U.S.S. Enterprise-E Main Bridge (Star Trek: First Contact)

We never got a good, sweeping look at the Enterprise-E bridge in any of the three films it was featured in, so I've endeavored to re-create the bridge in full detail as seen in Star Trek: First Contact, and finally give us Star Trek fans a good look at it.I started crafting this virtual set in early February 2021 and finished it up on May 3rd, 2021.

Already proficient in modeling and texturing, this project required me to learn After Effects to create the many animated displays that adorn the consoles. I also had to learn about cinematic video production in Unreal Engine. This project pushed my skills to create an end product which is among the most polished and presentable I've ever created.

I have to give thanks to Doug Drexler, who graciously provided me with his raw Illustrator file of the Sovereign-class Master Systems Display, which I then took and modified and animated to match its on-screen appearance. Although this graphic is known to fans to be shaped slightly different than the Enterprise-E exterior filming model, I have chosen to retain the original shape to maintain screen accuracy and to respect Doug's work.

Tim Davies also helped out a bit by offering to create a clean vector graphic of the early top-down Sovereign schematic used on the animated displays, as I was previously using a very pixelated screen-grab.

One area where I did indeed deviate from screen accuracy was the monitor displays. It is my belief that these were intended to be perceived as flat displays and part of the surrounding console bulkheads, but the technological limitations of the time of the film dictated they be displayed on CRT monitors which have a slight curve. I tried both ways, but the flat, integrated look proved to be superior, and felt more "in-universe" intended.

Special thanks to Thomas Marrone, Tadeo D'Oria, Matt Boardman, and my followers at TrekBBS who are always there to cheer me on, give constructive criticism and feedback, and talk to no end about our beloved franchise.

[ct]

Man, I wish we had more movies that showed this ship; it felt underused

[michalslatina]

Ent. E is one of the most beautiful ST/SF ship of all time. Period!

[RHampton]

Incredible. You can smell the leather and upholstery fresh from the shipyard.

[stfanboy]

"We barely knew her." I hope one day we see her back along side with her older sister in the future.

[harvey]

Stunning. The 1990's Trek design was so beautiful cohesive across ALL Federation ship designs - a marvellous achievement. Current Trek designs (Discovery & Picard) lack that unique feel that made a federation ship. The Enterprise E was the zenith of Trek ship designs both externally and this bridge. Incredibly sexy. Marvellously functional and just realistic; every part of the design was born from a functional need. Sadly, a time way gone now!

[danivarius]

It was criminal how they just discarded the E like that, especially after Nemesis. And to think Picard refused to lose the ship in First Contact. Don’t get me wrong, I like the D but the E just had beauty, style and strength from the moment I saw her… she could fight and explore with equal ease!

[christopherrobin]

I love how small this bridge is.. All the recent bridges seem to be football fields in terms of distance from station to station, this one feels more intimate than the classic TNG bridge. Beautiful work

[JeffOConnorOnline]

I honestly preferred the Enteprise-D bridge from Generations, but this was a very nice set.

[danieljameschan]

Astonishing work! I was a teen when First Contact came out. I wanted nothing more than to join my “pals” on their new bridge. You’ve given us a taste of what that would feel like. So awesome, thank you!

[markusburkhard]

What a wonderful video. God how I miss Rick Berman's Star Trek! So full of beauty, well thought-out, peaceful, inspiring and uplifting.
And this re-creation of a production design masterpiece is just mind-blowing beautiful. I hope to see more of that in the form of a Star Trek VR museum, amazing work!

[BD]

next up - Kirk's apartment from Star Trek 2/3. The guy was 23rd Century Frasier

[NLaertes]

The Enterprise E was designed like what 25 years ago and it still holds up....

[MarkHennessyBarrett]

Thank you. That was beautiful. Especially the chill down my spine when you lingered on her dedication plaque. You know your audience.

[Wright.B.Hindya]

Good job! And we barely got to know her :( I hope one day, she'll be back and we'll get to know her better. Maybe a TV series of Worf in the big chair?

[jurassickaiju]

Finally got a chance to watch this movie a couple days ago, and it makes me appreciate the work you put into this all the more. Stellar job!

[FF-wvkz]

The leather on the command chairs... wow... just amazing.

[DrTenochtitlan]

This is so good I was 100% convinced at first this was an unreleased walk through of the set that was made for the film. This is *staggeringly* good work! Congratulations!

[dmacbass]

This ship was just breathtaking. Amazing. Majestic. I don't think I can come up with enough words.

[Eons]

Nice... ... ... Thanks for the attention to detail on the system panels and the over all bridge. It's officially a fitting tribute to the name Enterprise





Let's make sure history never forgets the name... ... ... Enterprise

[KregSteppe]

That was great! Fantastic Job! I really liked 1701-E and hated that we didn't get to know her more beyond the few movies.