Star Trek: 10 Secrets About The USS Shenzhou You Need To Know

You say goodbye, I say Vulcan Hello.
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[@HerrChew]

I remember watching this when it first streamed and as a British Malaysian Chinese, I was pleasantly surprised at hearing the name of the Shenzhou and seeing Michelle Yeoh (and her backstory of coming from Langkawi - love love love). Representation in sci-fi where we aren't just in the background, but very much at the forefront: both as the captain, and the honour of the ship being named after a Chinese city. Absolutely loved it.

[@DMSProduktions]

Hao la!

[@themobileprepper5730]

The show went right to crap after that.

[@DMSProduktions]

@@themobileprepper5730 LOL! Your opinion only!

[@soniccdx]

there were plenty of jokes going around when it was revealed that Captain Georgiou was from Langkawi , though its not only time Malaysia was mentioned in Star Trek though

[@vic5015]

I can see how you'd enjoy thet.

[@Nemoticon]

The Shenzhou doesn't get enough love... I was so sad it got blown up so quickly, it's such a great ship!!

[@peterthx]

Not blown up, but heavily damaged it had to be abandoned. I'd like to think Starfleet went back after the war and salvaged as much as possible.

[@martinjanssen2319]

@@peterthxi think starfleet would remain that battlefield as graveyard so all wrecks would be left there

[@peterthx]

@@martinjanssen2319 was Pearl Harbor left a graveyard? Is Hiroshima a ruin? No. After Pearl, some ships were repaired and went on to fight in the war.

[@CelticCubby]

I loved the Shenzhou and her crew. Michelle Yeoh stepped on to that bridge and I wanted an entire series with her and that crew aboard the Shenzhou and I would have loved it. Design wise I was probably more of a fan of the Walker class than I was of the Crossfield class. I really enjoyed the blend of NX class and Miranda class. I have both the Shenzhou and Kerala from eaglemoss.

[@illuminotme825]

Yeah that's the show I would have preferred to watch than what we actually got.

[@shaindaman13]

Yeah but instead you got a shit show full of pretentious, virtue-signalling half wit, Fruits with no substance.

[@peppercallahan8286]

@@hawkstringfellow You can hop off back to whatever dark hole you crawled out of then and leave Star Trek for the real fans.

[@TatoAthority]

I love finding out the amount of thought and care that the creative team on newer Trek put into their ships and technology. I feel like so many people refused to give it a chance because it was so different from what came before (specifically, what it predates) and now they're missing out. I was captivated by every season of Discovery. I love Star Trek. More is awesome!

[@ashedarke]

It's so true, I edited this video and went through all the DVD extras for seasons 1 and 2. They were amazing to watch on their own, but you can see the amount of love and passion they put in.

[@ChrisEllorris]

I personally think if they hadn't made such a drastic change to the look of the Klingons, Disco would have been accepted a lot easier. They made them look too different and when asked why they basically said "They've been changed before so we did it because we could!" and it made a lot of people think the people making Discovery were not taking this new Star Trek seriously with respect to what came before. Which we know now is not the whole truth. But I think they shot themselves in the foot with the Klingons.

[@DMSProduktions]

It's BI plane, not (bee) plane! BI = 2 wings!

[@1978rharris]

Someone tell him it liv-er-ee, not live-er-ee while you’re at it, too.

[@billgallop]

Came here to say exactly this, lol

[@DMSProduktions]

@@1978rharris I got that, but can't do it all! That's where YOU come in! Maybe he wanted avoid the OTHER connotation with the prefix, 'bi'! I mean he did use a hyperbolic term like 't-rans g-enocide' a few weeks ago!

[@thomasschwenke7486]

​@@DMSProduktionsoh, are you poor darling still butt hurt that Séan took a stance? Do you want me to call your mama so that she can tell you it's absolutely fine to life in your pathetic mediocre little world?

[@AsahelFrost]

"Bye".... bi-plane, as in bicycle :)

[@DMSProduktions]

Probably didn't want to make the 'other' 'connection' with 'bi'! Ol' Seany isn't above some hyperbole at times!

