Star Trek: 10 Secrets Of The USS Stargazer

Okay, okay this is also not really about the Stargazer, but this stuff kind of flows, right?

The fleet that joins the USS Stargazer in "The Star Gazer" and "Farewell" has been talked about endlessly (see Seán Ferrick's enthusiastic "Up") and there's a whole video/listicle just waiting for someone to write (*cough*). But let's just touch on the fleet briefly here because it's still one of the best parts of Star Trek: Picard season two...

According to an interview with production designer Dave Blass conducted by Inverse's Ryan Britt, the Stargazer's fleet was a response to online fans' negative reaction to the fleet of nearly identical Inquiry-class ships that appeared at the end of Star Trek: Picard season one:

I know that there's a lot of practical reasons why things happen, but I was like, okay, I wonder if there's a way to solve this problem. To turn the obstacle into an opportunity. I found these ships from Star Trek Online and I was like damn, these are really good lookin. I was like "why are we not doing something here?"

With limited resources available to the effects department, Star Trek: Picard's producers turned to Star Trek Online's group of talented artists who upgraded several starships from the game to appear alongside the Stargazer. The producers also received aid from Eaglemoss' Star Trek Starships Collection which provided the show with digital models of ships like the Akira-class. All in response to fan outcry over the so-called "cut-and-paste" armada from Star Trek: Picard "Et In Arcadia Ego, Part II".

So the next time you wonder if Star Trek spaceships are worth an angry rant on Twitter...