Favorite Enterprise and why?

[TwoJakes]

s like I keep saying: Starfleet is military, but it is not militaristic.

Except when it needs to be, then it's very very militaristic.

From the last Abrams movie, it sounds like a ship being assigned to a five year mission of exploration was somewhat unusual. Prime universe Kirk's ship was so assigned, so apparently was Tracy's. Decker's ship not necassarily, what we saw could have been simply patroling. We saw a large number of ships in one episode conducting war games.

So, seeking out new life and new civilizations might not be a typical duty for the bulk of Starfleet vessels.

 

[B.J.]

^ It sounded to me that the duration, not the mission of exploration itself, was the unusual part of the assignment.

 

[The Wormhole]

So, seeking out new life and new civilizations might not be a typical duty for the bulk of Starfleet vessels.

Seeking out new life and new civilizations isn't even what typical TOS episodes were about anyway.

 

[Thot Tnak]

Seeking out new life and new civilizations isn't even what typical TOS episodes were about anyway.

Nonsense.

We could easily go through an A-Z of races and cultures discovered during TOS!

The primary exploration ship during the time of Star Trek: TOS was the Constitution-class cruiser of which the USS Enterprise was the most famous ship of that line. There were 12 such ships engaged in the second exploratory phase of the Federation as it began to expand and meet other alien species. This expansion would eventually be limited by the Romulan Neutral Zone and the border to Klingon Space.

 

[The Wormhole]

Nonsense.

We could easily go through an A-Z of races and cultures discovered during TOS!

The primary exploration ship during the time of Star Trek: TOS was the Constitution-class cruiser of which the USS Enterprise was the most famous ship of that line. There were 12 such ships engaged in the second exploratory phase of the Federation as it began to expand and meet other alien species. This expansion would eventually be limited by the Romulan Neutral Zone and the border to Klingon Space.

Let's look at the first five episodes of each season of TOS:

The Man Trap is about the Enterprise checking up on someone else doing the exploring.
Charlie X features the Enterprise transporting a passenger.
Where No Man Has Gone Before is about exploring
The Naked Time the Enterprise is responding to a distress call and investigating mysterious deaths.
The Enemy Within does feature exploration
Amok Time is about getting Spock home to Vulcan for his wedding (so to speak).
Who Mourns For Adonais is about the Enterprise being pulled away from its duty by an alien douche posing as a god.
The Changeling they are defending themselves from a probe bent on destruction.
Mirror, Mirror starts with the Enterprise negotiating for Dilithium crystals before the plot about the MU begins
The Apple is about exploring
Spock's Brain they are attacked by aliens and follow them to their planet to retrieve Spock's brain.
The Enterprise Incident is a military mission. No other way to look at that.
The Paradise Syndrome is about exploration.
And the Children Shall Lead is answering a distress call.
Is there in Truth no Beauty is about the Enterprise transporting an alien dignitary.

So out of those fifteen episodes only four are actually about exploration, with one more related to exploration. I can go through every TOS episode if need be to back up my claim.

 

[TwoJakes]

I make it 18 out of 79 episodes, call it 23%. Where a episode falls in terms of exploration/first contact is sometimes debatable.

Take Galileo Seven (which I left off), while there was exploration it wasn't the ship's primary mission, delivering medical supplies was.

The Enemy Within
Miri
The Corbomite Maneuver
The Return of The Archons
This Side Of Paradise
The Alternative Factor
The City On The Edge Of Forever
Who Mourns For Adonais?
The Apple
The Doomsday Machine
Catspaw
Obsession
A Private Little War
Spectre Of The Gun
Wink Of An Eye
That Which Survives
The Savage Curtain
All Our Yesterdays

 

[The Old Mixer]

I think it's hard to take exploration out of the equation where there's errand-running involved...the reason they're the ones running errands to far-flung outposts is because they're the only ones out there to do it. The outposts themselves are part of an environment that's still being explored.

