The phaser strip and nacelle pylon on the 6 foot and 4 foot Enterprise D models compared.

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WShawnM@reddit

I’m in the minority and prefer the four-footer. I liked the extra detail which I think made the ship look more interesting on NTSC televisions, especially with some good rim lighting. I used to record TNG episodes straight off the Paramount feed onto Beta SP at the TV station I worked at. I made a reel of SFX shots to help me detail my AMT kit build in which I cut out over 1000 windows and lit them with fluorescent tubes. The hull detail on the AMT kit feels a little closer to the 4-footer.

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stareagleur@reddit

Ironically, the placing of the phaser array on the 4 foot model lines up better defensively than on the 6 foot model.

Also, one of the biggest reasons the saucer width was changed is because the original design for the 6 foot model just didn’t match the placement of the Ten Forward set at all.

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ExpectedBehaviour@reddit

Still think Ten Forward should have really been Two Forward and more of an officer's club... given that it's the "social hub" of a ship with over 1000 people aboard it seems surprisingly small and basic.

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jjreinem@reddit

Probert's original concept was for a promenade/lounge combo running almost the entire circumstance of the saucer with windows above and below.

Probably no way in hell they could have pulled it off on a TV budget, but man, it could have been gorgeous to see.

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TheEvilBlight@reddit

Sounds like ds9 promenade times a thousand. Wowza.

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ExpectedBehaviour@reddit

I've seen this referred to as the "grand corridor", though I'm not sure Probert ever used the term himself. Sad that so much of the Enterprise-D was impossible to realise with the effects and budget at the time.

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TheHYPO@reddit

That doesn’t make much sense as to why the saucer width would be changed. They changed the windows in the front to match ten forward and made the central ridge a bit thicker to imply two decks instead of one, but that’s not why the whole vertical curvature of the saucer had to change.

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aeroguy444@reddit

I like the 4ft model. I may be in the minority but I like it. I like the 6ft model too though. ... And the Galaxy X. I just like Star Trek ships.

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ExpectedBehaviour@reddit

The 6ft Enterprise-D is the one true Enterprise-D.

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Alpha859@reddit

Blaspheme!

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JGG5@reddit

Heretic! The 4ft Enterprise-D is the one true Enterprise-D. Q will punish you for your insolence! Follow the gourd!

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bubbleweed@reddit (OP)

I pylon curvatiue I don't mind, but everything else on the 4 foot model looks worse. Big fat saucer and stumpy engineering hull.

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Greyhaven7@reddit

So lumpy

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ExpectedBehaviour@reddit

And that hull texture... given the scale of the Galaxy-class some of those panels must be inches out of alignment! I remember as a young kid first noticing this in "Yesterday's Enterprise" and thinking that they were some subtle decals that had been added to the model to suggest extra armour plating in the bad timeline, but alas...

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jack_begin@reddit

I wonder how much of this was made specifically to add detail visible on SD CRT TVs.

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PlayfulCod8605@reddit

It was recognizable. In my kid brain head-canon, I reasoned it was extra armor from refit following the Borg encounter.

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Danloeser@reddit

It was too late to make the change, the original looked great. Plus they still had the original in the intro and in various "library" shots. I was watching it on a 19" CRT over a broken antenna, and it was clearly different. The rough surface was one thing, but the saucer -always- looked too thick.

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bubbleweed@reddit (OP)

The main reasoning for the 4 foot model in the first place was ease of filming, the 6 foot model was heavy and awkward to move by all accounts. But man the 4 foot model really is a downgrade. I remember thinking, "why does the enterprise suddenly look so weird?" when I was a kid.

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ExpectedBehaviour@reddit

That's exactly what it was for.

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bubbleweed@reddit (OP)

Yeah, ironically they added them to make the ship appear bigger, but they do the opposite.

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LV426acheron@reddit

I know they switched to the 4 foot model because it was easier to film.

When did this happen? (i.e. which episodes have the 6 foot model and which have the 4 foot model?)

