Star Trek's Enterprise Is Iconic, But the Flagship Has One Flaw Nobody Saw Coming

Warning: contains potential spoilers for Star Trek: Lower Decks #5!

Star Trek’s Enterprise is one of the most iconic starships in pop culture, but the flagship has one fatal flaw no one saw coming. Ships named Enterprise are the cream of Starfleet’s crop, staffed with the best and the brightest minds. These ships are also top of the line from a technological standpoint, but in a preview for Star Trek: Lower Decks #5, fans learn they have a fatal flaw.

IDW shared a preview of Star Trek: Lower Decks #5 with AIPT. The issue will be written by Ryan North and drawn by Jack Lawrence. The preview opens with the Cerritos’ senior staff attending a briefing by the Starfleet Department of Temporal Investigations, who handle time travel cases. They reveal that parties unknown are tampering with the time stream, and important ships, such as the Enterprise or the Titan, are potential targets. Any changes to those ships would be noticed by the hostile party, clueing them in that Starfleet knows of their movements.

The Starship Enterprise Is One of the Most Iconic Vessels in Pop Culture

Yet, the Enterprise Has a Huge Flaw When It Comes to Certain Types of Threats

In Star Trek lore, there is no ship with more history than the Enterprise. The name already carries real-world significance, having been the name of several sailing ships, Navy vessels and even the prototype space shuttle. In the Star Trek universe, the Enterprise is always the flagship and the pinnacle of Starfleet and the Federation’s ideals. The ship is regularly sent on important scientific, diplomatic and peace-keeping missions, and as such, contains the best technology Starfleet has to offer in terms of weapons, propulsion and scientific facilities.

With this in mind, it might seem that flaws in the Enterprise and other similar ships might be rare, but they do exist, especially when it comes to time travel. Whoever is altering the Federation’s history has deep knowledge of the ships that protect it, vessels like the Enterprise, the Titan or the Protostar. They know these vessels are key points in time, and even slight alterations to them can have massive ripple effects across the timeline. While the Enterprise is a marvel of engineering and technology, it is useless against the ships and tech of the future.

Will the Fatal Flaw on the Enterprise Ever Get Fixed? Canon Says Maybe

Time Travel Becomes Increasingly Important to the Federation

As seen in shows like Enterprise and Strange New Worlds, time travel will become more important to the Star Trek universe as the centuries progress, ultimately leading to a Temporal War in the 30th century. This implies that the Federation will eventually improve its time travel technology, to the point where it becomes effortless. This means that ships like the Enterprise may be better able to detect and counter threats from different timeframes, thus eliminating the one fatal flaw from the Federation’s flagship.