posted
How many Galaxy-class variants do we have now? Here�s my count:
1. Standard Galaxy (USS Enterprise-D) 2. Alternate timeline Galaxy (Riker�s ship) 3. Weapons modified Galaxy (USS Venture, phasers on nacelles) 4. Modified Galaxy (THe one with the black "spine") 5. Modified Galaxy II (The one with active impulse-engines in saucer-section)
------------------ "The Starships of the Federation are the physical, tangible manifestations of Humanity�s stubborn insistence that life does indeed mean something." Spock to Leonard McCoy in "Final Frontier"
posted
I think the "modified Galaxy II" should be considered more of a setting than a modification. Apparently, Starfleet just found the ship's impulse combat performance lacking. The added-weapons USS Venture might be a one-off experiment, while the dark spines might in turn be something applied to already existing basic ships as well as to newbuilds. Do the dark spines persist to the final episodes or "Tears" close-ups as well?
posted
And not even in the battle scenes! Only just prior in front of starbase 375, where the Fleet was regrouping. Are these "black-spine" galaxy really persistend? Maybe it was just an odd camera-angle or a shadow.
------------------ This is how i prefer the borg... in pieces!!! -- Janeway in Dark Frontier
posted
To me the black neck Galaxies are either just a painted on design or just a trick of shadows. I am going for the shadows because I don't think Starfleet would approve for a non standard look to their ships. However it would be neat to see Defiant class ships painted in an array of color schemes!
------------------ Predict the unpredictable, but how do you unpredict the unpredictable?
posted
These black strips could just as easily be structural reinforcements of some kind.
------------------ "The Starships of the Federation are the physical, tangible manifestations of Humanity�s stubborn insistence that life does indeed mean something." Spock to Leonard McCoy in "Final Frontier"
posted
I'm going for the idea that the black necked Galaxies are distinct variants. I see no reason for these ships alone to have been painted since we've seen no other "custom" paint jobs on other starships, and disruptive paint schemes might fool the human eye but not sensors. Also, after having looked at the picture of the two black necked Galaxies at pIn'a' Sov's site (nice site, BTW!), I don't think that they are shadows. The dark areas are identical in size and shape, despite the fact that one ship is further away and slightly offset laterally, and thus away from whatever could possibly be generating the shadow. What probably happened was that the FX guys used the same CG image twice, but just scaled it for distance.
This still begs the question of "Why?"
------------------ Everything in life I ever needed to know I learned from The Simpsons.
posted
But, then why is the black panel on both the saucer and the neck? If the CGI guys made separate saucers and neck/secondary hulls, shouldn't the black panel only be on one of the two sections? I can see what you mean about the bleed-through; the curved section does resemble the neck underneath. However, since its on-screen there must be some sort of logical explanation for it within the actual Trek universe.
My favorite explanation is that Star Fleet decided that the separate battle section was a failure for some reason, and locked the saucer to the secondary hull, perhaps for more impulse power, phaser banks, shield generators, etc. The dark area could then be a structural reinforcement, as was previously mentioned, intended to strengthen the former joint between the two. This might not preclude an emergency saucer separation, a la Enterprise-D, but it might preclude a casual separation. It might also explain why we saw whole Galaxies during the Dominion War arc, and not battle sections.
Just a theory.
------------------ Everything in life I ever needed to know I learned from The Simpsons.
posted
Why would Galaxy Classes separate during a battle, especially during the Dominion War? It's an emergency procedure only, for worst case scenarios. The saucer section would be somewhat of a sitting duck without warp engines. We saw already what a small group of the Dominion fighters did to a whole Galaxy Class starship. Even with all the defensive and offensive advancements, a Galaxy saucer alone might as well have a target painted on the hull.
------------------ The world is not enough, but it is such a perfect place to start my love And if you're strong enough, together we can take the world apart my love
------------------ "The Starships of the Federation are the physical, tangible manifestations of Humanity�s stubborn insistence that life does indeed mean something." Spock to Leonard McCoy in "Final Frontier"
posted
IIRC, the explanation of a separation sequence on Galaxy class ships was mentioned back in the series as a battle maneuver getting the saucer away from a battlefield the save the crew's families. It could also serve as a way to create two attacking targets if there was no family on the saucer. And there is always the emergency separation from the stardrive in case of antimatter containment failure.
And all these explantions might also have been explained in the TNG Tech Manual.
------------------ Teddy Roosevelt: "Speak softly and carry a big stick." Yosemite Sam: "Well, I speak loudly and I carry a bigger stick...and I use it too!"
posted
Here's a nice simple possibility: when the stored Galaxy hulls were rushed into service during the Dominion war they were finished off with whatever materials were at hand and sometimes this resulted in different hull colouration when compared to the more mainstream earlier ships.
posted
Or, perhaps the paint job (or the thin ablative surface layer) required some sort of protective coating to dry properly, and this dark coating wore off in flight, leaving the recently launched ships with just a dark shadow over their stern parts in the SB375 scenes of "SoA" and with not even that in the battle scenes of the episode, or in later episodes...
Migth explain the difference in warp effects between TOS and TNG: the surface finish of TOS ships had adhesion problems and tended to peel off, creating colorful contrails (the brightest in TMP where the Enterprise was freshly painted, and fading towards the end of the movie series). TNG ships have more adhesive paint. :-P
Printer-friendly view of this topic
