Star Trek: Discovery

[Knife]

So on face book, this is about. Introducing the new starship. https://www.facebook.com/StarTrekCBS/vi ... 626814791/

Besides the fact that it is obviously a phase 2 rehash, the CGI is horrible for a show for 2017. This can't be real.

[Batman]

Yikes. That's barely game-level. And man, that's one ugly ship. It looks like the offspring of a Starfleet vessel raped by a Klingon one.

[Knife]

I'm hoping I got duped by onion or something, it really doesn't seem good enough CGI for a star trek show in 2017 even if the phase 2 wannabe is the real design. I hope it's not. One of the biggest gripes with Enterprise is that it had nothing new, just rehashed TNG to include the Akiraprise. Just using phase 2 ship (which is ugly as hell) is lazy and doesn't bode well for the show.

[tezunegari]

That looks like the concept art for the Constitution-refit from the "Planet of the Titans" movie pitch for Star Trek: The Movie.
[ Star Trek: Planet of the Titans (Memory Alpha GERMAN) ]

Remove the saucer section or integrate it into the triangula engine section and it might work as a design... but screw me with a chainsaw, that thing is ugly.

[Enigma]

No wonder they went after Axanar. They probably have better production value than this barrel of crap.

[RogueIce]

I'm hoping I got duped by onion or something, it really doesn't seem good enough CGI for a star trek show in 2017 even if the phase 2 wannabe is the real design. I hope it's not. One of the biggest gripes with Enterprise is that it had nothing new, just rehashed TNG to include the Akiraprise. Just using phase 2 ship (which is ugly as hell) is lazy and doesn't bode well for the show.

It's posted on the official, verified Star Trek YouTube page. So nope.

That is some shit CGI. I can't imagine why they'd release that, even for a teaser. I hope the show gets a better budget than this thing got. They could have made the video in Goddamn STO and it would look 100x better than that.

And the design is just...bleh. From some angles it looks merely decent, but in other angles it's pretty poopy.

The story, characters and acting had better be fucking top notch or this series will be shit.

[Elheru Aran]

Count me in for a fifth or whatever digit in concurrence on the poor design and CGI. I strongly hope it's just an extremely early teaser.

[The Romulan Republic]

I'm hoping I got duped by onion or something, it really doesn't seem good enough CGI for a star trek show in 2017 even if the phase 2 wannabe is the real design. I hope it's not. One of the biggest gripes with Enterprise is that it had nothing new, just rehashed TNG to include the Akiraprise. Just using phase 2 ship (which is ugly as hell) is lazy and doesn't bode well for the show.

It's posted on the official, verified Star Trek YouTube page. So nope.

That is some shit CGI. I can't imagine why they'd release that, even for a teaser. I hope the show gets a better budget than this thing got. They could have made the video in Goddamn STO and it would look 100x better than that.

And the design is just...bleh. From some angles it looks merely decent, but in other angles it's pretty poopy.

The story, characters and acting had better be fucking top notch or this series will be shit.

Well, that's the thing.

Pretty effects are all well and good, but a show will not succeed or fail on effects. In the end, it always comes down to writing, and actors who can convey it well (or cover up any minor defects with the quality of their performances).

Take, oh, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It never had top notch CGI, and the first season or two are painfully low-budget in appearance, but the show became a critically acclaimed cult classic on the basis of clever and moving writing and good performances from some of the cast.

Or classic Doctor Who- that show wasn't beloved for decades based the consistent excellence of its effects, even by the standards of its time.

[Elheru Aran]

I'm hoping I got duped by onion or something, it really doesn't seem good enough CGI for a star trek show in 2017 even if the phase 2 wannabe is the real design. I hope it's not. One of the biggest gripes with Enterprise is that it had nothing new, just rehashed TNG to include the Akiraprise. Just using phase 2 ship (which is ugly as hell) is lazy and doesn't bode well for the show.

It's posted on the official, verified Star Trek YouTube page. So nope.

That is some shit CGI. I can't imagine why they'd release that, even for a teaser. I hope the show gets a better budget than this thing got. They could have made the video in Goddamn STO and it would look 100x better than that.

And the design is just...bleh. From some angles it looks merely decent, but in other angles it's pretty poopy.

The story, characters and acting had better be fucking top notch or this series will be shit.

Well, that's the thing.

