Nothing very exciting. First the Saratoga and the Melbourne attack, Melbourne's saucer is destroyed and Saratoga manages to launch a few lifeboats, and then explodes. In the meantime the Yamaguchi and the Bellerephon are also attacking the cube. And somehow the Bonestell is involved too. And a nameless Nebula variant.
posted
It's the one that gets cut up by the Borg beam in this photoset, AND the distant one that hovers gutted in the background in the final photo of the set, to the upper right.
Reputedly, both these models (the first an Excelsior, the second a Galaxy kitbash of a design that would later be refined and called the Nebula class) were labeled "USS Melbourne NCC-62043". The Nebula-like ship got this registry for "BoBW", but when a more detailed model was needed for "Emissary", the name and number were applied on an Excelsior.
As these photos nicely show, it is impossible to read the names or numbers on EITHER of the ships by watching the episode(s). By adjusting brightness on the Excelsior pics, one can bring out the lettering - but it still isn't easy.
Dialogue in "Emissary" doesn't suggest the presence of a starship named Melbourne. Dialogue in "BoBW" suggests that a ship named Melbourne is one of the wrecks on the viewscreen as Shelby and Riker watch the scene of carnage - and that viewscreen shows one Nebula model, but no Excelsior models.
Personally, I am ready to say that the Excelsior wasn't a Melbourne at all. If even the DVD cannot reveal the name and registry, then the ship for practical purposes was of unknown name and registry. Much like all those Excelsiors that appeared alongside the E-D... If we relied on backstage info on their identities, we'd find out they were all named Excelsior, or Hood, or whatever was printed on the model at the time!
The evidence for the identity of the other supposed Melbourne is even flimsier. Yet if we use as the starting point the idea that a Melbourne did exist (as dialogue confirms), and that the registry is correct (and since many registries we believe in are "made up" for Okudagrams only, we need not really care about the origins here), then a Nebula-like ship is a likelier candidate than an Excelsior.
posted
I find it hard to believe that the DVD is of inferior quality to a good copy of Emmissary on VHS. I'll see if I can get a screenshot of the Melbourne. It's plain as day on VHS.
quote:The evidence for the identity of the other supposed Melbourne is even flimsier.
Why? We have screenshots of the damaged Nebula-model with readable name and registry and a desktop model.
-------------------- "Never give up. And never, under any circumstances, no matter what - never face the facts." - Ruth Gordon
Registered: Mar 2000
| IP: Logged
capped
I WAS IN THE FUTURE, IT WAS TOO LATE TO RSVP
Member # 709
posted
I just rewatched the Season 4 TNG episode "The Wounded" and noticed that inside Captain Maxwell's Ready Room is the Nebula Class study model that Okuda didn't blow up... the same model that is shown in Parallels.
Wait... no back stage info about the episode?
-------------------- "It speaks to some basic human needs: that there is a tomorrow, it's not all going to be over with a big splash and a bomb, that the human race is improving, that we have things to be proud of as humans." -Gene Roddenberry about Star Trek
Registered: May 1999
| IP: Logged
Hmm... looking at this screenshot of the Yamaguchi, it's eminently clear that either there's no inset into the deflector dish at all, or else that inset is colored blue like the rest of the dish.
It *does" have the red impulse engine, though.
-------------------- “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
| IP: Logged
Hmm... looking at this screenshot of the Yamaguchi, it's eminently clear that either there's no inset into the deflector dish at all, or else that inset is colored blue like the rest of the dish.
It *does" have the red impulse engine, though.
It's clear that the Yamaguchi in that shot is blurry, that's all I gather. We have a plethora of photos of the studio miniature of Yamaguchi and it does in fact have an inset in the deflector.
Since I don't have any of the DVDs, I can't do this myself, but one of you guys could try this. Start at the point where the Excelsior Class Melbourne is already destroyed and play the scene backwards from that point at normal speed if possible. You may find it easier to read the name and registry on the hull. I actually got the number off the hull before I saw the entry in the Encyclopedia, so for me the confirmation was the other way around.
capped
I WAS IN THE FUTURE, IT WAS TOO LATE TO RSVP
Member # 709
posted
quote:Originally posted by The Mighty Monkey of Mim:
quote:Originally posted by CaptainMike: neither visible onscreen
Doesn't matter.
we've disregarded behind the scenes data that contradicts visible filmed canon before, you know.. the Melbourne was plainly visible as an Excelsior, its registry was clear, even on VHS. The Nebula never came close to being readable or identifiable as being named Melbourne
Registered: Sep 2001
| IP: Logged
My public face is in line with the official party line that the Mebourne is an Excelsior, but I still maintain in private that it's a Nebula, and hope that one day the truth will out.
--Jonah
-------------------- "That's what I like about these high school girls, I keep getting older, they stay the same age."
--David "Woody" Wooderson, Dazed and Confused
Registered: Feb 2001
| IP: Logged
posted
The "official" stance at THE website doesn't give a definite class identification to the Melbourne, however:
quote:A starship among the first of the four in the U.S.S. Saratoga's group at the Battle of Wolf 359 to be locked on by the Borg and put out of commission: the enemy's cutting beam destroyed the port side of its primary hull and was one of 39 vessel casualties there in 2367. It was stationed in 2364 at Starbase 74 and was in range when the Bynars hijacked the Galaxy-class Enterprise, but could not respond due to maintenance adjustments in progress. In late 2366, Commander William Riker was offered its command but declined in favor of remaining as first officer on board the Galaxy-class U.S.S. Enterprise. The Melbourne was named for the Australian city on Earth.
The description of its destruction quite clearly represents the 'Excelsior-class Melbourne theory'/scene viewed in "Emissary".
-------------------- Hey, it only took 13 years for me to figure out my password...
Registered: Jan 2003
| IP: Logged
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
Printer-friendly view of this topic
