With the 20th anniversary of Star Trek Enterprise almost upon us
we’re taking the time to look at some of the best aspects of the series,
and what better way to start than with a special version of the starship Enterprise
that Captain Jonathan Archer commanded while he and his crew made history with every light year.
Hello everyone, my name is Captain Jack, and welcome to Trek Central!
Today we’re talking about The NX-01 Enterprise,
an iconic starship at the forefront of the Star Trek Enterprise series that aired almost 20 years ago this year.
The ship certainly had an interesting design and a lot of history that went with it.
More specifically,
we’ll be diving into a version of the starship that we never got to see.
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Alright, let’s hit it!
While i’d want to slip some Faith of the Heart in this video, we’ll save it and jump straight into the topic.
The NX-01 refit.
This is the ship we’ll be talking about today,
and some of you might have seen it before, while others might have not.
Before we do, let’s add some context to why we never got to see this ship on our screens
during the run of Star Trek Enterprise.
The series of Star Trek Enterprise kicked off in September 2001,
with Scott Bakula’s Jonathan Archer taking the helm as the
Captain of Humanities first Warp 5 starship,
the NX-class Enterprise.
Before the Federation and the likes of Captain Kirk and Mr Spock,
the crew of the NX-01 Enterprise would find themselves making those early steps
and really making history with every light year.
Enterprise as a series would last for only 4 seasons,
sadly being cut short and canceled before it could continue on the typical Star Trek run
of 7 seasons,
much like Voyager, DS9 and The Next Generation.
Due to the cancellation of Enterprise,
, fans never got to see the future fate of the NX-01 Enterprise and it’s crew.
Future Seasons would likely have explored the Romulan - Earth War,
as well as more development towards the founding of the United Federation of Planets.
But also, we never got to see what would happen to The Enterprise itself,
as it evolved closer to what we know as the first USS Enterprise,
aka the one Captain James T. Kirk famously commanded.
The NX-01 Refit,
seen on screen right now, might be a ship you have seen before.
While it never has officially appeared on screen in Star Trek media,
it is widely recognized by Trekkies as the next evolution of the NX-01 design,
which of course would eventually lead to the constitution-class USS Enterprise which we all know and love.
So how did this design and refit come about?
Well, Doug Drexler, who designed the original NX-01 starship
and many Star Trek vessels had an early concept for the development of the Enterprise that was never really used on the show.
He had the idea that by the end of the fourth season of the series,
the starship would be put into drydock for a major refit.
Essentially after 4 years out in space, exploring the unknowns and dealing with a major conflict
it would be time to upgrade the ship based on everything they had learned.
While the NX-01 refit model never made it on screen,
Doug Drexler did assist on building the model for the Polar Lights collection,
as well as the Hero Collector Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection.
A little fun fact,
an actual CGI Render of the ship was created for the official Star Trek: Ships of the Line calendar.
Given the ship appeared in the 2011 Ships of the Line Calendar,
many assumed that if Enterprise had been renewed for a fifth season,
then the refit NX-class design would have been featured.
Though Doug Drexler himself had put down this idea,
simply pointing out to many that there never was any official plans to refit the starship
and it was simply a nice thing that he and many would have liked to have seen on screen.
Drexler would go on to say that the Enterprise NX-01 refit was the Enterprise that could,
and that many people say should, have been.
The refit is the closest thing to a canon starship that doesn't fully qualify,
as it was designed by the NX’s original designer
and models by a member of the ENTERPRISE’s VFX team.
Several former Star Trek creative staff members would go on to help design
and help Drexler with the NX-refit,
like Mike Okuda,
who was responsible for the design of signage graphics reminiscent
of what was seen on Starfleet Federation ships in The Original Series,
which Drexler had always wanted to do in the first place.
The inclusion of the NX-refit class in the Eaglemoss aka Hero Collector
official Star Trek Starships Collection
in 2016 was a testament to the status the design had attained in the fandom of Star Trek.
Doug Drexler was even sent a fan-created CGI video in 2017,
which he was thrilled by.
The NX-refit would even live on in Star Trek Online,
the popular MMO played by many Trekkies around the world.
