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Here is my Enterprise list... 1)TMP Constitution Class 2)TNG Galaxy Class 3)Kelven Timeline Constitution Class 4)STO Odyssey Class 5)STD Constitution Class 6)Ambassador Class Enterprise 7)STB Constitution Class Enterprise A 8)Enterprise J 9)ENT NX 01 Enterprise 10)TNG Sovereign Class 11)Excelsior Class Enterprise B 12)TOS Constitution Class Would you like to debate it?
I like the Reficelsior more aswell...And if...if we apply the"klingons had ridges on their head from Motion Picture onward,cause we couldn´t apply the make up during the original series,but they always were supposed to look like that"(i think roddenberry said that himself) logic to the excelsior class..Then every TNG Era Excelsior could actually be a refit one,like Lakota^^
The reason the Ent A had the weird 'bum-chin' was because it's the original Excelsior model and the studio didn't want to damage it as it would be used and re-used in future shows. So they added the lumpy bit specifically so they had a bit to destroy in Generations.
@@AikenDrum1715CE We all know that..probably^^ Wasn't it actually a failure with the"we glue stuff to destroy on so we dont have to destroy the original model" because those parts couldnt be removed anymore?
Always gonna be the E for me, as I am 100% one of those people who loved 2370s ship design with the flatter profiles and sleaked in neck starting from the Intrepid.
THE-E is badass! A perfectly logical evolution from the gorgeous D. Sleeker and built for battle. And I love the way the saucer section joins the engineering section too. Even though I’m nostalgic about the older designs, I never really reconciled with the idea of placing the nacells at the end of long,thin, fragile struts. The lines are not consistent with the curves present in the saucer and engineering section.
Also a big fan of the 2370 style ships like the Sovereign, Intrepid, and Prometheus. Even the fake Dauntless class in "Hope and Fear". I disliked how STP went back to retro designs.
Agreed. I generally like the design of ships in the era of Trek you mention including the Akira class which is one of the most beautiful ship designs in Trek imo. The design of the Federation post-Dominion war seems to be getting rid of the bulk and building ships that are practical, have real fighting ability while looking like it has teeth, and can also do the primary exploration of the Federation. The Sovereign class takes the best design ideas from 60's and 90's Trek, mashes them together, and creates a work of art.
@@mrandrossguy9871 The neck … maybe. But she definitely has the most sexy waist. The angled pylons fit in just perfectly and complete the overall both elegant and fast, sleekly look. Definitely my all time favorite.
Sovereign class is definitely the best enterprise design, very sleek and streamlined, really love that the nacelles have a bigger profile. I’m on the opposite side of the argument compared to Rowan, I like the flatter, wider designs of the saucer and hull.
Yeah, they couldn't do the detail of the hull breach Kirk was lost through without adding something to the model, because they still needed to use the filming model for the Excelsior.
That's the story they tell but oddly for the damage scenes they built a big version of the ships secondary hull for close up's so they never damaged the studio model.
@@N0-1_H3r3 Which was weird because they then re-used the refit Excelsior class model for another ship in DS9 Because the new parts were permanently attached to the model and they couldn't remove them without damaging the original model, which was the reason they were added in the first place, whoops
For me, the biggest thing that sets it above all the other versions of the original Enterprise is the deflector dish. Always loved the glowing blue look of it, it looks so much more futuristic and adds such a great additional focal point to the design. The plain metal versions always look to me like somebody lazily slapped a radio telescope onto the front of the ship, which does not match the purpose of the deflector and also is the only piece of the design that looks ripped straight out of the 20th century whole cloth.
Probert definitely had a lot to do with it, but let's not forget Matt Jeffries himself and Joe Jennings and Mike Minor and Richard Taylor, all of these contributed to bring us the refit Constitution Class in all it's glory...
@@TrekBeatTK The bridge might have been a little much, but the corridors were pretty much perfect in updating the 1960s design to something more modern, even those coloured grills.
I'll admit to getting misty-eyed when the Enterprise appears at the end of Discovery's first season. The original series ship is the one from my childhood, a symbol of adventure for me.
First of all, thank you Sir! An amazing job! Hopefully we can agree to disagree and be civil about it. 8:57 one picture is worth a thousand words! Love your video and the time you took into making it! Thank you Paul
We can assume that as the previous big daddy class before the Galaxy they spent a lot more time pushing the frontier. During TNGs run Galaxy classes were rare and could only cover so much space, Mirandas and similarly vintage ships were probably resigned to the interior os federation space and generally safer known areas. Excelsior classes were still used as front line ships with admirals using them as personal flag ships and they probably still did a fair bit of deep space exploration until at least the Dominian war. So it's fair to assume that the Ambassadors were still serving far from home and so wouldn't be seen very often.
Yes I never understood this. They spent the money to build Ambassador model and then used it only three times in TNG and DS9 but kept using stock shoots of the Excelsior almost every time they'd show another starfleet ship.
@@James-rn7dx One rumour is that the Model was damaged/destroyed when they stored it. The other rumour is that it was hard to shoot on the motion rig and the Excelsiors where easier to use.
@@Spindrift-id1ez I get what they were going for. Make it look advanced by being extremely streamlined and having parts miniaturized. It’s just that they went to far. Wouldn’t have fixed everything, but just making the pylons, nacelles, and drive section bigger to match the saucer section better would have helped immensely,
I personally absolutely adore the Sovereign class. I can see the problem with it feeling squished down. But I also like the explanation for it. It was designed and built during a time of war and a smaller profile makes for a harder target.
The added "belt" to the Excelsior-Class to make the Enterprise-B reminds me of early Royal Navy Dreadnaught designs where they added an armor belt along the ship to help defend against torpedo attacks. Too bad it didn't work against the Nexus.
The model makers added that belt so they wouldn't have to add damage to the original Excelsior model then i read that they couldn't remove that part without damaging the model so it was left on there & the effects team had to build a new Excelsior model for the Star Trek Voyager episode flashback
I loved this list, Rowan. 11 different ships means nearly 40 million different possible combinations. Your ordering is unique, as most people's will be and that is honestly one of my favourite things about Trek. It has almost Infinite Diversity in its possible Combinations. 13 movies is more than 6 billion combinations and 800 episodes is many, many more possible combinations than there are atoms in the universe.
Enterprise-D is my favorite. It's so elegant, and the design philosophy of the utopian society is inspiring. It fits so well into the world Gene Roddenberry built. The Kelvin Enterprise is, IMO, one of the ugliest. But I also think that's appropriate. So "worst-to-best" is hard to categorize without knowing what "worst" and "best" mean. The idea that it was over-engineered -- Star Fleet was experimenting with wild designs and testing the limits of what was possible because of the Kelvin encounter... It reminds me a lot of the French pre-dreadnought battleships. They were ugly, inconsistent, and over-engineered because it wasn't really clear what the "right" design was in post-wooden bottomed ship navies. They were throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what stuck. So I like the Kelvin Enterprise, in part, *because* I think it's ugly.
This whole list is a perfect example of how beauty is in the eye of the beholder! I enjoyed your description of the ships but did not like your rankings. 🖖
It’ll never cease to amaze me how similar and simultaneously opposite our tastes are in Star Trek. I’ll put the NX-01 and the E pretty much at the top of my list, with the The Motion Picture refit in the top 3...in no particular order.
it’s a glaring omission but since it never appeared on camera it’s understandable why it isn’t on the list but yeah, that was the perfect melding of generations! like the Ambassador class melded rounded secondary with flatter nacelle struts and the sloping saucer section
Don't mess with anything Enterprise, Rowan; that's Jessie's Trek! Although in this case, I'm with you Ms. Gender. I fell in love with the NX-01 since I first set eyes on it. I like smaller starships over the HYOOJ ones.
I love Enterprise and I love the NX. It perfectly nails the period, a bridge between current, real world spacecraft design and the design of the Star Trek universe. I’ll never get over the fact that I never got to see the NX refit on-screen, which takes the NX another step towards the Connie(or Donnie) we all know and love.
I do have to ask if you've ever seen the 1701-C that Andrew Probert did that was a direct blend of the B & D, a design that was needed for the wall of Enterprises in the conference room, and sadly, a design that wasn't used because the production crew had to do a rush job on the C that we got in Yesterday's Enterprise...
For me, no spaceship ever depicted in film has ever or will ever match the beauty of the Constitution Refit. The E comes close, and I really like the original Kelvin Enterprise, but the refit and refit A are the just fantastic.
*giving you the side-eye about the Sovereign-class* I'd say she's 1 for me, then Refit Constitution, then Discovery Constitution ... after that it jumbles a bit, lol.
