Earth Earth ( or Sol III , or Terra or Tellus ) was the inhabited third planet of the Sol system . Earth was the homeworld of the Human s and the Voth , among others , and was the capital planet of the United Federation of Planets . In 2150 , with the last nation - states joining , the planet was unified under the United Earth government . It was a founding member of the Coalition of Planets in 2155 , and of the United Federation of Planets in 2161 . The President ' s office , the Federation Council , as well as Starfleet Headquarters and the main branch of Starfleet Academy were located on Earth . During the Dominion War , Earth ' s strategic importance was on par with worlds like Andor , Berengaria VII , and . ( ; ; ; ; ; ; ) Planetary data . Earth was a spheroid - shaped terrestrial planet with a circumference of 24 , 874 mile s ( 40 , 075 kilometer s ) , a mass of 5 . 98 kilogram s and a mean density of 5 . 517 . Its atmosphere had an average temperature of 75 °F ( 24 °C ) and consisted of 78 % nitrogen , 21 % oxygen , and smaller percentages of krypton , neon , and argon . ( ) The Earth system consisted of a large natural satellite named Luna . ( ) Location . Earth ' s orbit around its sun , Sol , measured more than two hundred million kilometers in diameter . ( ) Earth was located in the Alpha Quadrant , less than ninety light year s from the boundary to the Beta Quadrant . ( ; , " production art " ) It was a little over sixteen light years away from the planet Vulcan , less than ninety light years away from the Klingon homeworld , and approximately ninety light years away from Risa . ( ) In the late 19th century , the orbit of Earth was depicted on a German map of the inner system . ( , " opening credits " ) In 2254 , the orbit of Earth was depicted on a map of the inner system , which was stored in the library computer . This was one of multiple records that were scanned by the Talosian s in 2254 . ( , " production art " ) In 2267 , the orbit of Earth was depicted on " Chart 14A : The Sol System " , which was stored in the " Enterprise " library computer . This chart was scanned by the probe Nomad in Auxiliary Control . ( , " production art " ) History . Around 4 . 5 billion years ago , ancient humanoid s seeded many worlds in the Milky Way galaxy , including Earth , with a DNA code to guide evolution to a form resembling their own . Approximately 3 . 5 billion years ago , the first life on Earth was formed from a group of amino acid s that combined to form the first protein s . ( ) Nonetheless , according to James T . Kirk , three hundred million years ago life had not yet emerged on Earth . ( ) Over four hundred million years ago , in the Devonian period , the genus " Eryops " was the last common ancestor of both warm - blooded and cold - blooded lifeforms . ( ) Approximately sixty - five million years ago , at the end of the Cretaceous period , a comet collided with the planet Earth . This mass extinction event resulted in the death of many reptilian lifeforms . One of the surviving lifeforms belonged to the genus Hadrosaur , which evolved into the Voth . The Voth eventually left Earth , leaving no apparent trace of their civilization , and colonized a world in the Delta Quadrant . Around the same time , mammal s rose to prominence on the land and in the sea , eventually leading species like Human s and Humpback whale s , respectively . Humans and their immediate ancestors shared the basic humanoid appearance , which may be the result of genetic seeding that occurred long ago , by the first sentient species to inhabit the galaxy . ( ; ; ; ) Earth was the birthplace of several major religion s , such as Buddhism , Christianity , Hinduism , Judaism , and Islam . Some of these religions , in one form or the other , survived into the 23rd and 24th centuries . ( ; ; ) In the 17th century , scientist Galileo Galilei taught the masses that Earth moved around the sun and not the opposite way . For these teachings , he was tried and convicted of heresy by an inquisition of the Roman Catholic Church , and his books were burned . ( ) Earth was also visited , observed , and occasionally manipulated during its history , prior to official First Contact by Vulcan s . One of the earliest extraterrestrial visits was by a race known as the Sky Spirit s , originally native to the Delta Quadrant . These visits also included those by an ancient humanoid species , the Preservers , descendants of Humans abducted around 4000 BC , and Vulcans themselves , although this was disputed , as there was no proof or evidence offered by the Vulcan High Command . The Humpback whales were being observed by an unknown entity who , upon loss of contact with the species , sent a probe to investigate the absence of whale song . In the 19th century , a race called the Skagaran s abducted several thousand Humans from the American west and then used them as slave labor . The El - Aurian Guinan also stayed discreetly on Earth . In the 1930s , the Briori visited Earth and abducted several individuals , including famous pilot Amelia Earhart . In the 1950s , a team of Vulcan explorers were temporarily stranded on Earth . ( ; ; ; ; ; ; ) From the mid - 20th century onward , manned and unmanned spacecraft were launched from either the surface or the orbit of Earth . Several prominent craft that were launched from Earth include " Apollo 11 " , " Nomad " , " Phoenix " , " Friendship 1 " , , and the . ( ; ; ) Starting in the 22nd century and continuing on into the 24th , there were major construction projects on the surface and in orbit of Earth that supported the burgeoning expansion of Humans into space . Some of these projects were the Warp Five Complex , the San Francisco Fleet Yards , , and Earth Station McKinley . ( ; ; ; ) In 2063 , with the successful flight of the " Phoenix " , Earth became warp - capable . ( ; ; ) According to , while Earth still existed in the 31st century , it did not exist in the same way as it was defined nine hundred years before . ( ) Attacks on Earth . During its long history , the existence of the planet has been threatened by both natural disasters and actions of alien intelligence . Climate and geography . From at least the dawn of Humans , Earth has been a class M world by planetary classification standards . Earth has several major landmasses and a wide variety of climatic and surface conditions , ranging from ice cap s to desert . By the 24th century , Humans had installed a weather modification network to alter the natural weather patterns of Earth , including dissipating destructive weather phenomena such as tornado es . ( ) Land features , geographical markers , and formations . See also : Geopolitical Regions ( Countries and States ) , Cities and Towns In art . Once Humans began leaving Earth in the 20th century , they photographed and drew pictures of the planet for various reasons . These pictures were then displayed in homes , offices , and recreation facilities . The earliest Hions of Earth were from the space agencies which sent Humans into space . These included official mission photos and insignias . Many of these images were preserved into the 22nd century and beyond . ( ; ) Parallel universes and alternate timelines . Alternate timelines . Earth devastated . " Defiant " s timeline . Earth was devastated in several alternate timeline s . Accidental time travel from 2371 led to the premature death of Gabriel Bell in 2024 . An altered future was created where the more inhumane wars of the 21st century left Earth a pre - warp civilization that never even expanded to the solar system . Consequently , the Romulan Star Empire had expanded to include Alpha Centauri . ( ) Daniels ' s timeline . When the temporal agent was instructed to remove Jonathan Archer from the timeline in 2152 and bring him to the 31st century , an alternate future was created where the was never formed and a planet where Daniels had come from was almost completely destroyed . ( ) Humanity sentenced by Q . In 2370 , an alternate past was created for Earth by the anti - time eruption , where 3 . 5 billion years ago , amino acid s never combined with the first protein s , and life never formed on the planet . This was how the Q Continuum fulfilled its judgment to deny Humans existence . ( ) Nazi - Earth . Edith Keeler ' s world . In two alternate timelines , the history of Earth was significantly altered when Nazi Germany was not defeated in World War II . In one , Doctor McCoy saved the life of Edith Keeler in 1930 . Keeler went on to form a massive pacifist movement in America , delaying the country ' s entry into World War II , allowing Nazi Germany time to develop the A - bomb first and take over the world . ( ) Vosk ' s world . In another alternate timeline , Lenin was assassinated in 1916 , preventing Russia from turning to communism . This allowed Adolf Hitler to concentrate his war effort on the West . With assistance from the Na ' kuhl , France and England were conquered before the American East Coast by 1944 . ( ) Borg - Earth . In an alternate timeline , the Borg were successful at preventing First Contact in 2063 and assimilated the Earth . In 2373 , the assimilated Earth had an atmosphere containing high concentrations of methane , carbon monoxide , and fluorine . It had a population of approximately nine billion Borg drone s . ( ) Earth destroyed . Xindi reality . The Earth was completely destroyed in two alternate timelines . In one of the timelines , Jonathan Archer ' s brain was infected by interspatial parasite s and Earth was destroyed by the Xindi weapon in 2154 . This timeline was erased in 2165 when the parasites were destroyed by a subspace implosion aboard " Enterprise " - because the organisms existed outside normal space - time , their elimination prevented Archer from ever being infected in the first place . ( ) Henry Starling ' s world . In another alternate timeline , Earth and the entire solar system was destroyed by a massive temporal explosion in the 29th century . The explosion was caused by Henry Starling , when he used the stolen timeship " Aeon " to travel from the 20th century into the 29th century through an unstable temporal rift . ( ) Alternate reality . In the year 2258 of the alternate reality , the Romulan mining vessel " Narada " fired on Earth using a drill platform . Nero was attempting to dig a hole to Earth ' s core and create a black hole using red matter to destroy the planet . Luckily , was able to destroy the drill well before it could reach the planet ' s core . ( ) A year later , Starfleet traitor John Harrison masterminded a bomb ing on the Kelvin Memorial Archive in London and then attacked Starfleet Headquarters . He later returned to Earth , having commandeered the , crashing it into San Francisco . ( ) Mirror universe . In