 

[The Wormhole]

Out of those episodes, the ones I'd argue aren't really about exploration:
This Side of Paradise, in that they were checking up on colonists.
The Alternative Factor they were investigating Lazarus under orders from Starfleet Command.
The City on the Edge of Forever starts with them investigating the time distortions, and they only check out the planet because drugged-up McCoy beamed himself down. From there on, it becomes a time travel story.
Who Mourns for Adonais I already covered.
The Doomsday Machine starts with them rendering aid to the Constellation and then leads to fighting the Machine.
A Private Little War isn't really exploring. The planet was already charted by Starfleet, indeed Kirk was on the mission to study the planet in his youth. This was mostly military stuff between the Enterprise, the Klingons and the inhabitants.
The Savage Curtain it was the Excalbians who sought the Enterprise out and brought them to their planet, at which point they were forced to fight history's villains.

 

[J.T.B.]

I attempted to categorize the TOS missions once:

It was a little trickier than I thought. I went with what the ship was assigned to do before plot complications, and if the assignment wasn't stated before, say, responding to a distress call, I count that as I figure it was part of standing orders. Much of that could come under the broader heading of something like "frontier patrol," of course.

The "unknown" was "I, Mudd," I don't know what the ship was doing before Norman hijacked it.

 

[The Wormhole]

Interesting graph. In fact, the simple truth of the matter is, despite the party line being that Star Trek is about exploration, very little exploring is done in the franchise. TOS and TNG claim seeking out new life to be their mission statements, but very few episodes of either are about that. In fact, I'm pretty sure they visit more planets and races already known to the Federation in TNG than unknown. DS9 is about a space station, Voyager is a ship trying to get home. Enterprise is the only show that was purely about exploration, and even they abandoned that premise by the third season.

And as for the movies, though we see other Starfleet ships exploring in TWOK and TSFS, STID is the only movie to feature the Enterprise doing any exploring, and even then only in the opening scene.

 

[TheSubCommander]

For me, the Enterprise refit/Enterprise-A will always be my favorite. I think it is a timeless classic beauty, that still looks as good today, as it did in 1979. I have build quite a few models of the Enterprise refit/A over the years, in varying scales, or collected them (IE Art Asylum, Johnny Lightning, Hot Wheels, etc).

Then it is the TOS Enterprise and Enterprise-D tied for #2, the NX01 at #3, Enterprise-E for # 4, Enterprise-C for #5, and Enterprise-B for #6. AGT Enterprise-D as the best alternate timeline/universe ship of any genre, ever, and Abrams Enterprise, for an honorable mention.

 

[TwoJakes]

The Alternative Factor they were investigating Lazarus under orders from Starfleet Command.

No (iirc) they were originally doing a standard survey of the planet.

The City on the Edge of Forever starts with them investigating the time distortions ...

Think of it this way, what was their mission before they (usually) get sidetracked?

A Private Little War isn't really exploring

They were there to investigate natural resources for medical uses (plants), that is scientific exploration.

 

[Kor]

I find the notion of exploration to be more symbolic... exploring the human condition, rather than literally spending every episode on a mission of scientific exploration.

Kor

 

[J.T.B.]

Regardless of how much actual exploring they do, what they are shown doing are exactly the kinds of things that navy (military) cruisers of nations with overseas colonies were doing 100-200 years ago.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Not all exploration is of the scientific variety either. It can also include investigating things close to home, like why a certain outpost has gone silent or the whereabouts of another ship that's gone missing.

 

[somebuddyX]

Well I voted for Enterprise-A. It was my Enterprise when I was growing up. I love both of the TOS film Enterprise's but since the original is more associated with the TOS design in my mind, when I think of the refit design I think of the A. I think it was great in both film appearances and really love it's look in Trek 6 with the more militaristic look and feel to it, the bridge set, the crew bustling about getting shit done with no cadets or space pyjamas, and probably because I hate the goddamn replicators and food slots, I loved seeing the galley. It was also a blast when it turned up The Ashes of Eden but also when Pike commanded it in the alternate future of Star Trek: Early Voyages. I love all the Enterprises though

 

[TwoJakes]

Not all exploration is of the scientific variety either.

No it wouldn't be. But the original point was made, exploration is only about a quarter (more or less) of what the Enteprise does. The ship is tasked with a wide variety duties, just like the military ships of centuries past were.

 

[Relayer1]

1701 Refit for me, narrowly edging out the 'E'.

Most disliked ? The squat, unbalanced, squashed and ugly 'D'.

 

[Kor]

Most disliked ? The squat, unbalanced, squashed and ugly 'D'.

I'm glad I'm not the only one with this opinion.

Kor

 

[wayoung]

I'm glad I'm not the only one with this opinion.

Kor

Ugliest by far.