Rick Sternbach recalls designing “Dauntless” -
“The U.S.S. Dauntless, NX-01-A, was another one of those tempting bits of get-home technology that turned out to be too good to be true for the Voyager crew. Actually an alien ship disguised by the crafty Arturis (whose name is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike the name of the star Arcturus), the Dauntless was to be used against the humans as revenge for not wiping out the Borg when they had the chance, setting Arturis’ people free.
The phony Dauntless employed a variation on the different super-duper drives that had been tried but were not repeatable due to micro-plot fractures, thus ensuring that Voyager would take seven seasons to get back to Sector 001.
The design of the Dauntless was described as being advanced, but still recognizable as Starfleet, hence the hull plating and thrusters and nacelles and so on. The basic division of shapes was the same, forward hull, engineering hull-type extension, and the nacelles, though the new “addition” was that of the slipstream drive emitter underneath. Remember the Relativity? No similarity whatsoever. 
Probably because of the art tasks required by other episodes, I didn’t go much beyond the line drawings seen here. It wasn’t a terribly complicated design, though the blended quality of the hull might have presented some unique CG model challenges back then, and I’ll let Brandon speak to that.
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The surface details were Starfleet, so those were well known. I suggested to Ron Moore (Ron B. Moore, that is) that we go with a warmer tone to the “new” hull, like a coppery color, to distinguish it from the cooler Voyager surface. And so it came to be. A much more detailed account of the production of the episode, with lots of photos, can be found in the book “Star Trek ACTION!” which presents studio stories of Voyager, Deep Space Nine, and the Insurrection feature film.”
– Rick
I watched Hope and Fear last week and was reminded of this neat little ship. It’s a cool design, even if the idea that Arcturis could fabricate a Starfleet ship at short notice is a little on the contrived side.
Any comment on the NX-01-A registry? Awfully similar to another Starfleet ship with a warm-toned hull and a revolutionary type of Warp drive…
Nice design, nice render/model. Thanks guys.
And thanks too for the heads-up on, Star Trek ACTION!, Rick. Sounds great, so I just ordered it from Amazon, eh.
LLP,
deg
I see the Dauntless, check. I see the ship in orbit above an M class planet, check. What the hell is that in the foreground left???
Pretty sweet render there!
deg – Star Trek ACTION! is a very cool look into the nuts’n'bolts of TV and film production. Most everything happened exactly as Terry said it did.
Fascinating design, which (like the TOS Enterprise) points to a design evolution far beyond our own. Seems that the idea of the nacelles on extended pylons to protect the crew from radiation had been solved in the fictional design process, or at least wasn’t a problem for Arturis’ people. Funny how Starfleet hadn’t cracked it even in the 25th Century (Enterprise-J)
Yeah, I read the synopsis and a coupla reviews, and it sounded way-cool-have-to-have-it-cool, but even better to know comin’ from you. I look forward to it gettin’ here, and will read it right after I’m done readin’ Beyond the Clouds: The Lifetime Trek of Walter “Matt” Jefferies, Artist and Visionary.
Thanks again, dude.
LLP,
deg
Pacal, it looks like the nose of one of the space shuttles.
Terry
Man, that is sharp!
see the Dauntless, check. I see the ship in orbit above an M class planet, check. What the hell is that in the foreground left???
Gemini II hatch and burner durning space walk..
Or the space shuttle. I not realy sure, I have been adding to my earth photos. I can check..
Brandon, this is where you say that it is a ship drom the future.
“micro-plot fractures”
Now that’s a good one.
I’m surprised that the model looks anything like the sketch! Great job to both Rick and Brandon!
Star Trek ACTION? I’ve just discovered a new book that I really, really want!
retro future.
By George, that -is- a Gemini nose.
I think it gives the image a SLR feel of the 60’s like we just ran across some new old stock..
Always liked this design, even though the episode struck me as… under-thought. This shows up in Enterprise as a contemporary of the ENT-J if I am not mistaken as well.
Gonna need to find that book…
I remember seeing this episode and being sort of miffed because I though they were going to abandon good ol’ Voyager. Silly me!
Love the ship design Rick! It’s sleek and makes the ship look fast, sort of like a dart. Another fine model, Brandon!
