Star Trek: Starfleet"s Most Primitive Technology Failed When Enterprise Needed It Most

Summary

• Star Trek: Enterprise's NX-01 Enterprise had grapplers instead of a tractor beam, which failed when they tried to save trapped crew members.
• Grapplers have gained renewed interest in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, with Ensign Boimler and Lt. La'an Noonien-Singh geeking out over them.
• It's unclear when Starfleet developed tractor beam technology, but it became commonplace by the time of Star Trek: Discovery and The Original Series.

Star Trek: Enterprise's most primitive technology failed when Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) and his crew needed it the most. Archer's NX-01 Enterprise was Starfleet's first Warp 5 capable starship, allowing humans to explore deep space for the first time. Enterprise launched with the best technology 22nd Starfleet had available, although the NX-01 lacked deflector shields and photon torpedoes hadn't been developed yet. And, instead of a tractor beam, Archer's Enterprise had grapplers.
Grapplers have gained a renewed interest thanks to Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' season 2 crossover with Star Trek: Lower Decks. Ensign Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid) visited the Starfleet history museum and came aboard the NX-01 Enterprise, where he geeked out over the classic starship's grapplers. To everyone's surprise, the usually stoic Lt. La'an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong) admitted, "I love grapplers." The NX-01's grapplers were metal cables with a magnetic clamping device that Enterprise used to catch and hold onto other starships or objects in space in lieu of a tractor beam.


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