The ECS Horizon from “Enterprise”.
Eye Candy 04 with it’s DY ships ignited a merchant marine theme this week at the drex files. John designed several for Enterprise including the ECS Horizon, seen above. This model was built by Brandon Macdougall for Eden Effects.
I wish that Enterprise had dealt more with this sort of action, meaning more Earth interest stuff out in the galaxy, as opposed to political intrigue between alien races. In my scenario, the Vulcans take off after First Contact saying, when you’re ready, you will find us… and then they go away. So we strike out into the Universe on our own, exploring on our own, prospering on our own, evolving on our own, and hoping to find that enigmatic race that visited us on the eve of our becoming. In fact, I would have only had rumors of aliens, and traces of dangerous species out there amongst the stars for at least the first two seasons, including those of a violent, and barbaric race called Klingons. As we enter the third season, an Earth colony is found ritualistically and brutally massacred. Go from there.
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Screencaps courtesy Jörg.
(Below) The Horizon disengages it’s cargo train.
Damn, that would have been a much better plot than most of what filled the first 2 seasons. Shoulda’ been a writer Doug, unless it meant we wouldn’t get to see all your art department shenanigans!
Well, see, THERE’S a story I could have gotten into – go along with the Enterprise crew as they actually discovered things for the first time, instead of already being immersed in a section of galaxy that is semi-known. Hey, maybe you can “reset the timeline”? All the kids are doin’ it!
Doug, you needed an alter ego so you could have pitched your story ideas! I concur with Loskene that this would have been much more interesting than a lot of what appeared on “Enterprise.” Implication is more powerful than presentation.
As for the Horizon, I love it, especially the ovoid deflector dish and spine cages – a tribute, perhaps, to the Eagle from Space: 1999? Keep on truckin’.
Doug, in my opinion that would have been far better (and much more likely given the Vulcan view) for continuity and storytelling. Unfortunately it doesn’t fit into the weekly “60 minutes to solve a self-made problem and have a shoot-’em-up along the way” TV Sci Fi formula.
This is fine design for what is a workhorse vessel. Simple, efficient, clean.
I have to agree, Doug, your idea on how things should have gone is much better.
The ECS Horizon is well done, and depicted.
I don’t think I could’ve bought into that, to be honest. The whole “Earth/Vulcan:Canada+Mexico/USA” political analogy worked too well for me to dismiss.
That aside…no arguments at all about wanting to see more of Terran spacefaring society, and how much must’ve been slipping past both the Earth and Vulcan governments into the wider Orion Arm spaces.
As for the J-Class? Thanks! *thumbs up in approval!*
Thanks for posting this! I definitely enjoy the non-glamorous and practical designs; I feel that the give a greater sense of reality to the ST universe; it’s kind of comforting to know that cargo is being moved and so on – the universe isn’t simply filled with derring-do and save-the-planet.
John’s design seems to combine some notes from TAS, such as the layered and blocky front end of the USS Huron, with the modular backbone of the DY100.
In a similar vein to John’s design here, I always thought it would be fun to imagine that the next thing to come after Matt Jeffries’ DY100 design might be Daedalus derived. I created a design and named it in homage to the late J.G. Ballard, mostly because of the cognitive dissonance, which I thought might amuse him.
By coincidence, or as a practical consequence of what such a ship might need to be in the ST universe, my design shares a lot with John’s.
I put some schematics up here if you’re interested.
http://meshula.net/wordpress/?p=280
Start writing Doug. Maybe someone at Paramount will take your idea and give us a new Trek series based around a civilian cargo ship in the early 22nd century.
Based on what was said/implied on Ent, the boomers made more first contacts than Starfleet and not having had any formal astronaut/military training, the jeopardy and drama could have come from there.
It would be an interesting alternative, but I like the choice they went with. If for no better reason than it wouldn’t have had T’Pol.
One of the nice things about late Star Trek is to play around in the universe that’s been built up over 40 years. The previous show already was in a mysterious sector of space, so I was fine with putting it back in the center of traditional alien races and whatnot.
I really like your take on ENT, Doug. That would have been much more awesome.
And the Horizon is pretty, too.
Yeah, I agree. Throughout Star Trek, I found the episodes that had the civilian and junior officers perspective was very refreshing from time to time.
Wonderful “cargo” ship. I like more that the Fortunate.
Umm…. The deflector dish, remember me a bit to the deflector dish of the Kzinti ship for ENT season 5.
TO-DO: This summer make a model fro fun of this ship
Is there a size comparison between the Horizon and the Fortunate? The Fortunate, I find, I like better-it looks more exotic, and was a bit disappointed that Travis’ home ship turned out so… bland. Sorry, that’s not a nitpick, though I confess, it sounds like it. It’s just that I’m a little over protective of Travis since he never got much love from his creators. It like the Fortunate’s profile, more than the rectangular boxiness of the Horizon. Thanks for your blog, this is one of the best there is on the net.
