U.S.S. Enterprise, NCC-2001 (Excelsior Class)

[Commander Richard]

We got a new Enterprise in Star Trek IV. It was the same constitution class ship as before and was christened "NCC-1701-A". But I often think that we should have gotten an Excelsior class ship and perhaps it should have had the registry "NCC-2001". It's a nice number and comes right after Excelsior's NCC-2000 registry.

Should we have gotten an Excelsior class ship as Kirk's new Enterprise?

Should Kirk's new Enterprise have gotten a new registry number? Personally, I think it's gotten a bit out of hand these days with so many ships getting A, B, F, H, etc. tacked onto an old number.

 

[Dukhat]

I could swear that the original plan was that Kirk and crew would get the Excelsior as their new ship at the end of TVH, but at the last minute they decided to change it to the Constitution class Enterprise-A, much to the consternation of ILM which always hated filming that model because it was so unwieldy.

I would have liked the Enterprise-A to have been a completely different design from the Constitution or Excelsior class. But at the time that would not have been practical.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

Yup, Harve Bennet (producer on Treks II-VI) initially introduced the Exclesior as the eventual replacement in III, but it was Roddenberry who fought to change back, even after the DC comics of the era followed through with the changeover.The anecdote is covered in one of Shatner’s books and was quite enjoyable.

Mark

 

[Saul]

They don't exactly put the Excelsior in a positive light in TSFS though. Scotty doesn't like the ship, they sabotage her, the captain is unlikable. It makes more sense to keep the Constitution class.

 

[Dukhat]

Once the decision was made to not use the Excelsior as the new hero ship, the only choice they had was to reuse the TMP Enterprise. The thought at the time was that they would continue to make TOS films for the foreseeable future, and ILM was frustrated because the model was difficult to film. Building a new expensive filming model for a ten second scene at the end of the movie would have been completely impractical, as would be building a smaller model of the TMP Enterprise for future movies, since there’d be no way such a small model would show up well on the large screen. If TVH had been the final TOS film, it wouldn’t have mattered so much.

 

[Space Socialist]

I would have liked the Enterprise-A to have been a completely different design from the Constitution or Excelsior class. But at the time that would not have been practical.

I remember this potential design being touted by some fans:

 

[C.E. Evans]

I liked that the Enterprise-A was another Constitution II-class starship. I remember being sad when the original went down over the Genesis planet, and later seeing her successor as an identical ship was a profound moment for me (this was before the age of spoilers, so it was also very much a surprise). I don't think it would have had the same emotional impact at the time if she had been an Excelsior-class or some other new design.

 

[Ithekro]

I don't remember liking the Excelsior when it was introduced, but it has grown on me over time. I am not sure if I would have wanted Excelsior herself to become Enterprise, but if they introduced the new NCC-2001 Enterprise from behind the Excelsior I don't think I would have been mad.

However I wonder what the consequences of that would have been? We probably would still get a Galaxy-class Enterprise, but it would have some unique but easy to identify hull number. Picard's ship would be the fourth Federation starship to bear the name. In addition, retiring the new Enterprise after The Undiscovered Country wouldn't make sense. I could see Captain Sulu take over, assuming he didn't get Excelsior. Two Excelsior-class at the end of the film would be interesting.

 

[Unicron]

They don't exactly put the Excelsior in a positive light in TSFS though. Scotty doesn't like the ship, they sabotage her, the captain is unlikable. It makes more sense to keep the Constitution class.

The novelizations for TWOK and TSFS go into some interesting details on how the TOS crew had to deal with the evolution of Genesis into a galactic controversy. The lines that were apparently cut from the film version of TWOK about Sulu's promotion to command the Excelsior are included, and in TSFS he had initially wanted to take command immediately after the Enterprise returned to spacedock. Styles was never meant to be the original captain, but Starfleet effectively put Sulu's command on hold because they needed to get information about Genesis from Kirk's crew. That decision naturally rubbed Sulu and the other TOS crew the wrong way, and was a factor in his willingness to help Kirk free McCoy, even at the risk of entirely losing his chance to captain the Excelsior.

 

[Saul]

I remember this potential design being touted by some fans:

What's the history behind that design? Was it before Star Trek TVH?

 

[Space Socialist]

What's the history behind that design? Was it before Star Trek TVH?

No idea, to be honest. It’s an image that’s been in my “Trek files” folder in the various subsequent computers which I’ve owned since 2002. I have no idea if it’s a fan design, or something official of semi-official (FASA).

 

[BK613]

What's the history behind that design? Was it before Star Trek TVH?

No idea, to be honest. It’s an image that’s been in my “Trek files” folder in subsequent computed I’ve owned since 2002. I have no idea if it’s a fan design, or something official of semi-official (FASA).

