It takes more than mirror dimensions, jumps through time, and crash landings to stop the
Enterprise's legacy. The Federation flagship's history goes deeper than you may realize.
There have been ships named the Enterprise as far back as the early 1700s, such as the British
Royal Navy's HMS Enterprise. In the United States, the world's first nuclear-powered
aircraft carrier was the USS Enterprise, which became a key location in Star Trek IV:
The Voyage Home. The space shuttle Enterprise was the first spacefaring ship to bear the name,
both in Star Trek and in the real world. Of course, the real one was named after
the starship in the series, thanks to a letter-writing campaign from fans.
With a registry of XCV-330, the first deep space starship to go by the name Enterprise is seen in a
series of images in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, as well as in Captain Forrest's office on Star
Trek: Enterprise. The only physical representation of the vessel so far is in JJ Abrams' Star Trek:
Into Darkness, where a model of the early Enterprise appears on the desk of Admiral Marcus.
Though little is known about this pre-Federation starship,
we do know that it was based on an unused design from series artist Matt Jefferies
before he settled on the Enterprise used in the 1966 TV series.
Before the launch of Star Trek: Enterprise in 2001,
fans had always believed that Kirk's Constitution Class Enterprise was the
first Starfleet vessel to go by that name. But in a major retcon,
the series introduced Starfleet's first flagship — the NX-01— proudly bearing the name on its hull.
Earth's first-ever Warp 5 starship engine was designed by Henry Archer — a protege
of the original warp drive creator, Zefram Cochrane. But there were many doubts about
moving forward during the engine's development. Were it not for the efforts of Henry's son,
Jonathan Archer, and former rival pilot A.G. Robinson,
it may have been scrapped altogether. Jonathan would later become the ship's first captain.
Launched in 2151 on a mission to deliver an injured Klingon back to his people,
the NX-01 lacked most of the advanced technology fans are familiar with from other shows,
like energy shields, photon torpedoes, and tractor beams. Despite this, the ship still managed to
become legendary. It served at the forefront of the Xindi War, paving the way for the Vulcans,
Andorians, and Tellarites to eventually form the United Federation of Planets. According to the
series finale, this Enterprise was decommissioned in 2161 and placed into a fleet museum.
The original USS Enterprise may not be the first one to exist chronologically in Star Trek canon,
but it is the most famous. Its groundbreaking design by Matt
Jefferies combined classic sci-fi tropes to form an instantly recognizable silhouette.
It was aboard the original that Trek fans first learned about
phasers, photon torpedoes, and transporters. But interestingly,
when it was initially developed by series creator Gene Roddenberry,
it was designed to be a ship with a history, with James T. Kirk being its third captain.
For three years on Star Trek, the ship traveled to strange new worlds, seeking new life and new
civilizations. While much of its design may seem dated today, the starship lives on in
the hearts and minds of Trekkies. So much so that it was lovingly recreated in episodes of
other Star Trek series, though it would see a new look when Star Trek warped to the movies.
Thanks to reruns in the 1970s renewing the series' popularity, a revival of Star
Trek was launched in theaters. With a bigger budget and a bigger screen, a new design for
the Starship Enterprise was in order. After some radically different concepts were considered, an
updated version of the original was chosen — with some streamlined shapes and a lot more detail.
In fact, the remodel of the Enterprise serves as a major plot point in Star Trek:
The Motion Picture. The film opens after an 18-month retrofit, where the starship
was reconstructed from nearly the ground up. As a result, new captain William Decker objects to
Kirk's reassignment to the captain's chair because of his unfamiliarity with many of the new systems.
"Admiral,
this is an almost totally new Enterprise. You don't know her a tenth as well as I do."
"That's why you're staying aboard."
Sure enough, his lack of knowledge does
wind up causing problems during the refitted Enterprise's first mission.
Eventually, this updated starship became a fan favorite in its own right. But while Kirk
was forced to destroy it to stop a gang of marauding Klingons in Star Trek III:
The Search for Spock, it was replaced with the USS Enterprise-A — first seen in the
final moments of the 1986 film, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. The Enterprise-A is
nearly identical to its predecessor — save for some interiors — and it began a long-standing
tradition of tacking on an alphabetic suffix to new starships in the line.
The next Enterprise fans saw was the Enterprise-D, which debuted just a year later in Star Trek:
The Next Generation. We would hear nothing about Enterprise-B until the cast of The
Next Generation moved to the big screen themselves in 1994's Star Trek: Generations.
"I was out saving the galaxy when your grandfather was in diapers.
Besides which, I think the galaxy owes me one."
Star Trek: Generations opens with the first flight of Enterprise-B.
