#Obena Class

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(305) The Obena Class (The Spiritual Successor To The Excelsior Class)

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Other Active Starfleet vessels in Star Trek: Lower Decks

1. California-class U.S.S. Merced 2. Parliament-class U.S.S. Vancouver 3. Division 14 starship Osler 4. California-class U.S.S. Rubidoux 5. Miranda-class U.S.S. MacDuff 6. Luna-class U.S.S. Titan 7. Obena-class U.S.S. Archimedes

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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😂

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The U.S.S. Archimedes, looks like an upgraded Excelsior-class with the engineering hill like the Lakota and Enterprise-B, but Sovereign-class style deflector dish and nacelles.  The saucer also is different, stretched out like a Sovereign-class starship while retaining the elements of an Excelsior Class.

Per the Paramount + release this is an Obena-class starship.

 We also got some okudagrams in the ep:

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Other good additions:

Starfleet officers who are Beluga Whales

Kestra Riker-Troi

Captain Sonia Gomez

Luna-class, Parliament-class, Obena-class, Zheng He-class, and whatever class the Protostar is.

Kwejian

Other bad additions:

Kwejian we hardly knew ya

Earth having generic Fifth Element cities

Elon Musk being remembered as a visionary inventor (mitigated somewhat by that character who mentioned him being from the Mirror Universe)

Good Additions that Have Been Made to Star Trek Canon since 2017:

Queer/trans characters

Kelpiens (and Ba'ul)

Christopher Pike knowing years in advance what would happen to him, but actively choosing it for the greater good

Ni'var

The general universe of the 32nd century

Romulan warrior nuns

Romulan culture in general, honestly

The whole idea of xBs

The whole idea of "second contact" missions

Badass Pakleds

That planet of RenFaire larpers

Klingons having musical genres other than opera

Quark's becoming a franchise

"Meh" Additions to the Canon Since 2017

Spock having a human adoptive sister

The Klingon War of 2256

The Mycellial Network

Qo'NoS is hollow

Altan Inigo Soong

Klingons have two dicks

Bad Additions to Canon Since 2017

Hammerspace turbolifts

Harry Mudd not just being a wheeler-dealer, but a traitor and a murderer

CONTROL (yes, I know CONTROL originally appeared in the books, but you know what? It was even stupider there)

The Zhat Vash / Star Trek: Butlerian Jihad

The fact that the Federation was using androids for cheap labour in the first place, my god

The Burn being caused a mutant child being sad in proximity to a dilithium planet

Hugh getting killed. Do I mean Hugh on Picard or on Discovery? Yes.

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Has me wondering when the Obena Class from Lower Decks was developed, before or after the Excelsior II?

It shares a few design similarities; oval/elongated primary hull, angled versus L-shaped nacelle struts, but the Obena's nacelles more closely resemble the Sovereign class.