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Editorial
21 Jan 2023

25th Anniversary of EAS

The world of Star Trek was a very different one in the mid-1990's, a full generation of fans ago. I will always remember this as the one and only Golden Age, although after the end of TNG "only" two series, DS9 and Voyager, were on the air at the same time. I had to wait for the episodes at least half a year until they were released on VHS, but it didn't feel like I was left behind. It was a great time to be a Trek fan, especially if you were a nerd. The emerging internet was populated by tech-savvy people like me, who were sitting in front of bulky CRT monitors and were more or less patiently waiting for their downloads to complete. I personally had the advantage of a much faster connection at my university, but generally video streaming and most of the bandwidth-consuming pastimes of today were still a dream in the age of the 28.8 kBit/s modem. Every byte of data we could obtain was somehow precious. Smartphones or social networks would not exist until a decade later. Yet, information on Star Trek was relatively easy to come by if Altavista was your friend. While the studio and the network still mostly relied on traditional communication channels, plenty of fan websites provided pictures, episode reviews, production news and links to other sites. Star Trek in Sound and Vision, Sector 0-0-1, The STArchive, Maximum Defiant, Star Trek: The Next Generation and Mr. Video Productions were among my early favorites.

Following the previews and the speculation on the upcoming feature film "Star Trek: First Contact" and particularly the evolution of the Enterprise-E design in 1996 was my probably most impactful early internet experience. My real-life friends and I used to look up the news almost every day. This arguably fueled our anticipation of a new movie like never before and never again. Then "First Contact" was released, and we loved it! And that was just the start of the madness. It may be hard to believe in the digital age, but after purchasing the VHS cassette, my friend Thorsten and I knelt in front of TV, freeze-framed the movie and tried to sketch up the new ships with pencil and paper. After discussing the ship classes from "First Contact" and other technical issues with other fans in newsgroups and forums, some time in 1997 I felt like sharing my Trek knowledge and creating my own site. Incidentally, I had just started a job as a research assistant in the field of microelectronics. I argued that our university institute shouldn't be the last one without a website, and so my professor assigned the task to me. I began to learn a bit of HTML, or rather how to use the WYSIWYG editor Microsoft Frontpage, so I could kill two birds with one stone.

On 21 January 1998, I uploaded an effectively nameless site "Star Trek - by Bernd Schneider" to the university server - actually to an obscure sub-directory of the new institute website so it wouldn't raise too much unwanted attention. This initial version of the site consisted of pictures of six starships designed by me, a review of the Enterprise-E model (which I had bought in the NASM shop on a trip to an electronic devices conference in Washington D.C.), an outline of my later time travel analysis, a short list of inconsistencies (not even including the Klingon foreheads) and a few jokes. There were 43 files with a total size of 314 kilobytes.

Read the rest of the story: 25th Anniversary of EAS.

Bernd Schneider

Archive

EAS Timeline @ Twitter
  • 24 Mar 2023
    Here is my review of PIC: "The Bounty". This is the most eventful episode of the season so far. It comes with wonderfully sentimental moments but also with problematic story developments.
  • 17 Mar 2023
    If any proof was still missing, the excitement is back and persists in Star Trek. Read my review of PIC: "Imposters", which includes a few critical notes, though.
  • 15 Mar 2023
    Now in the Starship Database: Prodigy Alien Ship Classes. The Federation and Starfleet vessels from the series are in work, but it will still take a while.
  • 09 Mar 2023
    PIC: "No Win Scenario" has only minor flaws. It may be the best episode of the series so far, and perhaps the best live-action Star Trek in the past 18 years.
  • 05 Mar 2023
    The page on Re-Used Beam Weapons has been completely reworked: more and better screen caps, chronological order, some fixed errors. Also, find facts from "Seventeen Seconds" in articles, such as Classical Music in Star Trek or Re-Uses of Freezer Spacers.
  • 02 Mar 2023
    I am overall pleased with PIC: "Seventeen Seconds". It is suspenseful and meaningful. Unlike in last week's episode, the story really moves on. It features more versatile character scenes besides lots of action, although it still suffers from some problems that seem to be inherent to the season.
  • 23 Feb 2023
    My review of PIC: "Disengage". This episode is a mixed bag. The TOS movie cues are gone, the darkness remains. It is clear that Captain Shaw is meant to grow as a character, whereas the currently nicest thing I can say about Jack Crusher is that he is, well, someone's son. There is quite some action but also a couple of scenes that don't seem to move forward at all.
  • 19 Feb 2023
    References from PIC: "The Next Generation" can be found in several articles now, such as The Evolution of the Starfleet Medical Emblem. There are also well over a hundred improved screen caps (HD where available) in galleries, such as Alpha and Beta Quadrant Emblems A-K. This is an ongoing process.
  • 17 Feb 2023
    Here is my review of PIC: "The Next Generation". The first episode of the hyped third season presents a well constructed and enjoyable story with old and new heroes that we care for and can relate to. It would have been still better without several inappropriate character, design and style choices.
  • 05 Feb 2023
    No big news today, but several smaller updates. There are still more Observations in TNG: "The Most Toys" (which is now the longest article in the series). There are several new links. Also, I have redesigned the tags for Disocvery, Abrams movies, animated Trek and remastered Trek. They don't look like buttons any longer, and the apparently offensive word "REBOOT" is gone.
Latest Comments on EAS Articles (Overview)
  • 27 Mar 2023

