Trekyards EP253 - USS Shenzhou (ST: Discovery)

We finish our look at the Discovery Trailer footage with a return to our regular schedule and our Wednesday Mission Briefing on the Shenzhou that we see in the Trailer. A truly impressive ship, and we take a t look at all aspects of her here today!
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[@MichaelWilliams-star-trek]

Love the design. Can't wait to see her in action on Discovery!

[@ShrimpZoo]

I've done it!!! I have found the nerdiest channel on KZbin :)

[@90lancaster]

What about Medievalist Nerds Like Shadiversity or Roman fans like Metatron? or pretty much any table top gaming channel ? Shad goes on about Castles in the same sort of way Trekyards does about Sci Fi Ships.

[@ShrimpZoo]

snidely whiplash it's a joke. I enjoy the channel, it's a great KZbin channel :)

[@jaysus620]

I did get some 'Discovery' fatigue from Trekyards the last couple of days, but this was great. Definitely appreciate all the work you guys put into the breakdown videos, but this was all it needed to be. Sometimes less is more (that's just me, though - by all means, you guys keep doing what you do). Great job!

[@power543]

hay! you dont have to watch them all :) we just wanted to be thorough with analysing this new universe as the trailer showed SO much!

[@jaysus620]

It certainly wasn't meant as a knock on you guys, and I'm sure down the road, I'll probably catch up on all of them. Much like the Mission Briefings, it's always fun to check out the initial speculation and analysis after the fact, so I'll be glad they're up here to go back and see what you guys were right about, where you were close, or even where you were way off. Even if it was a little much (for me), all the work you do is greatly appreciated.

[@eparhas9162]

I think this ship is probably kinda old. It looks more similar to enterprise era ships

[@PolGabrielli]

Seeing the bit behind the bridge with the white (presumably) pods, instantly made me think of a visual nod to the accelerator coil systems behind the enterprise-b/excelsior. Keep up the good work guys!

[@murphsmodels8853]

A thought about why there's no red or blue glow in the cloud scene...Voyager always shut off the warp drive and purged the warp plasma from the nacelles before they went down to a planet surface. Basically, the nacelles are turned off, so they wouldn't glow.

[@RetroBerner]

LOL Look at all that scruff! You'd think these two just spent some time on a desert island. Love the devotion guys, I got a whole playlist to catch up on, thanks! That ship looks like somebody put a saucer on a D-7.

[@TheForRealOtakuJoe]

Thank you for the detailed analysis of this trailer your efforts are much appreciated.

[@mattmon6118]

Something mentioned early on in this video made me think of The Cage. While you were analysing the bridge from the shot where the ship emerges from the clouds you said that it looked opaque and then later you see it as a window, and i thought, what if its like the cage, where its solid but the way they transitioned the scene was to make the roof of the bridge look clear. this way its still a solid bridge with a larger window look, with it being clear for our benefit. The shots from the inside, are harder to explain though. . . I know its a stretch, but it is something you reminded me of. Thank you Captain Foley and Commander Cockings for the great video! :)

[@enterprise-h312]

1:50 It looks like Starfleet vessel, alright. I was more excited about the Discovery, however. Regarding the TOS discussion, I am of two opinions. Yes, we had the Starfleet Technical Manual but we also had the Baton Rouge which looks different from the style of the Constitution-class. 7:50 *cough*Daedalus-class*cough* 11:00 Besides, that would tip off the Klingons on what strategy to use. (Prelude to Axanar) 12:17 TOS still has a voice. In a discussion with other Star Trek fans before this trailer I said that if they insisted on going pre-TOS they might as well go full pre-TOS and use the charm of its era. Give us an Eelbird of Regulus V or the Vulcan Sehlat (based on The Animated Series) in HD CGI.

[@wingsabre]

I think if they really want to have an underside bridge, then this ship is probably meant for more atmospherics missions. Like a planetary surveyor and less of an explorer ship.

[@JussiVJkoski]

My thoughts exactly, infact its a bit silly to have the brige in the top. We see the ship flying in atmosphere (probably) so it makes perfect sense for the bridge to be underside.

