Enterprise, the character

[publiusr]

There was a TV interview, where Shatner was asked if he thought Enterprise was a character, and he said "no." I can't remember what it was from.

There was this burb about Gene looking at the Enterprise the way folks thought of B-17s, where folks in Vietnam thought nothing about junky one Huey, and then just getting another.

The only love I've seen for a ship recently is on One Piece for the Going Mary.
Triton and the S.S. United States deserved the same love.

If Trek only featured a ho-hum 1950's rocketship, it would have died a long time ago.

Enterprise is a smiling swan after all--and the design gets a lot of things right.

http://www.goldennumber.net/uss-enterprise-golden-ratio-design/
http://www.physics.uq.edu.au/lp/lasdiag/enterp.php
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=220092

The image shows that the designers certainly knew their stuff - at this speed, the bow shocks pass comfortably outside the other sections of the vehicle

Still, Jefferies got it right with his first choice--a ringship--for FTL. The ship has to be the nacelle, after all.

 

[Elder Knight]

I find it interesting that only one of the Enterprise captains refers to the ship as "her" when reading the "final frontier" speech.

It's Spock.

To the other, (emotional) human captains, the ship is an "it."

 

[HIjol]

I find it interesting that only one of the Enterprise captains refers to the ship as "her" when reading the "final frontier" speech.

It's Spock.

To the other, (emotional) human captains, the ship is an "it."

excellent catch...Nimoy felt it...i know he did...

 

[Lance]

Yet, there She is...her sleek design sliding inside our esthete...ample nacelles and all...her trailing scent a hint of dilithium mixed with a touch of warp core fluid...her silken duranium/tritanium alloy skin whispering as she goes by...saucer section fully detachable to slip out of danger...leaving the battle bridge to defend her...and her armaments...

Oh, her armaments...

Photon (say it, "photon") torpedoes...such shafts of power...phasers...note how to even pronounce her attributes of strength forces our teeth beneath our lips..."fffffaser"..."fffffoton"...and her delivery systems?...multiple rapid fire high power cannons of such delicious potential for obliteration...the little death?...perhaps...

...shuttle bay welcoming shuttle craft home...womb-like...opening...closing...affirming...releasing again...

...she will take each one of your atoms...EACH one...take them deep into her buffers...close...perfectly...and when she is done, reform you with utter precision...and she will do it as many times as you like...

even the command,

"Energize"...

...oh, yes...we want that...we write about it...we ponder its power and effect...

And finally...her speed...sub...for some...1/2 light...for others slightly more bold...but for those who are truly not afraid, Warps of speed...2...Four (play?)....7,8,9, and the peak...9.9....barely survivable...but what memories if one did...aching...heaving speed...

...see her...need her...want her...She is...

Enterprise...Ode to a Lady...

Wow... I... uh, I think I need a shower after reading that.

 

[Captain Rob]

I think someone's been in the desert too long.

 

[Gov Kodos]

On a horse with no name?

 

[2takesfrakes]

The Original Series, and perhaps, THE MOTION PICTURE, treated the ENTERPRISE like a "Lady." As I recall, in TOS, the ship's computer even flirted with Kirk in his quarters once, after its personality had been modified at some starbase, or another. And in TMP, is that just a look of Kirk's or is it The Look of Love, when he gazes at the refurbished ENTERPRISE, suspended in dry dock, full-on? If I didn't know better, I'd say he was smitten! He looks like a Groom who's gotten his first good look at his Bride-to-Be in her wedding gown. He's slightly nervous, but mostly dazzled by her beauty ... and the power of the moment. After TMP, Kirk got what he wanted from her ... and is completely over it. In the next movie, she's used up ... and in the movie after that ... tossed aside!