star trek history of the enterprise

The History Of The Starship Enterprise Explained

Launched in 1966 as a prime time science fiction drama, " Star Trek " has gone on to become one of the world's most famous franchises. But what made it so impactful wasn't just its compelling stories and lively characters — there's also the ship on which the series was set, the USS Enterprise. Arguably the most beloved starship in science fiction, the Enterprise — whose registry NCC-1701 is famous in its own right — has become a pop culture icon, and may be as recognized across the globe as the American flag or the McDonald's golden arches. 

Since its introduction, each new era has had its own new iteration of the Enterprise: It was redesigned as the 1701-A in the feature films, and in 1987 " Star Trek: The Next Generation " introduced the Enterprise-D. By the turn of the millennium there was even a prequel spinoff named for the vessel, and in 2022, "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" ventured back aboard the original classic starship. 

With a new Enterprise-F making its debut in "Star Trek: Picard," it's time to explore the indelible legacy of the famous Federation flagship. So clear all moorings and ahead one quarter impulse power, because we're leaving space dock and setting a course to explore the history of the starship Enterprise.

Pioneering Enterprises

In the real world, there have been ships named the Enterprise as far back as the early 1700s, including the British Royal Navy's HMS Enterprize. In the United States, the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier was the USS Enterprise , commissioned in 1961, which even became a key location in "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home." The space shuttle Enterprise, meanwhile, was the first spacefaring ship to bear the name, both in "Trek" and the real world. Of course, that one was named after the "Star Trek" starship thanks to a letter-writing campaign from fans. 

In the fictional world of "Star Trek," the first deep space starship to go by the name Enterprise was actually a vessel we have yet to see outside of historical images. With a registry of XCV-330, what little we know of it comes from background details, as it is seen as part of a series of images of past Enterprises in "Star Trek: The Motion Picture," as well as in Captain Forrest's office on "Enterprise." The only physical representation we have seen so far was actually in the JJ Abrams-directed "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 Jeffries before he settled on the Enterprise for the 1966 TV series.

Archer's first warp 5 vessel

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 the NX-01, Starfleet's first flagship, proudly bearing the name Enterprise on its hull. 

Earth's first-ever Warp 5 starship, its revolutionary new engine was capable of speeds never before dreamt of. The engine had been designed by Henry Archer, a protege of warp drive creator Zefram Cochrane, whose son Jonathan would become the ship's first captain. But when the engine was still in development, serious questions were raised about its readiness, and were it not for the efforts of Jonathan Archer and former rival pilot A.G. Robinson, it may have been scrapped altogether.

Launched in 2151 on a mission to deliver an injured Klingon back to his people, the NX-01 had primitive phase cannons but was without much of the advanced technology fans are familiar with from other shows, lacking energy shields, photon torpedoes, and tractor beams. The ship still managed to become legendary, serving at the forefront of the Xindi War, and was the ship Archer captained when he brought the Vulcans, Andorians, and Tellarites together 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.

Kirk's classic connie

The original USS Enterprise may not be the first one chronologically in canon, but it is the first that fans saw, and the one most people think of when they hear the name. Its groundbreaking design by concept artist Matt Jeffries combined classic sci-fi tropes — the large saucer and rocket-shaped nacelles — to form an instantly recognizable silhouette that may never be outdone.

For three years on the original "Star Trek" series, the ship traveled to strange new worlds and sought out new life and new civilizations, captained by James T. Kirk on his five-year mission to chart the edges of the final frontier. While much of its design — particularly its interior — may seem dated to today's younger audience, it lives forever in the hearts and minds of Trek fans. It was lovingly recreated for episodes of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," "Deep Space Nine," and "Enterprise," in episodes that revisited the classic Constitution Class.

A place sci-fans called home in '60s, it was aboard the original "Connie" that Trek fans first learned about phasers, photon torpedoes, and transporters. But interestingly, when it was first developed by series creator Gene Roddenberry, it was designed to be a ship with a history, and Kirk was later revealed to be the ship's third captain. In service in this form for more than two decades in-universe, it would later see a new look when "Trek" warped to the movies.

Refit for the big screen

Thanks to renewed popularity in reruns in the '70s, 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, and after some  radically different new concepts were considered, what would leave space dock was an updated version of the original that kept the same basic design, 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," which opens after an 18-month retrofit process that overhauls the starship with a nearly ground-up reconstruction. As a result, new captain William Decker objects to Kirk's reassignment to the captain's chair because of Kirk's unfamiliarity with many of the new systems. 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 the refit Enterprise would meet its end in "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock," with Kirk forced to destroy the ship to stop a gang of marauding Klingons, it was replaced shortly thereafter with the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-A. Nearly identical, save for some interiors which were now redressed sets from "The Next Generation," which was then-currently airing, the Enterprise-A began a long-standing tradition of tacking on an alphabetic suffix to new starships in the line. 

The successor

Following the introduction of the Enterprise-A in the 1986 film "The Voyage Home," the next ship we'd see with that name was actually the Enterprise-D, which debuted just a year later in "Star Trek: The Next Generation." We would hear nothing about the Enterprise-B until the cast of "TNG" moved to the big screen themselves, in 1994's "Star Trek: Generations."

The film that brought two eras of "Star Trek" together, it opens with the first flight of the Enterprise-B, in a ceremony attended by Captain Kirk. A state-of-the-art starship of the same class as the Excelsior seen in in "Star Trek III" — which was then under the command of Captain Sulu — this new Enterprise voyaged under the captaincy of 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. But as it was only meant to be on a promotional tour, the Enterprise-B was without tractor beams, photon torpedoes, and medical staff.

Swinging into action, Captain Kirk saved the day and sacrificed himself to save the endangered ship. But just as many books, comics, and other media have explored the further adventures of Captain Harriman and the Enterprise-B — including its helmswoman, the daughter of Captain Sulu — we have yet to learn much more about it onscreen. 

The lost warrior

Making its first appearance in the third season of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," the Enterprise-C is another ship of the line that we only ever saw once. In this case, it's in the acclaimed episode "Yesterday's Enterprise," a story that regularly ranks among the show's very best. In the episode, Picard and the Enterprise-D encounter a rift in space through which the Enterprise-C emerges, having traveled forward 22 years, altering history.

In this diverged dark timeline, the Federation is on the losing end of a decades-long war with the Klingons, and the disappearance of the Enterprise-C two decades before 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, helping to smooth relations with their rivals, eventually leading to peace with the Federation. 

Ultimately, after Garrett is killed in the divergent timeline, the Enterprise-C returns to the past to fulfill its destiny and restore history, but takes with it an alternate version of Tasha Yar from the Enterprise-D. Despite history recording the loss of all hands, we'd later learn that survivors from the Enterprise-C were taken prisoner on Romulus, including Yar, who would wind up giving birth to the villainous Commander Sela. Like its predecessor, what we learn in this episode is all we know officially of the Enterprise-C.

Picard's Enterprise-D

The Enterprise that led the landmark 1987 spinoff "Star Trek: The Next Generation," the 1701-D was designed by Andrew Probert , a protege of "Star Wars" concept designer Ralph McQuarrie who had been briefly hired to conceptualize the new Enterprise for the first "Star Trek" feature film. Recommended by McQuarrie to join the film's design team, Probert sketched up an early idea of 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, topping out at warp 9.9 (as opposed to Kirk's warp 8), and had a new feature that allowed the saucer to separate from the body of the ship during crisis. The Enterprise-D was outfitted with plenty of new technology too, including the virtual reality rooms called holodecks that have since become a "Trek" staple. It was also the first starship seen onscreen to house families, children, and schools, making it essentially an entire community on a starship. Believe it or not, the Enterprise also has a group of hyper-intelligent dolphins that help steer the ship, in a section called Cetacean Ops, that's only briefly mentioned but never seen.

Commanded by Captain Jean-Luc Picard , it was the Federation flagship seen through all seven seasons of "The Next Generation" and the crew's first feature film, "Star Trek: Generations." In the climax of that movie, the Enterprise-D crashed on Veridian III, sustaining catastrophic damage that would require its retirement from service.  

A sovereign for all seasons

The first film to feature the cast of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" saw few dramatic changes during their move to cinemas. 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 a new starship, the USS Enterprise-E. A Sovereign Class ship, it marked a departure from the smoother curves of the Enterprise-D and other "TNG" starships in favor of a more militant, angular design, created by illustrator John Eaves, who continued to contribute to the franchise with designs for "Star Trek: Picard" and "Star Trek: Discovery."

Upgraded with cutting-edge weapons like quantum torpedoes, the Enterprise-E went toe-to-toe with the Borg on its first adventure, during which it was partially assimilated by the cyborg collective. The Enterprise-E continued to be the hero ship in the rest of the "TNG" feature films, including "Star Trek: Insurrection" and "Star Trek: Nemesis." While the Dominion War raged, as seen on "Deep Space Nine," the Enterprise-E was held back from the front lines, instead consigned to diplomatic duties.

During its time in the films, the crew of the Enterprise-E largely remained the same as on "TNG," but the conclusion of "Nemesis" saw Riker take command of his own starship, and Picard receive a new first officer. Though we know its service continued for some years, its further adventures have never been explored officially.

The next Enterprise

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, and many had high hopes of seeing a new starship Enterprise. Though the first two seasons of the series didn't give the audience that gift, Trek fans finally got what they were hoping for with the third trailer for the show's third season, and the first look at the USS Enterprise-F, an all-new Odyssey Class starship. 

The direct successor to Picard's Enterprise seen in the films, this new flagship is the first Enterprise to voyage in the 25th century, and while its appearance brought applause from fans, it's not actually the first time we've seen it. In fact, the Enterprise-F was first introduced as a playable starship in "Star Trek: Online," a massively multiplayer online game, in a mission simply titled "The Odyssey Class" all the way back in 2012. And what's even more remarkable is that the design of the starship was created as the winning entry of a fan contest.

The design came from a concept artist and sculptor out of Florida named Adam Ihle, and was announced as the winner in July of 2012. A natural evolution of the Sovereign Class, it's a heavy cruiser that, in the game, was developed by Starfleet to be the most powerful starship in the fleet. Now, the design is the latest successor in the Enterprise legacy onscreen, too.

Pike's flagship reborn

At the tail end of Season 2 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 this was a reimagined version of the iconic starship, updated for modern audiences. Eventually, Captain Pike, Mr. Spock, and Number One got their own spinoff series, "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds," set aboard this refurbished Enterprise with a new look.

