It takes more than mirror dimensions, jumps through time, and crash landings to stop the Enterprise's legacy. The Federation flagship's history goes deeper than you may realize.
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00:00It takes more than mirror dimensions, jumps through time, and crash landings to stop the
00:05Enterprise's legacy. The Federation flagship's history goes deeper than you may realize.
00:11There have been ships named the Enterprise as far back as the early 1700s, such as the British
00:17Royal Navy's HMS Enterprise. In the United States, the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier
00:23was the USS Enterprise, which became a key location in Star Trek IV, The Voyage Home.
00:28The Space Shuttle Enterprise was the first spacefaring ship to bear the name,
00:32both in Star Trek and in the real world. Of course, the real one was named after the
00:37starship in the series, thanks to a letter-writing campaign from fans.
00:40With the registry of XCV-330, the first deep-space starship to go by the name Enterprise is seen in
00:47a series of images in Star Trek The Motion Picture, as well as in Captain Forrest's office
00:52on Star Trek Enterprise. The only physical representation of the vessel so far is in J.J.
00:57Abrams' Star Trek Into Darkness, where a model of the early Enterprise appears on the desk of
01:02Admiral Marcus. Though little is known about this pre-Federation starship, we do know that it was
01:08based on an unused design from series artist Matt Jeffries before he settled on the Enterprise used
01:13in the 1966 TV series. Before the launch of Star Trek Enterprise in 2001, fans had always believed
01:21that Kirk's Constitution-class Enterprise was the first Starfleet vessel to go by that name.
01:26But in a major retcon, the series introduced Starfleet's first flagship,
01:31the NX-01, proudly bearing the name on its hull.
01:34Earth's first-ever Warp 5 starship engine was designed by Henry Archer, a protégé of the
01:39original warp drive creator, Zevram Cochrane. But there were many doubts about moving forward
01:44during the engine's development. Were it not for the efforts of Henry's son, Jonathan Archer,
01:49and former rival pilot A.G. Robinson, it may have been scrapped altogether. Jonathan would later
01:54become the ship's first captain. Launched in 2151 on a mission to deliver an injured Klingon
02:00back to his people, the NX-01 lacked most of the advanced technology fans are familiar with
02:05from other shows, like energy shields, photon torpedoes, and tractor beams. Despite this,
02:11the ship still managed to become legendary. It served as the forefront of the Zindi War,
02:17paving the way for the Vulcans, Andorians, and Tellarites to eventually form the United Federation
02:22of Planets. According to the series finale, this Enterprise was decommissioned in 2161
02:28and placed into a fleet museum. The original USS Enterprise may not be the first one to exist
02:33chronologically in Star Trek canon, but it is the most famous. Its groundbreaking design by
02:38Matt Jefferies combined classic sci-fi tropes to form an instantly recognizable silhouette.
02:44It was aboard the original that Trek fans first learned about phasers, photon torpedoes,
02:49and transporters. But interestingly, when it was initially developed by series creator
02:54Gene Roddenberry, it was designed to be a ship with a history, with James T. Kirk being its
02:59third captain. For three years on Star Trek, the ship traveled to strange new worlds,
03:04seeking new life and new civilizations. While much of its design may seem dated today,
03:10the starship lives on in the hearts and minds of Trekkies. So much so that it was lovingly
03:15recreated in episodes of other Star Trek series, though it would see a new look when Star Trek
03:20warped to the movies.
03:22Thanks to reruns in the 1970s renewing the series' popularity, a revival of Star Trek was
03:28launched in theaters. With a bigger budget and a bigger screen, a new design for the starship
03:33Enterprise was in order. After some radically different concepts were considered, an updated
03:38version of the original was chosen, with some streamlined shapes and a lot more detail. In fact,
03:43the remodel of the Enterprise serves as a major plot point in Star Trek The Motion Picture.
03:48The film opens after an 18-month retrofit, where the starship was reconstructed from nearly the
03:53ground up. As a result, new captain William Decker objects to Kirk's reassignment to the
03:58captain's chair because of his unfamiliarity with many of the new systems.
04:02"'Admiral, this is an almost totally new Enterprise. You don't know her a tenth as
04:07well as I do. That's why you're staying aboard."
04:09Sure enough, his lack of knowledge does wind up causing problems during the refitted Enterprise's
04:14first mission. Eventually, this updated starship became a fan favorite in its own right. But while
04:19Kirk was forced to destroy it to stop a gang of marauding Klingons in Star Trek III The Search
04:24for Spock, it was replaced with the USS Enterprise A, first seen in the final moments of the 1986
04:30film Star Trek IV The Voyage Home. The Enterprise A is nearly identical to its predecessor,
04:36save for some interiors, and it began a longstanding tradition of tacking on an
04:41alphabetic suffix to new starships in the line.
04:44The next Enterprise fans saw was the Enterprise D, which debuted just a year later in Star Trek
04:50The Next Generation. We would hear nothing about Enterprise B until the cast of The Next Generation
04:55moved to the big screen themselves in 1994's Star Trek Generations.
