ENT ship was modeled after nuclear submarine

The Enterprise on ENT had a unique look

Those of us who watched Star Trek: The Original Series, The Next Generation, and even Voyager were used to the sleekly-designed ships. Inside, they were comfortable and resembled a cruise ship with all the modern comforts. So it came as quite a surprise when Star Trek: Enterprise debuted in 2001, and viewers got a look at what was considered the first Enterprise to take to the skies. It didn’t look…well…normal to us, especially the interior, but there’s a reason for that.

The producers of ENT didn’t want the comforts of home aboard the first Enterprise. In face, they wanted it to be the exact opposite which was why Rick Berman, Brannon Braga, and Herman Zimmerman went to the naval base in San Diego and toured nuclear submarines to get an idea of what they were looking for. They wanted to see what it was like to feel confined in a small space. And, according to Brannon Braga who was quoted in The Fifty-Year Mission The Next 25 Years, the newest version of the Enterprise was rudimentary, cramped, and “much cooler than any of the ships we’d designed so far.”

The fans weren’t impressed with the ENT design

It’s no surprise that Star Trek fans are an outspoken bunch, and they had plenty to say about the design of Captain Jonathan Archer’s ship. They didn’t like it. At all. In an interview with TrekWeb, Geoffrey Mandel, who was the scenic artist for the first season of Enterprise, called the fan criticism “completely groundless,” and said that “the NX-01 is streamlined and elegant, and looks good from almost any angle.” But that is the exterior and certainly his opinion. What about the interior?

While I personally liked the NX-01 both inside and out, many, many fans though the quarters were too cramped, that it was too claustrophobic, and too simplistic. But when you consider that it was designed based on a nuclear submarine, the close quarters makes sense.

Mandel said that Berman and Braga had “very strong opinions and knew exactly what they wanted. There was an earlier version of the NX-01 with a secondary hull and dorsal fin, but the general feeling was that it looked too much like the TOS Enterprise.” And that was something the producers were trying to avoid. They certainly succeeded, but it does make one wonder what the Enterprise will look like when Captain Pike takes command in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.