[@ComradeMarlow]

I *absolutely love* the underslung bridge layout on the Walker class. I want more ships like that

[@drewf41]

I would've liked that style for the Discovery. Would've really sold its unique, classified design.

[@gabelogan5877]

in reality the bridge should be buried deep in the saucer section instead of being so easily targeted at top

[@barometricfunk]

I absolutely LOVE how TrekCulture conform find diamonds in the rough like this. You all can make a kick ass video from seemingly nothing, and yet full it with fun, interesting, informative, and enjoyable content. Bravo!!!

[@DarthSaggezza]

That was very interesting to listen to. I cannot wait till season two of SNW & season five of DISCO. Along with your ups and downs for the shows.

[@Theottselmaster]

Its criminal how little the Disco ships were used :( Buran got maybe.... 12 seconds?

[@zvib3182]

16:37 😅

[@krisgonynor689]

Another thing, while I love the backstory that they gave about the different ships in the space battle scene - if they had used ships from Enterprise that the other races had, like the amazing Vulcan designs, it would really have tied this to that earlier point in history, anchoring the show after Enterprise but before SNW or TOS. The Federation had just started forming in the last season of Enterprise, and if this was really just a few decades latter, then the new "Star Fleet" would probably still have been made up of a lot of the older ships built by the different races. Seeing a combined fleet of Vulcan, Andorran, Tellurite and Terran ships, maybe updated with some common features such as hull numbering or even just matching paint colors on the hulls, would have placed the series closer to the beginning of the Federation, which would have helped cement what era it was.

[@DrewLSsix]

It was a whole century later my guy.

[@krisgonynor689]

@@DrewLSsix It takes the US Navy about 25 years to come up with a completely new ship design. It took the US Air Force decades to design and build both the F-22 and the F-35 - both conceived of during the cold war. The F-22 was planned to fight the USSR. Designing and building new star ships would take multiple decades. The NX-01 Enterprise was built just under 100 years after the first human warp flight. It would take decades of design and planning to come up with new star ships, at least in the era before TNG. Plus they had to incorporate all of the different tech from the various species together. The Vulcans didn't even want the humans to have tractor beams - imagine the time and effort - and the bureaucratic nightmare of working with different governments, to make the first generation of a unified ship design. The US, the UK and France, while all allies and part of NATO, all use different fighter jets today. Even just getting those three human governments to work together is difficult. Now imagine dealing with non humans. The hundred year time difference isn't as long as you think, not when dealing with projects like combining a military and government among different species.

[@Decipher13]

Setting aside the fact that it looks to futuristic for its era, I don't hate the shape, layout, etc. Even the bridge on the bottom works for me. The panels, though, just look too rough. It looks beaten into shape with too much wear and tear.

[@KamepinUA]

Shenzhou in real life is not a space station, its spacecraft type used to send people to the space stations, like Tiangong

[@Sci-Fi9131]

The First time I saw the Shenzou, it was in Star Trek: Timelines. I played as it all the time.

[@stevengalloway8052]

Appreciate the video! Thanks! 👍

[@countroshculla]

I love the fact that they named a ship after the state that I live in - Kerala in South India.

[@shadesofslay]

Enjoyed this - especially learning that there was a real life fighter plane called 'starfighter', I didn't know that.

[@becauselifts9913]

Sadly, the F-104 was an absolutely awful interceptor with a safety record that would make the Klingons blush. In German service, 33% were lost to crashes. Canadian service was nearly 40%. Even in the USAF, losses reached 19%, the greatest percentage of non-combat airframe losses. It was a literal death trap.

[@shadesofslay]

@@becauselifts9913 Fascinating and horrifying! I guess the only thing going for it was the name, eh. And thanks for expanding my knowledge even further! Tell you what, if you're into aviation, you could probably do pretty cool 'facts' videos with that sort of knowledge.

[@CaptainsQuadrant]

I loved disco !