[@winsarun7916]

TBH I dislike idea of that but where the bridge is work well as observatory. But I don't want bridge to be under saucer because that broke one of GEne Roddenberry rule for ship design

[@MrSheckstr]

Win Sarun I really don't care if it broke one of Gene's rules especially this one because he never bother to make any justification for this particular rule

[@winsarun7916]

There are one thing I know when you make a movie or any piece of artwork that exist in Sci fi universe is to respect that franchise and it fanbase so far I see none of those. Also funny thing whole star trek is a gene roddenberry vision of the future. It's revolve around Gene's Vision there a rule for Federation ship design for a reason to give them distinct look from other ship like a signature. That whey this ship is form Startrek and taht rule been guideline for Design of the Enterprise D and been doing so for a while. I'm skeptical about this series since Byran Fuller got fired [Leave the show] and constant delay and behind the snece drama are just conclude this might not be the trek series we wait for however I;ll watch it for a first few episode if I like it I just keep watching but if not well I'm off watching " Startrek :Orville "

[@DrewLSsix]

Win Sarun. you are wrong on every sungle cou t, there are countless ships in canon that violate whatever "rules" you think are supposed to ve followed. also, Gene Roddenberry didnt create trek alone, most of what you love about the franchise is from other creative minds. if it were entirely up to Gene the entire universe would be drab grey amd boring, the fun amd adventure so many fans loved from TOS didnt come from Gene, the design of the ship didnt come from Gene. Hell! Jefferies had to fight Gene because he wanted the ship to be inverted, saucer on the bottom secondary hull on top. so dont give me this "respect the vision" bullshit, not when you are willing to accept every other random BS thats popped up in the last 50 years.

[@JimRobertson-Bodhilens]

There's no such thing as too many analysis videos. You both deserve a promotion!

[@richardnees]

I concur. After all, the point of this channel is going into detail.

[@hallmonitor1]

Your mention of different colors for different races, and then mentioning of blue for Andorians, reminded me of the concept of "The Blue Fleet" from the old FASA days. Also, we know that there were some ships assigned to crews of one race. The USS Intrepid, for instance, was an all Vulcan crew.

[@nefdsnet]

I'm glad the bridge detail in contrast to the rest of the hull hints at a surprisingly reasonable sized ship. Feels like somewhere between the NX-01 and a Constitution class. Unless their sizing is as off as their continuity seems to be, of course. ;)

[@simh5551]

I still say the ship flips over for planetary entry and then the other way for space travel. It would make sense having the bridge underneath of your looking to land the ship. Another great video guys, keep them coming! :-)

[@DavideGagliardi93]

Maybe the Bridge isn't really visible because she is covered in hull and the windows becomes a traditional viewscreen! lol :D

[@asheer9114]

I remember to read a interview with one of the ToS special effects tech specialist, and he stated that bridge windows were designed from the very beginning but due technology and budget limitations (CBS doesn't gave them a blank check after all) that concept was put back to archives until 2009 movie made it possible. To be honest existence of the bridge windows would explain whole concept of changing lights during certain alarms (similar to real life combat ships) when this was slightly illogical when windowless bridge was hidden inside a saucer hull.

[@H4hT53]

...Submarines don't have windows and they still change lights in alarm conditions. They do it because red light doesn't impair night vision.

[@DangerousDac]

I made that 3D print. "Poorly painted" Hah, thats because its not painted. Used Molotow Liquid Chrome to "draw" the silver all over (because it looks reflective as hell in the trailer) and the red accents are just CD marker pen and I extrapolated from the teaser where to put the markings. I admit, nacelle/pylons "paintjob" is just guesswork based on the wireframe. To be honest though Samuel, you're a member of both the groups it was posted in...thought you would've seen it was me.

[@power543]

hay! well done on the print..very neat. I am a member of around 40 star trek facebook groups to share episodes and such :) the picture was shared to me by a fan so i never saw which group it was from. Great ship tho! how big is the model?

[@DangerousDac]

power543 thanks! 13cm long. not big at all. it's really still quite low res. I'll print a bigger one once I make a higher detail model.

[@simh5551]

Great video again guys! Absolutely fantastic videos. :-) 😊👍

[@power543]

than you! Cmdr Cockings here!

[@jessemarcus]

I met the cast of Discovery, and as of 3 weeks before actual launch of the show (as of September 2,2017) the crew emphatically said that this was Prime Timeline.

[@davidgriffin9412]

I like your videos. I would like to point out a thought I had about how the the tech doesn't look like TOS. Remember how many times in the various Trek shows people have gone into the past and changed something. In Voyager, they went back to the 1990s to stop the guy from introducing 29th ? century tech. He had already started doing so, which was to explain why our tech in computers have advanced so far compared to what was envisioned in the 1960s TOS. This could explain why what the past looked like keeps changing to some extent. Just a thought. Keep up the great work.