Both freighters seen on Enterprise were stunning designs. It’s cool how the basic structure is similar but there are still big differences. I put the screenshots of both ships in a folder and switched back and forth between the orthos of the two designs to quickly compare the differences and similarities – fun, fun!
Thanks again for giving us access to those cool ships, Doug!
Doug, your idea would have been an interesting alternative. Well, maybe I would have kept the Vulcans as our mentors, first with us being the students that do not understand the reason behind their resistance to get us in space earlier (thinking about that Archer-Warp5-why-I-dislike-Vulcans-thing), when later in the series, after the first real mistakes, troubles and bloody noses we would start to understand and appreciate their reasons. I think ever since “Take me out to the holosuit” Vulcans have been shown more and more in a less than positive light, which lightly bothered me, although I am more into the Klingons.
Cheers
Thorsten
Your premise of “only rumors of aliens” wouldn’t have satisfied the “Seek out new life and civilizations” part of Star Trek, but I agree there should have been much more stuff about Earth colonies in the first couple seasons. Lovely pictures!
I can’t add too much here except that a show revolving around a ship that might explode any moment with a crew of humans stumbling around practically blind and nearly alone would have given viewers more to hang onto.
I always figured the time-line of the show should have been shifted forward so that it began or ended with the founding of the Federation. Knowing we were never going to see any of that, even if the show lasted all 7 seasons, was disappointing.
nice ship… space is dangerous….diseased..lol
btw- found this shory review of jjtrek..
i think it got it right, with no overly trek wonk geek factoids.
http://goatdog.com/moviePage.php?movieID=963
c3
Doug, I’m liking the idea of spending more time getting to the farther reaches and heretofore unencountered aliens. There are plenty of things to see as we get there, for a season or two, for sure.
So Horizon has the nacelles up front that allowed it to just drop the cargo train and fly on. I went back and looked at Fortunate, with her nacelles “pushing” but can’t tell if she could drop her cargo in that manner. I thought maybe the bottom view would help, but alas, it is tuly missing.
I personally like the overall look of both, but Horizon gets my vote, if I had to choose.
Whew..ee. Doug you have made my morning (Aussie time).
Thanks for the merchant marine theme so far.
The Horizon has a real semi-trailer feel to it, hey even the rig can detach from the trailer, just like in real life. I did wonder in this episode if when the engine module detached from the rest, were some of the crew left behind in the cargo module….Doah!!
Love the design of both, reflect changing production lineages, etc. Horizon’s ability to detach from the cargo section reminds me of the Nostromo in Alien, just on a MUCH smaller scale. I dig your ideas for early seasons of Enterprise, i would have enjoyed it more and I bet my wife would have watched the series beyond 2 episodes (and she loves TNG and Voyager!!) Your ideas would have allowed for some Alien-esque style corporate and political intrigue in space, and could have really presented how a bunch of nationalistic and sectarian humans got their act together and FINALLY put some differences aside and united for common goals and the greater good. Always thought this history for humanity unifying has been under-presented in Trek, yet people need to see it.
Well Doug, there’s always fanfiction. Maybe we can make up our own timeline after 2066, call it the Drexlerverse….:)
Mark
Nice, practical ship design.
I like your story idea, Doug. In pre-writing my own “rebooted” fan fiction, I imagined that Earth should have already mastered its own solar system (with mining and terra-forming colonies, space stations, and trade routes) and have begun manned interstellar exploration before ever having substantial relations with the Vulcans.
Davidp:
As a matter of course, it would generally stand to reason that any civilization would have done as you describe. Notwithstanding revolutionary breakthroughs, technology is more of an iterative process. We build on what has come before.
Sadly, in the Trek time line, Humanity never got that far.
Remember that as we enter the 90’s we are supposed to be in the final stages of a massive genetics engineering program that will benefit all mankind. It’s not to be however, and by the beginning of the 21st century we’ve fought the “Eugentics” wars and had a catastrophic holocaust that leads to an almost stagnant period where humanity is left reeling from it’s stupidity and it’s own worst ambitions.
Into this almost feudal soup Zephram Cochrane pours his genius and creates warp drive. Oddly enough, out of his own worst ambitions.
Imagine how a Vulcan might regard this serious issue of a species capable of hurling itself into the galaxy before it’s actually managed to control itself. The possibilities are almost too terrible to consider.
Notwithstanding the now obvious chronological discontinuities in this scenario, we still should accept that any story line that attempts to exist in the Trek time line should at least follow the basic outline Gene Roddenberry provided, if not his dates. Obviously the 21st century has arrived and we don’t have genetically created supermen. I can almost say that the threat of global nuclear annihilation is over. Although I still leave room form some cynicism where it regards Humanity.
The only way to deal with these are to change the dates and move everything ahead 50-100 years, or completely toss the ideas of the Eugenics and third world wars. Oddly enough, Enterprise, despite paying no small amount of attention to the Eugenics wars did in fact make serious date changes from the very moment they included footage of the shuttle, the mars probes and the I.S.S. in the series intro.
