Altering the Original NCC - 1701

Trekmovie.com claims that multiple sources have told the site that the upcoming eleventh Star Trek film will feature the original starship Enterprise (NCC-1701), and that effects for the film will be created by George Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic. ILM previously created the effects for Star Trek II, III, IV, VI, Generations, and First Contact. The company also provided effects for the pilot episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

ILM recently sold off their physical model shop, which means that the Enterprise, and any other ships in the film will be created with computer generated software models rather than the physical models used to shoot the original series, The Next Generation, and the first seven films. This raises the possibility that Star Trek XI's producer, J.J. Abrams could choose to make changes to the iconic design of the original Enterprise.

The film won't be the first time Captain Kirk's ship has been rendered by computers, though. The digitally remastered episodes of the original series currently airing in syndication make use of a computer model of the Enterprise for all of their special effects. However, the producers of the remastered episodes specifically chose to maintain the original look of the ship in order to remain true to Gene Roddenberry's vision. It's unclear if Abrams will feel a similar need to stick with the original look.

Star Trek XI's writers have already stated that they are struggling with how much to change the look of various things in the film. "We’re not going to start totally from scratch. We want it to feel like it’s updated and of the now," writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman told MTV.com. "That’s actually the discussions we’re having now: how to keep the look of the universe yet have it not look like nothing’s new."

You can find Trekmovie.com's story here:
http://trekmovie.com/2007/07/02/ilm-to-provide-effects-for-
star-trek-enterprise-to-appear-in-film/#more-788

There are indications that Paramount would not object to an alteration of the Enterprise's look. At least one alternate design of the ship has already seen the light of day in two Paramount-approved publications. Computer artist Gabriel Koerner, whose credits include Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, and Abrams' Lost, created an alternate version of the original Enterprise which appeared in last year's Ships of the Line book, and the 2007 Ships of the Line calendar (August). The new design maintains the basic configuration of the original, but includes a great deal more surface detail. Koerner has posted several additional images of the design on his website here:

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=
41547684&blogID=262083907

It's unclear what Abrams' intentions are, though it seems likely that since Koerner worked on Lost, Abrams has at least seen the alternate design. An April Fool's day joke posted by Trekmovie featured an even more radical re-design of the Enterprise, and garnered lots of negative comments from fans before it was revealed as a joke.

Might as well just change verything. Might as well make Kirk a lesbian captain.

Responses to Gabriel's design in the fanboy hardware community have been good... There are few who would object to it being the Reboot Enterprise.

It doesn't look too bad...

I like the version you linked to in your post, but I still think it looks too fragile to be a starship, just like the original Enterprise.

Of course, being a good design, it'll never be used.

I was about to rant before I saw the pics but.....

Eh...not bad. Not bad at all...

It's an utter bollocks design.

Why?

I actually like that design for the most part. There are some awkward lines in the secondary hull that I'm not wild about, but as Enterprises go, it could be a lot worse...

Saw it on the Ships of the Line calendar. I think it's gorgeous - faithful, yet updated. What I especially like is that it looks like every part of that ship does something and has a purpose. Sci-fi ships, in general, tend to have a design ethic of "mysterious innards."

Unfortunately, I doubt that ILM will acknowledge the work of a ZOIC artist, let alone use it.

It looks the fucking same. What the fuck is this? Redesign it? It's a saucer, a neck, an engineering hull and two nacelles. It's the fucking same ship. Did people expect the same as before? Fuck, I thought redesign meant making it into an orange block with helicopter propellers on each side.

It's basically the same design as the original, but with a different skin.

They will if Paramount has a set of balls...


Oh, wait.


Paramount.


Right.

My bad.

Which I why I don't get the outrage (or the newsworthyness). It's the same ship.

I like it, it looks like it could have the same super-structure as the re-fit ship from the TOS movies.

I don't see what is so great about massive amounts of surface detail.

Of course, I don't like the remastered original series Trek episodes either.

I think it's an improvement on the original, simply because I didn't like how white the original one was. Still, I don't like how flimsy it looks.

You don't like improved picture quality? Maybe they should go back to using tiny models and shitty film?

I like the model a lot, but seeing as its been published on the web, the chances of it being used in the movie are Buckleys and none.

And why, again, are we seeing the original 1701 in a movie about Kirk and Spock's first meeting?

Because Kirk met Spock when he took command of the Enterprise from Capt. Pike? :flow2:

Because JJ Abrams is a coward.

Why redesign it at all? It was utter perfection the first time.
Redesigning it is bullshit.

For me it makes all the same design mistakes of the 1701-E.

It looks like a toy.

I'd much prefer to see something that looks like it was genuinely built, has scale, and has some delicate nature to it.

One of the reasons the 1701 refit works so well is that that extra detail is more subtle and looks like it serves a purpose. It gives a sense of scale. The 1701 refit looks like it really is that big.

This design looks like I could buy it at Toys R Us. The sculpting of the secondary hull is bizarrely pointless and adds nothing. There is also no sense of scale.

Don't forget that in addition to TOS Remastered, we saw a CG version of the original Connie class ship in Enterprise's "In a Mirror Darkly" and a physical model of the original Enterprise was used in DS9's "Trials & Tribbleations".

I for one would like to see only enough changes to make it look realistic on the big screen. from what I hear, this new film is supposed to less of a reboot then die-hard fanwanks cry that it will be.

The one on Enterprise was actually a pretty decent job.

Why do we need row after row of windows on a starship anyway?

That is something I never figured out and harkens back to Roddenberrys ridiculous idea that the crew would sit in their quarters and look out at the stars (ST:TNG)

If looking at the stars was so great, then why did the crew spend countless hours on the holodeck.

Actually, going even at hundreds of times the speed of light, I've read that the star formations wouldn't change all that much as seen from earth.

It's still a stupid, impractical design

The word you are looking for is 'classic'.

I would settle for tiny models and shitty film if it would get us decent writing.

Of course, Rick Berman made exactly the opposite bargain.

And I'll never get Timmy why you think the original Enterprise looks "flimsy".

I know you've ridiculed the pylons supporting the warp engines and mocked them as "popsickle" sticks.

But the size of the pylons in relation to the engines is about the same as the engine pylon to engine size we see on modern airliners.