enterprise star trek kirk

Captain Kirk's Entire Backstory Explained

He's the captain against which every other  Star Trek  captain will always judged — Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) of the USS  Enterprise . For three seasons of  Star Trek: The Original Series ( TOS ), two seasons of  Star Trek: The Animated Series , and seven films, Captain Kirk went where no one had gone before. Even though technically he wasn't the first captain to command  Enterprise —  Christopher Pike (Jeffrey Hunter) was the ship's captain in the series' pilot —   James Kirk will always be seen as the original and, to many fans, the best.

Kirk left a huge mark on the Trek  franchise. With the warring voices of Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) guiding him, Kirk's exploration built the foundation for  Trek 's continuing narrative. He fought wars, he stopped wars, and for better or worse, the distant worlds he visited were forever changed because of his appearance. His legacy will be remembered for as long as the  Trek  franchise keeps going. If you're curious about how this pioneer lived and died, here's Captain James T. Kirk's entire backstory explained.  

Kirk was the only cadet to defeat the Kobayashi Maru

Kirk's Starfleet Academy days are mentioned a few times during  TOS . For example, in "Shore Leave," we learn Kirk had to deal with a merciless bully named Finnegan (Bruce Mars). In "Court Martial," we find out Kirk did more than just study during his academy days. The future captain actually participated in a journey to the planet Axanar while still a cadet, and he was awarded a commendation unique to the historic peace mission. 

But without a doubt, Kirk's most infamous exploit at the academy involved the unbeatable Kobayashi Maru. In this simulation, a student acts a ship's captain and receives a distress call from within the Klingon neutral zone. If the order is given to enter the forbidden zone to rescue the ship, the crew finds Klingon battlecruisers waiting to blow them to smithereens. The point is to evaluate how a cadet deals with a no-win scenario. 

We get to see this simulation in practice in 1982's  Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan  (during one of the best opening scenes in sci-fi ), with the half-Romulan, half-Vulcan Saavik (Kirstie Alley) in command. After the simulation ends and Saavik complains to Kirk that "there was no way to win," he lectures her on the importance of a captain facing a no-win situation. Later in the film, we learn Kirk was the only cadet in Starfleet history to defeat the Kobayashi Maru. After trying and failing twice to survive the simulation, Kirk reprogrammed it to make victory possible, and he tells Saavik, "I don't believe in the no-win scenario."

Captain Kirk of the Enterprise

Before coming aboard the ship that would make him famous, Kirk already had an impressive career. He served as an ensign aboard the USS  Republic  and later as a lieutenant on the USS  Farragut . In the intervening years, he instructed cadets at Starfleet Academy, where he met Gary Mitchell (Gary Lockwood) who would later be transformed into a powerful villain in "Where No Man Has Gone Before."

Eventually, Kirk succeeded Christopher Pike as captain of the Enterprise , and he was tasked with the five-year mission to find new life and new civilizations. To list all of Kirk's heroic actions during those first five years would take more time and space than we have, but we'd be remiss in not mentioning some of his most legendary exploits. In the time travel episode "The City on the Edge of Forever," Kirk saves history from being catastrophically altered by doing the unthinkable ... by standing by and doing nothing as a woman he's fallen in love with is killed. In "Amok Time," he's wrangled into a life-or-death duel with Spock, temporarily faking his death for the benefit of his science officer. In "A Piece of the Action," the  Enterprise  visits Sigma Iotia II, where the people have based their culture on the roaring '20s of Chicago . Kirk, Spock, and McCoy all play-act at being gun-toting mobsters.

In those memorable missions and more, the  Enterprise  and her crew proved themselves as some of the most capable and heroic souls in the galaxy.

Romans and Klingons and Gorn ... oh My!

Among his many space adventures, Kirk has had quite a few memorable and historic clashes with powerful alien races. 

Perhaps the most historically relevant example of this comes in "Balance of Terror," when Kirk and his crew become the first humans to see Romulans . The Vulcan off-shoots waged war on the Federation over a century earlier, but no humans had ever actually seen them before. Later in "The Enterprise Incident," Kirk takes part in an elaborate plot to sneak aboard a Romulan ship and steal its cloaking device. Kirk has also faced off multiple times with the warlike Klingons. For example, things get violent in the Klingons' first appearance, "Errand of Mercy," and later, Kirk and his enemies share a tense standoff that erupts into a barroom brawl in "The Trouble with Tribbles." However, Kirk's various confrontations with the Klingons eventually earn him the warriors' respects. Centuries later, Klingons like  Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 's Worf (Michael Dorn) would speak of Kirk with reverence and awe.

Of course, there's Kirk's famous one-on-one clash with the unnamed reptilian Gorn captain. In "Arena," the  Enterprise  pursues a Gorn ship after it assaults a Federation outpost on Cestus III. The pursuit is halted by a group of aliens called the Metrons who transport Kirk and the Gorn captain to the surface of a planet to settle their differences with a one-on-one duel. Kirk defeats the Gorn captain but refuses to kill him. 

The man who changed the Mirror Universe

In "Mirror, Mirror," Kirk, Bones, Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), and Scotty (James Doohan) are unexpectedly transported to the so-called "Mirror" Universe while their counterparts from that universe wind up in  Trek "s prime reality. In the Mirror Universe, the Federation is replaced by the ruthless Terran Empire, and all of the  Enterprise 's heroes are replaced by more brutal counterparts. Kirk and his comrades do their best to fool the Imperial crew, but Kirk's more tolerant attitude has suspicions running high. Eventually, the Mirror Spock discovers who they really are, but before he returns to his own universe, Kirk urges Mirror Spock to help begin a rebellion against the Empire.

Years later on  Deep Space Nine , we learn Kirk's words to the Mirror Spock had huge and unintentionally disastrous consequences. When two of DS9 's crew find themselves in the Mirror Universe in "Crossover," it's revealed that the Mirror Spock took Kirk's words to heart. He effected great change throughout the Terran Empire, leading to many social reforms. Unfortunately, the Empire's weakened focus on its military might made it easy pickings for the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance. The Terrans soon became the Alliance's slaves, forced to wear Earth-shaped badges to identify themselves in public. But by the end of "Crossover," a Terran rebellion begins against the Alliance, and occasionally, members of the Terran Resistance cross over to  Trek 's prime reality looking for help.  

Becoming Admiral Kirk

After the end of his five-year mission, Kirk is rewarded with the rank of admiral and made Starfleet chief of operations. We see him for the first time as an admiral in 1979's  Star Trek: The Motion Picture when Kirk temporarily reassumes command of the  Enterprise. Then in the beginning of The Wrath of Khan ,   Spock is the one in charge of the  Enterprise , but when what's supposed to be a training cruise turns serious after they receive a distress call from Carol Marcus (Bibi Besch) of the secret Genesis Project, Kirk once again takes command. Just before he takes over, Spock tells his old friend that it was a mistake for Kirk to ever accept a promotion and that commanding a starship is his "first, best destiny." 

A few movies later, the choice is taken out of Kirk's hands. In 1984's  Star Trek III: The Search for Spock , Kirk goes rogue. After being denied command of a starship or the permission to return to the Genesis planet, Kirk and most of the  Enterprise  senior crew steal their old ship. Reassigned against his wishes to the USS  Excelsior , Scotty uses the opportunity to sabotage the newer ship to secure the  Enterprise 's escape. And at the end of 1986's  Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home , the combo of Kirk's crimes and heroic deeds earn him a demotion to captain, freeing him to do exactly what he's wanted for years — command a starship. 

The death and return of Spock

The Wrath of Khan  ends with Kirk's dearest friend, Spock, sacrificing himself to save Enterprise . In the final battle against the vengeful Khan (Ricardo Montalban), the Enterprise 's main reactor is damaged. Spock willingly endures lethal levels of radiation to repair the ship so it can escape the powerful Genesis Wave that Khan activates in his final moments. Spock's corpse is then placed in a torpedo tube, and after a memorial ceremony, is fired from the Enterprise and lands on Genesis planet. As you might expect, Spock's death rocks Kirk as nothing else could. 

With the arrival of Spock's dad Sarek (Mark Lenard) on Earth in The Search for Spock , Kirk learns that shortly before his passing, Spock placed his katra — his living spirit — within Dr. McCoy. Hoping to resurrect his old friend, Kirk tries to go through official channels for permission to bring McCoy to Genesis, but his superiors deny him. As a result, Kirk and his comrades overpower Starfleet guards and break an imprisoned McCoy out of his holding cell. They steal the  Enterprise and head for Genesis, fully expecting to lose their Starfleet careers in the process.  

On Genesis, the planet's unstable energies not only revive Spock but rapidly age him from a young boy to a man. Kirk is able to rescue his old friend from the dying planet and bring him back to Vulcan where his katra is rejoined with his body. It takes some time, however, for Spock to return to his normal self. 

Captain Kirk destroys the Enterprise

After decades of service and surviving almost unimaginable perils, the  Enterprise  finally meets its end in  Star Trek III: The Search for Spock . And it isn't destroyed by Klingons, Romulans, or any merciless space gods.  Star Trek 's first flagship is destroyed by her captain. 

When Kirk and the  Enterprise 's command crew go to Genesis in hopes of finding Spock, the ship isn't ready for combat. She has  less  than a skeleton crew, and Scotty isn't expecting their mission to include a space battle. Above the planet, they're attacked by a Klingon Bird-of-Prey, commanded by the ruthless Kruge (Christopher Lloyd) who's learned of the Genesis Project and wants to use it as a doomsday weapon. After a brief exchange of fire, both ships are in bad shape, and Kirk can do nothing but pretend the  Enterprise  isn't crippled. Kruge isn't fooled by Kirk's bluff, and to drive the point home, he has a hostage murdered. Kirk is floored when he learns the victim is his son David (Merritt Butrick).

Kirk plays at surrendering to the Klingons, but instead, he sets the  Enterprise  for self-destruct. Kruge sends most of his crew to the  Enterprise  to secure the ship, but when they transport over, Kirk and his comrades beam down to the planet. The ship is rocked with multiple explosions, killing the Klingons on board, and it eventually drifts into the Genesis atmosphere where its remains are consumed by the heat of entry. 

The voyage home

In 1986's  Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home , for the first and only time, the majority of a  Trek  film takes place without a functioning  Enterprise . After the ship's destruction in  The Search for Spock , Kirk captures the Klingon Bird-of-Prey and renames it the HMS  Bounty . It's the  Bounty  that the crew takes back in time to save Earth from a destructive alien probe. And in spite of his crew growing rogue in  The Search for Spock , at the end of Part IV , they're rewarded with the new  Enterprise -A.  

It's the  Enterprise -A that carries the heroes in their final two films in the  Trek  franchise . In 1989's  Star Trek V: The Final Frontier , the ship is commandeered by Spock's eccentric brother Sybok (Laurence Luckinbill) who believes that God has been in contact with him, summoning Sybok to where he resides in the center of the galaxy. And in 1991's  Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country , it's the  Enterprise -A that carries Kirk and the crew on their final historic mission.

Making peace with the Klingons

In his final official mission for Starfleet, James Kirk does something he never wanted to do. He helps to stop the conflict with the Klingons. When the Klingon Empire reaches out to make peace with the Federation — a peace that would mean disarmament on both sides of their shared neutral zone — Spock volunteers the  Enterprise -A   to escort the Klingon chancellor Gorkon (David Warner) to negotiations. Still angry at Klingons for the death of his son, Kirk is furious at Spock for volunteering him without talking to him first. However, their escort mission is interrupted when, without warning, the  Enterprise -A   inexplicably seems to fire on the chancellor's ship, and two assassins in Starfleet uniforms board the ship and murder Gorkon. 

Kirk and Bones are arrested and put on trial, where they're defended by Colonel Worf, grandfather of the Starfleet officer of the same name from Star Trek: The Next Generation ( TNG ). Nevertheless, they're sentenced to life imprisonment in Rura Penthe, a brutal penal colony known as the Alien's Graveyard. But they're soon rescued by the Enterprise , and the assassination is ultimately revealed to be a plot between militant elements of Starfleet, the Klingon Empire, and even the Romulans who want to make sure the conflict between the Klingons and the Federation stays alive. Peace is made on the planet Khitomer, where Kirk and his crew unveil the plot. 

Disappearing on the Enterprise-B

While it was the first Trek  film to feature the  TNG  crew, Kirk was there to pass the torch in 1994's  Star Trek: Generations . The film opens on the inaugural voyage of the  Enterprise -B, commanded by Captain John Harriman (Alan Ruck). As part of the publicity surrounding the event, Kirk, Scotty, and Chekov (Walter Koenig) are invited on board. 

Unfortunately, Captain Harriman learns that anyone commanding the  Enterprise  needs to expect the unexpected. While they aren't yet equipped for a serious mission, they receive a call from El-Aurian refugee ships caught in some kind of massive energy ribbon. While he's initially hesitant to get involved, Harriman yields to the pressure of the cameras and heads to the ships in distress. They're able to beam some of the refugees onto the  Enterprise , but the ships are soon destroyed, and the  Enterprise  is caught in the ribbon. 

Yearning to take the captain's chair for himself, Kirk at first seizes the opportunity when Harriman heads out to make modifications to the deflector necessary to free the ship. But Kirk soon changes his mind, insisting that he go instead of Harriman because the captain's place is the bridge. So Kirk rushes to deflector control and makes the changes himself. However, after the  Enterprise  is freed, the crew learns there was a hull breach in the section Kirk was in. Scotty and Chekov rush to deflector control, but Kirk is gone. History initially records this as the death of James Kirk, but history is wrong. 

Captain Kirk's final sacrifice

A century after the presumed death of James Kirk on the Enterprise -B, the TNG  crew encounters one of the long-living El-Aurian survivors, Soran (Malcolm McDowell). This guy is obsessed with reuniting with the energy ribbon because it's the doorway to what the El-Aurian people call the Nexus, a timeless paradise. Soran develops a weapon capable of destroying stars, thereby changing the trajectory of the ribbon so that he can re-enter it from the planet of Veridian III.

Separated from his ship, Captain Picard ( Patrick Stewart ) faces Soran alone. And in spite of Picard's best efforts, Soran succeeds, and the Veridian star is destroyed, which sends the energy ribbon to Veridian III, where Soran and Picard enter the Nexus. Inside, Picard learns time doesn't work in a linear fashion here. Because of this, he's able to find James Kirk, who also "just" entered the Nexus, even though both their entries took place a century apart. It takes some doing as Kirk believes the Nexus will give him a second chance to live his life, but eventually, Picard convinces Kirk to exit the Nexus to help him stop Soran.

They leave the Nexus before Soran destroys the Veridian star, and Kirk distracts the El-Aurian long enough for Picard to set his rocket-launching device on self-destruct, which destroys the rocket and kills Soran. But during the conflict, Kirk is caught on a metal bridge as it's knocked free of its moorings and falls to the ground. Picard finds Kirk pinned under the bridge, already dying. Kirk's last words to Picard are "It was ...  fun ." Then, as he feels death approach, Kirk says, "Oh my," and he embarks on his final voyage.

