Right then !
Who's ready to go ahead and steam onward towards our 76th video out the USS Titan-A,B,C,D...
(Im not typing all of this...)
Okay fine, i cant keep that up forever but i could keep going with the rest of
the phonetic alphabet im pretty sure you lot want to hear about something more interesting.
So lets take a break from the hero ship of Picard and look at something a little bit more ....
Not the Titan...
Yeah thah works...
If you're anything like me you probably expected
season 3 of Picard to begin with a handy cameo from the Enterprise-D...
For a while the Enterprise -E until they shot that down...
Or maybe even the Enterprise-F? Because it was in the Trailers after all...
But instead we were treated to a new ship,
a ship owned by Doctor Beverly Crusher, with an interesting history.
So what makes this ship tick and what do we know about the Phoenix Class SS Eleos XII that Crusher
has been using for the last 20 years since Star Trek Nemesis… Well let's take a look shall we ?!
Welcome to Trek Central! Lords, Ladies and sovereigns,
I’m your host, lieutenant Commander, Adam.
Spoiler Alert, this is a video talking about a ship from Star Trek:
Picard Season 3, so there will be spoilers. You have been warned.
Also let us know what other ships from this new season of trek you would like us to
cover next! The mysterious Elachi Qulash frigate? The threatening Warship Shrike?
My Ship ?
No, we already decided that wouldn't be a thing didnt we ?..
Anyway, on to our breakdown of the SS Eleos!
Okay, engage!
The S.S. Eleos XII NAR-59019 was a Phoenix class ship launched sometime in the 24th
century. The ship class was designed as a small rapid response ship. This type of vessel would be
used to deliver medical supplies, engineering components or transfer limited personnel.
Presumably the mission profile of the ship would be reflected in the colour scheme,
with medical ships having blue hull markings, engineering ships being yellow and personnel
transfer being red markings and anything from the Kelvin universe being horribly, horribly shiny.
This ship class was recommended to be operated for mid range missions within the alpha quadrant.
ever going anywhere else...
The Phoenix class wasn't large, with them being only 119.7 metres
in length. Though it seemed to have multiple decks, with deck two being
mentioned by the computer system. With this size however, the crew complement
would be very small, with even a single crew member being enough to operate the vessel.
The ship was also a move towards higher warp speeds in smaller designs of ships with the
phoenix classes able to reach a maximum warp speed of 8.7 and a cruising warp speed of 7.2.
Originally this ship class was in Starfleet, however by the late 24th century and early
25th century some of these vessels were starfleet surplus, and would be given to private contractors
like the Mariposa Medical Group, or a doctor who had a lot of pull at starfleet medical.
Because... "Those" are the "Same" thing...
yes
The ship consisted of a semi-circular saucer section,
Try saying that 15 times fast...
this saucer section had an outer edge which would continue to the rear of the ship,
where it would connect with a single pylon roll bar that connects to two
warp nacelles. The nacelles would be slightly angled off this pylon strut.
The inner section of the saucer housed the bridge module. This bridge module was
extremely rectangular in shape and protruded from the saucer section.
Nice and vulnerable, just the way Star Trek like it.
Along the outer edge there would be lifeboats
for evacuation of the vessel as well as RCS thruster quads for manoeuvrability.
and all the other usual refinements.
Oil Slick, Rocket Launchers behind the headlights, hood mounted machineguns,
and an ejectable roof....
Oh... wait... no... thats Aston Martin...
That does all that...
Nevermind...
Moving On...
At the front of the saucer would be the location of the deflector dish, which
would be somewhat circular in style, but cut off at the bottom,
similar to the saucer shape being more semi-circular.
The nacelles were interesting in design, not only being angled on the ship, but looking more
late 24th and early 25th century, perhaps being an upgrade later in its life? These nacelles featured
intercoolers on their top, orange bussard ramscoop (Boo-Sard) at the front and glowing plasma/photon
spillway flux chillers, or warp grills, on the sides. At the rear of the nacelle are chilling
panels to manage the heat of the nacelle and some RCS thruster quads for extra manoeuvrability.