Dates back to 1989. Just a fan design...
https://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/uss-enterprise-nx-1701-a.php

 

[C.E. Evans]

The first time I saw that design was in an issue of Starlog magazine around '89 or so (give or take a couple of years). I remember the original designer complaining in the brief article that too many fan designs at the time were just recycling parts from the refit Enterprise and actually didn't stray too far from the tree, IIRC...

 

[publiusr]

I like liked Aridas Sophia’s more elegant TMP-refit secondary hull on Balson…more teardrop shaped, so I tried to put a wider saucer on it to even it out:
https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/publiusrs-starship-designs-large-images.260404/

I might have called it Enterprise II NCC-11701

Another concept cleaned up by a real artist:
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/treknographics101/line-drawing-bashes-t490.html#p8714

 

[Verteron]

I would have kept the Connie, but maybe given her a few minor exterior details to differentiate her from the original Enterprise. Similar to how the 1701-B is slightly different to Excelsior.

Maybe revised nacelles/pylons or a different torpedo launcher configuration. Nothing huge, just enough to say 'this is a new ship'.

I appreciate that may have made the re-use of certain shots difficult though, and I suppose in terms of model sales, may have annoyed some fans who'd already bought the Motion Picture model and now would have to buy another one!

Would NOT have wanted 1701-A to be an Excelsior class. This would have ruined the Battle of Khitomer, one of my favourite battles in all Trek lore. I suppose had both ships been Excelsior class the scene may have been written differently, but I love the whole sequence, Sulu's 'FLY HER APART THEN' and eventual arrival, and how, with her superior shields, she's able to draw enough fire that Enterprise can come up with the tailpipe torpedo solution.

To be, or not, to be. BOOM.

 

[BillJ]

We got a new Enterprise in Star Trek IV. It was the same constitution class ship as before and was christened "NCC-1701-A". But I often think that we should have gotten an Excelsior class ship and perhaps it should have had the registry "NCC-2001". It's a nice number and comes right after Excelsior's NCC-2000 registry.

Should we have gotten an Excelsior class ship as Kirk's new Enterprise?

Should Kirk's new Enterprise have gotten a new registry number? Personally, I think it's gotten a bit out of hand these days with so many ships getting A, B, F, H, etc. tacked onto an old number.

IIRC, there were momentary thoughts about using the Excelsior model for the next Enterprise, but the registry would've been NCC-2701. That is where I wish they had gone with it, personally.

 

[Ithekro]

One can imagine that if the original hadn't destroyed, Kirk and his crew would have gone to other assignments. And the ship that become the Enterprise-B in canon could have instead been the NCC-2001 as the second Excelsior in service.

 

[publiusr]

Now a nice scene would have been for the travel pod to pass over Excelsior as per ST III, but then turn and head for Spacedock’s big doors.

They open…and in the distance you see the TMP drydock….with this in it:
https://imgur.io/znsTN0M?r

That’s how the TOS movies could have ended.

 

[somebuddyX]

So I voted for what we got, but, in another myriad universe, I would love there being an NCC-2001 and especially in the original configuration as contrast to Enterprise-B in Prime. I also love the idea that the Enterprise-B was originally to be the intended Enterprise-A. I also have wondered about the timeline where the Delphic Expanse took up a quarter or half the galaxy, because with the Enterprise-J there it means there was all the Enterprises that came before it, but doesn't mean they were all in the same classes as they were in Prime. So maybe the A was an Excelsior, the B was like some Ambassador-variant, the C was a Nebula-class, etc. The other one I like is that in some other universe the Enterprise-A was a new built Constitution-refit and so didn't get retired in 2293 and really did become the care of another crew. I like the idea of all these variations existing in different quantum realties because in a hypothetical scenario where you did have these guys crossover or meet up like in something that happened in "Parallels" you end up with interesting combinations rather than just the same ship duplicated a billion times.

 

[Verteron]

I like the idea of all these variations existing in different quantum realties because in a hypothetical scenario where you did have these guys crossover or meet up like in something that happened in "Parallels" you end up with interesting combinations rather than just the same ship duplicated a billion times.

My head canon for this is that the first ships to appear were ones from universes close to our own reality, and as time went on, we'd have seen variations further away from our own timeline, with the divergence point moving backwards.

I believe all the universes we saw branched off after the Ent-D was launched. The minor bridge differences were probably delivered as part of minor refits, after all, the 'Prime' bridge did get some alterations over the eight years she was in service.

We'd have to wait for some universes that diverged during the 2350s during the design and construction of the Galaxy class to see some actual proper ship differences, we just didn't go that far before they sorted it out!