TrekMovie continues our deep dive of analysis into Star Trek Into Darkness. Today we bring you a closer look at the USS Enterprise from the movie, including a surprising details you may have missed. We also have some exclusive insider details. Check it out below (beware of spoilers).

Enterprise gets refit in Star Trek Into Darkness

In Star Trek Into Darkness the USS takes some serious damage. They even played up this notion in the marketing often showing a ship crashing into the ocean and the Enterprise falling toward Earth was featured on the posters for the movie.



Domestic poster featuring falling Enterprise

But if you have seen the movie you know that in the end the ship makes it through (it was the USS Vengeance that takes a dive into San Francisco Bay). But the USS Enterprise is certainly not spaceworthy after the battle above Earth. The final scene of the movie jumps forward almost a year after that battle with a ceremony to ‘re-christen’ the USS Enterprise. We then see the crew on the bridge as they set off on their new five-year mission and then the ship warps away. While the bridge itself appeared to be exactly the same, if you looked closely the ship’s exterior you would spot differences. Just compare the images below (taken from one of the movie trailers and from a behind-the-scenes video about the music)



USS Enterprise in “Star Trek Into Darkness” (right before encountering USS Vengeance)



“refit” USS Enterprise from end of “Star Trek Into Darkness”

A source confirms with TrekMovie that ILM did make changes to the digital model of the Enterprise in order to show it has been ‘refit.’ According to the source there are “big and subtle changes” to the ship. The most obvious difference is the now much wider impulse engines. While the nacelles do appear different in the above image that is mostly due to distorted angle of the pre-warp-effect. However, the source did say there are some small changes to the nacelles as well. The following video gives you a better look at the refit.

The original ‘refit’

While there are differences for the new universe Enterprise ‘refit,’ they are not nearly as pronounced as the original ‘refit’ Enterprise from Star Trek: The Motion Picture. In that case the ship had gone through a complete redesign to transition from the 60s TV series to the big-budget 1979 film.



Original TV series USS Enterprise and ‘refit’ from movie era

Obviously we will see more of the new refit when the Blu-ray comes out and of course we will have to wait for the next movie to see the refit completely, and find out if the ship has any new technologies or features.