You should be in charge of ship designs from mid 23rd and late 24th. You really understand the design principles much better than the current Star Trek attempts.
That's a problem with "NuTrek"...the base to start iterating ship designs is RIGHT THERE in hours of footage. All you need to do is make tweaks either backwards or forwards from any starting point, and you have your "new" ship. Too many times designers have to come up with something from scratch - in this case you have decades of how to make a Starfleet ship, by era, staring you in the face.
Well there is the problem with the split licence. Long story short: The makers of new Trek don't own the rights to classical Trek and therefore cannot use classicals designs as they are. They're contractually bound to be "25% different" (whatever that is supposed to mean). I get why new trek designs new ships from scratch instead modifying existing ones: They don't want to be sued to oblivion by the owners of classical trek. So I don't think the issue is the current attempts failing to understand the design principles but rather being forced to divert from them.
@@MrAranton Then that is a failure of the current teams to secure the rights to the IP and I doubt that would be enforced considering how popular the earlier treks are and how much backlash that would cause like in 2009.
@@MrAranton That actually hasn't been proven to be true and there's tons of evidence to the contrary. CBS owns the rights to Star Trek and they're the ones making Discovery. Discovery season 2 showed footage from the original series. One Short Trek directly used audio clips from TOS. How do you measure a 25% difference legally? The truth is you can't and that rule doesn't exist. If they truly didn't own the rights they wouldn't be able to make a Trek show. I'm guessing you got your info from a certain UA-camr who claims to have inside knowledge when he really doesn't.
You’re a genius. THIS proves how well the original could of been updated for modern TV whilst still preserving the design and continuity. Kurtzman and his hacks upset me so much. Imagine if Disney decided to redesign the Millenium Falcon just because they thought they could make it look cooler. Why does Star Trek always get treated so poorly.
"A 1960s version just wouldn't look right while flying next to the Discovery, I get that" Sounds like a problem for Discovery and not you. The fact that you've taken a design from the original source material and improved upon it shows that your mindset is more respecting the original design than say the effects artists for Discovery.
This is terrific work! If only modern producers weren't so determined to change everything. The grand old lady still looks as magnificent as her maiden voyage.
i thought that i was the only one that wondered where the phasers were coming from! and i have to admit, im one of the few trek fans that favors the TOS ship over the TMP refit version. in fact i prefer TOS designs over their TMP counterparts. yes im a weird trek fan. but my favorite uniform is the ENT version, they seem like the most practical.
Me, to CBS: “Okay, so about your (Enterprise Design). I think it’s really good, except, it sucks. So why don’t you let (Resurrected Starships) do the (Enterprise Design), that way it might be really good?” CBS: “Sheer ffu-“
@@SchneeflockeMonsoon i have, but i'm failing to think of what would make it "really good, but sucks". :/ In general, i've seen many ppl react to movies as "fun/mindless popcorn flicks, despite many flaws &/or dumb ideas", (but never as "it's really good, but it sucks",) so is that what you had in mind?
*SARCASM ALERT* It's almost as if someone who understand the visual language of a setting and is enthusiastic about both innovating while understanding where to maintain visual continuity can do a better job than some artist who probably knows nothing of Star-Trek and is handed down a set of directives from corporate.
They changed everything because of a rights issue requiring all designs to be 25 percent different from all the IPs caught up in the paramount Vs CBS merger and re split debacle. Simply put, for them to sell merch and make profit they can't use the original designs or they have to be altered by 25 percent.
@@TheGameSnapper The whole 25% thing is made up internally just so it wouldn’t look odd and out of place next to the USS Discovery. Since they OWN the Enterprise lock, stock and barrel, it was little more than an update to their own design. Were it kept as it was next to the USS Discovery, the Discovery would literally be TRIPLE the size of TOS Enterprise.
Just as a note, the Kelvin-timeline Enterprise isn't even supposed to be the same ship. The Kelvin timeline ties in with the main timeline via the events surrounding the Hobus supernova that sent the Narada back in time, creating a parallel timeline where the USS Kelvin was destroyed which forced Starfleet to consider larger, more advanced ships with a more military focus. The only thing it shares with the original Enterprise is its name, designation and class name.
I know this is a bit late but no that reason doesn't work at all, because when the Narada first shows up, it instantly meets the Kelvin which has been flying around for at least a decade, it's already bigger than the original constitution class and has twice the amount of crew. They just didn't know or care for the source material, they didn't get phasers right either, hand held or ship wise, they're all just blasters.
@@t3h51d3w1nd3r There's three major issues with your argument: 1. The Kelvin-class is exclusive to the Kelvin timeline, it never existed in the original timeline. Its role is that of a long range survey ship and as such a large ship capable of carrying sufficient supplies and equipment for extended missions would be necessary, especially considering it's a pre-replicator ship. 2. Ships larger than the Constitution class in the TOS era isn't an inconsistency in itself either. While the Kelvin class wasn't in the original timeline, there _was_ the Federation class which came in at 320m in length (and yes, this is a canon vessel, it technically debuted in Wrath of Khan). Plus, there were multiple pre-fed ships in the 300m length range with significantly more bulk than ones used by the Federation. And then you get into the Vulcan ships, where there's the D'kyr and Sh'ran, both of which come in at a whopping 600m long. 3. Even if you ignore all this, the Kelvin class is actually not that much of a leap in size compared to other TOS era vessels. It measures 457m in length, which while double the size of the constitution, still puts it just a bit over 120m longer than the Federation class. A vessel like this in the TOS era would likely be either a one-off or one of only a small handful of ships (at least if you ignore the ships that Discovery introduced), but it's not unfeasible for the era. As a side note, keep in mind that although the Kelvin is very large for a TOS era ship, it's absolutely dwarfed by the Kelvin Timeline Constitution which also has a much sleeker and significantly more high-tech design than its main-timeline counterpart or the Kelvin. So regardless, there's still a SIGNIFICANT tech leap after the Kelvin incident.
I have to admit, the TOS Connie wasn't my favorite Enterprise. That honor goes to the Refit. To my eyes, the TOS ship looked too much like what it was, a utilitarian work-horse, if that makes any sense. I didn't by any means hate the design, it's a classic, and the root from which all others grow. It just looked too inelegant to my eyes, due in most part to the straight pylons and geometrically simple design. The Refit Connie, with the hull aztecing, the swept pylons and the rectangular nacelles looks more like a thoroughbred than a draft horse to me. That being said, I LOVE your take on the TOS ship. You improved it while being true to Matt Jeffries' original design. The love you have for this ship shines through. My only complaint (and it's just personal preference) is that the glows on the interior of the nacelles are a little jarring, possibly because you don't have such prominent glows anywhere else on the ship (the deflector glows are small and partially obscured by the dish, while the nacelle aft grill glows are small and not always visible). Just minor personal niggles. Anyways, please. Keep up the fantastic work!
The thing about the original Enterprise was that the model was designed by people who ACTUALLY SERVED ABOARD NAVAL VESSELS and thus understood HOW a ship needed to be designed in order to function. They were essentially taking the principles of a (then) modern naval vessel and applying them to a fictional spaceship. So if the original Enterprise was "utilitarian" in design, that's because it IS. Later ships were designed by ARTISTS instead. So while they may aesthetically LOOK better, the TOS Enterprise is the one that was actually designed to be as realistic as possible.
@@Ambaryerno I fully understand that, and that's actually not a mark against the TOS Connie. In fact, I love her _interior_ design because of it. A highly compartmentalized space-vessel is a good thing. The Titanic proved that. So did the JJ-Prise. So many deaths could have been prevented had the interior spaces not been designed to look like a brewery. Don't get me wrong, in no ways do I hate or even really dislike the original design. I just prefer the Refit one. To me, it takes that practicality of design from the original and adds a little elegance. It's just my preference and my opinion. I know that others might not share them, and that's perfectly fine. Thanks for responding to my comment, and I hope you and yours stay healthy and safe!
The TOS Enterprise was supposed to be utilitarian. The Constitution class was always the primary "work horse" starship for the Federation in it's earlier years. The refit came during a major shift in Starfleet's focus of creating a "Multi-Role" fleet where ships, of every class, could fit various roles giving Starfleet far more flexibility rather than only being able to deploy certain classes for specific duties. Heck even the Oberth class could fill minor escort and simple patrol duties rather than just science. Personally I prefer the Movie version (STMP -STUC) to the TOS, but they started it off well with a simple and easily understandable design that was easily the most Flexible ship of the time.
OmegaReaver the same man Matt Jefferies designed both. He created the ENTERPRISE as “modular” that could replace various things such as the engines. They were meant to be kept away from the crew and could be easily ejected/replaced as needed. QUICK CHANGE UNITS. So he redesigned it for PHASE II where he flattened the engines and swept back the pylons.
The new ship isn't darker; the ships are more like they would be in real space, unlike the previous series where they were lit as if there were a nearby light source.
“I don’t like arbitrary changes made to the design of the original Enterprise. But, here’s a list of arbitrary changes I’d make to the design of the original Enterprise”.
Absolutely love the 2009 version and the discovery version of the Enterprise. I have no problem when they change things I actually like that they doo. It's refreshing to see new takes on things. Like I like how they change how the Klingons look. Also the 2009 obviously takes place in an alternate time line so it doesn't break continuity. And even if did, like in Discovery, I don't mind. I just wanna see cool designs, new or old. And why should it always be better? Why isn't just different good enough? And Different doesn't automatically mean worse.