Canonically it's the same Enterprise that was commanded by Captain Kirk in the original "Star Trek" series, but this time, its differences are not the result of a refit or maintenance overhaul. Instead, producers felt it was important to update the design, inside and out, to keep up with audience expectations in the 2020s ( via TrekMovie ) Mixing retro futurism with 1960s interior design aesthetics , they managed to reinvigorate the original Enterprise, creating what creator Gene Roddenberry and original designer Matt Jeffries might have crafted if they'd had the budget and means back in 1966. 

The biggest changes to the starship visually are its swept-back nacelle pylons, more reminiscent of the feature film refit, 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 the look and feel of Kirk's original in every aspect they could. Divisive among some fans for its many changes, this new sleeker "Connie" is now the face of the 23rd century Enterprise.

JJ's ample Enterprise

In 2009 "Star Trek" and the Enterprise got a facelift when director JJ Abrams relaunched the franchise on the big screen in a total reboot of the series. The film brought "Trek" back to its roots — and back in time too, showing us an alternate timeline where younger versions of James T. Kirk and Mr. Spock, Uhura, and the rest first set foot on a newly remodeled starship Enterprise.

Redesigned from the ground up by concept artist Ryan Church — whose credentials include "Transformers" and "Avatar" — the ship has been dubbed the "JJ-prise" by fans. It kept the traditional silhouette, but featured bigger, smoother, curves and bold, bulbous, ample warp nacelles. Physically larger than the classic original, it's also much more technologically advanced, explained by the new timeline being visited by a villain from the future. It also features a clear glass viewscreen on the bridge that allows the crew to look directly into space, a major departure from previous starship designs that has since become retroactively 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 command it 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.

Enterprises of the Future

Given its science fiction nature, "Star Trek" has glimpsed into its own future more than once, and we've seen a few different Enterprises outside of the main timelines seen in the shows and movies. 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 section.

But the most notable future Enterprise might be one we never quite saw, getting only a brief look on a viewscreen in an episode of "Star Trek: Enterprise." During the Xindi War storyline, Captain Archer was pulled into the far future where time-traveling agent Daniels told him about the USS Enterprise-J , a 26th century ship that carried on the legacy more than a thousand years into Archer's future. According to Daniels, this ship was part of a battle that drove a malevolent race called the Sphere Builders back to their own realm, and in this future, it even had members of the Xindi among its crew.

Though little else is known officially about the Enterprise-J, the starship eventually made its way into the "Star Trek: Online" game, and a model was later produced by Eaglemoss . With "Star Trek: Discovery" now set in the 32nd century, we may still yet see a new version of the Enterprise even further into the future.

Alternate Enterprises

From the past and present to 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 have a long history themselves. The first one seen was way back in the acclaimed 1967 episode "Mirror, Mirror" that saw the ISS Enterprise under the command of a tyrannical Captain Kirk.

That same mirror universe was revisited in a 2005 two-part episode of "Star Trek: Enterprise" which saw another ISS Enterprise, this time a variant of the NX-01, under the command of Maximillian Forrest. But Forrest is assassinated by his first officer Jonathan Archer, who takes over the ship and gets caught in a power struggle with the Vulcan T'Pol. An aged, time-ravaged alternate future NX-01 was also seen in the episode "E2."

Though "The Next Generation" never ventured into the mirror universe, we did see a more militant version of the Enterprise-D in "Yesterday's Enterprise," in a branching parallel reality created by the arrival of the Enterprise-C. In that briefly existing timeline, Picard's starship had no families, and was in fact a battle cruiser on the front lines of the war with the Klingons. Meanwhile, in the "TNG" episode "Parallels," we actually witnessed the incursion of untold numbers of Enterprises from other parallel universes, one of which had been decimated by the Borg.

USS Enterprise Evolution in Photos: The Many Faces of Star Trek's Favorite Starship

The enterprise throughout history.

Starship USS Enterprise, serial number NCC-1701, of the United Federation of Planets, has captivated audiences since the debut of "Star Trek" on television in 1966. That fascination has continued to the present day, as the latest installment of the science-fiction franchise, "Star Trek Into Darkness," opens in the US on May 16, 2013. Here we take a look at ships bearing the name of Enterprise in many different incarnations.

USS Enterprise (Sailing Vessel)

The first of all US ships to bear the name of Enterprise was a Continental Navy sloop-of-war that served in the American Revolutionary War on Lake Champlain. Originally a British sloop named "George," it was captured by a small American force commanded by Colonel Benedict Arnold in 1775 and renamed. Later the US forces had to run the ship aground and destroy it in 1777 to avoid capture.

USS Enterprise (CVN 65) in Real Life

A long series of sea vessels were named Enterprise throughout history. The eighth US ship to bear the name was the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. The US Navy commissioned the giant vessel in 1962, which served until its deactivation in 2012. A new USS Enterprise (CVN-80) is scheduled to become operational in 2025. Regarding Star Trek, the naval warship may have inspired the name of the fictional starship. Also, in "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home," Uhura and Chekov visit the aircraft carrier Enterprise, though the filmmakers could not shoot aboard the actual ship.

Star Trek Crew Welcomes Real-Life Enterprise

In 1976, NASA's space shuttle Enterprise rolled out of the Palmdale manufacturing facilities, and was greeted by NASA officials and cast members from the original "Star Trek" television series. They are (L to R): NASA Administrator Dr. James D. Fletcher; DeForest Kelley, who portrayed Dr. "Bones" McCoy on the series; George Takei (Mr. Sulu); James Doohan (Chief Engineer Montgomery "Scotty" Scott); Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura); Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock); series creator Gene Roddenberry; an unnamed NASA official; and, Walter Koenig (Ensign Pavel Chekov).

Space Shuttle Enterprise

In real life, the prototype space shuttle was named Enterprise (OV-101) following a write-in campaign by Star Trek fans. The orbiter conducts a 1977 test flight in this photo.

The VSS Enterprise of Virgin Galactic

Another real-life craft, one of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo vehicles, bears the name VSS Enterprise. It glided over California's Mojave Air and Space Port during the first drop and glide test on Oct. 10, 2010. Eventually the company plans to take "space tourists" on commercial flights.

USS Enterprise (XCV 330)

The experimental craft represents the first Starship Enterprise, although it only appeared as a illustration in "Star Trek: The Motion Picture." It again appeared in a painting during the Star Trek: Enterprise episode, "First Flight," thereby dating it prior to 2143 in the Star Trek timeline.

Get the Space.com Newsletter

Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!

Enterprise (NX-01)

The United Earth Starfleet's Enterprise was an experimental prototype ship, commanded by Captain Jonathan Archer. It appeared as the titular vessel of the prequel television series Star Trek: Enterprise (2001–2005). A mirror version of the ship, ISS Enterprise (NX-01), appeared in the episode "In a Mirror, Darkly."

The Original Starship Enterprise (NCC-1701)

This model of the fictional starship Enterprise was used in filming the weekly hourlong “Star Trek” TV series that aired September 1966 to June 1969. The National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC, now displays the iconic model.

ISS Enterprise in the Mirror Universe

This ship of the Terran Empire appeared in the Star Trek episode "Mirror, Mirror," which involved a treacherous, violent mirror crew. The mirror ship appears almost identical to the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701).

USC Enterprise (NCC-1701) Animated

Star Trek: The Animated Series ran from 1973-1974, and featured a Starship Enterprise retaining the original TV show's design, though the producers altered certain interior features, such as a second turbolift accessing the bridge.

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: [email protected].

Current page: Page 1

SpaceX fires up Starship rocket for upcoming 5th test flight (photos, video)

Blinded by the light: How bad are satellite megaconstellations for astronomy?

4 large incoming solar bursts could supercharge the auroras this weekend

Most Popular

• 2 Sierra Space's 1st Dream Chaser space plane aces key tests. Next stop: Florida launch site.
• 3 NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Telescope will hunt for tiny black holes left over from the Big Bang
• 4 'Star Wars: Tales of the Empire' review: A gorgeous but ultimately uneven set of stories
• 5 James Webb Space Telescope chief scientist Jane Rigby receives highest US civilian award

Den of Geek

Star Trek: Enterprise – An Oral History of Starfleet’s First Adventure

It’s been 20 years since the Star Trek: Enterprise pilot brought us the first Star Trek prequels. With the cast and creators, we take a look back at how it all began.

• Share on Facebook (opens in a new tab)
• Share on Twitter (opens in a new tab)
• Share on Linkedin (opens in a new tab)
• Share on email (opens in a new tab)

Before Discovery or Strange New Worlds , the early days of the future as postulated by Star Trek were explored in the television series Star Trek: Enterprise . Celebrating its 20 th anniversary at the end of the month, it was set roughly 75 years prior to The Original Series , during the fledgling days of Starfleet, when humanity was first venturing out into the cosmos. 

Scott Bakula as Jonathan Archer captained the first starship given the name Enterprise, leading a team consisting of humans, a Vulcan, and a Denobulan. The voyage wasn’t always a smooth one, but certainly an important part of the canon. What follows, presented in oral history format, is a look back at the show’s formative days.  

BRANNON BRAGA (executive producer/co-creator): Star Trek always needs fresh blood. I left the franchise before Enterprise ; I just said, “I can’t do this anymore.” I remember where I was and what I was working on and where I was standing and at what point in time when I officially burnt out on Star Trek . I decided not to do the seventh season of Voyager and then I was asked to create Enterprise . Rick Berman had a really cool idea for it and I said, “You know what? I’m going to do this one more time.” One could argue maybe I shouldn’t have. Rick was a really good overlord, but even he needed fresh writers. One could argue maybe we both should have left earlier. 

RICK BERMAN (executive producer/co-creator): As Voyager was ending, the studio came and said, “Let’s get another one up and going.” I begged them to let the franchise have a few years’ rest. In fact, they wanted it to start before Voyager ended and I managed to get them to at least wait until Voyager went off the air. The question was, what could we do that was different? I’d been working a great deal with Brannon, and so I asked him to work with me on creating a new series. Our decision, and I still think it was a good one, was to change the time period. We had done three shows that took place in the 24th century, and I thought it was time to go to another century. To go forward meant spacesuits that were a little sleeker and ships that were a little shinier, but it wasn’t that much to invent what had come before. 

