Star Trek: Every Bridge Ranked Worst To Best

When Star Trek: Voyager reached the end of its journey, it was announced that a new series--set a century before the time of Kirk and Spock would debut. Star Trek: Enterprise was to chronicle the pre-Federation Starfleet's earliest days of space exploration.

As such, it was unbound by all previous series--instead showcasing how elements which we took as standard in Trek lore came to be. From phasers to transporters, all the way to Red--sorry, Reed alerts, the genesis (no pun intended) of everything starship was up for exploration.

Included in that, was the aesthetic of the bridge set.

Anything that hadn't appeared in the TOS-era by that point, couldn't reasonably be in Enterprise But designers could take what was there, and dial it back a bit. The classic elements of the Captain's chair being in the centre was a shoo-in. The helm stayed at the front and the other vital stations--of which there was less--surrounded it. The screens were muted colours.

The real devolution was in the colouring--whilst TOS onwards had more vibrant hues, Enterprise was all about the practical, industrial--work place in space greys. It isn't easy on the eyes, but it makes sense--United Earth Starfleet were too focused on getting the NX-01 into the cosmos to care about how pretty she was.

Star Trek Beyond's USS Franklin, from the same era, cemented that approach in her similarly monotone, purely function-over-style design.