Customer Reviews

Star Trek: U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 High Definition Ship

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

(The quote was spoken by Captain Kirk in "I, Mudd")

Until the mid 1960s, space vehicles in science fiction were either shaped like flying saucers or rocket ships. In 1966, Star Trek debuted and changed all that with one of the most original and iconic vehicles of all time, the USS Enterprise. Art Asylum originally released three versions of the ship in 2006 (for Trek's 40th anniversary). The three variants were: the one shot for the original pilot "The Cage"; the one shot for the series pilot "Where No Man Has Gone Before"; and the production version that was used throughout the series (outside of reused footage, of course). Plenty has been written about those ships already, so I'm not going to go into their differences (mostly the size and shape of the bridge, deflector dish and engine pods). This re-release (from September 2009) was touted as having the more intricate detailing that was seen during the remastered Star Trek's CGI shots. But is it worth the extra cost?

Short answer: YES!

Though it's from the same mold as the 2006 versions (which were based on the physical model), this Enterprise looks a bit more like the CGI model. The paint is a darker gray, and it's less glossy. There's a grid on the top of the saucer section (with four white rectangles) that includes the "rust ring" near the front edge. The "grills" inside each engine nacelle have silver rectangles inside with tiny black dots (I guess they're supposed to represent perforations in the "metal"). The bussard collectors are more of a transparent yellow than red (for a reason, see the paragraph on lights below). Of note, the 2006 versions had painted-over plugs that covered screw holes on the bottom of the saucer. The 2009 model instead hides the screws under the triangular shapes, which is great! Of course, the plugs on the engineering section still show, but at least they made an effort to make the ship look better.

The stand is the same one used for the 2006 versions. The cost of producing new ones was probably too expensive for AA to implement, but it's still disappointing they couldn't come up with something better. Posing the ship off-center will cause everything to fall over. The fact that only one side slopes up to the mounting cylinder causes balance issues as well (the stands for the Enterprise-D were stronger in that regard, as they sloped up from the middle and were all one piece, where here you have to insert the vertical part into a slot on the side of the base). The top of the mounting cylinder doesn't fit easily into the ship, and you have to press very firmly for it to go all the way in. Be careful though, otherwise you may end up breaking something!

There are new sounds for this ship. These include longer dialogue from Captain Kirk ("This is Captain James T. Kirk of the Starship Enterprise representing the United Federation of Planets", etc) as well as new recordings of effects like the transporter and photon torpedoes. I especially like the warp effect sound, which is longer and shows off the lights nicely. The phaser effect is missing, and I wish there were more sounds overall, but what's here is nice. AA easily could have reused the existing effects, so these are a welcome surprise.

The lighting effects are also improved. The saucer domes and navigational lights (red and green on the sides of the saucer) are pretty much the same, but the fronts of the engines have been modified. On the 2006 models, they just glowed red, but here they slowly change from red to yellow to green and more closely resemble the ones on the show (the yellowish plastic helps with the effect). I don't know how AA managed to do make the colors change, but it looks great! As with the 2006 versions, if you hold the bridge section down for five seconds the lights will turn on and stay on until you turn them off by pressing it again.

The box is slightly different from the 2006 releases in that the pictures on the back and description of the effects are changed. Unfortunately, the ties and plastic that holds the ship in place are a bit too tight, so I ended up with some scratches on mine. Aside from that, a few areas had glue reside, and one window near the bottom saucer dome was painted green instead of dark gray (!). These are minor nitpicks though, and issues that appear on all of AA's Trek ships.

EDIT: I've reviewed a couple other AA ships, and recommended painting most of the windows with a white paint pen. I did the same with this ship (ALL the windows this time, as the whole ship is always lit on screen). I also painted the spheres on the back of the engines, and brightened up the four rectangles on the top of the saucer. It looks a lot better now, though I wish the ship was a lighter gray, as the other details (the rings on the bottom of the saucer, the rectangular parts around the dish) are hard to make out from a distance.

Overall though, this is still a fantastic model/toy, and you'll be proud to have it in your collection.

Over all not to bad;but not that good either. I'd purchased it from Go Hastings whereas the other ship I'd got from them was just fine. The left nacelle(with the ship coming at you) has a flow of glue coming out on its far left side at least a 1/2" into the lens as if the glue person held the ship,that left nacelle down near the floor and the right nacelle high;after gluing then putting the yellow lens for the left nacelle in place. I had a difficult time convincing me that (with the ship going to the left on the shelf) you couldn't see the flow. I was sorely tempted to return it for a refund and try to order it again;But after reading the other reviews, I found myself thinking that with my luck,after going through the return...the refund ....the re-order...the waiting all over again....I'd get one ever WORSE! Perhaps, if they'd hire people who were more interested in the pride that comes from perfecting their techniques of how to use glue RATHER than sniffing it;they could produces a product with little or no errors?
How 'bout it Diamond Select Toys?

P.S. Oh,and they REALLY need to produce a stronger more stable stand for the ship.

I agree with Neurogaijin. This ship is of horrible quality. The seams are huge and poorly fitted, there are glue smears all over it, some of the parts still have the edges where they were clipped from the mold runners and the paint is pitiful. Hell, on one nacelle the identification numbers (which cross over the seam) are offset by 1/8". I wonder if this company has any quality control at all or if they just don't care.
The only quality in the ship seems to be in the lighting and sound which are pretty good.
I admit, I read the reviews and took a shot and got a piece of junk. Buyer beware.
Note: this review is in response to the manufacture of the toy, not the seller. I have had no problems with the seller at all.

