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This page was first created when filming was just beginning on the pilot episode. We idly speculated on what the ship would look like inside and out and what equipment they would have. And also on races. This has now been updated following broadcast of the first series.

With Series V, not only do the scriptwriters have an unusual challenge by going back in time from their previous shows, they also have to work closely with set and prop designers to get the look and feel right. The visual future of Enterprise needs to fit in with current Star Trek history, but obviously they don't want to be overly constrained by this.

The Enterprise ship: Warp drive was invented less than a hundred years before the show starts, so has had time to be developed, but not to the extent of later ST and it shakes the ship at Warp 5. The ship design is reminiscent of the shape of the TOS-film Enterprise. Interiors needed to be more primitive than later Enterprises (much more naked metal looking - like a navy ship), but at the same time more advanced than we are today - rather a tricky proposition! Do expect more push buttons and manual controls as much more will need to be "hands-on". But will Science Officer T'Pol have those little plastic cards to push in the computer? (The answer to that on is no, not exactly.) Will Navigator Mayweather have a big steering wheel? (That was a joke...) And what kind of chair will Captain Archer have? (A very nice, but functional chair that is not dissimilar to the one on the Defiant really.)

Teleport: As described in our background, transporter technology should be fairly new - certainly developed well after warp drive. So, not only will some people not want to have their atoms scattered, we expect that there are going to be some transporter problems and even a few accidents. Chief Engineer Tucker will have his work cut out keeping the engines, transporters, etc. going. (This is indeed the case. Teleport has been used on people, but only in dire emergencey.)

Communicators: We'll have none of that badge tapping here please. Communicators definitely need to be of the flip-phone variety!

Medical: We know Doctor Phlox has filled sickbay with his own weird equipment, etc. so some exciting new stuff there. (Never-ending source of ideas, interesting and amusing in turns.)

Weaponry: Have they invented laser weapons yet, or phasers or photon torpedos, or ... Weapons Officer Reed will have to find new firepower from other races. (When the show started, the Enterprise was not seriously armed - rectified to some extent quite early on.)

Universal Translator will not be universal. It will handle known languages well, but it will be up to Communications Officer Sato to act as interpreter for other languages, such as Klingon. (As it turns out, they would have been completely lost without Sato's linguistic skills!)

Klingons: The Trouble with Tribbles is that you get old Klingons and new Klingons in the same episode and Worf explains the big differences away as something the Klingons don't talk about. Fine. But what do the Klingons of even a hundred years earlier look like? Well, we can easily see how the look of Klingons in TOS was something that affected them for a period of time, say one century. Perhaps as a result of Suliban genetic meddling? Hey Rick and Brannon, any chance you need an extra scriptwriter? (Well, they haven't asked me to join the scriptwriting yet... bu we are still left with the mystery of how the Klingons chaned physiology for a while ... perhaps involvment with the genetically obsessed Suliban at some point ...?)

Suliban: A new species for the new series, but one we haven't heard of before. So what happens to them in the next hundred years, (or indeed, the next seven years ...)

The Temporal Cold War: The big new thing for this series. And they waste no time in messing with time, having time paradoxes, time police, etc.

Although the special effects will be great, they are incidental. Expect the series to focus on characters, inter-species behavioural differences and understanding, adventure and pioneering discovery. A time for bravery and heroic people at the beginning of our exploration of the final frontier!

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