Alien Whale Probe (2286)

The “Alien Whale Probe" was an interstellar device whose objective is believed to have been direct communication with Earth’s indigenous humpback whale population. The probe was first observed in 2286 by the U.S.S. Saratoga. The unidentified object was estimated to be about five miles in length and cylindrical in shape, with a spinning lit sphere protruding near the front end. The probe was broadcasting sounds that could not be deciphered or translated. Saratoga’s hails of universal peace and hellos received no response from the cylinder, and Starfleet was advised of the probe’s apparent trajectory towards Earth. The probe had a neutralizing effect on spaceships in its path; Saratoga lost all internal power and began to drift. After multiple ships were neutralized and further attempts to communicate with the probe were unsuccessful, Starfleet issued a “Do Not Approach” notice for all vessels inbound to Earth. Both the alien probe message and the distress signals from Earth were received by an inbound vessel carrying Admiral James T. Kirk and five of his former crew from the U.S.S. Enterprise, who were able to identify the sounds as recordings of humpback whale songs.

The humpback whale, a dominant species of cetacean that predated humanity on earth by some 10 million years, had become extinct due to human activity sometime in the 21st century. Admiral Kirk’s daring solution was to execute a slingshot maneuver to travel back in time and bring humpback whales back to the present to reply to the probe. A pair of whales were successfully brought to 2286 and released into the ocean, where they began to “sing”. The probe responded by turning off its power neutralizing field before departing from Earth’s orbit and leaving the solar system.

Production Notes:

Ship Model (Physical)

As portrayed in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (Film, 1986)

This mid-1980s motion picture production, like Star Trek: The Original Series in the 1960s, looked for ways to minimize expensive post-production effects by building practical models to create effects in camera. The sparse description of the probe in the script called for "a simple cylinder, non-threatening but huge in size, with odd, eye-like antennae." Pre-production storyboards depicting a simple cylinder with a vaguely whale-like feel were designed by Art Director Nilo Rodis-Jamero with creative input from the Film-Maker’s Cooperative in Los Angeles. Actualizing the model became the responsibility of the model shop at Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), who built a prototype of a cylinder covered with barnacles and an antenna made with a section of irrigation pipe. The first models developed and filmed colored the main cylinder blue with a crusty white coloring, but this was re-imagined after the first shots were reviewed; the probe needed a sense of menace that was lacking in this organic rendering. The models were repainted in a shiny black, and the surfaces were pockmarked to provide texture. Backlighting and a fog filter completed the eerie redesign.

Three separate models of varying sizes were built and filmed from multiple angles. The main model used was an 8’ cylinder that was roughly 2’ in diameter, with a hole at one end for the antenna ball. A 20’ model with a tapered end enabled the team to use forced perspective to evoke a sense of massive scale. The antenna was given its own internal light source: a thin plexiglass tube with a bright tube lamp was placed in the center of the antenna, and halogen amps were set around to add a diffuse glow. Larger antennas were built for closeups. 

In the same year (1966) that ST: TOS debuted, an international ban on hunting humpback whales was placed; the population of humpback whales in the Northern Pacific Ocean was estimated to have dropped to a mere 1,400. Scientists and musicians seized upon the whale’s song as the means to raise awareness of the plight of the whale worldwide. 1970 saw the first release of whale sound recordings, a collection of hydrophone recordings by marine biologist Roger Payne. Dr. Payne would later provide the whale sound recordings used in ST: The Voyage Home directly to director and star Leonard Nimoy. Artists like Pete Seeger and Judy Collins released anti whaling protest songs that same year, and this growing awareness led to the U.S. finally banning all commercial whaling in 1971 and the humpback’s early inclusion in the new endangered species act in 1973. Whale song was featured on the recording launched with the spacecraft Voyager in 1977. The wide release of Star Trek: The Voyage Home triggered a new round of public interest in whale conservation, with donations to Greenpeace skyrocketing after the movie’s release. The actor Nimoy and biologist Payne found themselves collaborating again the following year, with Nimoy featured reading poetry and other passages for the album “Whales Alive”.

In 2016, most humpback whales, including all of the populations found in U.S. waters, were removed from the endangered species list. The North Pacific Ocean population that had bottomed out at 1,400 in 1966 was now estimated at a robust 21,000, with projections that the population would continue to grow at a rate of about 7% per year. Star Trek’s role in raising cultural awareness is recognized for contributing to the rebounding of the species.