Ad – content continues below

Star Trek Just Dropped a Huge Clue About Kirk & Spock’s “Missing” Year

Star Trek: Every Upcoming TV Show Release Date

BRANNON BRAGA: Rick called me and said, “What do you think about setting it between the film First Contact and Kirk’s time?” And I said I thought that was a great idea. We started talking about it and considered what it would give us, and it evolved from there. We never considered another concept. We thought that First Contact seemed to be more of a relatable film somehow, because it had characters from the near future versus the distant future, and it allowed a more non– Star Trek audience to embrace Star Trek . You didn’t really have to know much to enjoy that movie. 

RICK BERMAN: There was no Star Trek canon to respond to how Earth got from being in this post-apocalyptic nightmare to being in the world of Kirk and Spock with Starfleet Academy. So our feeling was to pick a time somewhere within that, when the first humans are going into space on warp-capable vessels, and they’re not as sure of themselves as Kirk or Picard were. They’re taking baby steps. We knew, with Enterprise , that we wanted to turn the ship [the franchise] around. We were dealing with the time when the first warp-drive ship was being developed for a crew of humans. There were no holodecks and people didn’t beam themselves anywhere, they just beamed cargo. It just seemed to be the right idea, so it’s the one we pursued. 

BRANNON BRAGA: The biggest challenge was that the studio wanted something, but they were dubious about the prequel idea when we went in to pitch it. I don’t think they liked it very much. They thought Star Trek should be about moving forward and not moving backward. We were asking questions like, “How did we end up building the first warp ship? What was it like to meet a Klingon for the first time?” People had ball caps and walked dogs and wore tennis shoes and are more identifiable as people than, say, a Captain Picard, who is more of an idyllic man of the future that you probably wouldn’t recognize as a person that you could ever meet today. 

RICK BERMAN: From the point of view of some fans, there’s the great sense of continuity that the shows have had, and they’re very, very particular about that. A lot of them were not happy about things that they felt were outside the canon of Star Trek . A lot of them felt that Brannon and I ignored that, which we absolutely didn’t. We tried to pay great attention to it and we had people who knew Star Trek backward and forward that helped us, but obviously there were things that had to be dealt with and adjusted.

SCOTT BAKULA (actor, “Captain Jonathan Archer”): Enterprise is The Right Stuff . That kind of energy of being the first ones out there and being a little scared sometimes and being a little overwhelmed by the experience, which I think is a great emotion to have to play with. Americans have explored our planet in a variety of different ways. Some successfully, some not. We have a wide history of exploration in this country. Certainly different experiences in Vietnam and places like that where we tried to impose our ideas or philosophies on different cultures, and still are in many places around this planet. Making it more about the experience and less about planting the flag. In other words, enjoying the experience and learning from it, rather than saying, “Now we’re here and we’re going to tell you how to do it. We’ve got good ideas and can do things better than you.” So if you’re someone out there looking to do good, and looking to explore in a healthy way, there’s a great responsibility to that. As well as a great temptation to change and alter and fix. Which became this very wonderful kind of play within the show, which is, how are we all going to deal with not only being out there, but the choices we make? 

BRANNON BRAGA: Archer is something between Chuck Yeager and Kirk. He’s anything but the fully enlightened man that Picard is.

RICK BERMAN: It was very important for us to have a captain who was not necessarily that sure of himself, because we wanted him to be different from all the other captains. The other captains got on a spaceship at warp five or warp seven, they never thought twice about it. They ran into aliens every week and they never thought twice about it. We wanted a captain who was taking those first steps out into the galaxy; we wanted him to be a little green, a leader of men and at the same time, somebody who was in awe of everything he saw. With Scott, it just seemed like the perfect fit. 

Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox!

JAMES L. CONWAY (director, Enterprise pilot): Scott Bakula was the only actor ever discussed for Archer. Problem was, his deal wasn’t closed until the table read of the script three days before production began. In fact, there were rumors he was going to a CBS comedy pilot and we got very worried. We had never met him, talked to him, or heard him do the material. All during the casting process the casting director was the only one to read Archer’s dialogue. So it was a relief and pleasure to hear Scott brilliantly bring Archer to life at the table read. 

SCOTT BAKULA: I responded to the idea of it and this character, and then I got the script for the pilot and everything just fell into place. I liked the character and it was really a return, in many ways, to what the original Star Trek was all about.

JAMES L. CONWAY: Scott brought a humanity to Archer that’s hard to put on the printed page. Also, as an actor and star of the show, Scott brought a top-notch work ethic and professionalism to the production. As star of the show, he set a great example for everyone. 

BRANNON BRAGA: The funny thing about Scott’s take on the character was he spoke in kind of an unusual cadence when he was Archer and I could never figure it out. Someone told me he was a huge John Wayne fan. I’ve never talked to Scott about it, but I think he may have been doing a little bit of a John Wayne thing. He was our only choice. 

Star Trek: Picard Season 2 is an “Encounter at Farpoint” Sequel

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Reveals Unexpected Khan Connection

SCOTT BAKULA: We had a different dynamic on our show, and I’ve thought about it since then, because basically I was the older captain compared to the younger guys on the crew. John Billingsley’s in the middle there somewhere. That’s why I think the stuff between him and me was always special, even though he was nonhuman. There was a different kind of distance between characters created by the casting. We were building those relationships, but it was still from a different place. 

RICK BERMAN: John Billingsley is a character actor and somebody else who’s in tremendous demand. He’s just a wonderful guy. We wanted sort of a wise, quirky alien to play that role of Phlox. Somebody who would be our doctor, and he did a marvelous job. He’s another actor I would do anything to work with again. 

JAMES L. CONWAY: We were having trouble finding an actress for T’Pol. We read a lot of actresses, looked at a lot of names on a wish list, but couldn’t find anyone we liked. The role was critical, because she was a Vulcan and had to be able to “be” a Vulcan, yet still have sex appeal. Thankfully we saw a demo of Jolene’s work, loved it, and then met and read and loved her. 

JOLENE BLALOCK (actress, “T’Pol”): I grew up on Star Trek . My favorite was Spock. I would sit there with my dad and my brother just watching the show, watching the relationship between Captain Kirk, Bones, and Spock. My favorite relationship was between Bones and Spock, because it was just this animosity and this love-hate relationship. But overall there was such utter loyalty between all three of them. I love the way they worked together, just the way Bones would be, like, “You green-blooded fool.” Somewhere in The Next Generation , I got lost. 

BRANNON BRAGA: We wanted a Vulcan babe like Saavik, and wanted a Vulcan on board because the Vulcans were very antagonistic toward humans and she was essentially a chaperone, which really rankled Archer. Their relationship worked kind of nicely, and we saw T’Pol, Archer, and Trip as our triumvirate of characters. 

JOLENE BLALOCK: I personally believed that T’Pol should have more of her Vulcan culture. I didn’t believe she should be so desperate to be like everyone else, because the original Star Trek , which I grew up with, had a very simple message that I took from it, and that is that not everyone is like me, and I’m not perfect, and nobody’s perfect, and that’s okay. That really helped me.

RICK BERMAN: Connor was the only actor in four television series that I had to fight for. I just love this guy. I think he’s a remarkable actor, and I saw four pieces of tape on various things that he had done, and there was just something about him; that this character, Trip, that we had written, he was just made for. 

CONNOR TRINNEER (actor, “Charles ‘Trip’ Tucker III”): I wanted this job a lot . It was a good, time-tested franchise with a good audience. It had so many different things happening in it and it gave me the opportunity to play kind of a space cowboy—it was a dream job. Plus, you got to use your imagination as you’re meeting new species and races. Since this was our first time out, everything was new and we weren’t used to anything. You, as the actor, got to take in something as the audience did for the very first time, which was my experience as both an actor and a character. 

ANTHONY MONTGOMERY: It was incredible. There was an electricity that just ran to my core, and it was because I was sitting at the helm of a show, being a part of a franchise that I grew up with and knew about. I’m not a Trekkie by any stretch of the imagination, but I still understand enough about the franchise that it made me say, “Wow, this is real!” That was even more exciting and intense than when I got the call saying I got the part. 

RICK BERMAN: We were looking for an African American actor. We wanted someone young—we wanted this whole cast to be a lot more approachable, in a way; we wanted the audience to be able to relate to them more than they could other shows. Anthony was gorgeous, a terrific actor, and pretty much talked himself into the role the first day we saw him. We also wanted an Asian actor to play the role of communications officer and go back to a little listening device like Uhura had had in The Original Series . We also wanted her to be a translator of almost magical abilities. And Linda nailed it. We wanted somebody very vulnerable and someone who was not into flying on spaceships. In the first audition she completely got it and did very well. 

LINDA PARK (actor, “Hoshi Sato”): There’s a lot of growth that happened for me, not only as an actor in front of the camera, but as a businesswoman. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that part of being an actor is that you are your own business, especially when you become successful at any level; you see how you work as a business and you can’t say, “I’m just an artist, and I don’t need to concern myself with the practical,” because it’s just as important to keep your artistic tools as sharp as your business tool. That’s the biggest thing I learned. In the end, it is my career and my life that these decisions are being made about. 

RICK BERMAN: I had met Dominic on the first day of the last season of Voyager . He had the role of an English character. We were still a year away from going into production on the new series, but we were already starting to write it. He came in and I said to him, “We’ve got a role for you in a series that we’re creating that’s not going to be going on the air for eight or nine months, whatever it is, but I don’t want to use you up here.” This guy looked at me and said, “You’re right.” 

DOMINIC KEATING: I had a chat with Brannon and Rick where I said, “I’m quite excited, and honestly, I’ll say whatever you put in front of me, but I would like it that he isn’t just the talking head Brit on an American spaceship.” Brannon said, “You won’t be saying lines like ‘My dear old mum.’” When I read the breakdown, he’s described as “buttoned-down, by the book, wry, dry, shy around women.” I’m like, “Oh, crap, I’ve got to act this.” 

Latest TV reviews

Doctor who series 14 episode 2 review: the devil's chord, doctor who series 14 episode 1 review: space babies, star trek discovery season 5 episode 7 review: erigah reveals new breen secrets.

Star Trek’s Most Underserved Characters Will Be Back in Strange New Worlds

Star Trek Doctors, Ranked By Crankiness

JAMES L. CONWAY: The pilot of Enterprise was terrific. But then the first season was very repetitive and it felt like it was written by people who were burned out. And Brannon copped to this, saying he had made some bad choices in hiring staff and he was burned out from finishing up on Voyager . So I think that first season suffered and it took him awhile to re-steer that ship.

