Sunday, September 8, 2019

My Favorite Star Trek Ships


I’m starting to get more and more into Trek, and I love how the ship designs reflect the cultures that produced them.  My ranking is mostly based on design, but I do take into account practicality and balance (which is why don’t include such blatant Sue-Wagons as the Prometheus and the Scimitar).  A warning, though: I do include a couple from Discovery and the Reboots.  Also, my takes on the various manifestations of the Constitution class might ruffle some feathers.





34. STARFLEET CONSTITUTION CLASS
Star Trek TOS
As iconic as it is, I’ve never been a big fan of the Enterprise’s design.  I never particularly cared for the separate engineering section.  I still have to give it credit, though.  The price of practical space design is the lack of interesting style.



33. ROMULAN BIRD-OF-PREY
Star Trek TOS
The design is a bit dated, but it’s unique.  The ship itself introduced the cloaking device and was a riveting introduction to the Romulans.  The 22nd Century version looks more in line with the developed Romulan aesthetic (and looks better as a result), but it’s a bit of a continuity problem.


32. CARDASSIAN GALOR CLASS
Star Trek TNG, DS9
Awkward-looking from most angles, but it gets points for being shaped like its government's emblem.


31. “KLINGON” BIRD-OF-PREY
Star Trek Discovery
Practically nothing about Discovery has anything to do with Star Trek, let alone where the Klingons are concerned, but the ship does look cool.



30. BORG TYPE 03
Star Trek TNG
Still an indirect product of the Borg, but it shows more individuality that is reflective of Lore’s Borg faction.



29. STARFLEET SOVEREIGN CLASS
TNG Movies
On one hand I love the sleek, spry look of this ship.  It’s one of the best shaped vehicles from Starfleet, and it reflects its role as a top-of-the-line battlecruiser.  But what spoils its appearance is the rough, ugly skin surface.  An interesting parallel to the Sovie is the contemporary Ford Taurus: actually a pretty shapely car that was covered in ugliness.   The color palette is a bit confused, as well.  It doesn’t help that it’s often rendered in hideously bad CGI.



28. STARFLEET DEFIANT CLASS
Starfleet’s first admitted warship, it has an efficient, compact design.  I have mixed feelings about the appearance, though.  Especially its odd “nose” structure.  It also has a few reliability issues.



 27. STARFLEET GALAXY CLASS
Star Trek TNG
I never was that fond of it, but it really suits the work it stars in.  It’s a bit ungainly, but that suits its role as a ship of peace and exploration.  Its smooth surfaces and cool color palette give it a maternal look.  If I were Stefan Molyneux I would accuse the ship of seducing me on purpose with its kissable Navigational Deflector.  As much as it’s mocked for its luxurious nature, it makes sense as mobile military base during peacetime.   



26. STARFLEET EXCELSIOR CLASS
Star Trek IIITNG Era
From most angles it’s an attractive, robust-looking ship.  I also like how the inward curve dominates the ventral stern.  However, the ship looks awkward from the top, with its small, circular disk and its warp nacelles connected to its hull with flimsy, ungainly-looking pylons.  It must have been a good design to last so long, though.



25. STARFLEET CONSTITUTION CLASS (REFIT)
Star Trek Movies
The cool paint job, the blue navigational deflector, and the attractive warp nacelles do wonders for this ship’s appearance.  The swept-back pylons make a world of difference in how spry the ship looks, as demonstrated by the Discovery version of the pre-refit Enterprise.



24. STARFLEET OBERTH CLASS
Star Trek III, TNG Era
Not much of a combat vessel, but I love the unique layout of this research ship.



23. STARFLEET DANUBE CLASS RUNABOUT
A practical light ship suited for operations from a space station, and I like its design.



 22. UNITED EARTH NX CLASS
Star Trek: Enterprise
Deserves a lot of credit for being the ship that helped humanity become competitive with its Warp-5 capability.  It also has a great, sleek shape I wish that Starfleet had stuck to.


21. KLINGON D5 CLASS
Star Trek: Enterprise
A great-looking ship.  Uniquely Klingon, well-desienged, but crude enough to plausible as an older predecessor to TOS era ships.



 20. STARFLEET DREADNOUGHT CLASS
Star Trek into Darkness
A dark, intimidating nemesis to the Enterprise.  


 19. “KLINGON” SARCOPHAGUS
Star Trek Discovery
Sinister ship adorned with caskets containing the bodies of fallen warriors, a custom which Klingons are well-known for.  An interesting idea, and the ship looks awesome.