Sovereign and refit Connie are my favourites too. Though I like the Discovery Connie for blending the refit with the original, it’s definitely best of both worlds for me.
@@kaitlyn__L Disco ruined it with the fuckin lensflares for me...Than again..the target audience is:Rather young,never watched proper Star Trek before...And has the attention span of a fly
I absolutely love the Discovery Enterprise. It feels like the old girl finally got her due. The design is respectful it’s retro roots but it looks shiny and new and absolutely gorgeous!
The D always looked like a giant commode in space for me. I would definitely rate the E and E/Refit a lot higher. The D is the second worst design for me. Loved the Discovery Enterprise as it was fully modern. The Enterprise model from Star Trek Enterprise needed a drive/engineering section added to it as the culmination of the show.
Oh dear. All those excellent videos and reviews and now I can never watch another. Anyone who likes the D more than the e is clearly a psychopathic killer
Really nice to see the Disco Enterprise getting some love. The way it incorporates so many aspects of previous enterprises is what makes it so great. It looks like a ship that would be built by the same design philosophy that made the NX-01. The Disco enterprise is literally holding the franchise together.
folks can complain about the changes but the ship is already old by that time and even older by TOS so it had to undergo refits, coincidentally what occurred in the TMP redesign!
I really enjoy your videos! Especially the Star Trek ones! I'm also glad there isn't annoying background music or flashy effects. They also help me sleep sometimes!😄
Enterprise-E at number 8? Unsubscribed. Disliked. Sacrilege and blasphemy. Just kidding, but you're 100% objectively wrong here. The Sovereign-class Enterprise-E is the sexiest goddamn starship ever built, and that's a fact.
haha i posted a comment saying ahh now this video i can just sit and enjoy... don't have to sit and rage at the whole new trek v old trek debate.... just 21 minutes of geek heaven..... press play.. then want to throw my laptop at the wall minutes into the video hahahaha
I love the E, too. There are, however, a few changes I would liked to have seen. 1) I would have loved to see the warp nacelles just a little higher.... a tiny bit higher. Lengthen the support pylons just a hair, and 2) Shorten the secondary hull just a tiny bit in the middle. With the nacelles a little higher, and the drive section a little shorter, the design would have been a bit "aggressive" looking, and a bit... shall we say... sportier?
E is a weird one for me. I absolutely love it from some angles, but think it looks hideous from others. Not a big fan of the high mound-like saucer from a front view, and it looks too flat and undefined from the side. It would probably have benefited from some kind of short neck to give it a better silhouette.
Interesting info on the enterprise j. I had no idea it was supposed to be so big. It's a neat idea, but for a flying colony/city I'll take Atlantis all the time 😊
Ranking Es is hard! It can change a little day to day. From best to least best: Refit 1701 - refined a great to perfection. D - a little top heavy sure, but simply beautiful, so majestic 1701 - yes it doesn’t look that “real” anymore, but it’s the ultimate silhouette E 1701 Kelvinverse NX-01 1701 Disco - too squat, gone overboard on greebles B - without the additions to the hull would be much, much higher, maybe 2 or 3 C - never quite understood the love for this one 1701-A Kelvinverse - just doesn’t look right
I love the sovereign class because it’s squashed it’s more compact so gives impression of fast more manoeuvrable and harder to hit in combat. It’s the arrowhead design that reminds me of a ship of the seas cutting through the waves. But deffo agree about the J it’s too brittle looking as if they’d out of ideas.
In canon, I believe it was stated that the Sovereign and other ships designed in the late 2300s lost the "neck" because it was a frequently targeted area by enemies. Tactical reality dictated a more compact design from the frontal and side aspect. It's also been said somewhere that compacting the hull makes for greater warp field efficiency.
OG 1980's? That's me. My dad was a Star Trek TOS fan before I was born. I was watching reruns in grade school. Saw TMP & TWOK with Dad in theaters on respective opening weeks. With that background, I was 17 when TNG premiered. The Galaxy class Enterprise with it's separated cobra look WAS very weird, very odd, very challenging to accept. ...at first. Once she showed off her amazing advanced capabilities, and she saved her crew faithfully over and over, I was hooked. The 1701-D is a beauty and it was even great to see Geordi captaining a Galaxy class in Voyager. Even though Generations was a bit of a disappointing movie, it was glorious to see the Enterprise on the big screen and heart wrenching to witness her tragic end.
The ST:TMP Enterprise is one of the most beautiful pieces of machinery ever imagined. To me, it embodies the Starfleet ethos. It looks as if it were designed to explore the galaxy (as I would say the original design looks). The other Constitution class imaginings, especially with the darker grays, lean more to looking like battleships. I prefer less "pew pew" and more "seek out new life and civilizations." Kelvin Timeline Enterprise looks like my kids' Superhero Squad characters: grotesquely comical. Which is okay for kids' toys, but not for ST.
When the Next Generation premiered, I thought to myself “that is the ugliest ship in science fiction history”...I still feel that way. I was so happy when it was destroyed in Generations. Enterprise refit is my personal favorite. Thought it was perfect
I agree with you. The hotel in space that could take three or four hits and the shields were down and get ready for a Warp Core breach after hits number six and seven.
Which ironically given the time period the Enterprise-D comes from...it's not exactly off the mark. Though I'd more call it an apartment complex in space rather than a Carnival Cruise ship in space, but that's just me. Also as someone else pointed out, the Enterprise-D is also a monument to 80s excess spending.
I watched TNG when it first came out and initially hated the design of the D. It didn't help that a lot of the initial promo shots showed it from below and slightly off to the side from head-on, which to me has always been its ugliest angle. (I was a teenager, though, and it also took me a few episodes to get over a bald Captain.) I've still always preferred both the E and the NX designs to the Galaxy class, personally.
I heard Frank Kelly Freas , a classic Science Fiction Artist from the 50 and 60's , who said that the main reason he loved the design of the Enterprise in TOS, was after Star Trek, He could design more creative ships instead of the Flying Saucers and thin Needle style rockets . Freas created his version , the Freas' Mushroom Space Drive.
Personally I think the refit Enterprise of the first movie is the best, with th eoriginal running a very close second. If you read the book _The Making of Star Trek_ Gene Roddenberry and the producers specifically told the designers and creators that they wanted to avoid having any suggestion of rockets - they wanted the Enteprise to look both powerful and futuristic. Originally the saucer was to have bene a sphere (which has now entered canon as the Daedalus class). The movie refit made the design sleeker. I did not care much for the Galaxy class, the huge saucer looked topheavy. The Sovereign class is a great design though. The NX is fine. Discovery's Crossfield class is rubbish, the only one that looks worse is the absolutely hideous "remake"; a lumpen abomination complete with an engineering deck straight out of a Victorian steamer.. They apparently went out of their way to stick two fingers up at the original show by adding smoke trails when going to warp, which as I said, was something the original show specifically wanted to get away from. iirc Gene Roddenberry specifically said "I don;t want any rocket flames or trails"
I know that I'm so late to the party that it's likely few will read this, but I've always found it amusing as well as interesting that most fans' favorite designs are utterly tragic from a survivability standpoint. • The narrow gauge of pylons create targets for enemy vessels to cripple a ship with a single well-placed shot. • The saucer sections provide huge areas for target acquisition with the possibility of creating punch-through hull breaches going right through the saucer. • The windows would never exist in such quantity in any actual design, for multiple reasons. Each window is a stress point, the first areas to breach when the hull is subjected to any crush or shearing forces. By the 22nd century, one would hope that all "windows" on a spaceship would be virtual, indistinguishable to the untrained eye but much safer overall. Furthermore, the lights and such are aesthetically pleasing but again, from a tactical standpoint the design is inherently and massively flawed. To pour out so much EM radiation from thousands of points is essentially designing the ship to fail. • As for overall form factor, the ideal shape would be a sphere. Such a form would come with many, many advantages. Shield harmonics overall would be optimized. Shield strength at any given point would be maximized via distribution of the emitters. Similarly, weapons ports placed along the surface at points equidistant from those which surround it would provide total field of fire no matter where an enemy craft, asteroid, obstacle, etc is in relation to the ship. An interesting side benefit to a sphere design would be to enable maximum survivability in the event of a forced landing or even a crash. The outer section of the hull could be on magnetic or even physical bearings, enabling the outer hull to roll while the inner hull would remain stable, even without inertial dampeners. Lastly for this post, one crucial and frankly stupid design element from a tactical standpoint in nearly all ST ships is that of making the bridge Deck 1. The command center of any spacecraft should be in the most survivable section of the ship, in this case the core of the sphere.
