Topic: All you Titan designers, take note: Pocket Books "Design the Titan" contest

[Captain Pierce]

Apparently, Pocket Books is starting a contest at the end of this month to design the USS Titan, which as we should all now by know is the starship that Riker took command of after "Nemesis."  They're starting a series of novels about the Titan and its crew, and the first of these novels will have the full rules of the contest (they will also be available on the Simon & Schuster (parent company of Pocket Books) website starting on March 29.  One important thing to note, since I know this is a multinational community, is that the contest will apparently be open only to residents of the United States and most of Canada (Quebec, for some reason, is excluded).

Here's the link where I got the info from: http://www.trektoday.com/news/080305_03.shtml.

[Dawntreader]

I think WZ should try for it.  His titan is awsome.

[Kaenyne]

Either version that WZ and Azel collaborated on would be wonderful! Think guys---Your design gracing the covers of a series of books that would be in bookstores around the world!  Now THAT's EXPOSURE guys! Get your names out there!

Azel! This has you name ALL OVER IT!!!

[Chris Johnson]

WZ later had his take on Azel's design, creating what he think was a better ideal look for the Titan.  I prefer either the newer or older design.  But it shouldn't matter anyhow, it's not like said Titan-class that would win would be canon.  So even if WZ and Azel submit their design and lose, we can still imagine the Titan as WZ and Azel's if we want.  Or we can imagine it as a Galaxy or Sovereign-class or what not.  To each his/her own when imagining the ideal Trek universe for themselves.

But if WZ and Azel choose to submit their design, I still hope they win.  It's a beautiful design worth winning.

[Rat Boy]

Uh, a word of warning to those already sitting on designs: they'll only accept entries that conforms to the descriptions from the novel.  So, if the novel says that the Titan is fast and sleak, don't send them something fat like the Galaxy.

[OlBuzzard]

This one reason I'm doing a little upgrading on mine personally.

[Chris Johnson]

Uh, a word of warning to those already sitting on designs: they'll only accept entries that conforms to the descriptions from the novel.  So, if the novel says that the Titan is fast and sleak, don't send them something fat like the Galaxy.

I might just go ahead and read old novels I forgot to pick up last decade, considering where Nemesis went with things.  Besides, a Galaxy-class can go fast, and is streamlined in her own way.  I say that's a way to go, despite stereotypings and going with the flows of fanboy-ish looks.  I take it you haven't seen WZ's Mnemosyne-class?  A nice blend of the last three Enterprises in the 24th century, and in my opinion fast and sleek-looking without being too fanboy-ish in the design.

[Wicked Zombie]

I'm not one for bothering with contests or trying to make a profit off a model/design. I don't need a half dozen critics to tell me my stuff is very good or total crap - opinions are opinions, no matter who is giving them.

Besides which, the Titan/Mnemosyne is still Atolm's design, I just modified it. By the slim chance that he does want to enter his work in some contest, he'd probably come up with something new and original that falls in with whatever the description in the book says. While I personally think he'd have a better chance than most, not everyone has the same open mindedness when it comes to his concepts.

In my experience, as far as a Trek design is concerned, most people who think of 'fast and sleek' end up creating something 'skinny and fanboyish' (only one Enterprise comes to mind there).

Odds are, whatever Titan concept is chosen, it'll be some unimpressive design rehash or some fanboy pipe dream that doesn't push anyone's buttons, doesn't stretch the limits, and doesn't carry on any design lineage. Of course, that's a pessimistic (realistic?) viewpoint...

[Darkseid]

One thing that comes to mind is that Novels are not canon.  So does this mean that paramount is making these books canon or would they not except the winning Titan design as a real ship in the Trek universe?

[Chris Johnson]

In any case, it shouldn't be cared about anyway, despite my previous thoughts on pondering about this.  If you ask me, I think that, although WZ had a realistic (yet-pessimistic) view on the outcome of the contest, no matter what happens, it still is in the eye of the beholder.  It's like Pestalence and I not including Enterprise in his (or my) ideal perception of the Trek universe, or how he thinks there's no such thing as "Constitution-class" until the late-2280s where-as I think there was since 2245, being the Enterprise and her sister ships since TOS, even after the drastic 2271 refit, or how I still believe Reman to be a twin Romulan homeworld as anyone and everyone guessed in the 1990s, not as some prison planet with some strange species.  I don't go by official canon, or at least I take some and spit out the rest.
So whether the outcome of the contest is impressive or dull in your view, whether it's fanboyish or not, whether it becomes canon or not, you don't have to force yourself to follow the "Yellow Brick Road" of Trek.  Take a different route if you like!

[Sochin]

Thats real nice North America only, no fans outside of the continental united states apparently. What about the Couragous Class its suitably different and very striking.

[OlBuzzard]

hey Sochin ...  I love the pict. in the siggy

thanks

[Sochin]

trekmods nx01 model and a nasa orbit shot, add a sprinkling of photoshop and bobs your uncle.

[Chris Johnson]

What about the Couragous Class its suitably different and very striking.

Different in some ways, yet the same with the more "fanboyish" looks.  Don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful design, but it seems like a hybrid of the Sovereign and Prometheus-class in stylish looks, along with the configuration of the Defiant-class, yet being bigger.  That's how I look at it... A nice fan design, yet reminds me of the Sovereign and Prometheus-class ships mainly.

[Rat Boy]

Besides, the Courageous doesn't seem big enough to fit with the name "Titan."  Based on the excerpt I read in the back of A Time for War, A Time for Peace, the ship has to be at least big enough to have one of the most species-diverse crews in Starfleet.  Remember seeing alien crew members in every other scene in The Motion Picture?  Think that, but in FC-era unis.

[OlBuzzard]

Odds are, whatever Titan concept is chosen, it'll be some unimpressive design rehash or some fanboy pipe dream that doesn't push anyone's buttons, doesn't stretch the limits, and doesn't carry on any design lineage. Of course, that's a pessimistic (realistic?) viewpoint...

goodie ..   that means an old fart like me might stand a chance !

[Rat Boy]

Okay, maybe it's time to start getting worried.  I found out the ship's class name and it's...dorky.  I just don't know how else to describe it.  I think the design that these people will be looking at will be a lot more...different than the Titan designs we've seen already.


That name, by the way, is Luna.  Sounds like some kind of freaky, drug-induced hippy starship.

[Captain Pierce]

Luna is Latin, meaning (IIRC) "moon" or something similar.  Were there hippies in ancient Rome?  (j/k)  I'll admit they could have come up with a cooler name, though... 

Tomorrow's supposed to be the day when the contest rules are available on the website...

[Rat Boy]

Well, either way, the name doesn't conjure up large starships like the Galaxy or the Sovereign.  But, if it is a "moon" series of starships, then its sister ships could be something like Phobos, Io, or Iapetus.

[Darkseid]

Well Luna is a term for moon and Titan is one of Saturn’s moons, then it kinda fits. Although it doesn’t sound as cool as say Sovereign or Galaxy class.  Since we are at this very moment discovering that Titan has oceans much like the Earth, perhaps they will establish that there is a Starfleet Research base located there.