Spacecraft in Star Trek
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The ''
Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...
'' franchise features many spacecraft. Various space vessels make up the primary settings of the ''Star Trek'' television series, films, and expanded universe; others help advance the franchise's stories. Throughout the franchise's production,
spacecraft A spacecraft is a vehicle or machine designed to fly in outer space. A type of artificial satellite, spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, Earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, p ...
have been depicted by numerous physical and computer-generated models. Producers worked to balance often tight budgets with the need to depict convincing, futuristic vessels. Beyond their media appearances, ''Star Trek'' spacecraft have been marketed as models, books, and rides. Filming models have sold for thousands of dollars at public auction.


Development and production


Establishing basic designs (1966–1969)

The original ''
Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...
'' television series (1966–1969) established key tenets of the ''Star Trek'' franchise: an intrepid, diverse crew traveling through space and encountering the unknown. Matt Jefferies designed the crew's spaceship, the USS ''Enterprise''. Jefferies' experience with
aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot air ...
led to his ''Enterprise'' designs being imbued with what he called "aircraft logic". Series creator
Gene Roddenberry Eugene Wesley Roddenberry Sr. (August 19, 1921 – October 24, 1991) was an American television screenwriter, producer, and creator of ''Star Trek: The Original Series'', its sequel spin-off series ''Star Trek: The Animated Series,'' and ''Sta ...
wanted the ship's design to convey speed, power, a "shirt sleeve" working environment, and readiness for a multiyear mission. Roddenberry insisted the ship not have fins or rockets; Jefferies also avoided repeating fictional designs from Buck Rogers and
Flash Gordon Flash Gordon is the protagonist of a space adventure comic strip created and originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by, and created to compete with, the already established ''Buck Rogers'' adve ...
, along with the real-world space exploration work done by
Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product ...
,
Douglas Aircraft Company The Douglas Aircraft Company was an American aerospace manufacturer based in Southern California. It was founded in 1921 by Donald Wills Douglas Sr. and later merged with McDonnell Aircraft in 1967 to form McDonnell Douglas; it then operated as ...
,
Lockheed Corporation The Lockheed Corporation was an American aerospace manufacturer. Lockheed was founded in 1926 and later merged with Martin Marietta to form Lockheed Martin in 1995. Its founder, Allan Lockheed, had earlier founded the similarly named but ot ...
, NACA,
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
, and Northrop. With Roddenberry's speed requirement, Jefferies decided the ship needed to be instantly recognizable from a distance, and that speed could be conveyed by the ship starting small in the background and growing as it accelerates toward the camera. Jefferies imagined the ship's engines were so powerful they would be dangerous to be near, hence the pair of external warp nacelles. Jefferies initially designed the habitable portion of the ship as a sphere, but it conflicted with the need to suggest the ship's speed. Although Jefferies wanted to avoid the cliche of a "flying saucer", the saucer-shaped upper portion of the hull eventually became part of the final design. Jefferies kept the exterior as plain as possible, both to allow light to play across the model and to suggest that the ship's vital equipment was on the interior, where it could be more readily maintained and repaired. Looking at an early balsa and birchwood model of the ''Enterprise'', Roddenberry thought the vessel would look better upside down, and a ''
TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...
'' cover once depicted it as such; ultimately, however, the show used Jefferies' arrangement. The saucer module, engineering hull, and twin warp nacelle design influenced producers' designs of Starfleet vessels throughout the franchise's spin-offs and films. The filming model's constituent parts cost under $600.Information plaque at the
National Air and Space Museum The National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, also called the Air and Space Museum, is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the United States. Established in 1946 as the National Air Museum, it opened its main building on the Nat ...
, Jan 14, 2012
The ''Enterprise'' is depicted with a registry number of "NCC-1701". Jefferies combined the "NC" of American civilian aircraft registration codes with the "CC CC" of Russian aircraft, deriving "NCC". The "1701" digits were chosen for their readability on television screens. Although initially lacking internal lighting, the tight budget ultimately allowed the model's starboard side to receive illuminated windows. The show's limited budget also affected the ''Enterprise''s support craft: Jefferies wanted to give the show's shuttlecraft a more aerodynamic look than the ''Enterprise'' itself, but it was too expensive to build a life-size filming model with a curved hull. Reeves-Stevens, 18 Ultimately, toy model company
AMT Amt is a type of administrative division governing a group of municipalities, today only in Germany, but formerly also common in other countries of Northern Europe. Its size and functions differ by country and the term is roughly equivalent to ...
paid for the construction of the shuttle design in exchange for the rights to sell a model toy. The
shuttlecraft A shuttlecraft, also known as a shuttle spacecraft, shuttle ship, drop shuttle, drop spacecraft, or dropship, is a type of spacecraft described in theory and science fiction. Serving the same purpose as a ship's tender, it is a smaller vessel that ...
became a key plot element in the episode "
The Galileo Seven "The ''Galileo'' Seven" is the sixteenth episode of the first season of the American science fiction television series, '' Star Trek''. Written by Oliver Crawford and directed by Robert Gist, it first aired on January 5, 1967. In the episode, Fi ...
" (1967). The show's tight budget meant, more often than not, producers recycled models and footage, used cheaper animation techniques, or simply omitted the appearance of spacecraft.Whitfield As with the ''Enterprise''s design, alien spacecraft design in ''Star Trek''—such as the Klingon starships' resemblance to a
manta ray Manta rays are large rays belonging to the genus ''Mobula'' (formerly its own genus ''Manta''). The larger species, '' M. birostris'', reaches in width, while the smaller, '' M. alfredi'', reaches . Both have triangular Pectoral fin#AnchPect ...
with a bulbous prow, and
Romulan The Romulans () are an extraterrestrial race in the American science fiction franchise ''Star Trek''. They first appeared in the series ''Star Trek'' (1966–1969). They have appeared in most subsequent ''Star Trek'' releases, including '' The A ...
vessels'
bird-of-prey In the ''Star Trek'' franchise, the Klingon, Klingon Empire makes use of several ship class, classes of starships. As the Klingons are portrayed as a warrior culture, driven by the pursuit of honor and glory, the Empire is shown to use warships alm ...
markings and nomenclature—influenced future television and film productions.