A state-of-the-art starship of the same class as the Excelsior in Star Trek III,
this new Enterprise was captained by John Harriman. Though its first
mission was originally planned as little more than a trip around the solar system,
it got forced into a rescue effort when a strange phenomenon threatened a nearby ship.
Swinging into action, Captain Kirk saves the day,
sacrificing himself to save the endangered ship. Though a lot of other media has explored the
further adventures of Captain Harriman and the Enterprise-B — including its helmswoman Demora,
the daughter of Captain Sulu — we have yet to learn more about it on screen.
The Enterprise-C is only seen once, in the third season of Star Trek:
The Next Generation. In the acclaimed episode "Yesterday's Enterprise," Captain Jean-Luc
Picard and the Enterprise-D encounter a rift in space through which the Enterprise-C emerges,
having traveled forward 22 years and altering history.
In this diverged timeline, the Federation is on the losing end of a decades-long war
with the Klingons, and the disappearance of the Enterprise-C is a big reason why. As it turns out,
the Enterprise-C — under the command of Captain Rachel Garrett — came to the aid of a Klingon
outpost that was under attack. Eventually this action led to peace with the Federation.
Ultimately, after Garrett is killed in the divergent timeline, Enterprise-C returns to the
past to fulfill its destiny and restore history. Despite history recording the loss of all hands,
we learn that survivors from the Enterprise-C were taken prisoner
on Romulus. This included an alternate version of Tasha Yar from Enterprise-D,
who would eventually give birth to the villainous Commander Sela. Like its
predecessor, what we learn in this episode is all we officially know of that ship.
The Enterprise-D of Star Trek: The Next Generation was designed by Andrew Probert — a protege of Star
Wars concept designer Ralph McQuarrie. McQuarrie had been hired to conceptualize the new Enterprise
for the first Star Trek movie and recommended Probert to join the film's design team. Probert
sketched up an early idea for a new ship that later formed the basis for the Enterprise-D.
Nearly twice as large as Kirk's classic Enterprise, this 24th-century Galaxy Class
starship could go much faster and had a new feature that allowed the saucer to separate
from the body of the ship during a crisis. The Enterprise-D was outfitted with plenty
of new technology too, with its holodecks becoming a Star Trek staple. It was the
first starship to house an entire community onboard, even including schools. Incredibly,
this Enterprise also had a group of hyper-intelligent dolphins that helped
steer the ship. Though this section is only briefly mentioned and never seen.
"But, but, but…"
"Have you had a chance to see the dolphins yet? This is something you really don't want to miss."
"Deck Seven." "Dolphins? Yes, but…"
Commanded by Captain Picard, the Federation flagship is seen through all seven seasons
of The Next Generation, along with Star Trek: Generations. However, in the climax of the movie,
the Enterprise-D crashes on Veridian III, sustaining catastrophic damage.
Star Trek: The Next Generation saw few dramatic changes during its first move
to cinemas with Star Trek: Generations. But for its follow-up, Star Trek: First Contact,
they were given a facelift. In addition to an entirely new uniform design, Picard and
his crew received the USS Enterprise-E. This Sovereign Class vessel marked a departure from
the smooth design of other TNG starships in favor of a more militant, angular ship.
Created by illustrator John Eaves — who would also contribute designs for Star Trek:
Picard and Star Trek: Discovery — the Enterprise-E possessed cutting-edge
weapons like quantum torpedoes. It even went toe-to-toe with the Borg on its first adventure!
Enterprise-E remained the hero of the rest of the Next Generation films and was eventually
consigned to diplomatic duties during the Dominion War, as seen on Deep Space Nine.
During its time in the movies, the crew of the Enterprise-E largely remained the same as
on The Next Generation. And while we know its service continued for some years beyond that,
its further adventures have never been explored officially.
When Star Trek: Picard premiered in 2020, it was the first time we'd seen the franchise dip
its toe into the events that followed its final TNG feature film. Many had high hopes of seeing
a new starship Enterprise, though the first two seasons of the series didn't give audiences that
gift. However, Trekkies finally got what they were hoping for in the third trailer for the
show's third season: a first look at the all-new Odyssey Class starship, the USS Enterprise-F.
"I now prefer pacifism to combat."
"We're all gonna die."
The direct successor to Picard's Enterprise seen in the films, this new flagship is the
first Enterprise to voyage in the 25th century. While its appearance brought applause from fans,
it's not actually the first time we've seen it. It was first introduced in
2012 as a playable starship in a Star Trek: Online mission titled "The Odyssey Class."