Den of Geek

Star Trek’s Paul Wesley Finally Gives Us the Version of Kirk That’s Been Missing

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds star Paul Wesley talks to us about exploring James T. Kirk's unknown past, his first visit to the Enterprise, and more.

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This Star Trek: Strange New Worlds article contains spoilers.

Technically speaking, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2 episode “Lost in Translation” is a Uhura-focused hour, which grapples with issues of loss, empathy, and miscommunication all wrapped up in rescuing a heretofore undiscovered alien species from being unnecessarily harmed by Starfleet mining equipment. But it’s also something else, too: The first episode in which Star Trek fans really get to meet the Strange New Worlds version of the franchise’s most iconic figure: James T. Kirk. 

After two previous appearances in episodes that took place in alternate timelines , we finally get to meet the “real” Kirk in “Lost in Translation,” a young man freshly promoted to First Officer on the U.S.S. Farragut who boards the Enterprise to visit his brother Sam and tell him the good news. Along the way, he meets several of the people who will one day change his life—and viewers get the chance to explore new elements of the future captain’s past.

“ I got to do some iconic moments,” Paul Wesley, who plays Kirk, tells Den of Geek during an interview conducted prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike. “It’s awesome—I got to be part of history: meeting Spock for the first time, meeting Uhura for the first time. These are moments that will go down in Star Trek canon and I love it.”

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Season 2’s “Lost in Translation” marks Wesley’s third Strange New Worlds appearance as James Kirk, but only the first time we’ve actually seen the iconic character in the series’ primary timeline. (That minute-long video call with La’an back in “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” doesn’t count.)

The series has (smartly, it would appear) chosen to ease its viewers into the idea of a new James Kirk, introducing us to alternate versions that highlight core aspects of his character we haven’t often had the chance to see. According to Wesley, that choice allowed him to be a little more flexible in terms of Kirk’s characterization, for both good and ill. 

“I got to do a dry run in some sense,” Wesley says, “And in the season 1 finale, obviously another alternate timeline Kirk, he’s captain of the Farragut and in many ways, that’s cool, you can do whatever you want. It’s a little more ambiguous in an alternate timeline, it just becomes a little more vague in your interpretation. But in some ways you’re like, ugh, I don’t know. Should I be doing it this way or should I be doing it that way? In some ways, you have less parameters, but maybe the parameters are actually kind of helpful.”

Still, the actor says, he tried to keep track of what he considered the “core” aspects of who Kirk is, and how those elements would naturally exist in any version of the character.

“Obviously, [“Lost in Translation”] is very different—different Prime timeline, different stakes, and he’s mainly dealing with Uhura,” he said. “But I wanted all the personality traits I had sort of created for Kirk in [“Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow”] to still be part of that prime timeline.”

For Wesley, one of the most interesting parts of playing Kirk is getting to play the progression of his intellectual and emotional journey from the young officer we see on Strange New Worlds to the famous captain of The Original Series . 

“I’m all about arcs, and I think that’s how I’m approaching [Kirk],” he says. “I’m playing him in a way that’s…perhaps a little the opposite of what people expect. But that’s because I would like to build into [that character]. What’s the point of doing a Kirk origin story if he’s just Kirk already? Don’t we want to be surprised a little bit? Otherwise, there’s nowhere to go.” 

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Part of that origin story necessarily involves exploring elements of the famous character’s life that we’re perhaps less familiar with or that occurred well before he was captain of the Enterprise . And while the fact that Kirk has an older brother is mentioned several times in Star Trek canon, prior to Strange New Worlds , Sam’s only onscreen appearance was as a corpse. 

“We actually don’t know a lot about Kirk,” Wesley says. “If you watch The Original Series , yes, there are some hints as to his past and there are references to things that happened, but for the most part—we don’t know. And, obviously, having a sibling is such a huge part of your development as a human being. Your relationship with your siblings informs who you want to become as an adult.” 

Given that there’s very little canonical information about the relationship between the two men, Wesley has been fairly free to think about how he sees the bond between the Kirk brothers.

“I think he’s very much the opposite of Sam,” he says. “In my opinion, all siblings are very different. Very rarely do you have two boys, and then they’re both very similar and get along perfectly. Usually, there’s one that’s like a yin and one that’s a yang, and somehow they fit and they’re still friends. But there’s a big difference in the way that they approach things. And I think Sam is all about doing the right thing the right way, a scientist, logical, one plus one equals two kind of guy. And Kirk is sharp and he’s smart, but he’s doing things his own way and figuring things out [on his own].”

According to Welsey, Sam’s perception of his brother’s seemingly easy success is one that likely has colored their relationship for much of their lives. 

“I think it drives Sam crazy,” he continues. “Why is this guy always figuring things out, why is everything seemingly so easy for him when it’s difficult for me, why do I always finish last, that kind of thing. And I think their sibling rivalry is a big part of why Kirk is the way he is. He wants to succeed, and he wants his dad to be proud of him.”

Happily “Lost in Translation” gives both Kirk brothers a chance to shine, showing the value of both their approaches, particularly when working in tandem. “We’ll give Sam some credit,” Wesley laughs. “He figures something out—his knowledge, in the end, is what does solve the mystery.”

But Sam isn’t the only Kirk relationship we’re getting to see fleshed out more thoroughly onscreen. “Lost in Translation” is also the first meeting between James Kirk and Nyota Uhura, an encounter that shows off some of the best traits of both characters.

“When he first meets Uhura he sees someone in need and he wants to help,” Wesley says. ”And of course, his curiosity gets the best of him and he goes over and gets punched in the face. But I think Kirk’s a very selfless guy, honestly. He becomes a great captain because he has such great instincts.” 

Kirk and Uhura were of course immortalized by The Original Series , but their relationship on that show doesn’t have a tremendous amount of depth, a fact that makes Strange New Worlds ’ decision to begin Kirk’s by establishing a genuine bond between the two all the more meaningful.

“It’s the beginning of this beautiful friendship, this trust that they build with each other,” Welsey says. “They actually communicate, and she slowly realizes ‘Okay, this guy isn’t such a jackass and he may actually be able to teach me something.’ And in many ways, she’s able to teach him things too. I love that journey, that this is where they start.”

Of course, Uhura is not the only Original Series character that Wesley’s Kirk meets during this episode. In the hour’s closing moments, he’s introduced to Enterprise Science Officer Spock for the first time, and a bromance for the ages (though they don’t know it just yet) is born. But, according to the man who plays Kirk, we might have to wait a bit to see that relationship play out onscreen.

“Look, we all know where they’re going to go in terms of what we see in The Original Series . Kirk and Spock become this incredible iconic duo that are very much polar opposites and best friends. But [in terms of Strange New Worlds ], I don’t know. I’m not even playing coy, I haven’t read any scripts,” Wesley says. “I don’t know where we’re going or whether we’re going anywhere or whether they’re going to explore that. I really don’t. But I hope they do. Because I’m a huge fan of Ethan Peck—not only as a person, because I consider him a friend but also, he’s an amazing actor. And I love our dynamic in real life, which in my opinion is very Kirk/Spock, so I want to bring that to the screen.”

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is streaming now on Paramount+.

Lacy Baugher

Lacy Baugher is a digital producer by day, but a television enthusiast pretty much all the time. Her writing has been featured in Paste Magazine, Collider,…

Star Trek: What We Know About James T. Kirk Before He Became Captain Of The Enterprise

We do know some things.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds just dropped the mic with its latest casting when it revealed that The Vampire Diaries ' Paul Wesley will join the series in Season 2 as James T. Kirk. Known more commonly as Captain Kirk (and made iconic by modern space traveler and actor William Shatner) when he helmed the Enterprise in the original Star Trek , he's coming to the upcoming Star Trek series, and that’s cause for excitement. It’s even more exciting when considering that this is presumably before Kirk served as Captain of the Enterprise , because Anson Mount is playing his predecessor, Captain Pike. 

The possibility (and likelihood) of seeing a pre- Enterprise Kirk join the cast of characters already involved is exciting, as there isn’t a ton we’ve seen of the iconic captain’s years before Starfleet. However, we do know a few things from the original series that are worth mentioning that could possibly come up when Paul Wesley makes his debut as James T. Kirk. Perhaps some of these moments will directly come into play during his run on the show, however long that may be.

Kirk Witnessed Atrocities Committed On Tarsus IV At A Young Age

While James T. Kirk was born on Earth, he spent some time elsewhere in his youth, Including Tarsus IV. That was especially important for Kirk’s development, as he witnessed a food shortage in his colony and the atrocious way one Governor Kodos hoped to solve it. Kodos, a eugenics sympathizer, decided to kill half of the “least desirable” 8,000 colonists to solve the problem. Kirk recalled in Star Trek ’s “Conscience of the King” that supply ships were close and that those people needn’t have died had Kodos known.

Kirk was one of nine survivors of that incident, and I can’t imagine that’s something that didn’t stick with him for the rest of his life. Of course, it’s a coin toss if it’ll come up in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , as Kirk isn’t the star of the show, and there will only be so many moments where he can recall the past. I’d like to see that traumatizing memory play out in live-action, though, and how it shaped Kirk into the person he became.

He Became The First Cadet To Defeat The Kobayashi Maru

James T. Kirk defeating the Kobayashi Maru is, perhaps, about the most-cited fact I see fans make about the Star Trek captain from his pre- Enterprise days. The Kobayashi Maru, as Star Trek: Discovery and even Prodigy recently reminded fans, is an impossible test to beat by design. The true meaning of the test is to teach cadets that they’ll face no-win scenarios in their careers and must make the best possible choice given the situation. Kirk defeating the test is sometimes cited as an example of his excellence as a captain. 

We’re not here to debate that, but rather to explain how he beat the Kobayashi Maru. Kirk didn’t somehow outmaneuver the no-win scenario as some might assume. He revealed in Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan that he just secretly reprogrammed the test so he could win. That’s an important distinction to make, though it’s worth noting that it’s still impressive Kirk became the first to find a way to win.

Kirk Served Upon The USS Republic And Reported A Friend

Kirk didn’t just step out of Starfleet straight into command of the Enterprise . The future Captain had a few postings before he got to where he was on Star Trek , and one of his first was on the USS Republic . Kirk was still an ensign and joined alongside a former instructor and friend at Starfleet Academy, Lieutenant Benjamin Finney. Unfortunately, the tenure was notable for unfortunate reasons Kirk spoke about later, as he was forced to report a friend and halt his progress to promotion. 

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This is all revealed in the Star Trek episode “Court Marshall,” when Kirk is accused of killing Finney. Kirk revealed that when he served with Finney on the Republic , he nearly caused a catastrophe that would’ve destroyed the ship had Kirk not intervened. Kirk reported Finney, which ultimately sent Finney to the bottom of the promotion list, and Kirk surpassed him. The two ran into each other again, and Kirk didn’t kill him, so I’m unsure of whether or not this specific story will be recounted given the follow-up in the original series.

Kirk Taught At The Academy

Many people celebrate Kirk for his time in command, but there isn’t a lot of celebration for his stint teaching at Starfleet Academy. Kirk taught at the academy while he was a lieutenant in rank, as mentioned in Star Trek ’s “Where No Man Has Gone Before.” Unfortunately, there aren't a ton of details on this period of Kirk’s life, outside of a few romances. 

With that being said, Kirk’s time teaching at Starfleet Academy feels like uncharted territory for a series like Star Trek: Strange New Worlds to flesh out. If Captain Pike is still in charge of the Enterprise in Season 2, then this is definitely a part of Kirk's life that can not only be addressed, but further fleshed out for the lore.

Kirk Almost Got Married, And Had Other Romances

This is likely no surprise to Star Trek fans, but James T. Kirk had a handful of romances during his time at Starfleet Academy. Kirk revealed he nearly married an unnamed blonde lab technician in “Where No Man Has Gone Before.” We also know he had a romance with Janice Lester, a passionate lover he made mention of in “Turnabout Intruder.” 

James T. Kirk’s role in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is unknown, though one has to wonder if love is in the air for Kirk and any of the characters. It’s not like Kirk to not be known as a lover of ladies in Trek canon, so I’d be surprised if he doesn’t get close with at least one or two during his stint. 

Kirk Served Aboard The USS Farragut

Kirk also served aboard the USS Farragut before joining the Enterprise , which came along with its fair share of commendations. It also featured a pretty big event which resulted in Kirk surviving an incident that killed his captain, as well as 200 other crew members. 

Kirk faced off against a dikironium cloud creature (which might be present in the trailer for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds ), and as mentioned above, the encounter with it was a deadly undertaking. Kirk blamed himself for the incident (as mentioned in Star Trek ’s “Obsession"), but the general consensus was that he did the best he could. I’d imagine the encounter haunted him all the same, and we might see that if it happens fairly close to his time on Strange New Worlds . 

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds premieres on Paramount+ on Thursday, May 5th. Pick up a Paramount+ subscription to stream it, as well as all of the other upcoming Star Trek shows arriving in 2022 and beyond.  

Mick Joest is a Content Producer for CinemaBlend with his hand in an eclectic mix of television goodness. Star Trek is his main jam, but he also regularly reports on happenings in the world of Star Trek, WWE, Doctor Who, 90 Day Fiancé, Quantum Leap, and Big Brother. He graduated from the University of Southern Indiana with a degree in Journalism and a minor in Radio and Television. He's great at hosting panels and appearing on podcasts if given the chance as well.

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USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)

The USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) was a 23rd century Federation Constitution -class starship operated by Starfleet , and the first Federation starship to bear the name Enterprise . During its career, the Enterprise served as the Federation flagship and was in service from 2245 to 2285 . During the latter years of its life, the Enterprise was refitted into a Constitution II -class starship and served as a training vessel until its destruction in 2285.

• 2.1 Construction and launch
• 2.2 Robert April's command
• 2.3.1 Early voyages
• 2.3.2 A new science officer
• 2.3.3 Rigel VII
• 2.3.4 Talos IV
• 2.3.5 Federation-Klingon War
• 2.3.6 The red bursts
• 2.3.7 Battling Control
• 2.3.8 Continuing mission
• 2.4.1 Discoveries
• 2.4.2.1 Klingon engagements
• 2.4.2.2 Romulan engagements
• 2.5 Refit of the 2270s
• 2.7 Khan's return
• 2.8 Final mission
• 4 Alternate timelines and realities
• 5.1 Robert April's notable first contacts
• 5.2 Christopher Pike's notable first contacts
• 5.3 James T. Kirk's notable first contacts
• 6.1 Robert April's command crew
• 6.2 Christopher Pike's command crew
• 6.3 James T. Kirk's command crew
• 7.1 Complement
• 7.2 Casualties
• 8.1 Appearances
• 8.2 Background information
• 8.3 External links

Lineage [ ]

Service history [ ], construction and launch [ ].

