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Wolf 359 - Overview

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

Introduction

A Borg cube invades Federation space in late 2366. Admiral Hanson gathers a fleet of 40 starships to form a defense line to prevent the cube from reaching Earth. The Federation fleet, however, fights a hopeless battle against the Borg, in the course of which 39 of the 40 ships are destroyed and 11,000 crew members killed. When the Enterprise-D arrives at the scene, the crew finds nothing but a debris field. The "graveyard" scene at Wolf 359 in TNG: "Best of Both Worlds" (BoBW) features several destroyed or heavily damaged Starfleet ships which have remained unknown for a long time. In the course of this project, we have been able to identify most of the ships in the wreckage. Note that no completely satisfactory solution to all the problems can be presented. Some issues may remain controversial.

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. Visit the associated Wolf 359 sites, Starfleet Engineering Corps and Trekmania for more information about the project.

Verbal Descriptions

List by classes and names The Star Trek Encyclopedia I provides a first list of the starships at Wolf 359. Eight ships are mentioned in the Star Trek TNG Companion by Larry Nemecek as being present in BoBW. The Star Trek Encyclopedia II extends this list such that the following 16 ships are known by name or by class to have been destroyed, out of a total of 40 vessels:

Annotations
1) There is no evidence that the U.S.S. Endeavour was at Wolf 359. When Captain Amasov was said to have encountered the Borg in VOY: "Scorpion", this doesn't need to have anything to do with the Wolf 359 Battle.
2) The Federation starship U.S.S. Excalibur encountered the Borg too (VOY: "Survival Instinct").  A ship named Excalibur (Ambassador class and therefore not a new ship) appears in TNG: "Redemption", one year after BoBW, as an intact ship. Either this ship was destroyed by the Borg some time after this episode and prior to 2371 when Voyager disappeared, or the ship survived a Borg encounter and only part of the crew was assimilated. There is no need to assume that this happened at Wolf 359.
3) The U.S.S. Lalo NCC-43837 was already missing before the fleet gathered at Wolf 359, so it can't be among the 40 ships mentioned in BoBW.
4) Only six ships were visible in DS9: "Emissary" altogether. It doesn't make sense to look for these ships in the BoBW scene too, since probably no one cared about these obscure ships when the DS9 pilot was produced. Almost definitely the model makers made up completely new ships that could have taken part in the battle, with the obvious exception of the Melbourne.

The table gives us 16 ships that have been shown or mentioned, probably minus one redundant Melbourne. Therefore 15 ships out of 40 have been shown and mentioned so far. The ships seen in DS9: "Emissary" being pretty clear, this analysis focuses on the eight ships of BoBW known by name and on the rest of the wreckage.

Fan descriptions of Okuda's slide show Back in the early 1990s Michael Okuda showed slides of several of the BoBW ships on a convention. Since then a couple of common descriptions for the these ships were established in newsgroups, although the episode itself and more or less blurry screen caps from it were still the only distributed references at the time. This is what has been commonly stated about the ship classes at Wolf 359, purportedly based on what Mike Okuda presented:

Rigel "A Galaxy-class saucer, attached directly to a Constitution engineering section (no connecting dorsal). Three Galaxy-style warp nacelles; the first two are about where you'd expect, the third is attached directly below the shuttlecraft bay."

Freedom "Take the connecting dorsal from a Constitution-class ship. On one end, put a Galaxy-class (-ish) saucer. On the other end, put one Galaxy-class warp nacelle. That's it; no engineering section."

Challenger like the Constitution class, but the two nacelles are Constellation style and attached to the top read end of the saucer.

Okuda's corrected descriptions Note that Michael Okuda refutes the above fan descriptions of the Rigel and the Challenger. They could have been subject to many changes, as they were reproduced time and again, or they were completely made up by fandom. In 2001 Okuda gave the following descriptions to Timo Saloniemi (more excerpts here):

New Orleans "Again, a scaled-down Galaxy saucer (meaning it was made from an Enterprise kit, but with a larger bridge and larger windows, intended to imply a smaller ship). Two nacelles on pylons above the center axis of the ship. I think this was my favorite of the Miarecki study models. At Dan Curry's suggestion, I added two or three 'outboard pods' to the ship in an effort to make it look a little less Enterprise-like. The photos in the Encyclopedia are all photos of the study model, retouched to add lights in the windows. I took the photos just before starting the battle damage work."

Cheyenne "This was a scaled-down Galaxy saucer with four nacelles, arranged in a manner similar to the Constellation. Ed made the nacelles from marker pens."

Challenger "A scaled-down Galaxy-shaped saucer, and two warp nacelles, one above and the other below the engineering hull." - "The Buran was the above-and-below model that I had thought was the Chekov. I don't recall what Ed's original version of the Buran was, but I added the submarine parts and glued on the engines, although it looks like Ed assembled the engines. I thought it was a clever idea, but it ended up looking like a lollipop. Maybe Ed's version was a single nacelle, and I added the second."