BRANNON BRAGA: When we were shooting the pilot and it was time for me to start writing episodes, I had a lot of things that I wanted to do. But once the ship officially set sail, I felt constrained. I felt, “Here we go again,” and I felt very challenged. Also, it was the first time I wasn’t working with people I’d worked with before. It was a large staff of ten people, and Star Trek was notoriously difficult to find writers for, because it was a hard show to write. I don’t even want to say hard; it’s unique. It just had a specific voice, and I had this writing staff that was new to the genre. Out of ten people, I think just a couple survived that first year. 

Ed Gross | @EdGross

Ed Gross is an entertainment journalist who has served on a variety of editorial staffs throughout his career, among them Cinescape, Movie Magic, Cinefantastique, closerweekly.com and…

• More to Explore
• Series & Movies

Star Trek: Enterprise

Cast of characters.

Latest Articles

• Latest Articles See More

Latest Videos

• Latest Videos See More

Latest Galleries

• Latest Galleries See More

Boldly Go: Subscribe Now

• Cast & crew

Star Trek Enterprise: The Definitive History

A century before Captain Kirk's five-year mission, Jonathan Archer captains the United Earth ship Enterprise during the early years of Starfleet, leading up to the Earth-Romulan War and the ... Read all A century before Captain Kirk's five-year mission, Jonathan Archer captains the United Earth ship Enterprise during the early years of Starfleet, leading up to the Earth-Romulan War and the formation of the Federation. A century before Captain Kirk's five-year mission, Jonathan Archer captains the United Earth ship Enterprise during the early years of Starfleet, leading up to the Earth-Romulan War and the formation of the Federation.

• Brian Montgomery
• Shane Montgomery

More like this

User reviews

• August 2, 2022 (United States)
• United States
• Channel Direct Link
• The Popcast
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $5,000 (estimated)

Technical specs

• Runtime 47 minutes

Related news

Contribute to this page.

• See more gaps
• Learn more about contributing

More to explore

Recently viewed

How Did Star Trek: Enterprise Become a TV Series?

Star Trek: Enterprise is a prequel series set a century before Kirk and Spock's adventures, but the story of how the show was created is equally epic.

Quick Links

Rick berman wanted star trek to 'take a break' before enterprise, star trek: enterprise almost didn't have a ship, at first, it's been a long road getting from development to series.

The legacy of Star Trek: Enterprise is a complicated one, as it has the dubious distinction of being the last series in the second wave of Gene Roddenberry's franchise. Series co-creators Rick Berman and Brannon Braga wanted to strike a precarious balance between delivering a "familiar" show to the network while making the prequel series unlike any that had come before it . It wasn't until the show hit streaming (particularly on Netflix) that it found a wider audience and earned its place as a beloved and vital part of the canon. When Paramount approached Roddenberry for a sequel series 15 years earlier, conventional wisdom said it was doomed to fail.

No television reboot had ever surpassed its predecessor where ratings or popularity with fans was concerned. Two spinoffs later, the executives at United Paramount Network demanded that Berman develop a new show in the universe when Star Trek: Voyager ended its seven-season run. Throughout the special features on the complete series DVD boxed set, Berman admits that even he was worried about the dreaded "franchise fatigue." Yet, by setting the show more than a century before Star Trek: The Original Series , he hoped to reinvigorate the fans by looking at the history of Roddenberry's idealistic future. Alas, the show ended rather unceremoniously after four seasons, which would be a success for any other series. While pointed fingers blamed fatigue or the theme song, it was the failure of Paramount's network that ultimately ended the admittedly expensive series . Nonetheless, Star Trek: Enterprise was a bold move for the franchise.

Star Trek's Forgotten Series, Enterprise, Deserves More Respect

After three successful seven-season series, Rick Berman felt Star Trek should cool off a bit. The studio wasn't hearing it. "I begged them to let the franchise have a few years' rest," he said in The Fifty-Year Mission - The Next 25 Years by Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman. In fact, he had to fight the studio "to get them to at least wait until Voyager went off the air." The studio wanted to keep the Star Trek party going, specifically by setting the next series in the 24th Century or possibly in the future. In the DVD conversation with Braga, Berman joked, "so the spandex is a little tighter and the ships will go warp 14…?"

Braga, in the meantime, thought he was done with Star Trek . In The Fifty-Year Mission he said he remembered "where I was standing…when I officially burnt out on Star Trek ." He stepped down as the showrunner for Voyager a year before the seventh season. Yet, when Berman approached him to create a show, something he'd not yet done, he decided "to do this one more time." He liked the idea of setting the show in the universe's past, allowing for the characters to be rougher around the edges than the Starfleet officers in "the Roddenberry Box" on the previous three shows. Even though it was still Star Trek , it was a chance to do something different.

Star Trek series are usually inspired by some other story. Roddenberry called The Original Series " Wagon Train to the stars," after the popular western. Deep Space Nine was born from then-studio head Brandon Tartikoff asking for a sci-fi take on The Rifleman . With Enterprise , as it was first titled, the film that inspired it was Phillip Kaufman's 1983 film The Right Stuff about the birth of the US Space Program . Berman and Braga wanted to do that for Star Trek , with a show set between the past events of Star Trek: First Contact and Kirk's time. The original idea for the series was markedly different from what eventually debuted.

10 Things That Would Have Happened In Star Trek: Enterprise Season 5

The Berman years of Star Trek are sometimes criticized for not taking enough risks, even with the departures from the formula in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager . The original pitch for Enterprise would have looked a bit more like the first two acts of 2009's Star Trek movie than any previous show. "We wanted to do a show that took place in the first season on Earth," Braga said in The Fifty-Year Mission , adding, that "season one [would] culminate with the launching of the [NX-01] Enterprise ." The driving story arc for that season would've been the construction of the ship, but the drama would've come from the people of Earth and not the aliens in the great unknown. Some of this idea stayed in the show, manifesting through the reticence the Vulcans had for humanity's eagerness to start deep space exploration.

Encountering problems while building the ship, and overcoming them, could've made for some interesting drama. Yet, the main points of tension would have come from humans themselves. While Starfleet -- a fleet representing United Earth -- would have been eager to boldly go, some humans would've been against the idea. There was a xenophobic element on Earth, fearful of the aliens who'd come to the plant since the first contact with Vulcans. They also would worry about what sort of conflicts might arise if the NX-01 Enterprise crew went out there and stirred up trouble. Earth would have just pulled itself out of the dark ages after World War III, with elements of humanity still clinging to fear of the infinite combinations of diversity still to be discovered.

It's unclear whether this version of the show would've been better received than Enterprise Seasons 1 and 2, a traditional Star Trek "ship show." Yet, the studio was dead set against it. Braga and Berman had to fight to get the prequel idea approved. It wasn't until Braga worked in the idea of a Temporal Cold War -- a concept he'd been developing on his own -- that UPN executives went for it. The overarching threat became forces in the future trying to change Starfleet's history via time travel, a concept revisited in Strange New Worlds' Khan episode . Still, it meant that all the big "firsts" on Enterprise had to take place in the pilot.

Sorry Spock, Jolene Blalock's T'Pol Is Star Trek's Most Interesting Vulcan

When it comes to first episodes of Star Trek shows, Enterprise may be the best in the franchise . It makes sense, in a way, because the people working on it had 15 years to hone their skills. Similarly, technological advancements meant the special effects sequences could be bigger and better. Unlike past series, there was never a physical filming model for the NX-01. It was completely computer-generated, which meant that scenes set in space could be far more dynamic and exciting than past series.

Still, these shots were expensive, and eagle-eyed fans can find many reused shots in those early years. The interior sets were a strange blend of irony as well. They depicted a ship that was lower tech than any previously seen before. However, with the use of early flat screen televisions and monitors, they were the highest tech sets yet. Producers and production designers toured naval vessels, particularly submarines. This inspired the stark metallic gray, cramped interiors of the ship.

For example, in his ready room, Captain Jonathan Archer would have to routinely duck under low-hanging beams. Similarly, instead of the ubiquitous transporters, Enterprise used shuttles to get to and from the ship. One other hurdle the series had was casting the lead. Paramount executive Kerry McCluggage wanted to cast a friend of his as the lead. In finally signing his deal, Scott Bakula saved the pilot episode, that couldn't have filmed because there was no backup captain waiting in the wings.

The only truly questionable decision made by the producers was the theme song for Enterprise , a reworked soft-rock single from Oscar-winner Diane Warren . Instead of the orchestral fare that lent gravitas to Star Trek adventures, they tried something different. After spending $12 million on the pilot, the series had to resort to tried-and-true Star Trek plots, which some fans felt like rehashes of "better" series. While even these episodes have merit, the show that was supposed to be different felt familiar in all the wrong ways. Since hitting streaming, however, Enterprise is finally getting its due.

Star Trek: Enterprise is available to own on DVD or Blu-ray and is streaming on Paramount+ .

Star Trek: Enterprise

A century before Captain Kirk's five-year mission, Jonathan Archer captains the United Earth ship Enterprise during the early years of Starfleet, leading up to the Earth-Romulan War and the formation of the Federation.

Star Trek Has Finally Revealed the Evil Enterprise's Weird Fate

Watch out for any goatees.

Today, everyone knows what a multiverse is. But back in 1967, parallel universe stories weren’t nearly as common as they are now, even within the sci-fi genre. A classic Star Trek episode, Jerome Bixby’s “Mirror, Mirror,” helped popularize the alternate universe trope, complete with meaner versions of yourself who may rock an evil little goatee like Mirror Spock.

Star Trek’s Mirror Universe also gave us an alternate version of the USS Enterprise in the ISS Enterprise , a ship that served the Imperial Terran Empire, not the United Federation of Planets. Now, in the Discovery Season 5 episode “Mirrors,” the evil ISS Enterprise is back... as a force for good. Here’s what it all means. Spoilers ahead.

The ISS Enterprise returns

Captain Burnham watches the ISS Enterprise warp to Federation HQ.

While pursuing the thieves Moll and L’ak, Book and Burnham take a shuttlecraft into an unstable wormhole and discover the floating, pseudo-derelict ISS Enterprise . One of the clues to the Progenitor’s tech has been hidden on it, but for Burnham, it’s kind of like a bizzaro universe homecoming. Burnham spent a decent amount of time in the Mirror Universe in Discovery Season 1 , and in Season 2 she found herself on the Enterprise with her brother Spock just before jumping from the 23rd century to the 32nd century.

