Hmmm, ill say nothing about the NX

But no supprise here, i voted for the Galaxy, a luxury liner with teeth.

Galaxy
Constitution
Excelsior
Nebula
Intrepid
Ambassador
Defiant
Akira
Sovereign
NX

(ill copy my sig off now shall i)

My opinions, for what they're worth:

NX has a cool look but it seems too advanced for its era. It shouldn't take so long to go from NX to Constitution, even taking into account NCC-1701's 25 years prior to TOS... Otherwise, I like it.

Sovereign and Prometheus have aesthetic curves that seem to ignore utility. It gives them a decadent feel... A *feel*, mind you. I don't know if the curves are for aesthetics alone since I don't have 24th century warp theory to go by.

Galaxy's enormity gives it an opulence that perfectly reflects apparent Federation society of the late 2350s � and that of the US, circa late '80s.

Oddly enough, the ugly squashing of Galaxy into Nebula gave Nebula a utilitarian look that overwhelmed its opulent size and endeared it to me... I feel similarly to Miranda.

Ambassador always looked like an abandoned child: its shape a necessary stepping stone between Excelsior and Galaxy.

Excelsior looked fine to me as a testbed, where such ugliness is a part of utility. As a class, though? Nah. And 1701-B? Ick!... Still, I loved when Sulu came to the rescue with Excelsior. At that moment she was beautiful.

Defiant, the tough little ship. She got me to fantasize of flying through the stars, destroying the enemies of the Federation, much to my tortured and shamed pleasure. She's lovely for her look of brute strength, despite her problems with design continuity.

Akira is to new-wave for me to appreciate. I recognize her superbly utilitarian design and her aesthetics. Yet I can't imagine commanding her. It's entirely my own limitation.

I loved the attempt of the Steamrunner and Norway designs to break up the Fed design monotony. Yet I am capable if appreciating them even less than Akira. Again, my own limitation.

Oberth never seemed practical to me. And Intrepid's fattened-swan shape with small nacelles just turned me off.

TOS Constitution had a flimsy feel that somehow added to her authenticity. Her movie refit was sexy and felt like the point where Fed warp designs began their spiral of decadence... Still, these were the designs that began my life-long obsession with Trek and I love them both. (Dates me, don't it?)

Talking about flimsy, Daedalus is flimsy. Of the on-screen designs seen, I'd have to say this is my favorite. I know she's not strictly cannon, as she's only been seen as a desk top model on DS9. Still, she brings to mind a time in Fed history where nothing is known, the galaxy is ripe for new discovery; yet the newly formed and hope-filled Federation is out there, defying the unknown. Of the ships, this is the one that, to me, truly defines the purpose of the Federation; and the one I'd most wish to command.

And yet... My parents had an original Star Fleet Technical Manual, published in 1975. Its pages were repeatedly marred by my youthful exuberance; many young fantasies were shaped by the ship designs on those pages. Of course, the Federation class � supposedly being even more powerful than Constitution � was the center of many of those fantasies. "Captain Darby of USS Directorate". For that reason, it's always had a special place; and is my favorite of the non-cannon designs... However, (with one exception) all attempts by fans to export the design to other times or modify the multi-nacelle idea I have found extremely distasteful; repulsive, even. This includes my own aborted attempts. I always saw her as a brilliant but failed experiment in warp ship design, one Star Fleet would never repeat. I guess that's why Masao Okazaki's Wasp from the StarFleet Museum is the one exception to my generalized distaste of three nacelle designs: its invented history is one of qualified failure.

Of the given choices, I vote for Nebula.

My opinions, that's all... Long-winded opinions.

Defiant, without a doubt. Probabily the most maneuvarable ship in Trek. Might be small, but is tough as nails and has attitude too!

Think wolvereine in the X-men, he may have the least flashyness, but he has attitude and most blokes if asked would wanna be him if they could!

Akira ofcourse! She has a great size, not to small not to big. She has a nice streamlined look, with a nice arc finishing the look. This ship has mulitple photon torpedo launchers and can take a big punch before she goes down. I just like the design, and the Akira would be the ship you would see most when facing me in botf2, when i am the federation and have the required technology.

I agree the Akira is very cool. Quite businesslike, yet nice to look at.

There comes a time in life, when choices present a problem. Should I go for the big one? Or should I go for the pretty one?

The same is true of trek. Hands down, Voyager is by far the best series, and Voyager is a cool ship - just not the best. The nacelles are just too...small

It kinda looks like one of the original ideas for the Enterprise-D, where they wanted the nacelles to be ultra small, to show that warp technology has improved (Minaturisation) I for one, do not think that warp drive will ever become small. It is meant to be a biiiiiiig engine!

Anyway, my ship order would be: -

Akira (It has a saucer, it has a...wait, where is it's primary hull gone? Cool, a ship without it's insides!)
Prometheus (Who would say no to a fleet of ships in it's own right?)
Sovereign (Big brother needs more screen time. Movies just aren't enough anymore)
Defiant (It shoots, it destroys!)
Excelsior (Prototypes are where it all begins)
Intrepid (Sleek, modern, and yet somehow stretched and sqaushed at the same time)
Nebula (Hmm...something is missing...)
Galaxy (Wow! a cruise liner that can fight? Well who would have thought?)
Ambassador (She was made to fill in the gap. Nothing but filler...)
NX (Some say it looks similar to the Akira, but I laugh in the face of this besmirchment of the beautiful Akira. And how did it get so...modern? It's meant to be old!)

Well that's my listing. I know that some of you disagree (You've already said) some of you may agree (Get an Ambulance, I feel faint) and some of you are just in quiet disagreement withyourself(ves)

I just hope that the Akira or Prometheus will be in, that's all.

Voyager best series...

1)Sovereign,(their close) 2)Galaxy, and 3)Defiant (that boyish, fighting streak in me). their each their in their own niche and i'd command any in a second but to me...You don't "command" the defiant, you take it out to fight from a star base but it's not so much a "commanding" ship.
-Jega