Thread:BenRG/@comment-4403232-20150409043650/@comment-10390252-20150409091857

It's the USS Enterprise, NX-1701-A, tentatively described by the Trek production team as one of the prototypes of the Solaris-class.

When Star Trek IV - The Voyage Home was in early development, the new Enterprise was not going to be a clone of the original. Rather, it was going to be a sort of Excelsior-like experimental super-starship with Transwarp, cloak and even saucer separation like the Enterprise-D. Ultimately, the team decided that using a Constitution-II like the original Enterprise was more in line with the film's themes of renewal and second chances. Additionally, developing the Solaris-class model and sets was considered to be too expensive to be done in parallel with the ongoing pre-production for Star Trek - The Next Generation.

IIRC, the Solaris-class was part of Gene Roddenberry's original idea for the new Trek show, which was going to be a reworking of his Star Trek - Phase II scripts and ideas from the mid-70s. Most, if not all, of the original cast agreed in principle but the idea broke down, mostly because Paramount choked on what it would cost to have the original cast in a weekly 26-episode per season show running for a minimum of 3 seasons.

That said, I occasionally visualise what the end of Trek IV would have been like with the NX-1701-A gliding out of space dock and accelerating into warp. Then the message appearing on the screen:

"To be continued in...

STAR TREK - The New Voyages

Coming this Fall to CBS!"

The audience at the première would have gone wild! ;-)