Initial films (1979–1984)

Several years after ''Star Trek'' was canceled, Roddenberry and other producers began work for a new series, '' Star Trek: Phase II''.
Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
, recognizing the market for science-fiction films after the success of ''
Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...
'' (1977), instead approved the production of '' Star Trek: The Motion Picture'' (1979). Many of the film's designs and models came from ''Phase II'', although they were recreated to provide the higher level of detail needed for a big-screen appearance. Mike Minor, Joe Jennings, Harold Michaelson,
Andrew Probert Andrew Probert (born 1946 in Independence, Missouri) is an American artist. He is known for his work with the ''Star Trek'' franchise, most notably the designs of the USS ''Enterprise'' for '' Star Trek: The Motion Picture'' and the ''Enterpris ...
, Douglas Trumbull, and Richard Tyler redesigned the USS ''Enterprise'' while retaining the television series ship's overall shape. ''The Motion Picture'' introduced the
rubberband A rubber band (also known as an elastic band, gum band or lacky band) is a loop of rubber, usually ring or oval shaped, and commonly used to hold multiple objects together. The rubber band was patented in England on March 17, 1845 by Stephen P ...
-like "snap" effect for starships going to
warp speed The technology in ''Star Trek'' has borrowed many ideas from the scientific world. Episodes often contain technologies named after real-world scientific phenomena, such as tachyon beams, baryon sweeps, quantum slipstream drives, and photon torp ...
. Like the ''Enterprise'', the Klingon vessel retained a design reminiscent of its television appearances. '' Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan'' (1982) and '' Star Trek III: The Search for Spock'' (1984) introduce models—Klingon bird-of-prey, Federation starbase, merchant ship, USS ''Excelsior'', USS ''Grissom'', and USS ''Reliant''—that would be reused in at least one Star Trek television spin-off. These models were created by
Industrial Light & Magic Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) is an American motion picture visual effects company that was founded on May 26, 1975 by George Lucas. It is a division of the film production company Lucasfilm, which Lucas founded, and was created when he began pro ...
(ILM), which would continue to generate models and assist with special effects for subsequent films and spin-offs. Producers still used some cost-saving measures when depicting some spacecraft, such as reusing footage from previous films.
William Shatner William Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor. In a career spanning seven decades, he is best known for his portrayal of James T. Kirk in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, from his 1965 debut as the captain of the starship USS Enterpri ...
's and
Leonard Nimoy Leonard Simon Nimoy (; March 26, 1931 – February 27, 2015) was an American actor, famed for playing Spock in the ''Star Trek'' franchise for almost 50 years. This includes originating Spock in the original ''Star Trek'' series in 1966, then ...
's demands for "sky-high salaries" for '' Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home'' (1986) caused the studio to plan for a new television series. The seven-year production of ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' overlapped with those of '' Star Trek V: The Final Frontier'' (1989) and '' Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country'' (1991)—and while those two films made heavy use of ''Next Generation'' sets, few spacecraft model assets were shared between the television and film projects.


