Deep in the Delphic Expanse during the mission to confront and stop the Xindi threat, Captain Jonathan Archer was whisked away — 400 years into his future — to witness the looming threat of the interdimensional Sphere Builders…. from a viewport aboard the gargantuan Universe-class USS Enterprise-J!
Shown to the NX-01 captain by temporal agent Daniels, this “distant relative” of Archer’s own ship — estimated to measure approximately two miles in length by Doug Drexler, the designer of the digital model seen in “Azati Prime” — the futuristic Federation vessel was only seen from the inside, during an alternate future where Starfleet forces took on the Sphere Builders during the Battle of Procyon V.
While the ship itself was never seen from the exterior view in “Azati Prime” — planned visual effects work for such a shot had to be scrapped for budgetary reasons — the ship has made its way into digital gaming in Star Trek Online and has been part of various Ships of the Line publications over the last fifteen years since the episode first aired.
A smaller subscription-sized version of the Enterprise-J was released in 2017, but this year brings a larger version of the Universe-class ship to the Official Starships Collection, as a 8.5-inch sized ‘XL’ edition of the futuristic starship joins the Hero Collector fleet.
If a starship model can be both skinny and fat at the same time, this is the one to do it: the Enterprise-J ship is barely an inch tall from base to the top of its spindly warp nacelles, but the heavy, all-metal saucer section measures seven inches in diameter, giving the ship an oddly wide appearance despite its thinness.
Designed to push the envelope on the traditional Federation starship elements — a round saucer and a pair of nacelles — to evoke the additional leap forward in technology for the 26th century setting, envisioned with the ability to “fold space” in a propulsion far beyond the traditional warp drive method of travel.
The nacelles on this model are come to nearly dental-floss-thin points at their rear tips, with incredibly fragile connection points to the body of the ship; just pulling the model from it’s packaging nearly resulted in one of the thin tines snapping off. It’s definitely a model that may frequently face repairs if not treated gently.
While mostly a brushed silver, the Enterprise-J model does feature some splashes of color, with bright orange Bussard collectors, slight translucent blue warp engines, a round bauble of blue on the aft section, and an orange-and-purple-painted deflector area — along with yellow and black window strips surrounding the perimeters of both dorsal and ventral sides of the saucer.
Overall, if you’re a fan of the Universe-class design (and we know not everyone is!) this is a great representation of the 26th century ship, as long as you’re able to be gentle with the easy-to-fracture warp nacelles — an unfortunate complication that comes along with accurately portraying the stretched-out starship.
If you’d like to add the USS Enterprise-J to your own fleet of starship models, it’s available now in the United States for for $74.95, and to fans in the the UK for £49.99.
We’ve got several upcoming looks at some of the recent alien additions to The Official Starships Collection coming soon, so stay tuned for more models reviews in the coming weeks!
In the meantime, let us know your thoughts on the Enterprise-J and the Universe-class design in the comments below!