    Excuse my French, but I still do think the Titan-A is plug-ugly. While watching PIC I find myself thinking of "Galaxy Quest". :D The better registration number for the Titan-A would have started with "NTE" (Not The Enterprise). :D

    One sentence in the "Guess the museum starship" game scene makes no sense for me.
    Jack says "this one is my personal favourite. (…) All those perfectly clean retro lines", when Kirk's refit Enterprise-A is on screen. But one ship before Seven showed him with the New Jersey a pre-refit Constitution class ship. Doesn't he know that the New Jersey is a Constitution class as well? Instead, he is calling himself a "Constitution-class man". Yikes.

    And why did they steal the cloaking device from that BoP and not the maybe latest version from the Defiant?

  • 27 Mar 2023

    If both are indeed in he same system, well, it’s “plot distance”. Note this would raise quite a few issues. Other ships and sensor arrays would not have any problems finding the Titan pretty quickly. Not to mention that as you wrote, security at such facilities are supposed to be multi-layered. I am pretty sure writers could have found ways to keep the action and avoid inconsistencies.

    As for the momentum, even if one assumes inertial dampers and similar stuff, nothing is actually at a full stop. An observer within a starbase may see a ship coming out of warp and immediately holding position, but the truth is the ship came out of warp moving at the starbase’s orbital velocity. So, if a ship warps out immobile, it’s actually moving at the same speed of the camera’s point of view.

  • 27 Mar 2023

    "The history of weird inter dimensional shit they've both encountered (the Nexus in particular) would be much more interesting for study, just in case."

    This was my exact thinking with Kirk as well. And with Picard- well, it's always possible that not all Borg tech was able to be removed form his body, as with Seven and Icheb...

  • 27 Mar 2023

    I keep wondering that, too. Honestly, establishing DSC/SNW as an alt timeline can really only help at this point, I think it might make SNW more acceptable to some of the holdouts. (And I can stop gritting my teeth when they do ridiculous things with the transporters and/or Nurse Chapel's character. ;-) )

    I was most gratified to see the original, not the redesign.

  • 27 Mar 2023

    Come to think, in Star Wars ships just "pop" out of hyperspace when you see them from outside, but from their own screens/windows it looks like they're slowing down. Maybe you slow only until to reach normal space, and then...pop, stop.

    Ships do appear to fly into hyperspace, but that's probably just because their impulse engines are already working. [Edit: I just watched a Star Wars scene. I think it's more that as you get really close to light speed you distort, and looks like moving forward.)

  • 27 Mar 2023

    "where it becomes inevitable because Boimler and Mariner can't help themselves"

    Love it! They're like the Comic Book Guys of Star Trek.

  • 26 Mar 2023

    I can see them requiring to talk to Odo/the Great Link, which would require the Wormhole, so here's hoping for a cameo from the station at least.

  • 26 Mar 2023
    Daystrom Station is a high-security facility; logic would dictate a discreet location, a system with few visitors. Think of Area 51’s location. As far as I know, nothing indicates both installations are in the same system. So, plot speed is the remaining option for me.

    But when they are talking about being 90 seconds away, it has to be the same system pretty much.

    Area 51's location is secured by virtue of the patrolled boundary. It's not that remote, we all know where it is, getting in and out unauthorised is the issue. So I would put high confidence that Daystrom is within the same system, just not around the same planet necessarily.

