Home  Info  Starships  Fleet Yards  Treknology  Episodes  Database  Fandom  Community	New York Streets Set   FAQ   Site Map

Wolf 359 - Other Ships

Overview - Interview with M. Okuda - Cheyenne - New Orleans - Niagara - Proto-Nebula - Springfield - Challenger - Freedom - Other

Introduction

The most notable ships of Wolf 359 or just the ships we could gather most information about are featured on separate pages. Much of the rest may remain a mystery. Notwithstanding the limited resolution of the screen caps some of the other ships may be identified though. This page has information on the Star Trek Phase II prototypes, the Excelsior study models and the Constitution.

The Wolf 359 Research Project was initiated and is maintained by Mark Delgado, Ben Potter, Bernd Schneider, Chris Spinnler, Timo Saloniemi, Masaki Taniko, The Red Admiral and Nick Angeloni.

Star Trek Phase II Prototypes

The Art of Star Trek has photos of the two wedge-shaped prototypes originally built by Ralph McQuarrie for Star Trek Phase II back in 1977, until it was (fortunately!) decided to let Andrew Probert further develop Matt Jefferies's original design of the Enterprise. The book states that the two McQuarrie models were among the ship wrecks at Wolf 359.

Study model I At least one of the two models (variant I) can be identified. It's one of a few additional ships (besides an additional planet) in a modified scene in TNG: "Unification" (the episode used stock footage from BoBW) where this ship can be clearly seen. We believe that the very same take was originally made for BoBW and then inserted into the foreground.

Phase II Enterprise, variant I (image from The Art of Star Trek by Frank Gerratana)

Phase II Enterprise I in "Unification" (#4) (screen cap by Mark)

Phase II Enterprise I schematic
(created by Ben Potter)

Study model II Variant II of the Phase II Enterprise could not be identified in BoBW or "Unification" so far, but was spotted in the Spacedock scene in "Star Trek III".

Phase II Enterprise II in "Star Trek III"
(screen cap by Jörg)

Excelsior Study Models

The ILM study models of what should become the Excelsior (two of which are depicted in The Art of Star Trek) were used for BoBW too, although not explicitly stated in the book. This has been confirmed by Mike Okuda. He didn't give any of these ships a name or a number. One of the models came from ILM with the name "U.S.S. Alka-selsior", but we wouldn't honestly consider this to be the ship's true name, would we? Given Okuda's comments about ships custom-built to be displayed as heavily damaged, the intact ship models were probably not altered at all and only shown in the background, so the Excelsior study models merely served as a "generic starships".

Study model I The first prototype is a very characteristic flat design with a wide nacelle distance. It seemed possible that this ship could be seen in the upper half of the scene when the Enterprise flies through the debris field, but we now believe that the latter is actually the Chekov. It is almost certain, however, that the flat Excelsior appears in "Unification" as #13.

Excelsior study model I (image from The Art of Star Trek by Frank Gerratana)

Excelsior study model I (image from Star Trek: The Magazine by Kris Olinger)

Excelsior study model I in "Unification" (#13)
(screen cap by Mark)

Excelsior study I schematic
(created by Ben Potter)

Study model II The second study model from The Art of Star Trek already resembles the final Excelsior. One characteristic difference is that the saucer underside is curved. We first presumed that the ship we now classify as Challenger could be the study model II, but its details all match better with the Challenger. It is questionable whether we will still be able to spot this ship on screen.

Excelsior study model II (image from The Art of Star Trek by Frank Gerratana)

Excelsior study model II (image from Star Trek: The Magazine by Kris Olinger)

Excelsior study II schematic
(created by Ben Potter)

Study model III This third of the two-nacelled Excelsior study models is so close to the final Excelsior that the real ship has to be a slight variant of the class if not the very same ship class. Only some details like the bridge and the rear shuttlebay are visibly different. The remaining differences must be attributed to the rather coarse finish of the study model, like the primitive looking deflector dish (essentially only a hole with putty in it) and the hand-drawn markings. This study model has not been spotted yet. It is absolutely possible that it was mistaken for a standard Excelsior if it was on screen.

Excelsior study model III
(image from Star Trek: The Magazine by Kris Olinger)

Side note Star Trek: The Magazine calls the Excelsior study model III the "final study model" that was chosen by Leonard Nimoy. But the above image with the dorsal, fore and aft views is depicted along with the side view (this image) of the study model II. These two miniatures are unquestionably different, as the nacelles and the shape of the saucer don't match at all. Maybe the study model III retained the engineering hull from version II though.