In “Mirrors,” Burnham notes that “crossing between universes has been impossible for centuries,” which means the ISS Enterprise must have crossed over into the Prime Universe well before the 32nd century. Burnham is referencing the events of Discovery Season 3, when we learned that Philippa Georgiou, a resident of the Mirror Universe, couldn’t go back to her home universe because those dimensions had drifted apart. But the ISS Enterprise , which was previously captained by an evil Kirk, crossed over into the Prime Universe well before that moment, and Discovery has now added details connecting The Original Series, Deep Space Nine , and Discovery Season 3.

How evil Spock became good

Spock talking with Kirk in “Mirror, Mirror.”

In the Deep Space Nine episode “Crossover” we learn that after Kirk talked to Mirror Spock and encouraged him to try making the Terran Empire a peaceful power, Mirror Spock did just that. But as Mirror Kira explained, Mirror Spock’s idealism didn’t work out the way he’d hoped:

“Spock rose to Commander in Chief of the Empire by preaching reforms, disarmament, peace. It was quite a remarkable turnabout for his people. Unfortunately for them, when Spock had completed all these reforms, his empire was no longer in any position to defend itself against us [the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance].”

Discovery appears to be referencing this exact event, even if Spock isn’t named outright. When Book learns the ISS Enterprise became a refugee ship for people who’d turned against the Empire, he says, “The Terran High Chancellor was killed for trying to make reforms.”

This likely references Spock, but adds the twist that he was perhaps betrayed by other people within the Terran Empire, even if Earth adopted his reforms. Now, by the end of “Mirrors,” the 23rd-century ISS Enterprise has been moved to the Prime Universe and the 32nd century. It’s an antique by modern standards, but it’s a contemporary of the USS Discovery, so it’s still serviceable. This means that by the end of Discovery Season 5 there will still be a version of the classic Enterprise floating around Federation headquarters, so when the Starfleet Academy series debuts, 32nd-century Starfleet cadets will have access to the classic version of the most famous Enterprise. It may technically be an evil twin, but its historic adventures aren’t over just yet.

Star Trek: Discovery and The Original Series stream on Paramount+.

• Science Fiction

USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E)

• View history

The USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E) was a 24th century Federation Sovereign -class starship operated by Starfleet . This ship was the sixth Federation starship to bear the name Enterprise .

• 2.1 Construction and launch
• 2.2.1 Return to Earth
• 2.2.2 Journey to 2063
• 2.3.1 The Battle of the Briar Patch
• 2.4 Continuing voyages
• 2.5.1 Battle of the Bassen Rift
• 2.6 The 2380s
• 4 Technical information
• 5 Command crew
• 6.1 Appearances
• 6.3 Apocrypha
• 6.4 External links

Lineage [ ]

Service history [ ], construction and launch [ ].

On stardate 49827.5, the Sovereign -class Enterprise -E, seen as the pinnacle of Starfleet ship design, was launched from San Francisco Fleet Yards , with Captain Jean-Luc Picard in command once more. Much of the crew of the Enterprise -D had been reassigned there, including almost the entire senior staff . The sole exception was Lieutenant Commander Worf , who had already transferred to the space station Deep Space 9 . ( Star Trek: First Contact ; DS9 : " The Way of the Warrior ", " Trials and Tribble-ations ")

The Borg threat [ ]

After almost a year in space , the Enterprise was ordered to patrol the Romulan Neutral Zone during the second Borg incursion . Starfleet was officially concerned about possible Romulan military action since many of the available ships had been diverted to fight the Borg , but in reality, Starfleet was concerned about Picard's presence at the battle.

Return to Earth [ ]

The Enterprise at the Battle of Sector 001

However, shortly after the Federation fleet engaged the Borg cube , Picard disobeyed orders and returned to Earth to assist the fleet. Once there, Picard became aware of a battle-induced weakness in the Borg ship due to his residual link to the Collective and ordered all the ships in the fleet to concentrate their fire on that section of the ship. As a result, the Borg vessel was destroyed and the Battle of Sector 001 was a victory for Starfleet.

Journey to 2063 [ ]

The Enterprise passing the USS Defiant

Before the Borg cube was destroyed, it launched a second vessel towards Earth. This ship created a temporal vortex and traveled back to the year 2063 in order to stop Zefram Cochrane from launching his historic warp ship , the Phoenix . Their hope was to prevent first contact with the Vulcans and assimilate Earth before the Federation could be formed to resist them.

The Enterprise , protected from the alterations in the timeline by a temporal wake within the vortex, chased the Borg into the past and destroyed their ship and sent an away team to help Cochrane repair the Phoenix .

Borg assimilating the decks of the Enterprise

However, the ship's sensors and shields were damaged during the trip through the vortex and, unbeknownst to the crew , several Borg drones transported aboard the Enterprise before their ship exploded. They began to assimilate the ship, beginning with main engineering and sickbay on Deck 16 and converting the corridors into a Borg configuration, complete with regeneration alcoves and assimilation chambers . On Picard's order, Lieutenant Commander Data locked out the main computer with a fractal encryption code to prevent the Borg from fully seizing control of the Enterprise . The Borg established their collective in engineering and cut primary power to all other decks, cutting the Enterprise off from the away team still down on the surface . The Borg were able to swiftly overrun the defense checkpoints set up by the Starfleet crew on Decks 26 through 11, assimilating the crew as they progressed and seizing control of such sections as hydroponics , Stellar cartography , deflector control and the shuttlebays . They also attempted to build an interplexing beacon on the particle emitter of the deflector dish to contact the Borg Collective of that time period.

The main deflector dish, with particle emitter disconnected

A three-man team led by Captain Picard stopped the beacon from being completed by separating the dish from the ship by disengaging the magnetic locks and destroying it. The Borg changed tactics and continued to overrun the defense checkpoints, assimilating the ship up to Deck 5 with the intent to fully assimilate the vessel . The Borg's ability to adapt to the handheld weapons of the Enterprise crew made stopping them impossible and Picard realized that the fight was a lost cause. After great consideration, he reluctantly ordered the evacuation of the ship via the escape pods and activated the ship's auto-destruct sequence to prevent the Borg from interfering with the Phoenix flight.

Picard eventually confronted the Borg Queen in main engineering, only to find, to his horror, that the Borg had apparently coerced Data into collaborating with them. He aborted the auto-destruct sequence and entered the encryption codes into the main computer, effectively giving the Borg Queen command of the Enterprise . On the Queen's instructions, Data fired three quantum torpedoes at the Phoenix , ostensibly intending to destroy it. However, the torpedoes narrowly missed their target and Data revealed that he had in fact simply been deceiving the Borg. He ruptured one of the plasma coolant tanks , flooding engineering with plasma coolant and liquefying the Borg Queen and all the drones in engineering. With the death of the Borg Queen, the remaining Borg onboard were disabled, which allowed Data and Picard to recapture the vessel.

The Enterprise crew was successful in helping Cochrane make his flight and instigate First Contact with Vulcans . Using the gravitational field of Luna allowed the Enterprise to remain undetected by the Vulcan ship and the Enterprise was able to recreate the vortex used by the Borg to return to 2373 where the Borg components were removed, the ship repaired and subsequently returned to service. ( Star Trek: First Contact )

The Briar Patch [ ]

The Enterprise in the Briar Patch

With the Federation Diplomatic Corps attempting to negotiate an end to the Dominion War , the Enterprise was relegated to a diplomatic role, much to the dissatisfaction of Captain Picard. In 2375 , the Enterprise was conducting a diplomatic mission with the Evora , a new Federation protectorate species and was scheduled to resolve a territorial dispute in the Goren system when her crew became embroiled in a plot by the Son'a , assisted by Starfleet Admiral Dougherty , to forcibly remove the Ba'ku from their isolated homeworld in the Briar Patch .

The Son'a turned out to be vengeful former Ba'ku who had been exiled from the planet after a failed coup a century prior . They planned to harvest metaphasic radiation from the planet 's ring system and needed Starfleet's cooperation to carry out the plan. Captain Picard felt the relocation of the Ba'ku was a severe violation of the Prime Directive and resigned his commission, leading a team of Enterprise crewmembers to the Ba'ku planet to prevent their capture and removal.

The Enterprise being pursued by a subspace tear in the Briar Patch

Commander William T. Riker was instructed to take the Enterprise and contact the Federation Council to alert them of Admiral Dougherty's treachery. However, the Enterprise was required to navigate an area of space known as the Briar Patch in order to contact Starfleet Command . This area disrupted communications as well as the ship's warp drive .

The Battle of the Briar Patch [ ]

Two Son'a battle cruisers were sent by Ahdar Ru'afo to intercept the Enterprise before she left the Briar Patch and severely damaged the ship in the process. The warp core was ejected in order to seal a dangerous tear in subspace created by the isolytic weaponry of the Son'a.

Riker was able to outwit the Son'a by collecting metreon gas native to the Briar Patch then venting it behind the ship. When the Son'a used their weapons, the gas exploded, destroying one ship and severely damaging the other. Geordi La Forge half-jokingly commented that the tactic could become known as the Riker Maneuver . The Enterprise later returned to the Ba'ku planet to aid Captain Picard disarming the Son'a collector . They ran into Ru'afo's flagship on their way there and Commander Riker pretended to ram into the flagship but instead flew over it and used its phaser banks to fire at it. When the collector started to blow up, the Enterprise beamed up Picard and left Ru'afo to be destroyed in the collector while it blew up. The Enterprise later left the Briar Patch to leave for Earth. ( Star Trek: Insurrection )

Continuing voyages [ ]

The Enterprise visited Earth for several days in 2376 , around the time the Pathfinder Project made contact with the USS Voyager and conducted a mission about seven light years from Earth the following year . According to Deanna Troi , it was an important mission, but the objective was never discussed. ( VOY : " Pathfinder ", " Life Line ")

Sometime between 2375 and 2379 the Enterprise underwent a major refit . Four additional aft -facing photon torpedo tubes were added, along with one more forward-facing tube: a twin launcher aft of the bridge , a single launcher above the aft hangar deck and a single launcher at the forward base of the bridge terracing.

The bridge was refitted with handrails and the consoles were improved across the port and starboard walls with more detailed displays. Additionally, new nacelle pylons were fitted at that time, slightly longer, broader, and more sharply swept than the originals and fitted with four additional phaser arrays . ( Star Trek Nemesis )

Mission to Romulus [ ]

The Enterprise in 2379

In 2379 , the Enterprise returned to Earth for the wedding of William T. Riker and Deanna Troi. She departed for Betazed , where another ceremony, a traditional Betazoid wedding, was scheduled.