Specifications of the USS Enterprise

In the early- to mid-23rd century, at least twelve heavy cruiser -type starships , the Constitution -class , were commissioned by the Federation Starfleet . ( TOS : " Tomorrow is Yesterday ") Constructed at the San Francisco Fleet Yards in San Francisco , California , the Federation vessel registered NCC -1701 was christened "the Enterprise " in a long line of ships of the same name . ( DIS : " Brother "; TAS : " The Counter-Clock Incident ")

Captain Robert April oversaw construction of the ship's components as well as its initial trial runs. His wife, Sarah April , designed several tools for the ship's sickbay . ( TAS : " The Counter-Clock Incident ") Larry Marvick was one of the designers of the Enterprise itself, while Doctor Richard Daystrom designed its computer systems. ( TOS : " Is There in Truth No Beauty? ", " The Ultimate Computer ")

According to The Making of Star Trek , the Enterprise was built on Earth but assembled in space.

During its construction, a piece of the Enterprise NX-01 was used as it was the previous ship to bear the name. ( SNW : " Those Old Scientists ")

As part of Enterprise naval legacy, USS Enterprise (CV-6) 's portholes were installed during the construction of USS Enterprise (CVN-65) . These portholes were located in the captain's stateroom. [1]

Robert April's command [ ]

Robert April commanded the Enterprise from 2245 to 2250

The Enterprise was launched on April 11, 2245 , under the command of Captain April. ( DIS : " Brother ") Sarah April served as the ship's first chief medical officer , with Christopher Pike serving as Captain April's first officer . ( TAS : " The Counter-Clock Incident "; DIS : " Brother "; SNW : " Strange New Worlds ")

Prior to the Enterprise 's launch date of 2245 being officially confirmed in the Discovery episode "Brother", multiple production sources, including an unseen display screen intended for use in ENT : " In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II ", and the Star Trek Encyclopedia , 4th ed., vol. 1, p. 244, gave the same launch date.

According to a computer display that was created by production staff of Star Trek: Enterprise but never used on screen, Jonathan Archer was present at the Enterprise 's launch and died the next day.

In TAS : " The Counter-Clock Incident ", it is stated that Sarah April's service on the Enterprise was the first time a medical officer served on a starship equipped with warp drive . However, it is established in Star Trek: Enterprise that warp-capable starships had medical personnel prior to the time of her service.

According to Star Trek: Federation - The First 150 Years , the Enterprise was launched on April 11, 2245.

In the Star Trek: Discovery novel Drastic Measures , the Enterprise aided the Tarsus IV colony in the aftermath of Kodos the Executioner 's infamous massacre in 2246 .

In 2246 , April chose to break General Order 1 and warn a pre-warp civilization, the Perricans , about a possible apocalyptic meteor shower that was due to hit their planet. ( SNW : " Ad Astra per Aspera ")

In 2248 , April sent his science officer to the industrial-age planet Na'rel to solve the imminent threat of an extinction-level drought by sharing Federation technology. ( SNW : " Ad Astra per Aspera ")

Una Chin-Riley was assigned to the Enterprise as Captain April's science officer . ( SNW : " Ad Astra per Aspera "; display graphic ) One deep space cruise took it within half a light year of 99 Pegasi . ( ST : " Q&A ")

He also visited Man-us II without his security officer, during which he chose to reveal the Enterprise to the Ohawk , a pre-warp civilization. ( SNW : " Ad Astra per Aspera ")

Christopher Pike's command [ ]

In 2250 , April left the Enterprise and command was turned over to Pike. Pike also chose Chin-Riley to be his first officer. ( DIS : " Brother "; SNW : " Ad Astra per Aspera " display graphic )

Early voyages [ ]

The Enterprise orbiting Pragine 63

At one point, the Enterprise visited Pragine 63 , where science officer Lynne Lucero was transferred to the USS Cabot , to serve as its new captain. ( ST : " The Trouble with Edward ")

A new science officer [ ]

In 2253 , Pike and the Enterprise traveled to Starbase 40 where Pike would obtain a half Human - Vulcan science officer, Spock , who served under him for over eleven years. ( TOS : " The Menagerie, Part I "; ST : " Q&A "; SNW : " Among the Lotus Eaters " display graphic )

Rigel VII [ ]

The Enterprise visited Rigel VII in 2254

In 2254 On stardate 2496.4, the Enterprise visit Rigel VII as a routine exploration of a remote class M planet. Captain Pike, along with a landing party consisting of Spock, Yeoman Zac Nguyen , Ensign C. Plummer and M. Aberth and several others went down to the planet where they were attacked by the Kalar . Yeoman Ngyugen, Ensign Plummer and Aberth were killed, while Spock and six others were injured. The mission lasted all of four hours. The remaining members of the landing party returned to the Enterprise and set course to Vega colony to get medical aid for those injured. Unbeknownst to the crew, Ngyugen had actually survived and been left stranded on the planet. ( TOS : " The Cage "; SNW : " Among the Lotus Eaters ")

Talos IV [ ]

The Enterprise was the first starship to visit the Talos star systems in nearly 20 years.

While traveling to the Vega Colony, the Enterprise learned there were survivors of the SS Columbia that were marooned on Talos IV nearly eighteen years earlier . Following the stop at Vega, the Enterprise traveled to Talos to rescue the Columbia survivors only to find out it was a trap devised by the Talosians . ( TOS : " The Cage ")

According to the novel Desperate Hours , the Enterprise fell under Fleet Admiral Brett Anderson 's jurisdiction, along with the USS Shenzhou .

Federation-Klingon War [ ]

In late 2256 , Michael Burnham encouraged Cadet Sylvia Tilly to improve her physical conditioning so that she would stand out amongst her peers and be assigned to the Enterprise or one of its "sister ships." ( DIS : " Lethe ")

At that time, the Enterprise was on a five-year mission under Pike. With the Federation-Klingon War underway, Starfleet elected not to recall the starship and leave the vessel as an instrument of last resort, so ordered Pike and his crew to remain out of the fighting. ( DIS : " Brother ")

Pike later accused Starfleet Command of not recalling Enterprise because they knew he would steadfastly remind them of Federation values, but Admiral Katrina Cornwell , the only Starfleet Command representative present to hear the accusation, countered that they "wanted the best of Starfleet to survive," if the war was lost, and they had deemed that to be Enterprise . ( DIS : " Project Daedalus ")

The red bursts [ ]

The Enterprise and Discovery rendezvous in 2257

Following the conclusion of the war in 2257 , the Enterprise was dispatched by Starfleet to investigate one of a series of unidentified signals detected throughout the galaxy . ( DIS : " Brother ") En route, the ship suffered multiple catastrophic systems failures, leading Pike to issue a priority 1 distress call .

The call was received by the USS Discovery , en route to Vulcan . ( DIS : " Will You Take My Hand? ", " Brother ") Pike and two senior officers transferred to Discovery to continue their mission, while a team was dispatched to tow the Enterprise back to Spacedock for a diagnostic , where the damage was assessed as severe, with no estimate for repair. ( DIS : " Brother ")

The Enterprise being towed to drydock for repairs

A week later, Pike's first officer, Una Chin-Riley, reported to Pike that the holographic comm system was the source of the failures, which had compromised primary systems. Pike ordered Una to tell Chief Engineer Louvier to strip the system from the ship in favor of viewscreen communication. ( DIS : " An Obol for Charon ")

Battling Control [ ]

The Enterprise taking on Discovery 's crew

After the Discovery acquired data from a Sphere that would ultimately lead to the evolution of Section 31 artificial intelligence Control which would threaten all sentient life in the Milky Way Galaxy , Pike was left with no other option but to set the Discovery 's auto-destruct system and call the Enterprise for immediate evacuation of the ship's crew. ( DIS : " Through the Valley of Shadows ")

On stardate 1051.8, the Enterprise finally rendezvoused with the Discovery and began taking on the ship's crew. When all personnel were fully evacuated, Captain Pike ordered Discovery 's destruction. However, the Sphere intelligence utilized Discovery 's defensive systems to block the Enterprise 's torpedo volley. Unable to eliminate Discovery , the crew determined that sending the Discovery into the future was the only method to secure the Sphere data from Control.

The Enterprise and Discovery engage Section 31 vessels

With the appearance of a fifth red burst, both ships traveled to the planet Xahea , which was ultimately the position Cornwell and Pike decided to fight Leland/Control's armada. ( DIS : " Such Sweet Sorrow ")

After the decision was made to destroy Discovery to prevent its capture by Control, the ship deployed evacuation corridors to transfer its crew to Enterprise . ( DIS : " Such Sweet Sorrow ")

The Enterprise undergoes repairs in 2258

During a decisive battle with Control, the Enterprise lost a significant portion of her saucer section when an undetonated photon torpedo penetrated it and later detonated. Admiral Katrina Cornwell was killed while sacrificing herself to stop the torpedo from destroying the entire ship. As the Discovery traveled into the future, the Enterprise and a fleet of Klingon and Kelpien reinforcements provided covering fire against the attacking Section 31 drone ships and then finished them off when Georgiou neutralizing Control left the enemy ships dead in the water. Following the battle, the Enterprise underwent extensive repairs in orbit of Earth while the crew lied to Starfleet that the Discovery had been destroyed. ( DIS : " Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2 ")

Continuing mission [ ]

Following the repairs to the Enterprise , the ship resumed its mission of exploration, once again under the command of Christopher Pike. Their first stop was a shakedown run to a new moon that was discovered at Edrin II . ( DIS : " Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2 ")

The Enterprise at Kiley 279

Following the mission to Edrin II, the Enterprise returned to Earth where its crew was enjoying some much-needed downtime. In 2259 , the Enterprise was undergoing scheduled maintenance and system upgrades when April, now a fleet admiral, pulled Pike out of exile and the Enterprise out of drydock when Una Chin-Riley and the USS Archer went missing during a first contact mission to Kiley 279 . General Order 1 was violated in this mission, leading to Starfleet command to rename it the " Prime Directive ". ( SNW : " Strange New Worlds ")

On stardate 2259.42, the Enterprise left Starbase 1 to continue its third five-year mission of exploration. ( SNW : " Strange New Worlds ")

The Enterprise in the Persephone system

The Enterprise 's first stop on her mission was observing a planet in the Persephone system , at which she tried to divert a comet away but ended up getting into a fight with a species known as the " Shepherds ". ( SNW : " Children of the Comet ")

The Enterprise visited an abandoned Illyrian colony at Hetemit IX to find out what had happened to the colonists; however, an Illyrian light-based virus broke out aboard the ship, forcing the crew to shut the Enterprise down. After becoming infected, chief engineer Hemmer nearly destroyed the ship after disengaging the ship's warp core containment field. ( SNW : " Ghosts of Illyria ")

The Enterprise engaged the Gorn at Finibus III.

The Enterprise later encountered a small Gorn fleet at Finibus III , and narrowly escaped after taking major damage to her hull, torpedo bay, and structural integrity field. ( SNW : " Memento Mori ")

The ship visited Starbase 1 after the fight with the Gorn and underwent repairs. While the crew enjoyed some shore leave, Captain Pike engaged in negotiations with the R'ongovian Protectorate . ( SNW : " Spock Amok ")

The Enterprise encountered a shuttlecraft under attack by presumed pirates and assisted, delivering the inhabitants back to their planet, and later investigated what the pirates were doing when looking into the wreckage. ( SNW : " Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach ")

The Enterprise was hijacked by a group of rogue pirates after her crew was betrayed by a passenger . After tricking the pirates and taking control of one of their ships, the crew were able to reclaim the Enterprise after disabling her warp and impulse engines. ( SNW : " The Serene Squall ")

The Enterprise visited Earth Outpost Station 4 and helped the Outposts with retrofitting and supplies.

The Enterprise , along with the USS Cayuga , visited the Neutral Zone and helped with retrofitting the Earth Outpost Stations and delivering supplies. However, after witnessing an alternate timeline version of the Neutral Zone Incursion , Captain Pike became aware of James T. Kirk , recognizing that he had the potential to be a good captain for the Enterprise . Commander Chin-Riley was arrested shortly thereafter after being discovered to be an Illyrian . ( SNW : " A Quality of Mercy ")

While Captain Pike was off of the ship securing a lawyer for Chin-Riley and it was undergoing routine maintenance and inspection by Commander Pelia 's inspection team at Starbase 1 , the Enterprise received a distress call from Lieutenant La'an Noonien-Singh on Cajitar IV , a planet on the edge of Klingon space, about an "anti-Federation threat." However, Admiral April refused to allow the ship to investigate, fearing that it could reignite the Klingon War due to the Klingons currently being in control of the planet following a painstakingly-negotiated treaty. ( SNW : " The Broken Circle ")

Under Lieutenant Spock's leadership, the crew faked a potential warp core breach in order to evacuate the inspection team, steal the Enterprise and go to Noonien-Singh's aid. Although Pelia deduced their deception, she aided the crew in stealing the ship rather than stopping them and she acted as Chief Engineer. ( SNW : " The Broken Circle ")

The crew uncovered a false flag operation by the Broken Circle to reignite the Klingon war using the rebuilt NCC-1279 . The Enterprise destroyed the rogue ship and foiled the Broken Circle's plot. Afterwards, Pelia expressed an interest in sticking around as a part of the crew and April let Spock off easy, concerned about a potential upcoming war with the Gorn that Starfleet would need every good officer they had for. ( SNW : " The Broken Circle ")

The Enterprise returned to Earth for Commander Chin-Riley's court martial . After Chin-Riley was acquitted, she was allowed to return to duty aboard the ship as first officer. ( SNW : " Ad Astra per Aspera ")

The Enterprise and the Cayuga were assigned to a joint mission charting a new binary star system when the Enterprise was reassigned to investigate and correct cultural contamination on Rigel VII after depiction of a Starfleet delta was discovered in a garden . Five years after the Enterprise's disastrous mission to the planet, the ship returned to discover that " High Lord Zacarias" was actually Yeoman Zac Nguyen who was believed to have been killed in the mission five years before but had actually been left behind instead. Due to exotic radiation from the debris field around the planet, the crew lost their memories, but eventually managed to pilot the Enterprise out of it to a safe distance. Spock was subsequently able to develop a shield harmonic that protected the crew against the radiation and Pike had the ship lift an asteroid from the planet that was emitting the same radiation and keeping the Kalar from forming explicit memories and was thus stunting the growth of life on Rigel VII. Pike arrested Nguyen who was then transferred to the Cayuga to face punishment for his actions from Starfleet. ( SNW : " Among the Lotus Eaters ")

The Enterprise joined the USS Farragut in repairing a deuterium refinery that would serve as a " gas station " for Federation starships for further exploration of that region. Ensign Uhura and Lieutenant Saul Ramon of the Farragut began to experience hallucinations, and the intense brain damage this caused to Ramon caused him to sabotage the Enterprise and die in an explosion. Uhura eventually realized that the deuterium contained a living species that was trying to communicate with them. Uhura then convinced Captain Pike to destroy the refinery to save them. ( SNW : " Lost in Translation ")

Ensigns Brad Boimler and Beckett Mariner in the Enterprise 's engine room

On stardate 2291.6, the Enterprise crew encountered Ensigns Brad Boimler and Beckett Mariner from the late 24th century while they were investigating a time portal on Krulmuth-B . To return the officers to their own time, the crew discovered a hidden component from the Enterprise NX-01 built into the ship that contained horonium , the very material needed to power the time portal. ( SNW : " Those Old Scientists ")

Ambassador Dak'Rah , son of Ra'Ul , was picked up by the Enterprise from the USS Kelcie Mae on stardate 1875.4 to transport the ambassador to Starbase 12 . However, his divisive presence on the vessel resulted in his death. ( SNW : " Under the Cloak of War ")

The bridge crew dancing and singing

On stardate 2398.3, while the Enterprise was traveling in the far edges of the Alpha Quadrant , they encountered a naturally-occurring subspace fold . While conducting experiments, Ensign Uhura sent a message containing music through the fold. This caused the fold to release a quantum uncertainty field that created a musical reality aboard the ship. Crewmembers started to express themselves through uncontrollable singing, which was deemed a security threat by Lieutenant Noonien-Singh. The entire crew, singing in unison, were able to shatter the uncertainty field before an approaching Klingon force could fire upon it, with disastrous consequences. ( SNW : " Subspace Rhapsody ")

James T. Kirk's command [ ]

The Enterprise in orbit, 2267

In 2265, after nearly twenty years of service aboard the Enterprise , Captain Pike was promoted fleet captain and left the Enterprise . ( TOS : " The Menagerie, Part I "; DIS : " Brother ").

