#Class F Shuttlecraft

[alphamecha-mkii]

Galileo Launch by John Carlance

[electronickingdomfox]

Star Trek TOS ships (but I mean starships, not that kind of "ships")

In a similar vein as this post here about the crew biographies, I made this list about the ships seen or mentioned in TOS (including TAS and the movies too), but just as they appear there. That is, this doesn't take into account info that later series or reference materials expanded upon or retconned. However, I've considered info from Michael Okuda (in charge of the remastered version), but only as it applies to such remaster stuff. The intention is, again, to offer a bare minimum of what the TOS canon actually says about this issue.

Credit to the Ex Astris Scientia site, for info about the more obscure ships. Also to Trekcore for some of the images (in particular, those of the non-remastered version).

As this post became waaaay too long, I left the TOS alien vessels, plus TAS ships, for a second post. Ships from the TOS movies are in a third post.

USS Enterprise NCC-1701

If this one doesn't ring a bell, well... I don't know what to tell you... One of the few ships with a visible registry number on-screen. The "USS" stands for "United Spaceship" (Elaan of Troyius) or "United Starship" (The Squire of Gothos). TAS episode The Counter Clock Incident specifies that the Enterprise was built at the San Francisco Navy Yards. It's a Starship Class vessel, as described in the Writers Guide, and seen (barely) on its plaque:

In TNG, however, Picard refers to it as a Constitution Class vessel, which is the name that stuck afterwards. Kirk says that there are only 12 starships like the Enterprise in the fleet (Tomorrow is Yesterday). More on this below.

Galileo NCC-1701/7

The Enterprise shuttlecraft destroyed in The Galileo Seven. It kept appearing in the series, however. This continuity error was somewhat fixed in The Way to Eden, which shows there's actually a Galileo II.

Columbus

The shuttlecraft used in The Galileo Seven to search for the survivors. Originally the same model used for the Galileo, the remastered version gives it a new registry: NCC-1701/2, and inserts it in Journey to Babel too.

Other shuttles

Several shuttles appear throughout the series, always using the Galileo model for obvious budgetary reasons, even if they don't belong to the Enterprise. The shuttle that Decker pilots into the planet killer of The Doomsday Machine was given a new name and registry in the remaster: Einstein NCC-1701/6.

The Class F shuttle in which Kirk and Commodore Mendez pursue Spock (The Menagerie. Part I), shows also a new name and registry in the remaster: Picasso SB11-1201/1, and was inserted in Court Martial as well. The SB-11 obviously refers to Starbase Eleven, which appears in both episodes.

Similarly, the Starbase Four shuttle stolen by Lokai in Let That Be Your Last Battlefield, was remastered as the Da Vinci SB4-0314/2.

USS Constellation NCC-1017

The registry number is visible in the original. Commodore Decker's crippled ship, in The Doomsday Machine.

USS Defiant

The ship trapped in the inter-dimensional space of The Tholian Web. The registry (NCC-1764) is only visible in the remastered version.

USS Exeter

Captain Ronald Tracey's ship in The Omega Glory. The registry was only included in the remastered version: NCC-1672.

USS Intrepid

The all-Vulcan ship destroyed by the space amoeba in The Immunity Syndrome. It was never seen on-screen until the remastered version, which inserted it orbiting the starbase of Court Martial (apparently with the registry NCC-1631, though I couldn't tell by my screenshots).

USS Lexington, USS Excalibur, USS Hood and USS Potemkin

The four starships participating in war games against the M-5 in The Ultimate Computer. The Lexington is commanded by Commodore Bob Wesley, and it's the only one where I could see the registry along the name in the remaster: NCC-1709. The Excalibur was commanded by Captain Harris and (supposedly) has the number NCC-1664. Its whole crew was killed in the battle against the M-5. The Hood would be the NCC-1703 (the number can be seen in the third picture). And the Potemkin, the NCC-1657. Though all of this comes from production info about the remaster, and it's not really visible.

USS Farragut

The ship, commanded by Captain Garrovick, where Kirk served as a Lieutenant, eleven years before Obsession. The crew was attacked by the cloud creature from the episode, with many casualties. This ship is never seen in the series.

USS Yorktown

A ship scheduled to rendezvous with the Enterprise, in Obsession. Never seen. There's also a Yorktown attacked by the probe in The Voyage Home. Possibly the same ship?

USS Republic NCC-1371

Kirk mentions the whole name in Court Martial. It's the ship where he served as an Ensign and reported Ben Finney for negligency.

USS Valiant

A ship destroyed while visiting Eminiar Seven, fifty years before A Taste of Armageddon

Other ships seen in a chart from "Court Martial"

Some of these registries were applied to already discussed ships (mostly in the remaster). The new ones would be: NCC-1697, NCC-1718, NCC-1685 and NCC-1700.

So, which are those twelve ships like the Enterprise that Kirk mentioned? In TOS we only see eight ships that definitely look like it (nine if we count the Intrepid from the remaster). Those would be: Enterprise, Constellation, Defiant, Exeter, Intrepid, Lexington, Excalibur, Hood and Potemkin. To further complicate matters, there's a production memo from 1967 (by Justman and Fontana) that lists the Starship Class vessels thus: Enterprise, Constellation, Exeter, Intrepid, Lexington, Excalibur, Hood, Potemkin, Yorktown, Farragut, Republic, Valiant, Constitution and Kongo. Add to the list the Defiant (not yet created) and that's a total of 15 ships! The Valiant was certainly destroyed by this time. Maybe the Farragut and the Republic (Kirk's earlier ships) had been decomissioned too?