I absolutely love this model!!! I’ve always hated when they ‘re-design’ ship’s for new series in Star Trek; ‘resurrecting’ them is a much better alternative. Thanks again: live long and prosper 🖖🏻
Red lights for port side and green lights for starboard?? I never knew that! Also: Disco Enterprise is the way you make a re-visioned retro- Enterprise. It's so much better than the horrible JJ Abrams abominations.
The nacelle pylons on the original have always been a problem for me. But then again, I grew up with TNG, where the flaw of such fragile looking structures was somewhat mitigated by moving them closer to the hull. On the refit, they at least echoed the angle pylon connecting the primary and secondary hull, which helped them not look like such an anomaly. I'm not taking anything away from your work, but I don't think an up-resed version of the original ship would hold up even next to the Enterprise-D...let alone something put to screen almost 40 years after that.
Nicely done! I really love the attention to detail throughout this VFX model. It respects the history of the ship so well, and I really wish the show's team had gone with something more like this. Another UA-camr has also done their own version of the canon Enterprise - NeonVisual - and it's really interesting comparing their version with your version. Both have a lot of the same methods for making a much more in-canon-looking ship, but both also differ on some of the more flexible detail options. It always astounds me how much talent there is on this site. Thank you for sharing this with us.
Very nicely done. I did attempt to make the USS Constellation maintaining TOS design and adding TMP deflector dish making it look similar to the Doomsday Machine. The idea was to create "What if?" scenario where the mysteries of the Doomsday Machine were integrated on the ship. So the Deflector Dish would also act as a secondary weapon similar to the Romulan Warbirds concept. If you're curious, I have some pictures to send you.
Favorite is still the Enterprise-A and D. And as far as space battles go, I give it to ST6's Battle at Khitomer before all others, even Wrath of Kahn. I will admit that at least 50% of that love comes from hearing Chang on the comms, and the TOS's casts banter on the bridge and when building the torpedo.
For me, the Enterprise in DS9’s Trials and Tribulations and the Defiant in In a Mirror Darkly proved the TOS Enterprise could be a great looking ship in any era. Damn shame STD showrunners and legal department had that 25% difference rule.
Sketchfab model is finally available for you to grab, rotate, etc yourself at: skfb.ly/6RxKu OH Also available on cgtrader if you wanna buy it -- www.cgtrader.com/3d-models/space/spaceship/classic-star-ship-enterprise-enhanced-star-trek-tos
This is gorgeous! I wish CBS Had employed you for the Discovery enterprise, I still love the discovery enterprise but this is excellent and would be more faithful to the original series.
How about the nacelle grills emitting a blue glow when moving, forming a sphere of light at the back. This way, you can have the grills and the spheres both!
Oh my Gaaaaawwwwwddddd. I know what that is. I am familiar with it and I clapped when I saw it. Funny thing is: I also make my own Star Trek ships. I do it with Blender. And when I do it I usually let episodes of RLM or MST3k run in the background.
Yeah this looks great, but I reeeeeeeeaaaaalllyy like the discoprise.,people love to gripe, but it was a neat take on the Enteprise and it didn’t look too... discovery-ish *looks sidelong at the shenzou*
Thank you for your hard work and an insight into how you did homage to the TOS Constitution design model. I especially appreciated your choice of background music; I didn't simply appreciate the fact that it was classical, the piece was well-chosen and seemed to give subtext to the creative process you went through. Well-appreciated video. A small note: On the Bussard collectors, to recreate the scintillating lighting effect, I would have created a translucent hollow globe, put a 'disco-style' light source at the center facing out, and played with fog effects inside the globe and/or frosting effects on it surface. Or to recreate the slitted effect you got, simply a pair of rotating slitted hemispheres over a red light source. I know lighting effects eat up CPU power, but you already put yourself out as doing a work of creative passion, not convenience, which is also, well-appreciated.
I must say I really like the swept back nacelle pylons as a design thing -- especially for Constitution and Miranda class ships. I do agree, though, that the Discovery version is much too dark for the Constitution class USS Enterprise. Star Trek is supposed to be an idealistic show about the things humanity could go on to do if we stopped assigning so much importance to materialism and alienating others, and the colors (in my opinion) should reflect that idealism. Darkly colored aesthetics give it an almost uncomfortable feel, as if something morally "grey" and more sinister is happening on all fronts.
One think that I like about the Discovery version is that it actually looks more like a precursor to the movie-era Enterprise. From a refit perspective, the transition from TOS to TMP Enterprise looks like it would be a major overhaul. By comparison, a Discovery to TMP refit looks more like it would be nacelle and some pylon changes and the insertion of the torpedo launchers as a module between the neck and secondary hull.
@@hotsauce5745 having served in the military, and loved the military atmosphere used in ST II and VI (both with the same director), the darker tone makes perfect sense. years ago i wrote a sci-fi story (never published) of a military that reflects of today's military with warships based on submarine and surface ship designs melded together, modified for use in interstellar space. my time in the Navy inspired that, but so did the old anime show i used to watch as a teenager called "Star Blazers" here in America, and "Battlecruiser Yamato" in Japan. i even scratch built my own model using sub and ship models and fusing them together to make the one ship, and the physical model looked even better than what i imagined, with radiation retardant composite hull plating that was a shade lighter than flat black; practically invisible in space. for military applications, it is a must for the ship to survive.
I really love what you have done with your own take on the TOS Constituton. It's a very unique blend to combining the old lines of the 60s with the flashy look of modern expectations. I don't share the hate for JJ Abrams as if it wasn't for Star Trek 2009 I never would have gotten the interest to take a deep dive into the Star Trek franchise and appreciate it for what it is have what it has.
Everything JJ touches turns to dirt. I watched that 2009 movie (having only seen first contact and undiscovered country and no other star trek) and I instantly hated it. The opening scenes of kid kirk and kid spock were more than enough reason to hate the movie. The script is laughably bad
This is a gorgeous model of the Enterprise (NCC-1701)! This has a vary particular aesthetic that makes it look like a Starfleet ship. To me, the key factor in making ships look like "Starfleet" is that they look like a variation on a design philosophy that shows clear similarities between iterations. Also, the bright painting just looks brilliant. I love the Discovery Enterprise, but I feel that it should have been painted brighter and kept the original pylons, like you said. Great work!
2:29 I disagree. Given the aesthetic of the entire show, the fact that despite what CBS says (Which is deemed either a complete error on their part or a lie), this is an alternate universe and so not beholden to the TOS aesthetic of design. Thus the Discovery Enterprise looks fine to very good for where it is.
@@nuralagus6346 That by itself means its an alternate universe. Further the timeline is all wonky and so couldn't be the TOS timeline anyway. Like I said, CBS either erred or lied, "Discovery", and I would wager "Picard", take place in the same alternate universe. Besides it just make s it all easier to tolerate.
You can disagree, but CBS has the final word on what's canon or not, as they own the property. What you have is your own head canon, which is fine, but that's all it is.
@@pazuzu66613 There are two different licenses: TOS up to ENT, and ST09-PIC+. The second one was created so CBS could keep revenue from TOS-ENT merchandise etc but Paramount could make new IP going forward. It's not clear how those two entities are currently interacting since the re-merger of CBS-Viacom, but I guess CBS allows limited free use of material from "franchise 1" (e.g. 1701-D model in picard) in "franchise 2". It's this division that forced so many stylistic changes in DSC (made before the re-merger)
For what you had to work with this was really beautifully done but bottom line is (and i even thought this as a child in the late 60's) is the nacelles looked like two tubes they originally intended to be rockets and they never got away from that till TMP
I did a couple of 2D plans of my ideal TOS style Enterprise, but simply don't have the skills to make such a wonderful model! Hats off. Happy to share these if anyone wants a look, or indeed any 3D modellers out there want a challenge!
_”the discipline to create within a stylistic structure often yields the best results”._ I totally agree and this can be applied to all areas of visual and audio creativity. Some might consider it restrictive, but ironically the limits of the self-imposed structure actually inspire greater and more coherent and consistent creativity. Limitless choice can produce a confused and directionless product.
Only thing I can compare it to is an eagle speedster. A classic redone and perfected without completely obliterating the soul and the essentials of the original. Very nice! The hard one would be to redo the refit version with the same design ethic. Personally, my favorite fan design of the "connie" is the Phase II variant, where they split the difference between the original spec and the refit by having the rectangular nacelles and the neck mounted torpedo tubes, but the nacelles still have the glowing and spinning bussard collectors at the front.
This design looks like what we should have seen post-Enterprise. Once the NX established the blue grille (as a throughput from TMP and NextGen) all updates should have included it. As you (and others) state here, just take it as a given that some features were there, just not represented by the lower resolution. The Discovery update feels like what we should see pre-TMP, like the last refit before the TMP overhaul.
I feel like the people who redesigned the Enterprise in DIS weren't even paying attention to consistency. They just looked at the two versions (TOS and refit), then did a sorta mishmash and called it a day. The time, energy and attention you've put into your redesign is simply admirable.
Cool!! One can certainly imagine that these were details like you said that were always really there but the picture quality just was not good enough to see them. I am glad you put the spikes too back on the nacelles!! I always imagined myself that perhaps they were actually retractable and perhaps would only be extended depending on whether or not their was enough interstellar gas to make it worth having them extend them. I am partial too to the grilled hulls also as opposed to the weird balls they added after the pilots also.
