"This model represents a high-water mark of craftsmanship that has yet to be surpassed."      -Phil Broad, The Model Builders Reference Vault   

Origins of the Enterprise Design

In 1978, movie viewers where stunned by the incredible beauty and sleek lines of the Refit Star Ship Enterprise, in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, which had just underwent an 18-month long upgrade and refit. The story of the refit Enterprise, really begins with the late 50s show Wagon Train, which was a successful television series about "pioneers traveling through the unsettled territories to reach California". When the show ended its eighth season, in 1965, Gene Roddenberry pitched the concept for a new show that would be a  'Wagon Train', to the Stars.

In the 60s, the benchmark for dramatic science fiction was Lost in Space and the popular image of futuristic space travel was the flying saucer. When Roddenberry asked Matt Jefferies to design the space ship for the show it’s only natural that the first concept looked like a flying saucer. Roddenberry wanted something large enough for a crew of a hundred people, which could travel at incredible speeds, so he had Jefferies go back to the drawing board. The next proposal was the now fimiliar, but still mysterious  ‘ring ship’ from Star Trek: The Motion Picture (and seen in Star Trek: ENTERPRISE) and was eventually used as the Starship Lincoln in another show that never aired. Other proposed designs, that where not  used, became the SS Leif Ericson Galactic Cruiser. and the Klingon Battle Cruiser (which has it's own story). Eventually, the sketches led to the now familiar ship seen in the show.

Star Trek, The Original Series

The eleven-foot model that we see in the original television show was built by Richard Datin, to Jeffries and Roddenberry's specifications. It's interesting to note that only one side of the engineering hull was finished. The port side was unfinished, with an opening for the wiring, to control the lights. If the script called for a port-side shot, they showed the image backwards.  There where actually, two models made, for filming the original television show, the eleven-foot studio model, a smaller  3-foot model (now lost), the well known 11-foot studio model, and later, for an episode of Deep Space-9, Greg Jein made a new model of the original Enterprise, including a much higher level of detal, for the higher resolution of newer cameras. William McCullar's The IDIC Page  details the history and technical aspects of the Original Studio Model. In 1974, the model was donated to the Smithsonian, where it was renovated and can be seen today, hanging over a gift shop.

Star Trek Phase II

In 1975, there There was talk about reviving Star Trek, in the mid-1970s. First, Paramount began pre-production work on a movie called  Planet of the Titans, which was halted in favor of making a new television series instead. The preliminary work on the movie included building a new studio model of the Enterprise, which would have been the Adam/McQuarrie Enterprise (left), which had a flat, wedge-shaped engineering hull.  Star Trek, Phase II would be the premere show on the new Paramount Television Channel (as Star trek: VOYAGER was, with UPN, years later). Paramount didn't create the new network and the new television show was changed to be a feature film instead. With new production staff, the decision was made, to shelve the new model and start over from scratch.

from THE ART OF STAR TREK:
”With the Adam/McQuarrie Enterprise* abandoned, Roddenberry asked Jefferies to update the famous Starship to reflect the refit that would be part of the new series back-story. Jefferies redesign changed the engine nacelles from tubes to thin flat-side modules and tapered their supports. He also added the distinctive photon torpedo ports on the saucer connector.
Unlike the first redesign of the Enterprise, Jefferies new version was built this time by Don Loose, who had build the original ship for TOS. But when Paramount abandoned ist planes to create a fourth television network and subsequently transformed the second Star Trek series into the first Star Trek movie, that Enterprise was packed away as movie Director Robert Wiese brough in a new art Director - Harold Michaelson - who started a second redesign of the ship, essentially keeping Jefferies new lines, while adding the extensive detail that was necessary for a motion-picture miniature.”

Star Trek The Motion Picture

For Star Trek: The Motion Picture, the Phase II model was given a facelift. It had to make it look like the original television show Enterprise... but refit. the secondary hull got a little fatter, the warp nacelles got sleeker, the fantale looked more modern, and the ship had a 'torpedo deck' added to the interconnecting dorsal. During production, the decision was made to scrap the Phase II model in favor of making a new model, from scratch, that would be larger and easier to mount on the filming frame. The biggest changes was to the interior, with sets that looked reminiscent of the original sets, but much more modern, or all together different, as in the case of Engineering. Graphic Artist, Andrew Probert, had a big hand in how the interior of the Engineering hull looked. He sketched-out the decks and placement of the different areas. Something that had only been vaguely assumed in the Television show.   His principal work was matt paintings of the Cargo Deck and Shuttle bay. During production, David Kimble drew 'official' blueprints of several ships and sets of the movie and also created the stunning cut-away poster, which has the distinction of being 'official', because he was involved with the production. Besides the unique shape of the Refit Enterprise, the most striking aspect was the detailed paint work. Paul Olsen was the talented airbrush artist that was given the opertunity to paint the Enterprise and is mainly responsible for perfecting the 'Aztec' paneling look.  While there was no official MAKING of the ENTERPRISE information collected at the time, Startrek.com has added a page for behind-the-scenes pictures, taken in 1978-79, with much never before seen information.

From Paul Olsen's Star Trek web page:
"Every inch of my handiwork was going to be scrutinized by camera shots just inches away from the surface and then blown up on huge screens all over the world to be further scrutinized by thousands of meticulous Trekkies all over that world. Since the director, the very charming and dauntingly talented Doug Trumbull, had not yet worked out his sequence of shots and camera angles with Tom Cranham, the illustrator (who became one of my best friends), every inch of the Enterprise had to be perfect. PER-R-R-R-FECT. I used the new pearlescent lacquers which had just come on the market and the Enterprise looked like an opal when finished".-Paul Olsen

Retirement, after 6 movies and 20 years of service