USS Carolina

A ship near Capella IV, which supposedly sends a distress call in Friday's Child. Never seen.

SS Dierdre

A freighter attacked by Klingons, also from the previous episode. The distress call was actually fake, but the ship should exist.

SS Columbia

Eighteen years before The Cage, this old ship crashed on Talos IV. Vina was the only survivor.

SS Beagle

A ship commanded by Captain Merik, which was destroyed near the fourth planet of System 892 (six years before Bread and Circuses). It's described as a "small Class 4 stardrive vessel".

Horizon

A ship lost near Sigma Iotia, a hundred years before A Piece of the Action. It's said that the Horizon was of the same "outfit" as the Enterprise. Considering its age, this might mean that it was from the Federation, rather than being of the same class.

Antares

The ship where Charlie Evans was travelling, before being transferred to the Enterprise (Charlie X). Commanded by Captain Ramart. It was never seen in the original, but the remaster introduced a model based on a TAS ship, along with the number NCC-501.

Woden

The automated ore freighter that the M-5 destroys in The Ultimate Computer. In the original, it just looked like Khan's "Botany Bay". But the remaster replaced it with a model very similar to the Antares. Behind-the-scenes info tells us that this new Woden had the NCC-325 number, but that's not seen on-screen.

Archon

A ship that disappeared around Beta Three, a hundred years before The Return of the Archons. Its crew became known by the locals as the legendary Archons.

Aurora

A space cruiser stolen by the "hippies" from The Way to Eden. In the original, it looked similar to a Tholian ship. The remaster introduced a new model, apparently with the registry NC-17740 (not really legible).

Class J ships

The small cargo ship, piloted by Mudd without a license in Mudd's Women, is said to belong to this class. There's also a cadet vessel, an old Class J starship, mentioned in The Menagerie. Part I. Mudd's ship was merely a blob of light in the original. The remaster introduced a model similar to the new Aurora.

Astral Queen

The ship, commanded by Captain Jon Daily, that was scheduled to pick up the Karidian Company of Players, in The Conscience of the King.

SS Botany Bay

An old DY-100 model from the 1990's, that transports Khan and his followers in hybernation. It's said to be even older than the DY-500 class.

SS Valiant

Not to be confused with the USS Valiant above. This far older ship encountered a magnetic storm that threw it to the galactic barrier, 200 years before Where No Man Has Gone Before. This ship would be about as old as the Botany Bay, and it seems it only had impulse engines.

[whirligig-girl]

Ooze that's learned how to pilot

Eaurp held up the bright yellow disk cassette with one hand and shook their other hand until their fingers threatened to fling off. They emitted a high pitched whine, and a hissing sound, in addition to the sounds of wobbling jello from their shaking body.

"What is it?" Slamtha said.

"ITS! MY VERY OWN COPY!!!" They said, still vibrating with an intensity that never failed to amaze her.

"Of..." Slamtha said.

"Whuh? Oh! I told you about it!" Eaurp said. "During History class?"

"Oh right. Starship simulator?"

"SHUTTLECRAFT SIMULATOR!" Eaurp said. "Come on! Let's get to a library computer!"

"Oh... I dunno," Slamtha said. "I'm not sure I'd be very good at it."

"Oh pleeeease Slamtha? I'll go clothes shopping with you even though thinking about clothes for too long makes me want to dessicate!"

"Hmm. Alr--"

"Come on! It'll be fun!" Eaurp said, grabbing and tugging Slamtha's hand so hard they almost melded together.

Slamtha laughed. "Ok, ok, fine, let's go."

At the library, Eaurp plugged the disk cassette into the disk drive, and opened up their account on the desk terminal. Slamtha scooted up next to Eaurp with a laptop terminal in hand.

"I got to try this before, at the Starfleet booth at the job fair. Apparently they don't even distribute these for personal use, I had to write a letter to Starfleet's public relations department, and then I had to use the disk burner in the computer science lab."

"Oh, why didn't we just go play in the computer lab?" Slamtha said.

"They're running on like 15 year old mainframes. I think it might still work, but only if I set the computer up as a single partition. And I don't want to get kicked out."

After the disk drive lit up green, Eaurp grinned at Slamtha, who stared back with a neutral gaze.

The menu loaded in as a faux-LCARS display. Eaurp had already been through the training level on a Type-9, so they skipped it and went right for the Class-F, the vintage shuttlecraft that they used to use on the original Enterprise.

There was a barebones character select function, since they were in multiplayer. Slamtha chose a generic human woman. Eaurp figured they may as well do the same. The session began, and Eaurp walked their character around the shuttle, taking in its details. The graphics were so realistic, they must have been based on original schematics to look this good.

The mission was simple--land the Class-F on the M-class planet in a storm, drop off supplies, then take off and return to orbit.

Slamtha and Eaurp's characters sat down. Eaurp leaned over Slamtha's console, pointing out all of the individual displays and controls. Eaurp sat to Slamtha's left, so they couldn't see her frown.

"I... don't think I'm cut out for this," Slamtha said.

"Oh come on, you haven't even tried it yet," Eaurp said.

"Ok, well, don't say I didn't warn you."

Eaurp flicked the internal power switch, then used the communicator item to call for the airlock doors to be opened, and then engaged the antigrav tractor-pressor, and slowly rose the shuttlecraft off of the hangar deck. Eaurp looked around, scanning for the manuevering thrusters. She flicked a switch, and the simulated computer made a satisfying clickit-a-clickit-a sound. She pressed the arrow keys on her keyboard and the translation joystick on the shuttle moved forward.

