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

1. Cetacean Ops

I just need to get this sentence out in one concise go, just so the full impact of it absolutely can't get lost in a more detailed unpacking of the particulars. The USS Enterprise-D, had an entire department onboard that was run, staffed, and operated... by dolphins.

Not some dolphin-like Star Trek species called the Flipperinians or something, actual dolphins that you've seen on TV and dated at least two girls with tattoos of. In fact, to be specific, twelve bottlenose and Pacific bottlenose dolphins, under the command of two Takaya Whales. To repeat, The USS Enterprise-D, had an entire department onboard that was run, staffed, and operated... by dolphins... and two whales.

The idea was that, in a few hundred years, we'll have ways to effectively communicate with both of these species and their different approaches to culture, science and reasoning would make them valuable members of the crew. Primarily they'd be tasked with working out complex navigation problems, and helping with xeno-linguistics.

Curse the many gods of western commerce that the cost of ever displaying these was simply too great for 90s television, however some mentions of them were inserted into the show. Geordi LaForge asks someone if they got a chance to see them, and in Yesterday's Enterprise, a Dr Joshua Kim is ordered to "report to Cetacean Ops".

Once more, The USS Enterprise-D, had an entire department onboard that was run, staffed, and operated... by dolphins... and whales... and Dr Joshua Kim.