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

This one was sleuthed out by "pure genius" YouTuber JunkBall Media, but it's worth relaying here: The deflector dish of the USS Enterprise-E was a very different design when the model was completed and photographed for Star Trek: First Contact's promotional materials than how it appeared in the finished movie.

According to veteran Star Trek illustrator Michael Okuda, the change was a last minute decision. As the script for Star Trek: First Contact evolved, the big action sequence on the hull of the Enterprise-E was streamlined to take place entirely on the deflector dish, necessitating a full-sized set to be constructed. Rather than a perfectly smooth, blue dish, the production opted for a more detailed design using orange lighting, requiring an 11th hour change to the Enterprise-E's studio model to reflect that new design.

Nevertheless, images of this version of the Enterprise-E are still floating around today, occasionally cropping up in officially licensed materials, but mostly relegated to the toys, comic books, and chocolate bars released to promote Star Trek: First Contact in 1996.