Doug:
Thank you for the excellent images of this ship. I thought that these were particularly excellent ships, and showed something that was sorely lacking in the overall makeup of the Trek universe. Even if money isn’t the primary pursuit of Humanity, commerce and economy are still required. We never saw the background of what made the Federation tick.
As to your store outline; While I feel that it has a certain panache, it ignores the very real and fundamental reason why the Vulcans felt it so necessary to stay and help us develop. They were scared half blind by the very idea of Humanity running around the galaxy before they were ready. Despite helping us rebuild and being our friends and partners, there was an almost parental dynamic going on there. Like most parents, they felt very different than the “children” when it came time to leave the nest.
In any case, it would have been nice to see something different in Enterprise. Too bad it was canned just as it was getting really good.
Peace and long life.
I’d like to reserve my seating for a trip into the Drexlerverse – a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man … a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity … the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, that lies between the pit of man’s fear and the summit of his knowledge. There’s the signpost up ahead …
I’d like to second that and reserve my seating into the Drexlerverse too… a window seat please, and I’ll have the vegatarian option.
Engage!
Doug, great concept for a series…too bad it was never used. The biggest problem with Enterprise was that nothing was “new” or “unknown”, and whenever they did try that approach, we got the Temporal cold war and the Xindii. Ah…the heartbreak of missed opportunities.
Keep up the eye candy…I’m liking the merchant marine theme!
I agree that the Enterprise didn’t quite live up to its premise when the ship went out to make the first steps of exploration, and was suddenly caught in a maze of multilateral interstellar intrigues just like in TNG and VOY and ultimately in a war just like in DS9. Perhaps for the premise to work as (probably) intended, with aliens remaining a mystery, the series would have to be set still some 50 years earlier though.
BTW, can you tell how big the Horizon is? Is 230m length correct? At least, that was indicated on one diagram in the episode.
Another fantastic design and model! As others have already said, I’d loved to have seen that concept for Enterprise! With the Vulcans there, it really didn’t feel so much like we were setting out on our own, kind of like after geting your driver’s permit, you still have to have your parents or a guardian with you at all times when you are driving. Not so much fun! It would have been nice to have had to search for the Vulcans as you wrote.
Thanks for the fabulous images, Doug!
Great Enterprise premise too, I enjoyed seasons one and two, but your concept would have made perfect sense and wonderful suspense as the rumours increased (shades of the Shadows from Babylon 5 perhaps?) – and there’s already a great medium tailor-made for this story: the ‘Myriad Universes’ series of short stories from Pocket Books.
Christopher L. Bennett drops by here doesn’t he? Christopher, if you’re reading this, you did a wonderful alternative take on Voyager in a recent volume, how about taking Doug’s Enterprise pitch for a spin in a future compilation?
If so you’ve already got some pre-orders lined up here by the looks of it!
Heck, where are my manners! Why not write this story yourself Doug?
I agree, that scenario is much more in line with what I think should have been. Sphere-hulled ships of the Horizon-type,, NO transporters, LASERS and nuke missles…
But what we got was a show that is more suited to MAYBE 25 years before Pike’s time.
I agree whole heartedly with your suggestion. ironically, it might have satisfied the producers desire to be different enough and satisfied the continuity nuts like me as well. A few seasons struggling to learn the technology, encountering phenomena that are ignored in later periods, since its so common, and getting the know the characters under the pressures of confinement and isolation would have been new and potent. It would have allow human stories and a launching board for a number of morality tales.
I always thought the use of warp was a bit too smooth. The show could have solved some inconsistencies in the Trek timeline [as the appreciated entry explaining Klingon forehead changes] with a less predictable warp drive that sometimes launches the crew a few meters, then the reaction might be so uncontrolled as to send them well beyond where planned. It would have explained the Valient, Columbia, etc. It would have been interesting to see characters depending upon a volatile transportation system that required intense management, similar to our chemical rockets today. A real love-fear perspective.
Such a series would mirror our efforts today with the promise of what reward would come with perseverance and commitment…not just ‘faith of the heart’. I would have enjoyed that considerably.
In any case, thanks much for the techgasm!
The DC
Hi Doug,
What a fantastic job on rendering the ECS Horizon! I think john designed a little explosive mine with legs 2 for the show..
Thank you for the images +1000!
Brandon MacDougall 3D artist.
Studing the pictures of this ship, it is quite small. Take a look at the in episode picutres. You will find that it isn’t must bigger than a present day tug. That is no room to strech ones legs.
So to enhance the amount of room, the ‘barge’ section must contain the needed room.
So one suggestion about the fore part with its warp drive would be an escape unit. The thinking (within universe)that the ship as whole didn’t need much in the way of weapons because it could seperate, and escape…
But to be a true interstellar ship, it needs that barge section.