[@DrewLSsix]

David Griffin. does that explain why Voyager went back to 1996 and yet never mentioned Kahn stealing the Bottany Bay to escape his crumbling empire in the ashes of the great eugenics wars?

[@Christophercles]

I think the upside down shot will be a wink to the original designs. You see the ship cruising with nacelles "up", the camera zooms in till you realise that people on the bridge are upside-down. The camera rotates to the ships orientation and you get what's going on. I feel like it's a "this isn't your father's Trek" thing.

[@stevenbaumann8692]

I look forward to your break downs of the discovery episodes (once they air). As I will not be able to watch them for quite sometime.

[@k4m3j0]

okay if that bridge is on the bottom and has those support struts in the ceiling does it imply the entire bridge is ejectable? cuz it looks encapsulated so it might be modular.

[@power543]

good idea

[@quoniam426]

Turning Voyager's aeroshuttle or Enterprise's captains' yacht into an actual bridge. It makes sense, your expose your armored upper hull and protect both the bridge and engineering section/nacelles against enmy fire.

[@gawainethefirst]

According to tech manuals, they are all modular.

[@joegrimes9232]

Having recently acquired the ship in STO and being able to paint it in the NX-hull pattern, the ship suddenly looks really in place. The deflector on the saucer, but upgraded to a dish. The wing like struts at the back with the central fuselage feeling very Andorian. The armoured nacelles making sense after the Earth-Romulan war. It feels like the halfway-house between the NX and TOS designs. It seems silly just how some patterning can change the feel, but like the warp 4 ship in Beyond, just a little paint job and make up and suddenly it looks spot on. The ship as it looks here looks a little too advanced, but the larger plating and steelier colouring giving it that more NX rustic aesthetic made it look better

[@joegrimes9232]

It doesn't tie in with the TOS period per se - But the Saucer... add some blue and change out the nacelles for the Excelsior. Brighten the hull to a Duck Egg colour and you got a TMP Escort

[@Z1gguratVert1go]

This prequel stuff is the mistake: nobody has the discipline to do it right, they want to change everything. The answer is to go forward - the new ST show should be set after Voyager. Then make up whatever you want and enjoy having a massive history to draw on. Then throw in a ship or design or something from "the past" and fans love it and nobody gets mad at you for changing anything, because you haven't changed anything. You can make everyone happy by just going forward in time instead of back! Easy!

[@richardnees]

Yeah, post-Voyager would have been more interesting. It would also be great with guest appearances from the TNG/DS9/VOY crews.

[@thribs]

Richard Nees Like Star Trek Online

[@badgerboyuk]

Z1gguratVert1go yes yes yes yes yes!!! Couldn't agree more

[@Sraye]

By going forward, you can get guest appearances from EVERYONE. Just time travel shenanigans and anyone can appear. It will win old Trek fans for the possibility to see Picard or Janeway again, since these are alive, and with time travel, you can even drag Archer or Kirk in. And then you can spruce up the visuals to make it all holographic etc. that all these new Sci-fi shows like to do to woo the new crowd. Since it is a new ship after TNG era, you can justify the new visuals and ship consoles, just as how Enterprise-D's LCARS departed completely from TOS ship consoles. Win-win. By going to the past, and changing the visuals to look "modern", they piss off the old fans again... and the old fans are the ones that have been keeping the franchise alive for years. No old fans. And new viewers who would be indifferent since they have so much sci-fi these days to watch... you are in trouble DSC.

[@speedracer1945]

Have you seen what they look like now ? To get old can shatter old memories of what people have .

[@thribs]

I thought today we would be seeing the analysis of the floors of the trailer.

[@jerryjackson7787]

I'm still waiting for an in-depth analysis of the rivets and glue used to build the bridge set. At least the Trekyards team is finally coming to grips with the fact that this show has ZERO continuity with anything we've seen in Star Trek.

[@power543]

Kind of mean given all the work, graphs and research we have done..but ok. Thanks.

[@liteney]

No worries gents we appreciate it, stiff upper lip and carry on eh.

[@stryletz]

@power543: Don't take it personally, I'm pretty sure It's just some ribbing. Whether we like the art direction of the show, or agree/disagree with your opinions on it, I think I can safely say we all appreciate the work you guys put into these videos. Hell, we wouldn't have kept coming back if we didn't.

[@tiggergolah]

Don't feel bad. Instead, take this as a not so gentle ribbing of CBS that they haven't really given you that much to work with. This many months, and only one trailer so far? They're either lazy or stingy or scared stiff.

