It’s been a meteor shower of Star Trek news today. We’ve seen the new Spock’s pointy ears, and now someone claims to have seen the redesigned version of the Enterprise.
The word comes from TrekWeb, where they’ve been surfing the message boards for the web series Star Trek New Voyages. There, one of the series producers and actor James Cawley is claiming to have seen the Enterprise redesign… and he’s not happy.
He says flat out, “I don't like it. It is supposed to be NCC-1701, no bloody A,B,C,D or E! and it sure does not look like the 1701 I grew up with!” Well, we knew they were going to change it some. I think most of us were simply hoping they’d be minor changes, akin to the difference between the television version of the NCC-1701 (no bloody A, B, C, or D) Enterprise and the big screen, movie version. It’s unclear from Cawley’s statements exactly how much it’s been changed. But he goes on to make a pretty good point. He says, “I just don't agree with changing such iconic designs that are so ingrained in pop culture, it is really needless.”
He’s right about that. Why do they need to change it? I mean, I understand needing to cast a new actor as Spock. Leonard Nimoy is obviously much too old to play Spock at age 30. They need younger actors. Ok, that makes sense. But why can’t they use the Enterprise as is? I’m not talking about the cheesy 1966 version. I’m talking about the version of her that they’ve already used in movies. It looks beautiful. It’s an icon. It’s timeless. The television version has already been updated to work better in movies once. Why not use that? It seems like they’re changing it just to change it. So why are they changing it? To sell more toys? God I hope not.
It does however, sound like Cawley wouldn’t have been happy with anything except a model that looks exactly like the old 60s version from the original series. That stance is a bit extreme. Minor tweaks are acceptable, it’s been done before, and if it’s little changes he’s worried about then maybe he’s overreacting. He says the differences are something big though. Says Cawley, “I just don't want the production design radically changed. I see Matt Jefferies designs as "TIMELESS", and as "Pure Science Fiction", I feel the Big E as designed by Matt deserves it's day on the big screen. I personally Hope that this film makes alot of money for the studio, and that Star Trek is around for many more years because of it. If it fails the alternative of Trek's Loss would Suck. All that aside, I do not have to be a fan of the production design. I have seen what was purported to be the final design of the New Enterprise, and I don't like the changes."
http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Starship-Enterprise-Redesign-Seen-6915.html