"As soon as we get out of the shuttlebay, we'll be outside of the Constitution's inertial dampeners. Be prepared to keep us pitched right. Crossing through space doors in three... two... one..."

"Ah!" Slamtha shouted, as the stars suddenly lurched and spun.

"Woah! Woah!" Eaurp said. "Turn on auto-inertial dampeners!"

Slamtha frantically looked across the simulated console and the keybind popups and grimaced. She settled on hitting the spacebar. Both character's views got thrown back into the seat as the impulse engine was activated. From there, it all happened fast. The game lagged a few frames, then the warp nacelle got larger and larger, and then the shuttlecraft clipped into the nacelle. The shuttle shook and vibrated violently as horrible collision sound effects overlapped.

"Woah, look!" Eaurp said, switching to the external camera. The shuttlecraft was clipping through the great big cylindrical warp nacelle, with the impulse engine still firing. "They simulated the reaction control system on the Constitution!" Manuevering thrusters shot bursts of gas from the ends of the Consitution's warp nacelles, from behind the covered grates, fighting the impulse engine exhaust from the shuttle.

"WHAT DID I DO?" Slamtha shouted.

"Haha! I think you mixed up the stabilizer key and the impulse engine ignition, right at the same time that I mixed up the ventral translation key with the throttle keys!" Eaurp said.

"So... it wasn't my fault?" Slamtha said.

"It's both of our faults!" Eaurp said.

"Oh. Hah. Hahaha!" Slamtha said. "Ahaha. I thought... nevermind."

"What?" Eaurp said.

"I... I dunno. I was nervous because I knew you'd be so much better, but, ahah, we both just really suck at this!" Slamtha said.

"Let's go back to the tutorial level and try again!" Eaurp said. "The LCARS layout of the Type-2 is a lot simpler, and they do a pretty good job of simulating it here!"

"Ok, ok."

5 years later

Tears and melted sclerae rolled down Slamtha's cheeks, dripping onto the command console. She was pretty sure she still remembered how this thing worked.

Why had Eaurp left her. Why had Slamtha's kin turned their backs on her. Why had everything fallen apart so quickly. Things were finally good. They were finally good. She was a glob-dam astronaut candidate for the United Mellanus Space Program. She was going to get to do archaeology on another planet!

But! She tore it all apart! This little psychological episode was gonna make sure she'd never see the inside of another spacecraft again. So she'd better make this one count.

Slamtha sobbed, barely able to see the LCARS display and the front window. She saw the mellanoid space program safety officers running back to the shuttle. Now or never. She tapped the impulse engine control and the engine ignited. The shuttlecraft slid on its nacelles like skids, until she pressed her fingers to the steering widget, just barely managing to pitch up in time to avoid hitting the wall at the edge of the spaceport.

Ascent to orbit usually only took a few minutes, but Slamtha had other plans. She tilted straight up, climbing in a straight line path out of the atmosphere, rocketing ever higher and faster. She wiped her eyes clean and tried to reform them, and got one last look at the planet below.

"Alright," sniffled Slamtha, "which one of these is the warp engine?"

Slamtha swiped up on the main control panel and then found a promising looking button, then tapped it. The rescue shuttle jumped to warp, aiming no particular direction except for far, far away.

Slowly, Slamtha's cardiovasculature calmed down, and her skin softened, and she thought about what had just happened. Then she started crying all over again. What had she done. Maybe... maybe if she just turned back now and explained what she had been through, then... no. She'd just stolen one of the only warp capable ships on Mellanus, and taken it on a joyride. She'd never be able to go back. What was she going to do? Set a course for San Francisco and run into Eaurp? Slamtha didn't even know what star Earth orbited. Maybe the LCARS in the shuttle did.

She didn't want to see Eaurp again. That backstabbing good-for-nothing so-called "friend" who abandoned her just because she couldn't handle a fraction of the transphobia that Slamtha had to put up with her whole life.

She had her own ship. She could go anywhere. She could go places that didn't care if you were a woman or not. She could find some... alien university, maybe? And finish her archaeology internship somehow? But... but... no, no, none of this makes sense. Eaurp got to escape! Why couldn't she escape? Why couldn't she--a red alarm flashed on the screen, indicating a ship was approaching. They were hailing her.

"Fuck." Slamtha said. "It's probably the Feds come to arrest me. Ok, ok, act natur--"

The ship shook violently as a bright green light fired at her.

The display panel read "shields down."

A green tractor beam locked on. Slamtha tilted her head to look up above her. That wasn't a Federation ship. It was huge, dark green and orange, winged, with glowing red spikes coming out of the hull.

"Computer, identify?" Slamtha said, her voice shaky.

Vessel is a heavily modified Orion Class-II freighter. Klingon derived engines and type-V disruptor strips.

"That doesn't sound like a freighter."

It wasn't.

[defconprime]

Class F Shuttlecraft hangar pet from Star Trek Online

[ironcaniac]

The Class F shuttlecraft Galileo is surprisingly spacious!

[spockvarietyhour]

Not Gallows. Galileo.

Star Trek: Prodigy "All the World's a Stage"

[nelc]

In 1966 when the producers of the original series of Star Trek needed a design for a new ship, the Shuttlecraft, they turned to the acclaimed design firm of Raymond Loewy Associates. Art director Matt Jefferies had done several designs of the craft that were deemed too expensive or difficult to build and these were turned over to the firm with the instructions to design a ship that would be easier to construct.

