The Eye of the Beholder (Star Trek: The Animated Series) stardate 5501.2, the USS "Enterprise" investigates the disappearance of a scientific team near Lactra VII. The starship "Ariel" is located there, abandoned, with its captain having transported to the planet's surface. The "Enterprise" crew beams down to discover a series of unusual environments. On the planet the crew meets the Lactrans, a group of twenty foot slugs with intellectual capacities far beyond their own. Science Officer Spock senses that they are telepathic but communicating at a rate of speed far too fast for the Vulcan to comprehend. The team is captured by the Lactrans to be made part of a
Starship Enterprise D. Moore noted in the "Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual" that real-life naval tradition would insist on calling such a craft the captain's gig, rather than the captain's yacht. Rick Sternbach later designed similar craft for USS "Voyager" and USS "Equinox", known as the aeroshuttle and the waverider, respectively. As on the "Enterprise"-D, however, these vessels were only depicted on technical schematics and never seen in operation or referred to in dialog. "Time" described each iteration of the "Enterprise" as "a character in its own right". Over many decades, the starship has influenced real-life activities of NASA and