Ship View
Bridge View
Ship View
Bridge View
Prime Timeline
c2100
Starship Enterprise XCV-330
Star Trek: The Original Series
Production Artwork
2151
Starship Enterprise NX-01
Star Trek: Enterprise
"Broken Bow"
2155
Starship Enterprise NX-01
Star Trek: Enterprise
“Terra Prime”
2161
Starship Enterprise NX-01 (refit)
Star Trek: Picard
"The Bounty"
2245
U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 (launched)
Star Trek: The Original Series
"Star Trek is..."
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U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701
Star Trek: The Original Series
"The Cage"
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U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701
Star Trek: Discovery
"Brother"
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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
"Strange New Worlds"
2265
U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701
Star Trek: The Original Series
"Where No Man Has Gone Before"
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Star Trek: The Original Series
"The Galileo Seven"
2267
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Star Trek: The Original Series
"The Doomsday Machine"
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Star Trek: The Original Series
"Is There in Truth No Beauty?"
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Star Trek: The Animated Series
"Beyond the Farthest Star"
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Star Trek: Planet of the Titans
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Star Trek: Phase II
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U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 (refit)
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
2285
U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
2285
U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 (destroyed)
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
2286
U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-A (launched)
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
2287
U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-A
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
2293
U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-A (decommissioned)
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
2293
U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-B (launched)
Star Trek Generations
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Star Trek: The Next Generation
"Yesterday's Enterprise"
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Star Trek: The Next Generation
"Encounter at Farpoint"
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Star Trek: The Next Generation
"All Good Things..."
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Star Trek Generations
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Star Trek Generations
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Star Trek: First Contact
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U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-E
Star Trek: Insurrection
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U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-E
Star Trek: Nemesis
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U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-F (decommissioned)
Star Trek: Picard
"Vox"
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U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-G (launched)
Star Trek: Picard
"The Last Generation"
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U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-J
Star Trek: Enterprise
"Azati Prime"
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U.S.S. Enterprise (32nd Century)
Star Trek: Discovery
"Stormy Weather"
Kelvin Timeline
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U.S.S. Kelvin
Star Trek (2009)
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U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 (Kelvin)
Star Trek (2009)
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U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 (Kelvin)
Star Trek Into Darkness
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U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 (Kelvin | destroyed)
Star Trek Beyond
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U.S.S. Franklin NX-326
Star Trek Beyond
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U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-A (Kelvin)
Star Trek Beyond
Mirror Universe
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I.S.S. Enterprise NX-01 (Mirror Universe)
Star Trek: Enterprise
"In a Mirror. Darkly"
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I.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 (Mirror Universe)
Star Trek: The Original Series
"Mirror, Mirror"
Alternate Realities
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U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D (Alternate Timeline)
Star Trek: The Next Generation
“Yesterday's Enterprise”
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U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D (Alternate Future Timeline)
Star Trek: The Next Generation
"All Good Things..."
Myriad Realities
Multiple Timelines
Myriad Enterprises
Various Appearances
Prime Timeline - Historic Ships and Structures
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U.S.S. Discovery NCC-1031
Star Trek: Discovery
"Context is for Kings"
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Romulan Bird-of-Prey
Star Trek: The Original Series
"Balance of Terror"
2267
S.S. Botany Bay
Star Trek: The Original Series
"Space Seed"
2267
The Doomsday Machine
Star Trek: The Original Series
"The Doomsday Machine"
2268
Deep Space Station K-7
Star Trek: The Original Series
“The Trouble with Tribbles”
2268
Klingon D7-Class Battle Cruiser
Star Trek: The Original Series
“Elaan of Troyius”
2271
Orbital Office Complex
Star Trek: Phase II
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Orbital Drydock Facility
Star Trek: Phase II
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I.K.S. Amar
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
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Orbital Office Complex
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
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Orbital Drydock Facility
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
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U.S.S. Bozeman NCC-1941
Star Trek: The Next Generation
"Cause and Effect"
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U.S.S. Reliant NCC-1864 (destroyed)
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
2285
Regula I
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
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Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
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Kruge’s Klingon Bird-of-Prey
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
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U.S.S. Grissom NCC-638 (destroyed)
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
2286
Alien Whale Probe
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
2286
U.S.S. Saratoga NCC-1887
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
2287
Klaa’s Klingon Bird-of-Prey
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
2293
U.S.S. Excelsior NCC-2000
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
2355
U.S.S. Stargazer NCC-2893
Star Trek: The Next Generation
“The Battle”
2367
Cardassian Galor
Star Trek: The Next Generation
“The Wounded”
2367
I.K.S. Bortas
Star Trek: The Next Generation
“Redemption, Pt. 1”
2369
I.R.W. Khazara
Star Trek: The Next Generation
“Face Of The Enemy”
2369
Deep Space 9
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
"Emissary”
2371
U.S.S. Defiant NX-74205
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
"The Search, Part 1”
2371
Cardassian Keldon
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
"Defiant"
2371
U.S.S. Voyager NCC-74656
Star Trek: Voyager
"Caretaker"
2373
U.S.S. Defiant NX-74205
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
"Call to Arms”
2380
U.S.S. Cerritos NCC-75567
Star Trek: Lower Decks
"Second Contact”
2383
U.S.S. Protostar NX-76884
Star Trek: Prodigy
"Lost and Found”