Command of the Enterprise was transferred to Captain James Kirk and be assigned to another five-year mission of deep space exploration . ( TOS : " Where No Man Has Gone Before ")

The ship's primary goal during this mission was to seek out and contact alien life. Captain Kirk's standing orders also included the investigation of all quasars and quasar-like phenomena.

Beyond its primary mission, the Enterprise defended Federation territories from aggression, aided member worlds in crisis, and provided scientific expeditions and colonies in its patrol area with annual examinations and support. ( TOS : " Balance of Terror ", " The Man Trap ", " The Cloud Minders ", " Journey to Babel "; TOS : " The Galileo Seven ", " The Deadly Years ")

Despite 2270 being given as the year Kirk's first five-year mission in command of the Enterprise came to an end (in the Star Trek: Voyager episode " Q2 "), many production resources – including the booklet for the TOS Season 1 DVD set – continue to use the Star Trek Chronology , 1st ed., p. 38's date of 2264 as the starting point of the mission. It is possible, however, that the mission ran from 2264 through 2269 and that the Enterprise did not return to Earth until 2270.

According to a line from the script of Star Trek but removed from the final draft, the crew of the Enterprise came together in a time of "ultimate crisis", much like their alternate reality counterparts did. [2]

According to a line of dialogue from the final draft script of " Mudd's Women ", the Enterprise was located two years, five months, twenty-two days, and seven hours from a starbase at impulse speed in that episode.

Discoveries [ ]

From 2265 to 2270, the Enterprise visited over seventy different worlds and encountered representatives of over sixty different species . More than twenty of those were first contacts with beings previously unknown to the Federation, including stellar neighbors like the First Federation and Gorn, voyagers from the Kelvan Empire in distant Andromeda , and powerful non-corporeal entities like the Thasians , Trelane , and the Organians . ( TOS : , " The Corbomite Maneuver ", " Arena ", " By Any Other Name ") Two discovered species were the first known examples of silicon-based lifeforms : the Horta and the Excalbians . ( TOS : " The Devil in the Dark ", " The Savage Curtain ", " That Which Survives ")

In the barrier void in 2265

The Enterprise was the first Federation vessel to survive an encounter with the galactic barrier . The ship's warp drive and other systems, however, were critically damaged (which later prompted the ship to be refit and repaired, changing its appearance slightly for the rest of Kirk's mission) and casualties totaled twelve crewmembers and officers . By stardate 4657.5, the Enterprise was traveling through space in a region hundreds of light years further than any Earth starship had explored. ( TOS : " Where No Man Has Gone Before ", " Return to Tomorrow ")

The reality of time travel , externally influenced, had been known for over a century , but following two accidental temporal displacements , the Enterprise became the Federation's first deliberately-controlled timeship . Observing the death-throes of Psi 2000 , the crew suffered from polywater intoxication and the Enterprise nearly lost orbit after an engine shutdown. A previously untested " cold start ", via controlled matter-antimatter implosion , saved the ship, but the high-speed escape from the planet's gravity well caused the ship to travel three days into the past. ( TOS : " The Naked Time ")

Orbiting 1960s Earth

In 2267 , while escaping the gravitational pull of a black star , the Enterprise was hurled through space and time to Earth of 1969 . The crew developed and executed a method to return to their own time, by warping around the sun 's gravity well in a slingshot maneuver . A year later, the Enterprise was ordered to repeat the recently proven slingshot effect, and returned to Earth's past on a mission of historical observation. ( TOS : " Tomorrow is Yesterday ", " Assignment: Earth ")

Originally, "The Naked Time" and "Tomorrow is Yesterday" were planned to be back-to-back stories, with the events in "Tomorrow is Yesterday" happening as a result of the "cold start" of the warp drive in "The Naked Time". A change in production plans resulted in the two stories being de-linked and slightly reworked to stand alone.

The space amoeba in 2268

Some missions of discovery confronted Enterprise with entities and mechanisms that threatened great swaths of Federation and neighboring space.

An ancient " planet killer ", fueled by the consumption of planets it destroyed with its antiproton weapon , approached Federation population centers in 2267. It required the combined efforts of the Enterprise and its "sister ship", USS Constellation , to destroy the invader. ( TOS : " The Doomsday Machine ")

One year later, in 2268 , a single-cell organism of colossal scale emitted negative energy , toxic to humanoid life, killing the entire Vulcan crew of the USS Intrepid . The Enterprise penetrated the cell interior and destroyed the organism before its imminent cell division threatened to overwhelm the rest of the galaxy. ( TOS : " The Immunity Syndrome ")

In around 2268, the Enterprise visited Planet 0042692 where they detected an approaching catastrophe, but couldn't intervene directly due to the Prime Directive . Ensign David Garrovick volunteered to embark upon a solo mission in the shuttle Galileo , but the Galileo ended up crashing. The Enterprise departed the planet without Garrovick after which no other Starfleet ship would visit that sector for over a hundred years and there was no record of first contact . Having survived the crash, Garrovick predicted that Starfleet would return one day and sent out a distress call . Learning about Starfleet from Garrovick, the planet's natives began calling themselves Enderprizians , named their settlement New Enda-Prize , and adopted versions of the Enterprise crew's names. ( PRO : " All the World's a Stage ")

Battles [ ]

The Enterprise fires a phaser proximity blast .

The nature of its mission of exploration meant the Enterprise was frequently the only Federation military asset in a little-known, otherwise undefended frontier. When called into harm's way, the ship regularly did so with little chance of immediate support against previously unknown enemies and threats.

Happily, the Enterprise 's earliest engagement of its five-year mission, against a deceptively powerful starship called the Fesarius , ended with an amicable first contact with the First Federation in 2266 . ( TOS : " The Corbomite Maneuver ") Following the destruction of a colony on Cestus III , a surprise attack – from a previously unknown species – led the Enterprise to battle and pursue an evenly matched Gorn starship in 2267. ( TOS : " Arena ")

The Enterprise played the fox for four of its " sister ships " in a war games problem on stardate 4729.4, as part of a series of M-5 drills . Equipped with the new M-5 multitronic unit computer and stripped of most of its crew, the Enterprise became a killing machine – crippling the USS Excalibur and killing its entire crew – before Kirk could re-assert control. ( TOS : " The Ultimate Computer ")

Klingon engagements [ ]

The Battle of Organia in 2267

Warships of the Imperial Klingon Fleet were frequent opponents of the Enterprise . Commander Kor held the Enterprise and Kirk in high professional regard, and relished the prospect of battle. Lower ranks chose to mock the starship; on one such occasion, Korax compared the vessel to a " garbage scow " before he corrected himself, adding, " It should be hauled away as garbage. " ( TOS : " Errand of Mercy ", " The Trouble with Tribbles ")

While Starfleet rallied its forces at the outbreak of a Federation-Klingon War in 2267, the Enterprise was sent forward to secure a border region anchored by the planet Organia . The vessel destroyed a Klingon ship and prepared to engage an approaching Klingon fleet , before the Organian Peace Treaty precluded a full-scale war . ( TOS : " Errand of Mercy ")

The Enterprise sporadically engaged Klingons throughout its voyage. A warship failed in an attempt to blockade the Enterprise from Capella IV in 2267. Sabotaged during a diplomatic mission to the Tellun system in 2268, the ship successfully fought off the assault of a harassing D7 . The same year, the Enterprise was forced to destroy a battle cruiser that Kang had commanded but had recently abandoned, and the rescued Klingons (influenced by the Beta XII-A entity ) subsequently made an unsuccessful attempt to wrest control of the Enterprise from Kirk. ( TOS : " Friday's Child ", " Elaan of Troyius ", " Day of the Dove ")

Romulan engagements [ ]

Ventral view of a Romulan Bird-of-Prey during the Neutral Zone Incursion of 2266

The Romulan Star Empire re-emerged from a century of isolation to antagonize the Federation with the Neutral Zone Incursion of 2266. The Enterprise responded and was victorious against a new Romulan Bird-of-Prey , which was equipped with a cloaking device and a plasma torpedo system. ( TOS : " Balance of Terror ")

In later encounters, the Romulan fleet used strength of numbers in their efforts to overwhelm the Enterprise . When Commodore Stocker took temporary command and violated the Neutral Zone in 2267, up to ten Birds-of-Prey swarmed and pummeled the starship until Kirk's " corbomite " bluff inspired their withdrawal. ( TOS : " The Deadly Years ")

In 2268, the Enterprise again violated the Neutral Zone – for the purpose of espionage – and was quickly surrounded by three Romulan D7-class battle cruisers. The Enterprise escaped by becoming the first Federation vessel to install and successfully utilize a (stolen) Romulan cloaking device. ( TOS : " The Enterprise Incident ")

Near Tau Ceti in the following year, Kirk employed the Cochrane deceleration maneuver , allowing the Enterprise to defeat a Romulan vessel . ( TOS : " Whom Gods Destroy ")

In the final year of Kirk's original mission, the ship was ambushed by a trio of Romulan battle cruisers while on a routine survey. The Enterprise managed to escape through an energy field that adversely affected the ship's main computer. The malfunctioning systems were corrected by another pass through the field, this time with the Romulan ships in pursuit. The attackers then became incapacitated by the same computer malfunctions, and the Enterprise managed to escape. ( TAS : " The Practical Joker ")

Refit of the 2270s [ ]

The Enterprise underwent another major refit into what would later be known as the Constitution II -class . The refitting took eighteen months of work, and essentially a new vessel was built onto the bones of the old, replacing virtually every major system. This ensured Enterprise's continued service for the next several years, enabling the ship to continue to serve in its prominent role.

The Enterprise in drydock, 2270s

Refits and overhauls with new technologies after long deployments were far from unusual in the ship's history. However, the Enterprise 's overhaul of the early 2270s became a nearly keel-up redesign and reconstruction project.

The very heart of the ship was replaced with a radically different vertical warp core assembly, linked to new and heavier warp engine nacelles, atop swept-back pylons and integrated with the impulse engines. The new drive system allowed for an expanded cargo hold in the secondary hull , linked to the shuttlebay . The deflector dish at the front of the main housing was replaced with an entirely new design, one where it was recessed into the housing.

Weapons system upgrades included the phaser banks having power channeled directly from the warp engines. A double photon torpedo /probe launcher was installed atop the secondary hull.

Extra egress points were added for better access/exit from the ship and now included a port -side spacedock hatch, dual ventral space walk bays, four dorsal service hatches, and a standardized docking ring port, which was aft of the bridge on the primary hull . Also included were four more docking ring ports, paired on the port and starboard sides of the launcher and secondary hulls respectively, and service hatch airlocks on the port and starboard sides of the hangar bay's main clam-shell doors. Unlike from before the refit, these new egress points were not covered by retractable hull plating.

A new bridge module reflected the modern computer systems, operating interfaces, and ergonomics that ran throughout the ship.

Following Kirk's promotion to rear admiral and posting as Chief of Starfleet Operations , his successor, Captain Will Decker (whom Kirk himself picked to succeed him), oversaw the refit, assisted by chief engineer Commander Montgomery Scott . ( Star Trek: The Motion Picture )

Following its refit, the Enterprise , in the early 2270s, went on to be critical in defending the Federation from several external threats, including V'ger and Khan Noonien Singh . ( Star Trek: The Motion Picture , Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan )

After eighteen months in drydock for refit, the Enterprise was pressed into service, weeks ahead of schedule, in response to the V'ger crisis, once again under Kirk's command.

Making contact with V'ger

Decker was temporarily demoted to commander and posted as an executive officer because of his familiarity with the new design. Incomplete systems had to be serviced during the vessel's shakedown en route to V'ger , including the first test of the new warp engines.

Shortly after launch, a matter/ antimatter intermix malfunction ruptured the warp field and led to the Enterprise entering into an unstable wormhole . Commander Decker belayed an order from Admiral Kirk to destroy an asteroid in their path, which had been dragged into the ruptured warp field along with them, with phasers. The refitted phasers now channeled power directly from the main engines at a point beyond the dilithium/magnatomic-initiator stage.

Because of this refitted function, both the intermix malfunction and the resultant antimatter imbalance within the warp nacelles caused automatic cutoff of the phasers, a design change of which Kirk had not been aware. Decker ordered the use of photon torpedoes , instead; as a backup, they had been designed to draw power from a separate system in case of a major phaser loss. Commander Spock arrived at a timely point and brought correction to the intermix problem. ( Star Trek: The Motion Picture )

Once the V'ger threat was averted, Captain Decker was listed as "missing in action", and the Enterprise remained under Admiral Kirk's command for an interim period. ( Star Trek: The Motion Picture ) At some point, Kirk passed command on to the newly promoted Captain Spock. ( Star Trek: The Motion Picture , Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan )

Khan's return [ ]

In 2285 , the Enterprise had been pulled from the front lines of Starfleet and the Federation and, near the end of its life, was relegated to a training vessel. The ship participated in a low-tempo training cycle , based in the Sol system . Admiral Kirk boarded his old command to observe a cadet training cruise.

The Enterprise , engaged with the hijacked Reliant

Meanwhile, Khan Noonien Singh had escaped from exile on Ceti Alpha V and hijacked the USS Reliant , after which he stole the Genesis Device from the Regula I space station .

