[Admiral Archer]

As a nitpicky Star Trek fan growing up, I've noticed a couple of things that bugged me about the refit Enterprise, and her various incarnations. I heard somewhere that for each film the ship was repainted to depict that film's respective director's ideas of what the Enterprise should look like. Here's a list of the films and what the Enterprise was like in each film:

TMP 1701

My personal favorite, the TMP Enterprise had several exterior features unique only to it. For instance, at impulse speeds, the ship's deflector dish turned a warm beige, while at warp the deflector changed to blue. Also, the rough equivelent of the bussard ramscoop (the front of the nacelle, not called a ramscoop, I forget what it was exactly) was a sort of reddish-bronze, while the warp field grid was a dark cobalt blue until warp speeds. Also the hull was a bright pearly white.

TWOK 1701

Except for the reused scenes from TMP, the deflector dish remained blue at all times. The reddish-bronze and cobalt-blue of the nacelles were replace with a dark gray verging on black, while the hull appeared more silver metallic than pearly white.

TSFS 1701

Possibly due to the attempt to keep the ship looking as though it had just come from a huge battle, the metallic silver was dulled to an opaque shade of gray. The copper/cobalt nacelles and the beige deflector where gone, replaced by the blackish-gray.

TVH 1701-A

A new ship, and the attempt to make it look new seemed to succeed rather well. Although the beige deflector and copper/cobalt nacelles were still absent, apparently gone forever, the hull returned to a glossy silver, and even the black nacelles looked comparatively fresh.

TFF 1701-A

The Enterprise-A in this film can easily be confused with the one from TMP, at least in my book. Again, the blue deflector, but the nacelles seem to gain a bit more color, if only a lighter shade of gray. The hull is a sort of creamy pearl, a strange color for this particular ship, but an interesting change.

TUC 1701-A

Nicholas Meyer marks his return by having the Enterprise gain a "weathered" appearance; Black nacelles, blue deflector, and the dull gray from TSFS. While understandable to attempt to make the ship look old, it is still my least favorite version, partly because part of me was hoping that the beige deflector and copper/cobalt nacelles would make a come-back.

It's interesting to note, when going through design sketches and concept art, that the area of the nacelles which was reddish-bronze was originally intended to glow a bright ruby red, but strangely only the cobalt blue part got to light up at all. In a way, I suppose I've come to realize that I probably rather prefer the PHASE II design to the final refit as it appeared later on. As it is, the ship from TMP is still my favorite starship in the whole Star Trek universe.

[NCC-73515]

I never understood why only the medial parts of the nacelles glow, not the lateral parts.

[VADBAXTER]

Originally Posted by Admiral Archer

As a nitpicky Star Trek fan growing up, I've noticed a couple of things that bugged me about the refit Enterprise, and her various incarnations. I heard somewhere that for each film the ship was repainted to depict that film's respective director's ideas of what the Enterprise should look like. Here's a list of the films and what the Enterprise was like in each film:

TMP 1701

My personal favorite, the TMP Enterprise had several exterior features unique only to it. For instance, at impulse speeds, the ship's deflector dish turned a warm beige, while at warp the deflector changed to blue. Also, the rough equivelent of the bussard ramscoop (the front of the nacelle, not called a ramscoop, I forget what it was exactly) was a sort of reddish-bronze, while the warp field grid was a dark cobalt blue until warp speeds. Also the hull was a bright pearly white.

TWOK 1701

Except for the reused scenes from TMP, the deflector dish remained blue at all times. The reddish-bronze and cobalt-blue of the nacelles were replace with a dark gray verging on black, while the hull appeared more silver metallic than pearly white.

TSFS 1701

Possibly due to the attempt to keep the ship looking as though it had just come from a huge battle, the metallic silver was dulled to an opaque shade of gray. The copper/cobalt nacelles and the beige deflector where gone, replaced by the blackish-gray.

TVH 1701-A

A new ship, and the attempt to make it look new seemed to succeed rather well. Although the beige deflector and copper/cobalt nacelles were still absent, apparently gone forever, the hull returned to a glossy silver, and even the black nacelles looked comparatively fresh.

TFF 1701-A

The Enterprise-A in this film can easily be confused with the one from TMP, at least in my book. Again, the blue deflector, but the nacelles seem to gain a bit more color, if only a lighter shade of gray. The hull is a sort of creamy pearl, a strange color for this particular ship, but an interesting change.

TUC 1701-A

Nicholas Meyer marks his return by having the Enterprise gain a "weathered" appearance; Black nacelles, blue deflector, and the dull gray from TSFS. While understandable to attempt to make the ship look old, it is still my least favorite version, partly because part of me was hoping that the beige deflector and copper/cobalt nacelles would make a come-back.

It's interesting to note, when going through design sketches and concept art, that the area of the nacelles which was reddish-bronze was originally intended to glow a bright ruby red, but strangely only the cobalt blue part got to light up at all. In a way, I suppose I've come to realize that I probably rather prefer the PHASE II design to the final refit as it appeared later on. As it is, the ship from TMP is still my favorite starship in the whole Star Trek universe.