Gorgeous!!
Had to follow deg’s lead and picked up a copy of Star Trek: Action! Couldn’t say no to $.25 for the book (though they made their money in shipping!) Looking forward to reading the book!
Mr. Drexler and Friends,
The ‘Readers Digest’ version of this comment boils down to the reiteration of the by now, even common observation that, while at this point in the series(s), TREK was continuously creating CLEARLY original ‘input’ on ships, tech, and even truckloads of FRESH writing on topics that had rarely been dealt with before(within budget constraints of course) across all the TREK incarnations, that it appeared by no accident Mr. Abrams ‘version and/or vision’ was chosen to specifically turn TREK into what it(Paramount Suits) wanted from Roddenberry the whole while, a warp-speed buck?
I have no argument with the Art Dept on this one cause you people get paid by the job, hell Mr.Eaves can’t even recall the names of the alien ships he himself created for Enterprise. Seems like there are at least two or more suits in Paramount Management that just CAN NOT allow anything LESS than Mr. Abrams vision concerning yet another feature chained to the Trek franchise.
It now appears to me that the ‘Piller and Berman’ duet figure far more greatly in the equation than I was willing to believe, but it(the latest Trek incarnation that is) has now “Put A Lock” on anything that follows, which to ME equates to Trek films going ‘Straight-To-DVD’. Granted I’m a ‘casual fan’ as opposed to a dyed-in-the-wool Trekker, but when you guys knocked an episode ‘Outta-Da-Park’ as it were, it stayed with me for WEEKS. This latest motion picture outing did not. In general it’s a fine ‘Science Fiction’ film but a poor example of Trek for me.
Given your attention to detail Doug, I was HOPING beyond hope, that you may have contact information of some kind for Mr. Jim Mees, Set Decorator for Enterprise. I have a specific question related to object(s) from the pilot “Broken Bow” which only he would probably be able,to answer. My address is mmalachowski@charter.net if you could be so kind that would be great!!
All of the above having been said, I’ve found your BLOG to be the most honest and sincere with regards to how things developed Behind-The-Scenes as it were. Thanks for taking us fans were none other were allowed to go!
Peace and long life, ~Mark~
This was one of my all time favourite designs! Cheers guys.
Great design, love it.
Has a very organic feel to it and a natural development of say the Intrepid and Prommie design lineage.
Yes, I would be interested too in hearing the back story behind the NX-01A registry, if it is known. I’m pretty sure there was a reason to adopt a far-out registry like that, it’s just that I can’t figure it!
Alien technology or not, I wouldn’t want to screw with it.
I always liked this ship…especially the bridge. I remember thinking it was amazing that they’d created such a cool ‘Starfleet’ bridge for just one episode.
I have no idea when this happened to me, and I have no idea if this has happened to any of you out there either…
But when I am watching episodic television (except BSG) I never get emotionally invested in the episodes because I know at the end the hero’s will live, or this had to happen otherwise there wouldn’t have been an hour long episode, or “of course they didn’t shoot the guy when they had a chance because then the show would have been over”… You know? So when I saw this episode when it originally aired, even at the very begining I knew that nothing would come of it since it would have ment that the crew got home, and that wasn’t going to happen in any way shape or form until the last couple of episodes of the seventh season.
It seems I just dont enjoy television anymore the older I get because I have come to the realization of these things…
Thank GODS that BSG came along, where main characters like Billy (gods rest his soul) or Dawalla (damnit I didn’t see that coming) Gaida (rat bastard), and let us not forget STARBUCK!!!!!, and others I am sure I have forgotten – could be offed at any time!
Still. Even when Adama got shot, I still knew he was going to pull through it.
I am sooo jaded now… And I hate that.
Where was I going with this? lol
Oh yeah. SO since I knew that nothing good was going to come of this, I really concentrated on the interior design of the ship, and LOVED it. The consoles and everything were on par with everything I love about Federation Ship Design. So I added the interior of this ship to my favorites along with the Prometheus from VOY (my favorite bridge design by far…)
One possible explanation for the NX-01A/’Dauntless’ conundrum would be if it that was the original historical name for the first Warp 5 starship. With the events of ‘First Contact’, the timeline was changed when Cochrane looked through his telescope – as orientated by Geordi LaForge – to see the ‘Enterprise-E’ making an orbital pass.
