Right Lords Ladies and Sovereigns, let’s get right into it, we’re covering a ship we’ve
never touched before somehow; we’re going to talk about the Enterprise.
[dun-dun-DUNN]
NOPE, Nope nope, none of that; this one might actually make some members of the
Old Guard very very happy. Yes, you guessed it right: no bloody B, C, D,
E, F, or G (this is your only chance to hear me say that, STOP COMMENTING,
it’s NOT FUNNY after a 100 times) It’s Fonzy’s favourite, the USS Enterprise-ayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.
[badum t’ss] Did I do good there,
YouTube? I hope so. Jack won’t let me have any replicator rations if I don’t.
The Enterprise-A was of course the second Federation Starship to bear
the name Enterprise. Of course, she succeeded the original Federation Starship Enterprise,
which had a lasting legacy and easily became one of the most legendary starships within Starfleet,
if not the entire galaxy. But what was the legacy of the Enterprise-A
and where did it inevitably end up? The ship was launched in 2286,
but then seemed to be decommissioned in 2293, a mere seven years after her launch.
Oh well, at least she didn't blow up! Poor Stardrive...
I mean, as Enterprises go these days, seven years, that’s not to
bad… I mean yes I am looking at you Enterprise-D and the Enterprise-F…
gone too soon! Anyway, let’s look at the history of the U.S.S Enterprise-A and why
her legacy might be more important than any other ship that carries the name Enterprise.
Except for the original *cough*
Kirk: Second star to the right, and straight on till morning.
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Welcome to Trek Central Lords Ladies and Sovereigns! I’m your host, Lt. Cmdr. Adam,
and as always before we warp into this video,
If you want to keep up to date on all the latest Star Trek news, lore and more,
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Okay, engage!
So in 2285 the original USS Enterprise was set to be decommissioned, after the damage suffered
during the battle in the Mutara nebula against Kirk’s most persistent enemy, Khan Noonien Singh.
This battle was between the USS Reliant under command of the Augment Khan and the USS Enterprise
under the command of Admiral James T. Kirk and his glasses. Spock would die in this battle,
sacrificing himself to save the Enterprise from the detonation of the genesis device,
a *Super Weapon* that would turn the Mutara Nebula into the Genesis Planet.
Spock’s photon Torpedo Coffin would be shot onto Genesis Planet during his funeral.
and the Enterprise would make its way back to Earth SpaceDock, damaged and in need of
repair. However after discovering that Spock's Katra, his Vulcan Soul, was embedded into the
body of Dr McCoy, Kirk and his crew would steal the Enterprise from Spacedock, sabotage their
intercepting ship the USS Excelsior, and bugger off to Genesis Planet giggling as they went.
However, not only would the Enterprise head to Genesis Planet, but also a Klingon called Kruge,
who wanted to seize this Weapon that had created Genesis Planet, tagged along as well.
The Enterprise would be disabled by Kruge and his Bird of Prey, but on offering surrender,
Kirk would set the ship to self-destruct while the Klingons were boarding it. Kirk and crew
would commandeer the Klingon's Bird of Prey, and watch as the USS Enterprise was destroyed.
*Cinematic Music plays*
Kirk: My god Bones. What have I done.
Bones: What you had to do.
After some temporal hijinks involving saving the planet by rescuing some whales,
Kirk would be demoted from Admiral to Captain,
and given command of a shiny new starship. This starship turned out to be the USS Enterprise A,
similarly a Constitution II Class like original USS Enterprise was before it.
The shakedown cruise for the Enterprise A, did not go well. It seems rushedly creating
a starship to thank a crew for saving Earth for the Nth time was not too good an idea.
*Adam Evil Giggle*
The Enterprise had to limp back to spacedock and would stay there for several additional
weeks to help fix the issues. Half the doors on the ship were malfunctioning, several control
interfaces did not work and the transporter was also nonfunctional.
And the last time the Enterprise was on a shakedown cruise and
its transporters had issues… it did... ah this happened.
Transporter Computer: Malfunction. Malfunction. Malfunction.
Kirk: Give it to me.
Kirk: More Signal!
Scotty: They're losing their pattern.
Rand: Oh no. They're forming.
*Horror Scream*
So then we skip to 2287 where the Enterprise was called into duty, despite still needing repairs,
in order to intervene in a kidnapping situation on Nimbus III. Nimbus III
was the so-called Planet of Galactic Peace, set in between the borders of
the Klingon Empire, the Romulan Star and Federation... Empires?
However this planet had quickly devolved into lawlessness, and was where diplomats
who had really passed their prime were sent to oversee, like St. John Talbot,
A disillusioned Federation representative and disgraced Klingon general, Korrd. These
representatives were seemingly kidnapped by the Galactic Army of Light, commanded by a
rogue Vulcan. However they were actually under the mental manipulation of this Vulcan, and willingly
joined his galactic army and created this fake kidnapping trap for the Federation Flagship.
It's all a bit weird.
The Enterprise was subsequently commandeered by the Galactic Army of Light, and its leader
revealed himself as the rogue Vulcan Sybok, who was Spock’s half brother.
Sybok had previously been interred at Ankeshtan K'til Vulcan criminal rehabilitation center, where
many “V'tosh ka'tur” or “Vulcans without Logic” were rehabilitated by the Vulcan Government.
However at Ankeshtan K’til, he was under the alias of “Xaverius”, presumably to protect
his fathers reputation as Federation Ambassador, because wouldn't that be embarrassing!