The worst ship replica I have purchased from any line of Star Trek toy manufacturer. Poorly-fitting seam lines, gross painting errors and prominent streaks of glue marr the surfaces. Additionally, I returned the first one I purchased assuming that the multiple problems were a fluke, but then the second one arrived and was of even poorer quality than the first, with more gross errors that would prevent this from being part of my display. Evidently, the idea of quality control for this particular item seems to be non-existant. Considering the higher quality of the other ship replicas I have purchased from the same manufacturer, this was truely a staggering disappointment.

I purchased this model to add to my sci-fi desktop here. Serenity (ornament) & the Enterprise Model/Toy. which as a side note im convinced are the same scale

So heres my thoughts: on a scale of 1 to 10; 1 being a Toy, and 10 being a Model, i give it a 6.

The detail is really nice, and makes a nice addition to my desk. the lights DO stay on when you hold the dome down for 5 seconds (make sure you flip the switch in the battery compartment to play, not "try/try me"), until you tell them to go off. the lighting fx are REALLY nice. almost wish i could make it a nightlight if i could plug it in instead of use batteries hah.

now the box claims it does 8 sound fx/voices. Unless its a random thing and each model is shipped with a differnt sound chip, but mine only does 6. "Red Alert" and "Phaser Attack" do not exsist on mine. Not a problem though i mainly just go with the lighting fx.

As another user on here did, i got white model paint an painted the windows white instead of the grey/black thing they had going on. Looks ALOT nicer now, more like the on-screen version.

Pros:
* Good Detail; as i glance over at it, while typing this, it really looks from a 2' distance like a studio model.

* Fun Special FX. lights and sounds are really good.

Cons:
*There are some toy-like flaws, like the obvious "snap-together" assembly. there is a tiny bit of seperation on my saucer, but my room is dimly lit, and im not trying to win any contests here, so its fine for me.

* The Stand: THIS CANT BE SAID ENOUGH. the ruttin ball-jointed stand it comes with. the third time adjusting it to the pose i wanted, the friction factor went away with the tribbles. After 3 attempts with model glue and 1 with superglue i finnaly got the thing to be poseable (since i had to re-pose it after drying) without it falling over on its own. Because of this the "durability" factor got a 3 from me.

Overall, i really like it. I have no regrets purchasing it, and it makes a really nice addition to my desktop. I would reccomend this for anyone looking to spice up thier office desk, home desk, dresser, or even mantel.

I purchased the "HD" Enterprise model on Amazon. Upon receiving it, it appeared to me to have been previously used. There were several scuff marks on it. In addition, the model appeared to be of the cheap "snap together" variety, with the seams in the engine nacels and the area immediately beneath the hanger deck splitting open. The instructions also indicate that if you press the bridge dome for 5 seconds, the bridge, nacel and running lights will stay on. They do not.

In sum, this appeared to me to be a cheap and poorly constructed product that did not live up to its advertising.

This is a nice little replica of TV's original Star Trek's USS Enterprise in High Definition detailing and graphics with sound effects my Diamond Select toys. It's in about the same scale as the original AMT model kit in size and dimensions but beautifully & faithfully detailed as per the original 14 foot filming miniature.

It comes in a light grey colour overall however and not the suggested 'star ship white' base colour in various publications and starship modeller articles. But filming of the original TV series makes the Enterprise appear a light grey colour anyway, although buffs of the series genre might tell you it's [really] overall white in fact, - with detailing and panel 'patterning' etc giving it its distinct 'texture'. The model has very subtle 'weathering' as per the original filming version hence the choice of overall 'ghost grey' as it 'appeared' on TV.

The TV series Enterprise however does not have the complex 'aztec patterning' associated with the subsequent later movie versions, but is infinitely more detailed in its markings and graphics than a first glance would tell. Pressing the bridge dome will set off the electronic sounds effects of 'Kirk' giving a verbal battle command while the warp nacelle domes light up, - similarly to the original optics, albeit only momentarily.

The stand is a little flimsy and wobbles a bit under the weight of the model but there is no other way to display it other than to hang it or mount it somewhere where it cannot be easily knocked off its stand!

A nice piece however nicely done, and a quality tribute to this classic TV series and perhaps one of TV's most iconic of spaceships/starships.

Despite a couple of small paint marks on the hull and a little glue residue on the nacelles, this is simply the most impressive replica of the TOS Enterprise I have ever seen, and I have owned several. Very nicely detailed. Sound effects and lights are also top notch. I see a lot of complaints about the base but so far mine is tight and getting it to sit properly on the stand was no problem. Quite pleased overall.

Fairly accurate depiction of the starship Enterprise; however, the base is really flimsy. You are supposed to be able to display the ship in any configuration, but the display will only hold the ship in a downward pose--oddly enough, similar to how the ship "flew" on the original series.

This isn't really any different than the three other versions of this which I've got, except for the paint job on the saucer top and the revision of the saucer underside to hide the screws better. That said... if you want just one, this is probably the one to get. It's definitely good looking, and well-assembled. And as far as "toys" go, it's the best TOS Enterprise yet. (And it's going to have to serve until the new 30" TOS Enterprise model kit comes out later this year!)