Because you know, it being so small, it needed that.
Near the midpoint of the nacelle would be fins pointing outwards, which would have the name of
the vessel, its registry and for the Eleos, would show the Mariposa medical symbol, a butterfly,
with an M next to it, possibly denoting this phoenix class as a medical vessel.
The Rollbar like structure at the rear of the ship that connected the warp nacelles
would house a warp field governor system in the middle, with plasma vents on either side.
The ship had two impulse engines on the aft of the saucer section, between the
nacelle struts. The ship would also have warp power, with a warp core located in the saucer
section. If this warp core needed to be ejected, it could do so out of the underside of the saucer.
Deuterium for the warp core could be loaded through loading ports
on the saucer section between the outer edge and the bridge module,
whereas antimatter could be loaded on the underside of the saucer.
The ship had very limited armaments, but had Phaser Ring Emitters, which were located in the
middle of the saucer section above the bridge module, and the underside of the saucer as
well. Also located above the bridge module was an upper planetary sensor array, which
complemented the lower planetary sensor array located on the underside of the saucer section.
Basically,
As far as The Elleos's design principals went...
If ya got one on the top, ya gotta put one on the bottom as well,
Am i making sense now ?
Good...
Moving on...
These weren’t the only sensor systems that the ship had however,
those planetary sensors with lateral sensor strips along the outer edge of the saucer.
As with standard starfleet ships, the vessel would be equipped with deflector shields.
The docking port was the main way on or off the ship,
though whether the ship had a transporter system was unknown. This docking port had
in front of it an elevator, though whether this allowed small vessels into the ship is
not known. The docking port would allow for ships to dock, and for crew and cargo to be transferred.
However what about cargo which couldn’t fit through the docking port?
Well, there were also cargo hatches located on the underside of the saucer section as well.
Not much of the interior was shown, though the bridge module was very much shown,
with an outer higher area behind the bridge filled with cargo and other
sections. Design wise, the Phoenix class may have been better built up,
but the Eleos itself was much more function over form, with pipes and cables lining the ceiling.
Without really much regard to how it looks or how easy it was to trip over them...
The Eleos would have numerous cargo containers filling these rooms, mostly filled with medical
supplies for its medical missions, but sometimes filled with contraband. Usually to bribe
officials to continue its medical missions, or buy medical supplies in the first place.
A workstation would be present in these back rooms, with old style medical kits
and tricorders on the walls, computer consoles which were present on Galaxy class starships,
and numerous pieces of tech, including some procured from Quark Industries,
which would be headed up by Quark of Ferenginar.
This backroom would connect to the bridge on its starboard side,
with another door on the port side of the bridge, and it looked to be
connected to an isolated room, as someone could be locked in there by locking that single door.
Just like the bridge module, the bridge section was entirely rectangular,
with a forward console that could control the vessel completely,
similar to other NAR vessels such as the USS Raven of the Hansen Family.
Also similar to the USS Raven, would be the viewscreen at the front of the bridge.
However this viewscreen could have a blast shield deployed for extra protection against attack or
spatial anomalies, and would seemingly activate automatically when the ship was in danger.
There would be a central interactive table in the bridge that could be utilised by the crew.
uhhh....
Assuming in the same way that the pool-table on the-D's engineering section could be used,
not just like "uh oh, the ship's under attack quick, QUICK lets play some D&D!"
wait do they have D&D in Startrek ?
Beside the forward console there were two standing consoles which would display information and
controls relevant to the operating of the ship. Along the wall of the bridge section
were more screens that showed ship systems such as warp coils and warp core status.
Alongside one of these walls would be a shelf filled with
mementos from its captain, Dr Beverly Crusher.