Honestly I had tears in my eyes seeing the Disco-Enterprise. It just looks so perfect. It’s the exact kind of modern update that takes what works with the original but gives greater detail and style for new modern audiences.
Really agree with a lot of this list ranking! I was never a fan of the Sovereign class or any of the late-24th century ships either with that weird stretched look. Mid-24th century ships were the best. Very elegant, sleek, and majestic. Galaxy class all the way for me. I just don't think the Abrams Enterprise is any good at all really. And I believe the Enterprise A refit is better looking than the TOS Enterprise. I do really love the Enterprise F from STO as well! That'd be my second favourite. I agree I like how it retains the elegance that the Galaxy class has. It's kind of a return to that sort of non-stretched non-edgy look and I really appreciated it for that. And it's fan-designed! STO held a contest for fans to design the next Enterprise and that design won. Thanks for the video!
I saw an interview with one of the model people from ST Generations, and he said that they were using the actual physical model of Excelsior. But they needed to have the damaged area, and were not allowed to rip out a piece of the only model they had. So they added the bulge and had the damaged area there.
A lot of people are commenting on how the 'belt/chin' was added to the Enterprise-B in order to give the Nexus something to damage without damaging the Excelsior studio model. But nobody seems to be mentioning the ironic part that I heard, where they then couldn't *remove* the belt without damaging the model. Which is why the USS Lakota in DS9 shows up as the refit Excelsior-class. It's the last use of the original Excelsior studio model, all the other Excelsior-class ships seen on screen were the smaller tv-scale model built for TNG, or else CGI models. I don't think there's anything I'd disagree with severely here, except perhaps the placements of the D and E. I love the Sovereign-class, and the tall ship aesthetic never even occurred to me before now. I see where you're coming from but the sleek, compact and military sort of design just works for me. That said I do know what you mean about the Sovereign looking a little wonky from the front. The Excelsior design is indeed, in my opinion, spoiled by the Enterprise-B additions. They did actually alter the nacelles slightly and add extra impulse engines on the saucer, though.
The Ent-B had the add on bulk on the secondary hull because the script had a part of the secondary hull blow off. So they added those parts to save the original Excelsior model from getting battle damage. But - the sad thing is that apparently the glue used to put these “add on parts” ruined the model, which is why the Lakota from DS9 is an Excelsior refit. They couldn’t remove the add-one without ruining the original model.
I too like the Enterprise-D, but two complaints: (1) the bridge. The bridge does not look like a bridge. (2) The disproportionately sized modules. If the saucer were maybe a third smaller, the secondary hull were a little deeper and longer, and the nacelles were a little longer, it would not look so disproportionate to me.
13. USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-B) 12. USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A) (Kelvin) 11. USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) (Kelvin) 10. USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) (Discoverse) 9. ISS Enterprise (NCC-1701) (Mirror) 8. USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-J) 7. USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-C) 6. USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A) 5. USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) 4. USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) 3. Enterprise (NX-01) 2. ISS Enterprise (NX-01) (Mirror) 1. USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E)
I appreciate how you would like a “non-controversial” video, but I think this might prove to be more controversial, then the other videos with a lot of trekkies.
I really agree with you on the Discoprise. Honestly before it I wasn't a huge fan of the constitution, TOS or refit. The ambassador or sovereign were probably my favorite designs but then the Discoprise came flying in at the end of season 1 and I love it. Just such a great update! It really looks like the TOS just updated. I could easily headcanon it being in TOS episodes. Just love it!
This list started off well, and then went off the rails, and then off the deep end, and then into the sun, and then the sun was swallowed by a black hole.
Excellent list. I agree for the most part with your ranking. However, the Enterprise-D is still number 1 on my list. There isn't a more beautiful design than the Galaxy class (for now, at least).
The lines on the engineering section and the deflector dish are gorgeous! Even the way the ship’s curves are reflected in simple yet elegant nacell pylons. You will have to fact check this but was the D the first to be able to seperate the saucer section? I mean whoa, it took em long enough to figure that out.
@@georgeleinberger8670 As I understand, the "saucer separation" was devised as a feature of the refit Constitution-class Enterprise for Star Trek The Motion Picture, but it was never mentioned or shown in that movie. Later on, the idea was carried over to Star Trek TNG when they designed the Galaxy-class starship.
All iterations of the Kelvin Connie look very cartoony to me. The neck is too far back, and the saucer sits too far back on the neck. I think the A is the least bad of the bunch. If they made some minor tweaks- moved the nacelles forward a bit, adjusted the neck and saucer, it wouldn’t be that bad.
The budget for the design process and special effects filming of the re-fit TOS Enterprise in 1979 gives it an unfair advantage over all other designs. It's not a level playing field. Robert Abel and Associates were responsible for the warp engines redesign which added the final element to my single favorite starship design/model.
I always like the original .. because it was the 1st that started all the others, but really enjoy the re-fit 1979 design. It was more sleek with more inline power from the warp core engines. '79 had the shuttle ports that provided more ship wide docking access. '79 also looked more 'to scale' like a current US battleship or aircraft carrier, you could see the reasonable deck levels, maybe 3+ on the main saucer section, and the photon torpedo's coming off the warp core. The ship looked more live able and dense for a crew of 300+. Decent/Big size for the time; Powerful, and scrappy. :-)
For me, the refit/Enterprise-A "original movie design," is my favourite, purely because it looks like something that we might actually build one day. There's just something so "real" about that design that makes me believe it is a real starship that could actually exist. A perfect design of form and function. But if we were to go from the standpoint of pure beauty, then its the Enterprise-D/Galaxy-Class. It sure does look way beyond the capacity that I could imagine us really being able to build, or that if we had that level of technology, would we really be building ships that looked that pretty? But from a "sci-fi ship on a TV show," perspective, its just so goddamned beautiful.
The JJprise over the Refit?! *triggering intensifies* I place the Constitution Refit and Galaxy Class at #1 and #2, respectively. The Kelvin designs are at the bottom of the barrel, with the NX-01 just barely above them. I think the Ambassador Class was OK, but it could have been magnificent, had the design time not been so compacted. Regarding the saucer, the top needs to be more bulbous, or the bottom needs to be flatter. It’s very much a kitbash kind of look. The nacelles were far too fat, for their short length. I would have preferred them to be longer. The Bussard Collectors are a bit uninspired, and the square, 90 degree bends in the pylons seems to be incongruous with the overall design. I also dislike the oversized fantail or deck on the aftmost section. I didn’t like it on the Voyager, either. I do love the round, Constitution-style engineering hull, and the front of the dorsal hull was very Excelsior-like, which I love!
I love the Ambassador class (Ent-C) because it literally looks like if you mixed the Galaxy class's detailing with the Constitution class's silhouette. I know it was made in hindsight to achieve exactly that look, but it works perfectly.
And yeah, the Discovery/SNW Enterprise is really great in its design. Perfectly modernized updated to the classic Connie without being too over the top in places like the ST09 version.
Rowan, The Kelvin Timeline Enterprise over the original and the refit - seriously 😳- blasphemy!!! I actually agree with you about the Discovery Enterprise - in my opinion that should have been the Kelvin Timeline Enterprise - the new bridge and interior as well- it’s an amazing reboot - it took the best elements of the original and modernized it without losing its original charm But the best Enterprise for me will always be the Wrath of Khan - Nicholas Meyer kept the core of TMP Enterprise interior but changed just enough to give it its own personality - darker and more naval - winky blinky lights included
Don't pay that guy any attention. He got it all wrong. He must be really 14 or something. Star Trek is something you grow up on and its' aesthetics grow on you too
I pretty much agree with all of these, though I think the Enterprise-D would have been no.1 for me, though the Disc. Enterprise is pretty good. About the Enterprise-B, I read that they only put that weird protrusion around the deflector for Generations because the ship gets damaged in that area and they didn't want to mess up the Excelsior shooting model, which they were still using for DS9
I love that you love the Discovery version of the Enterprise. I don't know if it was the fact that Discovery didn't really "click" with the majority of the fanbase or the fact that this design clashes timeline-wise with the 60's version of the Prime Enterprise that led most to dislike this design, but I think that fans weren't truly appreciating how beautiful this conceptual redesign was. When it first cruised onto the screen face-to-face with Disco it really showcased how much the classic Trek design truly out-classes the more modern ship designs we see in Discovery and Picard. And not only was the exterior design really pleasing to the eye, but the updated bridge was the perfect blend of 60's TV Trek and 09' movie Trek without being as visually noisy and overly busy as the J.J. Abrams bridge is. And keeping the red highlights on the bridge and in the hallways was "chef's kiss" perfect. (I also love that they kept the deflector dish looking like an old satellite dish instead of the flat glowing bowl of every other subsequent design in the franchise. It adds dimension without complexity.) I don't think that the Discovery developers could have come up with a more idolized version of the OG Enterprise and you can tell that a lot of time, respect and love went into its conception. If I EVER find a proper replica of her on the market, I'd be proud to display her in my movie-room right next to my model of my second favorite Enterprise, the "All Good Things" Enterprise D (which I'm surprised you failed to mention).
