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USS Enterprise
USS Enterprise
First appearance	"The Cage"
Information
Affiliation	United Federation of Planets
Launched	2245
General characteristics
Class	Constitution
Registry	NCC-1701
Armaments	Photon torpedoes Phasers
Defenses	Multiple force field deflector grids
Propulsion	Impulse drive Warp drive
Power	matter/anti-matter reaction chamber
Length	288.646 metres (947.00 ft)

USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) is a starship in the fictional Star Trek universe. It is the main setting of the original Star Trek television series (1966–1969) and several Star Trek films, and it has been depicted in various franchise spinoffs, films, books, products, and fan-created media. The Enterprise and its crew's mission is "to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no man has gone before".

Origin and design

The Enterprise was originally going to be named Yorktown. Star Trek art director Matt Jefferies was the primary designer of the original Enterprise, basing his work on concepts from Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry. Both Jeffries and Roddenberry wanted the Enterprise not to look like any of the rocket ships already in popular culture. An initial spheroid design was flattened into a saucer section, and Jeffries reasoned the ship's powerful engines would have to set apart from the rest of the ship. The hull was kept smooth, with a sense that the ship's components were serviced from inside. Jefferies' experience with aviation led to his Enterprise designs being imbued with what he called "aircraft logic". Full interior deck plans of the Enterprise were designed by Franz Joseph in 1974, with approval from both Roddenberry and Paramount Pictures. The plans heavily referenced both episodes of Star Trek and Matt Jefferies' design.

The ship's "NCC-1701" registry number stemmed from "NC" being one of the international aircraft registration codes assigned to the United States. The second "C" was added because Soviet aircraft used "CCCC", and Matt Jeffries combined "NC" and "CC CC" as he believed a venture into space would be a joint operation by the United States and Russia. "NCC" is the Starfleet abbreviation for "Naval Construction Contract", comparable to what the U.S. Navy would call a hull number. The "1701" was chosen to avoid any possible ambiguity; according to Jefferies, the numbers 3, 6, 8, and 9 are "too easily confused". Other sources cite it as a reference to the house across the street from where Roddenberry grew up, while another account gives it as the street address of Linwood Dunn. Jefferies' own sketches provide the explanation that it was his 17th cruiser design with the first serial number of that series: 1701. The Making of Star Trek explains that "USS" should mean "United Space Ship" and that "Enterprise is a member of the Starship Class". The ship's was changed to Constitution class with the release of Franz Joseph's Star Fleet Technical Manual in 1975.

Television models

The first miniature built for the pilot episode "The Cage" (1965) was unlit and approximately 33 inches (0.8 m) long. Richard C. Datin constructed this model almost entirely of wood. The second miniature built for the original pilot was constructed from plaster, sheet metal and wood. It was 11 feet 3.5 inches (3.4 m) long, weighted 125 kilograms (276 lb), and cost $6,000. Datin supervised the crew of model makers from Production Model Shop and did detail work on the model. They worked on the model out of Jensen's model shop in Burbank, though the larger base components were subcontracted to a shop with a large lathe. The 11-foot model was initially filmed by both Howard A. Anderson and Linwood G. Dunn at Dunn's Film Effects of Hollywood facility. Eventually, the three-foot model was modified to match changes made to the larger model before and after shooting of the second pilot, and the three-foot model appears as a prop of a miniaturized Enterprise in "Requiem for Methuselah" (1969).

Initially, the filming models were static and had no electronics. For the second pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before" (1966), various details of the 11-foot model were altered, and the starboard window ports and running lights were internally illuminated. When the series was picked up and went into production, the model was altered yet again. These alterations included the addition of translucent domes and blinking lights at the forward ends of the engine nacelles, smaller domes at the back of the nacelles, a shorter bridge dome, and a smaller deflector/sensor dish. Save for reused footage from the two pilot episodes, this was the appearance of the ship throughout the series, except for some detail added to nacelles for shots used in "The Trouble with Tribbles".