the mirror universe , Earth ' s counterpart was the capital of the Terran Empire . History followed a similar yet skewed course on this Earth , by comparison to the history of Earth in the United Federation of Planets , with a more violent , war - ridden past . According to , the Empire existed " for centuries " prior to 2155 . A significant divergence in the timeline was the official First Contact with the Vulcans in 2063 ; shot the Vulcan who greeted him , and , with the other Humans present , stormed the Vulcan ship , taking its technology , which allowed the Empire to expand . ( ) The Klingon - Cardassian Alliance conquered the Terran Empire sometime before 2370 . ( ) Professor had an image of Earth on a uniform she wore while working for the Alliance in 2371 . ( ) Reverse universe . In the reverse negative antimatter universe , where the flow of time was reversed , was Earth ' s counterpart . In 2270 , Karla Five and her son Karl Four helped the crew of the to return to the prime universe . ( ) Appendices . Background information . Origins . In such episodes as and , the name " Earth " is used interchangeably with " Sol " when referring to the whole Sol system . Gene Roddenberry preferred that " Star Trek " writers used the name " Earth " for the planet instead of " Terra " . ( , p . 13 ) That " Star Trek " was obviously to be filmed on Earth led Gene Roddenberry to suggest , in his original pitch " Star Trek is . . . " , the notion of making " Star Trek " affordable by setting episodes on planets similar to Earth ( for instance , those with class M environments as well as those fitting Hodgkin ' s Law of Parallel Planetary Development ) . He wrote , " " It means simply that our stories deal with plant and animal life , plus people , quite similar to that on earth [ . . . ] The ' Parallel Worlds ' concept makes production practical by permitting action - adventure science fiction at a practical budget figure via the use of available ' earth ' casting , sets , locations , costuming and so on . " " Among several story ideas Roddenberry proposed in " Star Trek is . . . " were " Mr . Socrates " ( which hypothesized that Earth of " Star Trek " s era may have been secretly under telepathic observation by an alien society over centuries ) , " Reason " ( which seemed to suggest that the decimation of intelligent life on Earth , leaving merely a robot society , had been a " long speculative " issue on Earth ) and " Torx " ( which pertained to " the first major menace to Earth , " a non - corporeal alien being that " devours " intelligence such as that which " the Earth could supply in quantity " ) . In a fantasy scene included in the script for first " Star Trek " pilot episode ( dated ) but not included in that installment , an Earth trader referred to Captain Pike as having sent Earth " blistering " reports about Orion traders . Similarly , in an ultimately unused Kirk voice - over which originally introduced the second pilot ( for example , in that episode ' s final revised draft script , dated ) , Kirk was scripted to say , " " Our Earth is but a pinpoint [ in our galaxy ] , one speck of dust . " " A filmed but deleted version of this voice - over featured Kirk instead citing the planet as one of multiple " specks of dust " while the " Enterprise " was on a heading out of the Milky Way Galaxy . ( " Where No Man Has Gone Before " ( Rare and Unaired Alternate Version ) , TOS Season 3 Blu - ray special features ) When it came to depicting a digital matte painting of Mojave in the remastered version of " The Cage " and , the ethos behind " Star Trek " s presentations of the planet proved inspirational . Dave Rossi , VFX Line Producer for Remastered TOS , clarified , " " The whole idea about Earth in the 23rd century is that it ' s a paradise and [ . . . ] that also the environment has changed . So , it was very important for us to make sure that everything looked beautiful and lush and green and living , because that ' s the planet of the future . " " ( Starfleet Access , TOS Season 1 Blu - ray ) During the making of , representing Earth of the 23rd century was virtually impossible . ( text commentary , " " DVD ) Ronald D . Moore noted , " " Kirk and company never went to present day 23rd century Earth , their contemporaneous Earth , ever . Gene wouldn ’ t do it . " " This was due to budgetary limitations . ( text commentary , " " DVD ) Specifically , portraying future Earth believably would necessitate elaborate sets and matte painting s , all of which would be extremely expensive . Visiting Earth might also involve the use of costly spacedocks and other ships , though these were all in very short supply on TOS . The financial impracticability of depicting Earth resulted in few visits to the planet , with one of the foundations of Gene Roddenberry ' s concept for " Star Trek " consequently being that the show almost never voyaged to Earth . Another motive for this was that Roddenberry believed portraying future Earth might also require showing how the planet ' s political and economic systems had developed . Politically liberal , Roddenberry was anxious that such revelations might bring about arguments with sponsors and others who might not share his views . ( text commentary , TOS Season 1 DVD ) Earth of the future was nonetheless imagined as a unified if not peaceful planet , as was implied by the fact that the " Enterprise " s " U . S . S . " designation were initials that stood for " United Space Ship " . Roddenberry also intended for Earth to be metaphorically alluded to aboard the " Enterprise " , with the planet ' s many nationalities being represented by the ship ' s multinational crew . The idea of reflecting the unified diversity of Earth on board the starship was central to Roddenberry ' s vision of " Star Trek " . ( " The Birth of a Timeless Legacy " , TOS Season 1 DVD and TOS Season 1 Blu - ray special features ) In the document " The Star Trek Guide " , Gene Roddenberry wrote , " " For one thing , we ' ll never take a story back [ to Earth ] [ . . . ] and therefore don ' t expect to get into subjects which would create great problems , technical and otherwise [ . . . ] References by our characters to Earth will be simply a logical projection of current scientific and social advances in food production , transportation , communications , and so on . If you want to assume that Earth cities of that future are so splendidly planned with fifty - mile parkland strips around them , fine . But for obvious reasons , let ' s not get into any detail of Earth ' s politics of " Star Trek " s century ; for example , which socioeconomic systems ultimately worked out best . " " Despite the instructions that writers not write specifically about the future political state of Earth , the same article did indicate the planet was now a unified if not peaceful place , politically . After making it clear that any stories representing " an autocratic , regimented , inhuman Earth of the future " would be rejected , the article continued by stating , " " We must have an optimistic projection from Earth of today if we are to approve of and identify with Captain Kirk , the crew of the " Enterprise " , and their mission . " " Roddenberry later often postulated that the Earth of both Kirk ' s and Picard ' s time periods was a paradise , with no poverty , crime or war . ( " " , p . 138 ) First serialized depictions . In a story document dated , an entitled " " was described as involving a potential threat to Earth ; the " Enterprise " crew was told by a " universe alien patrol " which invaded the ship that a trial was being held , aboard the vessel , to decide whether Earth would be destroyed . Amid the making of the first season ( i . e . , on ) , writer Barry Trivers pitched a story concept ( the genesis of the episode ) in which Earth was established as having been horrifically invaded by " an army of marauders , " in James T . Kirk ' s childhood . Gene Roddenberry was completely opposed to portraying such a bleak future for Earth , so a similar incident was established as having instead occurred on Tarsus IV . ( " " ) On , Robert Justman sent a memo to Gene Roddenberry which outlined a potential story for the series that centered on Earth as the main setting . The memo read , " " The " Enterprise " is returning to Earth [ . . . ] The " Enterprise " does arrive back at Earth , but this is Earth of 1966 and not of their time [ . . . ] Kirk begins to see , by breaking through time , he is starting off a whole sequence of events which will affect the history and civilization of our planet in future years . " " The way Earth was featured in this story springboard pre - empted but didn ' t directly inspire the contemporary Earth setting of the episode , which was written by D . C . Fontana and whose first story outline was submitted roughly half a year later ( on ) . ( " " ) In the final draft script of , Kirk specified that he wanted the " Enterprise " to head " toward Earth " , upon setting the ship on a reverse course during the episode ' s climax , though he also admitted that the heading was of no consequence . In the final version of the episode , the reference to Earth is omitted , though the rest of that line of dialogue remains exactly as it was in the final draft script . When the first draft teleplay of " Tomorrow is Yesterday " was delivered on ( though the script itself was dated 31 October 1966 ) , Robert Justman issued some advice about the upper parts of Earth ' s atmosphere . Since Fontana and Gene Coon intended the outing to incorporate stock footage of airplanes , Justman suggested to the pair that a limit of up to about 60 , 000 or 70 , 000 feet would be possible for the planes and stated , " " This is still within the atmosphere limits of the Earth , and there is still daylight up there – we are not in inky blackness at that altitude . " " Justman concluded that the sky would also have to serve as the background for several shots of the " Enterprise " , necessitating the creation of new effects footage . Because the script referred to the " Enterprise " as being detectable but not discernible from a ground installation using radar , Justman proposed " a large body of water , such as the Atlantic or Pacific " might be under the starship . ( " " ) Blue screen was used as a replaceable background for the filming of scenes showing the cockpit of Captain John Christopher ' s jet . Some footage involving Earth ' s atmosphere , with the " Enterprise " flying through it , was shot by the Howard A . Anderson Company ( though the Westheimer Effects Company was also used for the episode ) . One such shot , of the ship climbing through the atmosphere , was filmed by the Howard Anderson Company but never used . Also , footage of Earth was reused from the earlier season 