A long, long time ago, in fact back in 2379, William Thomas Riker FINALLY became captain,
and this time on his own ship. The never seen before and for nearly 20 years after,
Luna-class USS Titan NCC-80102!
I’m not crying, you’re crying! Shut up!
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For what felt
like an eternity, after hearing about the ship in *Nemesis* no less,
no one knew what the Luna-class even looked like, until 2005,
when it was finally revealed to all, in the 2007 ‘Sword of Damocles’ novel cover and bonus pages.
But that was extended canon, it was approved by the powers that be at Viacom/CBS,
it may never have come to screen, but it was finally double tapered and fully solidified by
appearing for the first time on screen, cleaning house and saved the Cerritos from the Pakled,
and that is when it truly enter Prime Canon. Only Riker could be so bad ass to warp into a fight,
fire all weapons, and then call for red alert, presumably while leaning on something!
We weren't even treated to a live action version of the Luna class until Star Trek *Picard*,
however we would not see the USS Titan, and it seems there was a reason for that.
The deep-space explorer type, Luna-class, USS Titan entered service in 2379, after the Dominion
War. The class was put into development in 2369 at the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards,
in Mars. No at Mars... not on? well on? Not in. Yeah that. Mars yes. Following the *Discovery*
of the Bajoran wormhole by our favourite *DS9* commander, Ben Sisko. It was intended that the
ship class would be used to explore *Into the Darkness* of the Gamma Quadrant and *Beyond*,
however the threat of the Dominion War forced Starfleet to shelve the project in favour of
faster builds and kitbash ships. Would you like to know more about kitbash ships by
the way? We’ve done a video on that I think! Who narrated that again? Ah probably not important.
Titan, like all other Luna’s, were named after the moons of the Sol
System. The Luna fresh off the assembly line had Riker’s name all over it- well,
actually, it was Titan, but that's besides the point.
Carrying on with *The Next Generation* style of ship design, Titan had a Saucer leading directly
into the secondary hull, in a very Sovereign-y sort of way, and nacelles that swept back,
and angled downward, much like an Akira. She carried a roll bar mounted interchangeable pod,
akin to the Danube or Nebula-classes, carrying either sensors, or extra torpedo launchers
complementing the type-11 phaser arrays and quantum launchers she already had and
I would bet it probably always came with the extra launchers. I mean lets be serious here.
Rounding off at 454 metres, making it larger than *Voyager*, but still substantially smaller
than the Enterprise D and E. Luna’s can be crewed with around 350 personnel. Titan held,
or most likely still holds the record for the most diverse crew in Starfleet history,
with less than 15% of the total staff onboard being Human. Being a deep space explorer it was
designed to operate on long-range missions and fitted with experimental technology,
along with the aforementioned space lasers and kaboom-y lights.
I'm losing it I really am. Capable of a cruising speed of warp 8, and a top speed of warp 9.9.
One of the Titan’s mission parameters, was to explore *Strange New Worlds*; you know,
that core mandate we’ve been subjected to for every series that had *Enterprise* in it,
was to act as a testbed for new technology. The weapons’ pod shown in *Lower Decks*, also housed
an experimental sensor platform, which is kept clear from the rest of the ship, shielding it from
interference from other ships’ systems. The sensor pod is accompanied by a ship standard sensor
dome at the centre ventral of the saucer, like *That Old Science* ship… I think I’ve just made
a reference to every Trek so far with one ship. I should get a medal for that... what do you think?
Embarked craft were type 6A shuttles, all named after 20th century jazz musicians,
because of course they were it was Riker's ship, including Coltrane, Gillespie and Monk.
These would launch from a single rear facing shuttle bay at the aft of the secondary hull.
The U.S.S. Titan was not actually the first ship of its name, as it continued the legacy of another
U.S.S. Titan with the registry of NCC-1777. This Original USS Titan (Originally believed
to be Loknar class), a Shangri-La Class starship, was commanded by Captain Saavik, and even spent
some time as the flagship of the fleet under commendation by Captain Sulu of the Excelsior.
