It's probably my favorite "Starfleet" Starfleet ship; the Defiant holds a special place in my cold, black heart- but the Akira-class gets at least a ventricle
2:41 Obviously the Federation wouldn't stand an onslaught by hundreds or thousands of Borg cubes... but for an in-universe explanation on why they didn't send more than one, maybe the Borg had much more powerful enemies that got priority? The Voth had technology far ahead of the other Delta Quadrant factions and would pose a real threat to the Borg. I was watching a DS9 episode earlier where a Jem'hadar said that very few of them live to be 30 due to losses in combat. They don't mention who they are fighting but for the Dominion to have so many casualties might suggest there are formidable powers in the Delta and Gamma quadrants we never got to see in canon.
I thought this too, both those factions had a lot of enemies close to home. We saw some of them in Voyager like as you say such as the Voth and that race who came up with that virus in the vinculum episode. If the bulk of the Borg fleet suddenly went missing I’m sure there are many out there who would take advantage. As for the Dominion, they too could have had huge losses to both the Herq and the Borg, the former most certainly.
The real answer is First Contact was supposed to have a full Borg invasion of the Federation but new torpedoes destroyed them leading to the same attempt to change time, because the Borg couldn't win. It was just cheaper for it to be one Borg ship. The idea of having torpedoes being able to destroy a Borg cube was then later used in Voyager.
@@SiXiam Yes, I’d forgotten about that! Quantum torpedoes were originally supposed to be the cube killers, streaming towards the fleet with rainbow like trails before creating a spectacular display on impact as each cube was split in two.
I mean, the Federation was on the other side of the Galaxy. Plenty of other races to assimilate close by and expand their empire. But also... like Species 8472 absolutely wrecked the Borg.
@@xxneroxxx4996The Akira didn't have a major weakness like the Defiant in the beginning. It would make a interesting show though. It's definitely capable of exploring but wouldn't be a good first contact ship. On the other hand The Enterprise was just as much of a battle ship as the Akira. All they'd need to do is name it the Columbia or Challenger and put it in the neutral zone during the brief cease in hostility with the Romulan Empire. Imagine that. Starfleet exploring space that the Romulans only scanned and claimed.
I would have named them Akari, Akane, Hotaru, Haruhi, Uzaki, Himeko, and Mitsuki. You know, all the names American dubbing companies can never get right.
The Akira Class, Ladies and Gentlemen…the “Great Experiment”…or, as some of us would like to call the “USS Pinto” Class, for reasons I’ll list here. Whoever designed this class wasn’t playing with a full deck; 3 fries short of a Happy Meal. The nacelles are so far away from the general profile of the ship, they’re laid completely bare & exposed for all the galaxy to see. They aren’t well protected at all from either stray meteorites, comet showers, space debris, or even enemy fire. You go zipping around in space in one of these sailing death traps, you’re just asking for trouble. You’ve painted a target on yourself the moment you beam onboard the ship. If something hits either (totally exposed) warp nacelles, they blow up…& take YOU with the rest of the ship! One wrong fender bender, one wrong ding…& the ship blows up…&, again, takes YOU along with it in about 2.3 seconds. They don’t tell you what the ship is made out of! Explodium, Crashium, Boomium, I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butterium, Flying Exploding Computer Console Rocksium, Eeekium, Oh Sh*tium, Uh-Ohium, Why Me-ium, Pinto Partsium, Tinfoil, Toilet Tissue Rolls, Cardboard, Tissue Paper…& our ever-loving favorite…BlowUpium. Jut stick some clueless Ensign Redshirts on those ships.,,& they’ll be fine!! Trust me😁😁🤣🤣😜😜😂😂😝😝!! Would I lie to you?? I think whoever designed this flying death trap doesn’t have a clue on what can go wrong with the ship…& maybe isn’t the smartest tool in the shed. You wouldn’t catch me on one of those USS Ford Pintos…
@@michaelaldredge-greenwell1692 ) "They're launching the XR-2300. Do you know what that is, doctor?" "The muffler bracket for a '79 Pinto?" "No, that's the XR-2200, the 2300's the lunar shuttle. It's got to be stopped." -Airplane 2
The Akira are my all time favorite ships. When I played Star Trek Starship Creator, the Akira class USS Cheyenne was my flagship and the one I used for the majority of my missions. I even have a 3D printed model of an Akira on my bookshelf.
