Is the ship the real star of the show?

Well, the studio have always claimed that the ship is the star of the show, especially when they�re renegotiating contracts.

The Enterprise is a very, very important symbol and it�s interesting that the new series which is shooting its pilot as we speak, I believe is to be called Enterprise. That�s how important it is.

Creating a believable world on the ship was very important, and technically they got better and better and better at showing the ship too.

The first movie that we did, Generations when Marina Sertis crashed it, do you remember that, and she never got to drive ever ever again. It�s the last time we ever gave her the key to the Enterprise. When the Enterprise nose dived into a planet, it was absolutely spectacular.

To me they�re sets you see, and they�re insubstantial. So insubstantial that Jonathan Frakes once went right through the wall of the bridge. He was just being particularly physical and lively and the whole side of the bridge set crashed over and Jonathan with it.

The sets rather than the ship became of real significance to us and um, and things that went with it. When ever, as they did from time to time, the lion fish in the fish tank in the captain�s ready room died it was always a sad moment.

I came to feel very, very sentimental about those sets, yes, which is ludicrous isn�t it, because they represent everything which is transitory and insubstantial and it�s absurd that one should feel sentimental about timber and canvas.