The Next Generation Enterprise was a… well, hell, what kind of ship was it anyway?
It had all kinds of science labs, but was clearly not a dedicated survey/research vessel. There were numerous diplomatic missions, but it wasn’t what I’d call a diplomatic vessel. There were a lot of kids aboard, but it sure as heck wasn’t a day-care center. It had weapons, but didn’t look or “feel” like a warship.
What it seemed to be, in fact, was a space-going Swiss army knife, i.e. it could do a lot of things at least half-assed, but nothing particularly well. At least that was the impression I came away with, but I assume it was built with some specific purpose in mind.
What was the thing principally designed to do?
Standard Exgineer Star Trek Disclaimer:
I’ve seen every episode of TOS multiple times, and about the first half of TNG before I lost interest. I caught a few episodes of Deep Space Nine in its first season, but nothing in any of the other series. I’ve seen all the movies up to and including “Generations” but nothing after that. I’m not what you would call knowledgeable.
You’re right that there was no overall “mission”, and the ship had whatever background characters/equipment necessary for a partiular episode. I’ve no doubt there were numerous consecutive episodes where the 1701-D was charting a new sector (implying they were on the edge of explored space) yet the following week were conveying some Federation diplomats (implying they were travelling well within known space).
CUT TO interior of medieval hall. A large group of armoured KNIGHTS are
engaged in a well choreographed song-and-dance routine of the very up-beat
‘If they could see me now’ type of fast bouncy number. The poorer verses
are made clearer by CUTTING to a group of knights actually engaged in
the described task while the line itself is sung. They sing:
The Enterprise-D was a Galaxy class ship that, if I have the canon correctly, was originally designed for ultra-deep space exploration, including a possible expedition to the galactic core and back! It was the nearest thing the Federation has ever built to a spaceark.
I dunno about that, since the Enterprise-A had already been to the galactic core (in the fifth film).
The source of your memory may be a throwaway reference in the early pages of the novelization of the second movie, which described new “Galaxy-class” ships capable of Warp 12, one of which was headed for Andromeda.
You wouldn’t know a cunning deception if one one dressed up in a hat with “Cunning Deception” written on it jumped up on top of a harpsichord singing “Cunning deceptions are here again.”
Imagine a modern aircraft carrier.
Now imagine it without a bunch of planes, just a few.
Hey… I don’t have my copy of the tech manual near to hand… <smiley class=‘happygeek’> but isn’t there a bit near there where they quickly mention how galaxy class fits into a classification system for starfleet ships… cruiser is mentioned there IIRC, maybe patrol, research, and/or scout. Can you find that place??
I’m wondering if enterprise-D was listed as just ‘starship’, as ‘multipurpose’ or possibly even just as an enormous ‘scout’
<smiley class=‘happygeek’> but isn’t there a bit near there where they quickly mention how galaxy class fits into a classification system for starfleet ships… cruiser is mentioned there IIRC, maybe patrol, research, and/or scout. Can you find that place??
