Visual effects supervisor Ken Ralston had hoped the Enterprise's destruction in The Search for Spock would open the door to designing a new model for future films.[3] However, producers for Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) decided to have the crew return to a duplicate of their previous ship.[4] Although a new model was not created, it took Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) more than six weeks to restore and repaint the ship to appear as the new USS Enterprise, NCC-1701-A.[4] Although the original bridge set had been refurbished and repainted to serve as the bridge for the Enterprise-A, it was scrapped in favor of a completely new bridge set for the fifth film. The sleek "Okudagrams" created for this Enterprise-A bridge were later adopted in subsequent films and television spin-offs.[4] When production began on Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994), several interior Enterprise sets, such as the bridge, were redressed for use on the television show. Later, some Next Generation sets, such as the Enterprise-D's engine room and conference room, were modified to depict interiors of the Enterprise-A.[5]
Sean Hargreaves designed the Enterprise-A introduced in Star Trek: Beyond (2016).[6] Hargreaves, who also designed the film's swarm ships and USS Franklin, stated that he was given the brief to "beef up the neck and arms" from Ryan Church's Enterprise design.
Various licensed materials describe the ship's history before its commissioning as Enterprise, such as it being re-named from USS Yorktown,[7] USS Ti-Ho,[8] or USS Atlantis.[9] Although outwardly identical to the refitted original Enterprise first seen in Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), the Enterprise-A is beset with problems during its shakedown cruise in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989). Despite these problems, the Enterprise is dispatched to rescue hostages on Nimbus III. Sybok (Laurence Luckinbill) and his followers hijack the ship and take it to a planet at the center of the galaxy, where Kirk and the crew regain control.
Several novels and comics explore the six-year period between the fifth and sixth Star Trek films. In Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991), Enterprise is assigned to escort Klingon chancellor Gorkon (David Warner) to a peace summit on Earth. The renegade Klingon general Chang (Christopher Plummer), assisted by traitors aboard Enterprise, makes it appear the Enterprise fires on the chancellor's vessel. The Klingons take Kirk and Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley) prisoner; Spock and Enterprise crew disregard Starfleet orders and rescue them. Enterprise encounters and, with aid from Captain Sulu (George Takei) and the USS Excelsior, destroys Chang's ship, and the crew protects the Federation president from an assassin. At the film's end, Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) says they have received orders for Enterprise to report to spacedock to be decommissioned. The Enterprise-A is part of the Fleet Museum in Star Trek: Picard's third season (2023).[10]
Kelvin timeline
In Star Trek: Beyond (2016), which occurs in the Star Trekreboot's alternative Kelvin Timeline, the Enterprise (NCC-1701-A) is already under construction when its predecessor arrives at Starbase Yorktown. Following the Enterprise's destruction, its crew is reassigned to the Enterprise-A.
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