Discovery will join a long, enduring tradition of iconic ships within theStar Trekfranchise…
The firstStar Trekfilm, 1979sThe Motion Picture, introduced us to the refit Enterprise.
Three years later,The Wrath of Khanshowed us its cousin, the Miranda-class Reliant.
The Search for Spock, however, introduced a bunch of new vessels all by itself.
But, also, they were just plain cool.
Fortunately for Kruge, Enterprise was in no condition for a protracted fight.
Preeeeeeeetty sure thats a war crime.
Presumably, Starfleet would be eager to recover it for study, but its never mentioned.
Other Birds-of-Prey opposed Kirk again in the next two movies.
It could also blow up without decloaking.
Two backed up the Enterprise-D in The Defector, decloaking to stare down two Romulan warbirds.
Two others, acquired by Ferengi pirates, attacked the Enterprise-D in Rascals.
Most other appearances occurred during stories involving political upheaval in the Klingon empire.
Sometimes, it was a small scout ship, while sometimes it was a formidable battle cruiser.
To be fair, the reused footage was tinted a bit less orange.
Deep Space Ninesaw even greater use of the Bird-of-Prey.
Not the view you want out the window of your dilapidated Cardassian station.
Humans and Ferengi werent the only ones to steal Birds-of-Prey.
He continued using it for about a year, until Cardassia joined the Dominion.
They really should encrypt the controls on those things.
Excelsior
How can you not love a ship good enough to become an Enterprise?
Its quite possible the ship was up on proverbial blocks for years while it was re-engineered.
Not untilStar Trek VI: The Undiscovered Countrydid Excelsior come into her own.
She later rushed to Khitomer in time to help a battered Enterprise-A destroy the renegade Changs ship.
Even after encountering Praxis shockwave, the only reported casualties were Sulus tea cup and saucer.
InGenerations, a more extensively refit Excelsior-class starship was christened the latest U.S.S.
Amazingly, not reused footage.
Between those movies in the real-world timeline, that is The Next Generationwas airing on television.
The Enterprise-D alongside the Potemkin.
Or maybe the Crazy Horse.
Also possibly the Cairo, Gorkon, or Repulse, depending which episode was using this stock footage.
That changed somewhat onDeep Space Nine.
The fan wiki Memory Alpha counts 31 episodes in which an Excelsior-class ship appears.
Many times it was just in the background, orbiting the station or present for fleet actions.
Its next prominent role was in the fourth-season episode Paradise Lost.
Lakota, a refit model like the Enterprise-B, exchanged fire with the U.S.S.
Defiant under false information that the latter was controlled by enemy agents.
This incident was the only other time the refit punch in was seen.
Other Excelsior-class ships served prominently in Dominion War space battles.
The Hood, after appearing peacefully inTNG, survived combat through the whole war.
Excelsior herself was featured in a Voyager episode marking Star Treks 30th anniversary, Flashback.
Perhaps it was inevitable.
The models first television appearance didnt go much better.
Then the Enterprise pushed Tsiolkovsky into a stellar fragment to avoid getting smacked, with predictably explosive results.
Fun fact: tsiolkovsky is Russian for make big boom.
The ship continued to suffer in laterTNGappearances.
Why did we accept this assignment again?
The Oberth model wasnt always doomed, though.
On several occasions inTNG, it rendezvoused uneventfully with the Enterprise to transfer passengers.
Aww, look at em.
The models career is painstakingly detailed on fan site Ex Astris Scientia.
Anybody see those as tusks on the Sheliak ship?
Either that or UPS.
After that, most space shots were done with CGI instead of physical models.
Bonus ship Earth Spacedock
Before Yorktown Base inStar Trek Beyond, there was Spacedock.
Enterprise spends nearly half ofThe Search for Spockthere.
Even decades later, these ships help theStar Trekuniverse feel like home.