While en route, the ship detected unusual positronic signals from the Kolarin system , discovering another Soong-type android , the prototype B-4 . Shortly following, the Enterprise was ordered to Romulus for a meeting with the new Praetor , Shinzon , who apparently wanted to initiate peace talks. Both the discovery of B-4 and the peace overtures turned out to be a ruse to capture Captain Picard and discover tactical positions of Starfleet vessels.

Enterprise faces and collides with the Scimitar

Once it became clear Shinzon was going to use his starship, the Scimitar , to destroy all life on Earth and wage war on the Federation, the Enterprise was to join Star Fleet Battle Group Omega and make a stand against Shinzon.

Battle of the Bassen Rift [ ]

Shinzon caught up to the Enterprise in the Bassen Rift and, in the ensuing confrontation , the vessel was severely damaged, including a major hull breach on the bridge, destroying the viewscreen and controls and disabling the warp core .

As a last resort, Picard ordered Counselor Deanna Troi to take control of the Enterprise and have it ram the Scimitar , resulting in the loss of much of the saucer section 's forward area. The collision disabled the Scimitar , but Shinzon, driven by vengeance , activated his deadly thalaron weapon and trained it on the Enterprise .

The weapon was overloaded, and the Scimitar was destroyed due to interference from Commander Data, who sacrificed himself to save the Enterprise , Picard and, indirectly, Earth.

Enterprise in drydock over Earth

Following the Scimitar incident, the Enterprise returned to Earth where it underwent an extensive repair in one of the orbiting spacedocks . ( Star Trek Nemesis )

The 2380s [ ]

The Protostar evades the Enterprise -E in 2384

In 2381 , two Reman assassins intercepted the Enterprise in the Donatra sector and put a gun to Picard's head. ( PIC : " Seventeen Seconds ")

That same year, Captain Picard was promoted to admiral and left the Enterprise to spearhead the construction and deployment of a massive transport fleet intended to aid the evacuation of the Romulus system before its sun went supernova in 2387 . ( PIC : " Remembrance "; LD : " The Stars At Night ")

In 2384 , the Enterprise was part of a Federation armada sent to intercept the USS Protostar , when it was intentionally attacked by the living construct released by Asencia . ( PRO : " Mindwalk ", " Supernova, Part 1 ")

Later, after the Protostar was destroyed, the ship was seen wrecked, with numerous gashes in the hull and completely dark, but somewhat intact. ( PRO : " Supernova, Part 2 ")

In 2401 , while taking the rebuilt Enterprise -D from the Fleet Museum , La Forge mentioned they "obviously" couldn't take the Enterprise -E, something that Worf said "was not [his] fault", alluding to an incident rendering the ship unusable. ( PIC : " Võx ")

The next USS Enterprise , an Odyssey -class starship USS Enterprise -F was launched and would be in service during the late 24th century. ( PIC : " The Next Generation ")

Technical information [ ]

The Enterprise -E at warp

In her original configuration, the Enterprise -E was under 700 meters long and had 24 decks according to Picard, although Deck 26 was reported as being controlled by the Borg. She was equipped with twelve phaser arrays and five torpedo tubes .

The main bridge of the Enterprise

By 2379 , the Enterprise -E had undergone at least one refit, including four additional phaser arrays and five additional torpedo tubes. The number of decks was also increased by five to a minimum of 29. ( Star Trek Nemesis )

Sections included deflector control, Stellar cartography , hydroponics (on deck 11), and one sickbay ward. Main engineering and sickbay were on Deck 16. ( Star Trek: First Contact )

The ship could be controlled by a manual steering column located on the bridge. ( Star Trek: Insurrection ) She was also the first Enterprise to be equipped with an Emergency Medical Hologram . ( Star Trek: First Contact )

The Enterprise 's forward shuttlebay

The Enterprise carried a newer design of shuttlecraft as well as numerous other forms of transportation, including a warp-capable captain's yacht , the Cousteau , ( Star Trek: Insurrection ) and a special multipurpose shuttlecraft, the Argo . ( Star Trek Nemesis ) The yacht was installed as a part of the saucer section and detached upon deployment. Other auxiliary craft were launched from two shuttlebays , one at the aft end of the secondary hull and another near the aft end of the primary hull.

Crewmembers included those of the Human , Vulcan , Bajoran , Betazoid , Bolian , and Trill species , as well as a Klingon and an android . ( Star Trek: Insurrection )

Command crew [ ]

• Jean-Luc Picard ( 2372 – 2380s )
• William T. Riker ( 2375 ) (acting)
• William T. Riker (2372– 2379 )
• Data (2372–2379), also Second Officer
• Perim (2375)
• Geordi La Forge (2372–)
• Daniels (2372–2375)
• Worf ( 2373 , 2375, 2379) (acting)
• Beverly Crusher (2372– 2381 )
• Deanna Troi (2372–2379)
• Hawk (2373)
• Geordi La Forge (2375) (acting)
• Branson (2379)

See also: USS Enterprise personnel

Appendices [ ]

Appearances [ ].

• Star Trek: First Contact
• Star Trek: Insurrection
• Star Trek Nemesis
• VOY : " Life Line " (interior only)
• PIC : " The Impossible Box " (archive footage)
• " Mindwalk "
• " Supernova, Part 1 "

Background information [ ]

A Galaxy -class Enterprise -E

Following Star Trek Generations , the six-foot filming model for the Galaxy -class USS Enterprise -D had been modified to have the registry number read "NCC-1701-E". Penny Juday , the archivist at Paramount Pictures , had no explanation for this change as of 19 October 2001. ( TNG Season 2, Disc 6 : "Inside Starfleet Archives"). It turned out that the change was done at ILM by John Goodson prior to crating up the model after completion of Star Trek Generations , presumably on the assumption that the new Enterprise might be a Galaxy -class ship as well and having the number changed over already would save whoever did the special effects the trouble of having to change it over themselves. ( Industrial Light & Magic: Into the Digital Realm , p. 60)

The Enterprise -E was, in fact, the only replacement for a previously-destroyed "hero" ship that was not of the same class as its predecessor, as opposed to USS Enterprise -A (and its alternate reality counterpart ) , the USS Defiant and the Delta Flyer . It was principally designed by John Eaves under the supervision of Herman Zimmerman . Using Eaves's sketches, Rick Sternbach drafted the blueprints for a ten-foot physical model. Eaves and Zimmerman also supervised the interior design of the bridge, engineering and corridors , although many sets from Star Trek: Voyager were also reused during Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Insurrection . Though the Enterprise -E was mentioned in several episodes of Voyager , the ship was never seen outside of the films. However, the interior of the ship is visible in a communication with Deanna Troi in VOY : " Life Line " as well as a turbolift interior built for the films which was re-purposed for the Enterprise -D in ENT : " These Are the Voyages... ".

The ten-foot physical model, constructed under the supervision of John Goodson at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), was used for visual effects shots during Star Trek: First Contact , alongside a CGI version. In Star Trek: Insurrection and Star Trek Nemesis , CGI versions of the ship completely replaced the physical model.

The Nemesis CGI model included several modifications designed by John Eaves. In addition to the new weapons mentioned above, the warp pylons were slightly modified and the connection between the primary and secondary hulls near the main shuttlebay was made more sleek.

The model of the Enterprise -E from Star Trek: First Contact (Lot #107) was sold at the 40 Years of Star Trek: The Collection auction on October 5, 2006 for US$132,000 including the buyer's premium (the winning bid was US$110,000). [6]

There has been some confusion about the number of decks on the Enterprise -E. The construction blueprints of the filming miniature created for Star Trek: First Contact explicitly label 23 decks. In the film, Picard told Lily Sloane that the ship had 24 decks, while the master systems display on the bridge allows either interpretation. Earlier on, however, Daniels had reported that the Borg are in control of Decks 26 through 11. Michael and Denise Okuda say in their text commentary on the film, during the scene in which Picard tells Lilly about the 24 decks: " Unfortunately, earlier in this film, we are told that the ship has at least 26 decks. We can't imagine that Picard doesn't know his own ship, so we theorize that the other two decks are top secret for some reason. Either that, or his memory was affected by his earlier Borg assimilation. It certainly couldn't be a goof, because the design of the ship changed slightly during filming. "

In Star Trek Nemesis , the Remans beam onto Deck 29. This could mean that Picard did not tell Lily the truth and there are actually more than 24 decks, or that more decks were added to the ship prior to Star Trek Nemesis . It may also be the case that Picard was counting only finished decks, as there could have been decks left unfinished for future expansion. Also, there was the possibility that Picard may have intentionally withheld or lied about certain aspects of the Enterprise -E design in the event that Lily was assimilated by the Borg.

Also in Nemesis , the Reman Viceroy fell several decks down a maintenance shaft. Because the Viceroy and the other Remans boarded the ship on Deck 29, it had been assumed that the ensuing battle took place on Deck 29 and that the Viceroy fell from that deck, implying that there could be 35 or more decks, or that the normal deck scheme was altered in some way that the ship could have more named decks than it measured in height.

This was not the case as signage on the corridors where the phaser fight between the Remans and the Enterprise officers took place indicate they were actually on Deck 9. This suggested that the two parties encountered each other about halfway to their destinations ( Enterprise officers to Deck 29, the Remans to the bridge on Deck 1).

It is apparent from lineup charts that every new starship Enterprise is slightly longer than the previous one. In Star Trek: First Contact , Picard informs Lily Sloane that the Enterprise -E is "almost seven hundred meters long", in accordance with its intended size of 2,248 feet (685 meters). John Eaves describes the rationale as follows:

When the "E" had a final approved design, we drew up a chart of all the Enterprises in profile. Herman [Zimmerman] and I set down a whole bunch of cutouts of the "E" in various sizes to see where this new ship should scale with the others. We found one size that looked appropriate and we put a scale to its length and that would be 2,248 feet. Rick [Sternbach] was waiting to do the blueprints and add his creativity to the design, so we gave him a drawing with this one measurement. From there he sized the whole ship ... [7]

By January 7, 1997, the following dimensions from Rick Sternbach had been added to FAQ: A History of Ships Named Enterprise: [8]

Length: 2,248' Beam: 820' Height: 290' L of saucer: 1,150' Nacelle span: 700' L of nacelles: 1,056'

The same length, beam and height (in meters) appear on the SciPubTech poster from around the same time. In addition, the length of 2,248 feet is listed in at least three comparison charts prepared for Star Trek: First Contact . [9] It can also be seen in the charts prepared for Star Trek: Insurrection . [10] The Star Trek Nemesis size chart puts it at 2,250 feet, consistent with a size revision during either the filmed or the unfilmed stage of redesign. [11] [12]

Apocrypha [ ]

In the novel Ship of the Line , the Enterprise was given to Captain Morgan Bateson for its shakedown cruise , which included war games near the Klingon border. Along for the ride, as temporary chief engineer, was Montgomery Scott .

