Enterprise (NX-01)''' is the fictional spaceship that serves as the primary setting of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: Enterprise. The ship predates the other Starfleet ships named Enterprise and was first seen in the pilot episode "Broken Bow". Its missions included an initial period of deep space exploration and a mission into the Delphic Expanse following the Xindi attack on Earth; it was also instrumental in the formation of the United Federation of Planets with the Vulcans, Andorians and Tellarites.
Its final regular appearance occurred in "These Are The Voyages...", where the ship is seen en route to the signing of the Federation charter and the decommissioning of the ship. Enterprise has appeared in several non-canon novels, which describe both its actions in the Romulan War and the vessel's final fate as a museum ship in orbit of Pluto. A model of an NX class ship was seen on screen in the 2013 film Star Trek Into Darkness. It has also appeared in the video game Star Trek: Encounters and Star Trek: Legacy, both released in 2006. When Star Trek: Enterprise released in 2001, there was at first a negative reaction to the design, but television critics were mostly positive, calling the design "a sort of retro-futurism". Several Enterprise toys and models have been released, including versions by Art Asylum, Diamond Select Toys, QMx and Eaglemoss Publications.
Background In the original pitch for Star Trek by creator Gene Roddenberry, the vessel that the series was set on was called the SS Yorktown, changed to before the start of the series.
Following the end of Star Trek: Voyager, which had been used to launch UPN, they were seeking a new Star Trek series. The network contacted Rick Berman during the fifth season of Star Trek: Voyager,Carey & Ruditis (2001): p. 246 and informed him that if he didn't develop a new Star Trek show then they would find someone else who would. Berman had previously been an executive producer on Voyager, and other series dating back to The Next Generation. Berman contacted Brannon Braga, and the two became the executive producers on the new show. The new series launched after the end of Voyager, but was set a century before the events seen in The Original Series. The new series was originally called Enterprise, without the Star Trek prefix. UPN president Dean Valentine said that "Paramount felt it was no longer necessary. Enterprise is synonymous with Star Trek". Berman's idea was to set it in an earlier time period, with limited technology such as the ship only being able to travel up to warp 5,Carey & Ruditis (2001): p. 256 as he felt that after three series being set in roughly the same time period it would be exciting for the fans.Carey & Ruditis (2001): p. 249
Concept and design
The first season was originally intended to be based around the construction of the ship. However, UPN wanted a more typical ship-based Star Trek series and so the ship was presented as almost finished in the pilot episode, "Broken Bow". Before the start of the series, the ship was referred to as the SS Enterprise.Carey & Ruditis (2001): p. 260
An early design was for a version with a secondary hull, but it appeared to be too similar to the ship seen in The Original Series. That throwback styling had been partially inspired by Berman viewing the throwback concept in the 2002 Ford Thunderbird, itself a modern update of the original Thunderbird. Following that concept, the designers took the styling of the USS Enterprise from The Original Series and updated it, but ultimately it looked too much like a simple update to the same vessel.Carey & Ruditis (2001): p. 263
The second design concept was similar to the Akira-class starship as seen on television in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Voyager era, with the producers initially intending to use that class of vessel for Enterprise before Herman Zimmerman convinced them to go with a design with greater inspiration from The Original Series. The Akira itself had been created by Alex Jaeger for the 1996 film Star Trek: First Contact with influences from Battlestar Galactica, the Klingon Bird of Prey and the Miranda-class starship originally seen in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. A similar design was created for Star Trek: The Academy Years, a film proposed by Harve Bennett in 1989. This featured the primary hull of Enterprise seen in The Original Series, but without a secondary hull.
Exterior designEnterprise NX-01 was designed by Doug Drexler, and based on the features of the Akira-class.Carey & Ruditis (2001): p. 264 The new class itself was designated as NX by the producers, but Drexler referred to it as the Enterprise-class due to the naval tradition of naming the class after the first vessel. Drexler had intended for the ship to be similar in design to the Daedalus-class starship with a sphere-shaped primary hull, but the producers wanted a flat saucer-shaped hull as it was more immediately recognizable as a Star Trek vessel. Drexler deliberately attempted to insert references to The Original Series into the ship. One of these was narrow struts leading from the body of the ship to the warp nacelles – however Dan Curry wanted them made bulkier as seen in ships of later series. Drexler included a leading edge at the front of the nacelles, and later described that the original struts would have been around a third more than those.