Four-nacelled study model I There are four-nacelled ships in BoBW as well as TNG: "Unification". The one in BoBW is obviously the Cheyenne. In "Unification", the first four-nacelled ship appears as #3 just at the beginning of the junkyard scene, inserted into the modified graveyard scene from BoBW. It is not sure whether the shot of the ship was already made for BoBW.

Four-nacelled Excelsior study model I (image from Star Trek: The Magazine by Kris Olinger)

Appearance in "Unification" (#3) (screen cap by Mark)

Four-nacelled Excelsior study model I
Courtesy Pocket Books. Copyright © 2000 Paramount Pictures. All rights reserved.

Thanks a lot to Michael Okuda for the above photo of the four-nacelled Excelsior and thanks to Timo for conveying it to me. Note to all readers: Please don't further distribute the image and, in particular, don't use it on web pages.

Note that the "dual-bridge" structure on the model photo and the long flat dorsal almost perfectly match the #3 on the first screen cap. The raised structure on the saucer rear end might be a shuttlebay, while the actual bridge is in the center of the saucer. It is interesting that the ship apparently uses a saucer from AMT's Enterprise-refit kit and yet another variant of the Oberth-like nacelles built around something like pencils. The ship #10 in the second screen cap does seem to have such nacelles. Actually, the pencil-like shapes seem to be four 1/48 scale AIM-54 Phoenix air-to-air missiles (with the fins cut off) taken from a Revell F-14 model kit. According to Michael Okuda, this ship is hanging from the ceiling in the DS9 Art Department. Note the thread running across the saucer.

Four-nacelled Excelsior schematic
(created by Ben Potter)

3D model (created by The Red Admiral)

3D model (created by The Red Admiral)

Four-nacelled study model II The existence of this fifth study model was revealed in Star Trek: The Magazine. The magazine article implies that this one could be the earliest version, as it closely resembles the sketches that called for a four-nacelled ship (that looks like it has more power than the Enterprise). It is very likely that the miniature was used in TNG: "Unification" when the Enterprise assumed her parking position. A possible previous appearance in "Best of Both Worlds" cannot be confirmed.

Four-nacelled Excelsior study model II (image from Star Trek: The Magazine by Kris Olinger)

Appearance in "Unification" (#10) (screen cap by Mark)

Constitution

Surprisingly, a very detailed Constitution engineering hull appears just before the commercial break, only to vanish just after the break (see screen caps further above). This scene was not in all versions of BoBW. It is definitely no plastic model kit, but a large-scale studio miniature with very detailed transparent arboretum windows. It is most likely the same Enterprise studio model depicted below. As such, the ship naturally wouldn't have been listed with name and registry. Nevertheless, the question arises if Constitution-class ships other than the Enterprise are still in service as of 2366.

Gary Hutzel and the Enterprise engineering hull (image by djdood)

Constitution hull on screen (DVD cap by Nick Angeloni

Heavily damaged ship parts can be seen on the left edge of the viewscreen. The damage is detailed, but the ship could not be recognized so far. The floating nacelle seems to be Galaxy style, and it could have been ripped off another ship. Michael Okuda is pretty sure that the saucer is the Enterprise saucer that was blown up for "Star Trek III".

Destroyed Enterprise saucer hull (image from Cinefantastique by Masaki Taniko)

Constitution saucer on screen (DVD cap by Nick Angeloni)

Excelsior

When the Wolf 359 battle scene was produced for DS9: "Emissary", the visual effects crew took the more detailed Excelsior model instead of the Nebula study model for close shots, but they gave it the very same name and registry "U.S.S. Melbourne NCC-62043". Read about the naming conflict.

Excelsior-class U.S.S. Melbourne
(screen cap by Jörg)

Addendum: Rigel

According to Mike Okuda's statement the Rigel-class Tolstoy was probably not on screen at all in BoBW. Surprisingly, the now invalidated slide-show description of the Rigel would match another ship, namely the Niagara which has been identified beyond doubt. This means that whoever gave the first description of the Rigel obviously mistook the Niagara for the Rigel. Case closed.

Conclusion

We still need to spot some of the ships in the wreckage of Wolf 359, most notably the Phase II and Excelsior prototypes. Since we know how they all look and that they don't represent any individual ships and specific class, this is where our research ends and speculation may start. The Constitution class, on the other hand, is clearly identified. It is still another question what could have been the business of the old Connie at Wolf 359.

Credits

We would like to express our gratitude to Mike Okuda for providing the image of the four-nacelled study model. Thanks to Frank Gerratana, djdood and Jonah Rapp for more information and pics.

Back to Starship Articles index

Home   Top
	Last modified: 10.07.07
http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/articles/wolf359-other.htm