@@bbbabrock It is? Where is this canonical evidence? It's still not as beautiful as the refit Constitution, the original Constitution, or the the Discovery Constitution.
@@douglaseid9021 One. I didn't say anything regarding Abrams Enterprise being more astheticly beautiful than any other Constitution class, so I probably agree w you on that point. 2. Among other places,Geordi was always talking about warp fields being asymmetrical in TNG. And , I'm not as sure, but I think, Belona mentioned it a time or two as well in Voyager. Tho I can't recall when in what episode. So if you want to continue to disbelieve or doubt my assertion, then go on ahead w it.
@@bbbabrock , I was thinking of what Gene Roddenberry laid down as guidelines for nacelles, but that ship has sailed. Also, I was speaking aesthetically rather than "will it run?" So, we do agree.
To each their own I guess. For me, the STTMP refit is the most beautiful and logical design of all. The absolute worse, is anything from the JJ verse. It's as if the warp nacelles have been stung by a giant space bee. PS: I do like the Disco Enterprise design as well - but that's the only thing I like about the mess that is STD.
I think the TOS Enterprise is the best. Almost all of the other designs look too aerodynamic which to me is disqualifying. Form should follow function, and there is no air resistance to worry about in space. Disclaimer I grew up with TOS as it first aired , and bought the plans and all that, so I am extremely biased :)
My ranking goes: - Sovereign-class (E) - takes the sleek and aggressive aspect of other more modern ships, plus the design of the Connie, and takes it all up to 15. She looks fast and powerful, and you don't want it coming at you if you're an enemy. In my opinion the most beautiful _Enterprise_ . - Narenda-class (Provert concept for C) - a very cool design that shows up as a ready room bust. Honoured in STO with its own class - Odyssey-class / Yorktown refit (F) - takes awhile to grow on you, a large but flowing design. The double-neck is the thing that gets in the way until you get used to it. And it still has saucer separation, as well as an Aquarius escort tucked into the stern. - Galaxy-class (D) - while I grew up with it, it's an uneven, front-heavy design. Trust me, I have the Galoob model - NX-01 - a utility design, and you can see how Starfleet can get to the Connie from here - Constitution-class refit (TMP) and A - again, more streamlined - Phase-II Constitution-class - another interesting design with some more classical elements to it - Excelsior-class refit (B) - I have a special connection to the B, and the Excelsior is a sturdy and sleek design. - Constitution-class (in-show refit) - more dynamic and sleek - Constitution-class (original) - the spikes on the buzzard collectors look interesting - Ambassador-class (C)- great bridge between generations with elements from the Connie and Excelsior. Also shows how it gets to the Galaxy. - DSC Constitution /Refit - looks like it's trying to be something else - original concept colony ship - just very interesting - Universe-class (J) - very long and fragile-looking, a lot of it is on the same plane, so doesn't look very dynamic - Kelvin Constitution Refit - both Kelvins just don't look like they were designed with an understanding of how they work - Kelvin Constitution - Enterprise-D Concept (became USS Discovery) - just a strange design
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Here is my Enterprise list...
1)TMP Constitution Class
2)TNG Galaxy Class
3)Kelven Timeline Constitution Class
4)STO Odyssey Class
5)STD Constitution Class
6)Ambassador Class Enterprise
7)STB Constitution Class Enterprise A
8)Enterprise J
9)ENT NX 01 Enterprise
10)TNG Sovereign Class
11)Excelsior Class Enterprise B
12)TOS Constitution Class
Would you like to debate it?
Where would you put the Columbia class/nx-01 refit that was planned before the show’s cancellation. It’s still used in the books.
@@Nostripe361 I see, my list though.
@@daviddyster4145 I saw it. Its interesting seeing how different it is from his list.
@Will Gannon thanks
I think I'm one of about three people on the planet who actually prefers the Excelsior-Refit to the original Excelsior.
Haha I expected you to say something about how low the Sovereign class is on the list.
I LOVE the Excelsior refit
I like the Reficelsior more aswell...And if...if we apply the"klingons had ridges on their head from Motion Picture onward,cause we couldn´t apply the make up during the original series,but they always were supposed to look like that"(i think roddenberry said that himself) logic to the excelsior class..Then every TNG Era Excelsior could actually be a refit one,like Lakota^^
The reason the Ent A had the weird 'bum-chin' was because it's the original Excelsior model and the studio didn't want to damage it as it would be used and re-used in future shows. So they added the lumpy bit specifically so they had a bit to destroy in Generations.
@@AikenDrum1715CE We all know that..probably^^
Wasn't it actually a failure with the"we glue stuff to destroy on so we dont have to destroy the original model" because those parts couldnt be removed anymore?
Always gonna be the E for me, as I am 100% one of those people who loved 2370s ship design with the flatter profiles and sleaked in neck starting from the Intrepid.
I completely agree...! The new flatter designs are far less clunky and more streamlined & aerodynamic to me. Voyager, although small, was beautiful.
THE-E is badass! A perfectly logical evolution from the gorgeous D. Sleeker and built for battle. And I love the way the saucer section joins the engineering section too. Even though I’m nostalgic about the older designs, I never really reconciled with the idea of placing the nacells at the end of long,thin, fragile struts. The lines are not consistent with the curves present in the saucer and engineering section.
Also a big fan of the 2370 style ships like the Sovereign, Intrepid, and Prometheus.
Even the fake Dauntless class in "Hope and Fear".
I disliked how STP went back to retro designs.
Agreed. I generally like the design of ships in the era of Trek you mention including the Akira class which is one of the most beautiful ship designs in Trek imo. The design of the Federation post-Dominion war seems to be getting rid of the bulk and building ships that are practical, have real fighting ability while looking like it has teeth, and can also do the primary exploration of the Federation.
The Sovereign class takes the best design ideas from 60's and 90's Trek, mashes them together, and creates a work of art.
@@TheDutchGhost Also the Nova and Akira
The Enterprise A
that still brings back soooo much feels
The Neck kills it for me, it's too Thin still
But it IS Classic and best
yep - best ship ever
The refit/A is easily my favorite design, I think it looks fantastic.
@@SlartiMarvinbartfast it’s perfect.
@@mrandrossguy9871 The neck … maybe. But she definitely has the most sexy waist. The angled pylons fit in just perfectly and complete the overall both elegant and fast, sleekly look.
Definitely my all time favorite.
I love the sovereign class.....
As do I. My all time favorite starship.
It’s sleek, that was the word he should have used
Yup, one of my all time favourites alongside the refit constitution class!
Me too. It's my favorite Enterprise design. To me it just looks so badass and like it's actually dangerous.
Sovereign class is definitely the best enterprise design, very sleek and streamlined, really love that the nacelles have a bigger profile. I’m on the opposite side of the argument compared to Rowan, I like the flatter, wider designs of the saucer and hull.
The reason for the addition to the Enterprise-B's hull is that they needed something for the Nexus to slice off - strange, but true.
Yeah, they couldn't do the detail of the hull breach Kirk was lost through without adding something to the model, because they still needed to use the filming model for the Excelsior.
Enterprise-B is very beautiful. Especially that golden shot in GENERATIONS.
That's the story they tell but oddly for the damage scenes they built a big version of the ships secondary hull for close up's so they never damaged the studio model.
@@N0-1_H3r3 Which was weird because they then re-used the refit Excelsior class model for another ship in DS9
Because the new parts were permanently attached to the model and they couldn't remove them without damaging the original model, which was the reason they were added in the first place, whoops
That's not true- concept art for Generations show the original gash was to be below the uhh... thing. You know...
My favorite and arguably the most elegant ship is the Enterprise refit
The refit is my most favorite starship design in all of sci-fi.
Absolutely the most balanced, graceful, and beautiful!