Good observations, Although according to serveral refference sites/books the only thing that actually changed was the hull & nacelles were the only things that actually changed between each movie, everything else was done with lighting.

[Falstaff]

The back of the 'neck' was white on the refit, but was painted pale blue on the A. The paint scheme was also 'supposedly' changed after TMP. The original pearlescent paint scheme would not have worked with the blue screen effects ILM were going to use in WOK, so it was re-painted a dull grey. The TMP version is still my favorite ship design of all time.

[Berengarius7]

Those are really cool details that i never even noticed before. Now i have to go back and watch all the films to see what your talking about. Filmmakers who make sequels really need to pay attention to the details. Perhaps in future re-mastered blue-ray versions of those post TMP films, those details can be added to make the ships appear more uniform. What could it hurt?

[Legion]

Originally Posted by Admiral Archer

As a nitpicky Star Trek fan growing up, I've noticed a couple of things that bugged me about the refit Enterprise, and her various incarnations. I heard somewhere that for each film the ship was repainted to depict that film's respective director's ideas of what the Enterprise should look like. Here's a list of the films and what the Enterprise was like in each film:

TMP 1701

My personal favorite, the TMP Enterprise had several exterior features unique only to it. For instance, at impulse speeds, the ship's deflector dish turned a warm beige, while at warp the deflector changed to blue. Also, the rough equivelent of the bussard ramscoop (the front of the nacelle, not called a ramscoop, I forget what it was exactly) was a sort of reddish-bronze, while the warp field grid was a dark cobalt blue until warp speeds. Also the hull was a bright pearly white.

TWOK 1701

Except for the reused scenes from TMP, the deflector dish remained blue at all times. The reddish-bronze and cobalt-blue of the nacelles were replace with a dark gray verging on black, while the hull appeared more silver metallic than pearly white.

TSFS 1701

Possibly due to the attempt to keep the ship looking as though it had just come from a huge battle, the metallic silver was dulled to an opaque shade of gray. The copper/cobalt nacelles and the beige deflector where gone, replaced by the blackish-gray.

TVH 1701-A

A new ship, and the attempt to make it look new seemed to succeed rather well. Although the beige deflector and copper/cobalt nacelles were still absent, apparently gone forever, the hull returned to a glossy silver, and even the black nacelles looked comparatively fresh.

TFF 1701-A

The Enterprise-A in this film can easily be confused with the one from TMP, at least in my book. Again, the blue deflector, but the nacelles seem to gain a bit more color, if only a lighter shade of gray. The hull is a sort of creamy pearl, a strange color for this particular ship, but an interesting change.

TUC 1701-A

Nicholas Meyer marks his return by having the Enterprise gain a "weathered" appearance; Black nacelles, blue deflector, and the dull gray from TSFS. While understandable to attempt to make the ship look old, it is still my least favorite version, partly because part of me was hoping that the beige deflector and copper/cobalt nacelles would make a come-back.

It's interesting to note, when going through design sketches and concept art, that the area of the nacelles which was reddish-bronze was originally intended to glow a bright ruby red, but strangely only the cobalt blue part got to light up at all. In a way, I suppose I've come to realize that I probably rather prefer the PHASE II design to the final refit as it appeared later on. As it is, the ship from TMP is still my favorite starship in the whole Star Trek universe.

Well the ship had to be re-painted, it got beat up during each movie, also after TMP, the model was stolen and vandalized, so prohaps, the paint they originaly used was discontinued, look at the Gold Mesh they originally used for Klingon Uniforms, they ran out of the material and it was discontinued, so it was replaced with a Silver Mesh.

But I do see your point, I personally liked the TWOK Enterprise, because I like my ships to blend in with space, I always wondered how why Federation ships weren't attacked all the time, they stoud out like a broken thumb.

[Botany Bay]

Originally Posted by Legion

But I do see your point, I personally liked the TWOK Enterprise, because I like my ships to blend in with space, I always wondered how why Federation ships weren't attacked all the time, they stoud out like a broken thumb.

Sorry, Legion, but thats really funny. Spaceships who need camouflage collour? They have sensors that can pick up lifesigns on distant planets. Sensors that can analyze the molecular structure of materials lightyears away. Sensors that can locate the position of each and every quark and quantum in the human body to beam one over the distance of hundreds of miles, without the beam to loose any focus.

To lock onto a ship several decks in size should be the slightest problem, no matter what colour the ship has. They could have painted the Enterprise pink and it wouldnt have made a difference.

[SJM]

Umm, the Refit Enterprise was never painted a 'dull grey'. It remained white for all the movies. Its just different lighting.

[Admiral Archer]

I took this picture of the Diamond Select TWOK Enterprise-refit model and altered some of the details to give a more accurate depiction of how I always thought the refitted Enterprise should look. The picture is attached below.

[thypentacle]

TMP was always the best looking IMO... because of lighting or paint or whatever the reason.. it just looks better... and the deflector color change idea was cool.