Greg Jein created a model of the original Enterprise for the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Trials and Tribble-ations" (1996). Jein's model was built to be exactly half the size of the original 11-foot model, and later appeared in the 1998 Star Trek wall calendar. Jein's Enterprise was the first production model of the starship to built in more than 30 years. In addition, a CGI model of the ship makes a cameo appearance at the end of the final episode of Star Trek: Enterprise, "These Are the Voyages..." (2005), and another CGI version was created for remastered episodes of the original Star Trek.

Film refit

USS Enterprise
The refit Enterprise (left) in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1984)
First appearance	Star Trek The Motion Picture (1979)
Last appearance	Star Trek III The Search for Spock (1996)
Information
Affiliation	United Federation of Planets Starfleet
Launched	2270
General characteristics
Class	Constitution
Registry	NCC-1701
Armaments	Photon torpedoes Phasers
Defenses	Multiple Force Field Deflector Grids
Propulsion	Impulse drive Warp drive
Power	Matter/anti-matter reaction chamber
Length	304.8 meters (1000 ft)

One of the most difficult challenges facing the producers of Star Trek: The Motion Picture was recreating the Enterprise for film. Matt Jeffries designed the refit Enterprise that appears in the original Star Trek films, though his initial concepts were intended for the scrapped Star Trek: Phase II TV series. Jeffries began with the original Enterprise design and then identified components, such as the engines, that would have been upgraded. Some components, like the sensor dish, would be moved inside the ship to be more easily serviced.

Art director Joe Jennings and conceptual illustrator Michael Minor added additional details when Jeffries left the project. Although art director Richard Taylor wanted to start over with designing the Enterprise for film, Roddenberry convinced him to continue working with Jeffries' design. Taylor brought on Andrew Probert to continue refining details for the ship. Probert tried to give the Enterprise an art deco appearance. Production designer Harold Michaelson was responsible for the ship's interior design, and and special effects designer Douglas Trumbull also influenced the ship's appearance. Jim Dow was in charge of building the model and creating the molds and structural processes. Magicam spent 14 months and $150,000 to build the 8-foot (2.4 m), 39-kilogram (86 lb) model. While the original Enterprise model was only seen in 17 poses, the new model had five points of articulation and could be shot from any angle.

Paul Olsen painted the distinct "Aztec" scheme to provide an additional level of detail for the film screen and to suggest the presence of interlocking panels providing strength to the hull. The effect is made possible by small particles of mica in the paint, which alters its apparent color. However, the light flare created by the paint caused filming issues that made it hard to discern the edge of the ship against a dark background.

The model was used for the first six Star Trek films, and was "recast" as the USS Enterprise-A in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986). Foundation Imaging created a CGI model of the ship for the "Director's Edition" release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture to add footage envisioned but never shot by director Robert Wise.

2009 reboot

USS Enterprise
The re-conceptualized, "alternate universe" Enterprise in the 2009 Star Trek film
First appearance	Star Trek (2009)
Last appearance	Star Trek Beyond (2016)
Information
Affiliation	United Federation of Planets Starfleet
Launched	2258
General characteristics
Registry	NCC-1701
Armaments	Photon torpedoes Phasers
Defenses	Deflector shields
Propulsion	Impulse engines Warp drive
Power	Matter/antimatter

Enterprise was redesigned for the 2009 Star Trek film. Director J. J. Abrams wanted Enterprise to have a "hot rod" look while retaining the traditional shape, but otherwise afforded Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) "tremendous" leeway in creating the ship. Perhaps the most notable change was in the large engine nacelles, seen attached to the main body. The change applied a sleeker finish and shape to the otherwise simple nacelles of the previous ship.

Concept artist Ryan Church's initial designs were modeled and refined by set designer Joseph Hiura. This design was then given to ILM for further refinement and developed into photo-realistic models by Alex Jaeger's team. ILM's Roger Guyett, recalling the original Enterprise as being "very static", added moving components to the model. ILM retained subtle geometric forms and patterns to allude to the original Enterprise. The computer model's digital paint recreated the appearance of the "Aztec pattern" on the hull. The initial redesign of Enterprise was notably larger than the original Enterprise: while projected to be 367 meters (1,204 ft) long and, the final version was upscaled to be at least 700 meters (2,300 ft) in length.