Thomas Kellogg was given the job of coming up with the design. Kellogg had worked on the Studebaker Avanti so, not surprisingly, the Kellogg shuttlecraft’s design does have some similarities to the classic car. Kellogg designed a glossy black shuttlecraft that was boxy but with graceful lines. It had a giant glass front end, glowing red engines and dual antennas.

The shuttlecraft that ended up in the series retains the main body of Kellogg’s design, but there where some changes that were required before construction could begin. The large glass window in the front was replaced with much more practical, and closeable, smaller windows. The color was changed to a neutral gray and two warp pods were added to the ship to better match the look of the U.S.S. Enterprise.

[redarmyscreaming]

During the mid-2260s Class-F shuttles were based at Starbases and aboard

Constitution Class Starships, which were standard equipped with four shuttles of this class, along with other shuttle classes. They were also very popular with the surf set going to Zagama Beach in the Outer Rings.

[redshirtgal]

This is the Original Galileo from “The Galileo Seven.” However, remember it burned up in the atmosphere over Taurus II when the landing party attempted to escape. 

A new shuttlecraft named the Galileo II replaced it.

However, there were .... more shuttlecraft, each with its own name. Obviously, each one was basically the original Galileo with a different decal. But it suggested the shuttlebay area was fairly large.  In this photo from “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield,” we see the the DaVinci. There is a strong likelihood this one was named for actor Frank da Vinci, an extra who played the recurring roles of Lt. Brent and of Vinci in the Original Series. 

Hard to see in this photo, but this shuttlecraft was named the Einstein and was the one commandeered by Commodore Decker in “The Doomsday Machine.

We first hear of the shuttlecraft Picasso during “Court Martial” when it flies past the Enterprise. Later, Kirk along with an illusory Commodore Mendez takes the Picasso in pursuit of the Enterprise after Spock takes command and heads for Talos with Pike. 

To the right, you can see the Columbus. This shuttlecraft was part of the search for the landing party on Taurus II in “The Galileo Seven.” This scene shows its position in the shuttlebay when Sarek and his entourage arrived on the Galileo for the conference in “Journey to Babel” (oops... what happened to Galileo II?) 

[nekolein-on-bricks]

Class F Shuttlecraft

Das Shuttle aus der klassischen Star Trek Serie im Minifiguren-Maßstab.

[sshbpodcast]

Shuttle, Shuttle, Boil and Buttle: Shuttlecraft in Star Trek

By Ames

Diagrams emphatically not to scale here.

A Star to Steer Her By is hitting the open road today. Or open space, I suppose. Pack a lunch for a nice day trip because you can’t get too far in a shuttlecraft in Star Trek, but you still need some flexibility outside your massive hero ship. We’ve covered all those Federation starships before (check out parts 1, 2, 3, and 4 here!). Like they say, “warp’s fine if you like going fast in a straight line,” but what if we wanna do some offroading? Now it’s the little guys’ time to shine!

We’re only going to be looking at classic Trek shuttles from The Original Series through Enterprise because newer series just have too many types of shuttles to count and also because Ex Astris Scientia has a great selection of these shuttles chronicled for easier reference. So strap in and scroll on to see all the screengrabs we could find and listen to this week’s podcast episode (discussion at 1:01:56) for a couple games of “I Spy.” It’s gonna be a bumpy ride.

[Images © CBS/Paramount, Ex Astris Scientia, Eaglemoss Ltd., probably others]

TOS: Class F

This simple boxy affair is probably the most recognizable shuttlecraft, especially after the Galileo-7’s starring turn in the eponymous “The Galileo Seven,” among many other episodes throughout TOS. It’s definitely function over form with this basic brick of a vehicle, but that just makes it more endearing.

TAS: Aquashuttle

The Animated Series had a little more flexibility to showcase some new designs, though just how much was getting designed is still really minimal on that cheapskate show. It was nice to see a craft that could transition from space to atmosphere to water when we saw this eraser stub of an aquashuttle in “The Ambergris Element,” so that’s something at least.

TAS: Copernicus-type

We meet the Copernicus in “The Slaver Weapon” and it’s a cute little mosquito of a ship. Everything about her is just so pointy and sharp, and she looks fast to boot. We know very little else about this type of craft, but we appreciate her typical nacelles and her speedboat shape.

TAS: Heavy shuttle

Comparatively more bulbous than the Copernicus we just looked at is this much heavier-looking shuttle from “Mudd’s Passion.” Again, we don’t see much of this thing, but it looks like it’s more durable and able to take a bit of a beating, and it even has a little bit of curve to its windshield!

TOS Films: Travel pod

There’s much more budget by the time we get to The Motion Picture, so the model for this small travel pod that ferries crewmen around spacedock is pretty logical even if some of the compositing is… less so. The purpose of the pod is so simple that its design really reflects that. It even returns for a hot second in the final scene of The Voyage Home.

TOS Films: Executive shuttle

We catch a couple of glimpses of the SD-103 Executive Shuttle from The Undiscovered Country, and again, it’s a pretty simple shape that does its job and then goes home for the day without needing to do much more. This one has a polite little wedge shape, clearly allowing the most room it can to move people back and forth and that’s that.

TOS Films: Type 4 Shuttle

In The Final Frontier, we have a new Galileo and it’s looking like a pretty obvious progression from the original television show. This is what the Type F would look like if they’d had the money and time in the 60s, and we’re digging it. It has the same kind of pointy front, a window that could still stand to be bigger, and empty cavernous space inside that we expect from a shuttle.

