posted
i don;t understand why they didn't just make a "real" ship for the USS Centaur. it was promeninently displayed onscreen, and at least warranted a new CGI image with parts that all make sense. hell, i would have preferred a TOS style blob of light to what they came up with.
p.s. i think that a larger ship makes more sense structurally, but it didn't seem all that big on screen.
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posted
I like the idea of the Centaur being refined to look like a real Excelsior-derived class. And to pick up Boris' argument, that's what I think we have seen on screen.
If we pay attention to details, however, the most important one is the nacelle pylons. If the whole ship were Miranda-sized (even smaller), then the rollbar would suddenly become a warp pylon. If it has to be something different anyway technically, I see no reason why we should insist on the visual similarity.
The many windows on top of the saucer, on the other hand, don't necessarily mean that each row (or ring) represents one deck. The Galaxy class, IIRC, has two decks with two window rings. These windows are all in the ceiling of the deck. But they would suit a 400m ship much better than one of 200m.
-------------------- Bernd Schneider
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Why they didn't design and build a CGI model? Possible reasons:
1) Gary Hutzel prefers model-work 2) Any CG model they built in VisionArt's software would have to be discarded or rebuilt in LightWave for later episodes, which is when the primary CGI vendor changed from VisionArt to Digital Muse. 3) Not even in Voyager did they design and build a ship-of-the-week, CG or otherwise, unless the entire episode was built around it, i.e. the Prometheus, the Equinox, the Raven, etc. The only ships VisionArt had in CGI, IIRC, were the Galaxy, Akira, Steamrunner, Sabre, and the Defiant. Had Stipes done the show, we might have seen one of these instead.
I'd like to see the comparisons next to the attack ship, but let's keep in mind that its size varies considerably. The last VFX figure they used was 152 meters, whereas onscreen dialogue supports a size of roughly 100m. In any event, VFX evidence is a poor indicator of scale.
"In other news, I have people now working on models of the Sphinx workpod (which Mr. Probert was kind enough to send me full color sketches of) and the Centaur-Class ship." -- January 15, 2002 Adam "Mojo" Lebowitz
"Actually, you'll get to see the Sphinx model ahead of time in an upcoming Star Trek Magazine, but in the book you'll get to see it in action--most likely cleaning up some wreckage at Wolf 359."
I don't know whether the issue with the Shpinx has come out yet or not, but it's in an upcoming issue of the Fact Files. Looks like they decided to use the Centaur in the magazine instead of waiting even longer for the book to come out.
There are a couple of other interesting articles there, don't know whether any of you would have seen them.
posted
Yeah, but Mojo's book has been indefinitely shelved...
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted
Which is probably why his work is popping up in other places. Me may yet see Unseen Frontiers, if a little diluted and spread across several different publications.
quote: Not even in Voyager did they design and build a ship-of-the-week, CG or otherwise, unless the entire episode was built around it, i.e. the Prometheus, the Equinox, the Raven, etc.
Surely this isn't quite true, though? What I mean is, we saw lots and lots of alien ships of the week on Voyager, most, if not all, CGI of some sort. So many that, when the show resorted to modifying some previous model instead, people around here were a bit put out, probably more so than was really necessary. (The reworked Breen ships in "Workforce", for example.)
Maybe I'm just not sure what you mean by "entire episode built around it." But I can think of lots of ships that were, admittedly, more than just brief background ships, but far from the focus of the episode.
Registered: Mar 1999
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capped
I WAS IN THE FUTURE, IT WAS TOO LATE TO RSVP
Member # 709
posted
youre a newbie that isnt the old Dr. Phlox? we remember from way back in the day 10 months ago when i was a kid here (oh, im so old!)
now that you mention it, besides the 'hero ships' of the runabout and the Defiant, I don't think that DS9 ever gave us ANY new Starfleet designs, with the exception of the Centaur and the Curry (not counting the other bashes that are only visible in our screencaps, DS9 TMs and of course, visible in our ship-boner sporting hearts and souls..)
-------------------- "Are you worried that your thoughts are not quite.. clear?"
Registered: Sep 2001
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But that's my point, re: Voyager. Compared to DS9 and TNG it was an embarassment of ship designs. (Though mostly alien.)
Hey, we should count all the visible Federation ship designs each series came up with! Hooray! Uh, foreground only. So no Wolf 359 wreckage. And no movies.
TOS: Constitution, shuttle, Aurora
TNG: Galaxy, shuttlepod, shuttles type 6 and 7, Constellation, Ambassador, Sydney, Nebula
DS9: runabout, Defiant, shuttlepod, fancy shuttle, maybe the "Yeager," though it was in the background, but it was in the background often
As you can see...well, nevermind, there's not much here. Uh, Voyager had as many new UFP ships as TNG. And more alien ones, I think, but I have no list for that.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
The fighters falls under "various Maquis ships" because of all the Peregrine madness. Plus, it had appeared in TNG, no? Or no?
And the Batris wasn't a Federation ship, and you'll note I'm not including simple resuses of a model. And yet I included the Sydney! But I think the Sydney is way, way different from the shuttle, and thus worthy of inclusion. Also, it is two in the morning. What do you people want from me? Blood? Turnips? Curry?
Registered: Mar 1999
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