Pretty effects are all well and good, but a show will not succeed or fail on effects. In the end, it always comes down to writing, and actors who can convey it well (or cover up any minor defects with the quality of their performances).

Take, oh, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It never had top notch CGI, and the first season or two are painfully low-budget in appearance, but the show became a critically acclaimed cult classic on the basis of clever and moving writing and good performances from some of the cast.

Or classic Doctor Who- that show wasn't beloved for decades based the consistent excellence of its effects, even by the standards of its time.

The problem with that-- stipulating, by the way, that I do agree with what you're saying-- is that people can now produce almost movie-quality effects as a *hobby* nowadays. Look at Fractalsponge's work, for example. CBS/Paramount are a major studio; there is absolutely no excuse for cobbling together something that looks like a early-90s game FMV effect.

High quality CGI effects have become far cheaper and simpler than they used to be. Building a set of digital models is still expensive, but like... hell, Rebels almost looks better than that, and it's a weekly television show on the Disney Channel. Of course Disney is probably even bigger than Paramount, but still.

Now I can give them some room for error on it being a low resolution Facebook video... but still, it didn't look good, and you can do high-res videos on Facebook now can't you?

[bilateralrope]

How many shows can you think of with worse than videogame quality CGI ?

How many of those had video games set in the same franchise ?

Sure, it probably won't break the show. But I expect that lack of care/budget that caused them to use sub-video game CGI means that there will be other problems.

Building a set of digital models is still expensive

So don't. Get the models from STO and use them.

[Iroscato]

I'm hardly the kind of guy that favours fancy special effects over story and character development, but shit and damn, that is some fucking horrendous CGI. It looks comically bad. I'm hoping this is some sort of hastily put together concept teaser thingy and the real thing will have effects that at least look as good as...shit I dunno, Voyager maybe?

It's out in January - there's been nary a whisper about who's starring in it, who's directing which episodes, or any solid, actual information about the show. If they're trying to build hype, I'd say so far they're doing quite a piss-poor job of it so far.

[SpottedKitty]

And man, that's one ugly ship. It looks like the offspring of a Starfleet vessel raped by a Klingon one.

Either that or the model was designed by someone who'd never seen any Trek, working from a (badly) written description. Looks weird, and worse than amateurish — the New Voyages short Going Boldly is much better in comparison.

[bilateralrope]

Watching the trailer a second time I have a few more thoughts:

- The CGI for the rock of the asteroid was decent. Which makes the ship CGI being terrible even worse.
- The dock is inside an asteroid for some reason. My first guess as to the reason (secret shipyard) makes me worried about the series.
- Turning the lights on after releasing the docking clamps seems an odd move.
- Facebook commentators point out a cloaking device sound at the end of the trailer. The idea of this ship having a cloaking device worries me, as it would mean that the ship is a warship, not an exploration vessel.

[The Romulan Republic]

While a cloaking device would most likely be on a warship, technically a science vessel observing a pre-warp society would have use for one as well.

In any case, most Starfleet vessels are multi-purpose.

[Skywalker_T-65]

And man, that's one ugly ship. It looks like the offspring of a Starfleet vessel raped by a Klingon one.

Either that or the model was designed by someone who'd never seen any Trek, working from a (badly) written description. Looks weird, and worse than amateurish — the New Voyages short Going Boldly is much better in comparison.

Weeeeellll...

New ship is really old? ST is aping Ep VII going back to McQuarrie Art?

So...yeah. It's clearly a call back to this, at least IMO.

Even has the asteroid, which is...yeah.

[bilateralrope]

And man, that's one ugly ship. It looks like the offspring of a Starfleet vessel raped by a Klingon one.

Either that or the model was designed by someone who'd never seen any Trek, working from a (badly) written description. Looks weird, and worse than amateurish — the New Voyages short Going Boldly is much better in comparison.

Weeeeellll...

New ship is really old? ST is aping Ep VII going back to McQuarrie Art?

So...yeah. It's clearly a call back to this, at least IMO.

Even has the asteroid, which is...yeah.

Now I'm worried that they will also be using the storylines mentioned in that article.

[bilateralrope]

While a cloaking device would most likely be on a warship, technically a science vessel observing a pre-warp society would have use for one as well.

Would a ship that sits in one system for months or years at a time, watching the locals without interacting with them, make for interesting Trek episodes ?

In any case, most Starfleet vessels are multi-purpose.

