Posted by Peregrinus (Member # 504) on :
I have no clear memory of seeing the refit-E in the theater (I was only five...), but I've seen it on big-screen TVs enough to know my heart lurches every time I see her...
The Defiant had a wonderful debut, but something unfortunate happened... They changed the sound effect for the phasers, which crippled the way I view the ship...
--Jonah
Posted by Daryus Aden (Member # 12) on :
Well, I've loved all the jemhadar ships, Defiants, Vorchas Brel's and a whole bunch of other vessels. But the first one that I ever saw that hit home was the Imperial Romulan Warbird.
Posted by RAMAGNUS PYM (Member # 239) on :
I think I like a lot of the TOS starhip appearances. Little, glowing blobs of blobbiness. Oh, the memories. And the blobs. Sometimes they moved!
Posted by EdipisReks (Member # 510) on :
and when they moved it was Par-Tay Time! yeeeah! go jebus!
Posted by Eclipse (Member # 472) on :
Well, from Trek I think it's got to be the Defiant, from the scene when she first lets rip with those phasers and blows that Jem'hadar ship to sparklers. You have to understand: we watched "The Jem'hadar" earlier that day, and saw the Odyssey go down. Then we saw the Federation's comeback. Suffice it to say, there was much rejoicing.
Some other entrances are great, though. The spacedock shot of the Protector from Galaxy Quest... and the Agamemnon coming out of the firey demise of the last G.O.D. platform above Earth in "Endgame."
Posted by Matrix (Member # 376) on :
Personally it was the Defiant. I was used to all the Star Trek looking ships with the big saucer and long nacelles. Then suddenly this ship cloaks looking like some alien ship. Then you find out at the same time it's a Starfleet ship. Then when she fires her big guns in anger for the first time, easily ripping apart the Jemmie Bugs.
To me the Defiant represented male Trekkie horniness at the max.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
The E-refit is my fave ship though.![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)