I like the Strange new worlds enterprise. What I want to see is a deck by deck layout of the ship like every other ship in every other series. It’s supposed to be a real living breathing ship. Get to work Paramount.
Veey nice work, sir. You also got my vote that such minimal engineering changes should be done to the 2009 Enterprise. May I note as well to some viewers who may not know, that the design of the Discovery is one the very first original designs of the TOS Enterprise, but never saw the light of the camera. Very nice to see that design used as a lead ship in a ST series. Also had a good pass-on from the unused design (USS Discovery) to the Enterprise. But as you said, it would have been best if Pike's Enterprise be much closer to the TOS design.
See... THAT'S the way to do it! There's really no radical changes to the ship's profile, which changed her scaling and silhouette. The changes you made are there and noticeable... but not overly so. The Discoprise had too much that was noticeable and THAT pissed me off more than anything.
Discovery didn't have permission to use the enterprise image. Discovery's uniforms, equipment, and ships like the enterprise needed to be 25% different from any known enterprise or star Fleet vessel. You should be able to tell this is a different enterprise or they could have been sued.
@@drmayeda1930 That whole excuse is a load of dren. When Disco's designs were first revealed and the showrunners were called out on it, their ORIGINAL excuse was "We don't know what the 2240s looked like. We've never seen this period of Star Trek history before." The "We don't have the legal rights to use the TOS designs" explanation didn't come up until AFTER it was pointed out The Cage and the footage used to create the flashback scenes in The Menagerie WERE set in the 2240s, so we actually know EXACTLY what Starfleet looked like at the time. It's nothing but a bunch of backtracking and ass-covering. The FACT is they wanted to redesign it, rather than make the original designs work with modern effects, and were making up excuses to justify it. This is made ESPECIALLY evident in Picard: They were legally able to use the Galaxy-class and the original Romulan Bird of Prey (which was a visual update along the same lines of this video, rather than a redesign like the Discoprise). And yet they gave us the DISCOPRISE during the Starfleet Headquarters scene in episode 2. If there WERE licensing issues that had been resolved by the time Picard entered production, then they could have gone back to the original design for the hologram. So sorry, but you've been gaslighted.
@@drmayeda1930 I also disagree with this because when you look at the way CBS actually owns Trek it was Paramount and Bad Robot that had to change and not CBS. So to say they had to be 25% different was the reverse of what the agreement really was. They just snowballed everyone to bring their version of Trek into the modern age by attempting to eliminate Gene's vision of a tolerant future that didn't fit their narrative of what diversification is. Proof of this is how they handled the Klingons in the first season and everything that followed.
To make the Discovery Enterprise more closely resemble the original version, the pylons simply need to be straightened. This can be done immediately, with the intention of later refitting the ship just before Kirk takes command. As part of this refit, the hull can be smoothed out and painted in a brighter color to achieve a closer resemblance to the original version.
I prefer the swept back pylons for both timeline accuracy(NX-era, SNW, TOS, TMP) & because they look cooler. That's all that really needs to be fixed about the TOS design & even then, this new SNW design that we've had for years now looks REALLY good! Though I admit the toothpick pylons at least look better than the JJ pylons.
Well the fan does it as a labor of Love, J.J./disgraceful producers did what they did to burn down the franchise. They make everything about the ships and characters 2 demensional and shallow.
@@1978rharris You have to understand that for these people, "better" means "continuing the fantasy that Star Trek is a documentary and not a vision of a possible idealized future."
Phenomenal. They really should have done something more like what you've done here. I still thing TOS Enterprise is the very best looking Star Trek ship of any era. Very well done.
I think the reasons for the changes with the Discovery Enterprise is that the Roddenberry family still holds the copyright on the original design, so they have to make subtle differences
Very nicely done!! The only thing I've never been able to get past (and I've never seen it mentioned) is the very dated 1950s Airforce font used for the name and registry. The 1979 (TMP) use of eurostyle or microgamma is much easier on the eyes, but I really love what you've done with it.
I love this redesign! You really captured the spirit of the older Constitution class. The only thing I'm not a fan of and it's really minimal are the lights on the back of the fins on the warp engine. It's sad to me that the people in charge of Star Trek are really getting these essential details wrong and I'm grateful that there are dedicated fans such as yourself who are coming up with these brilliant ideas. And a HUGE thank you for not using the larger deflector dish, I've always been put off by that one as well.
The sped up videos of showing each step you did to do the visual enhancements is beyond fascinating to me. Wow. What a cool video. And to be able to do all of that with free software? Seriously?
To be fair toward the Discovery Enterprise, I actually like some of the changes, the shorter neck between primary and engineering hulls addresses a weakness that has always been inherent to the design. The same with the swept-back nacelles; doing this would make a shorter and more direct path for plasma conduits, along with freeing room for the shuttle bay.
@NotJo the things dagnabbit mentioned dont neccessarily have anything to do with batle. Think iof it when a car has a badly designed wiring loom that has to go around a corner, and low and behold everone geta a fault and repairs are needed more frequently. A smoother route means less materials required, and less likelihood of damage and repairs,
@NotJo So you're basically saying that even though the changes improve the design without costing any additional time and/or materials to build, the Federation would just say "nah fam I'm good"? That's like being able to choose between a less prone to malfunction car and more prone to malfunction car, in the same price range, and choosing the latter... how does that make any sense?
@NotJo but is that Lore canon? Either thst, or that particular enterprise was the equivalent of the Chrysler crossfire. Tried to start a trend that the rest didnt follow 😂
@NotJo i mean, looking at a ship line up, the NCC1701 is the only one NOT to have the wider sweeping nacelle strut. Tgat was one of the main updates from the - to the A
That is the best updated TOS Enterprise model I have seen yet. The only problem I see with it is that you forgot the choke ring antenna that is behind the deflector dish (it is that copper-colored thing composed of concentric raised rings). Later ships probably used some sort of flat phased array in place of it, but all versions of the Enterprise had the choke ring unit. While it is hard to see in the shots I have available, I suspect that the concentric cylinders went most of the depth of that truncated cone section behind the dish and that the pressure hull actually ends in a flat surface behind the truncated cone section. Real-world antennas of that design are omnidirectional and can determine range and bearing very accurately, so I suspect it was supposed to be part of their subspace radio system, short range sensors, maybe even tractor beam system considering the deflector stalk as the central element, or some combination of the above.
The 2009 J.J. Abrams 'Enterprise' is a mockery, but, understand that legally, they had to make it 25 percent different. Some kind of weird copyright clause.
@@davidmaestas2915 Calling it an 'Abomination' and 'a mockery' may be reasonable judgments upon its aesthetics (and the obsequious legalities from which they sprang) - however, understanding that everything took place in a forked timeline seems to me to be a reasonable excuse to 'break with canon' on some design conventions, both functional and aesthetic. Starfleet probably got pretty shook up when they lost a ship to an unknown, insanely superior design and acted for 25 years as if they might be going to war soon.
I just cant swallow on the fact that the discovery show, where ships and technology look like they belong far after the jjverse is before the oldest version of ST
I love the udpate you did the design! It's a very appropriate update to the ship that respects the original and adds details and enhancements to it. Well done!
Your design would serve very well as the ship Robert April took command of in Roddenberry's first storyline proposal back in 1964. The one for ST: SNW could be portrayed as a Constitution Class Mark 1*, the * to designate a modification upgrade from the original design with its swept back pylons, etc. Outstanding work in contrast to much of the year 2020 that became a waste for much of humanity.
This was magnificent - beautifully done! The original Enterprise (and slight modifications thereof like this one!) will *forever* be my favorite design. You always have a soft place in the heart for your first love. Despite the original being a "utilitarian" design, the sultry feminine curves on the upper and lower saucer surfaces are my favorite feature. PS - those antennas on the forward nacelle caps always looked silly to me: engines don't have antennas! Now, I'm off to install Blender 3D and teach myself how to model. I have all the time in the world right now... Oh, and that Sketchfab version is pretty damn cool - smooth rotating and zooming even on my 3 year old $550 Dell laptop with integrated graphics.
I love this. My nitpick is how aztec gets used nowadays. Isnt aztec pattern intended to represent plating? Like if you look at the TMP Ent, the aztec pattern represents the smaller panels that make up the larger panels. But if you look at the aztec on most modern designs (including this one) it seems like aztecing is just a sort of arbitrary paint scheme with no real relation to the larger plating on the ship.
I like the DIS Enterprise. I just accept DIS as being set in a slightly altered timeline after the temporal cold war of ENT. Things are mostly the same with just a few minor changes (like uniform and ship designs). They even mention in one episode how Archer returned a Klingon back to Quo'nos, which I believe didn't happen in the original timeline.
The basic design of the ENTERPRISE is one of the most fascinating concepts I have ever seen for a STARSHIP, it's can more appropriately be called a GREAT WORK OF ART.I read all the history and people involved in its creation but the beauty of first seeing it slowly go by the tv screen as SHATNERS monolauge plays and then whoosh off the screen as everybody watched the star background wait suddenly woodshed by again told us all that this show was something special.And even after the many spin-offs and alterations to the ships,the basics are still there and no other franchise or show has been able to make a better design of what a STARSHIP should look like.
Great minds thinks similar! When I made the USS Discovery for Star Trek Origins (a defunct fan film, time at the same time period that Star Trek Discovery... but like ten years ago or more) I had similar ideas. For example the deflector dish, putting the blue back glow and adding some details.
