This Artist Edited the Original USS Enterprise Into the 'Star Trek' Movies

Graphic designer and Trek fanatic Nicholas Acosta recreated these movie shots to match the television version of the starship

Nick Acosta, a San Francisco artist and graphic designer, moonlights as a huge Trekker. So when he saw the original model of the Enterprise currently undergoing restoration at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, he was struck by how effective it still was as a prop. And it gave him an idea: Finding out what it would look like if the Star Trek movies had used the original model.

Acosta had grown up on Star Trek, watching it with his father. He remembers being drawn in by "The Naked Time," in which an infection releases the id of the entire crew. Even with subsequent franchise expansions, the original series still holds that important place in his nerd heart, and seeing the original model struck a chord with him.

"I was really amazed how beautiful it still looked, even in its unrestored state," Acosta told Popular Mechanics in an email. "I thought if it was correctly lit and had all its lights and self illumination features working it would hold up fine in any feature film."

I ALWAYS IMAGINED AS A KID THE MORE EPIC SEQUENCES THE NCC-1701 COULD HAVE GOTTEN INTO

So he made it happen, taking the 1965 model from the original television series and placing it in the movie world digitally. His process can be seen in the gifs below as he models the starship to fit into its more futuristic background.

Here Acosta is letting his imagination run wild, imagining the gorgeous original model beyond the notoriously low-budget sets and backgrounds of the original series.

"When the original Star Trek was in production they had very limited visual fx budget, so they really couldn't utilize the full potential of Matt Jefferies' beautifully designed model," Acosta said. "I always imagined as a kid the more epic sequences the 1701 could have gotten into. Breaking the light barrier and going to warp like in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, or the duel in the Mutara Nebula from Wrath of Khan."

To make the picture below of the 60s Enterprise in The Wrath of Khan, Acosta faced a series of challenges including the need to recreate the background partially (the HD version of the film from which he took his screenshots was washed out in the nebula). He also had to add a darker layer of grit to blend in the original model seemlessly. He was also limited by the photographs he had of the original model. It's currently not on display as it undergoes restoration at the Smithsonian, so he couldn't get more.

While he put in a ton of work on these scenes from the Trek films, Acosta says the franchise is at its best when presenting a weekly morality play, and hopes it makes a return to TV. As for the original Enterprise, he's glad to see it's in good hands.

"For me, as an artist you can't beat the original design. Theres something to be said about being the first and innovating science fiction ship design from you creation," he said. "I'm excited that Smithsonian is going to treat it like a national treasure and lovingly restore it to its original state."