05:00I was out saving the galaxy when your grandfather was in diapers.
05:04Besides which, I think the galaxy owes me one.
05:06Star Trek Generations opens with the first flight of Enterprise B. A state-of-the-art
05:11starship of the same class as the Excelsior in Star Trek III, this new Enterprise was captained
05:17by John Harriman. Though its first mission was originally planned as little more than a trip
05:21around the solar system, it got forced into a rescue effort when a strange phenomenon threatened
05:26a nearby ship. Swinging into action, Captain Kirk saves the day, sacrificing himself to save the
05:32endangered ship. Though a lot of other media has explored the further adventures of Captain
05:36Harriman and the Enterprise B, including its helmswoman, Domora, the daughter of Captain
05:41Sulu, we have yet to learn more about it on screen.
05:44The Enterprise C is only seen once, in the third season of Star Trek The Next Generation.
05:50In the acclaimed episode, Yesterday's Enterprise, Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the Enterprise D
05:55encounter a rift in space through which the Enterprise C emerges, having traveled forward
06:0122 years and altering history. In this diverged timeline, the Federation is on the losing end of
06:07a decades-long war with the Klingons, and the disappearance of the Enterprise C is a big reason
06:12why. As it turns out, the Enterprise C, under the command of Captain Rachel Garrett, came to the
06:17aid of a Klingon outpost that was under attack. Eventually, this action led to peace with the
06:22Federation. Ultimately, after Garrett is killed in the divergent timeline, Enterprise C returns
06:27to the past to fulfill its destiny and restore history. Despite history recording the loss of
06:32all hands, we learn that survivors from the Enterprise C were taken prisoner on Romulus.
06:37This included an alternate version of Tasha Yar from Enterprise D, who would eventually give birth
06:43to the villainous Commander Sela. Like its predecessor, what we learn in this episode
06:48is all we officially know of that ship.
06:51The Enterprise D of Star Trek The Next Generation was designed by Andrew Probert,
06:56a protege of Star Wars concept designer Ralph McQuarrie. McQuarrie had been hired to conceptualize
07:01the new Enterprise for the first Star Trek movie, and recommended Probert to join the film's design
07:06team. Probert sketched up an early idea for a new ship that later formed the basis for the Enterprise
07:11D. Nearly twice as large as Kirk's classic Enterprise, this 24th century galaxy-class
07:17starship could go much faster, and had a new feature that allowed the saucer to separate from
07:22the body of the ship during a crisis. The Enterprise D was outfitted with plenty of
07:26new technology, too, with its holodecks becoming a Star Trek staple. It was the first starship to
07:32house an entire community on board, even including schools. Incredibly, this Enterprise also had a
07:38group of hyper-intelligent dolphins that helped steer the ship, though this section is only briefly
07:43mentioned and never seen.
07:45"-But, listen. Have you had a chance to see the dolphins yet? This is something you really don't want to see."
07:52Commanded by Captain Picard, the Federation flagship is seen through all seven seasons
07:57of The Next Generation, along with Star Trek Generations. However, in the climax of the movie,
08:02the Enterprise D crashes on Veridian 3, sustaining catastrophic damage.
08:07Star Trek The Next Generation saw a few dramatic changes during its first move to cinemas with Star
08:13Trek Generations, but for its follow-up, Star Trek First Contact, they were given a facelift.
08:18In addition to an entirely new uniform design, Picard and his crew received the USS Enterprise
08:24E. This sovereign-class vessel marked a departure from the smooth design of other TNG starships
08:30in favor of a more militant, angular ship. Created by illustrator John Eaves,
08:35who would also contribute designs for Star Trek Picard and Star Trek Discovery,
08:40the Enterprise E possessed cutting-edge weapons like quantum torpedoes. It even went toe-to-toe
08:45with the Borg on its first adventure. Enterprise E remained the hero of the rest of The Next
08:51Generation films and was eventually consigned to diplomatic duties during the Dominion War,
08:55as seen on Deep Space Nine. During its time in the movies, the crew of the Enterprise E largely
09:00remained the same as on The Next Generation, and while we know its service continued for
09:05some years beyond that, its further adventures have never been explored officially.
09:10When Star Trek Picard premiered in 2020, it was the first time we'd seen the franchise dip its
09:16toe into the events that followed its final TNG feature film. Many had high hopes of seeing a new
09:21starship Enterprise, though the first two seasons of the series didn't give audiences that gift.
09:27However, Trekkies finally got what they were hoping for in the third trailer for the show's
09:32third season — a first look at the all-new Odyssey-class starship, the USS Enterprise F.
09:38"...I now prefer pacifism to combat. Or I'm gonna die."
09:43The direct successor to Picard's Enterprise seen in the films,
09:47this new flagship is the first Enterprise to voyage in the 25th century. While its appearance
09:52brought applause from fans, it's not actually the first time we've seen it. It was first introduced
09:58in 2012 as a playable starship in a Star Trek Online mission titled The Odyssey Class. The
10:04design for the starship came from Floridian concept artist and sculptor Adam Isle, and was the winner
10:09of a fan contest in July of 2012. A natural evolution of the Sovereign-class, it's a heavy
10:15cruiser that, in the game, was developed to be the most powerful starship in Starfleet.