The vessel was launched in 2290, and is known for its encounters with the Klingon Empire,
the Exo-Port Takeover and the Horizon Colony Rescue! The ship would be instrumental in
maintaining frontier stability before the khitomer accords between the Federation
and Klingon Empire were ratified, and the launch of the Enterprise-B.
So already, the new Luna Class USS Titan had a lot to live up to.
As already stated, the science orientated Luna-class, and by
extension the USS Titan were deep-space explorers, were set to try out the latest,
untested in the field scientific equipment in the latest unexplored
space, namely the Gamma Quadrant, or any other uncharted sectors for that matter.
Later in 2379, after taking command, Riker and his crew headed a task force
to investigate the possibility of peaceful relations with the Romulan Star Empire,
in the wake of the recent events regarding Praetor Shinzon’s coup d'etat (Coo day tah)
Riker was clearly a fan, of sorts, in dealing with the Pakled, as he dealt with them previously
on the Enterprise-D and numerous times in a short period, during his command of the Titan.
In 2380 the ship was able to take on 3 Pakled clumpships unaided,
where the California Class Vessels, such as USS Solvang and USS Cerritos failed,
the former being completely destroyed and the latter being extensively damaged for the 877th
time. It was shortly after tractoring Cerritos back to spacedock for repair
and refit, that Riker offered a position and promotion to Bradward Boimler aboard Titan.
Three months later, they were ambushed by 8 Pakled battle harpy attack ships,
so Riker ordered the ship into an anomaly whereupon the ship and crew experienced
a gluonic disruption. Which sounds like a terrible stomach infection.
Later, the Titan crew investigated a Pakled takeover at a Varuvian mining facility on
Karzill IV, but were unable to determine if any other powers were involved. During the mission,
Boimler was duplicated in the same manner Riker was back in 2361 in a transporter hiccup.
However, the duplicate was discovered right away in this case. The first
Boimler transported back was considered the original, though completely indistinguishable
from the other, who was demoted, and he returned to his duties on Cerritos.
[Boimler Screams] ["The distortion
field is re-engaging. I'm losing him."] ["That's not an option."]
["Rerouting main power. Initiating second containment beam."]
["Shuttlecraft incoming from the planet. It's ours."]
["What? That's not possible, we all beamed off."] ["Mr Boimler?"]
["You guys made it! Ah the Pakleds got stuck in the door so I... Oh man,
a copy of me got transported out? Boo"] ["I'm the transporter clone? Boo"]
["The Distortion Field must have... I've heard this tune before"]
[Random Captain Liam Shaw appears]
After that, Titan was sent to patrol the far side of the star system of Starbase 25,
during the Command Conference, to deter a Pakled attack.
In 2381 a freak accident onboard involving a toxic neurocrine leak in Will Boimler’s quarters,
caused him to pass in his sleep. Following the traditional space burial in a torpedo casing,
he was subsequently recovered by section 31.
As for the Titan herself? She was was pulled from active service in 2398,
having suffered extensive damage
However, in some behind the scenes shots in Picard’s Second Season, at Starfleet
academy on a PADD, Cadet Rew P’Cott Claudia Jean was assigned to the USS Titan in 2401.
As the Titan was not around and the USS Titan would not launch until 2402 (This was old info,
we now know it was around in 2401... Picard dates are complicated...), this could be an error,
or it could be the cadet was assigned to assist in the construction of the Titan A.
That would enter service in 2402 (Wrong again, it seems it entered service in
2401? Again we don't 100% know.), under the command of Captain Liam Shaw. Most of the
internal systems would be recovered from the Luna Class Titan and transferred over
to this new ship. Commander Seven would also be assigned to the ship sometime
after she entered Starfleet officially under recommendation by Admiral’s Picard and Janeway.
Tactical Officer Lt. Matthew Arliss Mura would board the ship
in 2404 (Again, not true, he would actually board the Titan A in 2398? When the original USS), while
the main adventures of the ship, seen in Picard Season 3 would take place in
2407 (You know the drill, who knows when Picard Season 3 actually takes place...).
