The farthest reaches of the Final Frontier continue to grow as Eaglemoss Collections introduces some very rare starship designs to the expanding line of models in the Official STAR TREK Starships Collection.
Eaglemoss Collections continues to prove a leading retailer of Star Trek collectibles and memorabilia, accelerating their lines of starship models to include vessels from the new series Star Trek: Discovery while ramping up their hero ships to the “XL Editions” which feature larger, more detailed releases of the popular vessels appearing throughout the Star Trek franchise. The initial product line of Official Starships Collection has passed the hundred mark, and has included several “special issue” variations including ships from the 1990 “reboot” feature films.
Recently the modelers have become far more ambition and have given fans the first-ever reproductions of starships that have been created outside of the cinematic canon of the series, including the USS Titan the ship captained by Will Riker in the popular line of novels, and the USS Aventine another starship that has itself become legendary inside of the publication of books. Far more enticing the recent additions of “concept ships” vessels that were imagined as part of the Star Trek timeline or introduced as potential designs have been introduced as models.
Among these new additions Andrew Probert’s initial design for the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-C. The ship only made one appearance in the fan-favorite episode “Yesterday’s Enterprise” which chronicled its significant final moments, but Probert, who was also instrumental in the design of The Next Generation’s NCC-1701-D, had very ambitious ideas for the predecessor to the series’ star vessel. The Ambassador-class was always imagined as a hybrid between an Excelsior-class and the inevitable Galaxy-class, and even appeared on the wall in the conference room.
Probert’s “Concept Design” now a beautifully detailed model that can be purchased as a “Special Edition” from Eaglemoss is much more elegant and fluid than the final model that was built to appear in the episode. The Enterprise-C that meets its fate on camera was much more practically constructed and didn’t divert attention from the show’s star — the Enterprise-D. Probert’s design for the very naturally sets in with the evolution of the Federation flagship and with its longer nacelles (reminiscent of the Excelsior) makes for a formidable starship.
The model itself is nearly 5” inches in length and excellently detailed and comes with a Special Edition magazine that provides some very unique CGI perspectives of what this Enterprise might have looked like on screen.
Phase Not “2” Be
Before Star Trek The Motion Picture debuted in theaters, the studios original intention was to bring Star Trek back to television. “Phase II” has it had been entitled would reunite Kirk and his crew with the exception of a particular Vulcan science officer, and would also feature a slightly modified and more-streamlined USS Enterprise. Matt Jeffries the mastermind behind The Original Series starship design was recruited once again to append and update the Constitution-class NCC-1701 for the more savvy television audiences of the late 1970s.
Although he wasn’t all-too keen on rejoining the family, Gene Roddenberry insisted the Jeffries be instrumental in updating the Enterprise giving the ship a few very familiar looking upgrades that would inspire the final look of the ship when it finally reemerged on the big screen. Now Eaglemoss has taken Matt Jeffries notes and given Star Trek fans their first fully realized mode of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701 “Phase II” Concept as it might have appeared in a brand new television
series.
Applying significant details to the surface guaranteed that the ship would look much more contemporary on television, especially given that audiences were already initiated into the looks of space ships that had appeared in Star Wars and would also appear on Battlestar Galactica. Jeffries didn’t feel it was important to reinvent the wheel so he focused on the obvious giving the nacelles a new shape and added some fins to give the starship the sensation of forward momentum. The engineering section was afforded a much more substantial shape as well.
When the decision was made that Star Trek would instead go straight to features, much of Jeffries new design had already been implemented to the shooting model. Rather than start from scratch, the visual effects team simply further updated surface details and made other adjustments modifying the “Phase II” ship to the much more familiar design of the “Refit” Enterprise that appeared in the final film. Eaglemoss Collections model brings the concept design to life and even helps to place it within the context of Star Trek canon.
The model comes with a magazine that details its evolution from concept to model to eventual redesign for the feature film. Each model is available exclusive through the Eaglemoss Collections website here https://shop.eaglemoss.com/usa/.