Love it, my own personal only changes would be to use the deflector dish from the JJ-verse, the TMP bridge and move the phaser bank place to match the TMP model, as well as the TMP lines around the rim of the saucer.
is it really fair to compare actual Star Trek to "I wish I was Star Trek so I spent a lot of money for a IP license in a attempt to force people to call my train wreck of a series real Star Trek". ship looks great man, it's a shame you didn't do the texturing for the Star Trek MMO. Have you ever considered doing texture mods for games?
From a former member on the Trek BBS Trek Tech forum, you've done Matt Jefferies a great honor! The Ex Astris Scientia site should take a gander at this.
This is what happens when fans and lovers of the franchise design for Star Trek. Discovery/Picard is what happens when studio shills design for Star Trek.
According to midnightsedge (youtube channel), the designers from DSC started out by just improving the original design only so far as necessary to look good on a modern show. However, they then received instructions to make it at least 25% different- possibly due to licensing issues. Midnightsedge theorizes that all the new shows are being produced under a separate license created originally for 09 Star Trek. Even though CBS do own the license to the original models, Bad Robot/Secret Hideout are producing the new shows . This complexity is created to ensure that rights to the royalties derived from the likeness of Star Trek (TOS up to ENT) are preserved independently. Since this means that all new material currently being produced as "Star Trek" exists in a separate property, from the IP point of view, fans may be justified in considering it as non-canon. One of the disturbing aspects of this is the necessity to constantly alter designs to ensure they are distinct from the original properties to avoid copyright infringement. Even if right now both 'Star Treks' belong to the consolidated CBS, they may wish to sell them as separate properties in the future, and can maximize their individual value by minimizing the crossover in physical assets that can be sold as merchandise.
@@oliver8296 That...is rather interesting. And if that is correct then why bother shoehorning either of these shows into the original continuity/canon? Fans would have looked at Discovery and Picard totally different if they just said its another timeline entirely. With 24th century Borg tech being found in the Arctic in ENT, it could have explained everything similar to the Kelvin timeline. 🤔
@@mbogucki1 Since they own both sets of IP, for now they can do as they wish. To me it would make sense to produce everything under one license... but then someone might get sued for royalties from one direction or the other, who knows what's in the contracts. Midnightsedge claims to have had CBS employees come to them with this info, so there's that. Regardless, we have to assume corporations will take any chance to capitalize, this includes remodeling things like ships, species, phasers etc just so fans might buy more merchandise. As for the borg tech, personally I had assumed that the Riker/Troi connection to the last ENT episode meant that the implications of the ENT borg episode was already part of the continuity
This is an amazing ship update! It really takes Jeffries designs into account. As far as the Discovery Enterprise, I feel like the bulkiness of it works as a pre-kirk enterprise. The hard part is the cage is still canon. That being said, we may have a precedent for In canon visual changes. I have used the “first contact” explanation. Zephram Cochran SAW the enterprise E and Lily was ON the ship. So just like how TOS communicators influenced the design of the first flip cell phones, Cochran seeing the Enterprise E had an impact in all future ship design from that point onward. It was a new VISUAL timeline. And since First Contact took place after both Trials and Tribulations and Relics, those events likely NOW looked different. Like if you look at the phoenix, its warp nacelle design is very similar to TOS era ships, yet the NX 01 looked a lot like a sovereign class ship. With this in mind, the Prime Timeline likely looks completely different now until it evens out the closer you get to the Enterprise E period. Its also why in Picard when he goes to Starfleet and sees a display of the older enterprises the 01 is the discovery version (also, thats the model they had on file, but we are talking trying to explain it IN canon here) So I am fine with the Discovery Design, that said, if they want to keep with this same visual update idea, I would love if your design is the NEW visual canon for the Kirk Era Enterprise. There could be a reference on one of the new shows, no need to go all George Lucas on TOS.
Hello. Nice. I myself don't dislike "DIscovery's" version of Enterprise, either, nor do I dislike the movie reboot Enterprise for that matter. Yet, I love your version even more the same way I love the "TOS" and "TMP" versions; it is what Enterprise should have looked like in "Discovery." My reaction, though, for "Discoprise" was in two words: close enough. I would ask the people at CBS Studios and those at Secret Hideout to take notes. Thanks for sharing. Live long and prosper.
@@robertebersold3817 I still held out hope for a Sulu/Excelsior series, how awesome would that have been? Even had someone tell me once that they talked with George Takei about it never happening and he said it was "a damn shame", so it sounded like he would have been all for it too :D
Nice. I always preferred the original Constitution over the refit. I did like the 2009 version, although I wondered why JJ had such a different design instead of just a more detailed modern version.
"Seemingly arbitrary changes" Repeat after me: contractually obliged to make it 25% different. Btw, funny thing, I first met Star Trek when I was a child, and it was TNG. I was... 8, I think. So for me, D is The One True Bestest Enterprise. BUT, the funny part is - in my country, all of the ST lore wasn't as prolific and known, so I thought D is the only one, and during the years, as I caught glimpses of the original one, and others, I got a bit confused, because they were all similar enough to parse in my brain as the same ship, but different enough to be... obviously different. I even remember noticing the difference between the big D miniature and the small one. I wasn't exactly sure what was different, I just knew the I liked the small miniature, with its thicker, less elegant saucer edge, and deflector rim much less... It was only years and years later, with Internet and youtube and the comparison and analysis videos, that I started to put it all together, started understanding the whole timeline, and why there were so many different, yet similar enterprises. But since the first one I ever saw was Galaxy, TOS Enterprise has always looked... silly to me in comparison. Like this dangly, fragile thing built out of lollipop sticks, as opposed to Ds robust, smooth elegance. Extra funny thing: I could never properly draw Galaxy, and again, it was only around this time that I realized why: from how it's shown in TNG, it is rarely obvious that it's saucer is actually an ellipse wider than it is long. I've always tried to draw it perfectly circular.
This is by far the most beautiful rendition of the original Enterprise I've ever seen. Absolutely amazing.
You should be in charge of ship designs from mid 23rd and late 24th. You really understand the design principles much better than the current Star Trek attempts.
That's a problem with "NuTrek"...the base to start iterating ship designs is RIGHT THERE in hours of footage. All you need to do is make tweaks either backwards or forwards from any starting point, and you have your "new" ship.
Too many times designers have to come up with something from scratch - in this case you have decades of how to make a Starfleet ship, by era, staring you in the face.
Well there is the problem with the split licence. Long story short: The makers of new Trek don't own the rights to classical Trek and therefore cannot use classicals designs as they are. They're contractually bound to be "25% different" (whatever that is supposed to mean). I get why new trek designs new ships from scratch instead modifying existing ones: They don't want to be sued to oblivion by the owners of classical trek. So I don't think the issue is the current attempts failing to understand the design principles but rather being forced to divert from them.
@@MrAranton Then that is a failure of the current teams to secure the rights to the IP and I doubt that would be enforced considering how popular the earlier treks are and how much backlash that would cause like in 2009.
yeah! ever think about letting yourself go into suspended animation and get thawed out in those times to show them your better designs? LOL
@@MrAranton That actually hasn't been proven to be true and there's tons of evidence to the contrary. CBS owns the rights to Star Trek and they're the ones making Discovery. Discovery season 2 showed footage from the original series. One Short Trek directly used audio clips from TOS. How do you measure a 25% difference legally? The truth is you can't and that rule doesn't exist. If they truly didn't own the rights they wouldn't be able to make a Trek show. I'm guessing you got your info from a certain UA-camr who claims to have inside knowledge when he really doesn't.
to me this is the ultimate version of Enterprise from “the cage” and the standard TOS the deg3d renders
Congratulations on the awesome work
My very favorite is pilot # 1 & 2 , the very first version of the Constitution class . also the regular series.
You’re a genius. THIS proves how well the original could of been updated for modern TV whilst still preserving the design and continuity. Kurtzman and his hacks upset me so much. Imagine if Disney decided to redesign the Millenium Falcon just because they thought they could make it look cooler. Why does Star Trek always get treated so poorly.
Piss off, kurtzman trek!
"Engineers! They just love to change things!"
Hello Computer.
@@NotDeadYetIWBB1D :
Hello. This is not an Apple MacIntosh.
"A 1960s version just wouldn't look right while flying next to the Discovery, I get that"
Sounds like a problem for Discovery and not you. The fact that you've taken a design from the original source material and improved upon it shows that your mindset is more respecting the original design than say the effects artists for Discovery.
NAILED it . Well done.
Star trek started when I was 6 years old and I've been in love with the design since then. Your enhancements make a timeless ship even better. Bravo
This is terrific work! If only modern producers weren't so determined to change everything. The grand old lady still looks as magnificent as her maiden voyage.
i thought that i was the only one that wondered where the phasers were coming from! and i have to admit, im one of the few trek fans that favors the TOS ship over the TMP refit version. in fact i prefer TOS designs over their TMP counterparts. yes im a weird trek fan. but my favorite uniform is the ENT version, they seem like the most practical.
You're not the only one. The TOS design always looked better to me, too.
So am I, both regarding TOS design and uniform.
I love the fan made TOS Miranda class it’s basically a Miranda but with the original enterprise warp necells
I was gone for quite some time, mi brain is broken. What was ENT? I am a bit rusty.
@@offiziellertaiwanesischers1939 Star Trek : Enterprise.
Exceptional work. Best recreation I've seen so far with logical choices for an EARLY Enterprise. Well done.