[@richardajoy79]

Would be nice to see the bridge sink back into the hull, especially during atmospheric flight or combat.

[@slighter]

haven't you guys noted that the name and registry number on the ventral side of the ship are write on port and starboard side instead of the frontal side?

[@chriswalton7015]

Some interesting thoughts on what little we got to see in the trailer. The issue with it looking from a post Voyager time is because it shares so many queues from that sketch John Eaves did back in what 2008? I think it "can" fit in though if you consider the 1701 and her sisters as the first ships to take on their design aesthetic in the same way as the TMP era is different to the TNG era which is different to the post First Contact era. This could just be a trend which went one way which we didn't see again (different designers, different ship yards etc). Brian Fuller said the series was a reimagining so while they also said it was Prime that covers why things will look different as that essentially hinted at a visual reboot. Anyway great video and really looking forward to your inevitable sit down with John to delve into his thought process in designing for this new age of Star Trek!

[@JimRobertson-Bodhilens]

It has been stated earlier that bridge is dark so it's not going to be glowing brightly enough to be clearly seen in the cloud shot. I can see the three window panels just below those three small lights in the center. Now, if it was the JJ Apple Store bridge it would look like flood lights. :)

[@TURDSnBEEF1]

But it still has lens flares and bright ass lights at eye level. Very practical.

[@DrewLSsix]

Cloud Zilla. how can it have lens flares? you have to have a lens to have lens flares and the camera that the flares exist in doesnt exist in universe.

[@TURDSnBEEF1]

And how can we even see star trek considering there's a camera filming people and camera crews don't exist in canon. You really going with that route?

[@JimRobertson-Bodhilens]

Respectfully, JJ Abrams used lens flares in his Trek movies to create a certain visual aesthetic, even making some scenes look like the lens was dirty. I didn't care for it but I get it. Lens flares appear to be employed to a much lesser degree (hopefully) in some scenes from the Discovery trailer, like some of the bridge scenes. It's just a production choice.

[@SumDumGy]

I can very much appreciate the time and attention you two put into these episodes. You made me consider things I ordinarily would have overlooked. Still, given the nature of what this show is and its chosen format for distribution, I'll never see a single episode of Discovery, and I'm fairly convinced it will fail quickly due to lack of viewers. The question then remains: will CBS try to salvage it by putting it on the network when they see how few viewers go to their streaming service?

[@jaysus620]

Based on some of the comments, it's amazing how many people were on board with Eric Henry in the Pacific 201 episode when he basically said (I'm paraphrasing), "It's a historical drama - these are stories of the 23rd/24th century told as if they were history, so there are going to be variations." Now all of a sudden it's, "A visual reboot?! How DARE they?!"

[@power543]

because thats a fan film and Eric was clear and upfront about what he is doing so there is no problem....you can like the designs or not but there is no problem. CBS is the official canon star trek and they are telling us this is prime...and yet the continuity in the trailer is minimal to the era or style...when they come out and admit it is a visual reboot then it will be fine and we can enjoy it as it is presented, but aslong as they say it is prime timeline and 10years pre tos...and yet not respect the Star Trek as established then fans have every right to be annoyed.

[@homelessend8557]

power543 ^^ this comment

[@power543]

thanks Kim ;) :D

[@rangerjima]

The goatee! Captain Foley is from the Mirror universe!

[@joeb8476]

Now you know why so many people left the production. Whatever it was prior, was changed because the creative influence said I do not want to copy TOS so let's use the name Star trek and make some Sci-fi no one will know the difference. But I am still hoping they get hit with a volley of Photon torpedoes and go thru a rift and the Discovery finds them, Because no way in hell does the original design on the Discovery that was very TOS match with what we are seeing here. Looks like 2 different universes.

[@thribs]

Joe Boeltram I don't know know why they would think copying the TOS style is a bad thing? They could add to it and make it look more advanced with drastically changing it.

[@QPLAH1]

Great episode guys.

[@watcherzero5256]

You can see the bridge in that first shot, its not lit though. See the three lights above the bridge in the close up view then in the first shot look for the same three on the bottom. Theres a thin circle below those lights with a black stripe.

[@tiggergolah]

If the bridge of the Shenzhou is truly on the ventral side of the saucer section, then we can surmise a few things about that design. 1. It occurred only on one ship type that we know of so far. 2. It was never repeated in any other Federation ship type that I know of. 3. Based on 1 and 2, we can surmise that the Shenzhou was a failed design type, perhaps specifically because of the bridge position (that, and perhaps because the stupid window weakened the hull structure around the bridge.)