Return to television (1987–1994)

Among the first to join the design team of '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' (1986–1994) were Probert,
Rick Sternbach Richard Michael Sternbach (born 1951 in Bridgeport, Connecticut) is an illustrator who is best known for his space illustrations and his work on the ''Star Trek'' television series. Early years Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in 1969 Sternbac ...
, and Michael Okuda. Nemecek, 5 The three had not only worked on the ''Star Trek'' films, but also had experiences working in science and aerospace. Roddenberry envisioned the new series occurring in an era when people were preoccupied with improving the quality of life, and he emphasized this point in calling for a larger, brighter, and less-sterile USS ''Enterprise'' than the ship in the original ''Star Trek''. Probert's design of the new ''Enterprise'' was based on a "what if?" painting he created after designing the refit ''Enterprise'' for ''The Motion Picture''. It suggested a merging of technology and design into a sleeker ship, yet retained the overall shape of a saucer section, engineering hull, and warp engine nacelles from the original television show. Nemecek, 9 The final ''Enterprise''-D design was revealed to the public in a July 1987 column in ''
Starlog ''Starlog'' was a monthly science fiction magazine that was created in 1976 and focused primarily on '' Star Trek'' at its inception. Kerry O'Quinn and Norman Jacobs were its creators and it was published by Starlog Group, Inc. in August 1976. ...
''. After rejecting the idea of using CGI for special effects and shooting miniatures, the producers hired ILM—which worked extensively on the ''Star Trek'' films—to build a pair of ''Enterprise'' models. Six modelmakers, led by ''Star Trek'' film veteran Greg Jein, built the models for $75,000. Nemecek, 11 Another model was created midway through the third season. Nemecek, 99 ILM also created the distinct "rubberband" effect of the ''Enterprise'' going to warp speed—an effect initially created for ''The Motion Picture''. Nemecek, 12 The new series' creators were concerned that budget constraints for ''The Next Generation'' could be even more of a problem for them as they had been for the original ''Star Trek''. Nemecek, 7 To help avoid them, the producers reused and recycled sets, models, props, and footage created for the movie franchise;Nemecek the development of ''
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' (abbreviated as ''DS9'') is an American science fiction television series created by Rick Berman and Michael Piller. The fourth series in the ''Star Trek'' media franchise, it originally aired in syndication from ...
'' also saw resources being shared across the two television series. Nemecek, 251 Nemecek, 266 Nemecek, 298 ILM created a catalog of effects shots, which they thought would help the show save money. In practice, however, the catalog was insufficient to meet the show's needs, and using catalog footage as an element in a shot placed constraints on the movement of shooting models added to the shot. By the end of the first season, the producers moved away from that catalog. Robert Legato, who supervised the show's in-house visual effects, was eventually able to enhance the appearance of shooting models by using a moving camera for its effects shots, allowing objects in a shot to move in relation to each other. Nemecek, 12, 60 When ''The Next Generation'' depicts combat between spacecraft, it is usually single ship-on-ship; however, there are exceptions, such as a "''
Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...
''-like" battle in " Preemptive Strike" (1994) between numerous Maquis fighters and a
Cardassian The Cardassians () are a fictional extraterrestrial species in the American science fiction franchise '' Star Trek''. They were devised in 1991 for the series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' before being used in the subsequent series '' S ...
ship. According to Sternbach, there usually wasn't enough time to create and make a new ship each week; Nemecek, 103 nevertheless, producers created numerous new spacecraft for ''The Next Generation''.
Dan Curry Daniel Curry is a visual effects producer and supervisor, as well as a main title designer in the film and television industry. Curry attended Middlebury College in Vermont and graduate school at Humboldt State University in California.
said that to conserve the budget for use on ships to be seen in close-up, small "worker bee" vessels not requiring significant detail were made out of cheap, everyday objects. Additionally, the ''Next Generation'' team used models from the first three Star Trek films; the ''Excelsior'', ''Grissom'', and ''Reliant'' models were redressed to become various ''Excelsior''-, ''Oberth''-, and ''Miranda''-class starships, respectively. The visual effects shot of the "USS Pegasus" spacecraft was a re-dress of the Oberth class model. The VFX model auctioned off in 2006 by
Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...
. The Oberth-class was designed by David Carson, and built at
Industrial Light & Magic Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) is an American motion picture visual effects company that was founded on May 26, 1975 by George Lucas. It is a division of the film production company Lucasfilm, which Lucas founded, and was created when he began pro ...
. The model was made for the 1984 theatrical film '' Star Trek III: The Search for Spock'', where it depicted a ship called the "USS Grissom". As with the original ''Star Trek'', budget concerns delayed the construction of a full-scale shuttlecraft set until a script made the shuttle an important part of the story. Nemecek, 51 The first ''Next Generation'' story to use a shuttle is "
Coming of Age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can b ...
" (1988); for this story, Probert designed a shooting model and set-designers built one-quarter of the interior space—additional sections were built as the budget allowed. Because the angular interior did not match Probert's curved vessel, a more angular shuttlepod vessel was introduced in " Time Squared (Star Trek: The Next Generation)" (1989). A full-scale shuttle that matched the angular interiors was introduced in "
Darmok "Darmok" is the 102nd episode of the American science fiction television series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'', the second episode of the fifth season. Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures of the Starfleet crew of the ...
" (1991). Nemecek, 177 Writers had hoped to depict the designed-but-not-built captain's yacht for "
Samaritan Snare "Samaritan Snare" is the seventeenth episode of the second season of the American science fiction television series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'', and the 43rd episode overall. It was first released on May 15, 1989, in broadcast syndic ...
" (1989), but the budget instead led to the use of a shuttlecraft (That specific craft type's appearance would eventually appear in '' Star Trek: Insurrection''). Nemecek, 87 Several shuttlecraft names are in homage to figures from science, such as
Marie Curie Marie Salomea Skłodowska–Curie ( , , ; born Maria Salomea Skłodowska, ; 7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934) was a Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first ...
, Farouk El-Baz, Ferdinand Magellan, and
Ellison Onizuka was an American astronaut, engineer, and USAF test pilot from Kealakekua, Hawaii, who successfully flew into space with the Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' on STS-51-C. He died in the destruction of the Space Shuttle ''Challenger'', on which he wa ...
.