10:20Now the design is the latest successor in the Enterprise legacy on screen.
10:25In the season one finale of Star Trek Discovery, fans got a jaw-dropping surprise with the arrival
10:30of the classic Enterprise, commanded by Captain Pike, James T. Kirk's immediate predecessor. But
10:36the Discovery version of the iconic starship was updated for modern audiences. Eventually,
10:41Captain Pike, Mr. Spock, and Number One got their own spinoff in Star Trek Strange New Worlds,
10:46set aboard this refurbished Enterprise. Canonically, it's the same Enterprise that
10:50was commanded by Kirk in the original Star Trek, but this time, its differences are not the result
10:55of a refit or maintenance overhaul. According to news site Trek Movie, producers felt it was
11:00important to update the design to keep up with audience expectations in the 2020s.
11:04Mixing retro-futurism with 1960s interior design, they managed to reinvigorate the original
11:11Enterprise. The biggest changes include its swept-back nacelle pylons and the physical
11:16windows on the bridge, a feature first seen in the J.J. Abrams films. While just about every aspect
11:22of the ship has been updated, set designers and artists made sure to evoke Kirk's original in
11:27many ways. Although it's divisive among some fans for its many changes, this new sleeker
11:33ship is now the face of the 23rd century Enterprise. In 2009's Star Trek, the Enterprise
11:40got a facelift when J.J. Abrams rebooted the franchise on the big screen. The film brought
11:44the series back to its roots, showing us an alternate timeline where a younger Star Trek crew
11:49first set foot on a newly remodeled Starship Enterprise. Redesigned from the ground up by
11:54concept artist Ryan Church, the ship has been dubbed the J.J. Prize by fans. It kept the
12:00traditional silhouette, but with bigger, smoother curves and bulbous warp nacelles. It's also much
12:06more technologically advanced, featuring a clear glass viewscreen on the bridge that allows the
12:10crew to look directly into space. This major departure from previous Starship designs has
12:16since become standard, carrying over into new ships in the Prime timeline, past and future.
12:21Though it's initially captained by Christopher Pike, Kirk would sit in the captain's chair by
12:25the end of the first film and again in its two sequels. In service through Star Trek Beyond,
12:31the ship was damaged beyond repair by the villain Kral and replaced by a new Enterprise A,
12:36which is seen only briefly in the film's final moments.
12:40Given its nature as science fiction, Star Trek has glimpsed into its own future
12:44more than once, showing us a few Enterprises outside of the main timelines. Some exist far
12:50off into a future we may never see on screen, while some exist in now-erased alternate futures.
12:56In the Star Trek The Next Generation finale, for example, we're introduced to a then-future
13:00version of the Enterprise-D with a radical refit, boasting three nacelles and a new,
13:06massive phaser weapon under the saucer. But the most notable future Enterprise
13:11might be one we only got a brief look at in an episode of Star Trek Enterprise.
13:16During the Zindi War storyline, Captain Archer was pulled into the far future and onto the USS
13:21Enterprise J, a ship carrying on the Enterprise legacy 400 years into Archer's future. According
13:28to the time-traveling Agent Daniels, this ship was part of a battle that drove a malevolent race
13:33called the Sphere Builders back to their own realm. In this future, the Enterprise J even
13:38had members of the Zindi among its crew. Though little else is officially known about the Enterprise
13:43J, the starship eventually made its way into the Star Trek online game and has its own model
13:48produced by Eaglemoss. With Star Trek Discovery now set in the 32nd century, we may get to see
13:55newer versions of the Enterprise even further into the future.
13:59From the past to the present and the far future, we've seen Enterprises of all kinds. But there
14:05are even stranger versions of the Federation flagship that have been the focus of several
14:10adventures. These variant vessels usually originate in bizarre alternate realities and
14:15parallel dimensions, and they have a long history themselves. The first one appeared way back in the
14:21acclaimed 1967 episode Mirror Mirror, which saw the ISS Enterprise under the command of a tyrannical
14:27Captain Kirk.
14:28"...there's a whole galaxy gone crazy. What kind of a uniform is this? Where's your beard? What's
14:32going on? Where's my personal guard?"
14:34"...I can answer none of your questions at this time."
14:37That same Mirror universe was revisited in a 2005 two-part episode of Star Trek Enterprise,
14:42which saw a variant of the NX-01 under the command of Maximilian Forrest. Forrest is usurped by his
14:49first officer, Jonathan Archer, who, after taking over the ship, gets caught in a power struggle
14:54with the Vulcan T'Pol. Another time-ravaged alternate future, NX-01, was also seen in the
14:59Enterprise episode E-squared. Though the next generation never ventured into the Mirror universe,
15:04we did witness untold numbers of Enterprises from other parallel universes in the episode Parallels,
15:10one of which had been decimated by the Borg.