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

8. It Nearly Didn't Exist At All

It's almost impossible to imagine any Star Trek show taking place without an iconic Starfleet vessel there to navigate with, but the original concept work for The Next Generation gave serious consideration to that very notion.

Worried about the reaction the public might have to a "new Enterprise" not living up to the original, several options were discussed. Producers originally planned to have the show set nearly two centuries after the Original Series, with giant strides forward in transporter technology entirely eliminating the need for starships. The crew, instead, would be based on earth simply sent out 'on mission' from there.

Thankfully this idea was scrapped early on in the development stage, and designs for a USS Enterprise NCC-1701-7 were commissioned. Then when Star Trek II cataloged its Enterprise as NCC 1701-A, the Next Generation adapted to match with the NCC 1701-G before eventually setting the show chronologically nearer to its forebears with the D.