[@michaeltortorice9876]

It's funny this video comes out today, because I just started Disco

[@jolan_tru]

It stood out to me how brilliantly edited this video was. Kudos to TrekCulture's elite engineers who can turn rocks into replicators.

[@TheCNYMike]

Interesting. Great video.

[@jutau]

This was great! Props to everyone.

[@calimann83]

Good design, I think it does well at being pre-TOS and post Enterprise.

[@AlForte13]

GREAT commentary! I thought I was seeing things previous to your explanation!

[@vanzilar]

Very nice deep dive

[@martyburgess341]

The U.S.S Europa 10:30 is my favourite! ❤

[@jacara1981]

I loved the bridge design at the bottom of the saucer

[@khango6138]

While the USS Discovery herself is growing on me, the Walker-class USS Shenzou remains my absolute favourite "new" Starfleet ship design.

[@linapilchard1384]

What the hell is a beeplane? Also, "blended body aircraft... Where the body blends into the wings" *shows the exact opposite to illustrate* Love your stuff, it just gave me a chuckle to see those issues less than a minute apart. I guess nobody's perfect

[@ronm6585]

Thanks.

[@JustMe-tx3nm]

I am not quite sure why, but I love the Walker class

[@Hando316]

I did love the new designs of the new ships, but was EVEN more happier that they didn't get rid of our Connie.

[@stevenewman1393]

🖖😎👍Very cool and very nicely well done and very well informatively explained and executed in every way shape and form and detail possibly provided indeed, My main problem with the ships of Discovery is way did they have such long nacelles like the Excelsior and so forth considering that they were pre TOS Era star ships; And on top of that what was with the bussard collectors why did they change too three smaller ones with inside of the front of the nacelles instead of one large dome like all of the ships before them🤔?.

[@frankharr9466]

Good to know.

[@joey_cordova_]

It was a miracle Discovery made it to air. So many delays and set backs just in the first season. I liked the first 2 seasons. I think without Discovery, we would not have the current Trek Series we have now. Including S3 of Picard. I wish they would bring Short Treks back though.

[@evolve991]

I did drywall for a living, among other trades, I would find it so awesome to build those stages and sets.

[@ashedarke]

It's the kind thing you'd have a lot of fun making for yourself and then be like.... I have no use for it 🤦‍♂️

[@YoSpiff]

The concept of the high mounted bridge developed in the days of ocean going ships, where the captain needed to be able to see the surrounding area. Not necessary with the tech they have in the show. Even on the bottom of the saucer, that bridge is still in the middle of a giant target. I hope they poke fun at this in Lower Decks at some point.

[@ashedarke]

Literally the first thing that gets hit in the Battle of the Binary Stars is the bridge. They bank up and to the right exposing it and pow! great big Klingon snot ball hits it.

[@MaybeAnnatar]

I still personally prefer it's design to the Discovery design

[@paulfosten2094]

Same definitely.

[@tech83studio38]

Currently working on a Kelvin Timeline Walker Class Heavy Cruiser.

[@37jsully]

Bee plane! nice

[@Caitlinsculpts]

Aw I miss Ensign Daft Punk

[@jds1275]

I may not have liked anything else about the series, but I did think the Shenzhou was a great designed and would have loved to see a next gen close equivalent to it with only some coloring to make it look like a 24th century redesign.

[@Mei-Ling-Li]

Actually, it does make sense why the Shenzhou couldn't be the one to encounter the Kelpians because if Georgiou was a lieutenant at the time, it wouldn't make sense for her to have been the one to name the Shenzhou as that means it would have had a captain before her.

[@mancubwwa]

Also in real life it is very rare to promote officer other than ships XO to command the ship on which they served. This is mostly done to avoid a situation in which their former collegues suddenly become their subordinates expected to serve almost without question. And Starfleet seems to follow that pattern.

[@Jack_tarr]

The bi plane picture… looks like the RAF Museum at RAF Cosford!

