Apr 4, 2014
The NX Program.
Although Enterprise falls earlier on the timeline, it owes much of its premise to The Next Generation. Specifically, its central non-living character—the Warp Five engine—was born of the film First Contact and the work of Zefram Cochrane. Captain Archer's father, Henry, worked with Dr. Cochrane, and this would shape much of Jonathan's view of space exploration and the Vulcans. After two decades of development on the engine itself, the NX Program—which would marry the engine with a starship—began in the early 2140s. A decade later, the Enterprise was launched.
In this episode of Warp Five, we're joined by Earl Grey's Daniel Proulx to discuss the role Archer played in the development of the NX-01, the parallels between the NX Program and 1960s NASA, the role of the Vulcans, and how TNG and the Phoenix laid the foundation for the events we see in "First Flight" and for the Enterprise itself.