    Star Trek verses have weird physics, yes, but I suppose like in ours, velocity (except light’s) is relative. When a ship drops out of warp with idle impulse power, her speed should be the very same before entering warp. Impulse engines not working means the ship’s velocity is constant, just like a real spacecraft- you fire the engines to accelerate, deccelerate or change course. So, ships coming out of warp will appear stationary only to observers traveling at the same speed.

    There's nothing stopping a ship at warp coming to a "full stop" whilst at warp as well (i.e. dropping any forward momentum).

  • 26 Mar 2023

    Memory Alpha’s location is not exactly clear from canon or non-canon sources. I’d say Starfleet Museum and Memory Alpha are probably composed by complexes scattered across Federation Space for a number or reasons ranging from safety to politics. Daystrom Station is a high-security facility; logic would dictate a discreet location, a system with few visitors. Think of Area 51’s location. As far as I know, nothing indicates both installations are in the same system. So, plot speed is the remaining option for me.

    Star Trek verses have weird physics, yes, but I suppose like in ours, velocity (except light’s) is relative. When a ship drops out of warp with idle impulse power, her speed should be the very same before entering warp. Impulse engines not working means the ship’s velocity is constant, just like a real spacecraft- you fire the engines to accelerate, deccelerate or change course. So, ships coming out of warp will appear stationary only to observers traveling at the same speed.

    Yup, one can think of a number of purposes for a bunch of cells from main characters. But still, a bunch of tissue is all you need. So, assuming these quantum signatures are worthy of investigation, tissue samples from Archer, Janeway, Spock, Bones and lots of other folks must be stored somewhere. Same is valid for hardware pieces.

  • 26 Mar 2023

    I think in episodes 7-10 we also pay a short visit to DS9 ... maybe we'll see Nana Visitor as Colonel Kira or Armin Shimerman as Quark again.