Very regal. It and the A are by far my two favorites
For me, the biggest thing that sets it above all the other versions of the original Enterprise is the deflector dish. Always loved the glowing blue look of it, it looks so much more futuristic and adds such a great additional focal point to the design. The plain metal versions always look to me like somebody lazily slapped a radio telescope onto the front of the ship, which does not match the purpose of the deflector and also is the only piece of the design that looks ripped straight out of the 20th century whole cloth.
@@JustinStrife Agreed! But he did say we would come down here to say how he was wrong, and he was correct in that.
Respect to Andrew Probert who designed the Enterprise-D, and the Enterprise-A, and the Airwolf and the Delorian Time Machine.
I didn't know this guy's name or that he had done all these designs, and I feel like that's a big miss for me.
Wasnt Enterprise A just the addition of a sticker to the existing model?
And the 1978 Cylons.
Probert definitely had a lot to do with it, but let's not forget Matt Jeffries himself and Joe Jennings and Mike Minor and Richard Taylor, all of these contributed to bring us the refit Constitution Class in all it's glory...
@@davesharp7315 yeah, Probert was hired to redesign the existing Phase II refit. So he took a lot of cues from that.
The Disco Enterprise (correctly!) conveys the feeling of "Okay, that's what the TOS Enterprise would look like in HD."
One of the few things i was ok with in that show.
I don’t love how they light it, but if they had to redesign it I think they did a good job. But I don’t like the interiors.
@@TrekBeatTK The bridge might have been a little much, but the corridors were pretty much perfect in updating the 1960s design to something more modern, even those coloured grills.
…and the reason it has to look different is legal reasons so the TOS design has to be altered allowing for the changes
I'll admit to getting misty-eyed when the Enterprise appears at the end of Discovery's first season. The original series ship is the one from my childhood, a symbol of adventure for me.
Yes I appeared to have 'something in my eye' when Enterprise appeared...
First of all, thank you Sir! An amazing job! Hopefully we can agree to disagree and be civil about it. 8:57 one picture is worth a thousand words! Love your video and the time you took into making it! Thank you
Paul
Totally agree with the Ambassador class. We should have seen this waaaaayyyyyyyyyy more!!!!
Yes!!
We can assume that as the previous big daddy class before the Galaxy they spent a lot more time pushing the frontier. During TNGs run Galaxy classes were rare and could only cover so much space, Mirandas and similarly vintage ships were probably resigned to the interior os federation space and generally safer known areas. Excelsior classes were still used as front line ships with admirals using them as personal flag ships and they probably still did a fair bit of deep space exploration until at least the Dominian war. So it's fair to assume that the Ambassadors were still serving far from home and so wouldn't be seen very often.
Yes I never understood this. They spent the money to build Ambassador model and then used it only three times in TNG and DS9 but kept using stock shoots of the Excelsior almost every time they'd show another starfleet ship.
@@James-rn7dx One rumour is that the Model was damaged/destroyed when they stored it. The other rumour is that it was hard to shoot on the motion rig and the Excelsiors where easier to use.
@@calroy9108 I've generally heard it was dropped, the model, yes.
Have to agree the J looks good from a distance. About 4 light years should do it.
Like someone commented it looks like giant pizza cutter.
Four light years as it's being spaghettified by a black hole would be even better :)
@@Spindrift-id1ez I get what they were going for. Make it look advanced by being extremely streamlined and having parts miniaturized. It’s just that they went to far.
Wouldn’t have fixed everything, but just making the pylons, nacelles, and drive section bigger to match the saucer section better would have helped immensely,
6 light years, just to be safe.
Version J is anorexic.
Ah, so Rowan likes his nacelles ample, eh?
Ample and FULL!
It is very cold in a space!
@@mikelmcknight72 KKHHHAAAAANNNN!,!,!! He tasks me.., HE TASKS ME ... and I shall have him...
I personally absolutely adore the Sovereign class. I can see the problem with it feeling squished down. But I also like the explanation for it. It was designed and built during a time of war and a smaller profile makes for a harder target.
The added "belt" to the Excelsior-Class to make the Enterprise-B reminds me of early Royal Navy Dreadnaught designs where they added an armor belt along the ship to help defend against torpedo attacks. Too bad it didn't work against the Nexus.
The ship survived, didn't it?
Yes totally agree. And let's face it it does stand up to alot of beef. Just look at the arse kicking it was taking from the defiant.
The model makers added that belt so they wouldn't have to add damage to the original Excelsior model then i read that they couldn't remove that part without damaging the model so it was left on there & the effects team had to build a new Excelsior model for the Star Trek Voyager episode flashback
I loved this list, Rowan. 11 different ships means nearly 40 million different possible combinations. Your ordering is unique, as most people's will be and that is honestly one of my favourite things about Trek. It has almost Infinite Diversity in its possible Combinations.
13 movies is more than 6 billion combinations and 800 episodes is many, many more possible combinations than there are atoms in the universe.
IDIC
I see what you did there.
Live long and prosper.
Fun video - might I suggest a Starfleet uniforms ranking episode?
On the way :)
@@RowanJColeman Perhaps even bridges and/or main engineering rankings.
(concurs in monster maroon)
Starfleet uniforms from Star Trek 2 on to 6 were the best then you get to the DS9-TNG movies.
Enterprise " J" takes two weeks to get around the ship in any direction.
Enterprise-D is my favorite. It's so elegant, and the design philosophy of the utopian society is inspiring. It fits so well into the world Gene Roddenberry built.
The Kelvin Enterprise is, IMO, one of the ugliest. But I also think that's appropriate. So "worst-to-best" is hard to categorize without knowing what "worst" and "best" mean. The idea that it was over-engineered -- Star Fleet was experimenting with wild designs and testing the limits of what was possible because of the Kelvin encounter... It reminds me a lot of the French pre-dreadnought battleships. They were ugly, inconsistent, and over-engineered because it wasn't really clear what the "right" design was in post-wooden bottomed ship navies. They were throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what stuck. So I like the Kelvin Enterprise, in part, *because* I think it's ugly.
LOVE the D! Hate the Kelvin. Too many incongruent angles lol!
Hate the D It looks terrible
I loved the A and the Sovereign class. A will always be my favorite though. The C?!? The Kelvin? C'mon mayne!
Glad the Enterprise C was so high in the list. Its one of my absolute top 3 favourites and it's not often praised in these kinds of lists.
This whole list is a perfect example of how beauty is in the eye of the beholder! I enjoyed your description of the ships but did not like your rankings. 🖖
It’ll never cease to amaze me how similar and simultaneously opposite our tastes are in Star Trek. I’ll put the NX-01 and the E pretty much at the top of my list, with the The Motion Picture refit in the top 3...in no particular order.
No honorable mention for the NX refit, with the secondary hull? That ship looked great.
Damn skippy!
it’s a glaring omission but since it never appeared on camera it’s understandable why it isn’t on the list
but yeah, that was the perfect melding of generations! like the Ambassador class melded rounded secondary with flatter nacelle struts and the sloping saucer section
Ugh
ALRIGHT WE ARE NOW GONNA FIGHT OVER YOUR PLACEMENT OF THE NX-01
💪
Don't mess with anything Enterprise, Rowan; that's Jessie's Trek!
Although in this case, I'm with you Ms. Gender. I fell in love with the NX-01 since I first set eyes on it. I like smaller starships over the HYOOJ ones.
I love Enterprise and I love the NX. It perfectly nails the period, a bridge between current, real world spacecraft design and the design of the Star Trek universe. I’ll never get over the fact that I never got to see the NX refit on-screen, which takes the NX another step towards the Connie(or Donnie) we all know and love.
I do have to ask if you've ever seen the 1701-C that Andrew Probert did that was a direct blend of the B & D, a design that was needed for the wall of Enterprises in the conference room, and sadly, a design that wasn't used because the production crew had to do a rush job on the C that we got in Yesterday's Enterprise...
For me, no spaceship ever depicted in film has ever or will ever match the beauty of the Constitution Refit. The E comes close, and I really like the original Kelvin Enterprise, but the refit and refit A are the just fantastic.
“I’m not a huge fan on the sovereign class”
So you have chosen... death.
*giving you the side-eye about the Sovereign-class* I'd say she's 1 for me, then Refit Constitution, then Discovery Constitution ... after that it jumbles a bit, lol.
My top 5..'
Ent E
Refit Connie
Galaxy Dreadnought from the best Star Trek finale ever
Ent B
And actually Enterprise C
Top three, for sure.
Sovereign and refit Connie are my favourites too. Though I like the Discovery Connie for blending the refit with the original, it’s definitely best of both worlds for me.