A second spin-off, and introducing digital models (1993–1999)

''
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' (abbreviated as ''DS9'') is an American science fiction television series created by Rick Berman and Michael Piller. The fourth series in the ''Star Trek'' media franchise, it originally aired in syndication from ...
'' (1993–1999) began production as ''The Next Generation'' was ending. The eponymous Deep Space Nine space station took Sternbach and Herman Zimmerman several months to design. The show's producers insisted that it look "weird" and distinctly non-Starfleet. Every episode of ''Deep Space Nine'' includes shots of the shooting model. Sternbach and Jim Martin designed the show's runabout vessel, conceived as a way to allow the station's crew to continue with ''Star Trek''s main themes of exploration in a show set on an immobile space station. Seven weeks went into the creation of the ship's cockpit—however, when an episode of ''The Next Generation'' needed to depict the runabout's living quarters, designer Richard James and set decorator
Jim Mees Jim Mees (August 10, 1955 – March 29, 2013), was an American set designer who worked on a variety of television series as well as music tours and films. He was awarded an Emmy Award for Outstanding Art Direction for a Series in 1990 for his work ...
had only nine days to both design and build the set. Martin also designed the USS ''Defiant'' under the direction of Gary Hutzel and Zimmerman. The ''Defiant'' was introduced in the third season to give the show's character greater range and capabilities when leaving the station. Starting with the show's third season, spacecraft exteriors began to be computer-generated. The studio VisionArt created computer models for several ''Deep Space Nine'' ships, including the ''Defiant'', the runabouts, and
Jem'Hadar ''Star Trek'' is a science fiction media franchise that began with Gene Roddenberry's launch of the Star Trek: The Original Series, original ''Star Trek'' television series in 1966. Its success led to decades of films, novels, comics, and spinof ...
vessels. VisionArt also created a CGI model of the Deep Space Nine, which was used for the final shot of the series finale. Digital Muse and Foundation Imaging also contributed toward ''Deep Space Nine''s special effects and computer modeling. Although the production designers gave the new spin-off a distinct look, ''Deep Space Nine'' used numerous ship models created for ''The Next Generation'' and, later, '' Star Trek: First Contact'' (1996).