Star Trek: Discovery

Star Trek: Discovery takes place 10 years prior to the original Star Trek. A new design of the Enterprise, combining the original 1960s aesthetic with the production values of the modern show, appears briefly in the first-season finale. John Eaves, Scott Schneider, and William Budge designed the Enterprise April to October 2017. The designers initially drew from the original Enterprise design and then adapted ideas from the film refit. The Enterprise will appear in the show's second season.

Depiction

Built between 2243 and 2245, Starfleet commissioned the Enterprise in 2245. Star Trek: The Animated Series states that Robert April is Enterprise's first commanding officer. After April, Captain Christopher Pike commands Enterprise for about a decade, and Pike is the commanding officer in the original pilot, "The Cage". Throughout the first Star Trek television series, Captain James T. Kirk commands the ship on a five-year mission of exploration. Before the events of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), Enterprise undergoes an 18-month refit overseen by its new commanding officer, Willard Decker. In early scenes of the film, Decker describes the refit vessel as "an almost totally new Enterprise". Star Trek novels and other media depict a second five-year mission under Kirk's command between the events of the first and second films.

Spock commands Enterprise, serving as a training ship, at the beginning of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), but Kirk assumes command when the ship investigates problems with Project Genesis. USS Reliant, hijacked by Khan Noonien Singh, inflicts substantial damage to Enterprise; Spock sacrifices his life to save the ship. Shortly after returning to spacedock at the beginning of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984), Enterprise is marked for decommissioning due to the damage and it having been in service for over twenty years. Kirk and his officers subsequently steal the ship in an attempt to restore Spock's life, Scotty having managed to reconfigure the ship so that it can be operated by the minimal crew of five rather than the usual large crew. During their mission to Genesis, a Klingon attack seriously damages the ship, and Kirk chooses to self-destruct the Enterprise to prevent its capture by the Klingons, having also lured most of the crew onto the ship while Kirk and his staff beam down to the Genesis planet to cripple their enemy's forces. When Kirk and his officers return to Earth, Kirk is demoted to captain and given command of a new USS Enterprise with hull registry NCC-1701-A.

Kelvin timeline

The 2009 Star Trek film and its sequels occur in a different timeline than the original Star Trek. In the 2009 film, Enterprise makes its first appearance while it is still under construction in a planetside yard in Riverside, Iowa, in 2255. Captain Christopher Pike commands Enterprise on its maiden voyage in 2258 to respond to a distress call from Vulcan. At the film's conclusion, James Kirk is promoted to captain and receives command of the Enterprise. The re-imagined Enterprise appears in both 2013's Star Trek Into Darkness and 2016's Star Trek Beyond, where it is destroyed.

Critical reaction and cultural impact

When it first appeared on television, the Enterprise was an "elegant and weird looking behemoth". Its appearance became iconic, and within the franchise the design influenced all future Federation starships. Both io9 and Popular Mechanics called the original series Enterprise the best version of the various ships named Enterprise in the franchise. The ship's redesign for The Motion Picture was a "bold" and "handsome" change, and The Hollywood Reporter called the Enterprise's destruction in The Search for Spock "a good way to go".

The Enterprise has had considerable cultural impact. A write-in campaign in 1976 led to the first space shuttle being named Enterprise rather than Constitution. In 2009, Virgin Galactic named its first commercial spaceship VSS Enterprise in honor of the Star Trek vessel. Build the Enterprise, a website that proposes creating a functional spacecraft with a hull layout similar to the Enterprise, is maintained by an engineer who proposes to expand the United States space program. The Enterprise's bridge design was evaluated by the United States Navy due to the efficiency of its style and layout. The bridge of the USS Independence and the Ships Mission Center of the USS Zumwalt have been compared to the Enterprise's bridge.