Some missions of the Enterprise during the Dominion War were featured in Behind Enemy Lines , Tunnel Through the Stars and Tales of the Dominion War . In the DS9 Millennium book series, the Enterprise was destroyed at the Battle of Rigel VII ( β ) in an alternate future that the intrepid heroes of Deep Space 9 later prevented.

Star Trek: A Time to... , set during the year leading up to Star Trek Nemesis , featured the Enterprise being involved in a major political scandal that disgraces the ship and her crew for much of the coming year; the final duology in that series features the Enterprise being ordered to lead an invasion and occupation of a sovereign planet, with resemblance to the current real life world political situation at the time the novels were written. A "TNG relaunch" of sorts followed the Enterprise 's activities after Nemesis ; the first book in the series, Death in Winter , was released in September 2005 .

The novel Resistance established that before he left the Enterprise for the Titan , Commander Riker christened this Enterprise 's version of the crew lounge , or Ten Forward , as the "Happy Bottom Riding Club," a name Worf absolutely hated and refused to use under any circumstances. The name for the lounge was derived from a similar watering hole that old Earth astronauts used to frequent. It also established that every ship's computer that was built during the last decade had encrypted information about Romulan cloaking technology, which could be decrypted in case of emergency using an admiral's code and thus enabled the crew to build a cloaking device. In Resistance the crew separated the saucer section from the engine section (a feat this Enterprise had previously not done) and then cloaked the engine section to engage a Borg cube. During Resistance , Worf was promoted to the official first officer after acting in the position in an unofficial capacity during the ship's reconstruction after its confrontation with the Scimitar . In Q&A , an encounter with Q revealed that his past contact with the crew had been to prepare them for an encounter with "Them ( β )", a race far above even the Q, with Picard's response convincing Them that the universe deserved to exist. The novel Before Dishonor allied the crew of the Enterprise with Spock and Seven of Nine as they are forced to reactivate the original planet killer after Admiral Janeway was assimilated and became the new Queen of a Borg super-cube, the confrontation ending with the loss of Pluto , the destruction of the cube and Janeway's apparent death . The Destiny miniseries culminated in the final destruction of the Borg after the Titan learns their true origin, but the Federation was left devastated by the subsequent invasion , with much of the later novels focusing on the role the Enterprise will play in the reconstruction amid the creation of the Typhon Pact ( β ), an "anti-Federation" consisting of some of the Federation's most notorious adversaries, including the Romulans, the Tholians and the Breen . After the events of The Fall miniseries, the Enterprise was sent on a new mission of exploration.

In the Star Trek: Picard tie-in prequel, The Last Best Hope , Worf was given command of the Enterprise following Picard's promotion to admiral and on his personal recommendation, as Starfleet has reservations in light of Worf's actions in DS9 : " Change of Heart ".

In the Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual (which was printed before Star Trek: First Contact ), it was speculated that the Enterprise -E might be a Nova -class ship.

The Enterprise -E in Countdown , Issue 2

In Star Trek: Countdown , a tie-in to the 2009 Star Trek film, the Enterprise -E was still active as of 2387 with Data , having been revived after successfully imprinting his neural network into B-4 's existing CPU succeeding Picard as captain .

The timeline for Star Trek Online followed the storyline in the Countdown comic series, with Data as captain into the 25th century . The timeline only mentioned that the Enterprise -E left service around 2408, but its ultimate fate was unclear; however, by 2409, a new Odyssey -class ( β ) vessel was christened Enterprise ( β ) (NCC-1701-F), implying that her predecessor was decommissioned or destroyed. The short story "Unexpected Honor", written for issue 40 of Star Trek Magazine in May 2012, revealed that the Enterprise -E was destroyed in an ambush by the Undine at Starbase 236 ( β ) in 2408; among the survivors was Captain Data, who retired from Starfleet to take up teaching on Earth.

The Enterprise had also featured in many apocryphal productions, including the strategy games Star Trek: Armada , Star Trek: Armada II , Star Trek: Bridge Commander , Star Trek: Starfleet Command III , Star Trek: Elite Force II , Star Trek: Legacy , and, most recently, Star Trek Online .

External links [ ]

• USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E) at StarTrek.com
• USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E) at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E) at Wikipedia
• 3 ISS Enterprise (NCC-1701)

Court is the final frontier for this lost ‘Star Trek’ model

• Show more sharing options
• Copy Link URL Copied!

In April, Heritage Auctions heralded the discovery of the original model of the U.S.S. Enterprise, the iconic starship that whooshed through the stars in the opening credits of the 1960s TV series “Star Trek” but had mysteriously disappeared around 45 years ago.

The auction house, known for its dazzling sales of movie and television props and memorabilia, announced that it was returning the 33-inch model to Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry Jr., son of series creator Gene Roddenberry. The model was kept at Heritage’s Beverly Hills office for “safekeeping,” the house proclaimed in a statement, shortly after an individual discovered it and brought it to Heritage for authentication.

“After a long journey, she’s home,” Roddenberry’s son posted on X , (formerly Twitter).

But the journey has been far from smooth. The starship model and its celebrated return is now the subject of a lawsuit alleging fraud, negligence and deceptive trade practice, highlighting the enduring value of memorabilia from the iconic sci-fi TV series.

The case was brought by Dustin Riach and Jason Rivas, longtime friends and self-described storage unit entrepreneurs who discovered the model among a stash of items they bought “sight unseen” from a lien sale at a storage locker in Van Nuys last October.

“It’s an unfortunate misunderstanding. We have a seller on one side and a buyer on the other side and Heritage is in the middle, and we are aligning the parties on both sides to get the transaction complete,” said Armen Vartian, an attorney representing the Dallas-based auction house, adding that the allegations against his client were “unfounded.”

Company Town

Andy Cohen turned Bravo into a cable powerhouse. Now the ‘king of reality TV’ faces his own drama

Bravo and the producers of shows such as “Real Housewives” face a slew of allegations and lawsuits claiming bullying, harassment and unfair labor practices.

April 3, 2024

The pair claimed that once the model was authenticated and given a value of $800,000, they agreed to consign it to an auction sale with Heritage planned for July 2024, according to the lawsuit. However, following their agreement, they allege the auction house falsely questioned their title to the model and then convinced them, instead of taking it to auction, to sell it for a low-ball $500,000 to Roddenberry Entertainment Inc. According to the suit, Eugene Roddenberry, the company’s CEO, had shown great interest in the model and could potentially provide a pipeline of memorabilia to the auction house in the future.

“They think we have a disagreement with Roddenberry,” said Dale Washington, Riach and Rivas’ attorney. “We don’t. We think they violated property law in the discharge of their fiduciary duties.”

The two men allege they have yet to receive the $500,000 payment.

A surprise discovery in a Van Nuys storage unit

For years, Riach and Rivas have made a living buying repossessed storage lockers and selling the contents online, at auction and at flea markets. In fact, Riach has appeared on the reality TV series “Storage Wars.”

“It’s a roll of dice in the dark,” Riach said of his profession bidding on storage lockers. “Sometimes you are buying a picture of a unit. When a unit goes to lien, what you see is what you get and the rest is a surprise. At a live auction you can shine a flashlight, smell and look inside to get a gauge. But online is a gamble, it’s only as good as the photo.”

Last fall, Riach said he saw a picture of a large locker in an online sale. It was 10 feet by 30 feet, and “I saw boxes hiding in the back, it was dirty, dusty, there were cobwebs and what looked like a bunch of broken furniture,” he said.

Something about it, he said, “looked interesting,” and he called Rivas and told him they should bid on it. Riach declined to say how much they paid.

There were tins of old photographs and negatives of nitrate film reels from the 1800s and 1900s. When Rivas unwrapped a trash bag that was sitting on top of furniture, he pulled out a model of a spaceship. The business card of its maker, Richard C. Datin, was affixed to the bottom of the base.

A Google search turned up that Datin had made “Star Trek” models, although the two men didn’t make the connection to the TV series.

“We buy lots of units and see models all of the time,” Riach said. He thought they would find a buyer and decided to list it on eBay with a starting price of $1,000.

At once, they were deluged with inquiries. Among Trekkies, the long-lost first starship model had attained a mythical status.

The original “Star Trek’’ debuted in 1966 and aired for three seasons. Although its original run was brief, the show has generated numerous films and television spinoffs and is one of the most lucrative entertainment franchises, with an enormous fan base.

In 2022, at a Heritage auction of 75 props and items, a Starfleet Communicator from the 1990s series “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” sold for $27,500 while a pair of Spock’s prosthetic Vulcan ear tips from the original series went for $11,875, more than twice the amount they brought when they were sold in 2017 for $5,100.

The starship’s design was crucial to the series’ success. “If you didn’t believe you were in a vehicle traveling through space, a vehicle that made sense, whose layout and design made sense, then you wouldn’t believe in the series,” Gene Roddenberry said in the 1968 book “The Making of Star Trek,” according to the auction house.

For years, the show’s creator had kept the 33-inch model on his desk. It became the prototype for the 11-foot model used in subsequent episodes. That version was later donated to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. But that first model disappeared around 1978 when the makers of “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” borrowed it.

A missing starship model

In 1979, Roddenberry wrote to then Paramount executive Jeffrey Katzenberg stating that he had “loaned” the model to the studio more than a year earlier.

“My problem is simply that of getting my model back,” Roddenberry wrote, according to a copy provided by Washington. “It is a fairly expensive piece of model making but its real value to me is what it represents.” He added that no one he had spoken with “had the slightest hint as to who got it or what happened to it.”

Roddenberry died in 1991 .

After the massive interest sparked by the eBay listing, Riach and Rivas pulled the sale and began researching the model more intently. They discovered the connection between Datin and the TV series but also learned that the original model was the same size as the one they had found and it had gone missing. “I said wow, do we have something here?” said Riach, and then reached out to Heritage.

Riach admitted that “Star Trek” wasn’t really on his radar. He was a die-hard “Star Wars” fan, having collected vintage memorabilia from the space films since he was 8 years old.

But given the treasure he unearthed, he now says, “I love ‘Star Trek.’