In my mind, the Akira would have become the new backbone of Starfleet following the Dominion War due to its inherent versatility. While it is obviously a powerful warship, its unusually large hangar bay would also make it an excellent supply vessel during peacetime. It would be the perfect choice for overseeing the construction of star bases or the establishment of colonies on the frontiers of Federation space since it could simultaneously transport a large amount of heavy equipment and provide an excellent defence against potential threats.
To be entirely honest, the Akira is a perfect peacetime vessel. What could be more peaceful than the knowledge that the ship you are interacting with could, at any point, decide you do not need to exist any further and there would be very little you could do about it. Speak softly, but carry a big stick. The Akira class is not a big stick, it is the entire tree.
The Akira class is no doubt in my top three of TNG/DS9/VOY era Federation starships. It such a unique design that ILM’s Alex Jaeger knocked out of the park (with a grand slam). For a ship that was supposed to be background noise she’s certainly become a fan favorite of Star Trek fans. I absolutely purchased Eaglemoss’ regular and XL variants of the ship, plus flown an Akira class countless hours in Star Trek Online. THAT is how much of a lasting impression the ship left on me.
My sole issue is that it was clearly an inspiration for the NX class. This breaks wuth overall Starfleet design trends over the centuries in the franchise.
I kinda feel like they set it up for success. It was arguably the most prominent vessel in that battle besides the Defiant and the -E. Plus the Thunderchild gets two pretty up close action shots when they're firing on the secret Picard area of the cube.
To be entirely honest, I didn't really care much about it until I actually read the specs. The concept of a ship with that many torpedo phase and that much ammo is just amazing. It's less a ship and more like fury incarnate.
I love that for the Borg fleet designs Starfleet took queues from the more combat focused races and naval doctrine from Earth's history. Mostly taking from the Klingon. The Defiant was clearly a Federation Bird-of-Prey and the Akira was the Vor'cha.
@@GreyPon3Isn’t it the other way around? I mean IRL the Akira came before the NX. I think I read somewhere that they decided to make the NX similar to the Akira. I would have liked a show with an Akira as the hero ship. Or a nice animated Riker show with him as the Captain with the Luna Class Titan.
The Akira was one of the most interesting designs we have seen in Star Trek, but one of the most underused. It really is the sort of ship that makes you wish it could have been a hero ship in a decent spin off series. Maybe we will one day.
@@Strobel09I don't think it would ever happen. Because let's be honest, it would just be Battlestar Galactica at that point. And also, if it ever came to combat, what the hell is going to actually survive dozens of torpedoes being launched at the same time as well as a fleet of fighters? Duking it out with a Galaxy class is like fighting a dog. Duking it out with a sovereign is like fighting a mongoose. Having to fight a competent Akira crew would be like fighting a bunch of hornets while the nest also throws miniature *suns* at you
2:03 Lt. Commander Adam, thank-you for featuring my ship, the U.S.S. Thunderchild, on your exposé today. We are a fighting ship, Sir, and we go in harm's way. Allons-y! -Commander Jay
Love the Akira, it's my number one favorite! Would love to see a video on the forgotten member of the Starfleet tactical development group, the Norway-class. Everyone forgets about it because it only showed up in First Contact, but it's a great ship!
Well now that you've done the Anti-Borg ships, how about the opposite side and do some of the relief ships like the Olympic class or the holoship from Insurrection.
By far the BEST looking ship of the DS9/VOY era. Not only does she look magnificent but she is a powerhouse as well and quite versatile. I only wished she would've been given more screen time or even her own show. 💔
Due to age/era - the Defiant was always my ship of choice, even to the point of thinking why bother with any other ship just build like 100,000 Defiants - and you're good. However the Arika has taken joint top place along with the Defiant - can't say it is better, no way can you say it is worse, but two different ships that can really support each other well in battle. Anti-Borg really comes down to technology and weapon power - and that makes no difference as to what ship it is on - now the design of the Arika, is very well done - finally they started designing ships for war fare - yes having ships to explore is all good and fine, but if you do not have dedicated battleships/cruisers to protect those ships and your borders you will find yourself invaded very quickly - umm all of Start Trek. In my mind, the Arika would be the main battle ship, making you 60% of the fleet, holding/engaging the main battle line - with the Defiant(being the faster more manoeuvrable ship) taking up flanking positions(in all directions - up, down, side's etc). While the Arika can lay a barge of fire directly at enemy ships, the defiant can flank, and unleash payloads in strafing runs along enemy lines(Use 20% of fleet for this - half of the Defiant in fleet - the other half stay to protect flanks from enemy ships trying the same). Once lines merge(i.e. chaos of battle) reverse thrust, pull Arika's back(with covering fire) while Defiants continue strafing runs, holding enemy ships backs from pursuing so that battle lines can be re-established.
