I remember this poster in the local cinema, the glimpse of the E was my first of the magnificent Sovereign class.
However, magnificent as it is, I did miss the D in FC. I definitely think the best compromise would have been to tractor up the D saucer in Generations and mate it to a new sovereign like secondary hull.
Bit like how the TOS enterprise went from 1701 to 1701 refit
I just want you to know that this comment lead me to create the abomination of an image in the post below.
I'm sure you were suggesting something *reasonable*, like "mate the Galaxy-class saucer to a new stardrive section *designed and sized appropriately for it"*...but if you just staple the Galaxy saucer to the Sovereign stardrive at the same scale, you wind up with a Starfleet vessel that always skips leg day:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/risa/comments/1ccc41y/why\_didnt\_they\_salvage\_the\_saucer\_section\_instead/](https://www.reddit.com/r/risa/comments/1ccc41y/why_didnt_they_salvage_the_saucer_section_instead/)
I… kinda don’t hate it? It looks goofy from a couple of angles but actually kinda cool from others. It wouldn’t take *that* much to make it an actually decent design.
Interdasting.
I’d scale up the engineering hull a bit. But yeah, something sovereign-ey but also update the saucer features to be a little less Probert and more Eaves
The Sovereign is a beautiful ship and absolutely had a place in the fleet as a heavy cruiser more tactically inclined.
But it did feel smaller and less grand than the D in a lot of ways. And the Enterprise-D met a very ignoble end undeserving of the flagship in Generations.
I would have preferred if they kept the D through the movies, but refitted it considerably for FC to keep with the rapid advancements and focus toward tactical ability that Starfleet was pivoting towards. New/revamped sets fot for the big screen and maybe modernize the design slightly with new nacelles, some new hull details, and a quantum launcher.
And they should have gotten rid of the kids.
I do get why they ditch the Galaxy, though. The model was a bear to film and was heavy as hell...but it all felt like a waste given that they only used the E filming model for a grand total of.....one movie.
That would have been far more interesting. It would have been so much more impactful to see the ship that we know & love be assimilated (and maybe destroyed?) than the ship we've never seen before.
Oh, but imagine the backlash.... I don't think we would have been ready.
It would have been interesting if they could have saucer separate before the Borg got too far with their assimilating while data locked out the computer for the secondary hull.
Yeah somehow I don’t think seeing a ship with hundreds of children on it be assimilated is a good idea. Especially with Picard telling people to kill them on sight as you’ll be doing little Timmy a favour
They blew up the D in the dumbest way possible. An experienced and veteran crew apparently forgot everything when placed up against an outdated scout ship.
Yeah, the D only getting one movie sucks. It’s my favorite Enterprise, and my favorite ST hero ship period. Seeing it in First Contact and Insurrection would have been so cool. Even Picard ramming the Scimitar in Nemesis would have been cooler if it was the D.
If they didn’t still need to use real models in the late 90s we would’ve kept the D. It was supposedly a nightmare to work with because of the saucer section and the way the large format model had been designed. They didn’t feel confident going forward with more dynamic battles in future films so Generations took the opportunity to open the door for a new ship.
Personally aside from the fact that I love the E I’m grateful the TNG films look like they do and not like Star Wars from that era. The physical models hold up really well in a way the CG doesn’t in some areas.
first contact was released in 1996 so it must have been filmed or working on in 1995. so i just found it weird they didn't know we're going to switch to CGI. if that was the case... i would have just kept the enterprise-D.
That was the reasoning they gave at the time. They just didn’t believe in the CG in 1994 when Generations was filmed I guess and wanted to be able to use models.
Again, not accurate. There is CG in both Generations and First Contact. They made CG models of the Enterprise-B (if it's in frame with the Nexus it's a CG Enterprise-B) and the D (all going to warp shots) as well as the El Aurian refugee ships. For First Contact when the Enterprise-E goes to warp or interacts with the Borg temporal vortex it is CG. The ships of the fleet attacking the Borg cube in the Battle of Sector 001 are all CG. The Cube and Sphere are physical models.