1 outing , in which the globe had been used to represent Earth Two . Despite the planet having been depicted without clouds in that installment , clouds were added for the shots of Earth in " Tomorrow is Yesterday " . ( " " ) Even though Gene Roddenberry publicly blamed Harlan Ellison for apparently not being able to write without making it go hugely over budget , Allan Brennert – a writer and former producer – subsequently assured Ellison that the episode ' s 1930s Earth scenes clearly necessitated over - expenditure . This was largely because , as Brennert informed Ellison , " " The planet ' s surface [ . . . ] [ and ] " all " the Old Earth interiors had to be constructed . " " Brennert went on to say , " " Roddenberry " had " to ' ve known this from the very first [ story ] treatment , as did the people responsible for budgeting the segment , it didn ' t take them by surprise , and both they and NBC gave you the green light to go to teleplay first draft . " " ( " The City on the Edge of Forever " , 1996 ed . , " Perils of the ' City ' " ) After receiving the story outline for ( written by Carey Wilber ) , NBC executive Stan Robertson enthusiastically wrote to Gene Coon , " " There is an exciting blend of past Earth history – the similarity of the plot with the colonization of Australia ; [ plus ] a current problem of our contemporary society – over - population . " " How " Space Seed " actually portrayed Earth at first , though , initially frustrated Gene Roddenberry . Following delivery of the episode ' s second - draft script , Roddenberry commented in a memo to Coon , " " It is hard to believe the world of the 1990s sending men off to a penal colony in the stars . Romantic , but impractical . No ' advanced ' world of the 1990s would do this ; no barbaric or dark ages world of the 1990s would spend the hundreds of millions required to do it , when a simpler expedient for a barbaric world would be simply to put the men to death . So the entire concept is rather shaky to start with . " " Instead , a reference in the script to what Wilber termed " The Dark Ages of the 1990s " influenced Roddenberry to devise the era of Earth ' s Eugenics Wars and suggest that , in the 1990s , the planet had gradually come under the control of Augment s . ( " " ) For stories set on Earth in contemporary times , maintaining the audience ' s suspension of disbelief could be quite challenging . " " It ' s always a dangerous idea to take the " Star Trek " characters into the present , " " stated Director Marc Daniels , who helmed the TOS installment . " " Suddenly you ' re in a very tangible situation . The show ' s reality becomes that much harder to maintain . " " ( " " , p . 63 ) Such episodes were often extremely successful , though . In a letter which Gene Roddenberry wrote in an unsuccessful attempt to pitch a new television series based on " Assignment : Earth " , he commented , " " It is a matter of record that " Star Trek " s most exciting and successful audience shows were those three in which Captain Kirk and Mr . Spock returned to 20th - century Earth and played out their story there . " " ( " " , p . 334 ) First film appearance . Shortly before was written , a story idea which Harlan Ellison verbally pitched to Paramount as one of many ultimately nixed stories , each of which were separately conceived as a potential narrative foundation for the first " Star Trek " film , was set primarily on Earth . " " The story did not begin with any of the " Enterprise " crew , but started on Earth where strange phenomena were inexplicably occurring , " " recorded writer James Van Hise . Both a building in India , wherein a family had been having dinner , and one of the Great Lakes in the United States suddenly vanished . In a public square , a woman suddenly screamed and collapsed to the pavement , where she turned into a form of reptilian creature . Though the truth was suppressed , the Federation realized these sudden changes on Earth were due to alterations in the planet ' s distant past , caused by an alien race of intelligent humanoid reptiles from a planet in a far away galaxy where snakes had become the dominant lifeform . Earth had been likewise populated by the snake - aliens eons ago , in the Pleistocene period , but the snake - creatures there had been destroyed by early Humans . After submitting the story , Ellison explained , " " A snake - creature who had come to Earth in the " Star Trek " feature , had seen its ancestors wiped out , and [ . . . ] had gone back into the far past of Earth to set up distortions in the time - flow so the reptiles could beat the Humans . " " The mission of saving Earth , journeying into the planet ' s far past , was made the responsibility of the " Enterprise " and its crew . ( " " , 1996 ed . , " Perils of the ' City ' " ) Earth was also a setting in another of the multiple stories that were suggested as the first " Star Trek " film , this one titled " " . In a story treatment which Philip Kaufman wrote for that movie , the planet was described thus ; " " We have never seen the Earth of the 23rd century before on " Star Trek " . Seeing it for the first time , we are struck by the progress mankind can make . It ' s a thoughtful , optimistic world . The industrial revolution has long ago given way to the organic revolution . Much of the surface of the Earth has been restored to nature ; man has returned