Gold: The Original USS Enterprise NCC-1701

Thought that the gold USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D was enough? Clearly you were WRONG.

Weighing in with a hefty £49.99 price tag is the gold USS Enterprise NCC-1701 from The Original Series (or Those Old Scientists dependent on who you believe...). When I say weighing I'm not talking just about the cost because this Constitution Class model has certainly piled on a few pounds in what is its sixth reworking since the collection began. 

For the record we've had the classic TV version from The Original Series, the Mirror Universe variant, the USS Yorktown NCC-1717, the Pike version and the glow in the dark USS Defiant NCC-1764 from The Tholian Web all utilising the same basic structure and they still can't seem to get it right.

Plastic or gold, these damn things seem to have a life of their own and I'll get the niggle out of the way to begin with. This one came with a bent port nacelle. Minor yes, but still noticable especially if you're planning on displaying her although at the cost I'd be locking it away and vacuum-sealing the box.

Don't go thinking that this is an XL scale either because it is exactly the same size as the regular and bonus editions however you are going to notice some tweaks to the design.

For one, that fine surface detail on the saucer is long gone, replaced with a smooth, flat finish with only the bridge module providing any form of difference to the surface. There are a couple of recessed points to break up the topside but it is strange to see this without the deflector grid lines spiking out from the centre.

The same goes for the underside of the primary hull where only those two distinct triangular imprints towards the front are visible and the rest is smoothed out, even devoid of the familiar registry. At the centre the sweep down to the sensor dome still retains its window indents but again it's a shadow of its grey self.

The neck, as with the edge of the saucer, does still have the recesses for the windows but the secondary hull continues the pattern from the top, eliminating the panel lines and going for that smooth flat finish. 

One noticable addition is the pennant shapes to the sides of the Engineering hull at the front edge. This is also the only decal piece that's been moulded into the ship but doesn't extend into the stripes heading towards the back.

The join line just below that pennant marking is quite clear and also a bit strange as it's only the bottom third of the hull front to back. The secondary hull itself and the neck are all plastic so too the engine pylons and nacelles.

On the engine struts the vent panels are recessed and visible as well as some small window-like elements on the outer edges. The warp engines are split moulded horizontally with the bussard collectors stuck on the end and in the case of one of them, not very centrally.which adds to the Wonky Nacelle factor. The spherical exhaust ports to the rear cement this as the Kirk-era ship (please, let's not do a gold Pike, Defiant...) and again they are kept plain of more than surface finish detail.

On the photos here, the Enterprise actually looks really good - tipped with that orangey/fire ring around the gold deflector dish. The colour makes it look a lot better than it does in reality and certainly not worthy of forking out £49.99 to get a hold of one.

The size too is a bit off-putting because something of this ilk really should be in the XL scale to be most effective and this size condenses a good idea into a bad package.

The magazine is another good one, tracing the design lineage of the Enterprise name from Te Original Series, the movies refit, through The Next Generation, to First Contact's big screen friendly Sovereign Class before skipping back in time to the NX-01. Eaglemoss have also managed to bring the design of the ship up to date with notes on the creation of the ship for JJ Abrams 2009 reboot, its subsequent tweaks for Into Darkness and Beyond plus the reimagining of Matt Jefferies classic concept for Discovery.

It's another case of the magazine trouncing the model and making the bundle a little easier to stomach. However, my personal thought would be to stay clear of any more gold spins on the classics and keep up with the detailed, screen-accurate pieces.

Read all our other reviews of The Official Starships Collection from issue ONE here.

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