I recall the Akira being debuted in Star Trek Magazine in the late 90’s, only to be renamed the NX-01 and gently redesigned before the show actually aired. So, if I’m remembering correctly, the Akira was first shown in the 90s, Adapted for Enterprise, then retconned as the Akira class. My two faves are the Akira and the (now) Saber Runner.
The Akira debuted in the film First Contact. The production crew liked its design so much, they tweaked it into the NX-01 while keeping the ships different.
Alex Yaeger worked at ILM and did work on First Contact. As part of the introduction of the Enterprise E thye wanted several other designs which would be visibly Starfleet but not confuse viewers with the new Enterprise. So we got the Akira, Steamrunner, Sabre and Norway classes for the battle of sector 001. The Akira became a fast favourite with fans but didn't get much main screen attention so when Enterprise the show was in development the heads pulled up the Akira and suggested that it should be the new NX-01 unchanged. The design side with Doug Drezler and John Eaves among others pushed back had on using a TNG movie ship and so it became a general outline/basis for the NX. THis also then plays in to suggest that perhaps the Akira designers were looking back to Archers ship for cues with their ship. If just throwing in the Akira unchanged sounds unlikely then remember that John Eaves was tasked with designing an earlier Klingon Battlecruiser and then instead they just used a K'tinga model from DS9 with no changes rather than create a CG model of Eaves D4 design.
The reason the Borg sent only one ship in First Contact started to make sense when we found out they were getting their asses kicked by Species 8472 at the time. Yes even the whole time travel but was an act of desperation. Come Picard Season 2 we learn the Borg Queen due to her Temporal Awareness knows of dead end timelines for the Borg.
This is my favorite Star Trek ship of all time. I played it a lot on STO and a long, long, long time ago, I did an online role-playing group that it became our ship, USS Ardnought (after we lost the ship named USS Titan. We had to have it "destroyed" because back then the organization was associated with Paramount and the ship was created before the TNG movie where Riker was to take command of the USS Titan). The one thing that it seems wasn't talked about is that the pod on top was interchangeable depending on the mission it was expected to take on.
About the changeling/Borg collaboration in S3 Picard…. Back in 2375, If only someone, a temporal agent perhaps, had warned Sloan that Dr Bashir DID NOT have the cure, or kept Sloan from visiting DS9. Then all the changelings would’ve died.
I've got the Alita strike wing escort in sto, easy my fav ship in the game. the photon torpedo pds, quantum artillery console from the Terran Lexington, quantum warhead module, and phased quantums with spread 3...i've got a stupid torpedo volley xD
Hey Adam, let's do a video on the ships in the anti-time future in "All Good Things..." like the Pasteur and the upgraded Negh'var killer Enterprise-D!
Akira class def my favourite Star Trek ship... and you know they bad ass when 1 flies off to hold off 3 romulan dedaradex warbirds all on its own in that voyager ep... Like its a ship thats supposedly a match or even more then a match for a Galaxy class and meanwhile an Akira is like... what 2?... hold my synthehol and flies head long into the fray.
I love how well it pairs with the Defiant, at least visually. The Akira-class looks mean and violent, it will deliver the pain. Meanwhile the Defiant-class are a cockroach. They are tough little bugs that can survive anything. Picturing a fleet charging at the enemy, Defiants in front absorbing everything that can be thrown at them while blasting with their cannons. And the Akiras are behind throwing out a flood of torpedoes...