[@christopherg2347]

The Shenzous Bridge does get around it seems.

[@SuicideNeil]

It's a beautiful design but it's way too futuristic to be taken seriously as fitting between NX-01 and TOS Enterprise. It's clearly crafted using modern ( in real world terms ) design language- angles, straight lines and almost hyper detailed and greebled with very clearly defined panels covering every inch of the hull. I've seen fan-art versions that actually understand the era it's supposed to exist in and they nailed the look perfectly; kinda says a lot about Discovery as a show when the designers have very little clue about such things...

[@g0tdan]

I love Sean’s content and this is super off topic, but can we can get him some tshirts that fit?

[@ashedarke]

One mankini coming up.

[@MrARock001]

In hindsight, though I did love Discovery, I'm a little sad that the Shenzhou wasn't depicted with the TOS / SNW style saucer and nacelles. It would have been to, from the jump, lean into the idea that that aesthetic could be cool and fufuristic, instead of falling back on the veey sleek and sharp and intricate aesthetic that later 90's / 00's trek established.

[@JoseEaglesky]

Do I really need to know..!! 😁

[@mammutMK2]

I don't know where I heard it, but the story was, that the bridge was on the bottom, as she could land, to mage navigation during aerial flight an landing easier for the crew...makes sense for me

[@kennethjamora]

The USS Shenzhou is by far the best looking Federation Starship ever created.

[@tetravega567]

I like how the nacelle glow was red instead of the usual blue for Starfleet vessels.

[@vic5015]

Wasn't the Reliant *also* originally supposed to have the warp nacelles on top?

[@fernandaphilippa1133]

I wanna a video only about the battle of the Binary stars

[@emperorofscelnar8443]

The Walker Class should have been the main ship it looks way better then the USS Discovery, well the Discovery was based on a rejected starship design for the original Enterprise when it came to designing the Enterprise for the first movie.

[@barkendog1]

It's one of the best looking ships in Star Trek.

[@EphPhaThaINC]

“Geth do not have windows, structural weakness.” - Legion (ME2)

[@grahamturner1290]

🖖

[@Ts7n]

The BEES oh no, not the BEES 😅

[@adrianhjordan1981]

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. 22nd July for the Ups and Downs???? I thought the series premiered this month?????

[@ashedarke]

Yeah, editor here, I goofed on that. I always get those 2 months confused. It's coming this month, reeeal soon, although annoyingly not soon enough 🙄 Also, sorry!

[@Thor13332]

Not a bad design. It would fit better if it was a 24th or early 25th century vessel though.

[@pifpaf1970]

beautiful work continue your beautiful work. I have a question for a video subject why the spaceships all have human names and no spaceship has a Vulcan, Terallite or Andorian name or other member of federation ...the USS Intrepid was an all vulcan crew why it did not have a name vulcan also... question just like that maybe the producers just didn't think about that

[@pifpaf1970]

@@OldManYellsAtClouds hey thanks

[@ashedarke]

So in those sketches of the ships that might have been, one of them was called Shran, I think they just are kept in the background

[@sigmacademy]

A Starfleet ship would have been named after important figures from Federation history, which for the longest time seemed to focus on human figures throughout history. An all Vulcan crew wouldn't name their ship after a Vulcan - that honor would only be extended to Vulcan ships in the Vulcan fleet.

[@Jayjay-qe6um]

I wish we could see the Walker-class again in season 2 of Strange New Worlds.

[@ashedarke]

Well...the old bridge set you will.

[@MattFergusonmwfergo]

Its unfortunate the video didnt go deeper into explaining why the ships didn't have round nacelles; It was as the direction of Bryan Fuller that he didn't want the cylinder nacelles. That's why Eaves took it upon himself the come up make some logical sense of the mess. One of many poor decisions he made.

[@spaceace1006]

Who'da thunk it!!.A low budget Sci Fi series..cancelled in 1969 after 3 seasons! Here it is 2023 and the Trek Universe is a vibrant as ever!! Not to mention its 32 years since Gene Roddenberry died!