to living comfortably in the earth . The great cities of centuries past are now public parks , their ruins preserved for pleasure and for education . " " Despite Gene Roddenberry ' s fears about the dangers of portraying future Earth ' s political and economic systems , later incarnations of " Star Trek " featured futuristic depictions of the planet more than TOS had . ( text commentary , TOS Season 1 DVD ) Though an illusory version of 23rd - century Earth appeared in " The Cage " , the first real glimpse of the planet in that century was in " Star Trek : The Motion Picture " , which includes only a single scene set on Earth ' s surface . The concept that the first " Star Trek " film would feature Earth being jeopardized with destruction by a massive object ( which eventually became " V ' ger " ) approaching the planet was conceived as early as the writing of the Gene Roddenberry script " The God Thing " . ( " The Longest Trek : Writing The Motion Picture " , " " special features ) The opportunity to visit the planet was extremely attractive to Robert Goodwin . " " I suggested to Gene that since it had never been done in the series before , that we should come up with a story in which Earth was threatened , " " he recalled . " " In all the " Star Trek " episodes before , they never even came close to Earth . " " Subsequently , the agenda of depicting Earth fit well with the story for " In Thy Image " , written by Alan Dean Foster . ( " The Next Phase " , " " ) Depicting the planet in " Star Trek " s future time period was ultimately made doable in " The Motion Picture " only because the makers of that film were able to take advantage of the higher budget associated with a feature film project . ( text commentary , " " DVD ) At first , Director Robert Wise was attracted to the prospect of directing " The Motion Picture " specifically because it entailed him doing a science fiction movie imbued with a greater scope than if it had been set entirely on Earth , as " The Day the Earth Stood Still " had been . ( ) On the other hand , Wise was insistent that part of " The Motion Picture " be set on Earth ' s surface , saying , " " It is very important that we show the Earth in this film . " " ( ) In the script for " The Motion Picture " , a view of Earth as the " Enterprise " leaves the planet was described as a " lovely bluish , cloud - laced image of Earth . " Various techniques were used to represent Earth in " The Motion Picture " . ( audio commentary , " " special features ) The planet was depicted from orbit in the film via matte painting s illustrated by Matthew Yuricich . ( " " , pp . 211 & 212 ) These illustrations were incorporated into shots via use of a matte . Daren Dochterman – who served as a visual effects supervisor for DVD release of the movie – reckoned , " " I don ' t think they built [ a model of the planet ] . " " However , Michael Okuda claimed that the different methods of depicting Earth in the movie included a dome onto which powder was sprinkled to create cloud shadows . ( audio commentary , " " special features ) Upon creating new views of the San Francisco Bay area for the Director ' s Edition of the film , the associated visual effects artists took inspiration from how Gene Roddenberry had imagined Earth . " " Part of " Star Trek " s future is that it ' s not just more technologically advanced , it ' s more ecologically advanced , " " commented Adam Lebowitz , another visual effects supervisor on the project . " " Humans have taken great pains to clean up the planet , to remove the pollution from the atmosphere , and to beautify the landscape . " " ( , pp . 52 – 53 ) Some new CGI shots featuring the planet as seen from orbit , being encountered by " V ' ger " , were also created for the Director ' s Edition , generated by Foundation Imaging . ( audio commentary , " " DVD ) The movie ' s only scene set on Earth ' s surface was met with varying reactions . Michael Okuda described it as " " such a simple scene , but it says so much about Gene Roddenberry ' s vision of the future . " " ( audio commentary , " " special features ) Roddenberry himself was unhappy with an establishing shot that , in the film ' s theatrical cut , begins the scene and is the only establishing shot used to represent the planet ' s surface . " " It didn ' t really present the look of 23rd - century Earth that Gene was hoping to show , " " explained Robert Wise . ( audio commentary , " " DVD ) Later portrayals . Other films and spin - off series showed future Earth even more than it had been depicted in both TOS and " The Motion Picture " . The growth in visitations to the planet was made possible thanks to advances in visual effects technology and increases in " Star Trek " s budgets . ( text commentary , TOS Season 1 DVD ) The script for poetically referred to " the grandeur of the horizon arc of the great blue marble . " In that film , Earth was portrayed using matte painting in some cases and a model in others . Painted by Frank Ordaz , the model had two halves . Clouds and part of the planet ' s surface were on one half , whereas the other side showed only clouds atop a dark under - layer . The clouds on the latter half were later to be double - exposed over the planet surface at a slightly different rotation speed . ( " Cinefex " , No . 18 , p . 47 ) Like the script for " Star Trek III " , the revised shooting script for and the revised final draft script for also referred to Earth as the " blue marble . " Elsewhere in these descriptions , both scripts specified the planet ' s name and the screenplay for " Star Trek V " referred to the marble as " big . " Also , a visually spectacular journey through the cosmos which was originally to serve as the credits sequence for " Star Trek V " was intended to culminate in what was scripted as " a breathtaking shot of Earth . " Earth appears as the first planet in the opening sequence of s first and second season s . It is shown orbit ing the sun and is followed by the moon , Jupiter and Saturn before the starts its exploration of unknown space . The idea of featuring Earth as the central setting of was thought up by Michael Piller . Though many people were extremely hesitant about focusing on the planet in such a way , the concept was accepted by Rick Berman . Piller later recalled , " " Rick said , ' I ' ll let you take Picard to Earth . " " ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 22 , No . 2 , p . 36 ) To create views of Earth in " Family " , satellite photos of the planet were used . ( " To Boldly Go " ) Piller ultimately suspected that using Earth as a central setting of the story resulted in the episode having some of the lowest viewing figures in " Star Trek " history . ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 22 , No . 2 , p . 36 ) When Michael Piller and other members of " Star Trek : The Next Generation " s resident writing staff pitched the story for to Rick Berman , the fact that Earth was the most used setting in the episode almost led Berman to disallow any subsequent progress on the installment . He furthermore declared that " Star Trek " was " not about going back to Earth , " in Piller ' s words . Berman was eventually persuaded by Piller into approving the episode , on condition that only three sets were to be used to represent interiors on the planet . ( " " , p . 242 ) Earth is directly referred to in a scene which was deleted from . ( TNG Season 7 Blu - ray special features ) In a scene which was scripted for but not included in that episode ' s final edit , Commander Benjamin Sisko was to have received a recorded follow - up message from Earth , where a university chancellor told him that an old house he had enquired about , on Moravian Lane , was available if he wanted it . David Carson explained , " " There were clear indications that he was being offered a job back at a university on earth . " " ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 24 , Nos . 3 / 4 , p . 101 ) Director Paul Lynch once commented that Earth could easily have been the main setting in DS9 : , instead of an unnamed moon . Lynch remarked , " " It could have happened on Earth , and that ' s what made it compelling to me . " " In , Ira Steven Behr took care not to contradict Gene Roddenberry ' s view of Earth as a paradise but started having the main characters examine the subject further . Likewise , whereas Roddenberry had been fond of describing the future Earth as a paradise , the DS9 writing staffers were more interested in demonstrating exactly how difficult it was to maintain that paradise . ( " " , pp . 138 & 303 ) " " The whole Roddenberry thing was believable when you ' re living back on Earth , " " Behr observed . " " We thought it was a fundamental thing to state . " " ( " Captains ' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages " , p . 59 ) He further explained , " " The one thing that " ST : DS9 " has done to its credit – it ' s probably backfired on us to an extent – is we keep questioning this whole thing that Gene Roddenberry came up with supposedly about the 24th century and Earth being a paradise and ' what is paradise ? ' We like to test it [ . . . ] We ' re not saying that it ' s not real or it ' s not a worthy goal , but paradise is a delicate commodity . " " ( " " , No . 10 ) In DS9 Season 3 installment , Special Effects Supervisor David Takemura was tasked with rendering a shot of Earth , with the orbiting the planet . " " I used an eight - by - ten NASA transparency of the real Earth to create the footage , " " he explained . To make it seem as if the shot wasn ' t still , Takemura devised a motion - control move in which the transparency panned in one direction while the motion control camera panned in the opposite direction . " " I thought it was a nice shot , " " Takemura concluded . ( " " , p . 202 ) Earth was originally set to feature at the end of DS9 ' s third season . " " We were planning a big two - part episode where we go back to Earth – maybe the Academy – and realize that there has been changeling infiltration , " " René Echevarria recalled . ( " Captains ' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages " , p . 99 ) Explaining why Earth was chosen as the plot ' s setting , he admitted , " " We ' d decided that the scariest thing would be to set the story at home , with people we care about . " " The two - part narrative focusing on Earth and events there was at first intended to provide a cliffhanger ending to season three and be concluded at the start of the fourth season . The Earth - based two - parter was thereafter planned , by the DS9 producers , to launch the show ' s fourth season , but was then delayed again , finally airing as and , midway through season four . ( " " , pp . 