Balancing digital and physical models in films (1994–2002)

Even as ''The Next Generation'' was ending, the actors and many of the production crew were preparing for their first film, '' Star Trek Generations'' (1994). This film saw the widening adoption of—but not sole reliance on—computer-generated vehicle models in the film franchise. The USS ''Enterprise''-B in ''Generations'' is a reuse of the ''Excelsior'' model in ''Star Trek III'', and its surrounding spacedock a reconstruction—with some flattening alterations—of the frame created for ''The Motion Picture''. The ''Enterprise''-D was filmed with one of the original models created by ILM, although it was stripped down, rewired, and resurfaced to depict the level of detail needed for film. Nemecek, 319 The antagonists' Klingon bird-of-prey previously appeared in ''Star Trek'', as did the rescue shuttles and orbiting rescue ships at the film's end. Nemecek, 319-20 Producers created new models of a solar observatory, along with a model of the ''Enterprise''s saucer section. Scenes involving the ''Enterprise''-B and the ''Lakul'' in the Nexus energy ribbon were all computer-generated—in fact, no shooting model was ever made of the ill-fated El-Aurian refugee ship. Shots of the ''Enterprise''-D going to warp were also computer-generated. The trend toward using digital models increased with subsequent films. '' Star Trek: First Contact'' (1996) introduces the ''Sovereign''-class ''Enterprise''-E, conceived by production designer Herman Zimmerman and illustrator
John Eaves John Eaves (born April 9, 1962) is a designer and illustrator best known for his work on the ''Star Trek'' franchise, starting with '' Star Trek V: The Final Frontier''. He served as a production illustrator on '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' and ...
as a larger, sleeker, faster-looking ship. Nemecek, 323 Based on blueprints created by Sternbach, ILM's John Goodson created a shooting model. Nemecek, 330 Goodson also created a model of the ''Phoenix'' ship, and a physical Borg cube model was needed for close-up shots. ''First Contact'' was the last ''Star Trek'' film to make heavy use of physical models, and many ships in the film are depicted by computer models. In addition to the physical model, the ''Enterprise'' was also built as a computer model. Nemecek, 331 John Knoll worked with visual effects art director Alex Jaeger to design and create a variety of new ships to populate the opening battle against the Borg. Knoll and Jaeger decided the new ships had to be consistent with Star Trek precedent, such as a saucer section and pair of warp nacelles, but also could not look so similar as to be confused with the new ''Enterprise''. With these requirements in mind, Jaeger reduced 16 initial designs down to four, and created computer-generated models of the ''Akira''-, ''Norway''-, ''Saber''-, and ''Steamrunner''-class ships. ILM was not available to support the next two films, '' Star Trek: Insurrection'' (1998) and '' Star Trek Nemesis'' (2002). Santa Barbara Studies created CG models of the ''Enterprise'' and other new ships for ''Insurrection'', Nemecek, 342 while Digital Domain worked on ''Nemesis''. John Eaves designed new ships for ''Nemesis'', with
Doug Drexler Doug Drexler (born in New York City) is a visual effects artist, designer, sculptor, illustrator, and a makeup artist who has collaborated with such talents as Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman, James Caan, Meryl Streep, and Warren Beatty. He began hi ...
doing computer-generated models. Nemecek, 351 The antagonist's ''Scimitar'' ship was initially conceived to be a massive upgrade to the Romulan warbird designed for ''The Next Generation''. In designing the ship, Eaves revisited the Klingon bird-of-prey concept created for ''Star Trek III'', retaining the "hawklike head". For the smaller Scorpion fighter, Eaves instead took inspiration from an F-18 fighter. Although the film largely used computer-generated models, Digital Domain used physical models to depict the collision between the battle-damaged ''Enterprise'' and ''Scimitar''; Digital Domain's Mark Forker said building battle-damaged models was at least twice as hard as creating models of pristine starships. Nemecek, 352


Continuation on television (1995–2005)

