Analysis of the Qualor II Surplus Depot

In TNG: "Unification I+II", the Enterprise visits the Zakdorn-operated Z15 Surplus Depot at Qualor II where several wrecks and decommissioned ships are stored. The surplus depot was created using modified Wolf 359 stock footage from TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds II", combined with some new shots.

Several of the ships to be spotted here are already known from the Wolf 359 graveyard in TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds II". Some more are quite familiar and easily recognizable. The rest has long been a mystery until better DVD and ultimately Blu-ray screen caps became available. Here is a concise investigation of the Qualor II scenes.

 

Analysis

The following screen caps are shown in chronological order.

Unification I

The first take (Cap #1) shows how the Enterprise arrives at the scrapyard in "Unification I". It is unchanged stock footage, identical to the Enterprise-D in the debris field in TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds II". Hence, we see the USS Princeton (#1) and USS Buran (#2) once again at Qualor II.

Cap #2 is essentially the same as the aft view of the Enterprise-D inside the debris field from TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds II". The USS Buran is still visible as object #2. There are several dissimilarities, however. Most obviously the planet Qualor II has been inserted into the scene. The Nebula-class Melbourne (#2a in the upper left quarter) is not burning here. There are a number of additional objects. Ships #3, #4, #5, #7 and #7a are new. While #5 is quite clearly a Klingon K't'inga (we can only guess that Starfleet captured this ship long ago or that the Klingons don't mind such an old ship being stored there), #3 and #4 are yet unseen or unidentified Federation ships. #4 may be easily identified as the shorter of the two prototypes that Ralph McQuarrie devised for "Planet of the Titans" (which was abandoned in favor of the series Star Trek Phase II) in 1977. #3 has remained a mystery for some time, but now we are sure that it is the four-nacelled Excelsior prototype I of 1982. In the center of the image we can make out #7, the space station model that will later appear as the particle fountain in TNG: "The Quality of Life". Finally, there is object #7a which we can identify as another space station which was apparently built as a study model for the spacedock in "Star Trek III".

Cap #3 is the first new take that didn't previously appear in TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds II". It shows a closer view of some objects in the surplus depot. Object #7 is the said particle fountain, now very clearly recognizable. Curiously, this totally unremarkable appearance of the model is before the particle fountain will be prominently featured in TNG: "The Quality of Life" in season 6. Also, the lower pod of the station is still missing here. There used to be a painting of a space station of a similar structure in Captain Picard's quarters aboard the Enterprise-D. The miniature that later became the particle fountain, not yet serving a specific purpose, may have been inspired by this painting. #6 is a yet unknown starship saucer. It has been suggested that it could belong to the second Excelsior prototype, but whilst certain details look similar, the saucer here appears to be overall too thick and its dorsal surface too steep. It is possible that the quite chunky saucer is a yet unknown prototype designed by McQuarrie and built for "Planet of the Titans". He intended the separated saucer to have a landing gear, and made according sketches. But as mentioned, no model based on these sketches is known so far. #8 requires a close look, and it becomes clear when it is turned upside down. It is the ubiquitous sublight freighter as it appeared in TNG: "Final Mission" (similar to the original configuration as Batris in TNG: "Heart of Glory"). There is also a Miranda class as #11 and another one as #12 in the lower right corner of the image.

On Cap #4, when the Enterprise is just about to shut down power, #11 and #12 are the two Mirandas again. The upside-down sublight freighter reappears just above Miranda #11. While the perspective may be deceptive, it does not look like these ships could be the same as in Cap #3, although they are probably intended to be. Especially the two Mirandas seem to be much closer to the sublight freighter now. Cap #4 reveals a new ship, #10. This is obviously a four-engined vessel, with an engineering hull underneath the nacelles. Thus we are probably dealing with the second four-nacelled Excelsior prototype and therefore not the same ship as object #3 in Cap #2.

After the Enterprise has deactivated its systems, we can see yet another vessel, #9, on the left edge of the screen (inset). Interestingly, this is the bow of the Xhosa which is identical to the ventral side of the Batris bow. Since the Xhosa model does not yet exist, it seems like this part of the Batris was ripped off the miniature and filmed separately to add more diversity to the ship wrecks. Maybe the Art Department decided that this version of the Batris looked good enough to become a distinct ship on Deep Space Nine.

When the Enterprise, still in the parking position, fires at the smuggler ship in Cap #5, we can see three more starships. #13, the one on the left, could be the Excelsior, but more likely it is an Excelsior prototype, as we may assume that all three of them were present for either TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds II" or "Unification I+II" or both. #15 in the middle is definitely the Talarian warship as it appeared in TNG: "Suddenly Human". Actually, there were two Talarian ship types in that episode, a training vessel with horizontal and vertical wings and a warship with diagonal wings. The model as seen at Qualor II originates from the latter but has no wings; it is gray instead of brown. If it is of Talarian origin, Starfleet may have captured and stripped this vessel. #14, the one on the right, is the automated defense drone, of which three were launched in the Mars perimeter defense line against the Borg cube in TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds II". The model, without any visible modifications, will later appear as Soliton Wave Rider in TNG: "New Ground". It is composed of the hull of a Soviet Typhoon-class submarine, with two Los Angeles-class submarines as nacelles.

Unification II

Cap #6 is the only from "Unification II". It shows exactly the same ships as Cap #5, although the relative positions and orientations seem to be quite different here. #13, here better visible than on Cap #5, is unmistakably the flat Excelsior prototype. #14 is the Mars drone or (later) Soliton Wave Rider again. We can see the Talarian warship #15 with its characteristic tapered shape up close, although its orientation was left-right reversed relative to the previous take. A thorough inspection of this ship ends in a surprise, as it looks like a modification of a vessel from a different sci-fi universe. The tapered part of the Talarian vessel seems to be nothing but a modified Imperial Star Destroyer.

 

Summary

Here is an overview of ships and structures that can be clearly identified at the Qualor II depot, in roughly chronological order:

Ship/station type	Model ID	From BoBW?	Screen cap	Annotation
Niagara	#1	Yes	Cap #1	-
Challenger	#2	Yes		-
Nebula prototype II	#2a	Yes	Cap #2	Not burning here
Excelsior 4-nacelled study I	#3	No		-
Enterprise study model I	#4	No		-
K't'inga	#5	No		-
Space station	#7	No		Particle fountain without lower cap
Spacedock study model	#7a	No		-
Unidentified saucer	#6	No	Cap #3	-
Batris	#8	No		Actually in the configuration as ancient sublight freighter
Miranda	#11, #12	No		-
Xhosa	#9	No	Cap #4	Maybe just part of the (later) model
Excelsior 4-nacelled study II	#10	No		-
Excelsior study I	#13	No	Cap #5 Cap #6	-
Mars defense probe	#14	No		-
Talarian warship	#15	No		Wings are missing

 

See Also

Wolf 359 - Overview - the list of ship names, a collection of screen caps and the status of identification

Redresses of the Batris - modifications for Ornarans, sublight freighter, Norkova

Redresses of the Talarian Warship - modifications for Qualor II, Lysians, Frunalians, Drayans

 

Credits

A big thank you goes to The Red Admiral who made the screen shots and provided a lot of input for this page. Thanks also to the other members of our Wolf 359 Research Project, in particular Timo Saloniemi, and to Dávid Metlesits for an idea about the unknown ship #6.

 

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