Every Star Trek series has featured distinctive visuals in its opening credit sequence, images that instantly identify and set the tone for the individual show. With the original Star Trek, the Starship Enterprise zoomed through space at a very high speed and signaled to viewers that an exciting adventure aboard a faster-than-light ship was about to take place.

For Star Trek: The Next Generation, a more stately approach was taken. Beautifully rendered spacescapes, exquisitely realized planets and various astronomical phenomena, along with several long, slow passes by the majestic new Enterprise-D, signaled this bold new era in Starfleet history.

With a slower paced and more haunting score, the space-station based saga Star Trek: Deep Space Nine featured beauty shots of the station, the spectacular nearby wormhole, and, in later seasons, the Defiant and various other smaller ships.

Star Trek: Voyager once again established the sense of exploration and adventure, with exotic planets and the smaller, sleeker U.S.S. Voyager as she passed through space and jumped to warp.

Which brings us to Star Trek: Enterprise ...

The first thing people notice about the credit sequence might be the title song, a first for Star Trek in that it actually contains lyrics. But the visuals to the opening sequence are also a first in that they are a composite of historical images — past, present and future — that serve as a tribute to man's spirit of exploration and discovery. The beauty of this montage is that it mixes the real world, including some of the various vessels christened Enterprise throughout the ages, along with some fictitious vessels that serve to bridge the gap between now and the beginning of the Star Trek era.

This 80-second sequence was produced by Montgomery/Cobb (now Montgomery & Co. Creative) in Culver City, California.

Click the image (above left) to watch the opening credit sequence.

Click here to view selected images from this sequence and learn about the historical references behind them.

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