The SS Eleos was captained by Beverly Crusher, after she had resigned from Starfleet sometime
after the Shinzon Crisis of 2379 and went out to become a “Doctors-without-borders”
and provided medical care to planets abandoned or forgotten about by Starfleet and the Federation.
i mean, thats pretty terrible if you ask me,
How exactly do you forget an entire planet ? like,
(Adam 1): "OH, i just found a planet behind the couch!"
(Adam 2): "Oh fancy that... Is it worth anything ?"
(Adam 1): "No"
(Adam 2): "Put it back then..."
(Adam Prime): I think im losing it... Ive done too many of these...
As a Starfleet surplus ship, before Beverly resigned,
she managed to pull some strings at Starfleet Medical to procure it.
The ship would then become a Medical vessel operating for the Mariposa Medical Group.
The Mariposa Medical Group can trace its origins back to the 21st century and a medical clinic,
Clinica Las Mariposas, located in Los Angeles on Earth. It was run by Doctor Teresa Ramirez,
who would help those who usually couldn’t get access to medical support at the time.
In 2024 Teresa would end up meeting Cristobal Rios,
after he travelled back in time from 2401 on a mission with Admiral Picard to save the
timeline from Q. Cristobal Rios would stay in the 21st century with Terersa where they
would eventually marry. Together they would start the Mariposa Medical Movement, Teresa
providing the medical care and Rios captaining the organisation with his skills from Starfleet.
This movement would endure all the way to the 25th century, helping those in
medical need, first during the tumultuous 21st century and reaching all the way to the 25th.
Which is a hell, of a lineage...
It seems Beverly would join this movement to help provide medical
aid to those who needed it. She would be joined on her journey by her son,
Jack Crusher, and essentially brought him up aboard the ship.
However this medical mission would be put on hold in 2401. The SS Eleos would
be on the run from unknown assailants, who could apparently change their face
and used multiple different ships to pursue Jack and Beverly Crusher.
The Eleos would enter orbit of Sarnia prime to treat refugees who were suffering from
Galarian Fever. However they would be approached by Fenris rangers,
who would alert the “Marked Woman” of their whereabouts.
While being pursued by this “Marked Woman” and foes disguised as Klingons
and the Federation in places such as Kaphar and Exo-Port, the vessel would
be kept running at the lowest possible power levels in order to avoid further detection.
Three Elachi starships, a species who had been active in Romulan space since the Supernova,
would however locate the Eleos, and try to dock with the ship.
Foes, not of Elachi origin, would successfully board the ship, but be defeated by Beverly with
a custom modded phaser rifle, however she would be seriously injured in the process.
With more foes incoming, Beverly would send a coded distress message to Admiral Jean
Luc Picard while charging the warp drive of the vessel and fleeing to
a nebula near the Ryton system where they could hide from their pursuers.
She would then be put in a medical pod by her son, Jack Crusher.
Picard and longtime friend William T Riker,
travelling aboard the Federation starship the USS Titan A, would commandeer a vessel,
the shuttlecraft Saavik, and find the Eleos adrift in the nebula in the Ryton system.
Quickly aboard they would find Beverly and her son, but they would quickly be located
by the Shrike, a ship used by an unknown adversary known as Vadic,
who would destroy their shuttle and try to kidnap Jack Crusher, by transporting him off the ship.
This would fail however, and even a tractor lock on the Eleos would
fail with the help of the USS Titan warping in to save the ship. All 4
people aboard the Eleos would be transported over to the USS Titan.
Vadic would make herself known to the Titan, and give an ultimatum of handing over Jack Crusher or
being destroyed. As a show of power, she would utilise a reverse tractor beam with
anti-gravitational polarity phasing and would throw the SS Eleos at the Titan,
destroying the Eleos and tearing a hole in the titan on Deck 11.
And with that… comes the end of the Phoenix class, SS Eleos.
But where does the Name come from i the first place ?