Me, to CBS: “Okay, so about your (Enterprise Design). I think it’s really good, except, it sucks. So why don’t you let (Resurrected Starships) do the (Enterprise Design), that way it might be really good?”
CBS: “Sheer ffu-“
Totally agreed.
“really good, but it sucks” - so... it’s _not_ really good?? Could you elaborate on that? :s
UGNAvalon
I take it you haven’t watched Infinity War?
@@SchneeflockeMonsoon i have, but i'm failing to think of what would make it "really good, but sucks". :/
In general, i've seen many ppl react to movies as "fun/mindless popcorn flicks, despite many flaws &/or dumb ideas", (but never as "it's really good, but it sucks",) so is that what you had in mind?
UGNAvalon
No, I’m just quoting Star-Lord.
For anyone wondering the background is Listz "Hungarian Raphsody no. 2"
Thank you!
I love this song, it's hard to not focus on it rather than his voice.
The fan design is superior by thumbnail comparison alone.
*SARCASM ALERT*
It's almost as if someone who understand the visual language of a setting and is enthusiastic about both innovating while understanding where to maintain visual continuity can do a better job than some artist who probably knows nothing of Star-Trek and is handed down a set of directives from corporate.
HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
you mean John Eaves???
Almost ?
Yep!!!
Whaaaaaaat?! Inconceivable!
Absolutely stunning, this should be the new standard in all future showing of the ship
You want them to change it again? Nah.
Absolutely
Except for the part where this model is just complete garbage.
They changed everything because of a rights issue requiring all designs to be 25 percent different from all the IPs caught up in the paramount Vs CBS merger and re split debacle. Simply put, for them to sell merch and make profit they can't use the original designs or they have to be altered by 25 percent.
@@TheGameSnapper The whole 25% thing is made up internally just so it wouldn’t look odd and out of place next to the USS Discovery. Since they OWN the Enterprise lock, stock and barrel, it was little more than an update to their own design.
Were it kept as it was next to the USS Discovery, the Discovery would literally be TRIPLE the size of TOS Enterprise.
Just as a note, the Kelvin-timeline Enterprise isn't even supposed to be the same ship. The Kelvin timeline ties in with the main timeline via the events surrounding the Hobus supernova that sent the Narada back in time, creating a parallel timeline where the USS Kelvin was destroyed which forced Starfleet to consider larger, more advanced ships with a more military focus. The only thing it shares with the original Enterprise is its name, designation and class name.
I know this is a bit late but no that reason doesn't work at all, because when the Narada first shows up, it instantly meets the Kelvin which has been flying around for at least a decade, it's already bigger than the original constitution class and has twice the amount of crew. They just didn't know or care for the source material, they didn't get phasers right either, hand held or ship wise, they're all just blasters.
@@t3h51d3w1nd3r
There's three major issues with your argument:
1. The Kelvin-class is exclusive to the Kelvin timeline, it never existed in the original timeline. Its role is that of a long range survey ship and as such a large ship capable of carrying sufficient supplies and equipment for extended missions would be necessary, especially considering it's a pre-replicator ship.
2. Ships larger than the Constitution class in the TOS era isn't an inconsistency in itself either. While the Kelvin class wasn't in the original timeline, there _was_ the Federation class which came in at 320m in length (and yes, this is a canon vessel, it technically debuted in Wrath of Khan). Plus, there were multiple pre-fed ships in the 300m length range with significantly more bulk than ones used by the Federation. And then you get into the Vulcan ships, where there's the D'kyr and Sh'ran, both of which come in at a whopping 600m long.
3. Even if you ignore all this, the Kelvin class is actually not that much of a leap in size compared to other TOS era vessels. It measures 457m in length, which while double the size of the constitution, still puts it just a bit over 120m longer than the Federation class. A vessel like this in the TOS era would likely be either a one-off or one of only a small handful of ships (at least if you ignore the ships that Discovery introduced), but it's not unfeasible for the era.
As a side note, keep in mind that although the Kelvin is very large for a TOS era ship, it's absolutely dwarfed by the Kelvin Timeline Constitution which also has a much sleeker and significantly more high-tech design than its main-timeline counterpart or the Kelvin. So regardless, there's still a SIGNIFICANT tech leap after the Kelvin incident.
I have to admit, the TOS Connie wasn't my favorite Enterprise. That honor goes to the Refit. To my eyes, the TOS ship looked too much like what it was, a utilitarian work-horse, if that makes any sense. I didn't by any means hate the design, it's a classic, and the root from which all others grow. It just looked too inelegant to my eyes, due in most part to the straight pylons and geometrically simple design. The Refit Connie, with the hull aztecing, the swept pylons and the rectangular nacelles looks more like a thoroughbred than a draft horse to me.
That being said, I LOVE your take on the TOS ship. You improved it while being true to Matt Jeffries' original design. The love you have for this ship shines through. My only complaint (and it's just personal preference) is that the glows on the interior of the nacelles are a little jarring, possibly because you don't have such prominent glows anywhere else on the ship (the deflector glows are small and partially obscured by the dish, while the nacelle aft grill glows are small and not always visible). Just minor personal niggles.
Anyways, please. Keep up the fantastic work!
The thing about the original Enterprise was that the model was designed by people who ACTUALLY SERVED ABOARD NAVAL VESSELS and thus understood HOW a ship needed to be designed in order to function. They were essentially taking the principles of a (then) modern naval vessel and applying them to a fictional spaceship. So if the original Enterprise was "utilitarian" in design, that's because it IS.
Later ships were designed by ARTISTS instead. So while they may aesthetically LOOK better, the TOS Enterprise is the one that was actually designed to be as realistic as possible.
@@Ambaryerno I fully understand that, and that's actually not a mark against the TOS Connie. In fact, I love her _interior_ design because of it. A highly compartmentalized space-vessel is a good thing. The Titanic proved that. So did the JJ-Prise. So many deaths could have been prevented had the interior spaces not been designed to look like a brewery.
Don't get me wrong, in no ways do I hate or even really dislike the original design. I just prefer the Refit one. To me, it takes that practicality of design from the original and adds a little elegance. It's just my preference and my opinion. I know that others might not share them, and that's perfectly fine.
Thanks for responding to my comment, and I hope you and yours stay healthy and safe!
The TOS Enterprise was supposed to be utilitarian. The Constitution class was always the primary "work horse" starship for the Federation in it's earlier years. The refit came during a major shift in Starfleet's focus of creating a "Multi-Role" fleet where ships, of every class, could fit various roles giving Starfleet far more flexibility rather than only being able to deploy certain classes for specific duties. Heck even the Oberth class could fill minor escort and simple patrol duties rather than just science. Personally I prefer the Movie version (STMP -STUC) to the TOS, but they started it off well with a simple and easily understandable design that was easily the most Flexible ship of the time.
OmegaReaver the same man Matt Jefferies designed both. He created the ENTERPRISE as “modular” that could replace various things such as the engines. They were meant to be kept away from the crew and could be easily ejected/replaced as needed. QUICK CHANGE UNITS. So he redesigned it for PHASE II where he flattened the engines and swept back the pylons.
OmegaReaver Well said. Everyone gets to have an opinion. :)
People like you keep True Trek alive for hardcore fans like us. Keep it up. Excellent.
The new ship isn't darker; the ships are more like they would be in real space, unlike the previous series where they were lit as if there were a nearby light source.
“I don’t like arbitrary changes made to the design of the original Enterprise. But, here’s a list of arbitrary changes I’d make to the design of the original Enterprise”.
Absolutely love the 2009 version and the discovery version of the Enterprise. I have no problem when they change things I actually like that they doo. It's refreshing to see new takes on things. Like I like how they change how the Klingons look. Also the 2009 obviously takes place in an alternate time line so it doesn't break continuity. And even if did, like in Discovery, I don't mind. I just wanna see cool designs, new or old. And why should it always be better? Why isn't just different good enough? And Different doesn't automatically mean worse.
Looks great,you did a nice job. Shows you care and are a true fan.🖖
I absolutely love this model!!! I’ve always hated when they ‘re-design’ ship’s for new series in Star Trek; ‘resurrecting’ them is a much better alternative. Thanks again: live long and prosper 🖖🏻
The reason the bridge was so big on the two pilot episodes is because the size of the ship wasn't established yet.
Red lights for port side and green lights for starboard?? I never knew that! Also: Disco Enterprise is the way you make a re-visioned retro- Enterprise. It's so much better than the horrible JJ Abrams abominations.
Nice couple frames from RLM's Best of the Worst.
When you think you've gone crazy and are imagining Rich Evans appearing in other videos...
@@sjd1701 Rich Evans is always in my heart.
Bloodz vs. Wolvez!
The nacelle pylons on the original have always been a problem for me. But then again, I grew up with TNG, where the flaw of such fragile looking structures was somewhat mitigated by moving them closer to the hull. On the refit, they at least echoed the angle pylon connecting the primary and secondary hull, which helped them not look like such an anomaly.
I'm not taking anything away from your work, but I don't think an up-resed version of the original ship would hold up even next to the Enterprise-D...let alone something put to screen almost 40 years after that.
Nicely done! I really love the attention to detail throughout this VFX model. It respects the history of the ship so well, and I really wish the show's team had gone with something more like this. Another UA-camr has also done their own version of the canon Enterprise - NeonVisual - and it's really interesting comparing their version with your version. Both have a lot of the same methods for making a much more in-canon-looking ship, but both also differ on some of the more flexible detail options. It always astounds me how much talent there is on this site. Thank you for sharing this with us.