I was pleasantly surprised to see and get to play the Akira class in Armada 1 & 2 since at the time the only cameo was First Contact. They made a great buffer ship while waiting for my Galaxy/Sovereign ships to be built. By the way my daughter’s name is Kira and she liked how the ship took on the Borg with no restraint. 😃
I like to think the Akira Class had some Inspiration from the NX Class Designs! Considering it has a similar 'Catamaran style' Secondary Hull with the Pod at the Rear
4:45 the fact that they finally canonized the rotary torpedo launcher here in this short clip from ‘Prodigy’ settled many disputes for decades since the Akita’s introduction.
When Eaglemoss started making ships, I was ready to pass since the didn't have anything eye-catching and previous attempts at Star Trek ship toylines petered out. And then I spotted the Akira and thus my starship collection exploded! Now, here I am almost 20 years later with somewhere around 500 ships from across multiple Fandoms and while the Akira didn't start my collection, it's release is when it started to get interesting.
If I want to suggest to people just how powerful an Akira can be I like to point to that battle in Message In A Bottle. That Starfleet knows the Prometheus is under Romulan control and being openly escorted by at least 3 D'Deridex warbirds. We know that a D'Deridex can generally outfight a Galaxy class, at least before Dominion War refits. So to retake or destroy the Prometheus they send a single Akira and a pair of production Defiants. Production versions being rather watered down compared to Siskos version which had the greatest person ever in Starfleet to temper its overgunning. Suggesting an Akira is on par with 4+ Galaxy class?
“We know a Romulan D’Deridex can generally outfight a Galaxy Class…”? Where the HELL did you come up with that lie?? And, don’t you DARE try to include ME in your “We”!! Forget that!! What gave you the dim idea that a Romulan warbird can outclass a Galaxy class?? In what universe?? Have you even SEEN at least ONE TNG episode?? Where are your facts? Who & what are your sources? I want to see your physical evidence on that statement. I want physical proof. I don’t think you have any. It’s all in your head. I suggest you delete your comment.
Making the torpedo launchers in the pod spin doesn’t do anything except make the ship less effective and reduce its torpedo capacity. The torpedo launchers are already designed to machine gun torpedoes out, so that pepperbox does nothing to make it fire faster
The defiant : we need to take the Borg seriously. We are still explorers but home security is a thing guys. The Akira : ok we tried to be nice but we ain't playing around anymore. Torpedoes for you and you and you. Everyone gets a torpedo! Sovereign class : Prostrate yourself before your king or be obliterated.
first view of your channel, and it was pretty entertaining. I just subscribed. Everyone here knows how much the narrator sounds like Kelsey Grammer, right? That's not just me?
We human scriptwriters have their imagination limited by their contemporary understanding of the human experience. As a result, they only grasp a limited number of plot lines.
Next should be a person reviewing of the greatest of all Star Trek chef Miles O’Brien from 1987 first show ( encounter at far point) next generations all way up to what you leave behind in 1999 in deep space nine The men was part of Star Trek 12 years
Another awesome video Lt. Commander Adam bravo sir. LOL @ the end of the video. That was pretty funny. Honestly this ranks as my second favorite Borg buster starships. The Defiant obviously being my favorite. At some point I really want to get Starcrafts Akira model and build that.
I can remember playing Star Wars TIE FIGHTER about the same time. And we got the absolutely mental missile boat in it, ill come back to that in a minute. I can remember seeing First contact in Wakefield Cineworld. Obviously the battle of sector 001 was amazing and then comes this ship. out of nowhere. just spaffing torpedoes all over the flipping shop. And i pointed to my mate and i was like "look at that! just look at the amount of torpedoes!" Later on while in burger king fawning over the details of the film i brought up *that* ship. I declared it to be starfleets version of the missile boat. just hilariously OP on ordnance. And turns out when i read the lore developed for it years later in the fact files and eaglemoss info, yep that was it pretty spot on. Calling it an akira class and naming it thunderchild also just made it even better.
talking about federation warship. I guess my favorite ship is more like just gimmick. USS Prometheus, the idea that you can separate your ship and hit 3 target at different place at the same then meet up later to assemble into 1 ship and bail.
The Borg are patient, and letting organisms preproduce naturally is more efficient than cloning. Maybe they were sending just one ship to determine when the Federation reached peak population to be turned into drones, while still not being able to fight off full invasion.