“There are people buying storage units for 20 years and you will never find anything this great,” he said. “It’s like buying a lottery ticket. It was a very great find.”

Things took an unexpected twist, Riach said. In March, he and Rivas signed an agreement to sell the model for $500,000 after it was pulled from the planned auction and they were told Roddenberry Entertainment had a “strong claim” to the model’s title and “would tie them up with its ‘powerful legal team.’” But then they were given a new transfer agreement to sign with a new set of terms. Riach declined and, instead, he and Rivas called Washington.

Heritage “moved the goalposts,” said their attorney. Under the new agreement, Riach and Rivas would be paid a “finder’s fee,” which Washington called a “reward,” converting it from a transactional payment to a potentially voluntary payment.

They claimed that by April, when Heritage announced the model had resurfaced, the pair came to believe the house failed to disclose the item’s value was much greater than they had been told.

Joe Maddalena, Heritage’s executive vice president, made public statements calling it “priceless.” “It could sell for any amount and I wouldn’t be surprised because of what it is,” he told the AP . “It is truly a cultural icon.”

They also had not been paid.

On April 28, 10 days after Heritage announced it had returned the model to Roddenberry, Riach and Rivas’ lawyer sent a letter to the auction house’s attorney outlining their claims and asking for the payment promised; they also proposed mediation.

Vartian, the lawyer representing Heritage, said that Riach and Rivas became “impatient” about getting the transaction done, and disputes the house had a fiduciary duty to them.

“This is an arm’s-length business relationship,” Vartian said. “They bring something to the auction house and are trying to get the most possible amount as quickly as possible, that is [Heritage’s] position and what they did.”

Still, Vartian is confident that they will soon conclude the transaction, saying, “Various things including scheduling have taken longer than it would.”

For his part, Riach says this experience is much like that of the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise — “a strange new world.”

“I’ve never experienced anything like this. I’ve sold fine art at auction and other places, I got my check and went on. I’ve never had this roller coaster.

“Storage is a hard game. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose,” he added. “We’ve bought a $10,000 unit and everything was complete garbage. But if you play long enough, you can get lucky.”

More to Read

Anne Heche’s ‘insolvent’ estate cannot settle debts, actor’s son claims in legal docs

April 24, 2024

Tesla wants shareholders to reinstate $55-billion pay package for Musk

April 17, 2024

NASA takes ownership of space junk that crashed into Florida home

April 16, 2024

Inside the business of entertainment

The Wide Shot brings you news, analysis and insights on everything from streaming wars to production — and what it all means for the future.

You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.

Stacy Perman is a Company Town reporter working on investigations and enterprise stories covering the entertainment industry. Before joining The Times in 2018, she was a writer and correspondent for Time and Businessweek; her work has appeared in a number of publications including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Fortune and the Hollywood Reporter. She is the author of three books including the New York Times bestseller “In-N-Out Burger: A Behind-The-Counter Look at the Fast-Food Chain That Breaks All the Rules.”

More From the Los Angeles Times

Netflix is in the running for NFL Christmas games

LAist staffers offered buyouts ahead of possible layoffs at public radio station

May 9, 2024

TV series based on Shohei Ohtani interpreter gambling scandal in the works at Lionsgate

World & Nation

Harvey Weinstein is back at New York’s Rikers Island jail after hospital stay

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Trouble logging in?

By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes.

Email not verified

Let's keep in touch.

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

• Upcoming Movies and TV shows
• Trivia & Rotten Tomatoes Podcast
• Media News + More

By clicking "Sign Me Up," you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and communications from Fandango Media (Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes) and consenting to Fandango's Privacy Policy and Terms and Policies . Please allow 10 business days for your account to reflect your preferences.

OK, got it!

Movies / TV

No results found.

• What's the Tomatometer®?
• Login/signup

Movies in theaters

• Opening this week
• Top box office
• Coming soon to theaters
• Certified fresh movies

Movies at home

• Fandango at Home
• Netflix streaming
• Prime Video
• Most popular streaming movies
• What to Watch New

Certified fresh picks

• Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes Link to Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
• The Fall Guy Link to The Fall Guy
• The Last Stop in Yuma County Link to The Last Stop in Yuma County

New TV Tonight

• Doctor Who: Season 1
• Blood of Zeus: Season 2
• Pretty Little Liars: Summer School: Season 2
• Black Twitter: A People's History: Season 1
• Dark Matter: Season 1
• Bodkin: Season 1
• Hollywood Con Queen: Season 1
• The Chi: Season 6
• Reginald the Vampire: Season 2
• Love Undercover: Season 1

Most Popular TV on RT

• Baby Reindeer: Season 1
• A Man in Full: Season 1
• Fallout: Season 1
• Hacks: Season 3
• The Sympathizer: Season 1
• Them: Season 2
• Dead Boy Detectives: Season 1
• X-Men '97: Season 1
• Best TV Shows
• Most Popular TV
• TV & Streaming News

Certified fresh pick

• Doctor Who: Season 1 Link to Doctor Who: Season 1
• All-Time Lists
• Binge Guide
• Comics on TV
• Five Favorite Films
• Video Interviews
• Weekend Box Office
• Weekly Ketchup
• What to Watch

100 Best Movies on Tubi (May 2024)

The Best Shows on Amazon Prime Video to Watch Right Now (May 2024)

Asian-American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Heritage

What to Watch: In Theaters and On Streaming

Rotten Tomatoes Predicts the 2024 Emmy Nominations

8 Things To Know About The New Season Of Doctor Who

• Trending on RT
• Furiosa First Reactions
• Streaming in May
• New Doctor Who
• Planet of the Apes Reviews

Star Trek: Enterprise

Where to watch.

Watch Star Trek: Enterprise with a subscription on Paramount+, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video.

Cast & Crew

Scott Bakula

Capt. Jonathan Archer

Connor Trinneer

Cmdr. Charles "Trip" Tucker III

Jolene Blalock

Commander T'Pol

Dominic Keating

Lt. Malcolm Reed

Anthony Montgomery

Ensign Travis Mayweather

Ensign Hoshi Sato

More Like This

Tv news & guides, this show is featured in the following articles., series info.

Star Trek Enterprise's Scott Bakula Wasn't Thrilled With The Series Finale

The final episode of "Star Trek: Enterprise" — titled "These Are the Voyages..." — aired on May 13, 2005, and it looked like the long road of "Star Trek" had finally come to an end. "Enterprise" debuted only two weeks after 9/11, and the world, it seemed, was no longer in the mood for the franchise's optimistic messages about diplomacy and peace. "Star Trek" encouraged people to reach out to enemies and find common ground while the pop world was singing "We'll put a boot in your ass, it's the American way." By 2005, the franchise's time was finally near.

Yet, as the property limped out the door, fans were presented with a disappointing series finale wherein all the show's loose ends had to be wrapped up in a hurry. To achieve this, the "Enterprise" showrunners conceived a crossover event wherein Commander Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Counselor Troi (Marina Sirtis) from "Star Trek: The Next Generation" recreated the "Enterprise" characters on a holodeck. Recall that "Next Generation" takes place about 220 years after "Enterprise," so audiences weren't even seeing the "real" versions of Captain Archer (Scott Bakula), T'Pol (Jolene Blalock), et al closing out their journey. Instead, Riker enjoyed recreations of them for his own personal edification. There was no notable Trekkie thrill in seeing Riker interact with Archer.

One can see why the "Enterprise" showrunners wanted to end the series in this fashion: it was a great way to connect "Enterprise" to extant "Star Trek" lore. Fans, however, were frustrated. This is the way "Star Trek" ends — not with a bang, but a holodeck recreation.

In 2010, Bakula was interviewed by StarTrek.com to gauge the actor's views on "Enterprise" after it had been off the air for five years. It seems that he was just as disappointed with "Voyages..." as everyone else.

These Are the Voyages of the Starship Disappointment

Even after several years, Bakula remained diplomatic. "These Are the Voyages..." was written by longtime "Star Trek" producer Rick Berman and just-as-longtime writer Brannon Braga, both veterans from the early days of "Next Generation" and co-creators of "Enterprise." Bakula recalled reading their teleplay for the "Enterprise" finale and having to have a meeting with his bosses, more or less asking for an explanation:

"I have to say that when I first read the script I was off-put by it. I had a long talk with Rick and Brannon about it and they explained their idea and philosophy to me. I don't know that I ever ... Gosh, the end of anything is always hard to write. It was a little odd, but that was their call." 

Bakula's trailing off indicates that he was poised to say something perhaps slightly more acidic, but then caught himself, not wanting to badmouth a plum gig he held for four years.

The general wisdom among Trekkies is that "Enterprise" struggled through its first two seasons — which were presented in a traditional "story of the week" format — and then picked up considerably for its third and fourth seasons (which relied more heavily on extended, multiple-episode arcs, which were more fashionable at the time). The third season devoted all 24 of its episodes to a time-travel-based conflict with a mysterious species called the Xindi who randomly destroyed Florida without provocation, with the series' leads tracking down the Xindi and wondering why they attacked.

Bakula, it seems, didn't like the "extended arc" approach, nor the warlike attitude the series had to affect to achieve it.

Star Trek in a post-9/11 world

/Film has previously written about how "Enterprise" suffered from being produced in a post-9/11 world , and it seems that Bakula was starkly aware of that same phenomenon. The showrunners, it appears, wanted to make a "Star Trek" show that reflected the darkness and war of the real world, yet Bakula felt that robbed "Enterprise" of its potential to be, y'know, enjoyable.

Notably, Captain Archer's arc changed. At the beginning of the series, he was a cautiously optimistic astronaut who had to grow into a mature diplomat. With season 3, however, Archer became angry, violent, and even weirdly amoral. To Bakula, this was a regression for the character. Had "Enterprise" continued, the actor admitted he had wanted his character to mature past the violence and get back to the whole diplomacy arc:

"Things were dictated by the times, by it being post-9/11. But I wanted us to hopefully get back to having a little bit more fun on the show and to get out of that whole Xindi thing. That would have been fun. I think we were pointing in that direction. I think the group was ready to go. The cast was ready to get there, and I think we could have had a blast. But we just didn't get to go there. And I wanted Archer to kind of grow up and lighten up a little bit."

Ultimately, "Enterprise" might have been "too little, too late" in the world of "Star Trek." Audiences had retreated, the world had changed, and an 18-year hot streak was coming to an end. "These Are the Voyages..." was merely the lock turning in the door as everyone exited the theater.

"Star Trek" wouldn't return to television until 2017.