[@XTINFILM]

I'd suggest a look at the front of the warp nacelles. There's a round something that could be a warp powered phaser.

[@JohanMsWorld]

How Abou a suggestion I saw on another KZbin channel: Could the Shenzhou somehow been rebuilt into the Discovery inside that asteroid base thing? The saucher of the Discovery are clearly there in he Shenzou. Johan.

[@JohanMsWorld]

Oh, and the dark stripe to one side of the space suited girl - Could that be a shoot damage? Like from a phaser? Johan.

[@DrewLSsix]

Johan Månsson. the discovery amd shenzou saucers are completely different. they share no details at all.

[@JohanMsWorld]

Aye - But still its a possibility that the Schenzou got badly beaten up in the beginning part/s - Maybe in that engagement with the Klingons theyre talked about in the trailer? That would make it logical for the Schenzou crew to send out the spacesuited girl on a diplomatic mission to the Klingon ship who might has the sarkofag guy aboard? And they could even construct the Discovery from a combination of the Schenzou and a Klingon warship who was beaten up in the battle as well? Maybe sending the Discovery of on a covert combined Federation/Klingon clandestine effort? Its still speculations - But it will make the things we see in the trailer look like a whole lot more sense, will it not? Johan.

[@JCinLapel]

I don't know if you follow the chines manned space flight program but Shenzhou is their first manned space flight and it is also a university name specializing in medician

[@richardwalters444]

It looks like this ship is in atmosphere, maybe even in a dust storm type event so maybe there are hatches or armor that covers the windows, engine vents, warp coils, bussard collectors, deflector dish, etc to prevent contamination or damage from particles.

[@EQINOX187]

One thing i see you didn't pick up on was the letters on the hull in the fact they have always been English but the lettering on this ship is not in fact it does not look like any known language, have a look at 20:58 and pause then look just above the persons helmet and you see the red color on the hull then bellow that you see white text but its not the standard star fleet text or language used for hull markings.

[@OpenMawProductions]

4:48 I posted this idea over in the Trekbbs forums, and I thought i'd just throw it out here. Given the nature of everything we see in the trailer, and everything that seems to tie into the Klingons, and the way the Shenzou is revealing... I'm wondering if the visual look of the Shenzou is telling of it's designed purpose. What if it's a deep range stealth ship designed to mimic Klingon warp signatures (Hence the Klingon-style nacelles)? I think it fits a lot of what we've seen and heard thus far. It would explain why she's so close to, possibly inside of, Klingon space.

[@antonymash9586]

It could be that you have different colors for different fleets. So the seventh fleet would be blue and the third fleet red. Taking a step further if this supposed seventh fleet was based out of andor and most of its ships built near there then it would fit that it would have mostly but not wholy andorian crews.

[@bewArcher]

I like the design of it...it has some NX class lines that I always liked. The Nacelles are the same ones used on the Vengance. But after looking at it more...It looks ALOT like the Armitage class in STO

[@llamapi3]

I'm guessing the lack of glow is them shutting the warp core down because whatever that cloud is, is volatile.

[@Jack_Stafford]

Hallelujah that they don't have those animated blues and reds that seems so cartoonish and got more and more so throughout TNG. The movie era seemed the most realistic because almost the only light shown on the outside were windows and spotlights over registry numbers. Yes there was a glow to the deflector and a subtle glow from the engine grills that the next-generation got carried away with bright cartoonish animations in my opinion. This looks much more realistic and although there's a lot of issues I have with the series this I think is a huge step forward as far as bringing the movie level effects to the TV screen rather than glowing blobs that are explained away in technobabble. In a way it almost instantly makes most TNG era ships very dated. I mean they even took models that didn't have animation like the Excelsior and added glaring and blurry animated blobs to an already professionally lit and beautifully built model!

[@Heretic451]

Not that this has anything to do with the Shenzhou, but your comments on decks reminded me of something. I served aboard the Enterprise (CVN-65), and on a carrier, there is the main deck, which is the hangar deck (Deck 1). Everything below that is a deck (Deck 2, 3, et.), and everything above is a level (Level 01, 02, etc.). That would really not work for a show, I realize, as it would be confusing - I just though it was interesting.

[@johnnie2638]

It looks like what would happen of a connie & a D7 had a baby. Seriously it has a Klingon design influence which is weird. It suggests perhaps a black ops design & not a part of the regular 'happy' Starfleet fleet. Something is getting curiouser & curiouser. Perhaps just like you mentioned it's just early enough in the Starfleet history that there would be a quasi-military division. It's just all weird. I'll watch it for Sonequa Martin-Green to see if she made a good move from TWD but I just don't know if I'll like it. Don't quite know whether I'm looking forward to it or not. Enjoy your videos.