[@kineuhansen8629]

the star trek disco would have been so much better if it was set on the coolest ship in the show aka walker class or perhaps or on the uss europa

[@davidturner3704]

I admit I prefer the Shenzhou over the Discovery.

[@jefferyyoung2580]

Star trek all about different types of people 😊

[@joshmatthogarth9198]

Am I the only one who prefers the walker class design.

[@noluckst2]

2017? That was last week wasn't it?

[@GeekFilter]

Unfortunately I cannot find the ups and downs for an episode that has not aired yet 😜

[@Shanghaimartin]

It's a good ship, for sure. But a HERO ship? In the same league as Enterprise, Voyager, Defiant?? Nahhhh !!

[@dracosdiabolis1769]

So why does the Shenzhou look like Patrol Escort ( STO )

[@mygolfballsannoy]

Bee🐝plane?🤔 4:47

[@robtrombino8943]

Speaking of ship designs.... how come no one ever mentions Ralph McQuarrie's Star Trek designs that the Discovery totally referenced???

[@ashedarke]

Was mentioned in the Every Hero Ship Ranked list and I imagine so on a USS Discovery list, I can't remember if it's done yet or not.

[@frankwilhoit]

For "22 July" read "22 June".

[@john_carter_of_earth]

Yes, I was going to make the same comment. They're a month off.

[@gabelogan5877]

The writers ahould have started with Discovery with a criminal Michael and then did flashbacks to the Shenzhou revealing her backstory

[@hirofox85]

What the hell does race have to do with the ship? That was such a jarring point. I never thought of my race, or the race of the captain, or the race of other captains. That was so bizarre.

[@ashedarke]

Stay this way 👍

[@sigmacademy]

Discovery was LITERALLY build around the concept. Don't believe me - go check out some of the pre-show and early interviews and the showrunner and other creatives and their statements regarding it. They wanted to "subvert" Star Trek because they thought it was a "racist" show previously (despite the franchise being one of the first shows to feature diverse crews back in the day), and they needed to use it as a "platform" for their own political agenda. That's how you know that (some of) the people working on it had no CLUE what the show or franchise was about, and that's why the franchise lost so many old fans.

[@nathanshoaf5452]

The shenzhou I hope they will bring her back btw she’s not destroyed

[@JohnCastleSmokeless]

11th Secret: It was designed to look like something out of The Cloverfield Paradox. Oh, wait, that's not a secret, it's obvious.

[@mrtrek2117]

All of these new Trek ships look 100% dystopian, one week aboard any of these new ships and the crew would be on Prozac.

[@ashedarke]

They decided to build the lighting into the sets so there's very little additional sets. It's quite cool and authentic, it's all computer controlled as well so all the alerts etc can be automated, buuut yeah it's certainly not as bright as TNG.

[@jolan_tru]

Ahhh, the F-104 Short-Ranged Missile. They'd burst into flames/fall to pieces/explode/etc. at the drop of a hat.

[@matthewjay660]

Sean, Picard and Dathon at El-Adrel. 🔪

[@Sashowindfeather]

Oh my god, the Khan 'point'...why isn't that more of a meme??!?!?!

[@ashedarke]

Doing it decades before Leo.

[@tomlichnofsky.7048]

🖖😊🖖🍁

[@Mercilessonion]

17:14 You scared me a bit when you said 22nd July instead of 22nd June

[@ashedarke]

My bad, I have thing where I keep mixing them up. But they are both 4 letters long, start JU and are right next each other in the year. Stupid Romans, what have they ever done for us?

[@spike3082]

I was just going to ask the same question lol my first thought was wait a minute it should be June instead of July unless they are taking a long break between episodes 1 and 2 lol

[@FirstDan2000]

Ha ha ha, A Live Horgon in the eel tank. Stay away from that horny bugger (it's not ear holes it likes though) And I always like reused footage. So I like the Enterprise D saucer showing an E on there instead. Gonna watch this again, as that's all I saw on first contact.

