Star Trek: 10 Secrets Of The USS Enterprise E You Need To Know

10. Enterprise-Turk-E

The design process for the USS Enterprise-E actually began before the script for Star Trek: First Contact was even completed. After the destruction of the Enterprise-D in 1994's Star Trek Generations, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine illustrator John Eaves began work on the new Enterprise as early as 1995.

Eaves' initial sketches incorporated his own favorite elements of Enterprises past with the sleek lines of the USS Voyager, eliminating the dorsal neck and rotating the oval-shaped saucer of the Galaxy-class Enterprise-D to give the ship the illusion of forward motion. Like Voyager, Eaves' new Enterprise possessed forward swept warp nacelle pylons that pivoted up when ship engaged its warp drive.

According to Eaves, "considerable work" was done on the Enterprise-E in this configuration and the ship was nearly finalized when producer Rick Berman took another look at the design and made the realization: "'It looks like a big turkey in a pan."

This observation sent Star Trek: First Contact's art department back to the drawing board and the ship was revised to eliminate the any turkey-like design elements, which is kind of a shame given Star Trek: First Contact's Thanksgiving 1996 release date.