The design for the starship came from Floridian concept artist and sculptor Adam Ihle and was
the winner of a fan contest in July of 2012. A natural evolution of the Sovereign Class,
it's a heavy cruiser that, in the game, was developed to be the most powerful starship
in Starfleet. Now, the design is the latest successor in the Enterprise legacy onscreen.
In the Season 1 finale of Star Trek: Discovery, fans got a jaw-dropping surprise with the arrival
of the classic Enterprise commanded by Captain Pike — James T. Kirk's immediate predecessor.
But the Discovery version of the iconic starship was updated for modern audiences. Eventually,
Captain Pike, Mr. Spock, and Number One got their own spinoff in Star Trek:
Strange New Worlds, set aboard this refurbished Enterprise.
Canonically it's the same Enterprise that was commanded by Kirk in the original Star Trek,
but this time, its differences are not the result of a refit or maintenance overhaul.
According to news site TrekMovie, producers felt it was important to update the design
to keep up with audience expectations in the 2020s. Mixing retrofuturism with 1960s
interior design, they managed to reinvigorate the original Enterprise.
The biggest changes include its swept-back nacelle pylons and the physical windows on
the bridge — a feature first seen in the JJ Abrams films. While just about every
aspect of the ship has been updated, set designers and artists made sure to evoke
Kirk's original in many ways. Although it's divisive among some fans for its many changes,
this new sleeker ship is now the face of the 23rd-century Enterprise.
In 2009's Star Trek, the Enterprise got a facelift when JJ Abrams rebooted the franchise on the big
screen. The film brought the series back to its roots, showing us an alternate timeline
where a younger Star Trek crew first set foot on a newly remodeled starship Enterprise.
Redesigned from the ground up by concept artist Ryan Church, the ship has been
dubbed the "JJ-prise" by fans. It kept the traditional silhouette but with bigger,
smoother curves and bulbous warp nacelles. It's also much more technologically advanced,
featuring a clear glass viewscreen on the bridge that allows the crew to look directly
into space. This major departure from previous starship designs has since become standard,
carrying over into new ships in the Prime Timeline, past and future.
Though it's initially captained by Christopher Pike, Kirk would sit in the captain's chair by
the end of the first film and again in its two sequels. In service through Star Trek Beyond,
the ship was damaged beyond repair by the villain Krall and replaced by a
new Enterprise-A, which is seen only briefly in the film's final moments.
Given its nature as science fiction, Star Trek has glimpsed into its own future more than once,
showing us a few Enterprises outside of the main timelines. Some exist far off into a future we may
never see onscreen, while some exist in now-erased alternate futures. In the Star Trek: The Next
Generation finale, for example, we're introduced to a then-future version of the Enterprise-D with
a radical refit boasting three nacelles and a new, massive phaser weapon under the saucer.
But the most notable future Enterprise might be one we only got a brief look at in an episode
of Star Trek: Enterprise. During the Xindi War storyline, Captain Archer was pulled into the
far future and onto the USS Enterprise-J — a ship carrying on the Enterprise legacy
400 years into Archer's future. According to the time-traveling agent Daniels, this ship
was part of a battle that drove a malevolent race called the Sphere Builders back to their
own realm. In this future, the Enterprise-J even had members of the Xindi among its crew.
Though little else is officially known about the Enterprise-J,
the starship eventually made its way into the Star Trek: Online game and has its own model
produced by Eaglemoss. With Star Trek: Discovery now set in the 32nd century,
we may get to see newer versions of the Enterprise even further into the future.
From the past to the present and the far future, we've seen Enterprises of all kinds. But there are
even stranger versions of the Federation flagship that have been the focus of several adventures.
These variant vessels usually originate in bizarre alternate realities and parallel dimensions, and
they have a long history themselves. The first one appeared way back in the acclaimed 1967 episode
"Mirror, Mirror," which saw the ISS Enterprise under the command of a tyrannical Captain Kirk.
"Has the whole galaxy gone crazy? What kind of a uniform is this?
Where's your beard? What's going on? Where's my personal guard?"
"I can answer none of your questions at this time."
That same mirror universe was revisited in a 2005 two-part episode of Star Trek:
Enterprise, which saw a variant of the NX-01 under the command of
Maximillian Forrest. Forrest is usurped by his first officer Jonathan Archer,
who — after taking over the ship — gets caught in a power struggle with the Vulcan, T'Pol. Another
time-ravaged alternate future NX-01 was also seen in the Enterprise episode "E-Squared."
Though The Next Generation never ventured into the mirror universe,
we did witness untold numbers of Enterprises from other parallel
universes in the episode "Parallels"— one of which had been decimated by the Borg.