The Enterprise was tasked to investigate, and Spock deferred his command to Admiral Kirk. Subsequent engagements with Reliant left the ship badly damaged, with cadet and crew deaths, including Captain Spock. ( Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan )

Final mission [ ]

The Enterprise , heavily damaged, leaving the Spacedock orbiting Earth

Upon the Enterprise returning to Earth, Starfleet Commander Fleet Admiral Morrow announced that the starship, at that point forty years old and heavily damaged, would be decommissioned. When Morrow denied Kirk requesting permission to return to the Mutara sector , Kirk conspired with his senior officers and stole the Enterprise from Spacedock One , in order to recover Spock's body from the Genesis Planet – to bring it and Spock's katra , the latter possessed by Leonard McCoy , to Mount Seleya on Vulcan . As part of the plan, Kirk had Scott rig up an automation system to run the Enterprise so easily that "a chimpanzee and two trainees " could have handled the craft.

" My God, Bones… what have I done? " – Admiral James T. Kirk

At the Enterprise 's destination, the ship was attacked by a Klingon Bird-of-Prey operated by Klingon Commander Kruge , an assault that left the Enterprise disabled; Scotty's automation system was not designed for combat and overloaded when the ship was attacked. After setting the auto-destruct sequence, Kirk and his crew abandoned the ship for the surface of the Genesis Planet. Demolition charges in place on the bridge, and elsewhere throughout the ship, exploded, killing a Klingon boarding party . The battered secondary hull (with what was left of the saucer) fell from orbit and blazingly streaked across the planet's atmosphere . ( Star Trek III: The Search for Spock )

The Enterprise burning in Genesis' atmosphere

Being forty years old at the time of its destruction, the Enterprise had surpassed its designer's original projected eighteen-year endurance by twenty-two years, when the ship was launched back in 2245. ( DIS : " Brother " graphic display ) The next USS Enterprise , a Constitution II -class heavy cruiser USS Enterprise -A , was launched a year later . ( Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home )

Film writer Harve Bennett justified the destruction of the Enterprise via an analogy to the USS Niagara . According to Bennett, " Oliver Hazard Perry of the U.S. Navy scuttled the Niagra [sic] at the battle of Lake Erie and won the battle as a result and took command. " He added, " Perry happens to be one of James T. Kirk's great heroes. So, the scuttling of the ship to achieve the greater good is a tactic . " ( Great Birds of the Galaxy: Gene Roddenberry and the Creators of Trek ) A supporter of the decision to blow up the Enterprise was Nicholas Meyer , who commended Bennett for the idea in a letter between them (dated 24 September 1982 ).

There is a difference in the appearance of the Enterprise between Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock ; in Star Trek III , the ship's external appearance appeared to have deteriorated around some areas damaged by Khan's attacks (and repaired in others), while other areas of the ship that had not been damaged by Khan's attack had battle damage, including the starboard secondary hull, both nacelles, and the top of the saucer. This extra damage was explained in non-canon Star Trek literature as having occurred in spars with Klingon warships between the second and third movies. The aggressive move to attack the Enterprise was explained by the secrecy of the Genesis Planet and the overall uneasiness it created. This could also explain the Klingon aggressiveness displayed throughout the third movie. [3]

In Scene 43 of The Search for Spock , Morrow justified the mothballing of the Enterprise by stating, " The Enterprise is twenty years old. We think her day is over. " At that point in time, this constituted a continuity error, as it did not line up with either the then-generally-assumed launch year 2245 or the refit in the 2270s. However, with information much later provided in DIS : " Brother " (which included the launch year), it can in retrospect be argued that Morrow was referring to the time-span Enterprise had exceeded its life expectancy.

A hologram of the USS Enterprise in 2258 was displayed in Starfleet Headquarters in 2399

The Enterprise 's long history would be remembered for the next century. ( TNG : " The Naked Now "; DS9 : " Trials and Tribble-ations "; VOY : " Flashback ", " Q2 "; PIC : " Penance ", " Fly Me to the Moon ") Captain John Harriman of the USS Enterprise -B would learn of Kirk's missions when he was in grade school . ( Star Trek Generations )

In 2369 , when Montgomery Scott was rescued from the crash landed USS Jenolen , and his surprise that he was found by the USS Enterprise -D , Scott's immediate response was "Enterprise ? I should have known. I bet Jim Kirk himself hauled the old girl out of mothballs to come looking for me, " even though he, along with Pavel Chekov and Kirk were on the USS Enterprise -B during its maiden voyage when Kirk was presumed killed. ( TNG : " Relics "; Star Trek Generations )

In 2383 , Hologram Janeway showed the young crew of the USS Protostar an image of the Enterprise while explaining the history of the Federation and Starfleet to them. ( PRO : " Starstruck ")

In 2384 , the Protostar responded to Ensign David Garrovick 's distress call that had been sent from Planet 0042692 over a hundred years before, discovering that Starfleet had no record of the Enterprise 's mission to the planet, but learning of it from the natives, the Enderprizians . The Protostar crew made second contact and fulfilled Garrovick's promise that Starfleet would some day return to save the Enderprizians from the curse of " the Gallows ," in reality toxic runoff caused by the crashed shuttle Galileo . ( PRO : " All the World's a Stage ")

In 2399 , retired Starfleet Admiral Jean-Luc Picard observed holographic images of the original Enterprise from 2258 and the Enterprise -D in the central lobby of Starfleet Headquarters . ( PIC : " Maps and Legends ")

Kirk's use of the slingshot maneuver using the Enterprise in order to travel through time was mentioned as an example by Picard as one of the methods for travelling back through time in order to repair changes made in 2024 by Q . ( PIC : " Penance ")

Alternate timelines and realities [ ]

• In an alternate timeline shown to Commander Michael Burnham by the time crystal , Enterprise failed to destroy the USS Discovery with photon torpedoes after Discovery 's auto-destruct didn't go off. As in the current timeline, Enterprise was hit in the saucer section with an undetonated photon torpedo during the Battle near Xahea , which presumably destroyed the ship as Control won in that timeline. Having been shown this vision moments before Enterprise 's failure to destroy Discovery , Burnham stopped the crew from even attempting to do so. Later, Admiral Katrina Cornwell sacrificed herself to save Enterprise from destruction by the torpedo which she predicted would kill at least the bridge crew if it went off and maybe everyone else on the ship. Burnham and Spock came to the conclusion that the time crystal had showed her this possible future so that she could change it. ( DIS : " Such Sweet Sorrow ", " Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2 ")

The Enterprise at Earth Outpost Station 4 in an alternate timeline

• In an alternate timeline in which Captain Christopher Pike managed to avoid his crippling fate, he was still in command of the Enterprise in 2266 during the Neutral Zone Incursion while James T. Kirk was the captain of the USS Farragut instead. In this timeline, the ship suffered heavy damage from the Romulan warbird and took on the Farragut 's survivors before Pike negotiated a cease fire between the two sides. When the Romulans showed up with a full armada in response to the perceived weakness of the Federation, the Enterprise barely escaped, taking severe damage to several more decks and incurring several casualties, most notably Spock. The incident resulted in an endless war between the Federation and the Romulans, before the Pike of this future traveled back in time and showed his past self the consequences of avoiding his fate. ( SNW : " A Quality of Mercy ")
• In an alternate timeline created by the death of Spock at the age of seven, Thelin served as the first officer and science officer of the Enterprise . Upon learning of the damaged timeline that Kirk and Spock decided to correct, Thelin was supportive. Upon hearing that, Spock wished Thelin a long and prosperous life in whatever circumstances the corrected timeline placed him in. ( TAS : " Yesteryear ")

List of first contacts [ ]

Over its forty-years of service, the Enterprise made first contact with numerous species.

Robert April's notable first contacts [ ]

• Perricans ( SNW : " Ad Astra per Aspera ")

Christopher Pike's notable first contacts [ ]

• Kalar ( TOS : " The Cage "; SNW : " Among the Lotus Eaters ")
• Talosians ( TOS : " The Cage "; DIS : " If Memory Serves ")
• Gorn ( SNW : " Memento Mori ")
• Kerkhovian ( SNW : " Charades ")
• Kiley ( SNW : " Strange New Worlds ")
• Shepherd ( SNW : " Children of the Comet ")

James T. Kirk's notable first contacts [ ]

In most cases, the date indicated is the first time open communication was initiated with at least one member of the species. Otherwise, it is the first known contact with the species.

• Balok's species ( TOS : " The Corbomite Maneuver ")
• Miri natives ( TOS : " Miri ")
• Thasians ( TOS : " Charlie X ")
• Greek gods ( TOS : " Who Mourns for Adonais? ")
• Guardian of Forever ( TOS : " The City on the Edge of Forever ") Note: While the Guardian is not necessarily a species, the Enterprise did make first contact with the Guardian of Forever
• Horta ( TOS : " The Devil in the Dark ")
• Keeper's species ( TOS : " Shore Leave ")
• Metrons ( TOS : " Arena ")
• Organians ( TOS : " Errand of Mercy ")
• Ornithoids ( TOS : " Catspaw ")
• Trelane's species ( TOS : " The Squire of Gothos ")
• Vaalians ( TOS : " The Apple ")
• 892-IV natives ( TOS : " Bread and Circuses ")
• Beta XII-A entity ( TOS : " Day of the Dove ")
• Cheron natives ( TOS : " Let That Be Your Last Battlefield ")
• Fabrini ( TOS : " For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky ")
• Gem's species ( TOS : " The Empath ")
• Gorgan ( TOS : " And the Children Shall Lead ")
• Kelvans ( TOS : " By Any Other Name ")
• Melkots ( TOS : " Spectre of the Gun ")
• Platonians ( TOS : " Plato's Stepchildren ")
• Providers ( TOS : " The Gamesters of Triskelion ")
• Arretan ( TOS : " Return to Tomorrow ")
• Scalosians ( TOS : " Wink of an Eye ")
• Sigma Draconis VI natives ( TOS : " Spock's Brain ")
• Vians ( TOS : " The Empath ")
• Aquans ( TAS : " The Ambergris Element ")
• Excalbians ( TOS : " The Savage Curtain ")
• Lactrans ( TAS : " The Eye of the Beholder ")
• Matter-energy cloud ( TAS : " One of Our Planets Is Missing ")
• Megans ( TOS : " The Magicks of Megas-Tu ")
• Phylosians ( TAS : " The Infinite Vulcan ")
• Planet 0042692 natives ( PRO : " All the World's a Stage ") Note: date approximate
• Sarpeidon natives ( TOS : " All Our Yesterdays ")
• Theela's species ( TAS : " The Lorelei Signal ")
• Zetarians ( TOS : " The Lights of Zetar ")
• Delta Theta III aborigines ( TAS : " Bem ")
• Kukulkan's species ( TAS : " How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth ")

Command crew [ ]

Robert april's command crew [ ].

• Robert April ( 2245 – 2250 )
• Christopher Pike ( 2240s –2250)
• Sarah April (2245– 2250s )
• Una Chin-Riley (2240s–2250)

Christopher Pike's command crew [ ]

The crew of the Enterprise under the command of Christopher Pike in 2258

The crew of the Enterprise under the command Christopher Pike in 2259

• Christopher Pike (2250–early 2260s )
• Katrina Cornwell ( 2258 )
• Una Chin-Riley (2250–)
• Louvier ( 2257 )
• Hemmer ( 2259 )
• Pelia (2259)
• Phil Boyce ( 2254 )
• Joseph M'Benga (2259)
• Una Chin-Riley (2250s–2259)
• Erica Ortegas (2259)
• Garison (2254)
• Nicola (2258)
• Nyota Uhura (2259)
• Christina (2259)
• Shankar (2259)
• José Tyler (2254)
• Amin (2258)
• Una Chin-Riley (2259)
• Jenna Mitchell (2259)
• Mann (2258)
• Zuniga (2259)
• Lynne Lucero (sometime after 2250)
• Evan Connolly (2257)
• Kroad (2258)
• Spock ( 2253 –2260s)
• George Samuel Kirk (2259)
• La'an Noonien-Singh (2259)

James T. Kirk's command crew [ ]

The crew of the USS Enterprise enjoy a jovial moment with Captain Kirk

The crew of the USS Enterprise in the early 2270s

The crew of the USS Enterprise in 2285

• James T. Kirk ( 2265 – 2270 , 2270s , 2285 )
• Robert April (2270)
• Will Decker (2270s)
• Spock (2285)
• Spock (2265–2270, 2270s, 2285)
• Willard Decker (2270s)
• Montgomery Scott (2265–2270s, 2285)
• Mark Piper (2265)
• Leonard McCoy ( 2266 –2270, 2270s, 2285)
• Christine Chapel (2270s)
• Gary Mitchell (2265)
• Hikaru Sulu (2266–2270s, 2285)
• Leslie (2266– 2267 )
• Hansen (2267)
• Hadley (2267– 2268 )
• DePaul (2267)
• Spinelli (2267)
• Kyle (2268)
• Rahda (2268)
• Walking Bear (2270)
• Alden (2265)
• Nyota Uhura (2266–2270s, 2285)
• John Farrell (2266)
• Palmer (2267– 2269 )
• Angela Martine (2267)
• Lisa (2269)
• M'Ress (2269–2270)
• Lee Kelso (2265)
• Dave Bailey (2266)
• Kevin Riley (2266)
• Stiles (2266)
• Hadley (2267–2269)
• DeSalle (2267)
• Osborne (2267)
• Leslie (2267)
• Painter (2267)
• Pavel Chekov (2267–2269)
• Jana Haines (2268)
• Arex (2269–2270)
• Ilia (2270s)
• DiFalco (2270s)
• Saavik (2285)
• Pitcairn (2267)
• Giotto (2267)
• Freeman (2268)
• Pavel Chekov (2270s, 2285)
• Hikaru Sulu (2266–2270)
• Pavel Chekov (2267–2270s, 2285)
• Hikaru Sulu (2265)
• Spock (2265–2270, 2270s)
• Sonak (2270s)

Complement [ ]

The number of the Enterprise 's crew complement more than doubled over the duration of its service.

In 2254 , the Enterprise had a complement of 203, this stated following the loss of three crewmembers at Rigel VII. ( TOS : " The Cage ", " The Menagerie, Part I ")

Enterprise 's file

In 2257 , scans showed the entire crew complement was also stated to be 203, yet in a display graphic specifically stated that the crew compliment was 430; 43 officers and 387 enlisted .

In 2265 , the Enterprise 's complement consisted of "almost a hundred women." ( TOS : " Where No Man Has Gone Before ")

In 2266 , Captain Ramart commented to Charlie Evans that the Enterprise was "like a whole city in space ," compared to his ship, the USS Antares , which had a relatively meager complement of twenty. Ramart further explained that there were "over 400 in the crew of a starship ," which was clarified by Kirk as actually "428, to be exact." ( TOS : " Charlie X ")

Jadzia Dax observed to Benjamin Sisko , after they transported aboard the Enterprise , that " they really packed them in on these old ships. " ( DS9 : " Trials and Tribble-ations ")

The 203 crew count originated from an initial Star Trek is... pitch (p. 9), which Gene Roddenberry wrote while devising Star Trek in March 1964 , whereas he had revised the number upwards to 430, "approximately one-third of them female," in a 17 April 1967 third draft of the The Star Trek Guide (p. 7). The latter number was adopted by Franz Joseph for his 1975 Star Trek Star Fleet Technical Manual , whose "Class I Heavy Cruiser – Constitution Class Starships" specifications, in turn, became the source for most of the information visible on the Enterprise graphic display in DIS : " Brother ".

