It is tough to think about a model of “Star Trek” whereby the central starship was not known as the Enterprise. And “Enterprise” is, in fact, a implausible identify for a starship residing in an egalitarian, utopian way forward for togetherness and world unity. For one, the identify is conceptual; it isn’t named after something on Earth, eschewing any geocentricity. “Star Trek” can too usually be geocentric, involved extra with the plight and private particulars of people and Earth than of its alien characters or their respective homeworlds. “Enterprise” ensures a component of neutrality.
Additionally, an “enterprise” is a grand factor to undertake. The identify implies that the ship is on an energetic mission. The ship just isn’t known as the usComplacency. Moreover, the summary noun “enterprise” does not bear any type of jingoistic underpinnings. Had the ship been known as, say, the usFreedom and even the usIndependence, it will really feel markedly American. Not that america has a copyright on the phrases “freedom” and “independence,” however these phrases are usually used on this nation’s distinctive model of brazen, boring, ultra-patriotic rhetoric. “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry did not need his present to vaunt America. He needed it to vaunt humanity.
However that wasn’t at all times the case. Within the early days of growth, whereas Roddenberry was nonetheless inventing the names of the characters and starships in “Star Trek,” he briefly envisioned a spacecraft known as the usYorktown. This was a reputation taken from the real-life WWII-era plane provider, initially commissioned in 1937. The Yorktown sunk on the battle of Halfway in 1942 and stays on the ground of the Atlantic Ocean.
It wasn’t till Roddenberry discovered about one other real-life WWII-era plane provider that he renamed his fictional starship the usEnterprise.
The united statesEnterprise was named after an actual plane provider
The true USS Enterprise served similtaneously the Yorktown, commissioned in 1938. It fought principally within the Asia-Pacific warfare and, not like the Yorktown, survived the battle. It was certainly one of solely three ships to take action. The Enterprise was decommissioned in 1947. Roddenberry appreciated the story of the Enterprise, and traded out the identify.
The identify Yorktown did find yourself showing in “Star Trek,” having been utilized to a famous assist craft. A USS Yorktown was talked about within the unique collection episode “Obsession” (December 15, 1967), and it was presumably the identical Yorktown that discovered itself below assault by a large area probe in “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Dwelling.” Yorktown was additionally the identify of the large, ring-like area station within the 2016 movie “Star Trek Past.” If one appears to be like intently, one also can see ships known as Yorktown on manifests or merely crusing by within the background on “Star Trek: The Subsequent Era” and “Star Trek: Picard,” respectively.
“Enterprise,” sadly, wasn’t in a position to totally escape its American origins. It is acknowledged repeatedly all through the unique “Star Trek” collection that the ship is a Structure-class vessel. And whereas the phrase “structure” does imply the identical factor as fortitude, American viewers will doubtless assume simply as a lot of america Structure, one of many nation’s founding paperwork. Additionally, the ship known as the usS. Enterprise and people first three letters are additionally American-inflected. Within the canon of “Star Trek,” USS stands for United Starship, however USS additionally occurs to face for United States Ship within the fashionable navy.
In “Star Trek: The Subsequent Era,” the nomenclature was altered barely to be extra impartial. The Enterprise-D is a Galaxy-class starship.