By the time production began on '' Star Trek: Voyager'' (1995–2001), advances in computing allowed designers to create rough digital three-dimensional models of starships. Until that point, designers could submit only sketches to executive producer Rick Berman and other staffers, but "sketches can be deceiving"; the use of 3D modeling removed a degree of guesswork from the process. Sternbach said the most important change in the process of creating spacecraft for the franchise was the increasing availability of CGI software and access to better-performing computers. Digital Muse, Foundation Imaging, and Eden FX contributed toward ''Voyager''s computer modeling; the latter two also worked on ''Enterprise''. Sternbach and Richard James, who designed the Borg cube for ''The Next Generation'', collaborated over several months to design the ''Intrepid''-class USS ''Voyager''. As with ''Star Trek'' and ''The Next Generation'', the show's budget did not immediately allow for the creation of a new shuttlecraft; initially, the show used one of ''The Next Generation''s shuttle miniatures and interiors, with minor alterations to make it look ''Voyager''-specific. Many ''Voyager'' plot lines called for a shuttlecraft to be destroyed; the large number of shuttlecraft reserves the stranded starship seemed to have amused some people and bothered others. Eventually, Sternbach and James collaborated to create the
Delta Flyer Shuttlecraft are fictional vehicles in the ''Star Trek'' science fiction franchise built for short trips in space, such as between a planetary surface and orbit. Also referred to as shuttles, their introduction preceded the development of the Sp ...
, a more resilient shuttlecraft.
Doug Drexler Doug Drexler (born in New York City) is a visual effects artist, designer, sculptor, illustrator, and a makeup artist who has collaborated with such talents as Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman, James Caan, Meryl Streep, and Warren Beatty. He began hi ...
took four months to design the eponymous ''Enterprise'' for the fifth spinoff, '' Star Trek: Enterprise'' (2001–2005). A predecessor to Jefferies' original ''Enterprise'', some elements of this ship were inspired by the ''Akira'' class in ''First Contact'', and its overall compactness was inspired by ''Deep Space Nine''s ''Defiant''. Eden FX created computer-generated models for all four seasons of ''Enterprise''.


Franchise reboot (2009)

Producers of the 2009 ''
Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...
'' film balanced between paying homage to established Star Trek lore while also reinvigorating the franchise. The redesigned ''Enterprise'' has a " hot-rod" look while retaining a ship's traditional shape. ILM was given "tremendous" leeway in creating the ship. Concept artist Ryan Church's initial designs were refined and developed into photo-realistic models by Alex Jaeger's team at ILM. ILM's Roger Guyett recalled the original ''Enterprise'' being "very static", and added moving components to the film's model. ILM retained subtle geometric forms and patterns to allude back to the original ''Enterprise''. The computer model's digital paint recreates the use of "interference paint", which contains small particles of
mica Micas ( ) are a group of silicate minerals whose outstanding physical characteristic is that individual mica crystals can easily be split into extremely thin elastic plates. This characteristic is described as perfect basal cleavage. Mica is ...
to alter the apparent color, used on the first three films' model.


Film and television re-releases

The 2001 Director's Edition of ''The Motion Picture'' includes 90 new and redesigned computer-generated shots produced by Foundation Imaging, many of which include a computer-generated model of the ''Enterprise''. The new shots depict more dynamic lighting and clearer senses of scale than the original release. In September 2006, CBS began airing remastered episodes of ''Star Trek''. The remastered series, directed by
Mike Okuda Michael Okuda is an American graphic designer best known for his work on '' Star Trek'' including designing futuristic computer user interfaces known as "okudagrams". Career Work in ''Star Trek'' In the mid-1980s, he designed the look of an ...
, includes updated special effects shots. For example, the
alternate universe Parallel universe often refers to parallel universes in fiction, a self-contained separate world, universe or reality coexisting with the real world, which is used as a recurring plot point or setting used in fantasy and science fiction. Parallel ...
''Enterprise'' in " Mirror, Mirror" was originally depicted by the "regular" ''Enterprise'' filming model; however, in the remastered version, the alternate ''Enterprise'' has different markings and hull features. In contrast, Okuda said CBS' release of ''The Next Generation'' on
Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...
s would see "sharper ndclearer" effects shots, but no significant changes. Part of the disparity between the treatment of effects shots for the remastered ''Star Trek'' and the Blu-ray release of ''The Next Generation'' is due to film archiving. The studio did not store film from each individual effect element in ''Star Trek''; it stored only the final, composite effect. However, the composite prints did not scan well in
high definition High definition or HD may refer to: Visual technologies *HD DVD, discontinued optical disc format *HD Photo, former name for the JPEG XR image file format *HDV, format for recording high-definition video onto magnetic tape * HiDef, 24 frames-pe ...
, leading to the creation of new effects elements. In contrast,
Paramount Studios Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production and distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldest film studio in the world, the second-oldest ...
maintained a thorough archive of ''Next Generation'' film elements, allowing most of those to transition to Blu-ray with minimal, if any, alterations. Nearly all of the spacecraft elements in the ''Next Generation'' Blu-ray will be from the original film, and there will be few corrections to production or effects errors.