Casualties [ ]

Service aboard the Enterprise proved to be hazardous duty. Between 2265 and 2269, individuals who were killed while assigned to the ship included at least fifty-eight officers and crew. Nine crew members were killed when the Enterprise encountered the galactic barrier in 2265. Gary Mitchell , Lee Kelso , and Elizabeth Dehner later died on Delta Vega . ( TOS : " Where No Man Has Gone Before ")

Two of seven crewmembers assigned to study Murasaki 312 on the shuttlecraft Galileo – Latimer and Gaetano – both met an unfortunate end, by the hand of a large creature on the planet Taurus II . ( TOS : " The Galileo Seven ")

In 2267, Enterprise security officers Hendorff , Kaplan , Mallory , and Marple were killed on planet Gamma Trianguli VI . ( TOS : " The Apple ") Further incidents with multiple fatalities included four security guards killed by Nomad in 2267, as well as five security guards killed by a dikironium cloud creature on Argus X in 2268. ( TOS : " The Changeling ", " Obsession ") An outbreak of Rigelian fever , in 2269, killed three crewmen and imperiled the rest until a source of ryetalyn could be obtained. ( TOS : " Requiem for Methuselah ")

As well, two Enterprise security officers were beamed out into open space while the ship was under the control of Gorgan . ( TOS : " And the Children Shall Lead ") Lieutenant Galloway was vaporized by Captain Tracey on Omega IV , ( TOS : " The Omega Glory ") but later was somehow resurrected. ( TOS : " Turnabout Intruder ") Yeoman Thompson was reduced to a dry cuboctahedron solid. She was killed when the Kelvan Rojan crushed the object in his hand. ( TOS : " By Any Other Name ")

At some point after stardate 3619.2 in 2268, but before 2270 , security officer Ensign David Garrovick vanished along with the shuttlecraft Galileo from the ship. His ultimate fate on Planet 0042692 was not discovered until 2384 . ( PRO : " All the World's a Stage ")

In the mid- 2270s , Commander Sonak and an Enterprise officer were killed in a transporter accident while beaming to the ship. ( Star Trek: The Motion Picture )

Appendices [ ]

Appearances [ ].

• " The Cage "
• " Where No Man Has Gone Before "
• " The Corbomite Maneuver "
• " Mudd's Women "
• " The Enemy Within "
• " The Man Trap "
• " The Naked Time "
• " Charlie X "
• " Balance of Terror "
• " What Are Little Girls Made Of? "
• " Dagger of the Mind "
• " The Conscience of the King "
• " The Galileo Seven "
• " Court Martial "
• " The Menagerie, Part I "
• " The Menagerie, Part II "
• " Shore Leave "
• " The Squire of Gothos "
• " The Alternative Factor "
• " Tomorrow is Yesterday "
• " The Return of the Archons "
• " A Taste of Armageddon "
• " Space Seed "
• " This Side of Paradise "
• " The Devil in the Dark "
• " Errand of Mercy "
• " The City on the Edge of Forever "
• " Operation -- Annihilate! "
• " Catspaw "
• " Metamorphosis "
• " Friday's Child "
• " Who Mourns for Adonais? "
• " Amok Time "
• " The Doomsday Machine "
• " Wolf in the Fold "
• " The Changeling "
• " The Apple "
• " Mirror, Mirror "
• " The Deadly Years "
• " I, Mudd "
• " The Trouble with Tribbles "
• " Bread and Circuses "
• " Journey to Babel "
• " A Private Little War "
• " The Gamesters of Triskelion "
• " Obsession "
• " The Immunity Syndrome "
• " A Piece of the Action "
• " By Any Other Name "
• " Return to Tomorrow "
• " Patterns of Force "
• " The Ultimate Computer "
• " The Omega Glory "
• " Assignment: Earth "
• " Spectre of the Gun "
• " Elaan of Troyius "
• " The Paradise Syndrome "
• " The Enterprise Incident "
• " And the Children Shall Lead "
• " Spock's Brain "
• " Is There in Truth No Beauty? "
• " The Empath "
• " The Tholian Web "
• " For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky "
• " Day of the Dove "
• " Plato's Stepchildren "
• " Wink of an Eye "
• " That Which Survives "
• " Let That Be Your Last Battlefield "
• " Whom Gods Destroy "
• " The Mark of Gideon "
• " The Lights of Zetar "
• " The Cloud Minders "
• " The Way to Eden "
• " Requiem for Methuselah "
• " The Savage Curtain "
• " All Our Yesterdays "
• " Turnabout Intruder "
• " Beyond the Farthest Star "
• " Yesteryear "
• " One of Our Planets Is Missing "
• " The Lorelei Signal "
• " More Tribbles, More Troubles "
• " The Survivor "
• " The Infinite Vulcan "
• " The Magicks of Megas-Tu "
• " Once Upon a Planet "
• " Mudd's Passion "
• " The Terratin Incident "
• " The Time Trap "
• " The Ambergris Element "
• " The Eye of the Beholder "
• " The Jihad "
• " The Pirates of Orion "
• " The Practical Joker "
• " Albatross "
• " How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth "
• " The Counter-Clock Incident "
• Star Trek: The Motion Picture
• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
• Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (recording only)
• " The Naked Now " (exterior shown on bridge readout –Blu-ray version)
• " Datalore " (exterior shown on readout in Data's quarters – Blu-ray version)
• " Relics " (bridge shown on holodeck)
• " Trials and Tribble-ations "
• " What You Leave Behind " (corridor shown in montage)
• ENT : " These Are the Voyages... " (closing montage)
• " Will You Take My Hand? "
• " Brother "
• " If Memory Serves " (archive footage)
• " Such Sweet Sorrow "
• " Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2 "
• " Q&A "
• " Ask Not "
• " Ephraim and Dot "
• PIC : " Maps and Legends " (hologram)
• PRO : " Starstruck " (digital image)
• " Strange New Worlds "
• " Children of the Comet "
• " Ghosts of Illyria "
• " Memento Mori "
• " Spock Amok "
• " Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach "
• " The Serene Squall "
• " The Elysian Kingdom "
• " All Those Who Wander "
• " A Quality of Mercy "
• " The Broken Circle "
• " Ad Astra per Aspera "
• " Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow "
• " Among the Lotus Eaters "
• " Charades "
• " Lost in Translation "
• " Those Old Scientists "
• " Under the Cloak of War "
• " Subspace Rhapsody "
• " Hegemony "
• " Skin a Cat "
• " Holiday Party "
• " Walk, Don't Run "

Background information [ ]

The CG Enterprise from the "remastered" opening credits

The Enterprise on a painting aboard the Enterprise -D

The Enterprise and its interiors in The Original Series were designed primarily by Matt Jefferies . A three-foot demonstration model was completed in November 1964 by the Howard Anderson Company to show to Gene Roddenberry . After getting his approval, an eleven-foot model was then constructed by Richard C. Datin, Jr. , Mel Keys , and Vern Sion at Volmer Jensen 's model shop, and was finished in December 1964 . The eleven-foot model was modified for " Where No Man Has Gone Before " and again for the regular series effect shots. Re-used footage of all three stages of the eleven-foot model's appearance are shown mixed together in TOS.

In the final draft script of " The Naked Time ", the Enterprise was somewhat poetically described thus; " Sleek… efficient… the look of man in space… tooled… equipped… "

For Star Trek: The Animated Series , the color of the Enterprise was limited. D.C. Fontana commented, " For the purposes of animation you can't do the light white, silver kinds of colors. So they made the Enterprise gray and it came off all right. " ( Star Trek: The Magazine  Volume 1, Issue 16 , p. 68)

Some distinctive effects shots of the Enterprise from TOS were recreated in animation for Star Trek: The Animated Series . Depicting the ship performing any new, impressive maneuvers would have been too costly for TAS and would have taken the animators too long to show, despite frequent TAS Director Hal Sutherland later implying that a desire to portray the ship doing " barrel rolls and that kind of thing" was quite common. ( Star Trek: The Magazine  Volume 1, Issue 16 , pp. 63 & 64)

The 2270s configuration of the Enterprise depicted in the films Star Trek: The Motion Picture , Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan , and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock was designed by Richard Taylor and Andrew Probert , based on designs for the vessel made by Matt Jefferies for the undeveloped television series Star Trek: Phase II . The design for the movie version was the basis of a design patent issued by the US Patent and Trademark Office.

The Enterprise was to have appeared in Star Trek: The First Adventure , which would have revealed that the design of the ship in TOS was actually a refit; the original design resembled Enterprise NX-01 , though that vessel was created years earlier. When Star Trek: Discovery season 1's finale aired, this idea was continued, as when the Enterprise showed up at the end, it had elements of the NX-01 incorporated into the new model.

The Enterprise was recreated as a new physical model for the DS9 Season 5 episode " Trials and Tribble-ations ". The ship's interior was represented with sets built on Paramount Stage 11 . ( Information from Larry Nemecek ) The CG model of Constitution -class USS Defiant , created for " In a Mirror, Darkly ", was relabeled as the Enterprise for the final scene of " These Are the Voyages... ", the last episode of Star Trek: Enterprise .

A new CG model, built from caliper measurements of the original eleven-foot physical model, was created for use in the remastered and recreated version of The Original Series (for more detailed treatises on the studio models used, see Constitution -class model (original) .

Visual effects artist Gabriel Koerner created a re-imagined version of the pre-refit Enterprise from the movies. The design is more contemporary, while keeping the design of The Original Series version of the ship. A video showing the ship from various angles can be seen on YouTube. The model was also featured as the August image for the 2007 Ships of the Line calendar , as well as in the Ships of the Line coffee-table book, placed between TOS and TMP images, which included text from Michael Okuda suggesting it as one of the ideas on how to refit the ship.

The Enterprise was pictured on three paintings during the Star Trek franchise: on a painting in the recreation deck of the 2270s configuration of the vessel, in Star Trek: The Motion Picture ; on a painting in the waiting area of the sickbay aboard the USS Enterprise -D , in the Star Trek: The Next Generation fifth season episode " Ethics "; and on a painting on the wall of Kirk's kitchen in the Nexus , in Star Trek Generations .

Upon preparing to view the bridge of the Enterprise in the first draft script of TNG : " Relics ", Montgomery Scott specified, " Show her the way she was before stardate 5928, " referencing the stardate on which TOS series finale " Turnabout Intruder " takes place. Consequently, this line of dialogue would have established that the holographic simulation of the Enterprise 's bridge in "Relics" was definitely contemporaneous with the exact setting of TOS. Scott did not specify that in the final draft of the script, however. [4] The line is also not spoken on screen.

The Enterprise was to have been referenced in the first draft script of VOY : " Flashback ", in connection with its near-destruction at Eminiar VII . However, all mention of the vessel was eliminated from the episode by the time the final draft of the script was written.

A new CGI model was created for the appearance of the USS Enterprise in the Season 1 finale of Star Trek: Discovery , " Will You Take My Hand? ". This model updated the appearance of the USS Enterprise to better match the style of other Starfleet ships depicted in the show, most noticeably changing the Enterprise 's nacelles to have visible, glowing blue cutouts on the inner surface. The impulse engine was also different, and the nacelle pylons were swept back with openings in their centers similar to the 2270s configuration . The new model also had a longer "runway" before the shuttlebay doors.

External links [ ]

• USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) at Wikipedia
• USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) at the Star Trek Online Wiki
• 2 Daniels (Crewman)

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• Trivia In the scene where Kirk is taking the Kobayashi Maru test, he is eating an apple, which is also what he is eating while recounting his tale of taking the Kobayashi Maru test in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) . (According to director J.J. Abrams in the Blu-ray audio commentary, this was not intended to be a reference to The Wrath of Khan. At one point, he was simply told that lead actors seem cocky eating apples.)
• Goofs After Spock boards the Vulcan ship on board the mining vessel, Kirk is seen walking through some pipes. His Starfleet phaser has switched to a Romulan gun (longer barrel and no lights), before switching back to the Starfleet one again in the next scene. He actually acquires the Romulan gun a few scenes later.

Spock Prime : James T. Kirk!

James T. Kirk : Excuse me?

Spock Prime : How did you find me?

James T. Kirk : Whoa... how do you know my name?

Spock Prime : I have been and always shall be your friend.

James T. Kirk : Wha...

[shakes head]

James T. Kirk : Uh... look... I-I don't know you.

Spock Prime : I am Spock.

James T. Kirk : Bullshit.

• Crazy credits The first part of the closing credits is styled after the opening credits of Star Trek (1966) , where the starship Enterprise blasts off into space as a monologue describes its mission, and then the cast names appear as the famous "Star Trek" theme music plays.
• Connections Edited into De wereld draait door: Episode #4.157 (2009)
• Soundtracks Theme from 'Star Trek' TV Series Written by Alexander Courage & Gene Roddenberry

User reviews 1.6K

• Apr 20, 2009
• If this premise is that an alternate timeline created when Nero traveled back in time, then what happened to James Kirk's older brother, Sam, aka George Samuel Kirk Jr.?
• How can Spock's mother still be alive years later (original series) when she dies earlier on in this movie ?
• What is Star Trek about?
• May 8, 2009 (United States)
• United States
• Official Facebook
• Star Trek: The Future Begins
• Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park - 10700 W. Escondido Canyon Rd., Agua Dulce, California, USA (Vulcan)
• Paramount Pictures
• Spyglass Entertainment
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $150,000,000 (estimated)
• $257,730,019
• $75,204,289
• May 10, 2009
• $385,681,768

Technical specs

• Runtime 2 hours 7 minutes
• Dolby Digital
• 2.39 : 1 (original ratio)

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Iconic star shares ideas of how Enterprise captain could find his way back to the big screen

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After years of saying he was done playing Captain James T. Kirk in the Star Trek universe, William Shatner says he’s opening to returning as the character and suggested he even has an idea of how it could happen.

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William Shatner willing to return as Kirk in new 'Star Trek' film Back to video

In an interview with the Canadian Press , Shatner, 93, proposes that he could return as a younger version of Kirk using de-aging technology similar to how 80-year-old Harrison Ford appeared during the opening sequence of last year’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny . T elling the newswire service that he’s now a spokesperson for Otoy, a company specializing in technology that “takes years off of your face,” a boyish Kirk could reappear and “look 10, 20, 30, 50 years younger.”

He also says it’s possible Kirk could come back from the dead after he’s resurrected.

“‘We’ve got Captain Kirk’s brain frozen here,’” he said, imagining a scene in which his character is revived. “There’s a scenario. ‘Let’s see if we can bring back a little bit of this, a little salt, a little pepper (in his hair). Oh, look at that. Here comes Captain Kirk!’”

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Acknowledging that it is “almost impossible” he’ll be back on the Starship Enterprise, Shatner concedes that returning to the venerable sci-fi franchise is still an “intriguing idea.”

“It was a great role and so well-written and if there were a reason to be there not just to make a cameo appearance, but if there were a genuine reason for the character appearing, I might consider it,” he says.