[@freagarthach4228]

CBS put bridge on the bottom, but still doing all shots like it's on the top... All shots will be upside down now... GJ, CBS. GJ. You've outdone yourself.

[@timothypage252]

I wish there was a FULL video on how this ship really DOES fit it with the design lineage, just not a TOS Constitution-class.

[@jonathanfairchild833]

The CBS All Acsess watermark is upside down. the Nacelles look like they were taken from Star Trek Online. The ship in general looks to me like an Earth ship that had some design input from an Andorian.

[@themimic2000]

Could someone post a link to the trailer? I haven't been able to find it. Thanks

[@lenardlindstrom8967]

Can the bridge separate? It appears to be attached by rails that open at the ship's bow.

[@eparhas9162]

I wish the trailer showed a good shot of the whole ship from a top or 2/3 angle

[@snallygaster5]

I can't wait until we see this next to a constitution class in the show.

[@katakisLives]

It would be interesting to see how faithful they were to the classic connie design.

[@marsm9]

Hopefully not at all.

[@jonathancoolidge4594]

Maybe the deck numbers are from bottom to top, except inside the turbolift shaft, where they're numbered from top to bottom.

[@Intrepidthegenuine]

I agree with Stuart, the ship looks okay for something post voyager but not for the TOS era. This ship is clearly a sign that this show is a sequel to Enterprise rather than a prequel to TOS so with that in mind there is no alternative but to consider the show non-canon because Enterprise never happened.

[@instinctart2548]

The Shenzhou looks so much better then the Discovery, they should have switched the designs. It reminds a bit about the NX class. And the red stripe kinda looks like the one on the back of the Galaxy class.

[@Moontanman]

It looks like the enforcer drone from spaced invaders...

[@My-Name-Isnt-Important]

Now that's a name I haven't heard in a long long time.

[@anthonyrolow]

The pic of it coming through the clouds looks like it maybe without power. Maybe this is when the ship crashes or gets destroyed. The bridge might be missing because it got destroyed? But then there should be visible damage right?

[@snrcbpco]

And if you look at the exterior shot with the main character, just past the main character you see the classic Connie underside landing legs... but just painted on @18:00

[@novax-ig9yt]

I've been pretty critical of this show in the past, namely the lack of continuity with TOS, but I do like this ship design.

[@faltomjager5823]

Maybe the red stripes are to indicate that this is an operations or engineering ship.

[@greasespot1]

Maybe the fins are heat radiators, vacuum is an heat insulator after all and the only way to shed heat is black body radiation.

[@KevinBrzozowski]

I've been wondering what the name of the ship is supposed to mean. If you guys didn't already look it up. I got this off Wikipedia. "The name is variously translated as "Divine Ark", "Divine Vessel" or similar, but is also a reference to a literary name for China with the same pronunciation (神州 Shénzhōu; literally "Divine Land")."

[@techraan]

maybe you guys said this already, but it looks like they underslung bridge has reversed gravity plating. Have you seen the pictures of the inside of the bridge?

[@fdmackey3666]

The first thing that crossed my mind when I saw the trailer was that clearly Star Fleet and the Klingon Empire were buying their star ships from the same designer and ship yard....

[@AxelWedstar411]

I imagine Walker class being the Luna Class of it's day. But by the 2250s it'd been demoted to support ship while newer designs took it's role.

[@supermassivewayne]

I think this is the discovery. After all the heat they got from the teaser, I think they redesigned the whole thing as they haven't shown any other ship and we've seen the design already so no point keeping it under wraps. Just my theory

[@power543]

This is not the discovery :) confirmed by internal sources. You can see the updated discovery in the new poster

[@supermassivewayne]

I haven't seen it mate. But this is a much better looking hero ship

[@JaredMisaki1]

I think the concept of the Bridge placement comes from a Zeppelin or blimp. I don't know why they would place the bridge there, I don't know where they were going with this concept. I think the designer was drunk when drawing up the specs. As we all know ships follow a unique universal design. Such as saucer section, nasals, and main fuselage/deflector array. So turning the saucer section upside down. I guess they are protecting the bridge by using the mass of the saucer as more protection. But this just doesn't seem practical. Especially for a starfleet ship design. Open for debate here. Please Enlighten me folk

[@DrewLSsix]

JaredMisaki1. the saucer is not upside down and there is no universal design to starships.