@@kaitlyn__L Disco ruined it with the fuckin lensflares for me...Than again..the target audience is:Rather young,never watched proper Star Trek before...And has the attention span of a fly
I absolutely love the Discovery Enterprise. It feels like the old girl finally got her due. The design is respectful it’s retro roots but it looks shiny and new and absolutely gorgeous!
Agree, I love the bridge redesign, gives it a substantial 'command center' feel.
It's too bad that they had to have it in STD
@@willlauzon3744 for you, maybe.
@@paulheap1982 you can't honestly look me in the eye and tell me STD was a good show.
@@willlauzon3744 yes, yes I can. But your taste is obviously the only right one out there. I'm sorry.
Never been a fan of the D EXCEPT for the one you missed. Where is the All Good Things D refit?? That is a cool ship and is high on my list
Didn't that ship have a third nacelle glued on somehow? I did love that giant cannon tho.
The D always looked like a giant commode in space for me. I would definitely rate the E and E/Refit a lot higher. The D is the second worst design for me. Loved the Discovery Enterprise as it was fully modern. The Enterprise model from Star Trek Enterprise needed a drive/engineering section added to it as the culmination of the show.
Yes absolutely! That was by far the best looking Enterprise in my opinion. I was hoping to see that Enterprise in the first TNG motion picture
@@bbbabrock yes it did. That ship very scary and intimidating
Oh dear. All those excellent videos and reviews and now I can never watch another. Anyone who likes the D more than the e is clearly a psychopathic killer
My personal favourite is with out a doubt the USS Enterprise E she is just perfect and an absolute beauty of a ship.
Really nice to see the Disco Enterprise getting some love. The way it incorporates so many aspects of previous enterprises is what makes it so great. It looks like a ship that would be built by the same design philosophy that made the NX-01. The Disco enterprise is literally holding the franchise together.
folks can complain about the changes but the ship is already old by that time and even older by TOS so it had to undergo refits, coincidentally what occurred in the TMP redesign!
I really enjoy your videos! Especially the Star Trek ones! I'm also glad there isn't annoying background music or flashy effects. They also help me sleep sometimes!😄
Enterprise-E at number 8? Unsubscribed. Disliked. Sacrilege and blasphemy.
Just kidding, but you're 100% objectively wrong here. The Sovereign-class Enterprise-E is the sexiest goddamn starship ever built, and that's a fact.
haha i posted a comment saying ahh now this video i can just sit and enjoy... don't have to sit and rage at the whole new trek v old trek debate.... just 21 minutes of geek heaven..... press play.. then want to throw my laptop at the wall minutes into the video hahahaha
THE E is probably my fav too. The D was too fat.
I love the E, too. There are, however, a few changes I would liked to have seen. 1) I would have loved to see the warp nacelles just a little higher.... a tiny bit higher. Lengthen the support pylons just a hair, and 2) Shorten the secondary hull just a tiny bit in the middle. With the nacelles a little higher, and the drive section a little shorter, the design would have been a bit "aggressive" looking, and a bit... shall we say... sportier?
E is a weird one for me. I absolutely love it from some angles, but think it looks hideous from others. Not a big fan of the high mound-like saucer from a front view, and it looks too flat and undefined from the side. It would probably have benefited from some kind of short neck to give it a better silhouette.
Thank you for using one of the images from my website where I show the Refit models that I have built. I feel honored.
Enterprise D - The living embodiment of 80's excess
Next-gen is my fav Star Trek, but yeah, t D is excessively fat.
Would love to see a further video adding the F and G versions......
Interesting info on the enterprise j. I had no idea it was supposed to be so big. It's a neat idea, but for a flying colony/city I'll take Atlantis all the time 😊
Ranking Es is hard! It can change a little day to day. From best to least best:
Refit 1701 - refined a great to perfection.
D - a little top heavy sure, but simply beautiful, so majestic
1701 - yes it doesn’t look that “real” anymore, but it’s the ultimate silhouette
E
1701 Kelvinverse
NX-01
1701 Disco - too squat, gone overboard on greebles
B - without the additions to the hull would be much, much higher, maybe 2 or 3
C - never quite understood the love for this one
1701-A Kelvinverse - just doesn’t look right
I believe the reason the Enterprise-B has that weird belt is that they SFX guys needed something to blow and and show damage while in the Nexus.
Yes, same Excelsior model seem elsewhere but the sacrificial bit tacked on.
The Enterprise - B had that "bump" added on to prevent damage to the model when they blew a hole in it.
I love the sovereign class because it’s squashed it’s more compact so gives impression of fast more manoeuvrable and harder to hit in combat. It’s the arrowhead design that reminds me of a ship of the seas cutting through the waves. But deffo agree about the J it’s too brittle looking as if they’d out of ideas.
If you look at the Sovereign class main hull, it looks just like a ship of the sea. A beautiful design and easily my favourite ship.
In canon, I believe it was stated that the Sovereign and other ships designed in the late 2300s lost the "neck" because it was a frequently targeted area by enemies. Tactical reality dictated a more compact design from the frontal and side aspect. It's also been said somewhere that compacting the hull makes for greater warp field efficiency.
OG 1980's? That's me. My dad was a Star Trek TOS fan before I was born. I was watching reruns in grade school. Saw TMP & TWOK with Dad in theaters on respective opening weeks. With that background, I was 17 when TNG premiered. The Galaxy class Enterprise with it's separated cobra look WAS very weird, very odd, very challenging to accept. ...at first. Once she showed off her amazing advanced capabilities, and she saved her crew faithfully over and over, I was hooked. The 1701-D is a beauty and it was even great to see Geordi captaining a Galaxy class in Voyager. Even though Generations was a bit of a disappointing movie, it was glorious to see the Enterprise on the big screen and heart wrenching to witness her tragic end.
The ST:TMP Enterprise is one of the most beautiful pieces of machinery ever imagined. To me, it embodies the Starfleet ethos. It looks as if it were designed to explore the galaxy (as I would say the original design looks). The other Constitution class imaginings, especially with the darker grays, lean more to looking like battleships. I prefer less "pew pew" and more "seek out new life and civilizations."
Kelvin Timeline Enterprise looks like my kids' Superhero Squad characters: grotesquely comical. Which is okay for kids' toys, but not for ST.
When the Next Generation premiered, I thought to myself “that is the ugliest ship in science fiction history”...I still feel that way. I was so happy when it was destroyed in Generations. Enterprise refit is my personal favorite. Thought it was perfect
Ha ha yeah, thought that, too. But I got over it.
I agree with you. The hotel in space that could take three or four hits and the shields were down and get ready for a Warp Core breach after hits number six and seven.
Discovery Enterprise is my fav, followed by the 1979 retrofit. Next Gen always looked like a Carnival cruise ship to me.
Which ironically given the time period the Enterprise-D comes from...it's not exactly off the mark. Though I'd more call it an apartment complex in space rather than a Carnival Cruise ship in space, but that's just me. Also as someone else pointed out, the Enterprise-D is also a monument to 80s excess spending.
I watched TNG when it first came out and initially hated the design of the D. It didn't help that a lot of the initial promo shots showed it from below and slightly off to the side from head-on, which to me has always been its ugliest angle. (I was a teenager, though, and it also took me a few episodes to get over a bald Captain.)
I've still always preferred both the E and the NX designs to the Galaxy class, personally.
The refit as number 1 and the Sovereign as a close 2. We forgive you, we know it is the Borg nanoprobes talking!! :-)
Absolutely!!!
Since TNG series is ma favourite that's the ship I like 😃😃😃
Great summary, tnx 👍🙏🥰
"Less controversial" Ranking Enterprise designs
I don't know about which franchise we're all talking about, but that doesn't sound like StarTrek.
I heard Frank Kelly Freas , a classic Science Fiction Artist from the 50 and 60's , who said that the main reason he loved the design of the Enterprise in TOS, was after Star Trek, He could design more creative ships instead of the Flying Saucers and thin Needle style rockets .
Freas created his version , the Freas' Mushroom Space Drive.
Personally I think the refit Enterprise of the first movie is the best, with th eoriginal running a very close second. If you read the book _The Making of Star Trek_ Gene Roddenberry and the producers specifically told the designers and creators that they wanted to avoid having any suggestion of rockets - they wanted the Enteprise to look both powerful and futuristic. Originally the saucer was to have bene a sphere (which has now entered canon as the Daedalus class). The movie refit made the design sleeker. I did not care much for the Galaxy class, the huge saucer looked topheavy. The Sovereign class is a great design though. The NX is fine. Discovery's Crossfield class is rubbish, the only one that looks worse is the absolutely hideous "remake"; a lumpen abomination complete with an engineering deck straight out of a Victorian steamer.. They apparently went out of their way to stick two fingers up at the original show by adding smoke trails when going to warp, which as I said, was something the original show specifically wanted to get away from. iirc Gene Roddenberry specifically said "I don;t want any rocket flames or trails"
I know that I'm so late to the party that it's likely few will read this, but I've always found it amusing as well as interesting that most fans' favorite designs are utterly tragic from a survivability standpoint.
