Ex Astris Scientia - Redresses of the Karemma Ship

The Karemma ship prominently appeared in DS9: "Starship Down", where the Defiant defended it against two Jem'Hadar fighters. After that we could see the CGI model of the vessel a couple more times as ships of other species.

Karemma orthographic drawings The available orthographic views of the Karemma vessel (i.e. of the model in its original configuration) from the Star Trek Encyclopedia II, from Star Trek: The Magazine and from the Star Trek Fact Files differ in many details. Overall, only the Fact Files drawing reproduces the structure of the vessel correctly, including the nine cargo compartments in the middle of the ship, the shape of the bow section with its forked tip, the pod on the aft underside, and small details such as the color areas on the front tip and on the "rollbar" at the aft end. Indeed, as the newly available photos of the studio miniature demonstrate, the Karemma vessel did have this forked bow, which was not incorporated into the later CGI model.

Karemma ship In DS9: "Starship Down" the Karemma ship appeared both as a physical miniature and as a CGI. The miniature was used for the close-ups, whereas the CGI is visible in the scenes when the vessel enters the atmosphere of the gas giant. The latter was created by the company Vision Art. It can only be seen from a distance, and it is not really possible to tell how well the two different incarnations correspond, which were likely created at the same time for this very episode. In later episodes we can see a new CGI model, initially created by Digital Muse for DS9: "Shadows and Symbols", whose structure and proportions are somewhat different than on the original Karemma ship.

The Karemma vessel has a blue engine glow in the middle of the nacelle, in an opening at the aft end of its solid part. It looks like the CGI model is overall better illuminated than the miniature, but this may also have to do with the fact that we see the latter only with deactivated engines.

Bajoran impulse ship We can see a new CGI model of the Karemma vessel in DS9: "Shadows and Symbols", which was obviously rebuilt from scratch. It overall follows the lines of the original version but includes several purposeful modifications. The original Karemma ship already had two bumps at the lower port and starboard bow, which were extended to some kind of wings on the Bajoran CGI model. On the screen cap from "Shadows and Symbols" it looks like there are two wings, sloping down at an angle of roughly 45°. The later episodes, however, and ultimately the orthographic depictions of the CGI model in Star Trek: The Magazine (there mistakenly labeled as "Karemma ship") show that there are in fact three wings: two horizontal, and one vertical on the ventral side of the bow. The Karemma ship definitely didn't have these wings, so this is an error in the magazine.

As already mentioned the characteristic fork on the Karemma ship was removed in favor of a blunt and overall shorter front section. The rest of the main body is very similar on the Bajoran CGI, only a bit elongated. One more significant difference is that the nacelles were moved forward. While two thirds of the nacelles protrude from the pylons to the aft end on the Karemma vessel, it is the other way round on the Bajoran version. The shape of the nacelles was modified too. We can't make out an engine illumination on the Bajoran vessel, perhaps just owing to the limited resolution.

Several previously seen Bajoran ship models were turned into CGI versions for "Shadows and Symbols". We can only speculate why the Karemma design was recycled in this fashion too, considering that the Karemma are a Gamma Quadrant civilization. Perhaps the vessel was left behind by the Karemma? Or did the Karemma provide the Bajorans with plans for their vessel? In this case the vessel would be quite new at the time of the episode. Yet in "Shadows and Symbols" Cretak says to Kira: "Colonel, do you seriously believe that your antiquated collection of impulse ships stand a chance against our warbirds?" She may not count in the (new) vessel of Karemma origin though when uttering a threat. Anyway, the model includes a couple of modifications that may be sufficient to insinuate that it is a different, perhaps genuinely Bajoran ship class.

Antarian ship In VOY: "Drive" we can see the CGI model in the hands of the so-called "Antarians" in the Delta Quadrant. There are two ships of this type, one on either side of the start line-up. The effects in this episode were done by Foundation Imaging, but there don't seem to be any modifications to the existing model since "Shadows and Symbols". We can see the illuminated window rows, as they already existed on the physical Karemma miniature. These were not recognizable on the Bajoran version, either because they had not yet been incorporated (the Bajoran ship may be supposed to be considerably smaller), or because the ship was too far away. The Antarian vessel looks almost uniformly gray, but in hindsight the same may apply to the Bajoran ship. The Antarian ship has lighted window rows also in the aft section.

The opening in the nacelle that used to glow blue on the Karemma vessel appears to have a yellow stripe pattern on the Antarian version. We can only see the port side in a close view, with a red position light, but the depiction of the CGI model from Star Trek: The Magazine reveals that the light on the starboard side is green. It is amazing how readily aliens comply with human/Federation standards, even on the other side of the galaxy!

Ledosian ship The next appearance of the CGI model is in VOY: "Natural Law", here barely recognizable as it almost seems to be a part of the Ledosian space station (we can spot it in the center of the left screen shot). Some kind of brownish "scaffolding" was added to the ship, and its overall color was switched to rusty brown through what looks like a completely new skin. The vertical fin, which looked very clumsy on the CGI version so far, was shortened, but there are now two of them. The warp engines were scaled down, and the semi-circular portion of the "wings" was removed. On the Ledosian ship the engine glow inside the warp nacelle is yellowish, just as the very aft end of the nacelle, as we can see when the Delta Flyer passes by the ventral side of the ship. It does not seem to have changed since the appearance in "Drive".

Xantoras visitor ship We can see the CGI model one last time at Xantoras in ENT: "The Breach", as one of three visitor ships that has to leave the planet, the other two being another re-use of Qatai's vessel (left) and the ubiquitous "hammerhead" freighter (right). The originally Karemman model (top) was apparently not modified in any fashion for this appearance, it is the same that already appeared in DS9: "Shadows and Symbols" and "VOY: "Drive".

Ship type	Episode	Type	Re-use	Modification	Engine color
Karemma ship	DS9: "Starship Down"	Physical	-	Original configuration	Blue
Karemma ship	DS9: "Starship Down"	CGI	-	More illumination than on physical model	Blue
Bajoran impulse ship	DS9: "Shadows and Symbols"	CGI	-	New CGI with different proportions, "wings", nacelles moved forward	Uncertain
Antarian ship	VOY: "Drive"	CGI	Yes, from "Shadows and Symbols"	Almost uniformly brownish gray hull	Yellow stripes
Ledosian ship	VOY: "Natural Law"	CGI	-	Scaffold superstructure, weathered hull, smaller nacelles	Yellow stripes
Xantoras visitor ship	ENT: "The Breach"	CGI	Yes, from "Shadows and Symbols"	None	Uncertain


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	Last modified: 09.10.12
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