Very nicely done. I did attempt to make the USS Constellation maintaining TOS design and adding TMP deflector dish making it look similar to the Doomsday Machine. The idea was to create "What if?" scenario where the mysteries of the Doomsday Machine were integrated on the ship. So the Deflector Dish would also act as a secondary weapon similar to the Romulan Warbirds concept. If you're curious, I have some pictures to send you.
I eliminated the balls in the back
nooooo...not my balls 🤣
Sorry too tempting.
No balls... KIRK HAD LEFT THE CHAT!
These are the voyages of the starship Neuterprise...
@@qjo it's 10 episode mission TO HUMILIATE PATRICK STEWART!
Don't tell Scotty the Enterprise use to have balls.
@@Triskster NX had bigger balls then JJ Kirk.
Favorite is still the Enterprise-A and D. And as far as space battles go, I give it to ST6's Battle at Khitomer before all others, even Wrath of Kahn. I will admit that at least 50% of that love comes from hearing Chang on the comms, and the TOS's casts banter on the bridge and when building the torpedo.
For me, the Enterprise in DS9’s Trials and Tribulations and the Defiant in In a Mirror Darkly proved the TOS Enterprise could be a great looking ship in any era. Damn shame STD showrunners and legal department had that 25% difference rule.
Ever notice on the old AMT Enterprise kit those 3 small circles around the sensor dome?. Those were phasers forward, port and starboard.
I seriously can't tell a difference
Apparently, the 25% rule was mostly made up and the designers and producers of the show stated that it was just to set it in the discovery era trek.
I'm glad they did. Helps me solidify that NuTrek is NOT Star Trek.
Star Trek is dead.
@@slyguythreeonetwonine3172 I mean... it is, and nothing will change that
The U.S.S. Enterprise Refit is my favorite starship but this is now my VERY close second. Awesome job.
Sketchfab model is finally available for you to grab, rotate, etc yourself at: skfb.ly/6RxKu OH Also available on cgtrader if you wanna buy it -- www.cgtrader.com/3d-models/space/spaceship/classic-star-ship-enterprise-enhanced-star-trek-tos
This is gorgeous!
I wish CBS Had employed you for the Discovery enterprise, I still love the discovery enterprise but this is excellent and would be more faithful to the original series.
Man fantastic job !! ... You did awsome !!!😁
@@realhyperhamster you took the words out of my mouth !! .... Absolutely fantastic job !!!! 😁
Holy Cow, I want this site as an App or to look at ALL other models !
Have you been approached by any studios for a position?
How about the nacelle grills emitting a blue glow when moving, forming a sphere of light at the back. This way, you can have the grills and the spheres both!
The one dislike was from the Klingon Empire.
I am not a Klingon, but I did watch it all the way through and still gave it a thumbs-down.
Qapla'
Or J J Abrams.
Jo Ann Smith well, he’s been doing his best to destroy the franchise...
More likely CBS executives
I would LOVE to see a reaction video of what Shatner would think of this...
Oh hell it looks great, and I'm a pretty big fan of the Discovery Enterprise.
4:38 RLM!
Was just about to comment on that too!
Oh my Gaaaaawwwwwddddd. I know what that is. I am familiar with it and I clapped when I saw it.
Funny thing is: I also make my own Star Trek ships. I do it with Blender. And when I do it I usually let episodes of RLM or MST3k run in the background.
Yeah this looks great, but I reeeeeeeeaaaaalllyy like the discoprise.,people love to gripe, but it was a neat take on the Enteprise and it didn’t look too... discovery-ish
*looks sidelong at the shenzou*
Thank you for your hard work and an insight into how you did homage to the TOS Constitution design model.
I especially appreciated your choice of background music; I didn't simply appreciate the fact that it was classical, the piece was well-chosen and seemed to give subtext to the creative process you went through. Well-appreciated video.
A small note: On the Bussard collectors, to recreate the scintillating lighting effect, I would have created a translucent hollow globe, put a 'disco-style' light source at the center facing out, and played with fog effects inside the globe and/or frosting effects on it surface. Or to recreate the slitted effect you got, simply a pair of rotating slitted hemispheres over a red light source. I know lighting effects eat up CPU power, but you already put yourself out as doing a work of creative passion, not convenience, which is also, well-appreciated.
I must say I really like the swept back nacelle pylons as a design thing -- especially for Constitution and Miranda class ships.
I do agree, though, that the Discovery version is much too dark for the Constitution class USS Enterprise. Star Trek is supposed to be an idealistic show about the things humanity could go on to do if we stopped assigning so much importance to materialism and alienating others, and the colors (in my opinion) should reflect that idealism. Darkly colored aesthetics give it an almost uncomfortable feel, as if something morally "grey" and more sinister is happening on all fronts.
Although I like what was created in this video I do enjoy darker tones. I just don't find bright colors on ships to be taken all that seriously.
One think that I like about the Discovery version is that it actually looks more like a precursor to the movie-era Enterprise. From a refit perspective, the transition from TOS to TMP Enterprise looks like it would be a major overhaul. By comparison, a Discovery to TMP refit looks more like it would be nacelle and some pylon changes and the insertion of the torpedo launchers as a module between the neck and secondary hull.
@@hotsauce5745 having served in the military, and loved the military atmosphere used in ST II and VI (both with the same director), the darker tone makes perfect sense. years ago i wrote a sci-fi story (never published) of a military that reflects of today's military with warships based on submarine and surface ship designs melded together, modified for use in interstellar space. my time in the Navy inspired that, but so did the old anime show i used to watch as a teenager called "Star Blazers" here in America, and "Battlecruiser Yamato" in Japan. i even scratch built my own model using sub and ship models and fusing them together to make the one ship, and the physical model looked even better than what i imagined, with radiation retardant composite hull plating that was a shade lighter than flat black; practically invisible in space. for military applications, it is a must for the ship to survive.
From a fellow hardcore long time trekker.
That is exactly what a TOS Enterprise would look like.
You're doing it right.
Scotty would be proud.
I really love what you have done with your own take on the TOS Constituton. It's a very unique blend to combining the old lines of the 60s with the flashy look of modern expectations.
I don't share the hate for JJ Abrams as if it wasn't for Star Trek 2009 I never would have gotten the interest to take a deep dive into the Star Trek franchise and appreciate it for what it is have what it has.
Everything JJ touches turns to dirt. I watched that 2009 movie (having only seen first contact and undiscovered country and no other star trek) and I instantly hated it. The opening scenes of kid kirk and kid spock were more than enough reason to hate the movie. The script is laughably bad
@@djangofett4879 says prequel fett
This is a gorgeous model of the Enterprise (NCC-1701)! This has a vary particular aesthetic that makes it look like a Starfleet ship. To me, the key factor in making ships look like "Starfleet" is that they look like a variation on a design philosophy that shows clear similarities between iterations. Also, the bright painting just looks brilliant. I love the Discovery Enterprise, but I feel that it should have been painted brighter and kept the original pylons, like you said.
Great work!
2:29 I disagree. Given the aesthetic of the entire show, the fact that despite what CBS says (Which is deemed either a complete error on their part or a lie), this is an alternate universe and so not beholden to the TOS aesthetic of design. Thus the Discovery Enterprise looks fine to very good for where it is.
It's not an alternate universe, but a redesigned version of the Prime timeline.
@@nuralagus6346
That by itself means its an alternate universe. Further the timeline is all wonky and so couldn't be the TOS timeline anyway.
Like I said, CBS either erred or lied, "Discovery", and I would wager "Picard", take place in the same alternate universe.
Besides it just make s it all easier to tolerate.
@@DocWolph I don't tolerate it... I loathe it.
You can disagree, but CBS has the final word on what's canon or not, as they own the property. What you have is your own head canon, which is fine, but that's all it is.
@@pazuzu66613 There are two different licenses: TOS up to ENT, and ST09-PIC+. The second one was created so CBS could keep revenue from TOS-ENT merchandise etc but Paramount could make new IP going forward. It's not clear how those two entities are currently interacting since the re-merger of CBS-Viacom, but I guess CBS allows limited free use of material from "franchise 1" (e.g. 1701-D model in picard) in "franchise 2". It's this division that forced so many stylistic changes in DSC (made before the re-merger)
For what you had to work with this was really beautifully done but bottom line is (and i even thought this as a child in the late 60's) is the nacelles looked like two tubes they originally intended to be rockets and they never got away from that till TMP
4:37 Ahh, a fellow RLM fan! No one's ever really gone! xD
I knew I saw something funny
I did a couple of 2D plans of my ideal TOS style Enterprise, but simply don't have the skills to make such a wonderful model! Hats off. Happy to share these if anyone wants a look, or indeed any 3D modellers out there want a challenge!
_”the discipline to create within a stylistic structure often yields the best results”._ I totally agree and this can be applied to all areas of visual and audio creativity. Some might consider it restrictive, but ironically the limits of the self-imposed structure actually inspire greater and more coherent and consistent creativity. Limitless choice can produce a confused and directionless product.
Only thing I can compare it to is an eagle speedster. A classic redone and perfected without completely obliterating the soul and the essentials of the original. Very nice!
The hard one would be to redo the refit version with the same design ethic. Personally, my favorite fan design of the "connie" is the Phase II variant, where they split the difference between the original spec and the refit by having the rectangular nacelles and the neck mounted torpedo tubes, but the nacelles still have the glowing and spinning bussard collectors at the front.