[@Christophercles]

It makes a lot of sense to put the bridge of the bottom. In a battle you want to have an "armoured" side, so that you're not exposing all the important bits. Also for atmospheric entry you want to have one side as smooth as possible.

[@JaredMisaki1]

@DrewLSsix You need to look at the ship design roster. Even the Defiant class escort it has a saucer and nasal look to it. As well as the medical ships which even though has a ball shaped saucer, still has the standard nasal and fuselage/deflector Array. and I never said the saucer was upside down I said that to turn it upside down would bring more protection to the bridge. But if the Shenzhou is meant for atmospheric entry, may I inquire why there and not towards the rear of the saucer section where heat will not effect it?

[@JaredMisaki1]

@ Catholic No there isn't. but there is on an object.

[@MrSheckstr]

JaredMisaki1 what I never found "practical" was for the command staff to have travel all the way through the residential/civilian portions of the ship to address issues in the propulsion/ tactical/ and EV (shuttlebay). Even with good old 1701-D and it's ability to detach the saucer it made no sense for it to have a tiny cramped "battle bridge" and all the wasted space in the command sections of what has become the universe's largest lifeboat

[@David_B_Dornburg]

This ship is obviously not new, it's been around for awhile. I very much like the fact that it looks more like the NX-01 era than the NCC-1701 era. We'll just have to wait and see what the Discovery herself looks like. Perhaps she'll be more inline with the Original series Enterprise style. I find it very interesting that they didn't include ANY shot of the Discovery in the initial trailer.

[@Skippy2k81]

I like this ship, I think and I don't mean just copy the TOS Enterprise nacelles but I think if it had something that hearkened back more to those even like the NX-01 did it would help me see it more easily as a TOS era ship. Maybe they could have played around with them and come up with something in between but I think that would have helped a bit IMO. Could the front of the nacelles have multiple red domes in the front face/alcove similar to the Discovery that we saw as a visual continuity between them? Curious to see!

[@H3zzard]

I agree that it looks post-Voyager, but with the armoured look and low-continuity with ships of this supposed era, it still cries out to me that it's from the same zany drawing board as the USS Vengeance. Section 31 ship / crew maybe? Interdimensional travel and mission from the Kelvin-verse to the Prime-verse after hearing the time-travel account(s) from the 'Nu-Trek' crew? Answers on a postcard... or just wait until the end of the year. I dunno. My brain joyfully hurts after all of this awesome analysis!

[@kavinskysmith4094]

Freeze at 16:02 is it just me or if that's the window that she's looking out, doesnt that mean that the bridge is offset?

[@madfoodie787]

maybe you can't see the bridge in this shot because its raised up into the ship? It lowers when safe like on the Destiny from SGU?

[@majstorfantac9896]

it would be cool if bridge is not stationary, in need they could move it from bottom to top trough the ship like turbolift

[@cowboyborn]

We can all see why Axanar was railroaded. CBS and Paramount was better off hiring the Axanar cast and crew and doing the Trek fans a favor and give us something true to Trek. This ship is awesome, but it looks like it fits more in the TNG timeline. The bridge on the bottom sucks. Great work as usual Trekyards. Love your Mission Briefings and I hope you keep up the great work. Thank you.

[@dohnkendall]

Am I the only one that thinks that all the footage of the Shenzhou is upside-down to throw us off? I'm willing to bet the bridge is on the top.

[@dohnkendall]

Nevermind - I guess I never noticed the zoom-in shot in the trailer that shows otherwise

[@MrBranboom]

it's a disk'd Klingon ship. Looks awesome!

[@justanothercomic-fan656]

It looks so much better flipped upside down

[@gallendugall8913]

I agree. If this is a reboot - fine. Obviously there was next to no effort made to make this fit in the time frame they're claiming.

[@DrewLSsix]

Gallen Dugall. of course there was, but only if you accept Gene Roddenberrys assertion that TMP was a visual reboot and that the events we saw in TOS were not visually speaking the way they actually happened. the dialogue was removed from the script but he originally included a line from Kirk stating exactly that.

[@gallendugall8913]

I have zero problem with that - so long as they admit that. "We're going to stay true to the events of past series, but we're abandoning that visual style because it is no longer reasonable for a modern television production." That's not hard to say. I also have no faith that it's going to be true.

[@harvey1965]

Is it possible that the USS Shenzhou is post TNG (late 24th century) starship that somehow is thrown back to the pre-Kirk era? In the same manner that the 1701-C was thrown forward to the TNG era?