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I-am-not-Herbert@reddit

The four foot debuted in The Defector, and basically all newly filmed shots from that onward were with the smaller model. Notable exception were the saucer separation shots in TBOBW, because those could only be done with the 6-foot model. However they kept reusing flybys, orbits and other shots with the 6-foot model until the very end. So in a lot of episode you can see shots with both models.

And for Generations they switched back to the 6-foot model, because for the saucer separation and generally more detail for the larger screen.

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monji_cat@reddit

Wasn't that 6 foot model destroyed when shooting Generations because they didnt think they were going to use it anymore?

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jjreinem@reddit

Nope - they only destroyed the bridge set. The effects team was extremely careful putting the filming model back into storage so that if they needed it again, it wouldn't need another fresh paint job. They even applied some new decals to update the registry to NCC-1701-E because the powers that be hadn't decided yet if they were going to replace the bridge or go for an entirely new ship design.

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monji_cat@reddit

Ah ok - did this 6 foot model get sold to someone afterwards when First Contact was filming or was it re-dressed as another galaxy class ship for DS9?

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I-am-not-Herbert@reddit

For DS9 they used the smaller model for the Odyssey, after they removed the added big gun and third nacelle for All Good Things. Later DS9 mostly used CGI.

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jjreinem@reddit

Nah, just stayed in storage until the big auction after Enterprise went off the air and CBS decided to clear out the warehouse. For DS9 they used the 4 foot model they used for most of TNG since it was a lot easier to work with.

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TheBurgareanSlapper@reddit

I believe they repainted the 6ft model in Generations to add detail (including Ten Forward, which didn't exist when the model was built).

The 4ft model also appeared on DS9 whenever a Galaxy class ship was needed, until they switched to CGI in season 6.

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bubbleweed@reddit (OP)

They added a more complex aztec pattern for generations. Have to say the D did look great on the big screen. Pity it only got one movie though

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bubbleweed@reddit (OP)

I think they introduced it midway through season 3, but they also continued to use some stock shot of the 6 foot model throughout the show.

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low_amplitude@reddit

Speaking of reused stock shots, the first couple season of DS9 had no shame using the exact same "runabout disembarks the station" shot and "ship enters/exists wormhole" shot every single time they were needed. It's understandable but still hilarious.

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bubbleweed@reddit (OP)

Yeah DS9 was pretty bleak in that regard for the first two seasons

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goodtime71832@reddit

If I remember correctly the first episode that used it was The Defector.

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Bklyn78@reddit

I never noticed the little blue lights at the triangular portion under the nacelle. What are they for ?

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jjreinem@reddit

I think those are supposed to be windows.

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Cornflakes_91@reddit

glowing

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GreatBarrier86@reddit

Literally unwatchable. God!

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404NotFounded@reddit

Hope someone got fired for that blunder

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Least-Common-1456@reddit

Where can I learn more about this so I can really nerd out?

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Simple_Flounder@reddit

Which is which? I knew there were two models but I dont know which is the 4ft?

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Greyhaven7@reddit

Top is 6ft, bottom is 4ft. Lumpiness on the 4ft’s saucer gives it away.

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27803@reddit

The 4’ model saucer is chunkier in the middle

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TheHYPO@reddit

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Galaxy_class_model

https://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/observations/enterprise-flybys.htm

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jsonitsac@reddit

The more detailed one

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spaceman_spiffy@reddit

I never notices the windows on the pylons before!

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Remarkable-Pin-8352@reddit

Space is warped and time is bendable!

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nhowe006@reddit

Wibbly wobbly timey-wimey?

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jtrades69@reddit

don't.

blink.

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jtrades69@reddit

ruh roh!!!

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Mercuie@reddit

Reading this thread you guys are going to have me paying closer attention. I never really look. But also uh oh. Are you ruining the 4 foot model for me? Am I going to get annoyed?! Still it's really cool to know. I didn't know there were any real differences between them.

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bubbleweed@reddit (OP)

and then they install loud motors in the voyager nacelles XD