EAS Timeline @ Facebook
  • 24 Mar 2023
    Review of PIC: "The Bounty": Here is my review of PIC: "The Bounty". This is the most eventful episode of the season so far. It comes with wonderfully sentimental moments but also with problematic story developments. Star Trek Picard season 3 episode guide and reviews
  • 17 Mar 2023
    Review of PIC: "Imposters": If any proof was still missing, the excitement is back and persists in Star Trek. Read my review of PIC: "Imposters", which includes a few critical notes, though. Star Trek Picard season 3 episode guide and reviews
  • 15 Mar 2023
    Prodigy Alien Ship Classes: Now in the Starship Database: Prodigy Alien Ship Classes. The Federation and Starfleet vessels from the series are in work, but it will still take a while. Listing of all alien starships in Star Trek: Prodigy
  • 09 Mar 2023
    Review of PIC: "No Win Scenario": PIC: "No Win Scenario" has only minor flaws. It may be the best episode of the series so far, and perhaps the best live-action Star Trek in the past 18 years. Star Trek Picard season 3 episode guide and reviews
  • 05 Mar 2023
    https://www.thegamer.com/star-trek-discovery-cancelled-season-5-reactions-fans/ Discovery has been canceled. My personal reaction is not "Thank god it's over" but rather "What's next?". I can sympathize with those who will miss the series. I understand the critics who sigh in relief, as long as they don't post spiteful comments. But even as the series has been canceled, the framing continues. There are good fans and bad fans. The linked article is a prime example. It categorizes three types of social media reactions: 1) Those who are sad to see the series go. 2) Those who are disappointed with Discovery's writing *after* season 2. 3) The racist and sexist bigots, who decry Discovery for its wokeness. They even say that "the conversation has been taken over by bigots in some areas of the fandom". I have personally conversed with, or read opinions of, several hundreds of fans who were and are opposed to Discovery, many of whom hold stronger views than I myself. They all have their reasons, but from what I can tell with confidence, sexist and racist motives are rare. Someone has to show me the "areas of the fandom" dominated by bigotry. Anyway, they don't acknowledge that there are 4) Those (many) who don't mind the wokeness and who were rather put off by Discovery's total unwillingness to be Star Trek in more than the name only, and especially in its first two seasons. According to the article, apparently everyone who has more general issues with Discovery is 3) a bigot and perhaps in some way complicit in the cancellation of the show. As I mentioned, this should not be the time to be spiteful. On neither side of the spectrum. Star Trek Discovery is being cancelled after its fifth season, and the reaction from fans shows that its place in the franchise is uncertain.
  • 05 Mar 2023
    Reworked Article: Re-Used Beam Weapons: The page on Re-Used Beam Weapons has been completely reworked: more and better screen caps, chronological order, some fixed errors. Also, find facts from "Seventeen Seconds" in articles, such as Classical Music in Star Trek or Re-Uses of Freezer Spacers. Phasers, disruptors and other blasters that reappear all over the galaxy
  • 02 Mar 2023
    Review of PIC: "Seventeen Seconds": I am overall pleased with PIC: "Seventeen Seconds". It is suspenseful and meaningful. Unlike in last week's episode, the story really moves on. It features more versatile character scenes besides lots of action, although it still suffers from some problems that seem to be inherent to the season. Star Trek Picard season 3 episode guide and reviews
  • 23 Feb 2023
    Review of PIC: "Disengaged": My review of PIC: "Disengaged". This episode is a mixed bag. The TOS movie cues are gone, the darkness remains. It is clear that Captain Shaw is meant to grow as a character, whereas the currently nicest thing I can say about Jack Crusher is that he is, well, someone's son. There is quite some action but also a couple of scenes that don't seem to move forward at all. Star Trek Picard season 3 episode guide and reviews
  • 19 Feb 2023
    PIC-Related Updates and Many New Screen Caps: References from PIC: "The Next Generation" can be found in several articles now, such as The Evolution of the Starfleet Medical Emblem. There are also well over a hundred improved screen caps (HD where available) in galleries, such as Alpha and Beta Quadrant Emblems A-K. This is an ongoing process. All variations of the widespread Starfleet Medical emblem
  • 17 Feb 2023
    Review of PIC: "The Next Generation": Here is my review of PIC: "The Next Generation". The first episode of the hyped third season presents a well constructed and enjoyable story with old and new heroes that we care for and can relate to. It would have been still better without several inappropriate character, design and style choices. Star Trek Picard season 2 episode guide and reviews
  • 05 Feb 2023
    Several Small Updates: No big news today, but several smaller updates. There are still more Observations in TNG: "The Most Toys" (which is now the longest article in the series). There are several new links. Also, I have redesigned the tags for Disocvery, Abrams movies, animated Trek and remastered Trek. They don't look like buttons any longer, and the apparently offensive word "REBOOT" is gone. Observations about sets, props and visual effects in TNG: "The Most Toys"
  • 05 Feb 2023
    https://www.trekzone.de/2023/02/04/meinung-warum-the-wrath-of-khan-seit-40-jahren-wie-ein-fluch-auf-star-trek-lastet/ This German article says that Khan's legacy lies like a curse on Star Trek. And I totally agree with the author. "Star Trek II" was a huge success. But in an attempt to repeat it, Khan was resurrected ridiculously often in the past 20 years (Shinzon, Nero, Khan 2.0, Krall, and now Vadic). Most of these villains and/or their motives were underwhelming. But even if the revival attempts had all been successful, simple revenge stories is not what Star Trek used to be about or should be reduced to. It is a creative dead end. It underestimates and almost insults the intelligence of the audience. The revenge aspect may be the spice of a story, but should not be the main driving force as in the aforementioned examples. 1982 ist das Jahr, in dem Nicholas Meyer mit dem zweiten
  • 28 Jan 2023
    New Article: Dealing with Discovery Klingons: After DIS season 2, Klingons have been strangely absent from live-action Star Trek. Fans are wondering what they will look like once they reappear. We know that Worf will still be Worf. Regarding other Klingons, a new article discusses four options. Options for the official production to handle Klingons in future episodes and series
  • 22 Jan 2023
    More Observations in TNG: "The Most Toys": Dozens of new entries in the article with Observations in TNG: "The Most Toys". Keep watching Jörg's Twitter account, where he is currently posting the rest. Observations about sets, props and visual effects in TNG: "The Most Toys"
  • 21 Jan 2023
    25th Anniversary of EAS: On this day 25 years ago, I first uploaded a website to the university server that consisted of 43 files with a total size of 314 kilobytes. The foundation was laid to the massive site that EAS is today. Read the whole story and my message to the visitors. Editorial on the occasion of the 25th birthday of EAS
  • 21 Jan 2023
    25 years ago today, on 21 January 1998, I first uploaded my website. I would never have expected it to last so long, and to grow so steadily. Thank you very much to all visitors for providing valuable input and encouragement! EAS as it looked back in the day, half a life ago:
  • 20 Jan 2023
    New Story in the SID Rebirth Series: Crusade: The heavily illustrated sixth story in Travis Anderson's SID Rebirth series is titled Crusade. SID Rebirth: Crusade - a story by Travis Anderson
  • 14 Jan 2023
    More Observations in TNG: "Hollow Pursuits": Several new observations in the article with Observations in TNG: "Hollow Pursuits". Check out Jörg's Twitter account, where he is posting new stuff every day. Observations about sets, props and visual effects in TNG: "Hollow Pursuits"
EAS Favourites @ Deviantart
  • 18 Nov 2020
    The whole interior of the WaveRider MkII, a refit of the atmospheric shuttlecraft assigned to and docked on the ventral primary hull of the Nova class refit starship. This one belongs to the U.S.S. Nova. Along with the refit of the Nova class, this little ship also received a complete redesign incorporating many of the newest designs and technologies of other small Starfleet ships and shuttlecraft. It can easily and comfortably accommodate up to eight people on relatively long missions and can carry even more people on shorter trips. It is equipped with a transporter, sleeping quarters, cargo hold, lounge, conference table, scientific equipment and even emergency medical facilities.