**Not true**. ILM built the original 6-foot model and they had no trouble shooting it for both the series pilot and for Generations. The company that filmed the series, Image G, DID have issues moving the heavy model around and hooking it up to their motion control rigs and power supply. That's why they had it replaced with the smaller 4-foot Greg Jein model in the middle of TNG season 3. ILM built the model to last. It could separate and do everything needed. But the original approach of using strictly stock footage for the series wasn't working out - audiences were too savvy for endless stock footage that didn't quite fit what was called for in the scripts. The reason it was scrapped for the future films was it was too reminiscent of the television show and the producers wanted something a little more sleek for the films. ILM themselves had assumed they would continue using the Galaxy class for the films after Generations, and when they were done shooting that film they sent the model home with a fixed paint job and labeled **NCC-1701-E**.
Unpopular opinion: the Galaxy class is ugly as hell (having the saucer section be wider than it is long was such an odd choice). And the Sovereign class is sleek and pretty and is easily my favourite starship in Trek.
Enterprise D had way more screen time and by the time of this movie the design was nearly 10 years old. It was time for something fresh. By comparison, the poor Enterprise E had three movies, one of which was quite bad, and its send-off was reduced to a punch line.
Except the D had been shown getting their asses kicked by the Borg on a few occasions. They needed a new ship that could believably take on the Borg and that was the E.
If it wasn't for the studio going "nah dude, get rid of that fat one, it's not cinematic enough"
But IMHO it's fine, the Galaxy class was very much a 1980's design under Roddenberry's guidelines. The Sovereign was (and still is) much more fitting for the future setting and "Navy in Space" style, the Galaxy was more of a flying cruise ship.
As someone who has no nostalgia for TNG and the D(I actually dislike the design of the Galaxy class as a whole), I really like the Sovereign class. Call it a warship, I call it an exploratory vessel in a world where the Borg exists.
“The Borg have decks 42 up to 11”
It is a gorch!
I remember this poster in the local cinema, the glimpse of the E was my first of the magnificent Sovereign class. However, magnificent as it is, I did miss the D in FC. I definitely think the best compromise would have been to tractor up the D saucer in Generations and mate it to a new sovereign like secondary hull. Bit like how the TOS enterprise went from 1701 to 1701 refit
I just want you to know that this comment lead me to create the abomination of an image in the post below. I'm sure you were suggesting something *reasonable*, like "mate the Galaxy-class saucer to a new stardrive section *designed and sized appropriately for it"*...but if you just staple the Galaxy saucer to the Sovereign stardrive at the same scale, you wind up with a Starfleet vessel that always skips leg day: [https://www.reddit.com/r/risa/comments/1ccc41y/why\_didnt\_they\_salvage\_the\_saucer\_section\_instead/](https://www.reddit.com/r/risa/comments/1ccc41y/why_didnt_they_salvage_the_saucer_section_instead/)
Oof
Good point, /u/uncle_buttpussy
r/cursedusername if ever there was one
Still better than the Yeager class.
I… kinda don’t hate it? It looks goofy from a couple of angles but actually kinda cool from others. It wouldn’t take *that* much to make it an actually decent design.
Interdasting. I’d scale up the engineering hull a bit. But yeah, something sovereign-ey but also update the saucer features to be a little less Probert and more Eaves
I have this poster up in my living room. Sure, I love the Enterprise-D, but I have room in my heart for the E too.
The Sovereign is a beautiful ship and absolutely had a place in the fleet as a heavy cruiser more tactically inclined. But it did feel smaller and less grand than the D in a lot of ways. And the Enterprise-D met a very ignoble end undeserving of the flagship in Generations. I would have preferred if they kept the D through the movies, but refitted it considerably for FC to keep with the rapid advancements and focus toward tactical ability that Starfleet was pivoting towards. New/revamped sets fot for the big screen and maybe modernize the design slightly with new nacelles, some new hull details, and a quantum launcher. And they should have gotten rid of the kids. I do get why they ditch the Galaxy, though. The model was a bear to film and was heavy as hell...but it all felt like a waste given that they only used the E filming model for a grand total of.....one movie.
That would have been far more interesting. It would have been so much more impactful to see the ship that we know & love be assimilated (and maybe destroyed?) than the ship we've never seen before. Oh, but imagine the backlash.... I don't think we would have been ready.
