When I first saw the Excelsior in "The search for Spock' in 1984, I was hooked. I liked how the new ship looked. ( Fact, the Excelsior was created for a failed plot twist that involved the Enterprise to be replaced with this ship. ILM studios hated the Enterprise model because it was too hard to film with. The Excelsior was designed to be an easy to film model. The idea of Kirk's crew on the Excelsior was trashed by Gene Roddenberry because he said to Harve Bennett that the fans would hate it. Thus the Enterprise NCC-1701- A was born.)😊
The Enterprise-A was always going to exist...but it was going to be the Excelsior renamed. Gene hated the idea as he felt fans wouldn't take to the new design... despite it being popular with fans.
Some additional detail: it wasn't just that ILM hated filming it; it was that it apparently was extremely difficult to rig and film (ILM didn't design or build it, some other company did..., and while it looked good, they really didn't know what they were doing re: filming). The refit Enterprise model was part of the reason the original movie (Star Trek TMP) went extremely over budget; it was extremely difficult & expensive to film. The studio only allowed Star Trek 2 to get made at all if they kept the budget way way down, and Harve Bennet was put in charge to do that, and after it's success, they wanted to make more films and keep them (relatively) cheap - the Excelsior was a huge part of that. SFX cost so much back then, and with the new model it would cost way less (like half or less) to film, and it would be possible for cheaper SFX studios to film it. Part of why Star Trek V's SFX are so bad is that they hired a really cheap company to do the SFX, and they didn't have the proper equipment or expertise to film the Enterprise model, lol. Also re: the change to the Enterprise-A. They didn't change because Roddenberry told Bennett he didn't like it, Harve told him to stfu. Roddenberry then leaked all the info to the fan magazines, and the fans went nuts & threatened to boycott the film + a lot of bad press, and the studio stepped in & told Bennett to change everything. The Excelsior was originally much bigger & more advanced than the Enterprise; Kirk & crew took over the Excelsior, Saavik was supposed to replace Spock, etc. All of this was changed; heck they even added the scene where the Excelsior stalls out like an old car - that was forced in by the studio to try to please the fans who were complaining. If you want a really interesting read, go track down the Star Trek comics made by DC in the 80s; they're based on early versions of the scripts and concepts for the Excelsior, and it's awesome. The Excelsior is basically much bigger than what we got and shown to be a "next gen" ship far beyond the Enterprise, and totally & easily dominates it in every way (the mirror universe ISS Enterprise shows up & gets its ass kicked). And Kirk & crew, including Saavik, take over at the end, as originally intended. :)
@@Marcsharp82 Yea you don't have the story quite right. The original plan was that Kirk & crew would take command of the Excelsior, and it was *not* going to be renamed. Yes the Excelsior design is popular with Star Trek fans today (at least those who grew up in the 80s & 90s); though it's nowhere near as generally known or as beloved as the refit Enterprise... and also this is definitely not how it was back in the 80s. Nobody had seen the Excelsior yet or cared. Roddenberry leaked the info about the Enterprise being destroyed & being replaced w/ the Excelsior to a bunch of magazines and how it looked totally different; the fans went apeshit, had a letter writing campaign, threatened to boycott, etc., & the studio forced them to change the movie very heavily. If you want a really interesting read, go track down the Star Trek comics made by DC in the 80s; they're based on early versions of the scripts and concepts for the Excelsior, and it's awesome. The Excelsior is basically much bigger than what we got and shown to be a "next gen" ship far beyond the Enterprise, and totally & easily dominates it in every way (the mirror universe ISS Enterprise shows up & gets its ass kicked). And Kirk & crew, including Saavik, take over at the end, as originally intended. :)
Some people think it's an ugly duckling. Somehow I see it as the sovereign class of the TMP era. It's loveable
There's something about it...
When I first saw the Excelsior in "The search for Spock' in 1984, I was hooked. I liked how the new ship looked. ( Fact, the Excelsior was created for a failed plot twist that involved the Enterprise to be replaced with this ship. ILM studios hated the Enterprise model because it was too hard to film with. The Excelsior was designed to be an easy to film model.
The idea of Kirk's crew on the Excelsior was trashed by Gene Roddenberry because he said to Harve Bennett that the fans would hate it. Thus the Enterprise NCC-1701- A was born.)😊
I didn't know all that! That's much appreciated, thank you!
The Enterprise-A was always going to exist...but it was going to be the Excelsior renamed. Gene hated the idea as he felt fans wouldn't take to the new design... despite it being popular with fans.
Some additional detail: it wasn't just that ILM hated filming it; it was that it apparently was extremely difficult to rig and film (ILM didn't design or build it, some other company did..., and while it looked good, they really didn't know what they were doing re: filming). The refit Enterprise model was part of the reason the original movie (Star Trek TMP) went extremely over budget; it was extremely difficult & expensive to film.
The studio only allowed Star Trek 2 to get made at all if they kept the budget way way down, and Harve Bennet was put in charge to do that, and after it's success, they wanted to make more films and keep them (relatively) cheap - the Excelsior was a huge part of that. SFX cost so much back then, and with the new model it would cost way less (like half or less) to film, and it would be possible for cheaper SFX studios to film it. Part of why Star Trek V's SFX are so bad is that they hired a really cheap company to do the SFX, and they didn't have the proper equipment or expertise to film the Enterprise model, lol.
Also re: the change to the Enterprise-A. They didn't change because Roddenberry told Bennett he didn't like it, Harve told him to stfu. Roddenberry then leaked all the info to the fan magazines, and the fans went nuts & threatened to boycott the film + a lot of bad press, and the studio stepped in & told Bennett to change everything. The Excelsior was originally much bigger & more advanced than the Enterprise; Kirk & crew took over the Excelsior, Saavik was supposed to replace Spock, etc. All of this was changed; heck they even added the scene where the Excelsior stalls out like an old car - that was forced in by the studio to try to please the fans who were complaining.
If you want a really interesting read, go track down the Star Trek comics made by DC in the 80s; they're based on early versions of the scripts and concepts for the Excelsior, and it's awesome. The Excelsior is basically much bigger than what we got and shown to be a "next gen" ship far beyond the Enterprise, and totally & easily dominates it in every way (the mirror universe ISS Enterprise shows up & gets its ass kicked). And Kirk & crew, including Saavik, take over at the end, as originally intended. :)
@@Marcsharp82 Yea you don't have the story quite right. The original plan was that Kirk & crew would take command of the Excelsior, and it was *not* going to be renamed. Yes the Excelsior design is popular with Star Trek fans today (at least those who grew up in the 80s & 90s); though it's nowhere near as generally known or as beloved as the refit Enterprise... and also this is definitely not how it was back in the 80s. Nobody had seen the Excelsior yet or cared. Roddenberry leaked the info about the Enterprise being destroyed & being replaced w/ the Excelsior to a bunch of magazines and how it looked totally different; the fans went apeshit, had a letter writing campaign, threatened to boycott, etc., & the studio forced them to change the movie very heavily.
If you want a really interesting read, go track down the Star Trek comics made by DC in the 80s; they're based on early versions of the scripts and concepts for the Excelsior, and it's awesome. The Excelsior is basically much bigger than what we got and shown to be a "next gen" ship far beyond the Enterprise, and totally & easily dominates it in every way (the mirror universe ISS Enterprise shows up & gets its ass kicked). And Kirk & crew, including Saavik, take over at the end, as originally intended. :)