TNG Films: Hawking

I’m putting this one back to back with the Type 4 so you can appreciate the very slight differences between the Galileo and the Hawking that we see in Generations. Is it just the added side windows that’s particularly different? And why did it take them so long to add side windows in the first place?

TNG: Type 15 Shuttlepod

Let’s step back to the rest of TNG, now that we’ve already gotten things out of order. We see these things throughout Next Gen and they’re like tiny little remote-controlled toy cars. You can barely fit one person in these things, let alone anything more than that. We hope you’re not flying too far because these flying mousedroids look cramped!

TNG: Type 6 Shuttle

We see these things throughout TNG and Voyager. You’ll notice they are very very similar to the shuttle from Generations above, but a little more squished. One could surmise that the model designers whipped out the Type 4 from The Final Frontier since it was already of the necessary quality for film, and decided to take a cue from this shuttle for the extra windows!

TNG: Type 7 Shuttle

A new design for yet another new Galileo. These things run concurrently with the Type 6 as we also see them consistently throughout TNG, but their design is much more distinct. Their edges are more rounded and their rumps more spankable. Their nacelles also look more like the Enterprise-D’s nacelles. They even come with two options for their much more curved window unit: long and extra long!

TNG Films: Type 11 Shuttle

Picard and Worf chase Data around in Insurrection in one of these cute little doorstops. Everything about these shuttles looks pointy, from the face to the windows to the nacelles! It pretty much clicks that this is the kind of craft you’d find on the Enterprise-E, a ship that’s much longer and more streamlined than the rounder and more bloated D.

TNG Films: Captain’s yacht

In Insurrection, we also steal a glimpse of the Cousteau, also known as the captain’s yacht. What the hell a more weaponized ship like the Enterprise-E needs with a yacht is debatable, but it’s got some of the more movie-era design elements on it, like the pointier nacelles and tapered face. We also like that it looks like those nacelles tuck in for easy storage!

TNG Films: Argo

One last instance from the TNG films and it’s not a favorite (both the film and this vessel). In Nemesis, Picard and friends go down to a primitive planet in the Argo (great name; I’ll admit that), whose purpose seems mostly to be carrying a dune buggy for no damn reason. That aside, this shuttle also just looks unfriendly. More like a fighter jet than a diplomatic craft and that’s not our thing.

DS9: Type 10 Shuttle

Apparently this thing, the Chaffee, lives on the Defiant, though we’re damned if we can figure out where because the Defiant doesn’t even seem big enough to house a full-sized shuttle of any kind, much less a shuttle bay. But in “The Sound of Her Voice” we do get a quick shot or several of this weird little dustbuster of a ship that shares the same tucked-in nacelle look as its mommy ship. Weird.

DS9: Type 18 Shuttle

Oh boy, I’m glad Deep Space Nine mostly used Runabouts instead of these things because they’re goofy as all get out. They do get used in season 3 episodes “The Search” and “Destiny” before we settled into the Defiant, and it’s a good thing because the Type 18 just looks like an old school UFO or something, with a protruding undercarriage like a submarine ride in an amusement park. This design is just trying too hard.

VOY: Type 8 Shuttle

We see these things mostly in early Voyager before the Delta Flyer is introduced, and they look so similar to the Type 6 in TNG that they may as well have not bothered with the update. When in doubt, always check if the nacelles look like they belong on your hero ship or not. That’s my rule of thumb, anyway.

VOY: Type 9 Shuttle (AKA Class 2)

That rule also works on the other shuttle we see pretty frequently in Voyager, especially notably in “Threshold” when the Cochrane breaks the warp 10 barrier. It’s a nifty little ship, closer to the shuttles that we saw in Insurrection than the other series ships in that it looks streamlined and zippy and a little bit like a phaser without a handle.

VOY: Delta Flyer

Once Voyager introduces the Delta Flyer in “Extreme Risk” early in season 5, we use this thing all over the place, even replacing it almost perfectly after it shatters to confetti in “Unimatrix Zero.” And it’s a solid design! It’s clear Tom put a lot of effort into the ship because it looks incredibly sturdy with its triangular shape, embedded nacelles like the Defiant has, and nifty front window that almost reminds me of a stained-glass window.

VOY: SC-4 Shuttle

This special, slightly futuristic shuttle visits us in the series finale “Endgame.” It’s a lot like the Class 2 shuttle in its shape and resemblance to a phaser, but this one’s also got nifty shields like a suit of armor that it fits within! So that’s something to look forward to later in our watch.

ENT: Inspection pod

Moving on to Enterprise, the last leg of our day trip. We’ve mentioned before how much we appreciate the design elements in Enterprise looked like the stepping stones between today’s space technology and the future aesthetics we see in Star Trek, and this little pod with its docking side and its conical shape flat out looks like the module on a modern rocket ship! Cool!

ENT: Shuttlepod

We see an absolute ton of these things in Enterprise (in a majority of episodes, as a matter of fact!) because the transporter didn’t quite work consistently yet. So it’s shuttles or nothing for our prequel friends and this one is actually incredibly cute, with its sorta submarine feel and its cyclops-eye window like a porthole looking out into space.

— Get that barricade ready as we come into the shuttlebay. It’s so good to be back because we’ve got so much to do around the ship! We’re still traveling through the Delta Quadrant with Voyager over on SoundCloud or your favorite podcast application, we’re still sending out a distress signal on Facebook and Twitter, and we’re shuttling off to buttle-oh!

[redarmyscreaming]

Would it kill you to wait til the hanger is open?

[discotreque]

LwD 1.10, “No Small Parts”

Well, that was the most fun I've had watching Star Trek in literally a quarter of a century.

