The Enterprise crew
rediscovers the long-missing Bonaventure inside a space anomaly in the Delta Triangle in
TAS: "The Time Trap". No date is mentioned as to when the
ship was lost. Scotty's statement from the episode that the
Bonaventure was "the first ship to have warp drive
installed" is inconsistent with several accounts from
live-action Star Trek, most notably "First Contact" where we
actually saw the first (Earth) ship with warp drive, namely the
Phoenix. In an attempt to reconcile the Bonaventure with modern Star
Trek history and particularly with the already
shaky development history
of warp propulsion, his line may be re-interpreted in a way that
she was more precisely the first starship with a modern warp drive
like the Enterprise NCC-1701 has one. In any case Scotty's statement
is unusually inaccurate, for he of all people should know exactly what
warp drive actually means.
Pertaining to the Bonaventure's age, Spock adds to Scotty's
discovery of the long-lost ship that "the crew's
descendants may still be living", thereby implying that at
least roughly a century has passed since her disappearance.
Still, the re-interpretation in favor of a somewhat newer ship would
work better in consideration of the Bonaventure's look which is not
remotely like either the NX-01 or even the Phoenix but undeniably a
disfigured version of the Constitution class. Even the markings on the
vessel and the uniform patches are almost like in TOS. The Bonaventure
has all the features of a Federation Starfleet ship, but how could the
Federation be founded in the first place without warp drive? It is not the fault of
the revisionist tendencies of modern Star Trek that the Bonaventure
doesn't fit in, but it posed already a
continuity problem at the time the episode was made. At that time the
ship must have been intended to be more than 200 years old, so as to
predate the unseen Valiant from TOS: "Where No Man Has Gone
Before" which must have been a warp vessel.
To add to the confusion, Starfleet veteran Sarah April says she was
"the first medical officer aboard a ship equipped with warp drive"
in TAS: "The Counter-Clock Incident". While this is not
exactly the same as "the medical officer on the first ship with
warp drive", it still tells us that her service must have been
soon after the launch of the Bonaventure, and possibly on the
Bonaventure herself, luckily ending before the vessel's disappearance.
It is just too obvious that a big ship like the Bonaventure would be
in need of a medical officer just like any vessel of the NX-01 era
too. So rather than being mistaken about the nature of warp drive like
Scotty (which in her case would be rather forgivable), Sarah April may
exaggerate a great deal. Or does she just mean she was the
"first (=chief) medical officer" on no particularly
important warp ship, which would pose no problem at all? This doesn't
seem so, as she puts too much emphasis on "first", and Kirk
agrees with her that she used to be a pioneer in space.
The matter is even more complicated because the first
warp ship, as depicted in the first edition of the Star
Trek Chronology, is shown in DS9 episodes on a wall display with the label "Bonaventure". The
name is evidently a homage to the TAS vessel, yet along with a drastically different
design. It is never readable on screen though.
The ship's length of ca. 212m results from a structural comparison
with the Constitution class. At 212m the saucer rim (corresponding to
two decks) is the same height on both vessels. The lower part of the
saucer is the same size too, and it even has largely the same
proportions which may be taken as further evidence that the
Bonaventure can't be too old.
The Constitution class is the fastest and most powerful ship type of
Starfleet.
Known ships
USS Enterprise NCC-1701
Annotations
The animated Constitution class
must be essentially identical to its counterpart
from the live-action series, the motion-controlled miniature, considering that the Enterprise is
supposed to still be the very same ship. We should discount the slightly different proportions like
the too long secondary hull, the deflector dish which looks like a
cylinder rather than a bowl in the front view and the overall level of detail as shortcomings of the animated Constitution,
notwithstanding that this vessel is still the most carefully drawn ship of
the series.
