"Treat her like a lady.... and she'll always take you home."

I told you that you were in for some posts about Star Trek... This is the first one. I'll give you a couple blank paragraphs to prepare yourselves.





Today I'm here to talk about The Enterprise. Not just The Enterprise, though. All the Enterprises. At least, all the ones that are in Star Trek.

There have been several Enterprises in real life.... Including a 19th century ship (which is replicated in the Next Generation movie Generations.... although I think it's just a replica of a typical 19th century ship, not actually one named Enterprise), an aircraft carrier from World War II, and another ship that has been in service from the 1960's-2012!

 

 

The next Enterprise that came around is a pre-warp space vessel.

And after that.... The first Enterprise. It isn't the USS Enterprise, though, like all its predecessors. This one is just Enterprise.

 

 

 

 

It's the ship from the fifth series of Star Trek, also titled Enterprise... It is the only Star Trek show that I do not recommend.

 

Now we're back to USS Enterprises again.... And this is where I start to dig deep into my nerd knowledge. A.K.A. I build up what I already know about the Enterprises by looking on Memory Alpha (the Wikipedia for Trekkies) what I don't know.

 

U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701

 

 

 

This is the Enterprise that people are most familiar with. It is the one that carried Captain Kirk, Spock, Doctor McCoy, and the rest of the crew on their five year mission to explore strange new worlds. It's a Constitution-class ship and was in service for forty years until Klingons destroyed it in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.

 

Next came the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-A, which looked pretty nearly identical to the first NCC-1701. After cruising back and forth in time in a Klingon Bird-Of-Prey to save some whales, Starfleet decides to honor Kirk and give him another Enterprise. The Enterprise-A takes Kirk and his crew through the last two Original movies. It was decommissioned at the end of the sixth movie.

 

After that came, you guessed it, the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-B! This one is an Excelsior-class refit. In the first few scenes of Star Trek: Generations, the ship is taking its first trip, a short one... just around Pluto and back. It has a number of honored guests on board... Captain Kirk, Commander Chekov, and Scotty. But something goes wrong... And you'll have to watch the movie to find out what (it's worth it, especially for those Original Series fans).

 

After that came the NCC-1701-C... which I don't know too much about, other than it was destroyed.

 

Then comes the U.S.S. NCC-1701-D. Also known as... the ship that carries Captain Picard and his crew through the seven seasons of the Next Generation and their first movie!

 

 

 

This ship is a Galaxy-class ship that carries 1014 passengers. It is capable of saucer separation (a feat that the writers never let us forget) and is altogether a really cool ship.

But, of course, it gets destroyed.

 

And the Enterprise-E is created! For the remaining three Next Generation movies, the crew rides in the NCC-1701-E.

 

Evidently there is a Enterprise-J sometime in the future as well.... but it only appears in one episode.

 

So there you have it! All the Enterprises! I'll leave you with this quote that sums up all of the Enterprises:

 

"New ship.... but she's got the right name. You remember that now, y'hear? Treat her like a lady... and she'll always take you home." - Doctor Leonard McCoy, from the first episode of The Next Generation.