Sticking a cloaking device onto an exploration ship seems like a bad idea because its presence gives the impression that you like sneaking around. Especially if it is running when you cross a border you didn't know about and enter their space accidentally. Making it hard to convince other civilisations that you are peaceful explorers, especially if that civilisation is engaged in hostilities with someone else.

Now lets talk about the Starfleet vessels with cloaking devices that I can think of:
- The Defiant. A dedicated warship.
- The Holoship from Insurrection. Intended to be used for abduction.
In both cases, these ships got a cloaking device because their specific mission required one. Neither ship was meant for peaceful exploration.

[Lord Revan]

Am I the only one who seems confused as to when and in which timeline this is suppose to happen, I mean the ship in addition of being butt ugly seems to imply Kelvin timeline on some details but others like the red bussard collectors and low thousands registry (the registry seems to be NCC-10xx with the last 2 numbers not being clearly seen from the angle we see them) seems to imply pre-2233 or prime timeline in the 23 century.

[tezunegari]

It's NCC - 1031.

I don't really have a problem with the cgi itself but I hope this is only a test render. Once there are 1080p videos with less compression available it might actually look better.

Regarding the ships design though, if they remove the saucer section and the neck... the ship might actually look workable in a boxy / angular kind of way. As if Starfleet tried to copy klingon designs.

Now if the ship would look like this instead.

[Knife]

Guys, it's the phase 2 model they played with before turning the star trek series into the motion picture and the basis for the Galaxy design. Besides the shitty CGI, it's just a rehash of something someone pitched in 1977 for the 'next Enterprise'. Someone saw a stardestroyer and decided if they stick a saucer section on it, it would be awesome. Fucking hacks.

As an aside, if they had to do another time frame, pre Nu Trek would be a good time to play in. Or post Trek movies with Kirk but prior to STNG.

Edit: One more point, the CGI and design are important. This is the Enterprise, it is a character.

[PREDATOR490]

The series was going to be fighting a massive uphill battle from the beginning so I can imagine it is being funded poorly in the hopes that it will succeed and thus deserve getting more money pumped into it. From a frugal business view this might make sense but I am of the opinion this will end up being a massive mistake.
Especially, if this series is meant to be set in the new franchise since the movies are all about spectacular effects, it is going to be even more horrific to have a series that looks really cheap.

As far as the ship goes - I do not like it but to be fair the ship is of minimal importance compared to the writing behind it. I will be more interested in the quality of the actors they decide to launch this series with and the actual direction it is supposed to go in.

[Q99]

I do love that they went with the name 'Discovery.' *That's* what Trek is about.

The ship? I think it's a little ugly, but also solid. I dunno, I can see loving it. Looks like it has a bit of Klingon influence. Looks tough, maybe to instill a sense of going it on it's own.

[Mange]

Well, the Discovery is clearly based on Ralph McQuarrie's concept art of the Enterprise for the cancelled Planet of the Titans. No word yet on when it'll be set?

EDIT: Sorry, it'll be set in the Prime timeline according to TrekMovie: TrekMovie

[Joun_Lord]

The CGI is crap though this is an early teaser, presumably the CGI will be cleaned up for the series proper a year from now.

Not sure on the design. Does look a bit like Klingon ship somebody slapped a saucer on. Infiltration ship maybe? Cross species ship for a Federation and Klingon crew with design elements of both cultures?

Like Lord Revan I'm a bit confused about the registry. Its a fairly low number and I thought the registry mostly went I guess sequentially with newer ships having higher numbers and so forth rather then just picking and choosing number all willy nilly. If its NCC 1031 then it should be newer then the Kelvin (NCC 0514) but older then the Enterprise (if you don't know its registry what are you doing here). Maybe its a prequel to the reboot films.

Any way its goes I'll atleast check the show out.

[Lord Revan]

the primary hull looks fine, with some added detail it might even look nice, but the secondary hull looks like it needed a couple more design passes to make it fit the starfleet design tradition better there's nothing wrong with the basic shape there it just looks like too bukly and angular for a starfleet ship.

maybe make the nacelle struts less bulky and the center part sleeker and you have nice design (the Vengence suffers from the same problem of being too angular).

the USS Franklin from ST:beyond has the registry of NX-326, assuming no re-issues with registries that would make the Kelvin a rather old design, but then we don't know for how long the Kelvin had been in service before it was destroyed.