Real differences to the TOS version can be found inside the ship. Most
obviously the bridge has two turbolifts in TAS. While the single shaft
was visible on the outside on the TOS Enterprise, there doesn't seem
to be one on the animated version which, again, may be attributed to a
lacking level of detail. Besides an engine room which is redressed
once again since TOS, the animated Enterprise also has a
impressively spacious room (TAS: "One of Our Planets is Missing") with
tubes resembling the plasma conduits of later incarnations of
Federation ships. Scotty is speaking of an "antimatter
nacelle" though, which sounds like an awkward amalgamation of two
components which should be distinct. If it is a part of engineering,
we arguably haven't seen this part of engineering
during TOS, although it certainly must have existed. Furthermore the
Enterprise is equipped with what we could call a fully functional
holodeck, here modestly designated as "Rec Room" (TAS:
"The Practical Joker"). Aside from being inconsistent with
statements about holotechnology being a very recent development in TNG, it is obvious
that the Enterprise must have been refitted with such a rec room
between TOS and TAS.
I assume that the arrowhead badges worn by the crew are still the
same as in TOS, although they are not rounded in TAS and tilted to the
left.
Cargo drones are automated vessels capable of warp speed.
Known ships
(Name unknown) NCC-G1465
Annotations
Two unmanned cargo drones were
featured in TAS: "More Tribbles, More Troubles". They
appeared to be a bit less than half as long as the Enterprise.
The design of the cargo drone, made into a CGI model and with a new
crew module, was used for the USS Antares
in TOS-R: "Charlie X". The same model, without the
additional module and hence very close to the TAS ship again, appeared
as the freighter Woden in TOS-R:
"The Ultimate Computer".
The USS Huron belongs to a class of large Starfleet cargo ships. The
vessels are weakly armed or unarmed.
Known ships
USS Huron NCC-F1913
Annotations
The Huron appeared in TAS:
"The Pirates of Orion". A lower limit for the ship's length
is 100m, as we can see it at some distance behind the Enterprise.
Under the assumption that the nacelles are the same size as on the
Constitution, the Huron is 260m long, and a lot more voluminous than
the cruiser at this length. We obtain a more manageable size of 214m
if we match the distances between the rows of (perhaps overly large)
windows with those of the Enterprise.
Captain O'Shea identifies his ship as the "S.S. Huron"
although we can read "USS Huron" on the hull.
The aquashuttle is a universal vehicle for space travel and
maritime survey missions on the surface and under water. It is armed
with two forward-mounted phaser cannons.
Known shuttles
(Name unknown) NCC-1701/5A
Annotations
An aquashuttle appears only in TAS: "The Ambergris Element"
where it is destroyed by a sea monster. The fact that an obviously
low-tech scouter gig (see below) is sent out to search for the missing
aquashuttle indicates that there is only one aquashuttle aboard the
Enterprise.
Most likely the aquashuttle hovers above the water surface similar
to a present-day hovercraft.
The registry is barely visible. It could be NCC-1701/SA or
NCC-1701/5A.
This shuttle is significantly larger than a standard shuttlecraft
and probably designed for long-distance warp travel.
Known shuttles
Copernicus NCC-1701/12
Annotations
The Copernicus-type shuttle appears only in TAS: "The Slaver
Weapon". It is possible that the screenplay which was penned by
Larry Niven based on his novel The Soft Weapon called for a
different, still larger type of shuttles than the ones already
established in TAS.
The number NCC-1701/12 of the Copernicus is the same as of the
heavy shuttle previously hijacked by Harry Mudd in TAS: "Mudd's
Passion". It obviously replaces Mudd's shuttle which was
eventually crushed by a rock monster. The presence of the Copernicus
wouldn't leave much room for all the other small shuttles we saw in
"Mudd's Passion" though.
Class
specifications
Length: approx. 22m
Egg-shaped scout
General
description
The scout is a small craft carried aboard Starfleet ships just
like the shuttles too.
Known shuttles
No name given
Annotations
The
scout is the vessel which is partially visible at the very right edge in TAS: "Mudd's
Passion" and "Once Upon a Planet". According to Curt
Danhauser's Guide
to Animated Star Trek from where the sketches on the
right are taken too, it was designed for TAS but never used in any episode.