I had high hopes for this series. I love TAS, largely because of its wacky outsized concepts that could only have worked in animation—not that they all did work, but the potential was so apparent to me, even as a kid reading the Alan Dean Foster novelizations—and as an adult, there's something about the imagination of Lower Decks's FX setpieces that transcends even the glorious CGI bonanzas of Discovery.

Pause for a confession. I've long pushed back against criticism of serialization in new Trek. That's just how TV is now, okay? Might as well complain about it being in widescreen. But I'm backing down a little, because I've realized there is something about Star Trek that's inextricable from at least a partially-episodic format. And while Picard was telling a different kind of story, I can't deny that my favourite episodes of Disco have been the ones with a mostly self-contained A-plot. After 10 delightfully episodic instalments of LwD, its focus on long-term development of characters instead of a season-spanning puzzle-plot (okay, mostly just Mariner, but we only have 10 × 22 minutes and she is the star) has been downright refreshing.

So here we are, at the end of the most consistent and well-executed Season 1 of a Star Trek series since, arguably, Those Old Scientists. And sure, if they'd had to produce another... yikes, 42 episodes? Then sure, they probably would have dropped a clunker or two—but they didn't, and winning on a technicality is still winning. I'm practically vibrating with excitement for Disco to come back next week, but damn, I'm going to miss this little show while it's on hiatus.

Spoilers below:

Something I've been keeping track of finally paid off this week! (Which never happens to me, lol.) The destruction of the USS Solvang marked the first present-day death(s) of any Starfleet officer on Lower Decks, the only other on-screen killing at all being a flashback in "Cupid's Errant Arrow". Which makes sense, being (a) a comedy, and (b) about typically "expendable" characters: it hasn't been afraid to flirt with a little darkness here and there, but killing people off at Star Trek's usual pace wouldn't just be wrong for the tone, it would be downright bizarre.

But... people die on Star Trek. That's one of the core themes of the show, really: space is full of knowledge and beauty, but also danger and terror, and believing that the former is worth the risk of the latter is (according to Trek) one of humanity's most noble traits. I'm the least bloodthirsty TV watcher I know, but the longer we went with a body count of nil—ships completely evacuated before they were destroyed, main characters hilariously maimed without permanent consequences, etc.—well, I didn't mind per se, but the absence of truly deadly stakes was definitely getting conspicuous.

Turns out they were saving it up for maximum impact. And holy fuck, I've never felt such a pit in my stomach watching a ship get destroyed that wasn't named Enterprise. It felt grim and brutal and somehow both much too quick and dreadfully inevitable—and yeah, it looked extremely fucking cool—and I'd like every other Star Trek property for the rest of time to take notes under a large bold heading labeled RESTRAINT.

Comedy doesn't need to do this, but my favourite comedy does, and in a way that few other art forms can even approach: lower my emotional defences by making me laugh, endear character(s) to me with goofy-but-relatable antics—then BAM, sucker-punch me in the motherfucking feels. M*A*S*H is probably the classic example on TV, Futurama was notorious for it, and even Archer has pulled it off a few times; it's also a staple of some of my favourite standup. I wasn't sure if Lower Decks was going to go there in Season 1—and wasn't sure if they'd earn it—but I knew if they did, that they'd nail it, and damn. Feels good to be right.

Last batch of notes for the season!!! I rambled enough already, so let's do it liveblog-style:

I fucking KNEW they were going to use "archive" visuals from TAS at some point, I KNEW IT :D

"THOSE OLD SCIENTISTS" ahahahahahahahahahahahaha

I like chill and confident Boimler a lot? You can really see—

oh bRADWARD NOOOOO

That opening shot of the Solvang tracking down to the red giant was extremely Discovery-esque... minus the motion sickness, that is

A lady captain AND a lady first officer? That's—oh hey, it's Captain Dayton's brand-new ship. Hahaha, that means they're totally fucked, right?.

Yep! They sure a—umm, wh—shit, okay, but—oh no—no, you can't—wait DON'T

...fuck

FUCK.

Narrator: "And then Amy needed a five-hour break."

[live-action Star Trek showrunner voice] "Gee, Mike! Why does CBS let you have two cold opens?"

Okay, yes, the bit with Rutherford cycling through all the different attitudes in his implant was transparently an excuse for Eugene Cardero to vamp while waiting for something to do in the story, but as far as I'm concerned they can contrive a reason for him to do a bunch of different silly Rutherfords in a row any time they damn well want, because that was classic!!!

EXOCOMP EXOCOMP EXOCOMP EXOCOMP

AND THE EXOCOMP IS PAINTED LIKE THE EXOCOMP IS WEARING A LITTLE EXOCOMP-SIZED STARFLEET UNIFORM

EXOCOMP!!!!!

The slow burn and now the payoff of the Mariner-is-Freeman's-secret-daughter plot has been executed so well. I'm beyond impressed with this writer's room, y'all—they are threading a hell of a needle here

"Wolf 359 was an inside job" would have been a spit-take if I'd had anything in my mouth

...how many memos do you think Starfleet Command has had to issue asking people to stop calling the USS Sacramento "the Sac"?

CAN WE TALK ABOUT HOW THEY'VE DECORATED THE SHUTTLECRAFT SEQUOIA THOUGH

Is, uh, is it weird if I'm starting to ship Tendi and Peanut Hamper a little? It is weird, isn't it. I knew it was weird...

Coital barbs??? I take back everything I said about wanting to know more about Shaxs/T'Ana.