Rigel "I don't think we ever came up with a ship design specifically tied to that name. (I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm not remembering correctly. I don't have my notes here at the moment)."

Freedom "Upon reflection, I think this may have been something that Greg Jein came up with for one of the kitbashes he contributed to either BOBW or
Unification. I'm not sure which model this was, and I'm not at all confident that Fact Files checked with anyone."

Springfield "The Chekov was built by Ed, based on the small Ent-D model saucer, with two nacelles and marker pen engines."

Melbourne "The original version of the Nebula. Ed made us two nearly-identical Melbourne models. I destroyed one of them to create a battle-damaged ship for BoBW2. (I recall being up in the art department one evening, Dremel tool in hand, cutting up the ship, while Patrick Stewart, in Borg costume, came upstairs to use the Xerox machine. He asked me what I was doing. I showed him the model and said something like, 'See what you did!') Rick Sternbach helped with the battle damage, too. And Greg Jein contributed quite a bit of wreckage as well. The other Nebula model ended up on one of the side tables in Sisko's office in DS9. I think it was label 'Melbourne', too."

Summarizing, there are definitely models of both the Springfield and the Challenger, while there might be none for the Rigel.

Model builders The following information is available on how and by whom the starship miniatures were built:

On his website Ed Miarecki takes credit for building the following ships: "U.S.S. Phoenix, U.S.S. Kyushu, U.S.S. Ahwahnee, U.S.S. Chekov, U.S.S. Buran". With the exception of the U.S.S. Phoenix all of these ships were supposed to be in BoBW. The U.S.S. Phoenix being a Nebula-class ship, this could refer to the Melbourne. Okuda confirms this and he even reveals that there were actually two near-identical study models, of which one was damaged for the shots and one was later used for a decoration in Sisko's office and probably in Riker's ready-room in TNG: "Future Imperfect" too. It is not entirely clear in how far these models are actually group efforts.

Michael Okuda assigned numbers to the starships and prepared some of them for the shoot, meaning that he partially destroyed them. The Chekov was among these ships too. Unfortunately its trace was lost when it was on loan for a VFX test shot.

Some wrecks, among them the Freedom-class U.S.S. Firebrand, were already built with heavy battle damage by Greg Jein.

Okuda also said that all models specifically built for Wolf 359 were supposedly made of Galaxy-class parts. The other TNG era designs were supposed to be "sister ships" of the Galaxy. There is probably no ship using Constitution parts, at least no ship with a definite class and registry.

Some of the ships were not especially built for BoBW. Supposedly the wedge-shaped prototypes for Star Trek Phase II, built by Ralph McQuarrie, as well as the Excelsior study models as depicted in The Art of Star Trek were filmed for the episode. There were not only the two ships depicted in the book, but three or four Excelsior prototypes built by Bill George altogether.

Dialogues Only three of the ships were explicitly mentioned in BoBW, when Shelby identified the ships on screen. She said: "The Tolstoy...the Kyushu...the Melbourne". Interestingly this line was supposed to be  include the Chek(h)ov, the Kyushu and the Melbourne at first. Obviously the producers thought the reference to Pavel Chekov sounded too cute and altered it in the post-production. It is interesting too that the ship's name is spelt "Chekhov" in the script, so it would be a reference to Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov rather than to Pavel Chekov. Moreover, should it be a coincidence that Leo Tolstoy, another famous Russian author, took his place? The name printed on the model, however, is "Chekov".

Anyway, the dialogue is not necessarily a hint which starships are actually on the screen. If there was no Tolstoy at all in the filmed scene, this wouldn't affect the dialogue very much, unless someone pointed at the ship.

Screen Caps

The following screen caps act as a short chronological summary of the scenes in BoBW.

First appearance on viewscreen	Viewscreen, continued
Viewscreen, continued	Riker and Shelby in front of the viewscreen
Riker and Shelby, continued	Enterprise passing by a piece of debris
Enterprise in the debris field	Enterprise in the debris field, continued
Scene with Constitution hull	Scene with Constitution hull, continued
-Commercial break-
Scene without Constitution hull	Scene without Constitution hull, continued
(all DVD caps by Nick Angeloni)

Status of Identification

Bugging Michael Okuda and Ed Miarecki with our questions and analyzing screen caps, we have been able to find ships in the wreckage that correspond with the above descriptions and the available footage. Click the links to obtain more information about the single ships.