Harry Fenton Mudd kidnaps Nurse Chapel and steals one of these
shuttles (NCC-1701/12) in TAS: "Mudd's Passion". The shuttle
type also appears
in "Once Upon a Planet" in a brief shot. It appears to be
somewhat longer than a TOS standard shuttle at about the same ceiling
height. This shuttle is often referred to as "heavy shuttle"
in fanon due to a lack of a more definite name.
There are two blunders in the episode involving the shuttle
NCC-1701/12 that Mudd steals. At first this shuttle magically switches
sides from the left to the right wall of the shuttlebay between two
scenes. A few seconds later, when Spock looks at a display on which
Harry Mudd, with Nurse Chapel, can be seen in the shuttle's doorway,
the registry incorrectly begins with "N.C.C./" instead of "NCC-".
The scouter gig is a boat carried aboard Federation starships for
missions on watery surfaces.
Known boats
(Name unknown) NCC-1701/R6
Annotations
The scouter gig can be seen
only in TAS: "The Ambergris Element" where it is deployed to
search for the missing aquashuttle which has been destroyed by a sea
monster.
The hull of the scouter gig looks anything but hydrodynamically
advantageous but may not have been built for high speeds anyway. It is
does not become obvious how the scouter gig was transferred to the
planet's surface. It was probably simply beamed down with a cargo
transporter.
At least one of these shuttles with their characteristic flat tubular
main body and top-mounted nacelles belongs to the inventory of the USS Enterprise.
Known shuttles
No name given
Annotations
The shuttle can be seen in TAS: "Mudd's Passion" and
"Once Upon a Planet". It resembles the vessel
owned by Carter Winston and could be of the same type. Only the
nacelle arrangement may be somewhat different despite the inherent
inaccuracies of the drawings. The shuttle appears to be somewhat
longer than the standard TOS shuttle, but with a lower ceiling.
The registry on the drawing is conjecture; it was not recognizable
on screen.
The scout craft is a small interstellar vessel for personal use.
Known shuttles
No name given
Annotations
Cyrano Jones was on such a "scout
ship of common design", according to Spock, in TAS: "More
Tribbles, More Troubles" when he
came under attack by a Klingon battlecruiser. He was beamed out just before
his vessel exploded.
Atmospheric vessels like this one were in use for planetary
transport on Vulcan in the 2230s.
Known shuttles
No name given
Annotations
The desert flyer appeared in
TAS: "Yesteryear". The vessel's size can be inferred from
the seated figures inside.
Class
specifications
Length: 7.6m
Vulcan ship
General
description
This ship of Vulcan origin must have been in service during the
2240s.
Known ships
No name given
Annotations
We
can glimpse the ship when the Guardian of Forever replays this era of
Vulcan history in TAS: "Yesteryear".
Class
specifications
None available
Vulcan shuttle
General
description
The origin and exact purpose of this small vessel encountered on
Vulcan in the 2230s is unknown.
Known shuttles
No name given
Annotations
We
can spot the unknown shuttle on Vulcan in TAS: "Yesteryear".
Class
specifications
None available
Unknown
Class
USS Ariel,
name of the missing starship in TAS: "The Eye of the Beholder"
We saw some crew members of the Ariel with exactly the same badge as that of
the Enterprise (which doesn't make much sense because even the freighter Huron
and the old Bonaventure have individual symbols). Anyway, the distinct badges of the
Ariel depicted on some websites were made up under the wrong impression of
looking different. But actually the Enterprise emblem is equally angular and
tilted in TAS.
The
scout is the vessel which is partially visible at the very right edge in TAS: "Mudd's
Passion" and "Once Upon a Planet". According to Curt
Danhauser's Guide
to Animated Star Trek from where the sketches on the
right are taken too, it was designed for TAS but never used in any episode. 
We
can glimpse the ship when the Guardian of Forever replays this era of
Vulcan history in TAS: "Yesteryear".
We
can spot the unknown shuttle on Vulcan in TAS: "Yesteryear".