[@sigmacademy]

"An additional step into representation in Star Trek." Star Trek had MULTIPLE ship names from MULTIPLE cultures PRIOR to Discovery's making, and you could EASILY check that using ship name lists. It's not as "groundbreaking" as some think. REAL fans would know that, but then again, a lot of the "modern day audience" knows nothing about the franchise - not even basic knowledge about Enterprise, TOS, TNG, Voyager, DS9 or any prior shows or movies. That's why the modern shows contradict with so much else in the same universe they are supposed to occupy. It's also not a problem that ONLY Star Trek has, either. On top of that, I'm more willing to believe that they named the ship the way they did because of major foreign investors coming into Hollywood (since rumors are that Star Trek Beyond was co-financed by Alibaba, the 'Amazon of Chinese wholesale B2B', and Huahua Media, which for some reason, is being buried)), and wanted to pander to said investors. China, for example, is doing the same by adding Americans and Europeans to some of their sci-fi offerings (especially the international blockbusters). It's not "representation", because absolutely NOTHING of those cultures are being represented.

[@ThisIsMeAndNotYou]

141

[@stevenstocker9873]

Discovery, underuses, or discards the teams best designs. Then, settle on the worst. Don't know which is the worst offender, discovery herself, the klingon ships or the floating warp nacelles from the future...

[@ashedarke]

The Klingon ones that look like actual birds? I have the model of that ship, like on it's own merits it's beautiful, in my opinion of course.

[@Kyleplier]

In Star Trek Online, I have both the T6 Miranda using the Reliant skin and as close to the original 1966 Jeffries design for the T6 Temporal Light Cruiser the game allows.

[@krisgonynor689]

While I admit that that bridge would be awesome in real life, the "CNC" of a warship should be placed in the center of the ship, as it's one of the most important crewed sections. Personally, I think a spherical bridge, with a transparent floor, with the bridge stations seemingly floating on nothing would be better - of course, you'd have 360 degree hologram projection of what is around the entire outside of the ship surrounding the bridge crew and their stations. Being able to see in all directions at once makes more sense - with a central main viewing screen that comes on as needed, for closeups or zooming in on something, or for communications. Rooms with actual windows would be observation lounges or recreation space, nothing vital, no matter how strong the transparent hull material is. I could also see, on older or less advanced or even just ships that weren't top of the line, to have a central bridge with a single view screen, while the crew would wear helmets with holographic projectors in them to see outside, if needed. Cool video though - love you, Sean!

[@alasdairgardiner2313]

That's one reason why I liked the reimagined Battlestar Galactica - the CIC is buried deep within the ship to prevent it from being a very obvious target to hostile forces.

[@ArchOfWinter]

I want to see more of these bottom bridge designs for planetary survey missions. STO did a great job and interpreting the overall silhouette into the TMP era and their own STO 25th century style, but I want to see the design in the TOS and TNG era style too.

[@OldManTheseDays]

I bought a model kit of the Shenzhou. I didn’t buy a model kit of Discovery.

[@maxskullic9879]

Happy sin month!

[@GSBarlev]

I wish _SNW_ weren't about the Enterprise and we're instead a _Disco_ prequel about Capt. Georgiou and the Shenzou. I know Michelle Yeoh is too expensive, and I *love* _SNW_ (and am willing to just delight in the fanservice, no matter how low-hanging). But somewhere in the multiverse, Michelle Yeoh is headlining a weekly and largely episodic Star Trek, and I wish I had a torrent connection to that reality.

[@spike3082]

That would be a great series maybe we need to push that idea

[@user-gk1nt6sm2z]

Secret 1. It's make believe.

[@ashedarke]

😱🤯

[@turjun]

I liked the design of the Shenzhou a lot more than the design of the Discovery

[@dillonbuford]

"bee plane" do they mean biplane? If so the 50's would be several decades too late.

[@toval76]

The Shenzhou looked more like a futuristic ship for the 25th century, but it looked ways better then the Discovery.