It’s been nine months since the Star Trek universe first saw the newly-redesigned Constitution-class USS Enterprise in February’s Discovery season finale, and now the first physical models of the renovated starship are heading to collectors — and ours beamed down for review this week!
Captain Pike’s Enterprise is now landing in the hands of Official Starships Collection subscribers this month, the first Star Trek: Discovery ship to be included in the larger-sized XL Starships fleet.
While a smaller-sized version of this John Eaves-designed starship will be issued as part of the standalone Discovery model collection at some point in the future, this 10-inch model measures right up with the size of the other XL ship releases that have debuted over the last two years, scaled almost identically to the 1960s-era Enterprise model we examined back in late 2017.
While John Eaves’ original take on the new Constitution-class featured straight nacelle struts — as seen in some on-set graphics in Discovery Season 2 and his recent book The Art of John Eaves — the XL-sized model aligns with the final version of the ship, with swept-back struts reminiscent of the Enterprise- refit design seen in the six Original Series films.
Like the Doug Drexler-designed NX-class from Star Trek: Enterprise, the front nacelle caps — which are the same orange-colored plastic as Eaglemoss’s classic NCC-1701 model — feature a series of bracing clamps around the domes, a nice touch to suggest the 22nd-to-23rd Century Starfleet design lineage in the updated Enterprise.
In a recent interview with the Transporter Room 3 podcast, Eaves shared how his original concept artwork was submitted remotely to the Discovery production team (as he works from his home), and during the transition from sketch to a fully-realized CG model, the changes to the nacelle design were implemented.
Unlike the Eaves-designed Walker-class and Crossfield-class starships, each which featured square warp nacelles — a design mandate from now-departed series creator Bryan Fuller — the Enterprise retains its round, tubular nacelles from the classic Jefferies design, with some minor tweaks, such as visible blue warp plasma vents on the inner faces like the NX-Refit design, and rotated rear fins near the back of each nacelle.
While not textured, the rear of each nacelle features dotted markings which call back to the grilled vents at the back of the early-Original Series look of the Enterprise.
In terms of the model’s construction, it’s a very solid build from Eaglemoss, with the top of the Enterprise saucer, the neck and nacelle struts, and top half of the engineering hull all made from the company’s standard die-cast metal, and the nacelles and underside sections from injection-molded plastic.
Hull markings and registry numbers are the same typeface as seen on the USS Discovery model, though on the top of the saucer one of the scored gridlines does interrupt some of the black application in the last “1” on the ship’s registry…. and yes, there are still issues with window alignment around the model, a staple of the Eaglemoss/Hero Collector line even after all these years. (We’ve certainly covered that enough in previous reviews.)
Once nice touch is that the deflector dish is painted a nice metallic gold, rather than the bright orange on the TOS-era Enterprise model; the solid applications of red coloring around the nacelle pennants and impulse engines, and the blue warp plasma sections, both stand out as well.
(On the other hand, the segment of green on the bridge dome is a bit unexpected — we’ll have to see if that shows up on the “real” ship when Discovery returns this month.)
Even though we’ve only seen about 30 seconds of this ship on screen to date, this Discovery-era Enterprise translates to a pretty solid physical model, one of many we’re sure to see over the next months and years after its run in Star Trek: Discovery Season 2.
While subscribers to the XL Starships line should be seeing this ship arrive any day now, fans in the UK can order it directly for £49.99, and fans in the US can preorder it for $74.99 for delivery once shipments begin.
Check back to TrekCore soon for our next Official Starships Collection reviews, including the XL-sized Enterprise-B and Enterprise-C, and the long-awaited Spacedock model!