The NX-01 from Star Trek: Enterprise had a surprising feature

The starship Enterprise has been seen across multiple Star Trek films, series, and even universes but the NX-01 had a feature no other ship had.

Trek Culture finally did a video about the 10 secrets of the NX-01, aka the first ship to bear the name Enterprise. In the video, the gang interviewed Doug Drexler, who was a key figure on Star Trek: Enterprise, working in both the design and visual effects department, also helped design the NX-01 starship.

During the course of the interview, which the video breaks down into a typical “Top 10” format, Drexler explains a lot about the NX-01. They talk about the ships borrowed design from another class of ships, the point of that module on the back of the ship, and other interesting tidbits.

The most interesting tidbit is the number one entry, a never-before-revealed secret about the ship that was made exclusive in this video.

Drexler tells TrekCulture that of all the things the ship has, from grappling hooks to buggies that can drive on the ship’s haul and all that jazz, that the coolest addition to the ship is the least technologically advanced. The ship apparently has a fire-mans pole in it. That’s right, just off the right side of the bridge, there’s a pole that leads down into engineering. The gang always hoped to showcase it, but the show never got around to revealing this long-held secret of the Enterprise NX-01.

For a ship that often isn’t given the respect, it deserves, to hear so many cool secrets about the ship really does help raise its profile. While the ship may have borrowed elements from other Trek ships, the reason why I think the ship is often dismissed is due to the show being a prequel. Prequels to long-standing properties aren’t usually as beloved as sequels and spin-offs.

That’s the only way to really rationalize why a great ship, with a great captain (love me some Scott Bakula) and a great show, is often maligned by fans.