USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D: Encyclopedia - USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D

USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)

The USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D), in the Star Trek fictional universe, is the Galaxy class starship that is the principal setting of the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG). The series is set in the late 24th century, when humans have allied with other friendly alien species to form the United Federation of Planets; events in TNG take place more than seventy years after those of the original Star Trek television series and related movies.

USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D - Fictional history

Entering service in 2363, the Enterprise (or Enterprise-D, to distinguish it from numerous prior starships with the same name) served for eight years as the flagship of the Federation Starfleet until its untimely destruction in 2371. Throughout its mission, it was primarily under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard; however, Commander William Riker and Captain Edward Jellico briefly commanded the ship during its tenure.

As the third Galaxy class ship, after the prototype starship USS Galaxy and USS Yamato, the Enterprise-D was commissioned on 4 October 2363 after its construction at the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards orbiting Mars. It became one of the most important and noted ships of the late 24th centry while under the command of Captain Picard. The ship made many first contacts with a multitude of new species, including the Borg, the Q Continuum, and the Ferengi. Its diplomatic efforts helped cool tensions amongst minor races and prevented dramatic upheavals to Federation security, such as mitigating Romulan aid of the Duras faction during the Klingon Civil War and preventing a Cardassian strike near the McAllister C5 Nebula.

The Enterprise-D was instrumental in the defeat of the Borg during their first attempt to invade the Federation in 2366, during which Captain Picard was abducted and transformed into Locutus of Borg and subsequently rescued. The ship was seriously damaged during these engagements and required extensive repairs afterward.

In 2371 (Star Trek: Generations), the Klingon Duras sisters were able to render the shields of the Enterprise-D useless by finding the shield modulation frequency and altering their weapons accordingly. Though the Enterprise-D succeeded in destroying the sisters' ship, the matter/antimatter warp core sustained heavy damage, prompting an emergency saucer separation. The saucer managed to separate but did not clear the explosion radius fast enough, and its impulse engines were knocked out as a result. The out of control saucer was pulled into the gravity well of the planet Veridian III, and crash-landed there, damaged beyond repair. Shortly thereafter, all of its crew (except for Captain Picard) died from a shock-wave generated by the destruction of the Veridian star. This shockwave also destroyed the entire Veridian system.

However, Captain Picard utilized a temporal/spatial phenomenon called the Nexus to save the Veridian system. (While inside the Nexus, he found himself in an "alternate" paradox universe which he could manipulate at will and where time had no meaning.) Picard chose to go back in time to prevent the events on Veridian III just prior to the star system's destruction. With the help of James T. Kirk, Picard accomplished his goal. Thus in the "alternate universe", the surviving Enterprise-D crew was rescued. However, the saucer section was unsalvageable.

It should be noted that the idea of Picard entering an "alternate universe" (thereby implying that all events after Veridian III take place in this alternate universe) is purely conjectural, as there have been examples of self-contained "timeloops" in Star Trek before. Nothing since Generations has ever indicated that an alternate universe was entered.

One of the reasons that the destruction of the Enterprise-D was written into Generations was because of a concept drawing of a saucer section crash, produced for the Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual. Writers Ronald D. Moore, Jeri Taylor, and Brannon Braga saw the drawing and wanted to use a saucer crash as a sixth-season cliffhanger episode for the TV series, but were unable to do so because of a limited budget and resistance from producer Michael Piller. Moore and Braga later decided on using the scenario for Generations. The destruction of the Enterprise-D also proved a cost-saver for the upcoming Star Trek: Voyager television series, as the existing sets could be refurbished to become the USS Voyager, just as the motion picture Enterprise sets became those of the Enterprise-D eight years prior.

In an alternate timeline featured in the TNG finale episode "All Good Things...", the Enterprise-D is shown to be intact twenty-five years later. In this alternate future, the ship is commanded by Admiral William Riker, has a third warp nacelle and other modifications, including new weapons. This timeline arose from the temporal anomaly that reversed and mixed up time so much that Picard's analysis of the situation potentially wiped out human origins on Earth, when interference from the anomaly prevented initial protein formation. This came after the Q Continuum (represented by John De Lancie's "Q" character) deemed humanity unfit for existence in the universe. This was corrected when Picards from the three timelines (past, present, and future) ordered their respective Enterprises to enter the anomaly to "patch" it, thereby saving humanity from non-existence, and appeasing Q.

USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D - Design notes

The Enterprise-D was designed by Andrew Probert, who had assisted in updating the original Enterprise for Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Originally tasked with designing the bridge for the Enterprise-D, Probert had a "what if" sketch hanging on his wall that he had drawn after working on The Motion Picture. Story editor David Gerrold saw the sketch and brought it to Gene Roddenberry's attention, who approved the sketch as a starting point for the design of the Enterprise-D.

For the pilot episode of The Next Generation, two filming miniatures (a six-foot model and a two-foot model) were built by a team at Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) supervised by Ease Owyeung. They were used throughout the first two seasons of the series. For the third season, model-maker Greg Jein built a four-foot miniature that had an added layer of plating detail on the surface, that first appeared in "The Defector" and was used throughout the rest of the series. The six-foot model was used again briefly whenever a saucer separation sequence needed to be filmed for the series and was then updated by ILM for use in Star Trek: Generations.

ILM's John Knoll also built a CGI Electric Image model of the Enterprise-D for Star Trek: Generations, that model was transferred to LightWave and used in various episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and the episode "Timeless" of Star Trek: Voyager (as different Galaxy class ships). For its appearance in "These Are the Voyages...", the final episode of Star Trek: Enterprise, a new CGI LightWave model was built by Eden FX's Gabriel Köerner.

USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D - External link

• USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki

Categories: USS Enterprise (Star Trek) | Federation Starships

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki