So it just occurred to me that during the TNG production era there is a shift in ship nomenclature:

  • TNG: The Enterprise
  • DS9: The Defiant/Yukon/Danube/etc.
  • VOY: The Voyager
  • (ENT): “Ennurprais” is all that’s left.

Seems towards the later shows they stopped referring to the ship as a, well, ship and just addressed it as a character? Why?