So it just occurred to me that during the TNG production era there is a shift in ship nomenclature:

  • TNG: The Enterprise
  • DS9: The Defiant/Yukon/Danube/etc.
  • VOY: The Voyager
  • (ENT): “Ennurprais” is all that’s left.

Seems towards the later shows they stopped referring to the ship as a, well, ship and just addressed it as a character? Why?

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    258 months ago

    They do call at least Voyager “the Voyager,” at the beginning, but the crews of the Voyager and the NX-01 lived on their ships, more than the crews of the Defiant and the D. They rarely had shore leave, let alone the option to take a leave of absence, or transfer to another ship. It makes sense they’d be more casual about them. When they were saying “We have to get back to Voyager,” they were basically saying “We have to go home.”

    • VindictiveJudge
      link
      English
      68 months ago

      I think there was a behind-the-scenes decision at some point that The Voyager sounded oddly formal and stilted compared to The Enterprise.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        58 months ago

        Yeah…‘the Voyager’ sounds awkward to me in a way that ‘the Enterprise’ doesn’t. You also hear this in the real life Voyager probes.

        With many other ships, both real and fictional, the same phenomenon is noticeable - if the ship name sounds awkward with a ‘the’ in front, it will usually not be part of the name.

    • @[email protected]OP
      link
      fedilink
      38 months ago

      Interesting, I hadn’t considered that. Though that would still not explain why even the “formal” guys like janeway and tuvok are using the colloquial form at all times, even when interacting with other species. I’d imagine especially tuvok would use the correct form at all times, just because it is the proper way.

      For ENT I have nothing, only perhaps that the snobby Vulcans were referring to it as just enterprise as well, right from the start. All other non human ships got addressed properly though (the kumari, the dal‘kyr).

      • @I_Fart_Glitter
        link
        28 months ago

        “I am Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Star Ship Voyager.” Once it’s been properly introduced she abbreviates with “Voyager.”