For those unfamiliar with the Marshall class, here are a the pics: Perspective,top,side. It looks like Sternbach got confused doing these schematics, since the side view is flipped.
Okay.. this is a really weird ship. The given schematics are not as accurate as they might look, and the perspective view is really just the top view distorted a little. I've decided not to follow the asymmetrical details from the top view, mainly because many of those details are just lines that go nowhere and don't match up to anything.
As you can see, I haven't quite figured out how that front section is supposed to look like. The perspective view is useless, and I don't know whether the side view has a hole in it, or if those really are windows (or whatever) on the outside of the housing. Similarly, in the top view, is the trapezoid shape a gap, or just a red panel? And what about those two triangles in front of the trapezoid? Flat panels, or actually the tip of the red thing inside the housing?
posted
Sweet Nancy, that's one ugly ship. I realize you're trying to follow the established design (and you're doing a killer job with the artwork so far) but that ship would definitely benfit from a round saucer section and some redesigning of the "nacelles"... or rockets... or whatever.
I love what you've done with the shuttles bay and the entry pad area. Very cool.
posted
Good grief... that ship looks like some mutant cousin of the rebel blockade runner from Star Wars! (I mean the design itself, not the artwork, Harry.)
I suppose I could see that as a "destroyer" type ship -- if by UESN you mean Masao's SF Museum universe. Though it would probably be pretty small, and Masao's M/AM reactors are supposed to be very bulky at that time.
Still, I think that ship can be salvaged a little bit -- the shark's teeth are a nice touch. And certainly not every starship ends up looking as sleek as a Galaxy-class, right?
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
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posted
You know, I've thought about this design. I'm going to redesign the front section, since the current schematics just don't add up. The big red thing could be some sort of navigational deflector, or some sort of ramscoop.
I suppose the best way to make sense of this ship is to make it not an alien design. The Chronology says it's in service from 2157 - 2207 (corrected dates), but it isn't necessarily an Earth design. It could be a Tellarite or even Andorian (or other founding member) ship. It would of couse have become a Federation Star Fleet ship after 2161. That would explain the rather outlandish design, and would keep it at a comfortable distance of Masao's universe and Enterprise.
posted
Y'know, that's a great idea! The only problem with that is that "Marshall" is a Human name. But I could definitely see this ship as a Romulan War-era Tellarite destroyer, fusion powered, slow, and used mainly for defense. In my personal development ideas, I've considered the Tellarites to be the least advanced of the four major races that founded the Federation (that we know of).
Is there any scale information regarding the original Marshall? I was thinking that it looks like a ship in the range of 150 meters to 200 at most -- but I can see some pretty small windows on the side as well.
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
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quote: In my personal development ideas, I've considered the Tellarites to be the least advanced of the four major races that founded the Federation (that we know of).
Why, because they happen to bear a passing resemblance to an Earth animal you use for food? This is the worst kind of discrimination! You'll be hearing from our elite team of ninja lawyers, I can assure you.
-- Gav Thacken Tellarite Antidefamation League
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posted
Journey to Babal gave me a definite sense of a pecking order that went Human, Vulcan, Andorian, Tellerite. ENTERPRISE seems to back that up.
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posted
Well, strictly speaking, the only planet I can recall ever being refered to onscreen as a founding member of the Federation is Vulcan. I don't think anyone has even explicitly stated that Earth was a founding member, though it is of course implied. There's a tremendous amount of breathing room when it comes to founding members, though, as you say, Enterprise certainly seems to be laying the groundwork for Earth, Vulcan, and Andor(ia), at least.
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The alien ship design later made part of Starfleet works for me- perhaps Marshall is the closest humans can come to pronouncing it's true name? Or the designation was applied after the founding of the federation to demonstrate human domination of the fleet?
The main problem for me is that forward hull- it just looks too small for the rest of the ship.
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capped
I WAS IN THE FUTURE, IT WAS TOO LATE TO RSVP
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posted
of course, this could simply be a symptom of the fact that spacecraft design was by no means a perfect science at that point.. while saucer and independant nacelles took the forefront later in the Federation's history, this could be one of those 'dead ends' of design evolution.. a ship design that was created and used, and then phased out to make way for the more efficient/effective combinations.. i mean, weve seen quite a few saucerless/nacelle-less warp-capable ships in other pre-Federation sources (the DY series, ENT Earth ships, the Jein models from the Chronology, etc..) it seems rather foolish to assume that all Starfleet ships MUST have the features we came to expect of later Starfleet ships.. after all, 200 years ago the US Navy was powered by sail, made of wood.. advancement frequently means changing the conventions of design.
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posted
Heck, how much similarity is there between the Constitution-class, the Defiant-class, and the Challenger-class?
quote:Originally posted by Sol System:
quote: In my personal development ideas, I've considered the Tellarites to be the least advanced of the four major races that founded the Federation (that we know of).
Why, because they happen to bear a passing resemblance to an Earth animal you use for food? This is the worst kind of discrimination! You'll be hearing from our elite team of ninja lawyers, I can assure you.
Heh. It's mainly because of the apparent relative lack of sophistication compared to the Vulcans, Humans, and Andorians. Purely arbitrary, of course, but when we've only seen them in twice in thirty-seven years, we can't have a lot of justification.
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
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posted
"Marshall" was the old Earth codename for this ship, and the first ship of this class produced after 2161 was the named after the codename. Perhaps the Tellarites didn't give their ships any names (why would you?)?
The length of this ship is given as 225 meters. And again, this matches up with an almost exact multiple of deck heigths (about 5 or 6, IIRC). I wonder if these designs were really that well thought out, or if it is just a coincidence.
Shik
Starship database: completed; History of Starfleet: done; website: probably never
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posted
Tellarites are considered in fandom to be incredible excellent engineers. And arguers. Which seems to come hand-in-hand, methinks. Or in their case, hoof-in-hoof.
I'd like to take a note from the Reeves-Stevens' book, "Prime Directive" (a rather excellent Trek novel, I might add, & I don't like many of them) in which it states that while even the Vulcans acknowledged the logic in giving ships names to commemorate places, persons, battles, ideals & the like, that most races didn't seem to figure out the idea that they should use things from their own cultures. Thus, Vulcans crewed ships named the Robert E. Lee, Tellarites served on the Rhode Island & the Surak, & the Orion pirates in the book had the Queen Mary. Perhaps this is a similar thing. Maybe "Marshall" was the human captain who made first contact with "Race X."
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![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
(I mean the design itself, not the artwork, Harry.)![[Smile]](smile.gif)
.![[Wink]](wink.gif)
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