Star Trek: 10 Secrets Of The USS Excelsior

As early as Star Trek: The Next Generation's first season, it was logically assumed by the Star Trek art department that the Enterprise-B was an Excelsior-class starship, leading to the incorporation of an Excelsior-class Enterprise-B relief sculpture in the Enterprise-D's observation lounge.

When it finally came time to actually show the Enterprise-B in action in Star Trek Generations, it was decided that the ship would be depicted using the existing USS Excelsior filming miniature, though heavily modified. Illustrator John Eaves and Industrial Light & Magic were contracted to revamp the ship, adding fin-like sections to either side of the secondary hull, new nacelle caps to the warp nacelles, additional impulse engines to the saucer section, and giving the entire ship a new turquoise paint scheme, replacing the original blue color pallet.

In order to preserve the original Excelsior, these changes were carefully incorporated into the ship's design as add-ons, intended to be purely cosmetic and temporarily affixed to the miniature. However, the extensive changes and repaint ultimately proved impossible to remove without permanently damaging the model and therefore remained unchanged until it was sold for $132,000 (US) at the 40 Years of Star Trek: The Collection auction in 2006.