• The narrow gauge of pylons create targets for enemy vessels to cripple a ship with a single well-placed shot.
• The saucer sections provide huge areas for target acquisition with the possibility of creating punch-through hull breaches going right through the saucer.
• The windows would never exist in such quantity in any actual design, for multiple reasons. Each window is a stress point, the first areas to breach when the hull is subjected to any crush or shearing forces. By the 22nd century, one would hope that all "windows" on a spaceship would be virtual, indistinguishable to the untrained eye but much safer overall. Furthermore, the lights and such are aesthetically pleasing but again, from a tactical standpoint the design is inherently and massively flawed. To pour out so much EM radiation from thousands of points is essentially designing the ship to fail.
• As for overall form factor, the ideal shape would be a sphere. Such a form would come with many, many advantages. Shield harmonics overall would be optimized. Shield strength at any given point would be maximized via distribution of the emitters. Similarly, weapons ports placed along the surface at points equidistant from those which surround it would provide total field of fire no matter where an enemy craft, asteroid, obstacle, etc is in relation to the ship. An interesting side benefit to a sphere design would be to enable maximum survivability in the event of a forced landing or even a crash. The outer section of the hull could be on magnetic or even physical bearings, enabling the outer hull to roll while the inner hull would remain stable, even without inertial dampeners. Lastly for this post, one crucial and frankly stupid design element from a tactical standpoint in nearly all ST ships is that of making the bridge Deck 1. The command center of any spacecraft should be in the most survivable section of the ship, in this case the core of the sphere.
Honestly I had tears in my eyes seeing the Disco-Enterprise. It just looks so perfect. It’s the exact kind of modern update that takes what works with the original but gives greater detail and style for new modern audiences.
Really agree with a lot of this list ranking! I was never a fan of the Sovereign class or any of the late-24th century ships either with that weird stretched look. Mid-24th century ships were the best. Very elegant, sleek, and majestic. Galaxy class all the way for me. I just don't think the Abrams Enterprise is any good at all really. And I believe the Enterprise A refit is better looking than the TOS Enterprise. I do really love the Enterprise F from STO as well! That'd be my second favourite. I agree I like how it retains the elegance that the Galaxy class has. It's kind of a return to that sort of non-stretched non-edgy look and I really appreciated it for that. And it's fan-designed! STO held a contest for fans to design the next Enterprise and that design won.
Thanks for the video!
I'm sorry but the E is beautiful.
That said I don't like the D.
Agreed. I stopped watching when he put the E at number 8. I know I wouldn't agree with the rest.
Agreed. To me the saucer section looks too big while the aft section is too small.
Love the E. I only like the D because I love TNG.
Love the Ambassador class
You can see it in the first episode of DS9 attacking the Borg cube (along with a nebula class which I also love)
I saw an interview with one of the model people from ST Generations, and he said that they were using the actual physical model of Excelsior. But they needed to have the damaged area, and were not allowed to rip out a piece of the only model they had. So they added the bulge and had the damaged area there.
A lot of people are commenting on how the 'belt/chin' was added to the Enterprise-B in order to give the Nexus something to damage without damaging the Excelsior studio model. But nobody seems to be mentioning the ironic part that I heard, where they then couldn't *remove* the belt without damaging the model. Which is why the USS Lakota in DS9 shows up as the refit Excelsior-class. It's the last use of the original Excelsior studio model, all the other Excelsior-class ships seen on screen were the smaller tv-scale model built for TNG, or else CGI models.
I don't think there's anything I'd disagree with severely here, except perhaps the placements of the D and E. I love the Sovereign-class, and the tall ship aesthetic never even occurred to me before now. I see where you're coming from but the sleek, compact and military sort of design just works for me. That said I do know what you mean about the Sovereign looking a little wonky from the front. The Excelsior design is indeed, in my opinion, spoiled by the Enterprise-B additions. They did actually alter the nacelles slightly and add extra impulse engines on the saucer, though.
if i'm not mistaken, we actually see Ambassador class vessels in the Dominion war. There even are some Constellation class ships
the only ambassador in DS9 was in the pilot ...
The Ent-B had the add on bulk on the secondary hull because the script had a part of the secondary hull blow off. So they added those parts to save the original Excelsior model from getting battle damage. But - the sad thing is that apparently the glue used to put these “add on parts” ruined the model, which is why the Lakota from DS9 is an Excelsior refit. They couldn’t remove the add-one without ruining the original model.
I too like the Enterprise-D, but two complaints: (1) the bridge. The bridge does not look like a bridge. (2) The disproportionately sized modules. If the saucer were maybe a third smaller, the secondary hull were a little deeper and longer, and the nacelles were a little longer, it would not look so disproportionate to me.
It's supposed to be disproportionate and that's the unique Style
13. USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-B)
12. USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A) (Kelvin)
11. USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) (Kelvin)
10. USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) (Discoverse)
9. ISS Enterprise (NCC-1701) (Mirror)
8. USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-J)
7. USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-C)
6. USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A)
5. USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)
4. USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)
3. Enterprise (NX-01)
2. ISS Enterprise (NX-01) (Mirror)
1. USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E)
YES THANK GOODNESS, I cannot fathom why people love the Enterprise J is god awful and quite frankly stupid.
Exactly 💯.
12:49 Don't worry dude. I love it as well.
I appreciate how you would like a “non-controversial” video, but I think this might prove to be more controversial, then the other videos with a lot of trekkies.
I really agree with you on the Discoprise. Honestly before it I wasn't a huge fan of the constitution, TOS or refit. The ambassador or sovereign were probably my favorite designs but then the Discoprise came flying in at the end of season 1 and I love it. Just such a great update! It really looks like the TOS just updated. I could easily headcanon it being in TOS episodes. Just love it!
It’s like looking through rose colored glasses…without the lens flares.
This list started off well, and then went off the rails, and then off the deep end, and then into the sun, and then the sun was swallowed by a black hole.
I really like the blue nacelle windows in the Discoprise, it makes it fit in perfectly between Enterprise and the later eras
Excellent list. I agree for the most part with your ranking. However, the Enterprise-D is still number 1 on my list. There isn't a more beautiful design than the Galaxy class (for now, at least).
The lines on the engineering section and the deflector dish are gorgeous! Even the way the ship’s curves are reflected in simple yet elegant nacell pylons. You will have to fact check this but was the D the first to be able to seperate the saucer section? I mean whoa, it took em long enough to figure that out.
@@georgeleinberger8670 As I understand, the "saucer separation" was devised as a feature of the refit Constitution-class Enterprise for Star Trek The Motion Picture, but it was never mentioned or shown in that movie. Later on, the idea was carried over to Star Trek TNG when they designed the Galaxy-class starship.
Enterprise D was my TV home as a kid. If I could live in that ship, I’d be so happy.
The Kelvin Enterprise A looks like someone stretched an image of the enterprise in an Editor. It's even worse that the J.
All iterations of the Kelvin Connie look very cartoony to me. The neck is too far back, and the saucer sits too far back on the neck. I think the A is the least bad of the bunch. If they made some minor tweaks- moved the nacelles forward a bit, adjusted the neck and saucer, it wouldn’t be that bad.
The Constitution is my favorite ship. Cage, TOS, Phase 2, Refit, Discovery, Kelvin. I love all of them.
Lost me when the refit came in so low
Yeah the ships he put infront of it, I'm like... Really?
The Enterprise J looks like something someone would imagine in a nightmare when completely delirious.
100% agree with your bottom and top choices :)
I like the fact they always have a break light on the back. It must be handy in heavy traffic.
The budget for the design process and special effects filming of the re-fit TOS Enterprise in 1979 gives it an unfair advantage over all other designs. It's not a level playing field. Robert Abel and Associates were responsible for the warp engines redesign which added the final element to my single favorite starship design/model.
I always like the original .. because it was the 1st that started all the others, but really enjoy the re-fit 1979 design. It was more sleek with more inline power from the warp core engines. '79 had the shuttle ports that provided more ship wide docking access. '79 also looked more 'to scale' like a current US battleship or aircraft carrier, you could see the reasonable deck levels, maybe 3+ on the main saucer section, and the photon torpedo's coming off the warp core. The ship looked more live able and dense for a crew of 300+. Decent/Big size for the time; Powerful, and scrappy. :-)
The Constitution Class refit for TMP will always be my favourite, even with the slim, non-lit nacelles
Damn. Honestly the C is like seriously the ugliest enterprise period IMHO. Can't believe you favor it over the refit.