    For more info on the shuttle, see the WaveRider Technical Manual here.

    Other WaveRider images: Exterior Bullet; White Cockpit Bullet; White Lounge Bullet; White Quarters Bullet; White Cargo Hold
    Other U.S.S. Nova interiors: Briefing Room Bullet; White Corridor Bullet; White Turbolift Bullet; White Cargo Bay 1 Bullet; White Cargo Bay 2

    This project has been long in the making. It was a collaboration with Ray9012, who's been a huge help with the design of the ship, and we've been working on it on-and-off for the past seven months. Fitting such a large interior space into a single model was quite the challenge. Plus, it was the first interior I attempted after starting to learn Blender, which presented it's own hurdles! But I learned a lot from it and I'm very happy with how it turned out.
    My thanks also goes to Geoffryn for his input and financial contribution to the project.

    EDIT (26/08/2021): I overlay the interior cutaway on an image of the exterior to put it into better perspective with the exterior of the shuttle.

    Modelled and rendered with Blender. Computer display textures made with Inkscape.
    Based on and inspired by original designs from:
    -Star Trek (ViacomCBS)
    -Star Trek Online (Cryptic) (LCARS colour scheme)
    -QS Supplies (bathroom components design elements)
    -Po Wang (cockpit seat design elements)
    -Tesla Model X (cockpit seat design elements)

    Some of the assets used are available for purchase on CGTrader:
    Stools in cargo bay
    Conference table

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  • 23 Jun 2019
    "The folks over at the Tyfersia Yards looked at the Nova Class and said: 'We can improve a few things'."

    Christened the "Super-Nova" by its engineers, the Elysion Class is an enlarged iteration of the Nova frame. No longer restricted by its scientific profile, the type places emphasis on its multimission capability. Increased range, marked improvements in amenities and a high capacity engine rated at Warp 9.98 are notable features. Currently, all LRIP Elysions are exclusively built at the Tyfersia Fleet Yards, making it a rare vessel in mainline fleets. Starfleet Command sees the Elysion as a specialist light cruiser and advises a further year of trials before the design goes into fleet-wide production.

    Models by Rengers, JLS and Captain Fingers

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  • 10 Oct 2022
    This is the bridge of the USS Lalo NCC-43837, an unassuming Mediterranean-Class freighter which is unfortunately remembered for being the first starship to be lost to the Borg incursion of 2366.

    For several additional renders, please visit my portfolio.

    The Mediterranean-Class ships are small freighters often tasked with urgent cargo deliveries inside Federation space. They have a small crew complement of only 30, most of which are non-commissioned officers or Ensigns on their first deep space posting. The commanding officer is usually a Lieutenant Commander, as the uneventful and routine assignments provide a good first test of command in relatively safe conditions.

    The bridge of the Lalo was minimal in its layout and comforts. Only the helm was expected to be crewed at all times, with the commanding officer often away overseeing cargo operations or schedules. Usually the only times where all four stations were crewed was when the ship is at port, while the delicate procedure of loading or unloading cargo is taking place, which necesitases the higher level of readiness for a ship of this function.

    For the exterior shape of the Mediterranean seen in the LCARS displays, I'm using a fan-created design by Bernd Schneider, which has since used to represent the class on official Star Trek comics and ebooks. You can see this design in detail here www.trekships.org/mediterranea…


    Software used:
    3D Modeling and rendering: Blender 3.3
    LCARS panels and textures: Inkscape 1.2
    OS: Ubuntu 22.04
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  • 23 Nov 2020
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