Sybok had previously tried to escape confinement
in 2259, with the help of a band of pirates. But this plan failed to work,
Probably because they took a trip on the wrong rocket ship.
though it seems that somehow he was able to escape from the Rehabilitation Center between 2259 and 2287.
Sybok would order the Enterprise to the mythical planet of Sha Ka Ree, which was
located at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. There they meet an entity who seemingly is God,
but upon needing a starship to escape this planetoid and not knowing who Kirk is,
it is clear that this entity is not God, but some being that is trapped at the centre of the galaxy.
And clearly just looking for a ride.
The Enterprise A, along with a Klingon Bird Of Prey manage
to defeat the entity, and return from Sha Ka Ree.
In 2293 the USS Enterprise A was to be retired, but sent on one final mission of Peace with the
Klingon Empire. The Klingon Empire had recently suffered from the destruction
of its moon of Praxis. This forced the Klingon Chancellor at the time,
A secret John Talbot having taken plastic surgery and assumed the name of Gorkon
to seek peace with one of the empire's strongest enemies of the Federation.
Not his plastic surgeon Though that would have been hillarious.
The Enterprise A was sent to rendezvous with Chancellor Gorkon’s ship “Kronos One”
and escort it to the planet of Khitomer, where it would sign the Khitomer Accords, (Originally it was meant to go to Earth though)
which ensured peace between the Klingon Empire and the Federation. However while on route to earth,
Kronos One was seemingly fired upon by the Enterprise A, and two armed assailants would beam
aboard the Klingon Ship, killing klingons in their path and assassinating the Klingon Chancellor.
Getting Peptol-Bismol all over the place
However this was a ploy by some high ranking officers in both the Empire and the Federation,
who did not want peace, and would frame Captain Kirk and Dr McCoy for
the assassination of Gorkon. Interestingly enough,
the Klingon Lawyer that defends Kirk is Colonel Worf. Though it is not stated on screen,
it is said that this man is the namesake and grandfather of our favourite Klingon, Worf.
I mean who else would it be?
Luckily the Enterprise A manages to slip past Klingon security and rescue
Kirk and McCoy from the Klingon Prison planet of Rura Penthe.
Alongside the USS Excelsior, the Enterprise A manages to defeat a Bird of Prey
carrying General Chang, who did not want peace between the Klingon Empire and the Federation,
and used his advanced new cloaking device, which allows the user to fire while still under cloak,
to frame the Enterprise A for firing on Kronos One.
This cloak was not perfect however, and combining a photon Torpedo with
some nebula gas scanning equipment, managed to make some homing torpedoes which could destroy
the cloaked ship. After this incident, the Enterprise A was set to be decommissioned,
and was the last time we saw this legendary ship, until fairly recently.
After it was decommissioned, the Enterprise-A was repaired and placed on proud display at the Fleet Museum
at Antham Prime. Atham Prime? Affam Prime? Athens Prime! Right in the middle of the olympics! Thats enough of that.
Jack Crusher: Oh Wow. This one, is my personal favourite.
Jack Crusher: Kirk's Enterprise.
Jack Crusher: All those perfectly clean retro lines.
Jack Crusher: Yep. I am definitely a Constitution Class Man.
Its Berth was, quite fittingly, located between the USS Excelsior and the USS Voyager in 2401.
Seemingly only the USS Enterprise A, D and NX-01 were stationed at the fleet museum, with the other
vessels named Enterprise having been destroyed or lost, such as the Enterprise C, the Original
Enterprise and seemingly the Enterprise E. The Enterprise E may have been stationed at the Fleet
Museum, but under the captaincy of Captain Worf, the vessel would remain in a bad state up to 2401.
Geordi: And obviously we can't use the Enterprise-E
Worf: That was not my fault.
While we are here, for completionist sake we should also mention that there is another
USS Enterprise-A in canon, and that is the Kelvin Timeline USS Enterprise A.
After the USS Enterprise NCC-1701 was destroyed over the planet of Altamid by
disillusioned ex-MACO officer Balthasar Edison, and after Kirk and crew had managed to put a
stop to Edison's plans of destroying Starbase Yorktown in order to bring the galaxy back to
the era of struggle and war he had grown up with during the Romulan and Xindi Wars in the 2150s,
Kirk had refused a promotion to Vice Admiral
Kirk: Vice Admirals don't fly do they?
Commodore Paris: No, they don't.
Kirk: Where's the fun in that?
I tend to agree.
Starfleet, for their efforts of saving Yorktown and the numerous inhabitants from
a biological weapon called the Abronath, and solving a mystery that goes all the way back
to the Enterprise Era of the disappearance of Edison, his crew, and the USS Franklin NX-326,
would sign off on the construction of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-A.
Though this is a video on the Fate of the Enterprise-A, we don’t know what happens
next. We’ll seemingly have to keep waiting until Star Trek 4 comes out, if it ever does.
However that was the legacy and fate of the USS Enterprise As! What do you think of this
ship and its legacy? Would you have liked to see the A get one last hurrah, like the Enterprise-D
and have helped face down the Borg threat in Picard Season 3?
As ludicrously outclassed as it may or may not have been.
Or would a centuries old ship
ship taking on a mega-borg cube be a little too much? Let us know in the comments below!
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! You can also follow us on social media, or join our Community Discord Server!
And don't forget to check out our Twitch channel too!
For now, I’ve been Lt. Cmdr. Adam, thanks for watching and
we’ll see you next time! Live Long and prosper my friends!