So when it came for NX-01 to be named, Cochrane had asked Henry Archer to name the ship ‘Enterprise’ before he disappeared for parts unknown, and so Archer passed this request onto his son, perhaps not revealing the reason why – remember that Cochrane was ‘on record’ with his experiences of Picard, Riker and the Borg.
So when history was changed the NX-01 went from ‘Dauntless’ to ‘Enterprise’, and Arcturis’ hoax reflected the original timeline.
Logical, Captain!
I love the Dauntless, even if she’s a faaaake.
Thanks for the image, Brandon, and thank you Rick for the blueprints. Now I’d like to see the real preliminary elevation for the real USS Dauntless.
To contact Set Decorators (in this case Jim Mees, please contact the set dcorators society of America at Setdecorators.org and they can help you get in touch with Mr. Mees.
Dan u beat me to it, i spotted it it flying around along side the enterprise J too, perhaps starfleet thought it was a good design from voyagers sensor readings and built one, or maybe one of arturis’s people survived and joined the starship design team at Utipia Planetia lol
My guess at explaining the appearance of this ship at Procyon is that it was a real (experimental) starfleet design in some way, possibly even a true but failed attempt at reaching Voyager. Arturis got his hands on the designs (perhaps by hacking into a borg database), and was inspired…
Ryan Cornelius – My experience has shown me that but for a few exceptions in movies and episodic television in particular the good guys always win, the bad guy always go down, the heroes always beat the odds and should there ever be a story that involves the death of such a hero the price for that plot direction is quite literally the salvation of the universe and the guaranteed breakdown and destruction of all that was evil!
If you can’t break yourself away from that truth you’re pretty much stuffed! There’ll be nothing left to entertain you ever again!
In a way I sympathise because I too have a tendency to size up plots like you (ie: knowing that it will all work out by the time the end credits roll!) however you’d do yourself a favour if you learn to focus more interest in how main characters achieve their goals and objectives whilst detaching yourself from the certainty that they will!
That said though, when lead characters buy the farm it is a shocker, no? Spock? Tasha Yar?? Kirk??? Data???? Trip????? – Even after these characters met their maker I was waiting for the reset button to be pressed or for another character to wake up or something!
So… The Dauntless then!
Cool render! The ship wasn’t really one of my favourites if I’m honest, I find it’s organic lines a bit creepy actually!
But I did enjoy “Hope and Fear” and I snapped up “Star Trek: Action” when it was released as I’m a sucker for all the Trek-coffee table books! I believe the actor who played Arturis also played one of the Mintakans in the Next Gen. episode: “Who Watches the Watchers?”
Cheers for submitting the pic Brandon (any chance of some orthos? Please?? References on this ship are really thin on the ground!) and thanks Rick for submitting your concept sketches!
Well done Douglas!
The pages in Star Trek: Action! that covered the Dauntless were a great early insight into the Trek team’s design process. Of course, we’re spoilt for choice for stories like that now, not that I’m complaining.
It is a very streamlined-to-the-point-of-organic design. However, it is too organic from the perspective we see it in the otherwise-gorgeous orbital rendering.
Why?
Well, suffice it to say that a large brown cargo shuttle would not be surprising. I’m just sayin’.
“Micro-plot fractures”… Best. Euphemism. EVER.
@Rick: You know, I bought the book ‘Star Trek – ACTION’ specifically for the images of the Dauntless. It’s the only Trek book (aside from pocket books) that I’ve ever bought. That’s how much I like the damn thing, even though it isn’t really Starfleet.
Dis – Do yourself a favour… Actually to all you Trek fans, do yourselves a favour! Treat yourselves!! “The Art of Star Trek” and “Star Trek: The Next Generation – The Continuing Mission” are probably my most cherished books! They would also be yours…
Can anyone speak to the COLOR PALETTE of the Dauntless? As a model builder, I’ve heard both Starfleet greys (as in this render) and a coppery- brown as well.
I ask because I have this kit in both 1/2500 and 1/1400 scale, and while I finished the 2500 in SF greys, I haven’t painted the 1400 yet and am interested in some feedback on that question from the designers.
Gents?
Jim