Shatner, whose decades-long career includes  Miss Congeniality ,  T.J. Hooker ,  Boston Legal ,  $#*! My Dad Says ,  Better Late Than Never  and  The Unexplained , along with the original 1960s  Star Trek  TV series and films, was speaking to the CP to celebrate the release of his new documentary You Can Call Me Bill .

As Star Trek has enjoyed renewed popularity on the small screen, we have asked Shatner many times about possibly returning as Kirk, who was killed off in 1994’s Star Trek Generations .

In 2018 , Shatner told Postmedia that reprising the role “wasn’t for (him).” Just a few years before that , he told us he didn’t want stop playing Kirk and that the character died “protesting.”

When we suggested that Kirk could still be alive because the timeline had been altered by the release of the 2009 Star Trek film, which rebooted the series on the big screen, Shatner was nonplussed.

“Mark, I’m giving you this job right now. I’m assigning you a job – and you’ll be highly paid. I want you to solve the mystery of bringing me, 50 years later, back as Captain Kirk. I want you to solve that mystery,” he said at the time,

But during our last conversation in 2022 , Shatner spoke about Kirk’s final lines in Generations when he uttered the words, “Oh my.”

“ As you get older, as I’m sure you can imagine, you think of death — it becomes more and more present … So when this character was dying, I thought, ‘How do you die?’ I’ve heard of people weeping, my father was incapacitated, he had had a stroke and he had tears in his eyes and I wonder quite often what he was crying about. Was he crying about leaving? I loved him very much and he loved me. Was he weeping because of me and leaving this world?” Shatner said.

“So I thought, ‘How would Captain Kirk die?’ Captain Kirk, who has faced death so often. I thought he would look at death approaching with the same awe and wonder that he looked at these strange beings that he faced in the years I played him. I wanted him to look at death as something filled with the awe and wonder that he looked at the universe. So the, ‘Oh my,’ was supposed to be a ‘wow.’ What came out had an element of dread, and I didn’t want that. I didn’t play it exactly the way I wanted to, which was, ‘Oh my, the gorgeousness of death. What’s going to happen?’ That’s the way I feel about it.”

He then let out a little laugh. “That’s the way I want to feel about it. I don’t want to feel fear, but I’m afraid I feel fear.”

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Published Sep 20, 2024

Star Trek's History with Practical Jokes

For a post-scarcity utopia largely devoid of interpersonal conflict, we can learn the purpose pranking serves.

StarTrek.com

The switch from a terrestrial calendar to the stardates system means that, for most of the various crewmen living and working in the Federation, there's no such thing as April. Therefore, there's no such thing as April 1, and further, no such thing as April Fool's Day.

Although there's no longer a specific day devoted to playing practical jokes on your fellow humanoids, the prankster spirit of the holiday lives on. Somewhat surprisingly for a post-scarcity utopia largely devoid of interpersonal conflict, characters throughout the Star Trek franchise delight in pranking one another, with examples peppered throughout the various shows and movies. It turns out that pranks are about a lot more than simply having fun at the expense of other people, and through the way they've been used on Trek , we can learn a lot about the purpose pranking serves here on Earth.

Here are the eight most important pranks in the history of Star Trek .

Dax Moves Odo's Stuff (A Few Centimeters)

"Homefront"

As a Changeling, Odo is acutely aware of the size, shape, and — most importantly — the positioning of all the objects around him. Which is why he found it so irritating when, on four separate occasions, Jadzia Dax broke into Odo’s quarters while he regenerated in his gelatinous state to move everything the slightest amount. Nobody but Odo ever would have noticed such a change, which shows what a brilliant prankster Dax is. Some of the best pranks should be artisanal, carefully crafted for the person on the receiving end. Jokes like tying someone’s shoelaces together are as simple as they are uncreative, and a truly tailor-made prank should tell the person being pranked ‘hey - I know you, I understand you, which I can prove by irritating the crap out of you.’

In Dax’s mischievous sort of way, she was showing Odo that she cared enough about him to learn all of his little idiosyncrasies, and really understood him as a person. Since, at the time, Starfleet was growing increasingly paranoid about the threat the Founders posed, Dax taking the time to annoy Odo the same way she would any of her other friends is, secretly, kind of sweet.

Dr. Zimmerman Pranks The Doctor

"Life Line"

When The Doctor transmitted his program to the Alpha Quadrant to save his creator, Dr. Lewis Zimmerman, the latter didn't want The Doctor's help. After all, the EMH Mark 1 was a notorious failure, renowned throughout Starfleet for its brusque, prickly manner as a physician.

Eventually, Voyager 's holographic physician wore Zimmerman down though, and the first crack in the facade came when Zimmerman rigged The Doctor's medical tricorder so that it believed everything scanned to be a Vulcan marsupial.

Ultimately, the best pranks serve as acts of friendship — either deepening an existing one or, in this case, beginning a new one.

Kirk Reveals He Was Bullied

"Shore Leave"

Not all pranks are meant in good spirits, however.

In The Original Series episode " Shore Leave, " the eponymous planet begins summoning a copy of Finnegan, an upperclassman who tormented Kirk throughout his Academy days. A window into a time in Kirk's life when he wasn't the coolest cat on campus, it also showcases the lingering harm you can cause someone when you prank people with bad intentions.

Jake Potts Pranks His Brother

"Brothers"

In " Brothers ," a homing signal activated by Dr. Soong triggers a hidden program in Commander Data, forcing everyone's favorite android to take over the Enterprise with truly terrifying rapidity. It would have been very much a no-harm-no-foul kind of situation, except that up in Sickbay, little Willie Potts was dying of parasites.

Jake Potts, his older brother, had tricked Willie into thinking he'd accidentally killed him, and in his shame and terror, Willie ran and hid, eating local fruits that caused his medical predicament. Data's hijacking waylaid the Enterprise while they were en route to get Willie life-saving medicine. Willie ended up all right in the end, but it showcased one outcome of the all-too-common occurrence of taking a joke too far.

Harry Kim Kisses a Cow

"Spirit Folk"

Tom Paris and Harry Kim grew to be closer to brothers than friends over their time in the Delta Quadrant, and one of the hallmarks of their relationship was jokes, ribbing, and pranks. Once, while Harry was enjoying a holo-date on the Fair Haven holoprogram, Tom replaced Harry's female companion for the evening with a dairy cow right as Harry closed his eyes and went in for a kiss.

As is often the case on Trek , this simple moment snowballed into an ever-expanding avalanche of unintended consequences, as the glitching holograms of the simulation began seeing through the perceptual filters and believed themselves to be beset by " Spirit Folk ."

Jake and Nog Unleash the Garanian Bolites

"A Man Alone"

The sheer number of things that result from this simple moment are hard to overstate. In " A Man Alone ," only the fourth episode of Deep Space Nine , Jake Sisko decides to befriend Nog, one of the only other children aboard the entire station. Nog quickly gets Jake in trouble with the law by releasing some Garanian bolites onto an unsuspecting couple walking the Promenade, who rightly freak out when their skin first starts itching, and then changing all the colors of the rainbow.

This moment catches the attention of Keiko O'Brien, who decides to open a school aboard the station to help curtail the criminal idleness of the younger generation. Her teaching methods — including her decision to stick to secular practices when discussing the wormhole rather than hewing to traditional Bajoran religious beliefs — led to an anti-Starfleet uprising aboard the station that culminated in the classroom getting bombed by extremists, while also starting the political career of Vedek (later Kai) Winn.

This prank serves as a bonding experience for Jake and Nog, one of the most important friendships of the entire franchise. Without this prank, Jake would never have helped teach Nog to read, and Nog would likely have never become Starfleet's first Ferengi officer . Furthermore, seeing Nog strike out on his own helped inspire his father to stand up to his brother Quark more, eventually leading to Rom becoming a labor leader , and subsequently quitting the bar to become part of the station's maintenance crew. In that new role, Rom was able to devise self-replicating spatial mines that held the Dominion on the other side of the wormhole for months. Essentially, Garanian bolites saved the Alpha Quadrant.

Nog Spills a Bucket of "Odo" on Jake

"The Storyteller"

Pranks remained a part of Jake and Nog's friendship as it grew, like in this joke where Nog, while supposedly helping Jake steal Odo’s bucket, pretends to trip and spills the contents of the bucket all over Jake. Jake, thinking he’s just been doused with a bucket of Odo, starts freaking out, before Nog reveals that he filled the bucket with oatmeal from the replicator. This prank is nowhere near as important as Jake and Nog’s prank with the Garanian bolites, but it makes the list for two reasons. One, it’s a really funny prank, and two, it’s always good to remember the simple delight of seeing Aron Eisenberg laugh with all the energy he brought to the role of Nog.

Dr. Crusher Takes an (Involuntary) Swim

Star Trek Generations

When Worf got knocked into the icy waters of the (holographic) Atlantic during a gathering to celebrate his promotion, the Enterprise 's senior staff was wracked with laughter. When Data expressed his confusion as to why someone falling into a freezing ocean would be funny, Dr. Crusher explains that you simply need to get caught up in the moment and do something spontaneous. Data responds by shoving Beverly into the water, which nobody thinks is funny.

This moment was the straw that broke the camel's back for Data, who had long struggled to master human concepts like humor. As this list has showcased throughout, pranks and jokes are a key component to building and deepening friendships, and Data had forever found himself on the outside looking in at such interactions. Data decided to finally install the emotion chip that Dr. Soong had intended for him years earlier, which affected every decision he made throughout First Contact , Insurrection , and Nemesis .

The 8 Best Practical Jokes in Star Trek History

Armed with this list and the lessons it contains, you can start planning pranks of your own — though without access to a holodeck, Garanian bolites, or an easy way to replicate three gallons of oatmeal, you're going to have to work a little harder to pull them off.

Just remember that the best pranks are done among friends, in the spirit of friendship.

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This article was originally published on April 1, 2020.

Sean Kelly (he/him) is a freelance writer based in St. Louis. He occasionally gets depressed that he’ll never know what raktajino tastes like.

Explore Star Trek Explorer #12 with an exclusive excerpt from the magazine

I t's time for another edition of Star Trek Explorer Magazine , and issue #12 will be on sale September 24th. For all of you who subscribe, you should have it in your mailboxes or email inboxes by now. Each quarter the magazine brings you a compelling variety of interviews with the actors, the behind-the-scenes team like the artists and creators, exclusive fiction, and so much more.

On top of that, the creative talents of the writing team are put to the test to bring fans the best news, reports, updates, and opinion pieces, and they never disappoint. In this issue, for example, Jay Strobie, a prolific writer for Startrek.com and Star Trek Explorer, delves into the Top Ten Star Trek Moments. You might be surprised at some of the ones chosen to be highlighted.

Titan Comics, the publisher of Star Trek Explorer, was, as always kind enough to provide us with an exclusive excerpt for our readers. This is just a taste of what you can find inside the pages of this quarter's magazine.

Top 10 Star Trek Moments Words: Jay Stobie

10. Star Trek Premieres

The very first (and unofficial) Star Trek Day took place on September 8th, 1966, when “The

Man Trap” marked the show’s US television debut. While the unaired pilot, “The Cage,” and

four additional episodes were produced before this installment, “The Man Trap” aired prior

to the others and introduced us to Captain James T. Kirk, Science Officer Spock, and the

U.S.S. Enterprise crew as they sought to solve a series of mysterious deaths involving a

creature that sucked the salt out of its victim’s bodies. Fifty-eight years later, and the

franchise is still going strong!

9. The Space Shuttle Enterprise

Star Trek’s place in popular culture was solidified on September 17th, 1976, when NASA

unveiled its first space shuttle orbiter, Enterprise. Originally intended to be called

Constitution, the shuttle inspired countless fans to petition for the craft to be renamed in

honor of Captain Kirk’s legendary command. The campaign proved successful, and Trek

creator Gene Roddenberry, as well as stars Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, George Takei,

Nichelle Nichols, James Doohan, and Walter Koenig, attended the real-life Enterprise’s

official rollout ceremony.

8. Star Trek’s Big Screen Debut

Despite an inability to launch Star Trek: Phase II, which had been planned as the first live-

action spin-off series, the success of Star Was encouraged executives to revive the Star Trek

franchise as a feature film. Star Trek: The Motion Picture brought back the original cast, and

the fan-favorite characters boarded a refitted U.S.S. Enterprise, setting course to save Earth

from an enigmatic entity. The 1979 movie paved the way for five sequels with Kirk’s crew,

and it also set the stage for more spin-offs and films which followed “the next generation”

of Starfleet’s finest.

7. The Death of an Icon

Fans looked on in disbelief as Spock sacrificed himself to save the U.S.S. Enterprise crew in

1982’s Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. The tragic scene struck a chord amidst Star Trek

circles and beyond, as Spock’s death would continue to be referenced for decades to come,

in everything from casual conversations to a mention on the hit series, Seinfeld. Even

though we now know the Vulcan eventually returned in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock,

the loss of a beloved main character still resonates on a profound level.

This teaser is enough to make you want to see what the remaining six are on Strobie's list, especially with the inclusion of the iconic scene between Admiral Kirk (William Shatner) and Spock [Leonard Nimoy] from Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan. The heartbreaking moment should have been included on the list, and I'm glad it made it, but what others were included? Perhaps one of your favorites?

Star Trek Explorer #12 hits the newstands on September 24 and besides interviews with Star Trek: Lower Decks creator Mike McMahan and actress Gabrielle Ruiz, Jeff Spry got to know Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ cinematographer Benji Bakshi a little better while Bakshi shares some knowledge on some of season two's episodes and what went into some of the greatest shots of the series' season. Be sure to pick up your copy next Tuesday!

This article was originally published on redshirtsalwaysdie.com as Explore Star Trek Explorer #12 with an exclusive excerpt from the magazine .

• September 20, 2024 | Podcast: All Access Talks To Doug Jones, Elias Toufexis, and Wilson Cruz about ‘Star Trek: Discovery’
• September 19, 2024 | James McAvoy Reveals Why He Turned Down Role In J.J. Abrams Star Trek Movie
• September 18, 2024 | LeVar Burton, Kate Mulgrew, And More Star Trek Celebrities Line Up For Virtual Harris Campaign Events
• September 18, 2024 | Watch Star Trek Stars Face Off With ‘Deadliest Catch’ On ‘Celebrity Family Feud’
• September 16, 2024 | ‘Section 31’ And ‘Lower Decks’ Heading Up New York Comic Con Star Trek Universe Panel

James McAvoy Reveals Why He Turned Down Role In J.J. Abrams Star Trek Movie

| September 19, 2024 | By: TrekMovie.com Staff 52 comments so far

Scottish actor James McAvoy is one of those avowed Star Trek fans who has expressed keen interest interest in appearing in the franchise, which is why it’s surprising to hear him talk about why he turned down a role in one of the Kelvin Universe feature films produced by J.J. Abrams.

Why McAvoy said no to J.J.