Let's talk about the design for a second.
The main noticeable design difference between the NX-class and the Refit-class
was the addition of the secondary hull,
which bore a resemblance to the Constitution-class.
This was likely done to draw a comparison to the future Enterprise for viewers,
showing how the starship would evolve and give birth to that design.
The new hull of the refit had a deep rear undercut,
allowing it to be positioned in the Warp Field’s secondary node while in flight.
A brand new and more powerful navigational deflector dish was added,
which can be compared visually to the Constitution-class's dish.
The new secondary hull would house a larger, newer, more advanced warp core
which would see the NX Enterprise have access to speeds in excess of Warp Factor Six,
a large achievement for Humanity’s first Warp Five starship, originally.
The connection point of the secondary hull would fit with the dorsal connector,
attached to the saucer where the original NX shuttlebay would be.This caused the shuttlepod drop bays, seen many times in Enterprise,
to be moved to either side of it.
Technology wise, the class would have been fitted with deflector shields of Andorian Design.
The Vucans would also see that a tractor beam, designed by them, was also fitted.
So we would finally say so long to the NX-01s Iconic grappler.
However complications could arise as the Andorian shields distorted the targeting system.
Eventually, all issues were resolved
thanks to the work by Doctor Tobin Dax,
yes that Dax, and a skilled engineering team.
These upgrades and adventures were explored in the Enterprise Novel “A Choice of Futures”
Now in Beta Canon, which is the Star Trek Extended Canon, mainly via books and other short stories.
The NX-01 Refit was actually named the Columbia-class,
which served as a United Earth Starship.
The ship class was one of the very first to serve the newly formed Federation Starfleet,
following the formation of the United Federation of Planets in 2161.
2156 saw Enterprise receive the upgrade.
The Class was named after the NX-02, known as the Columbia,
was lost in action.
We’ve got a video on that starship and it’s tragic fate coming very soon,
be sure to keep up to date by hitting that subscribe button.
Several years later, in 2162,
the refit USS Endeavor which at the time was under the command of Captain T’pol
would be one of the last NX-refits to be upgraded to the Columbia-class frame.
All future vessels of this time would be based off of the new Columbia-class.
Admiral Archer saw the fleet modernization program as a top priority for Starfleet,
therefore eight new Columbia-class starships were put into construction.
Those vessels would be named as the following,
the USS Buran, USS Shillong, USS Apollo,
USS Soyuz, USS Ares, USS Charybdis,
USS Phoenix and finally the USS Valiant
All ships would be finished by 2167,
or beforehand with many of them serving starfleet and the Federation in the many missions to come.
Star Trek Online, which takes place in the 25th Century,
allows players to take command of Columbia-class Escorts
which have been refitted for modern times.
. In 2410, as a result of the Temporal Cold Wars and also the Iconian War,
the original NX-02 Columbia had returned to active service,
which saw the starship being retrofitted with 25th century technology.
Via STO canon, which is it’s own storyline,
the Columbia-class would receive multiple refits for different times.
The appearance of the ship featured prototype components,
which would share visual design language with starships such as the Oberth-class science vessel.
Let us know what you think of the NX-01 refit in the comment section below.
Personally, I’m a massive fan of the Columbia-class and wish we could have seen it on screen.
. Then again, with the ever evolving new golden age of the Star Trek franchise,
it might be possible to see this iconic design on our screens sometime soon.
Who knows, anything surely is possible.
You can find all the reference points we used for this video in the description below,
including some fantastic books to check out that explore and continue the story of Star Trek Enterprise
As the year of 2021 marches on, and we get closer to Enterprise’s anniversary, expect more videos like this from myself and the team.
That wraps up our video on the NX refit aka the Columbia-class for today.
It’s always fun to explore these starship designs,
how they could fit into Star Trek canon and much more. If you like this ship,
don’t forget our good friends over at Hero Collector have a model available for purchase.
If you want to keep up to date on all the latest Star Trek news, lore and more, then make sure to hit that subscribe button
to never miss a video from the team here at Trek Central!
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For now, I’ve been Captain Jack, thanks for watching and we’ll see you next time! Live Long and prosper my friends!