The "good officer" version of Mariner is... kind of hot, tbh! But Tawny Newsome has done such a great job of building this character all season that her voice getting uncharacteristically clipped and martial and "sir! yes, sir!" is also deeply, deeply weird

Ah, so this is literally exactly like when TNG (and DS9) would bring in, and then blow up, a never-before-seen Galaxy-class ship, just to underscore that we're facing a real threat this week, baby. And hey, it fucking worked—my heart was in my throat, omg, for the reveal of the—

PAKLEDS?????????

The fucking PAKLEDS have been gluing weapons to their ships for the last 15 years. GREAT.

(We interrupt the SHIP BEING SLICED INTO SCRAP for an interesting bit of world-building: on Earth, the traditional First Contact Day meal is salmon!)

"I need a dangerous, half-baked solution that breaks Starfleet codes and totally pisses me off! That's an order." I'm starting to think Captain Freeman might actually be overqualified for the Cerritos, y'all—she's REALLY awesome

OH SHIT IT'S BADGEY, this is a TERRIBLE IDEA

"How much contraband have you hidden on my ship?" "I don't know! A lot!"

Awwww, Boims!!!

AHAHAHAHAHAHA, FUCK THIS, PEANUT HAMPER OUT

BADGEY NOOOOO

AUGHHHHH WHAT THE CHRIST DID HE JUST—BUT—RUTHERFORD'S IMPLANT????

RUTHERFORD!!!!!!!!!!

SHAXS!!!!!!

F U C K ! ! ! ! !

ahaIOPugdfhagntpgjrq90e5mgu90qe5;oigoqgw4ouegrw5SP;IAEHURVa IT’S THE TITAN???????????

IT'S CAPTAIN WILLIAM T. RIKER ON THE MOTHERFUCKING TITAN??????????

i'm screaming I'M SCREAMINGGGGGG​TGGGTGQER;​LBHAOIBVNV;​OAPBIJNVagr;h;​oagruipuwtnaetbaetgq35ghqet

I'M SO GLAD THIS WASN'T SPOILED FOR ME WTF

I AM WEEPING LIKE A CHILD

...

(Just a brief 20-minute pause this time)

And oh wow, seeing Will and Deanna hits different after Picard too, in a few different ways, which I may even get into later now that my heartrate is back to normal, lmao

Oh, I am always here for some jokes at the expense of the Sovereign class. The Enterprise-E sucked. They should have built a new bigger model of the D and new Galaxy-class interiors for the TNG movies, and I will die on that hill

OKAY, FINE, YOU GOT ME, RUTHERFORD × TENDI WOULD BE ADORABLE AND THIS IS ACTUALLY A PRETTY GOOD SETUP FOR IT

Awwww, Shaxs though :( Congrats on the single most badass death in Star Trek history, dude. The Prophets would—well, the actual Prophets would probably be slightly confused about most of it, but Kira Nerys would be proud of you and I feel like that probably counts for more. RIP, Papa Bear

I am here all damn DAY for the Mariner–Riker parallels, ahahahahaha

Pausing it to record my prediction that Boimler's commitment to not caring about rank anymore is going to last 3... 2...

Yep.

Bradward, how DARE YOU.

"Those guys had a long road, getting from there to here." OH FOR THE LOVE OF—

What a brilliant way to resolve and renew the various character arcs and relationships moving into Season 2! The writers could easily have brought everything back to status quo—chaotic Mariner fighting with her mom and being a bad influence on Boimler, etc.—and done another 10 just like these, but I suspect that wouldn't have been ambitious enough for these writers. What a blast. I cannot wait for more.

Thanks for following along, friends! Stay tuned for my (similarly patchy and amateur) coverage of Discovery, starting next week!

[gmd3ddesign]

CLASS F SHUTTLECRAFT

This is my slightly redesigned Class F Shuttle-craft GENERAL SPECIFICATIONS Dimensions: Length: 27’10.4323″ Height: 9’9.6532″ Width: 17’6.6646″ Minimal Crew: 1 (pilot) Seating Capacity: 7 Max. Range: 5 Parsecs Max. Velocity: W.F. 2.1 Armament: None Defences: Shields.

The stations are as follows Port-side: Helm Environment (Shuttle and Planetary) Medical (Medical equipment is stored here) Starboard: Navigation

[ironcaniac]

Review of BlueBrixx’s Galileo Shuttlecraft

Ever since I was a kid and saw the first LEGO space themed set, I hoped that there eventually would be a Star Trek theme.  Alas, despite LEGO adding licensed sets from many pop culture franchises like Marvel, Disney, and Jurassic World over the years, there was never a Star Trek set.  That all finally changed recently when a German building bricks maker called BlueBrixx started selling officially licensed Star Trek sets!  As I’m partial to minifig scale vehicles, the first set I chose to get was the Class F Shuttlecraft. 

BlueBrixx doesn’t seem to have a U.S. based retailer, so this set came straight from Rodgau, Germany and needed to clear customs. 17 days after placing the order, my wish of having a Star Trek LEGO-type set has finally come to fruition!

It’s been a few years since I’ve built a brick set, but I was able to finish this shuttle in 2.5 hours.  Even though these weren’t LEGOs, the build experience was completely indistinguishable from building with LEGO bricks. The pieces fit together just like LEGOs do. (This is likely because LEGO’s patents have expired and now other companies can make brick pieces exactly to LEGO’s specs.) 

What impresses me the most is just how closely the brick model resembles the onscreen Galileo shuttle from The Original Series.  It’s a good thing that shuttle was so blocky in appearance, but it’s also a testament to BlueBrixx’s attention to detail in what they chose to re-create in brick form.  The pieces fit together very tightly, making this model very sturdy ... except for its nacelles.  