18. STARFLEET INTREPID CLASS
Star Trek Voyager
One of the sleeker designs from Starfleet.  A medium sized ship with good speed and functionality.





17. GORN SHIP
Star Trek TOS (Remastered)
We only get a glimpse of it, but it’s a solid layout with a subtle Raygun Gothic quality.



 16. FERENGI D’KORA CLASS
Star Trek TNG
Always liked its unique shape, and the orange color scheme helped it appear alien.  Too bad it was never on DS9.



15. VULCAN WARP SLED
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
I like the practical nature of a warp add-on to a universal shuttle, and it looks cool.



14. ROMULAN D’DERIDEX CLASS
Star Trek TNG
A unique, intimidating design and the ultimate warship of its era.  I love the hollow shape, and the green glow of the nacelles compounds the sinister appearance.  Too bad it was replaced with the far blander Valdore class.



13. STARFLEET CONSTITUTION CLASS (ALTERNATE REALITY)
The Star Trek Reboots
I know this might sound like heresy, but I love this design.  Combining elements from the original and the refit in a form that is beautifully shaped and better integrated.  While the reboots did a great job with Federation ship design, it did not succeed at distinctly alien aesthetic, as evidenced by the infuriatingly generic “spikey alien ship” look of what pass for Romulan and Klingon vessels.


12. JEM’HADAR BATTLE CRUISER
Not much to say other than I find this ship pretty.



11. TARELLIAN PLAGUE SHIP
Star Trek TNG
One of the most creative designs in the franchise.



10. BORG CUBE
Star Trek TNG
It perfectly embodies the Borg: industrial anti-aesthetic, decentralized systems, and geometric structure.  Huge and invincible, it’s a soulless terror. 



9. FEDERATION TYPE 7 SHUTTLE
Star Trek TNG
I think most of the shuttles look generic, but this smoothly-shaped class stands out and is my favorite application of Starfleet’s TNG aesthetic.



 8. BREEN WARSHIP
A twisted, sinister design.



7.  V’GER
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Large, sinister, and rather gothic-looking, this ship is enhanced by great atmosphere and patient directing.



 6. TAMARIAN CRUISER
Star Trek TNG
Looks like a Star Destroyer, but too much like one.



 5. KLINGON NEGH’VAR CLASS
Star Trek TNG, DS9
Big, predatory, and martial.  It’s an imposing ship, unless you count its embarrassing performance against and aging Galaxy refit.  Then again, those supposedly weren’t real Negh’Vars.


4. KLINGON VOR’CHA CLASS
Star Trek TNG, DS9
A great evolution of the Klingon aesthetic.  A versatile heavy cruiser with an aggressive, predatory appearance that does justice to that of its predecessor.  Still there's a trade-off between the Klingons' Ain't-Broken-Don't-Fix-It mindset and the Federation's innovation.  Klingon ships always seem slightly edged out by whatever Starfleet's best ship is at the moment.



3. STARFLEET MIRANDA CLASS
Star Trek II – TNG Era
This has always been my favorite Federation design.  A sleek shape without any of the elements I generally disliked about the Starfleet ships.  Its efficient layout makes it plausible as ship that maintain usefulness for centuries with appropriate modifications.  Unfortunately it’s a victim of its own success,  centuries-old Mirandas’ getting humiliated when finally faced with state-of-the-art vessels from other superpowers.



2. KLINGON D7/K’T'INGA CLASS
Star Trek TOS, Movies
I’ve always loved this ship since I was a kid.  The swept-back wings, the manta-inspired rear hull, the neck…it was familiar yet alien.  Even the torpedo launcher gives the impression of a maw in a terrifying, eyeless face.  It was top-of-the-line at its time, and lasted centuries.  It might also say something about the the D7's quality that the Romulans thought they were worth giving away cloaking technology to the Klingons.



1. KLINGON BIRD-OF-PREY
Star Trek III – TNG Era
Unlike the Miranda, the KBOP adapted well to its long service life.  For all its style, it’s a practical, humble warship, trading power for speed and efficiency.  There seems to be some disagreement over its class names, which includes B’Rel, D12, and K’Vort (a larger version misused as a cruiser, presumably the result of a producer’s mistake).    

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