Star Trek: 10 Times Canon Got In The Way
5. History Conveniently Forgets The Name Enterprise
History never forgets the name Enterprise.
Well, that's not actually correct because thanks to the launch of Enterprise in 2001 that's precisely what it looks like happened in the 23rd and 24th Centuries.
Chronologically the Scott Bakula led series precedes TOS and leaves the franchise with a huge problem. On several occasions throughout the years there are several nods to how many starships have been named Enterprise with the two most prominent being in Trials and Tribble-ations and Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Temporal Investigations agents Dulmer and Lucsly note that there have been six named Enterprise. In the first of the movies, Decker shows Probe Ilia a series of pictures of the previous vehicles named Enterprise including the fabled XCV ring ship, the space shuttle, and a sailing ship but no NX-01.
In reality, there was no way that in 1978 the writers of The Motion Picture would be considering that 23 years time someone might want to create a prequel series to a short-lived 1960s series and use the Enterprise moniker for it. The way that they do attempt to get around this is by having the vessel part of the Earth fleet prior to the foundation of the Federation but that only closes a few doors and leaves the rec deck photos as a glaring error in the timeline.