Looks great. I got to admit the new enterprise design I like alot, my 2nd favourite ship now has I think it fits in better between Enterprise and TMP.
This design looks like what we should have seen post-Enterprise. Once the NX established the blue grille (as a throughput from TMP and NextGen) all updates should have included it. As you (and others) state here, just take it as a given that some features were there, just not represented by the lower resolution. The Discovery update feels like what we should see pre-TMP, like the last refit before the TMP overhaul.
I feel like the people who redesigned the Enterprise in DIS weren't even paying attention to consistency. They just looked at the two versions (TOS and refit), then did a sorta mishmash and called it a day.
The time, energy and attention you've put into your redesign is simply admirable.
Cool!! One can certainly imagine that these were details like you said that were always really there but the picture quality just was not good enough to see them. I am glad you put the spikes too back on the nacelles!! I always imagined myself that perhaps they were actually retractable and perhaps would only be extended depending on whether or not their was enough interstellar gas to make it worth having them extend them. I am partial too to the grilled hulls also as opposed to the weird balls they added after the pilots also.
I like the Strange new worlds enterprise. What I want to see is a deck by deck layout of the ship like every other ship in every other series. It’s supposed to be a real living breathing ship. Get to work Paramount.
Veey nice work, sir. You also got my vote that such minimal engineering changes should be done to the 2009 Enterprise. May I note as well to some viewers who may not know, that the design of the Discovery is one the very first original designs of the TOS Enterprise, but never saw the light of the camera. Very nice to see that design used as a lead ship in a ST series. Also had a good pass-on from the unused design (USS Discovery) to the Enterprise. But as you said, it would have been best if Pike's Enterprise be much closer to the TOS design.
See... THAT'S the way to do it! There's really no radical changes to the ship's profile, which changed her scaling and silhouette. The changes you made are there and noticeable... but not overly so. The Discoprise had too much that was noticeable and THAT pissed me off more than anything.
Discovery didn't have permission to use the enterprise image. Discovery's uniforms, equipment, and ships like the enterprise needed to be 25% different from any known enterprise or star Fleet vessel. You should be able to tell this is a different enterprise or they could have been sued.
@@drmayeda1930 That whole excuse is a load of dren.
When Disco's designs were first revealed and the showrunners were called out on it, their ORIGINAL excuse was "We don't know what the 2240s looked like. We've never seen this period of Star Trek history before." The "We don't have the legal rights to use the TOS designs" explanation didn't come up until AFTER it was pointed out The Cage and the footage used to create the flashback scenes in The Menagerie WERE set in the 2240s, so we actually know EXACTLY what Starfleet looked like at the time.
It's nothing but a bunch of backtracking and ass-covering. The FACT is they wanted to redesign it, rather than make the original designs work with modern effects, and were making up excuses to justify it.
This is made ESPECIALLY evident in Picard: They were legally able to use the Galaxy-class and the original Romulan Bird of Prey (which was a visual update along the same lines of this video, rather than a redesign like the Discoprise). And yet they gave us the DISCOPRISE during the Starfleet Headquarters scene in episode 2. If there WERE licensing issues that had been resolved by the time Picard entered production, then they could have gone back to the original design for the hologram.
So sorry, but you've been gaslighted.
@@drmayeda1930 I also disagree with this because when you look at the way CBS actually owns Trek it was Paramount and Bad Robot that had to change and not CBS. So to say they had to be 25% different was the reverse of what the agreement really was. They just snowballed everyone to bring their version of Trek into the modern age by attempting to eliminate Gene's vision of a tolerant future that didn't fit their narrative of what diversification is. Proof of this is how they handled the Klingons in the first season and everything that followed.
To make the Discovery Enterprise more closely resemble the original version, the pylons simply need to be straightened. This can be done immediately, with the intention of later refitting the ship just before Kirk takes command. As part of this refit, the hull can be smoothed out and painted in a brighter color to achieve a closer resemblance to the original version.
I prefer the swept back pylons for both timeline accuracy(NX-era, SNW, TOS, TMP) & because they look cooler. That's all that really needs to be fixed about the TOS design & even then, this new SNW design that we've had for years now looks REALLY good! Though I admit the toothpick pylons at least look better than the JJ pylons.
Gorgeous rendition, man. Never ceases to amaze how a fan on a shoestring budget can surpass the well-funded studio so completely.
Well the fan does it as a labor of Love, J.J./disgraceful producers did what they did to burn down the franchise. They make everything about the ships and characters 2 demensional and shallow.
Did we just watch the same thing? No WAY was this better than the DSC version.
@@1978rharris You have to understand that for these people, "better" means "continuing the fantasy that Star Trek is a documentary and not a vision of a possible idealized future."
Phenomenal. They really should have done something more like what you've done here. I still thing TOS Enterprise is the very best looking Star Trek ship of any era. Very well done.
TOS Enterprise is still the most beautiful version of the Constitution class & your upgraded design of the TOS Enterprise is very beautiful aswell
I think the reasons for the changes with the Discovery Enterprise is that the Roddenberry family still holds the copyright on the original design, so they have to make subtle differences
The Disco-Connie was one design I thought they did a pretty good job at updating. Not an extreme redesign like JJ, just a nice refresh.
Very nicely done!! The only thing I've never been able to get past (and I've never seen it mentioned) is the very dated 1950s Airforce font used for the name and registry. The 1979 (TMP) use of eurostyle or microgamma is much easier on the eyes, but I really love what you've done with it.
I love this redesign! You really captured the spirit of the older Constitution class. The only thing I'm not a fan of and it's really minimal are the lights on the back of the fins on the warp engine. It's sad to me that the people in charge of Star Trek are really getting these essential details wrong and I'm grateful that there are dedicated fans such as yourself who are coming up with these brilliant ideas. And a HUGE thank you for not using the larger deflector dish, I've always been put off by that one as well.
The sped up videos of showing each step you did to do the visual enhancements is beyond fascinating to me. Wow. What a cool video. And to be able to do all of that with free software? Seriously?
To be fair toward the Discovery Enterprise, I actually like some of the changes, the shorter neck between primary and engineering hulls addresses a weakness that has always been inherent to the design. The same with the swept-back nacelles; doing this would make a shorter and more direct path for plasma conduits, along with freeing room for the shuttle bay.
@NotJo the things dagnabbit mentioned dont neccessarily have anything to do with batle. Think iof it when a car has a badly designed wiring loom that has to go around a corner, and low and behold everone geta a fault and repairs are needed more frequently. A smoother route means less materials required, and less likelihood of damage and repairs,
@NotJo So you're basically saying that even though the changes improve the design without costing any additional time and/or materials to build, the Federation would just say "nah fam I'm good"? That's like being able to choose between a less prone to malfunction car and more prone to malfunction car, in the same price range, and choosing the latter... how does that make any sense?
@NotJo but is that Lore canon? Either thst, or that particular enterprise was the equivalent of the Chrysler crossfire. Tried to start a trend that the rest didnt follow 😂
@NotJo i mean, looking at a ship line up, the NCC1701 is the only one NOT to have the wider sweeping nacelle strut. Tgat was one of the main updates from the - to the A
This enhancement with the disco bridge = a fresh new look for a new era of trek.
If the Discovery design was a better version of the Kelvin one then this is a better version of the Discovery one.
That is the best updated TOS Enterprise model I have seen yet.
The only problem I see with it is that you forgot the choke ring antenna that is behind the deflector dish (it is that copper-colored thing composed of concentric raised rings). Later ships probably used some sort of flat phased array in place of it, but all versions of the Enterprise had the choke ring unit. While it is hard to see in the shots I have available, I suspect that the concentric cylinders went most of the depth of that truncated cone section behind the dish and that the pressure hull actually ends in a flat surface behind the truncated cone section.
Real-world antennas of that design are omnidirectional and can determine range and bearing very accurately, so I suspect it was supposed to be part of their subspace radio system, short range sensors, maybe even tractor beam system considering the deflector stalk as the central element, or some combination of the above.
Congratulations! You are a trully amazing artist! Now, that's the REAL Enterprise! Not that 2009's JJ abomination! THANK YOU!
The 2009 J.J. Abrams 'Enterprise' is a mockery, but, understand that legally, they had to make it 25 percent different. Some kind of weird copyright clause.
@@davidmaestas2915 Calling it an 'Abomination' and 'a mockery' may be reasonable judgments upon its aesthetics (and the obsequious legalities from which they sprang) - however, understanding that everything took place in a forked timeline seems to me to be a reasonable excuse to 'break with canon' on some design conventions, both functional and aesthetic. Starfleet probably got pretty shook up when they lost a ship to an unknown, insanely superior design and acted for 25 years as if they might be going to war soon.
Absolutely beautiful!! Great job man!.
I'd love to see Enterprise-C all enhanced. The C is a great design
I just cant swallow on the fact that the discovery show, where ships and technology look like they belong far after the jjverse is before the oldest version of ST
I love the udpate you did the design! It's a very appropriate update to the ship that respects the original and adds details and enhancements to it. Well done!
Love this version. It honors the original while also bringing it into the present for a new generating to fall in love with. Awesome job.
Very nice work 👍 All of the small blinkies give it a lot of life, looks great!
Your design would serve very well as the ship Robert April took command of in Roddenberry's first storyline proposal back in 1964. The one for ST: SNW could be portrayed as a Constitution Class Mark 1*, the * to designate a modification upgrade from the original design with its swept back pylons, etc. Outstanding work in contrast to much of the year 2020 that became a waste for much of humanity.
