posted
Depends on what we mean by saving it. The Enterprise definately saved the universe in "The Alternative Factor" and "The City on the Edge of Forever". In the former, they saved not just the Federation but the entire universe. The second, of course, was partially their fault. Well, at least McCoy's. Still, it should count.
Then we have several instances of the crew averting potentially disasterous wars with the Klingons, the Romulans, the Gorn...maybe the Tholians, though I don't remember the details of that one too well. We've got the deactivation of the Doomsday Machine, though the credit for that one probably goes to Commodore Decker for sentimental reasons. A few other large events that threatened individual Federation worlds or colonies.
All of that might explain why Starfleet adopts the Enterprise's symbol as its own. The preferential suffix treatment probably comes from the events of The Motion Picture and The Voyager Home.
Not to mention that the Enterprise might have been one of the only starships of the era to complete her five year mission largely intact. The first hugely popular success of Starfleet's "to boldly go" policy, perhaps.
------------------ "20th Century, go to sleep." -- R.E.M.
posted
Sol: I was thinking of both "Call to Arms" (the mine field) and "The Search" (violating Dominion territory again).
I don't think the instances the Deiant NX-74205 participated in are quite as significant as those Sol mentioned.
And besides that, the Enterprise and its crew and missions are a symbol of what the Federation stands for, while the Defiant is not, IMO. The Defiant may have been necessary, but it doesn't stand for the UFP as much as the Enterprise.
[This message has been edited by Elim Garak (edited February 08, 2000).]
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