The nacelles are the only weak point in the model.  As in, literally, they’re a weak point because the front 1/3 of the nacelles have a tendency to disconnect if you accidentally put downward pressure on the model’s bow.  This is because the shuttle model actually rests its full weight on the nacelles.  Without anything to support the shuttle’s front half, the nacelles’ front sections bear a lot of strain at the segments that contact the surface.  This minor shortcoming doesn’t detract from the model at all because the nacelles hold together just fine (surprisingly well, all things considered) as long as you’re careful about where you’re putting pressure, which is a consideration of any brick-built model really.  You could also solve the problem by placing something (such as an extra brick or a small display stand) underneath the forward bow to support it.

Being in minifig scale, the model naturally has an interior that can accommodate them.  There are no minifigs included with the set, but as with the onscreen shuttle, there are seats for up to 8 figures and some standing room behind the helm too.  Interestingly, the Class F shuttle is officially listed as having a crew complement of only 7, so perhaps the extra seat is intended to be for one of the pilots when then they need a break.  :)

The interior is every bit as detailed as the exterior and accurately replicates what was seen onscreen to the extent that is possible in small plastic bricks.  There is also an aft compartment that I don’t believe was ever seen onscreen and is not accessible from the main compartment unless you remove the door.  That could present an opportunity for creativity:  customizing the space using other bricks, which I look forward to trying at some point.

Of course, what’s the point of a minifig scale vessel if you don’t put minifigs in it?  Here’s a random group of minifigs from various LEGO themes checking out the Galileo!  As the first photo shows, the exterior access door on the port side is easily removable, which is another nice touch.  I also like how, when viewed from a certain angle, you can see the pilots from outside the front windows. 

In conclusion, this Galileo shuttlecraft brick set was well worth the price and the shipping costs/time.  The model is a great addition to any LEGO collection and pretty much a must-have for anyone that also happens to be a Trekkie!  

BlueBrixx has announced that they will be releasing a Danube-class runabout in minifig scale so that’s definitely going on my shopping list when it becomes available!  ;)  LLAP

[spockvarietyhour]

Production costs dictated reusing old models back in TNG/DS9's day (Voyager, being in the Delta Quadrant really didn't have that problem). Even when they built new models TNG especially always seemed shy in using the Nebula and Ambassador ships. (ships in distress were never the former and only the latter once - The Enterprise C. I guess ships in distress had to be older so it was always the mirandas and oberths). They also kept reusing that one shot of the Enterprise meeting Hood whenever they had a transport shot.

Didn't help the first ship that wasn't the Enterprise-D was the Stargazer, a kitbashed Constitution class that had already been mostly decommissioned by the time we saw it, so there went some of the budget. (and they made the best of it with the Victory/Hathaway in season 2, and one half shot in Redemption Pt 2).

Even during season 7 Rick Sternbach had proposed an Ambassador class kitbashed into Nebula/Miranda style ship for the Pegasus but they decided to reuse an Oberth-class instead.

Damn, would have been nice.

And as digital VFX came into play, there were still costs associated with modelling those, and wanting to bring ships previously seen on screen, including the then-newly released First Contact. (once again, didn't save them money as they had to rebuild those models from scratch as they used different software/were unavailable). There was also the criminal non-use of the Sovereign class during DS9/Voyager as to "not confuse audiences" about it being the Enterprise E or not.

I would have loved to see the digital versions of the Wolf 359 ships during DS9's run and more recent versions. The Cheyennes, Springfields, Niagaras to name a few. All ships built in the first half of the 24th Century, many bearing the look and feel of the Enterprise C & D.

Then there's the push in Picard to add more original ships and Star Trek Online ships, with the Sutherland and Ross class being successors to the Nebula and Galaxy classes so we don't feature those anymore. and the Excelsior II class. There are still Sovereign, Akira and Luna class ships at least. (let's not get bogged down on Constitution III classes right now).

Lower Decks and Prodigy have now also come into the mix, with new ship classes we haven't seen anywhere else like the Parliament class USS Vancouver, and the Obena, a mix of Sovereign and Excelsior class. Neither of which have been seen yet in the 25th Century. And no sign of Voyager-A save for the shuttlecrafts. Lower Decks had the Defiant class but no sign of any of them during Picard's time (or anything that looked like a direct successor). Same for the Intrepid-class.

I'm guessing the California-class has also been retired by Star Trek Picard's time?

Which brings me to another point, Some classes you'll find just aren't to the task and are phased out quickly or made in fewer numbers (see the 4 nacelled Nebula variant in sisko's office). The Dominion War saw multiple Mirandas and Excelsiors in one final blaze of glory (oh and I guess Endgame).

But I can't imagine that's what happened to the Enterprise-F, we saw others of the Odyssey class still in service during the Big Battle. Probably should have written the Enterprise-F to be leading the ceremony and be destroyed in-battle if you were dead set on an Enterprise-G (grumble)

I'm rambling now, I'll end by saying would be nice to have one of the animated productions bring back some of those 24th Century designs from TNG that made it on air or not.

It's a good thing they don't believe in money in the Federation. Because launching the Enterprise F only to decommission it, is a huge fucking waste of money lol.

This is so true. These ships in Star Trek have lasted over 100 years (NX-01 in "E2") and 1,000 years (ST "Calypso") when the plot demands it, but they're off retiring them after 7 years (1701-A) and 15 (1701-F) just because the plot demands it😂