[@FLAME456X]

Yea everyone in the comments would definatly agree with you and Samuel captian. This is definatly Enterprise/NX era for a ship like the Shenzhou.

[@jr-kr6bv]

Is there any possibility that this is just a late ENT design, how long do ships actually last in the universe? If this is an older ship design, wouldn't it be possible this is ENT design, before they move towards the TOS designs?

[@eparhas9162]

Has anyone considered that the ship might be crashing in this shot?

[@DavideGagliardi93]

Hmmm i personally don't think so... With those amazing visual updates, i expect to see some kind of smoke, damage to the hull etc, like the Enterprise Crash in Beyond :)

[@Rah84eem]

I was thinking the same. the power must be offline so no glow and hard to see bridge

[@hisokamorow1816]

E Parhas very slow crash if it is

[@PhilDrury]

Makes me wonder how they're telling the story of the Discovery - suppose this ship is late 24th century (deflector dish and low registry number not withstanding) and the story of the Discovery is told by reviewing the ships logs after the Shenzhou finds Discovery adrift... Love the bridge being on the bottom of the saucer, though - a variation I've wanted to see for as long as I can remember.

[@danielhislop3051]

I just hope the USS Discovery looks nothing like the test ship in the first STD teaser with the triangular secondary hull and instead is more "TOS Enterprise" like combine with the style of the USS Shenzhou.

[@blackasp001]

Daniel Hislop the details have been​ changed some but the basic design is the same

[@andrewperkin7192]

people moaning about the discovery trailer videos you did yet they were a way to help give more views to help surport a channel we all love

[@joegrimes9232]

after recently watching Malcolm defending Enterprise. I can see him taking on Shenzhou's design. I defend my assertion.

[@richtrask6907]

Could the advanced look of the ship be attributed to it possibly being a Vulcan design? Or at least a Vulcan assisted ship design, perhaps one of the first ships in the Federation to be a fully Vulcan/Terran partnership design project. It might explain the red striping, many Vulcan ships we see in Enterprise were reddish in color. But also the warp engines are a bit reminiscent to the Vulcan Shuttle we see in TMP, the ones on the "warp sled" that the shuttle embarks from... I also wonder if the reason we see both this ship and the Discovery to have "Klingon-esque" design features, is because that these are Federation design features that inspired the Klingons in the designs of THEIR ships after-the-fact. I'm not sure how many Klingon ships we saw in Enterprise, but the one's I remember were still very rudimentary. Perhaps the Klingons capture the Shenzhou, or perhaps later the Discovery, and reverse engineer those elements to Klingon battle cruisers we see in the TOS era and beyond. Not too indifferent to how the Romulans and Klingons often grafted elements, even themes ("Bird of Prey" imagery), to their fleets based on captured ships.

[@timothypage252]

No--one's complaining that THIS ship looks like an Akira...

[@sams2831]

Kind of reminds me of the FASA Andor class. Maybe it was built by Andorian or Tellerite?

[@jaddoc45]

one thing would be interesting what if the bridge can travel through the soucer section and having a gravity web throughout can rotated and go onto the to top or hide within the soucer section during battle now that would be awsome

[@timothypage252]

I still think it blends in great with the Motion Picture era. Look at those nacelles.

[@jeffreyquick4871]

Structurally a sphere is very strong, so the bridge could be internally a sphere.

[@vlatkokrsteski]

maybe this ship shinzou is from the future? in the trailer says: "WE`VE COME ALL THIS WAY, CAPTAIN. IT WOULD BE IRRESPONSIBLE TO LEAVE WHATEVER THAT IS UNKNOWN

[@CaptRobertApril]

So, how does this ship compare with what you've seen of the Discovery?

[@dreadedpixel9022]

I actually really like this ship, one of the few GOOD things from discovery

[@jimtilley1158]

Wouldn't the Enterprise be around under the command of Captain Robert April?

[@power543]

yep :) shes out there...somewhere

[@josepvg020785]

Hi there! No, by 2255 Enterprise is under Pike's command, with Spock, and Kirk is a lieutenant in the uss Farragut. (April did the first 5 year mission of the Enterprise, from 2245 to 2250) Pike had the command of the Enterprise from 2251 to 2264! Also, Kirk goes to the planet Neural (like it was mentioned in TOS "a private little war") There's the treaty with the Sheliak this year, i hope they mention it or something (from TNG) memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/2255 ;)

[@josepvg020785]

She is out there :) , but under Pike's, not April ;)