Books and games

Several ''Star Trek'' board, roleplaying, and video games take place on and allow players to control various spacecraft. ''
Star Trek Online ''Star Trek Online'' is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Cryptic Studios based on the ''Star Trek'' franchise. The game is set in the 25th century, 30 years after the events of '' Star Trek: Nemesis''. ''Sta ...
'' (2010) developers invited fans to design the ''Enterprise''-F, successor to the USS ''Enterprise''-E from the ''Next Generation''-era films. Adam Ihle submitted the winning design, an ''Odyssey''-class starship that will appear in the game. ''Star Trek Online'' executive producer Daniel Stahl said Ihle's design inspired the creative team, presenting a familiar silhouette yet evolving the franchise's ship design. Similarly,
Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...
held a contest to design the USS ''Titan'', a science vessel commanded by
William Riker William Thomas "Will" Riker is a fictional character in the ''Star Trek'' universe appearing primarily as a main character in '' Star Trek: The Next Generation''. Throughout the series and its accompanying films, he is the ''Enterprise''s first ...
about whom a series of novels has been published. Sean Tourangeau's design won the contest, which was scored on originality, execution, consistency with the publisher's concept notes, and consistency with ''Star Trek''s established Starfleet style. Several other ''Star Trek'' novel lines have been created that take place on ships and stations other than those depicted in the franchise's film and television fiction.


Impact and critical reaction

The basic design of the original ''Enterprise'' "formed the basis for one of sci-fi's most iconic images". In 1992, the
National Air and Space Museum The National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, also called the Air and Space Museum, is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the United States. Established in 1946 as the National Air Museum, it opened its main building on the Nat ...
curator said "there is no other fantasy more pervasive in the conceptualization of space flight than ''Star Trek''". ''The Next Generation'' was nominated for an Emmy for its depiction of the Borg cube in " Q Who". '' Star Trek: The Experience'' included a shuttlecraft ride simulator. Spacecraft filming models made up nine of the ten highest-bid items in
Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...
''Star Trek'': The Collection auction.


Merchandising

AMT Amt is a type of administrative division governing a group of municipalities, today only in Germany, but formerly also common in other countries of Northern Europe. Its size and functions differ by country and the term is roughly equivalent to ...
's model of the original ''Enterprise''s shuttlecraft sold over one million units. In 1989, Ertl released a model kit that included ''The Next Generation''s Ferengi marauder, Klingon bird-of-prey, and Romulan warbird. AMT released a ''Vor'cha''-class model in 1991. Nemecek, 147 Galoob created Micro Machines of various Star Trek starships from 1993 to 1997, and Hallmark created
Christmas ornament Christmas ornaments, baubles, "Christmas bulbs" or "Christmas bubbles" are decoration items, usually to decorate Christmas trees. These decorations may be woven, blown (glass or plastic), molded (ceramic or metal), carved from wood or expande ...
s of the original series shuttlecraft, Romulan warbird, and Klingon bird-of-prey. In 2011,
Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...
published the ''Starship Spotter'', a collection of images of various spacecraft in ''Star Trek''. Since 2002, ''Star Trek'' illustrator and designer Doug Drexler has led development of an annual ''Ship of the Line'' calendar featuring images and information about various spacecraft from the ''Star Trek'' franchise.


See also

* Starship ''Enterprise''


References

;Notes ;Bibliography * * * *


External links


Individual lot listings for Christie's ''Star Trek'': The Collection auction
with photos of numerous filming models

* {{Star Trek Star Trek spacecraft it:Astronavi di Star Trek#USS Excelsior