Drexler also wanted the bussard collectors at the front of the warp nacelles to be orange like The Original Series, but this was overruled by producers once more, who wanted them red also like the later series. Drexler thought that this was because Rick Berman wasn't fond of bright colors, and so Star Trek: Enterprise was filmed in greys and dark blues. The rear ends of the nacelles were influenced by Enterprise from The Original Series, with the spheres that appeared on the 1960s version split in two for the NX-01. Direct elements from The Original Series that did make it on to the NX-01 were the impulse engine cones and the lower sensor dome. The most prominent element from the first television Enterprise was the deflector dish. For the NX-01, it was vertically compressed placed at the front of the saucer. The process of Drexler getting his designs approved by the producers was later described as "a long hard battle" by production illustrator and creator of Enterprise-E, John Eaves.
The exterior model was created in CGI rather than as a physical model, with the production done by Pierre Drolet from Foundation Imaging using LightWave 3D. Two versions were created – a high definition version that was created for use in the television series itself and a lower resolution, which was also referred to as the "approved model". The low-res model was used for promotional purposes while work was conducted on the television model. The exterior of the ship made its debut in a centerfold spread in the July 14, 2001 edition of TV Guide using the approved model. This version looked smaller as the windows on the ship were larger than used on the television version, and the hull had a bronze tint. Regarding this change in coloration, Drexler later said that he didn't know when the change was made as both he and Zimmerman approved the prior version.
Following this initial usage, the approved model was only used as a stand-in for the production version in the previews in the fourth season. The drawing of the exterior of Enterprise in the captain's ready room was created by John Eaves in less than 24 hours alongside four other drawings of earlier incarnations of the name. The shuttlecraft on the show were directly inspired by the Lockheed Martin X-33, with Zimmerman saying that the re-entry vehicles used now will be the same technology used in the time of Enterprise because up until then they won't have had the technological push that comes from developing the advanced technology seen being introduced for the first time on the show.Carey & Ruditis (2001): p. 270 These were referred to as shuttlepods in the show; Enterprise was equipped with two of them.
Season 5 Doug Drexler had intended for Enterprise to undergo a major refit if a fifth season had been produced, and the series had not been cancelled at the end of the fourth season. This would have seen the addition of a secondary hull, and resulted in the ship taking on an appearance closer to the Constitution-class vessels in The Original Series and later series. The redesign made its debut in the 2011 edition of the official Ships of the Line calendar. It was one of two designs for vessels never seen on screen to appear in that year's calendar, with Matt Jefferies' design for the USS Enterprise (XCV-330) also appearing.
This refit design of the NX-class made its television debut in the background of Star Trek: Picards second season as a toy in young Jean-Luc Picard's house, and then again in third season as a decommissioned ship docked at the Starfleet Museum.
Interior design
The interior of the vessel was designed by Zimmerman, who visited United States Navy fast-attack submarines such as the USS Houston"Eyes on the Enterprise" by William Keck, EW.com, September 13, 2002 for inspiration. He also kept in mind the heritage of the other ships named Enterprise in the history of Star Trek.Carey & Ruditis (2001): p. 261 The designs attempted to allow a greater freedom of filming angles than seen in previous Star Trek series. The bridge stations were originally designed with both angular and tubular elements, but the tubular elements were dropped as they seemed out of place. John Eaves created the designs for the stations, while Mike and Denise Okuda, Jim Van Over and Anthony Fredrickson created the mechanical and detailed elements. Inspiration was taken from United States Navy ships and the Space Shuttle, such as the inclusion of operations manuals on some of the stations such as communications. Other elements that were added included a switch from the touch screen controls seen in series such as The Next Generation to more hands-on dials and buttons as appeared in The Original Series. The set also included what was described as "busy boxes" by the crew, which were parts of the consoles that folded out and were filled with wires - so that background actors could look busy during a shot when Enterprise was being refitted or when there was battle damage to be seen on screen.
Zimmerman and his team took feedback from the directors of previous Star Trek series to make the new space easier to film. Whereas in other series there have been purpose-built sets for briefing rooms, following the feedback this area was built into the bridge itself as the directors had stated that it proved difficult to make several people sitting around a table seem interesting.Carey & Ruditis (2001): p. 267 The transporter design was intended as a reference to the original series design that was created by Matt Jefferies, with Zimmerman including certain design elements such as the wall patterns around the transporter itself.Carey & Ruditis (2001): p. 268 The design of the engineering deck was overhauled from previous series with the intention for it to look like the engine room of a nuclear submarine. Zimmerman described it saying, "You're going to see a very powerful engine that looks like a very powerful engine."Carey & Ruditis (2001): p. 269
Appearances Deep space exploration