Well... Strap in fellow nerds and i shall tell the,
The name Eleos, comes from Greek mythology, with Eleos
being the personification of Mercy and compassion,
and what a fitting name for a medical ship owned by our favourite trek doctor, Beverly Crusher.
The design of the SS Eleos actually came about before star trek Picard was even a glint in the
eyes of our producers. Just like with the Inquiry class vessels seen in Season 1 and upgraded in
Season 2 and 3, the Eleos originally comes from a design from John Eaves, as an Engineering Vessel
known as the USS Phoenix for Star Trek Online.This makes sense why the Eleos is a Phoenix class ship.
This vessel would not be present in Star Trek Online, as this concept would be from
the studio that owned Star Trek Online before Cryptic Studios actually launched the game.
The USS Phoenix would be slightly different from the Eleos we get in the end.
The Semi Circle like saucer section, attached to nacelle pylon struts that jut backwards and
have nacelles attached at an angle to them would still be present in the final design.
However the bridge section would be different, being more rectangular on
the Eleos in order to conceivably fit the bridge set created for Picard S3,
as well as the pylon connecting the two warp nacelles to each other at the rear.
The ship would also be much larger in this early concept art, with multiple decks noticeable from
the windows, making it at minimum 4-5 decks tall. The ship also had actual shuttle bays,
and not just a docking port, where shuttles could land and dock inside the ship.
Interestingly, there is also a concept of a TOS version of
this ship, with circular nacelles and an underslung dish deflector.
Yep, sounds like TOS alright,
The design of this new Phoenix Class USS Titan seen in Star Trek
Picard season 3 was done by John Eaves, doug Drexler, Dave Blass, Terry Matalas
In early concept art by John Eaves of the SS Eleos, the ship was slightly bigger,
with the shuttle which Riker and Picard use to board the ship being much smaller than it is
in the final shot. This is because on the models of the shuttle and the Eleos, the docking ports
were perfectly sized, so at some stage, it was decided the Eleos should be a little smaller.
A cool fact is that the shot of the Shuttle landing on the Eleos was handled by a junior
artist, who did such a fantastic job that they allowed them to do the rest of the shot as well!
get in!
In the interior, the LCARs displays were intentionally made to be like those from
The Next Generation, as the Eleos is said to be a ship from the same era.
The hand-held weapons aboard the Eleos are custom modded by the Crushers,
relying on old tech. Interestingly the Phaser pistol held on Riker is a mix
of the Final Frontier “Assault Phaser” and the original series phaser design.
(Pump action phaser): Powercel-PowerCell depleted.
The Phaser rifle which Beverly uses,
takes inspiration from the FPS game Star Trek: Voyager Elite Force.
The interior was developed by one of Picard’s Art Director’s Liz Kloczkowski who
would do such a great job creating a ship that is almost a home for these two crushers. She
would work alongside set decorator Shauna Aronson and ensure that the bridge module and rest of
the ship would be littered with references to Beverly’s past and Trek’s past as well.
Most notably is the shelf in the bridge module, which would contain pictures of Jack R. Crusher,
her former husband, and Wesley Crusher her son. A book called “How to advance your career through
marriage” which was given as a gift by Jack R. Crusher when he asked her to marry him.
Other possessions would be: The Carrington Award,
something Bashir was nominated for in Deep Space Nine.
An “Honorary Citizen of Cor Caroli V'' award when Beverly eradicated the
Phyrox plague in “Allegiance”. And I am sure many many more.
There would also be some reuse from Picard, with the “Old Style” medical
tricorder seen in Season 1 finding a place on a medical kit on the Eleos.
Even some technology procured from Quark Industries would find its way onto the Eleos.
And now, all those trinkets are floating through a nebula in space…
Just makes me sad...
We may not have seen the ship for long, but what did you think of this new addition to
the star trek roster of ships? Let us know in the comments below, because as always,
if you are talking trek then we would love to hear about it!
If you want to keep up to date on all the latest Star Trek news, lore and more,
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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!