Who was the original captain of the USS Enterprise?

[nx1701g]

sturmde said:
According to the background material prepared for ENT's "In a Mirror, Darkly" the intention was to list in Archer's bio, that Robert T. April as the first captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise, commissioned in 2245. The death of Archer was to be noted as being the next day.

Did they work that into some of the Defiant displays? I forget.

Yes that was on the Defiant displays. The artist who did it posted on the boards on the time the actual images.


Star Trek: The Encyclopedia listed the Captains of the Enterprise 1701 in the following order:

Captain Robert April - First five year mission
Captain Christopher Pike - Second five year mission
Captain Christopher Pike - Third five year mission
Captain James T. Kirk - Fourth five year mission

 

[Therin of Andor]

sturmde said:
According to the background material prepared for ENT's "In a Mirror, Darkly" the intention was to list in Archer's bio, that Robert T. April as the first captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise, commissioned in 2245. The death of Archer was to be noted as being the next day.
Did they work that into some of the Defiant displays?

The complete Archer screen as per Mike Sussman, corrected for a few typos:

STARFLEET PERSONNEL FILE: ARCHER, JONATHAN
SERIAL NUMBER: SA-022-9237-CY
Rank at retirement: Admiral, Chief of Staff, Starfleet Command
Former Assignments:
Command officer, Enterprise NX-01, 2150-2160
Ambassador to Andoria, 2169-2175
Federation Councilman, 2175-2183
President, UFP 2184-2192
Birthplace: Upstate New York, North America, Earth
Parents: Henry and Sally Archer

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE
Charming, bold, and born explorer, Archer was guided by a core of human decency and intuition, even when they contravene direct orders. He was independent, yet had a strong sense of duty. Archer held a grudge against the Vulcans, whom he blamed for keeping humanity stuck on Earth, but he learned to cope with a Vulcan science officer. As captain of a starship his father helped build, Archer was eager to make history and see what's out there.

BIOGRAPHICAL OVERVIEW
Son of famed warp specialist Henry Archer, Jonathan Archer was appointed captain of Starfleet's first warp five starship, Enterprise NX-01. As an explorer and peace maker, his name is among the most recognized in the Federation, and his pioneering voyages aboard the Enterprise are known to school children on dozens of worlds, many of which were unknown to humans in Archer's lifetime. Historian John Gill call Archer the "greatest explorer of the 22nd Century." Archer earned an impressive list of commendations during his career, including a Medal of Valor with clusters, the Star Cross, the Prantares Ribbon of Commendation, and the Federation Citation of Honor. Archer was also appointed an honorary member of the Andorian Guard by General Thy'lek Shran in 2154.

He's the only human to have two planets named in his honor: ARCHER'S PLANET in the Gamma Trianguli sector, and ARCHER IV, which orbits 61 Ursae Majoris. Archer IV was the first M-Class world charted by the famous explorer. Although the planet was unhabitable throughout the 22nd Century due to toxic pollen in the atmosphere, an antidote to the pollen was discovered early in the 2290's. Today, the population of Archer IV numbers more than seven hundred million.

Jonathan Archer grew up dreaming of the day when he would get to go "where no man has gone before." His father was the renowned Henry Archer, who led the development of the Warp five engineer in the footsteps of warp pioneer Zefram Cochrane. So it is fitting that Jonathan would carry on the family legacy...

Here on TrekBBS, Mike Sussman told us:

When I wrote this, I assumed the text wouldn't be legible (silly me). There are probably some errors in here. One I can spot -- Archer took command of Enterprise in 2151, not 2150. Some of this text would seem to be contradicted by the finale (which obviously had not been written yet). The name Sally, unless I'm mistaken, is also the name of Scott Bakula's mother. Moreover, there was a final section of text that didn't actually appear on screen:

Archer died peacefully in his home in upstate New York in the year 2245, exactly one day after attending the christening ceremony of the first Federation Starship Enterprise, NCC-1701.

Sussman also said,

Yeah, he would've been old, but pretty close to McCoy's age in 'Encounter at Farpoint'... I wouldn't really consider any of this 'hard canon', so take it all with a grain of salt. Both bios were slapped together hastily and weren't approved by the exec producers.

 

[Timo]

None of the stuff that appeared on screen is too contradictory, no matter how "hastily slapped together" it is. By all rights, a Robert April could have been the first skipper of the Big E ("Counter-Clock"), a Christopher Pike could have commanded her in between ("Menagerie"), and a James Kirk could have assumed command for a five-year mission in 2266 or so (TOS, "Q2") or possibly already for some preceding mission before that ("Where No Man").

That's pretty much all we know, on basis of stuff that was on screen. No solid date for the launch of the ship; no hint as to how long each skipper served aboard this vessel or others; scant details on which fellow officers served in which combinations at which dates. STXI is free to make it all up as best fits the plot. Perhaps the Enterprise is actually thirty years old by the time Kirk goes to the Academy? Or perhaps April actually commanded the de-mothballed NX-01, being the first Federation Starfleet captain to do so, and the more familiar Enterprise was only built a few months before "The Cage"?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[theARE]

Timo said:
No solid date for the launch of the ship;
...
Perhaps the Enterprise is actually thirty years old by the time Kirk goes to the Academy?

..Except for the "Jim, the Enterprise is 20 years old" line by the Admiral in ST III.

I know it's considered by most to be a mistake, but it did appear on screen. 20 years would make the Enterprise virtually new at the start of Kirks 5 year mission

 

[The Old Mixer]

^That reference is generally considered an error based on onscreen evidence. It contradicts the timeline of Pike's command given in "The Menagerie".

On the Archer bio, I'll note one apparent error--he's supposed to be the only human to have two planets named after him. What about Zephram Cochrane? "Entire worlds named in his honor...."

 

[Timo]

The exact quote for ol' Zeppy is "Planets were named after him", and this could be exaggeration: the baseless use of plural instead of singular is fairly common in such expressions of awe. But yeah, it does sound like a gaffe.

And of course Archer IV isn't a planet named after Archer. It's the fourth planet around a star named after Archer! (And it's probably named after some generic Archer anyway, or then after Henry.)

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Warped9]

The Old Mixer said:

blakbyrd said:

Menacing Horta said: Hate to break the news, but it was Archer.

*Was wondering when someone was going to say that*

Actually...there was no "U.S.S." in front of Archer's Enterprise, so .

Bottom line is, if the new movie wants to depict Pike as the first captain of NCC-1701, the people who put April in the Encyclopedia disclaimed his entry as conjecture, so it is fair game, continuity-wise.

Bullshit. I gave TAS a lot more credence than whatever was cooked up in later Trek or this forthcoming restart movie.

April
Pike
Kirk

 

[22 Stars]

I would have to say April, Pike, Kirk, Spock, Kirk then BOOM in III then Kirk for the A in IV.

The U.S.S. Enterprise looks to have had a refit between The Cage and WNMHGB and between Turnabout Intruder and TMP.

Archer's is a different Enterprise, and we know some of the Captains for the B, C, D, E.

 

[cooleddie74]

theARE said:

Timo said:
No solid date for the launch of the ship;
...
Perhaps the Enterprise is actually thirty years old by the time Kirk goes to the Academy?

..Except for the "Jim, the Enterprise is 20 years old" line by the Admiral in ST III.

I know it's considered by most to be a mistake, but it did appear on screen. 20 years would make the Enterprise virtually new at the start of Kirks 5 year mission

I for one always thought that for the Director's/Special Edition DVD of STAR TREK III that someone should have dubbed "40" over Robert Hooks' "20" in that line and things would have been perfect. The Enterprise was first launched in 2245...TREK III takes place sometime late in 2285. That's forty years and since even after the massive refit of the NCC-1701 just before ST:TMP it was still considered the exact same starship by Starfleet Command, the Enterprise in the third movie would be 40 years old.

 

[Theodore Jay Miller]

The Old Mixer said:
On the Archer bio, I'll note one apparent error--he's supposed to be the only human to have two planets named after him. What about Zephram Cochrane? "Entire worlds named in his honor...."

Archer's the only human to have two planets named after him, because Cochrane had THREE planets named after him?

 

[cooleddie74]

Not to mention a city/colony on Mars(Cochrane City), but that's admittedly non-canon from a couple of novels. I consider it canon in my eyes, though and have used Cochrane City in a couple of my own fanfic stories.

 

[Therin of Andor]

cooleddie74 said:
I for one always thought that for the Director's/Special Edition DVD of STAR TREK III that someone should have dubbed "40" over Robert Hooks' "20" in that line and things would have been perfect.

The script originally said "40" and the one used by Starlog to synopsize for its commemorative "ST III Movie Magazine" said "40". Someone at Paramount thought that general audiences would relate to "20" better, since the 20th anniversary of Star Trek itself was approaching, ie. the design of USS Enterprise had been around in the public consciousness for twenty years. But, after the 23rd century overhauls the ship had, ie. after both pilots, and before TMP, none of the metal on the ship was probably older than 20 years.

 

[cooleddie74]

True, and most likely even younger. The refit of the NCC-1701 was done after the ship's five year mission under Kirk(TOS)ended in 2270. TMP takes place no later than late 2272 or early 2273. STAR TREK III is set in late 2285. So at the most the refitted Enterprise's newer components are no older than twelve or thirteen years old.

 

[David cgc]

The Old Mixer said:
On the Archer bio, I'll note one apparent error--he's supposed to be the only human to have two planets named after him. What about Zephram Cochrane? "Entire worlds named in his honor...."

And to think, the error I noticed was that the entry said a cure to the Paranoia Pollen was found thirty years after the Defiant went missing.

Like the man said, not intended to be read, so not properly proof-read.