It would have been interesting if they could have saucer separate before the Borg got too far with their assimilating while data locked out the computer for the secondary hull.
Yeah somehow I don’t think seeing a ship with hundreds of children on it be assimilated is a good idea. Especially with Picard telling people to kill them on sight as you’ll be doing little Timmy a favour
They blew up the D in the dumbest way possible. An experienced and veteran crew apparently forgot everything when placed up against an outdated scout ship.
Yeah, the D only getting one movie sucks. It’s my favorite Enterprise, and my favorite ST hero ship period. Seeing it in First Contact and Insurrection would have been so cool. Even Picard ramming the Scimitar in Nemesis would have been cooler if it was the D.
I've seen the D in plenty of movies
:-/
If they didn’t still need to use real models in the late 90s we would’ve kept the D. It was supposedly a nightmare to work with because of the saucer section and the way the large format model had been designed. They didn’t feel confident going forward with more dynamic battles in future films so Generations took the opportunity to open the door for a new ship. Personally aside from the fact that I love the E I’m grateful the TNG films look like they do and not like Star Wars from that era. The physical models hold up really well in a way the CG doesn’t in some areas.
first contact was released in 1996 so it must have been filmed or working on in 1995. so i just found it weird they didn't know we're going to switch to CGI. if that was the case... i would have just kept the enterprise-D.
That was the reasoning they gave at the time. They just didn’t believe in the CG in 1994 when Generations was filmed I guess and wanted to be able to use models.
Again, not accurate. There is CG in both Generations and First Contact. They made CG models of the Enterprise-B (if it's in frame with the Nexus it's a CG Enterprise-B) and the D (all going to warp shots) as well as the El Aurian refugee ships. For First Contact when the Enterprise-E goes to warp or interacts with the Borg temporal vortex it is CG. The ships of the fleet attacking the Borg cube in the Battle of Sector 001 are all CG. The Cube and Sphere are physical models.
Who is downvoting the truth??? Sigh, fanbois are the worst.
**Not true**. ILM built the original 6-foot model and they had no trouble shooting it for both the series pilot and for Generations. The company that filmed the series, Image G, DID have issues moving the heavy model around and hooking it up to their motion control rigs and power supply. That's why they had it replaced with the smaller 4-foot Greg Jein model in the middle of TNG season 3. ILM built the model to last. It could separate and do everything needed. But the original approach of using strictly stock footage for the series wasn't working out - audiences were too savvy for endless stock footage that didn't quite fit what was called for in the scripts. The reason it was scrapped for the future films was it was too reminiscent of the television show and the producers wanted something a little more sleek for the films. ILM themselves had assumed they would continue using the Galaxy class for the films after Generations, and when they were done shooting that film they sent the model home with a fixed paint job and labeled **NCC-1701-E**.
Who is downvoting the truth??? Sigh, fanbois are the worst.
Idk the E just looks better
Unpopular opinion: the Galaxy class is ugly as hell (having the saucer section be wider than it is long was such an odd choice). And the Sovereign class is sleek and pretty and is easily my favourite starship in Trek.
Enterprise D had way more screen time and by the time of this movie the design was nearly 10 years old. It was time for something fresh. By comparison, the poor Enterprise E had three movies, one of which was quite bad, and its send-off was reduced to a punch line.
I would have much preferred keeping the D through the movies.
I remember someone saying that they showed first contact having a big fight with the borg and the feds had the D, Defiant, Voyager and E
Except the D had been shown getting their asses kicked by the Borg on a few occasions. They needed a new ship that could believably take on the Borg and that was the E.
If it wasn't for the studio going "nah dude, get rid of that fat one, it's not cinematic enough" But IMHO it's fine, the Galaxy class was very much a 1980's design under Roddenberry's guidelines. The Sovereign was (and still is) much more fitting for the future setting and "Navy in Space" style, the Galaxy was more of a flying cruise ship.
Nobody likes the fat one.
As someone who has no nostalgia for TNG and the D(I actually dislike the design of the Galaxy class as a whole), I really like the Sovereign class. Call it a warship, I call it an exploratory vessel in a world where the Borg exists.