McAvoy was a guest on the Happy Sad Confused podcast when host Josh Horowitz brought up their shared love of Star Trek, and after talking a bit about their favorite shows and movies, McAvoy was asked how was it he never made it into final frontier. The BAFTA-winning actor then revealed he “came close” to landing a role in one of the recent Star Trek movies. McAvoy didn’t want to get specific about which role he was offered, but talked about how he tried to make it work:

“I got offered something. I didn’t want to do that. I suggested I can do something else. They wanted to camera test me and I was like, ‘Do you know what, it’s alright, don’t worry about it.’  Not because I wouldn’t, because I just didn’t think I was right.”

McAvoy went on to say that he thought Abrams eventually cast the right actor for the role:

“What I said to J.J. about what I thought the role should be and the kind of actor that should be, they absolutely got. I’m not saying that he got that because I said that. But the kind of person I thought that I’m not is exactly the person who got it. And it’s brilliant. And I love the new ones. I love J.J.’s films. They are excellent.”

It’s not clear what role McAvoy was offered (and requested), or even which of the three Abrams-produced films he’s referring to. Rumors that McAvoy was approached to play Scotty for Abrams’ first Star Trek movie start rumbling back in early 2007, several months before Simon Pegg was cast in the role. After initial denials, McAvoy became more evasive about whether he was in the running for the role of the USS Enterprise’s engineer. It’s unlikely he would have turned down such an iconic role as Scotty, so he was probably offered some other character.

You can see McAvoy talk Trek below.

McAvoy’s Trek dream

Even though he “came close” to that one role, over recent years McAvoy has made it clear he very much wants to get into Star Trek. When Star Trek: Picard was in development, he volunteered his services on more than one occasion to play a young Jean-Luc Picard, noting he was uniquely qualified as he had played a young Charles Xavier (originally played by Patrick Stewart) in 3 X-Men movies. He is such a big Trek fan that he used his time during the pandemic to create his own Trek fan film called “ Star Force: Sci-Fisolation. ”

More recently, McAvoy noted that as he gets into his mid-40s, he may be aging out of playing a young Picard but still hopes for a Trek role . There are currently two active Star Trek feature film projects at Paramount Pictures (the “origin story” and “Star Trek 4”), so maybe he will still have his chance. And of course, there could always be a role in the new Starfleet Academy show, which cast Trek fan Paul Giamatti, or maybe even the fourth season of Strange New Worlds . There are always… possibilities.

James McAvoy in homemade “Star Force” in 2020

Keep up with news about the Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com .

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Let’s see, I’ll be under 30 kilos of makeup? No, thank you.

Idris Elba sould have delined Beyond for that reason alone …

That’s the first thing I thought of as well.

LOL So true

This was my first thought… they talked to him about Khan, and only a real fan would look at themselves and say ‘me playing Montalban? Not no, but hell no’. lol. I’m surprised if it was Scotty, because if I was in his shoes, I would have jumped at that. But I can certainly see where he figured Pegg was the right choice for that after the fact. No shade toward Cumberbatch here… but their whole concept for the role of Khan was just wrong, and I can see why they’d talk to him about it. He’s a helluva great actor, for sure.

Yeah, making Khan a white British dude was just super bizarre. I’m sure it was done for secrecy reasons, as JJ is way to obsessed with such things, but it really just amounted to white washing a great character and turning him into something he’s not.

they were more interested in casting that big star from ‘sherlock’ than in it being a plausible way to go with the character

It’s SO INSULTING! THe British ruled Hindustan (India + Pakistan) for more years than I can count and THAT is the person Abrams picks to play an Indian? SO RACIST!

Casting aside, it was a weird and stupid to try to make Khan JJ’s mystery box mcguffin. The way they wrote him was just as bad as how they changed his outward appearance. He was a totally different character. What a waste

Exactly. Star Trek Into Dumbness is an insanely badly written movie but typical for dumb action movies.

But the Khan thing was just beyond inexcusable. Nothing about it made a lick of sense. You put a white British guy in the role who has the most Indian sounding name was just weird and jarring. And they don’t bother to explain anything. Everything is just hand waved with zero introspection of who he is. It’s very odd how badly they wanted to use Khan just to ignore who he actually was.

He’s literally just Khan in name only because nothing about him resembles Khan in appearance, personality or background.

Not arguing that it was a good choice (it wasn’t) but the reasoning for it was that they had Benicio del Toro for Khan and he dropped out at the last minute and Cumberbatch was available so they re-wrote things and played up the “mystery” of who he was supposed to be. It just never worked. (And I love Cumberbatch as an actor.)

It was an appalling case of whitewashing, and I still can’t believe that happened in 2009.

it happened in 2012-13

Even worse.

Well said. Abrams should be banned from hollywood for this. If Cumberbatch was cast as Martin Luthor King everyone would have been rightly pissed. Khan? meh… Pathetic.

Don’t get me started on Khan. SUCH a racist take on the character and such an insult to Indians!!!! And No, I do not care that Montaban was not Indian.

casting an indian as a homicidal, genetically engineered tyrant might not be such a positive move…

TRue but that was the 1960s

If you don’t like the character was made Indian or feel he’s too problematic today than simply don’t use the character; problem solved.

Especially when the character didn’t remotely feel like Khan anyway.

I’d love to see McAvoy in the Star Trek franchise. I loved him in the X-men films!

Same! Fantastic actor. Interesting notes about Picard. I’d prefer he do something else though. Having him play a younger Picard after doing a younger Professor X just feels a little too cute. Too stunt casting. Cool that he was willing to consider it though.

mcavoy or stewart….?

Yes to both

ST4 (or the mythical Origins movie) – McAvoy as a mad man villain with SWMD (space weapon of mass destruction) out for revenge on the federation!

Shhh, don’t give them the same idea again! ;)

I always thought it would have been interesting to see him as a Kelvin version of Picard since he played an alt version of Stewart’s Xavier!

He’d be great at it, but I don’t think any actor with much self-respect would want to be known as the person who keeps playing the younger version of another actor in their famous roles.

True I never thought about it like that

I could see that.

I was thinking Shinzon. A clone of Picard would make a lot of sense considering he has played a version of Stewart before.

no need for the caginess imo – what’s the big deal in just saying what it was.

Seems more like it was the camera test that made him tap out – and what he’s not saying by doing this tap-dance is really more like:

“I was offended that they wanted to camera test me – me! A big star! How dare they? So I walked and said why don’t you hire somebody not as famous as I am if you want to camera test them”

Yeah, Beyond is eight years in the rear view mirror now, and Abram’s seems peripherally in the franchise at best, now. Just spill it ..

It’s a way to be respectful of the actors who actually played the roles he was mulling over. It’s not common knowledge what he was up for, so it’s a nice gesture to keep that to himself.

That was my take as well.

Nero would make a lot of sense.

Bana’s ‘casual contemporary american’ voice in that always bothered me (as does damn near everything in that movie.)

On a wholly unrelated note, fans of THE OUTER LIMITS’ DEMON WITH A GLASS HAND ep should take some solace from this news story: https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/20/science/human-genome-crystal-intl-scli/index.html

Scotty- of course, he didn’t want to play the jokey version we got, so he correctly suggested Simon Pegg.

Kelvin Scotty was a literal joke,

If you google “James Mcavoy” and “Scotty” articles show up saying that it was announced that he had been cast.

Considering that Scotty is pretty out of character (and went from doric to weegie), it makes sense that JA might have felt that he couldn’t make it work and they needed a more comedic actor.

He was offered the role of Scotty.

Translation: This movie will suck and I don’t want to be a part of it. Smart man.

Lol you said it as usual my friend. He may have been a great addition but those movies feel less relevant today for a reason because they just feel like slick big blockbuster action movies and little else. There is a reason why people barely talk about them today and probably why they can’t get another one made; because they probably think not enough people care anymore.

Just let JJ verse die already because most Trekkies wants stories in the prime universe anyway and the so-called new fans moved on after STID.

In my mind McAvoy didn’t miss anything besides a pay check and being invited to 30 Star Trek conventions. He probably would’ve did a great job but still part of pretty generic popcorn action movies with just Star Trek in the title basically. And he probably had more than one reason why he turned it down but just trying to be polite. Just my speculation.

At that time he was emerging as a lead actor (was the lead in 2008s Wanted with Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman) so to be 6th/7th down the list for Trek must’ve made him think ‘damn even though im a huge Trekkie and this is a big reboot of it and I’ll get to play opposite Leonard frickin Nimoy as Spock i do not want a supporting actor bit part!’ (and same for potential sequels).. when he got the XMen prequel/reboot a couple of years later he was co lead with Michael Fassbender, a far more enticing job prospect (and obviously ALOT more money too)

But had McAvoy played Scotty Pegg woukd never have taken over writing Beyond and we’d have probably got Orci’s (superior?) version of ST3

Not sure what one had to do with the other in terms of Orci getting fired since they rejected his script before they hired Pegg to write another one. That doesn’t make any sense.

No offense but you’re obsessed about that Orci movie. It might have been good or it really sucked. Since it was rejected the latter is possible and Trekkies may have hated him more by that point.

And I liked Beyond. It wasn’t TWOK or First Contact but decent enough. It at least felt like a real TOS movie. It’s the only one of those three I even liked.

I guess they wouldn’t have had the option to get Pegg to quickly bash out a new script over the weekend so would’ve just stuck with Orcis due to the time constraint..

I am obsessed with Orci’s ST3 , it came so close, but just missed. Id say out of all the ‘lost’ Trek movies (Planet of the Titans, Roddenberry’s JFK ST2, Bennetts SFA, Berman’s ST The Beginning etc) its the one that intrigues me the most and wish had happened.

Beyond to me was the ‘Kelvin’ equivalent of Insurrection, a bland inconsequential ‘2 part episode’ on the big screen (esp coming after JJs 2 extravaganzas with major shake ups for Trek lore/canon)

Or they could’ve just hired another writer? They hired about 12 for ST 4 in the last 8 years so that’s never been the problem lol. Didn’t they hired another one recently?

And you’re also forgetting that when they rejected Orci’s original script they got him to write another one to replace that one. They obviously thought that one sucked too and that’s when they went to Pegg. So that other script was never in the cards anymore. In fact now I wonder what was that second script about? Everyone has literally forgotten it was made.

Your issues with Beyond is understandable. And I agree I always said it was just another Insurrection, just with a much bigger budget and action. It’s probably another reason why it bombed because it didn’t look interesting enough to a lot of people, me included.

I had no plans to watch it in the theaters because how much I hated STID and the trailer for this one was awful too. So it’s not like I was remotely excited about it because I wasn’t. I only went after hearing people say it was at least better than the last one and I had a free ticket. I was originally saving that for Jason Bourne lol. But I still remember sitting in that IMAX theater on a Saturday night the second weekend it opened and there were maybe 50 people sitting there in a 300 seat theater. The same theater I watched the first two in and where it basically sold out the first two weekends.

I knew then this movie was going to be a turkey and the Kelvin movies were done.

And it didn’t help it used the exact same formula as the last two and people were basically over it by then.

If Orci did a second script maybe was just a revision of his first in light of Nimoys passing (therefore centring on Shatner Kirk)?

And yeah you could sort of tell Beyond was cooked when that first trailer hit (and in front of Force Awakens)..

Nope. He said it himself it was a completely different story and nothing to do with the first one. I actually remember reading the article about it here and he talked to others here too. I’m sure you can find it.

And that teaser trailer for Beyond definitely help kill the movie IMO, especially if you already hated STID like I did. I knew after it bombed there would be no more movies for awhile,; but I didn’t know it would over ten years either. 😂🙄

Sybok in Strange New Worlds.

I would prefer him as a visiting Captain or scientist. I am not sure the show could afford him but who knows maybe he might be willing to take a pay cut.

Screen Rant

After 57 years, star trek finally made captain kirk's forgotten talent mean something.

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Star Trek Strange New Worlds Season 2 Episode 3 Ending Explained

A strange new worlds detail you probably missed honors star trek's original captain pike, this controversial star trek: strange new worlds romance actually makes perfect sense.

One of Captain James T. Kirk's skills finally mattered in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds after 57 years . William Shatner originated Captain Kirk. In Star Trek' s Prime timeline , Paul Wesley plays the younger version of Shatner's Captain, Lieutenant James T. Kirk, on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , a prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series . Chris Pine also played Captain Kirk in the alternate Kelvin timeline of J.J. Abrams' Star Trek movies. But for the first time, Strange New World s applied a Kirk skill first glimpsed when the Captain of the Enterprise was introduced.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2, episode 3, "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" introduced another alternate reality version of Captain Kirk played by Paul Wesley . When time-traveling Romulans alter Star Trek 's Prime timeline, Lieutenant La'an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong) and Captain Kirk team up to set time right. Kirk and La'an time-travel to 21st-century Toronto, where the two space heroes are immediately faced with harsh realities like Canada's bitter cold and the need for food and shelter. Luckily, Captain Kirk has the skills to save his and La'an's lives.

Captain Kirk’s Skill At Chess Finally Mattered In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

The captain's gambit saved kirk and la'an.

In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2, episode 3, "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow," Captain Kirk's skill at chess earns him and La'an Noonien-Singh enough money for food and a hotel room as they investigate the temporal attack on 21st-century Toronto. James hustles several people at outdoor chess, which he says is "for idiots" compared to the three-dimensional chess Kirk mastered in the 23rd century. Kirk's prowess at chess is the only "marketable 21st-century skill" he and La'an have, and 'the Captain's Gambit' is the key to how they were able to survive in the past.

La'an Noonien-Singh and Captain Kirk team up to save the future, and the ending has a profound impact on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

When Captain James T. Kirk is first introduced in Star Trek: The Original Series ' second pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before," he's playing three-dimensional chess with Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy). Spock and Kirk's interplay is established in this early Star Trek scene, showing that the Captain of the USS Enterprise and his Vulcan Science Officer are well-matched intellectually. However, Captain Kirk's skill at chess doesn't significantly factor again throughout the rest of Star Trek: The Original Series ' TV episodes or movies, until Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2 .

Chess Shows How Intelligent Captain Kirk Really Is

Kirk's braininess is also part of his character..

After nearly 60 years of Star Trek , Captain Kirk has become an indelible part of pop culture, but he's not always recognized for his keen intelligence. William Shatner's unique acting style is often what people know about Captain Kirk, as well as Jim's reputation as a womanizer and a risk-taker. These traits were particularly highlighted by Chris Pine's Captain Kirk in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek movies. But while Kirk does like to go where angels fear to tread, and Jim has a way with the opposite sex, the Captain of the Enterprise is also extremely smart.

The bright and learned Kirk is Paul Wesley who embodies on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

It's also part of Star Trek canon that the young James T. Kirk was "a stack of books with legs" when he was both a student and an instructor at Starfleet Academy. The bright and learned Kirk is Paul Wesley who embodies on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds . Wesley's Captain Kirk isn't always crazy about rules when they hinder his ambitions, but Kirk also has to know the rules backward and forward in order to break them . Captain Kirk being a whiz at chess was part of his character from the beginning, and it took 57 years for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds to finally make his skills count.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

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