Paramount Pictures donated the original 11-foot filming model to the Smithsonian Institution in 1974. It hung at the entrance to one of its exhibit galleries in the National Air and Space Museum before being moved to the gift shop, where it stayed for 14 years. After undergoing restoration, the model was unveiled in a new display in the lobby of the Milestones of Flight Hall. In 2006, Paul Allen bought the Enterprise model created for the original Star Trek films for $240,000, and it is on display at the Museum of Pop Culture. The Canadian town of Vulcan, Alberta, created a 31-foot (9.4 m) model starship inspired by the Enterprise.

The Enterprise design has been licensed for use in variety of games, models, and toys. In 2010, Pocket Books published a Haynes Manual for "owners" of the USS Enterprise. The original Enterprise appears on a commemorative stamp released by the United States Postal Service.

References

Citations

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11. "Interview with Franz Joseph - General Plans Constitution Class: U.S.S. Enterprise". CBS Paramount. Archived from the original on December 31, 2004. Retrieved September 13, 2016. I laid the drawing out, scaled and sized it, and made a drawing of the Enterprise. Next I devised the Dreadnought, made a drawing of one of the uniforms, and about twelve drawings in all. They were drawn on the format I'd already devised for the Technical Orders. I sent a copy of the T.O.'s for the Dreadnought and the Enterprise to Gene Roddenberry on June 3rd, told him what I was doing, and inquired about proprietary rights. I got a letter in reply immediately, stating there was no problem with the proprietary rights, that he liked what I was doing, and wanted me to proceed...So I sent him copies of some fourteen T.O.'s I'd made to date and I got a very enthusiastic letter back. He said he'd never seen anything like that before and he wanted to see more of it. So I started collecting Star Trek material in order to be able to make the T.O.'s. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
12. "Interview with Franz Joseph - General Plans Constitution Class: U.S.S. Enterprise". CBS Paramount. Archived from the original on December 31, 2004. Retrieved September 13, 2016. I had told Gene I didn't feel comfortable trading on someone else's original idea, but he insisted the Manual would be a real asset to the memorabilia. I told him I'd stay with the theme he'd developed, explained the errors and what I'd planned to do about them, and also offered to send any major changes to him for approval before using them. This way, since the subject was dead, I didn't think I'd be hurting anything he'd accomplished. I wasn't interested in science fiction, or the Star Trek TV series. My interest was in the interplanetary community, how much we actually knew about its potentiality, and the true science and technology as it would exist in that time period. I wasn't interested in watching the TV reruns although I saw every episode maybe 50 times or so, just to confirm a single detail of something I was going to put in the Manual. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
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47. Navy Times (2017). "LCS 2's Streamlined Design Could Become Fleet's New Standard". U.S. Navy. Archived from the original on October 7, 2017. Retrieved October 24, 2017. Visitors to Independence's pilot-house see many resemblances to the bridge of the Starship Enterprise, including two side-by-side command chairs with their own computer keyboards, a third chair behind them for overseeing the ship's activity, and more consoles for engines, weapons and sensors in the back of the pilothouse. The ship's captain has a fourth chair, of his own, on the starboard side, with a monitor for the ship's vital information. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
48. Matthew Griffin (2016). "Capable of full-autonomy, we go inside the stealth destroyer uss Zumwalt". Global Futurist. Retrieved October 17, 2016. The SMC looks like a miniature version of a war room at the Pentagon and works in a similar fashion to the bridge seen on Star Trek. Gone are the purpose built heavy consoles used in a ship's dark and cramped CIC, such as those still found today aboard AEGIS combat system equipped cruisers and destroyers. In their place the new SMC is entirely re-configurable and features streamlined consoles and workstations running on an incredibly powerful array of custom-built software and advanced off the shelf hardware.
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Sources

• U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 Refit. Eaglemoss Productions Ltd. 2013.

Further reading

• Conserving the Star Trek starship Enterprise Studio Model
• Enterprise - Hypersonic velocity test of the hull design by University of Queensland's X2 Super-Orbital Expansion Tube using holographic interferometry

External links

• USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) at Memory Alpha
• USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) (alternate reality) at Memory Alpha
• USS Enterprise model page at the National Air and Space Museum

• Fictional elements introduced in 1966
• Star Trek spacecraft
• Star Trek: The Original Series
• Star Trek: Phase II
• Artifacts in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution