Concept and initial design Series creator
Gene Roddenberry reviewed hundreds of
science fiction magazines, dating back to 1931, to gather ideas about what he wanted
Star Trek's main vessel to look like. Despite the research, he was more confident in what he did not want than what he did want. He set several parameters: , and numerous other
Star Trek spacecraft: a disc-like primary hull, a pair of offset engine nacelles, and a cylindrical secondary hull. Roddenberry further specified that the ship would have a crew of 100–150 and be incredibly fast. Art director
Pato Guzman's assistant,
Matt Jefferies, was responsible for designing the ship and several of its sets. Jefferies and Roddenberry did not want the vessel to look like any of the rocket ships already used by the aerospace industry or in popular culture; many designs were rejected for being "too conventional". To meet Roddenberry's requirement that the ship look believable, Jefferies tried "to visualize what the fourth, fifth or tenth generation of present-day equipment would be like". Jefferies' experience with
aviation let him imbue his designs with what he called "aircraft logic". He imagined the ship's engines would be too powerful to be near the crew, requiring them to be set apart from the hull. Jefferies initially rejected a disk-shaped component, worried about the similarities to
flying saucers; however, a spherical module eventually flattened into a disk. Because the ship would be expected to flash by quickly on television screens, Jefferies wanted the design to be "very simple, but immediately identifiable – a shape that you could instantly pick out." During a visit with Jefferies, Roddenberry and NBC staff were drawn to a sketch of the ship resembling its final configuration. Jefferies had created a small model of this design that, when held from a string, hung upside-down – an appearance he had to "unsell". He kept the hull smooth, with a sense that the ship's components were serviced from inside. He designed the
Klingon starship seen in the third season by rearranging and changing the shape of
Enterprises basic modules: a main body, two engine pods, and a neck with a head on it. Some of Jefferies' rejected design concepts – such as spherical hull sections and warp engines that encircle a ship – inspired future
Star Trek vessel designs. The
Enterprise was originally named
Yorktown, but Roddenberry was fascinated by the aircraft carrier
Enterprise and had "always been proud of that ship and wanted to use the name." The
NCC-1701 registry stems from
NC being one of the international
aircraft registration codes assigned to the United States. The second
C was added because Soviet aircraft used
Cs, and Jefferies believed a venture into space would be a joint operation by the United States and Russia. Jefferies rejected
3,
6,
8, and
9 as "too easily confused" on screen; Datin used a subcontractor with a large
lathe for major subcomponents and otherwise worked on the model for approximately 110 hours during November 1964. Desilu then ordered a larger filming model, which Datin contracted to Volmer Jensen and Production Model Shop in
Burbank. Datin supervised the work and did detailing on the model, The model was delivered too late to be used much for the initial
pilot, "
The Cage". When Roddenberry was approved to film the second pilot, "
Where No Man Has Gone Before" (1966), various details of this 11-foot model were altered, and the starboard windows and running lights were internally illuminated. When the series went into production, the model was altered again, and it was regularly modified throughout its active filming. Most of the fine details on the large model were not visible to television viewers. Wiring for the interior lighting ran into the model on its left side, so it could only be filmed from the right; for shots requiring the other side of the
Enterprise, the footage was either flipped or filmed using the 33-inch model. Because of this, some of the fine details added to the model were added only to its right side. The 11-foot model was initially filmed by Howard Anderson. Anderson's team struggled to film the model in a way that suggested it was moving at tremendous speeds, as the producers wanted to avoid the cliched look of a spacecraft drifting through space. Additionally, the model was so large there was little room in the filming space for the camera to move around it. Anderson could not keep up with the filming and special effects needs for regular production, so producers hired several other studios to contribute effects and additional footage.
Motion control equipment was too expensive, so the ship was filmed with
stop motion. Filming was often delayed by the heat generated by the studio and model's lights. Most third-season footage of the
Enterprise was reused first- or second-season footage. Special effects were produced as cheaply as possible. Animators for
Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973–75)
rotoscoped Enterprise footage to recreate the ship's movements, contributing to the impression of the animated series being a fourth season of the original. The animated show's limited color palette could not accommodate all of the ship's various colors, so the
Enterprise was depicted as a consistent gray.
Sets, sounds, and fixtures The
Enterprise was meant to serve as a familiar, recurring setting, similar to Dodge City in
Gunsmoke and Blair General Hospital in
Dr. Kildare. Guzman created the first bridge set design in 1964. The bridge was monochromatic for "The Cage", but it was redecorated for "Where No Man Has Gone Before" because of the increasing popularity of color televisions. The first pilot episode's bridge set was rigid, making it difficult for cameras to move in. For series production, the bridge set was rebuilt modularly, allowing large sections to be removed to make camera movement easier. The complicated electronics that provided bridge set readouts and lights required expensive air conditioning to avoid overheating. The chairs used on the bridge and other sets were manufactured by Burke of
Dallas and were similar to the
tulip chair designed by
Eero Saarinen. When production ended after the third season, major elements of the bridge set were donated to the UCLA Theater Arts Department; the remaining components were discarded. Reusing sets helped address Desilu's budget concerns. As production continued, standing sets like the engine room and bridge became increasingly detailed. Jefferies and associate producer
Bob Justman walked through the production lots looking for "serendipitous items" that could be modified into set details to enhance the interiors. Jefferies added new details to a portable maintenance tunnel set each time it was used. The production staff called the set the "Jefferies tube" as an
inside joke, and the term is used in dialogue to describe similar
crawl spaces in spinoffs. Sound effects designer
Doug Grindstaff created sounds for different parts of the vessel: console sound effects were often created with a Hammond
electric organ or other musical instrument, and engine sounds were created in part with a noisy air conditioner. Although there is no sound in space, producers thought that dramatic license required the ship to make noise during exterior shots. The sound of the ship "whoosh"ing past in the main title sequence was recorded by composer
Alexander Courage. Although the interior in
The Animated Series was largely recreated from the live action series, a second turbolift was added to the bridge in response to Roddenberry being asked, "What do they do if the [one turbolift's] doors get stuck?" Franz Joseph designed full
Enterprise interior deck plans in 1974 with approval from Roddenberry.
1970s redesigns for television and film submitted this art to the
United States Patent and Trademark Office for a "toy spaceship" in the likeness of the redesigned
Enterprise in 1979. Probert was granted the patent in 1981.Soon after the animated
Star Trek went off the air, pre-production began on
Star Trek: Planet of the Titans.
Ken Adam and
Ralph McQuarrie designed a new
Enterprise with a triangular hull that later inspired the appearance of the eponymous ship in
Star Trek: Discovery. Planet of the Titans was dropped in favor of a return to television with
Star Trek: Phase II, for which Jefferies designed a new
Enterprise.''
He began with the original design and identified components, such as the engines, that would have been upgraded. Some elements, like the sensor dish, would move inside the ship to be more easily serviced. Abandoning Phase II
in favor of producing Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) necessitated additional Enterprise
redesigns because the film medium would resolve more detail than television, and one of the most difficult challenges facing the producers was recreating the Enterprise
. Roddenberry told Cinefantastique
that the changes to the Enterprise'' would be explained within the story as the outcome of a major
refit. When Jefferies left the project, art director Richard Taylor wanted to start over with designing the
Enterprise; however, Roddenberry convinced him to continue working with Jefferies' design. Taylor brought on
Andrew Probert to help refine the ship's details. Probert added items such as phaser banks, control thrusters, and hatches for saucer section landing gear; Taylor redesigned the edge of the saucer and elements of the warp nacelles. Art director
Joe Jennings and conceptual illustrator Mike Minor added additional details. David Kimble created diagrams and deck plans for the updated
Enterprise that were provided to model makers, toy companies, and other licensed product manufacturers.
(1982). Though the Enterprise
was heavily redesigned for film, it retains the same basic components from its television appearance. In designing the Reliant
, Joe Jennings and Mike Minor rearranged those components to establish its connection to the Star Trek
universe while distinguishing it from the Enterprise.''|left Jim Dow was in charge of building the model.
Paramount Pictures subsidiary Magicam spent 14 months and $150,000 building the , model. An arc-welded aluminum skeleton ensured parts of the ship would not sag, bend, or shake. While the original
Enterprise model was seen in only 17 poses, the new model had five articulation points and could be shot from any angle. Paul Olsen painted the "Aztec" hull pattern to provide an additional level of detail and to suggest the presence of interlocking panels providing strength. The effect was made possible by small particles of
mica in the paint, which altered its apparent color. Effects supervisor
Douglas Trumbull relit the ship as if it were an ocean liner, "a grand lady of the seas at night", because there would be no external light source in deep space. A model was used for long shots. Production designer
Harold Michelson was responsible for the ship's interior design. The
Enterprise interiors were designed to be distinct from the film's Klingon ship, and certain support structure designs were used throughout the
Enterprise sets to convey a shared motif. A new bridge had been designed and partially built for
Phase II, and Michelson largely retained the design and its consoles. The weapons console was rotated 90 degrees to break the monotony of stations facing the wall. Designer Lee Cole brought logic and function to the console designs, though Michelson wanted to remain focused on "drama, spectacle and beauty" over accuracy and logic.
Rear projection films for bridge displays came initially from Stowmar Enterprises. When production exhausted the films faster than Stowmar could supply them, production designers manufactured their own from
oscilloscopes, medical imagery, and an experimental computer lab. Set designer Lewis Splittgerber described the engine room set as the most difficult to realize. Through forced perspective and small actors, the set was depicted as a engineering space. Corridors were initially a straight-wall design similar to the television series, and Michelson changed them to an angular design with light radiating upward. Director
Robert Wise wanted the corridors to be narrower than on the television series, and mirrors gave the impression that they were longer than they actually were. Wise was also responsible for the ship's drab interior color scheme: the muted colors were meant to be comfortable across a five-year journey.
Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) staff found the
Enterprise difficult to work with: it took eight people to mount the model and a
forklift to move it.
ILM developed several techniques to depict battle damage to the Enterprise'' without actually harming the model. The smaller
Wrath of Khan budget required the reuse of existing sets, but they presented challenges in realizing director
Nicholas Meyer's desire for a "livelier" tone. Rear-projection systems for bridge displays were replaced with monitors looping taped material created by graphic designer Lee Cole at the
Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Further complicating the set was that it served three roles in the film: the
Enterprise bridge, the
Reliant bridge, and the
Starfleet Academy bridge simulator. News of the ship's demise leaked despite Bennett's insistence that it be kept secret. Visual effects supervisor
Ken Ralston hated the
Enterprise model and reveled in its destruction. One of the destroyed models had been created by Brick Price Movie Miniatures for
Star Trek Phase II. Ralston hoped the ship's destruction would lead to a redesigned ship for future sequels, but the producers of
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) decided to have the crew assigned to a new
Enterprise that is virtually identical to the previous ship. It took ILM more than six weeks to restore and repaint the original model to appear as the new USS
Enterprise, NCC-1701-A. After visiting ILM,
Majel Barrett described the model as "gorgeous," and she said some of its details – such as the windows into the arboretum – were not done justice by photographs. The existing bridge set was refurbished and repainted to serve as the
Enterprise-A bridge at the end of
The Voyage Home, and the set's sleek "Okudagrams" designed by scenic artist
Michael Okuda were adopted in subsequent productions. A new $250,000 bridge set was built for
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989). Director Nicholas Meyer wanted the
Enterprise to feel grittier and more realistic for
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991), but realizing that vision was limited by the need to use existing sets. Cinematographer
Hiro Narita changed the clean, bright look of the bridge from
The Final Frontier by lighting it differently in
The Undiscovered Country.
Spinoff appearances and computer-generated models Producers working on the
Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "
Relics" (1992), in which
Montgomery Scott visits a recreation of the
Enterprise, initially planned to use the film-era set. Ultimately, recreations of the original television series' captain's chair, navigation console, and engineering console were rented from fans, and the rest was filled in with archival footage and
greenscreen technology. The bridge was again partially recreated, with other parts added digitally, for the
Deep Space Nine episode "
Trials and Tribble-ations" (1996), in which the crew visits the
Enterprise during the events of "
The Trouble With Tribbles" (1967). Okuda used a computer to recreate the graphics seen on the
Enterprise sets, and others were drawn by artist
Doug Drexler. Set designer Laura Richarz's biggest challenge was finding Burke chairs to populate the ship: she found just one, and the production team make molds to create more. "Trials and Tribble-ations" also required exterior shots of the
Enterprise.
Greg Jein created an
Enterprise model exactly half the size of the 11-foot original
, and it was the first production model of the starship to be built in more than 30 years. Although the eight-foot film model's original pearlescent paint had been covered and it was redressed as the
Enterprise-A, it was used as a referent for the
CGI Enterprise created for the 2001 director's cut of
The Motion Picture.
2009 film franchise reboot film has the same core design as Matt Jefferies' original. It also includes elements from previous films, such as the "Aztec" paint scheme. The enlarged engine nacelles emphasize director
J. J. Abrams's desire for the
Enterprise to feel like a "
hot rod". The
Enterprise was redesigned for the 2009
Star Trek film. Previsualization lead David Dozoretz credits the designers for overcoming the challenge of doing "a 2009 version of the '60s". Director
J. J. Abrams wanted
Enterprise to have a "
hot rod" look while retaining the traditional shape, and he otherwise gave designers leeway. The designers wanted the
Enterprise to appear as carefully crafted as a luxury car. Concept artist
Ryan Church retained much of the original
Enterprise design and focused on the functionality behind the familiar components. His initial designs were modeled and refined by set designer Joseph Hiura. This design was then given to ILM for further refinement and developed into photo-realistic models by
Alex Jaeger's team. ILM's
Roger Guyett, recalling the original
Enterprise as being "very static", added moving parts. Sean Hargreaves' redesign of the successor NCC-1701-A "beef[ed] up" the vessel's support pylons, which are depicted as vulnerabilities in
Star Trek Beyond (2016). According to Abrams, recreating the original bridge would have been ridiculous and too small. Abrams' enthusiasm for a new
iPhone influenced Church's bridge redesign. Sophisticated technology became a motif on the new set, with multiple displays and computer graphics. The viewscreen from the television series was kept, and giving different characters their own computer displays suggested the idea of a team working together. Because the original series transporter room seemed flat to Abrams, he used swirling light and camera movement to make the new set and effects more dynamic. The budget prevented the creation of a huge, functional engineering room set, and producers instead filmed at a
Budweiser plant.
Ben Burtt consulted with original series sound designer
Douglas Grindstaff on sound design for the new
Enterprise. Another
Discovery producer,
Aaron Harberts, wasn't worried whether fans were satisfied with the ship's redesign: while many of the staff who developed the new appearance were
Star Trek fans, Harberts said fans rarely agree on anything. A fan-created replica of the original bridge – later opened as museum – sent the production team hundreds of buttons for the set's consoles.
Strange New Worlds Enterprise is the main setting of
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022–present), which depicts the ship led by Captain
Christopher Pike.
Anson Mount, who plays Pike, said
Strange New Worlds has a "big idea of the week" like the original
Star Trek, and as such the
Enterprise is "the star of the show".
Rebecca Romijn, who plays
first officer Una Chin-Riley, called the
Enterprise "sexy, and groovy, and fun." According to producer
Akiva Goldsman, the show's designers "tried to evoke the experience of watching [the original
Star Trek], but with the grammar available to us today." Goldsman describes the ship as aspirational and meant to pull audiences into an imagined future. The
Enterprise in
Strange New Worlds differs slightly from its
Discovery appearance. The bridge set for
Strange New Worlds was more compact than the one built for
Discovery to bring it closer to the size of the original series set. The sets were designed to function like a practical starship, with moving components and pre-programmed monitor graphics that reacted to the actors. Sickbay was an entirely new design, meant to convey a large scale and capable of accommodating many camera movements. Due to
COVID-19, some sets were not complete when filming began; Goldsman said they were "building the
Enterprise around shooting on the
Enterprise." ==Depiction==