A little easter egg, kind of; In 2367, then-Commander Riker was exploring caverns
on Alpha Onias III, captured by Romulans and put into a holoprogram set in 2383,
designed by his expectations of the future. A fictional service record in
his quarters aboard the Enterprise-D, shows his promotion to captain in
2370 and his first command being USS Titan. Note that this is only in the
Remastered version of Future Imperfect, in which the original text was replaced.
After Nemesis, everything changed. Data was “dead” and the remaining crew were starting to go their
separate ways. The first to pick up the ball, run and deal with the changes were Simon & Schauster,
where the Star Trek Novels were produced. As the missions, crew and stories were developed,
they took advantage of the fact that Titan was never shown. They decided to involve the Trek
Community and invited fan designers to submit ideas for the ship’s exterior configuration.
Design parameters for the ship were that it was a mid-sized exploratory vessel,
larger than Voyager, but smaller than Enterprise-D,
but was being designed around the time the E would’ve been, though not built dedicated to
combat as it’s development would resume after after the Dominion War, and would be a testbed.
One Sean Tourangeau, a graphic designer from Colorado Springs, entered on a whim,
he had even “forgotten” he’d entered until he got the call from Marco Palmieri. Who forgets they’ve
poured hours of design time into a Starship for one of the most iconic shows on TV to date?
He drew elements from all of his favourite ships, which I’m sure we can all pick out,
the most evident was the raised hull around the sides of the bridge,
and protection of the pod and roll bar from the aft. The only way to
effectively attack the bridge would be head on, or above. He even added small details,
such as transport emitters, escape pods, hull panelling and RCS thruster packs.
The one thing he struggled on was making the nacelles fit with the rest. He toyed
with Voyager style nacelles, and Akira’s angled style, which was eventually landed
on once he had a helping hand in choosing from his friend, who was a 3D designer,
who gave him a glimpse of what the different iterations looked like as a 3D model.
Sean’s design, one of hundreds submitted, was judged by a panel of the best and brightest
minds of Trek, consisting of a trio from Viacom Consumer Products, now CBS Consumer Products,
including Palmieri, and Trek designers Sterbach, Drexler, Okuda and associate producer Dave Rossi.
It was pointed out that not only did Sean pay close attention to the brief, but understood
the design parameters of the Luna-class as well as the contest criteria: originality, execution,
consistency with the concept notes and consistency with Starfleet style. All points were hit on the
head and made it truly look like one of the ‘ships of the line’ and fitted in seamlessly
with established ships, like Enterprise-E, Voyager, Defiant, Equinox, Akira etc.
In the design specs, it had been decided that that ship would not have a saucer,
or multi-vector separation modes, nor would it be capable of landing on any surface, therefore other
than generating the warp field, the nacelles were made bigger, if the ship happened to crash land
on a planet they’d have more protection and the nacelles could be use as skids of sorts.
Sean even designed his own bridge for the ship, heavily influenced by the Generations D,
and E bridges combined. He kept the horseshoe style tactical, behind the three command chairs,
arranged like D, but with E control panels in front of the 2 support command chairs. The
Dedication Plaque even had its own tagline “Infinite Diversity, in infinite ways”
The bridge that was settled on resembled more of the Cerritos, with hints of the Enterpise-D.
In the original draft of the Star Trek Nemesis script Wesley Crusher was to explain that he was
being assigned to the Titan under Riker’s command. A further filmed, but deleted scene, on the Titan
he made Lieutenant Commander and assistant chief engineer, heading the night shift. It was also to
be revealed that Titan has a double refracting warp matrix, with twin intermix chambers.
Wheaton even emailed Sean simply saying “Nice Ship”. Though to be fair,
are there many Starfleet ships that aren’t appealing?
Also… just because, the man that gave us the Luna,
also designed the World Razer for the art that appeared in Picard season 2 episode Penance.
What are everyone’s thoughts on what happened to the illustrious Luna-class USS Titan,
for it to be replaced by Titan-A? What was its final mission that caused it so much damage to
be retired? If not explained soon, hopefully Lower Decks catches up to the events of Picard
and gives us an answer, that and Enterprise-E! Matalas, McMahn, we hope you’ve heard all us fans.
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For now, I’ve been Lieutenant Commander Adam,
thanks for watching and we’ll see you next time! Live Long and prosper my friends!