Your upgrades compliment the original model very well. Would you be willing to create a modelling tutorial for the Enterprise?
This was magnificent - beautifully done! The original Enterprise (and slight modifications thereof like this one!) will *forever* be my favorite design. You always have a soft place in the heart for your first love. Despite the original being a "utilitarian" design, the sultry feminine curves on the upper and lower saucer surfaces are my favorite feature.
PS - those antennas on the forward nacelle caps always looked silly to me: engines don't have antennas! Now, I'm off to install Blender 3D and teach myself how to model. I have all the time in the world right now... Oh, and that Sketchfab version is pretty damn cool - smooth rotating and zooming even on my 3 year old $550 Dell laptop with integrated graphics.
I love this. My nitpick is how aztec gets used nowadays. Isnt aztec pattern intended to represent plating? Like if you look at the TMP Ent, the aztec pattern represents the smaller panels that make up the larger panels. But if you look at the aztec on most modern designs (including this one) it seems like aztecing is just a sort of arbitrary paint scheme with no real relation to the larger plating on the ship.
This remake of yours looks simply gorgeous… It's such a shame that we got a very dark brooding looking mixed bag Enterprise in the Discovery series...
Dude, that's the best Enterprise we've gotten since the sovereign class
I like the DIS Enterprise. I just accept DIS as being set in a slightly altered timeline after the temporal cold war of ENT. Things are mostly the same with just a few minor changes (like uniform and ship designs). They even mention in one episode how Archer returned a Klingon back to Quo'nos, which I believe didn't happen in the original timeline.
Michael Orourke ENT and DIS are same timeline as TOS...they just have some continuity issues, hell even TMP retconned TOS trek
@@thehelenakey1394 isn't it the sad truth of it all. ~_~
edit: for (sigh) spelling... again...
The basic design of the ENTERPRISE is one of the most fascinating concepts I have ever seen for a STARSHIP, it's can more appropriately be called a GREAT WORK OF ART.I read all the history and people involved in its creation but the beauty of first seeing it slowly go by the tv screen as SHATNERS monolauge plays and then whoosh off the screen as everybody watched the star background wait suddenly woodshed by again told us all that this show was something special.And even after the many spin-offs and alterations to the ships,the basics are still there and no other franchise or show has been able to make a better design of what a STARSHIP should look like.
This is actually the prettiest TOS Enterprise i have ever seen!
Great minds thinks similar! When I made the USS Discovery for Star Trek Origins (a defunct fan film, time at the same time period that Star Trek Discovery... but like ten years ago or more) I had similar ideas. For example the deflector dish, putting the blue back glow and adding some details.
Love it, my own personal only changes would be to use the deflector dish from the JJ-verse, the TMP bridge and move the phaser bank place to match the TMP model, as well as the TMP lines around the rim of the saucer.
is it really fair to compare actual Star Trek to "I wish I was Star Trek so I spent a lot of money for a IP license in a attempt to force people to call my train wreck of a series real Star Trek".
ship looks great man, it's a shame you didn't do the texturing for the Star Trek MMO. Have you ever considered doing texture mods for games?
FANTASTIC WORK! Thx for sharing (from a Star Trek TOS kid of the 60s).
Would love to see a re-remastered TOS with even newer and more advanced special effects and with this ship!
Redlettermedia cameo at 4:38 :D
4:38 dafuq...? Subliminal RLM reference?
From a former member on the Trek BBS Trek Tech forum, you've done Matt Jefferies a great honor! The Ex Astris Scientia site should take a gander at this.
This is what happens when fans and lovers of the franchise design for Star Trek.
Discovery/Picard is what happens when studio shills design for Star Trek.
By committee
According to midnightsedge (youtube channel), the designers from DSC started out by just improving the original design only so far as necessary to look good on a modern show. However, they then received instructions to make it at least 25% different- possibly due to licensing issues.
Midnightsedge theorizes that all the new shows are being produced under a separate license created originally for 09 Star Trek. Even though CBS do own the license to the original models, Bad Robot/Secret Hideout are producing the new shows . This complexity is created to ensure that rights to the royalties derived from the likeness of Star Trek (TOS up to ENT) are preserved independently. Since this means that all new material currently being produced as "Star Trek" exists in a separate property, from the IP point of view, fans may be justified in considering it as non-canon.
One of the disturbing aspects of this is the necessity to constantly alter designs to ensure they are distinct from the original properties to avoid copyright infringement. Even if right now both 'Star Treks' belong to the consolidated CBS, they may wish to sell them as separate properties in the future, and can maximize their individual value by minimizing the crossover in physical assets that can be sold as merchandise.
@@oliver8296 That...is rather interesting. And if that is correct then why bother shoehorning either of these shows into the original continuity/canon? Fans would have looked at Discovery and Picard totally different if they just said its another timeline entirely.
With 24th century Borg tech being found in the Arctic in ENT, it could have explained everything similar to the Kelvin timeline. 🤔
@@mbogucki1 Since they own both sets of IP, for now they can do as they wish. To me it would make sense to produce everything under one license... but then someone might get sued for royalties from one direction or the other, who knows what's in the contracts. Midnightsedge claims to have had CBS employees come to them with this info, so there's that.
Regardless, we have to assume corporations will take any chance to capitalize, this includes remodeling things like ships, species, phasers etc just so fans might buy more merchandise.
As for the borg tech, personally I had assumed that the Riker/Troi connection to the last ENT episode meant that the implications of the ENT borg episode was already part of the continuity
This is an amazing ship update! It really takes Jeffries designs into account. As far as the Discovery Enterprise, I feel like the bulkiness of it works as a pre-kirk enterprise. The hard part is the cage is still canon. That being said, we may have a precedent for In canon visual changes. I have used the “first contact” explanation. Zephram Cochran SAW the enterprise E and Lily was ON the ship. So just like how TOS communicators influenced the design of the first flip cell phones, Cochran seeing the Enterprise E had an impact in all future ship design from that point onward.
It was a new VISUAL timeline. And since First Contact took place after both Trials and Tribulations and Relics, those events likely NOW looked different. Like if you look at the phoenix, its warp nacelle design is very similar to TOS era ships, yet the NX 01 looked a lot like a sovereign class ship. With this in mind, the Prime Timeline likely looks completely different now until it evens out the closer you get to the Enterprise E period. Its also why in Picard when he goes to Starfleet and sees a display of the older enterprises the 01 is the discovery version (also, thats the model they had on file, but we are talking trying to explain it IN canon here) So I am fine with the Discovery Design, that said, if they want to keep with this same visual update idea, I would love if your design is the NEW visual canon for the Kirk Era Enterprise. There could be a reference on one of the new shows, no need to go all George Lucas on TOS.
Hello. Nice. I myself don't dislike "DIscovery's" version of Enterprise, either, nor do I dislike the movie reboot Enterprise for that matter. Yet, I love your version even more the same way I love the "TOS" and "TMP" versions; it is what Enterprise should have looked like in "Discovery." My reaction, though, for "Discoprise" was in two words: close enough. I would ask the people at CBS Studios and those at Secret Hideout to take notes. Thanks for sharing. Live long and prosper.
Thanks for putting the vented nacelles back in. I never liked the domes on the aft end!
This is the enterprise we should have had in discovery
Not that anyone wanted Discovery to begin with.
This is the Enterprise we should have had INSTEAD OF Discovery
@@robertebersold3817 I still held out hope for a Sulu/Excelsior series, how awesome would that have been? Even had someone tell me once that they talked with George Takei about it never happening and he said it was "a damn shame", so it sounded like he would have been all for it too :D
Nice. I always preferred the original Constitution over the refit. I did like the 2009 version, although I wondered why JJ had such a different design instead of just a more detailed modern version.
I love this enterprise, no offense to the discovery one.
David Dyster fake trek
@@paradisebreeze1705 You took the words right out of my mouth.
One of those odd moments YT serves me a video I actually wanted to see but didn't even know it.
The enhanced looks beautiful, between this, and the TMP revised. Still better than the Disco version.
Damn that's one helluva sexy ship you got there.
"Seemingly arbitrary changes"
Repeat after me: contractually obliged to make it 25% different.
Btw, funny thing, I first met Star Trek when I was a child, and it was TNG. I was... 8, I think. So for me, D is The One True Bestest Enterprise. BUT, the funny part is - in my country, all of the ST lore wasn't as prolific and known, so I thought D is the only one, and during the years, as I caught glimpses of the original one, and others, I got a bit confused, because they were all similar enough to parse in my brain as the same ship, but different enough to be... obviously different. I even remember noticing the difference between the big D miniature and the small one. I wasn't exactly sure what was different, I just knew the I liked the small miniature, with its thicker, less elegant saucer edge, and deflector rim much less... It was only years and years later, with Internet and youtube and the comparison and analysis videos, that I started to put it all together, started understanding the whole timeline, and why there were so many different, yet similar enterprises. But since the first one I ever saw was Galaxy, TOS Enterprise has always looked... silly to me in comparison. Like this dangly, fragile thing built out of lollipop sticks, as opposed to Ds robust, smooth elegance.
Extra funny thing: I could never properly draw Galaxy, and again, it was only around this time that I realized why: from how it's shown in TNG, it is rarely obvious that it's saucer is actually an ellipse wider than it is long. I've always tried to draw it perfectly circular.
Oh just fuck right off with that bullshit.