Which Of Star Trek’s Enterprises Is Most Popular? We Found Out
According to our readers, Star Trek's most popular Enterprise is the NCC-1701-D from The Next Generation.
Another April 5 has passed, which is an important holiday to Trekkies: First Contact Day. To celebrate, we set up a Twitter poll to ask the most important question to avid Star Trek fans: which is the best version of the franchise’s most iconic starship, the Enterprise? Though NCC-1701-D reigns supreme by a healthy margin, we thought breaking down the numbers and getting to brass tacks in the form of a ranked list would be fascinating.
NX-01
Enterprise kicks off with the use of NX-01 (NX standing for Naval Experiment), and the ship is quite impressive considering that this particular Star Trek series is the earliest timeline for the franchise (predating Kirk and crew by 100 years). However, its low ranking of 7.3 percent on our poll indicates that the first USS Enterprise left a lot to be desired, despite the amazing IMDb reveals of some of the legends that set foot on the vessel.
The NX-01 model first appeared in Star Trek: First Contact and had a maximum speed of warp 5.06, but could be pushed to 5.2 for short periods of time in cases of hot pursuit. Being an earlier model, it’s only natural that the Enterprise vessel was ultimately decommissioned due to spaceframe damage sustained during the Earth-Romulan War.
NCC-1701 Refit
The NCC-1701 USS Enterprise refit appeared in the first three Star Trek Movies: Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. The ship is an upgrade from Star Trek: The Original Series and the refit took two years to complete. Ranking at 19.8 percent, Star Trek’s NCC-1701 Refit is certainly a cut above the NX-01 vessel according to our poll but loses points because of its self-destruction in The Search for Spock.
But can we really fault the Enterprise ship for fulfilling its duties? After all, Kirk engaged the self-destruct, and the ship followed the command as intended. In a world where personal computers lock up when opening the task manager, the fact that the ship blew up as intended should be considered a good thing.
NCC-1701
Coming in second place, we present the NCC-1701, the OG USS Enterprise from Star Trek: The Original Series. Though not the most popular according to our poll, the NCC-1701 has a special place in our hearts for being iconic. Sometimes, a little bit of simplicity is all you need, but the ship was aged out and needed to undergo a massive refit to keep with the times.
But it’s worth noting that the original NCC-1701 ship was tough as nails. Considering how badly damaged it was in the original series, we’re nothing short of amazed by the fact that this beaut lived to see so much more space travel starting with The Motion Picture.
NCC-1701-D
Ranking at a whopping 41.8 percent, the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D is clearly the victor, and Star Trek fans are right to see this as the superior ship. On the Star Trek timeline, the NCC-1701-D boasted the best technology of the mid-24th century and was featured prominently in The Next Generation, with Jean-Luc Picard at the helm. The ship was able to accommodate over 1,000 crew members and their families.
NCC-1701-D met its fate in 2371 after renegade Klingons breached her warp core, but the ship was so iconic and so important to Star Trek as a whole that it won serious points for that alone.