Class/ship name	Designed by	Identified in BoBW	Location	Remarks	Best schematic
Challenger USS Buran	Ed Miarecki	Yes		The Buran is located below the Enterprise-D when the ship enters the debris field.
Cheyenne USS Ahwahnee	Ed Miarecki	Yes		With the better screen caps from the DVD it is now clear that the four-nacelled ship in the upper right corner of the Enterprise viewscreen is indeed the Cheyenne class.
Constitution "USS Enterprise"	Andrew Probert	Yes		A very detailed Constitution engineering hull appears just before the commercial break, only to vanish just after the break (see the chronological sequence of screen caps further above). It is most likely the same heavily damaged Enterprise studio model as in "Star Trek III". The saucer of the ship is hardly recognizable, but appears before the break on the viewscreen.
Excelsior study model I "USS Alka-selsior"	Nilo Rodis & Bill George	Only in "Unification"		This is the flattest of the Excelsior study models. We thought that the ship could be seen in the upper half of the Enterprise-D screen, but lately identified this one as the Chekov. It is almost certain, however, that the flat Excelsior appears in "Unification" as #13.
Excelsior study model II Unknown	Nilo Rodis & Bill George	Not yet		The second study model from The Art of Star Trek already resembles the final Excelsior. We previously presumed that the ship we now classify as Challenger could be the study model II.
Excelsior study model III Unknown	Nilo Rodis & Bill George	Not yet		The second study model from The Art of Star Trek is very close to the final Excelsior. It has not been identified to date.
Four-nacelled Excelsior study model I Unknown	Nilo Rodis & Bill George	Only in "Unification"		This ship is visible in "Unification" as #3, but was not identified in BoBW so far.
Four-nacelled Excelsior study model II Unknown	Nilo Rodis & Bill George	Only in "Unification"		This ship is visible in "Unification" as #10, but was not identified in BoBW so far.
Freedom USS Firebrand	Greg Jein	Yes		This single-nacelled ship, built already with battle damage by Greg Jein, can be seen at the left edge when the Enterprise-D is shown entering the debris field.
Proto-Nebula USS Melbourne	Ed Miarecki	Yes		Two "Proto-Nebula" study models were built by Ed Miarecki before the final Nebula was created. The one with the small nacelles at the very rear end was heavily damaged and can be seen as the burning ship in the top center when the Enterprise flies through the debris field.
New Orleans USS Kyushu	Ed Miarecki	Yes		This ship is clearly identifiable in the center of the Enterprise's viewscreen and again in the center when the Enterprise flies through the debris.
Niagara USS Princeton	Greg Jein	Yes		This three-nacelled ship can be seen at the right edge when the Enterprise-D is shown entering the debris field.
Phase II study model I None	Ralph McQuarrie	Only in "Unification"		The Art of Star Trek states that two wedge-shaped prototypes originally built for Star Trek Phase II back in 1977 were among the ship wrecks at Wolf 359. Variant I can be identified as one of a few additional ships (besides an additional planet) in a modified scene in TNG: "Unification" as #4. We believe that the very same take was originally made for BoBW and then inserted into the foreground. Variant I could not be identified in BoBW or "Unification", but was recently found in the Spacedock scene in "Star Trek III".
Phase II study model II None	Ralph McQuarrie	Only in "Star Trek III"
Rigel USS Tolstoy	-	Non-existent		This ship is most likely not on screen.
Springfield USS Chekov	Ed Miarecki	Yes		We are quite sure that the Chekov is the ship in the top center of the viewscreen.

Conclusion

The ships identified so far are labeled on the following screen caps.

Viewscreen (continued)	Scene with Constitution hull
Enterprise in the debris field	Scene without Constitution hull
(DVD caps by Nick Angeloni, labels by Bernd Schneider)

It would have been the wrong approach to take the number of 39 ships and try to find them all in the wreckage. Probably no more than the eight BoBW ships in the list at the top of this page did actually have a proper class, name and registry. There were quite a few "Enterprises" and "Excelsiors" and even an "Alka-selsior" among the wrecks if we could have a (too) close look. Most of the starships, especially those in the far background, might remain and maybe better remain a mystery. Some of the other vessels could recently be identified on screen, and with a bit more research this should be possible for the remaining ships likewise. We will further pursue this goal and keep this page updated. It would be up to those who were involved in the production of the episode, Mike Okuda and Ed Miarecki for instance, to clarify the issue. After all, some better pictures from Okuda's slide show must be somewhere out there.

3-view comparison chart (created by Ben Potter)

Side view comparison chart (created by Harry Doddema)

Credits

We would like to express our gratitude to Mike Okuda and Ed Miarecki who provided several pieces of first-hand information. Thanks to Frank Gerratana and Pedro's Shiporama for some of the screen caps, Gary Perry for many pics, Steve Pugh for the descriptions of the "slide show ships", David, djdood, Harry, J, Jason, Jonah, Joshua, Lance, Markus, Patrick, Paul, Regent, Ryan and several people at the Flare Sci-fi Forums for pics and valuable hints.

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	Last modified: 09.07.07
http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/articles/wolf359.htm