No no, I'm there with you, on the Kelvin Timeline version of "Constitution Class" ~ It's gorgeous! 😍😍😍
I'd've put D higher, but that's me! 👍🏻
Blasphemy!! lol the TMP refit Enterprise is my all time favourite, i find the Enterprise D to be aesthetically ugly.
The Deflector part of the D is just... weird.. It doesn't have the grace and elegance that the refit brings.
For me, the refit/Enterprise-A "original movie design," is my favourite, purely because it looks like something that we might actually build one day. There's just something so "real" about that design that makes me believe it is a real starship that could actually exist. A perfect design of form and function.
But if we were to go from the standpoint of pure beauty, then its the Enterprise-D/Galaxy-Class. It sure does look way beyond the capacity that I could imagine us really being able to build, or that if we had that level of technology, would we really be building ships that looked that pretty? But from a "sci-fi ship on a TV show," perspective, its just so goddamned beautiful.
The JJprise over the Refit?! *triggering intensifies*
I place the Constitution Refit and Galaxy Class at #1 and #2, respectively. The Kelvin designs are at the bottom of the barrel, with the NX-01 just barely above them.
I think the Ambassador Class was OK, but it could have been magnificent, had the design time not been so compacted. Regarding the saucer, the top needs to be more bulbous, or the bottom needs to be flatter. It’s very much a kitbash kind of look. The nacelles were far too fat, for their short length. I would have preferred them to be longer. The Bussard Collectors are a bit uninspired, and the square, 90 degree bends in the pylons seems to be incongruous with the overall design. I also dislike the oversized fantail or deck on the aftmost section. I didn’t like it on the Voyager, either. I do love the round, Constitution-style engineering hull, and the front of the dorsal hull was very Excelsior-like, which I love!
I love the Ambassador class (Ent-C) because it literally looks like if you mixed the Galaxy class's detailing with the Constitution class's silhouette. I know it was made in hindsight to achieve exactly that look, but it works perfectly.
And yeah, the Discovery/SNW Enterprise is really great in its design. Perfectly modernized updated to the classic Connie without being too over the top in places like the ST09 version.
AND it saved the Federation from a disastrous Klingon war!
Rowan,
The Kelvin Timeline Enterprise over the original and the refit - seriously 😳- blasphemy!!!
I actually agree with you about the Discovery Enterprise - in my opinion that should have been the Kelvin Timeline Enterprise - the new bridge and interior as well- it’s an amazing reboot - it took the best elements of the original and modernized it without losing its original charm
But the best Enterprise for me will always be the Wrath of Khan - Nicholas Meyer kept the core of TMP Enterprise interior but changed just enough to give it its own personality - darker and more naval - winky blinky lights included
Don't pay that guy any attention. He got it all wrong. He must be really 14 or something. Star Trek is something you grow up on and its' aesthetics grow on you too
Your videos are so in-depth and filled with incredible info. Thanks for your hard work!
I pretty much agree with all of these, though I think the Enterprise-D would have been no.1 for me, though the Disc. Enterprise is pretty good. About the Enterprise-B, I read that they only put that weird protrusion around the deflector for Generations because the ship gets damaged in that area and they didn't want to mess up the Excelsior shooting model, which they were still using for DS9
I love that you love the Discovery version of the Enterprise. I don't know if it was the fact that Discovery didn't really "click" with the majority of the fanbase or the fact that this design clashes timeline-wise with the 60's version of the Prime Enterprise that led most to dislike this design, but I think that fans weren't truly appreciating how beautiful this conceptual redesign was. When it first cruised onto the screen face-to-face with Disco it really showcased how much the classic Trek design truly out-classes the more modern ship designs we see in Discovery and Picard. And not only was the exterior design really pleasing to the eye, but the updated bridge was the perfect blend of 60's TV Trek and 09' movie Trek without being as visually noisy and overly busy as the J.J. Abrams bridge is. And keeping the red highlights on the bridge and in the hallways was "chef's kiss" perfect. (I also love that they kept the deflector dish looking like an old satellite dish instead of the flat glowing bowl of every other subsequent design in the franchise. It adds dimension without complexity.)
I don't think that the Discovery developers could have come up with a more idolized version of the OG Enterprise and you can tell that a lot of time, respect and love went into its conception. If I EVER find a proper replica of her on the market, I'd be proud to display her in my movie-room right next to my model of my second favorite Enterprise, the "All Good Things" Enterprise D (which I'm surprised you failed to mention).
Abrams Enterprise is so unbalanced. You have bad taste.
It is well established in canon that warp fields are asymmetrical. So an unbalanced ship actually makes more sence.
@@bbbabrock It is? Where is this canonical evidence? It's still not as beautiful as the refit Constitution, the original Constitution, or the the Discovery Constitution.
@@douglaseid9021 One. I didn't say anything regarding Abrams Enterprise being more astheticly beautiful than any other Constitution class, so I probably agree w you on that point.
2. Among other places,Geordi was always talking about warp fields being asymmetrical in TNG. And , I'm not as sure, but I think, Belona mentioned it a time or two as well in Voyager. Tho I can't recall when in what episode. So if you want to continue to disbelieve or doubt my assertion, then go on ahead w it.
@@bbbabrock , I was thinking of what Gene Roddenberry laid down as guidelines for nacelles, but that ship has sailed. Also, I was speaking aesthetically rather than "will it run?" So, we do agree.
@Hououin Kyouma I'm allowed to have my own opinion as you are yours. If you think it's beautiful, great! I think it's ugly.
To each their own I guess. For me, the STTMP refit is the most beautiful and logical design of all. The absolute worse, is anything from the JJ verse. It's as if the warp nacelles have been stung by a giant space bee.
PS: I do like the Disco Enterprise design as well - but that's the only thing I like about the mess that is STD.
I'm with you 100% on this. Nothing beats the Refit.. It's elegance and class is unmatched.
So condescending of the Enterprise E lol
I think the TOS Enterprise is the best. Almost all of the other designs look too aerodynamic which to me is disqualifying. Form should follow function, and there is no air resistance to worry about in space. Disclaimer I grew up with TOS as it first aired , and bought the plans and all that, so I am extremely biased :)
My ranking goes:
- Sovereign-class (E) - takes the sleek and aggressive aspect of other more modern ships, plus the design of the Connie, and takes it all up to 15. She looks fast and powerful, and you don't want it coming at you if you're an enemy. In my opinion the most beautiful _Enterprise_ .
- Narenda-class (Provert concept for C) - a very cool design that shows up as a ready room bust. Honoured in STO with its own class
- Odyssey-class / Yorktown refit (F) - takes awhile to grow on you, a large but flowing design. The double-neck is the thing that gets in the way until you get used to it. And it still has saucer separation, as well as an Aquarius escort tucked into the stern.
- Galaxy-class (D) - while I grew up with it, it's an uneven, front-heavy design. Trust me, I have the Galoob model
- NX-01 - a utility design, and you can see how Starfleet can get to the Connie from here
- Constitution-class refit (TMP) and A - again, more streamlined
- Phase-II Constitution-class - another interesting design with some more classical elements to it
- Excelsior-class refit (B) - I have a special connection to the B, and the Excelsior is a sturdy and sleek design.
- Constitution-class (in-show refit) - more dynamic and sleek
- Constitution-class (original) - the spikes on the buzzard collectors look interesting
- Ambassador-class (C)- great bridge between generations with elements from the Connie and Excelsior. Also shows how it gets to the Galaxy.
- DSC Constitution /Refit - looks like it's trying to be something else
- original concept colony ship - just very interesting
- Universe-class (J) - very long and fragile-looking, a lot of it is on the same plane, so doesn't look very dynamic
- Kelvin Constitution Refit - both Kelvins just don't look like they were designed with an understanding of how they work
- Kelvin Constitution
- Enterprise-D Concept (became USS Discovery) - just a strange design
stopped watching your video when you placed the "A" on #6
I think he's crazy. But to each their own.
Not sure what exact order I'd put them in, but Enterprises D, E, and Refit are my personal top 3 favorites.
I must say that the Enterprise D was nowhere near as nice as the movie refit constitution. It was an apartment in space and made of explodanium
Damn would of subscribed but you put mine and probably 90% of star trek fans fav ship at #6.appreciate your honest opinion though.