250 & 253 ) In , Earth of the past was once again visited , specifically the Roswell Incident of 1947 . " " It ' s one of those things that " Star Trek " can do , " " commented Quark actor Armin Shimerman . " " It can combine fantasy and history , and do a take on it . That started in the original series when the " Enterprise " would visit Earth back in the past . " " ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 28 , No . 4 / 5 , p . 61 ) Shimerman particularly liked how the planet was used as a setting for " Little Green Men " . " " In my wildest dreams , I never saw Quark going to earth ever , " " he revealed . " " So it was nice , not only to be on Earth , but to be on Earth in the Forties . " " ( " Period Piece " , " " , No . 6 ) Shimerman also remarked that , for DS9 recurring character Nog , being on Earth full - time ( in order to attend Starfleet Academy ) implied that Nog actor Aron Eisenberg would have less to do on the series . ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 28 , No . 4 / 5 , p . 47 ) During the development of " Homefront " and " Paradise Lost " , the DS9 writing staff chose to create a story " focusing on Earth and humanity , and being on Earth . " ( " Captains ' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages " , p . 112 ) Indeed , the two - parter gave the writers a welcome opportunity to test how paradisical the planet actually was , in the 24th century . " " We ' ve tested it on other occasions too in the series , so this was a test to see what it was like , " " said Ira Steven Behr . ( " " , No . 10 ) The notion of Earth being infiltrated by Changelings turned out to be popular , but viewers repeatedly pointed out to Behr that the setting wasn ' t really in the purview of the series . Even Behr himself conceded , " " Earth isn ' t our franchise . " " ( " " , p . 422 ) When it came time to shoot the Earth scenes of " Homefront " and " Paradise Lost " , the planet had to be shown on a tight budget . " " We had to paint that world a little better and we were really feeling the budget crunch , " " Ira Steven Behr related . ( " Captains ' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages " , p . 112 ) He elaborated , " " I wish we could have had a little more location stuff , a little more outside stuff . " " ( " " , No . 10 ) In the first draft script of , Earth was mentioned , Worf advising Miles O ' Brien to send his wife and daughter , Keiko and Molly O ' Brien , to the planet as that had worked , in Worf ' s opinion , between himself and Alexander Rozhenko and because Miles was stressed by his wife ' s activities , since she was pregnant . The planet is not referenced in the final version of that episode , though . If the DS9 Season 6 episode had ended as it was originally scripted to – with Dukat threatening to kill Jake Sisko – sending Jake to Earth was one of two optional precautions which Ronald D . Moore suspected Jake ' s father , Benjamin Sisko , would have had to take , the other being the deployment of " a twenty - six - hour guard " to carefully watch Jake . ( " " , p . 522 ) Earth was on Ira Steven Behr ' s mind as he invented Section 31 , during DS9 ' s sixth season . " " Why " is " Earth a paradise in the twenty - fourth century ? " " he pondered . " " Well , maybe it ' s because there ' s someone watching over it . " " ( " " , p . 551 ) Sending Captain Sisko to Earth was part of the story for DS9 Season 6 finale at least as far back as when Ira Steven Behr gathered the writing staff and announced , for the first time , details of the plot to them . A real Native American chant about the planet , entitled " Only the Earth Endures " , provided the genesis for a Klingon death chant ( referencing Qo ' noS instead ) in " Tears of the Prophets " . ( " " , pp . 586 & 588 ) Molly O ' Brien actress Hana Hatae thought it made sense for the O ' Brien family to relocate to Earth in DS9 series finalé . " " Earth seemed like a safe move for a Human family with two young kids , " " reckoned Hatae . Owing to the premise of , Earth could not be shown as a regular setting in that series . ( " " , p . 164 ) Earth nonetheless did appear on the show . Ronald D . Moore observed , " " There have been more episodes [ in VOY ] that have taken place on Earth , or alternate Earth , or past Earth than I think the original series did in its whole run , and the original series was set over in the Alpha Quadrant . " " Brannon Braga even considered permanently returning the starship " Voyager " to the planet . Moore , who imagined an initial two - parter focusing on the vessel ' s arrival at Earth , argued against this option , believing it would waste " Star Trek : Voyager " s " golden opportunity " to be different from all the other " Star Trek " series . Earth was additionally to have been featured in . One idea which Brannon Braga concocted for the story was starting it with " Voyager " apparently above Earth , returning home to the planet , though the craft was actually a biomimetic duplicate of the actual starship " Voyager " . For the same story , Braga also suggested the planet be a point of convergence for about a thousand similar duplicates of the ship . ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 31 , No . 11 , p . 49 ) One reason this story concept was abandoned was that the writing staff thought it would undermine the moment when the real " Voyager " returned to Earth , which the creative team , even then , intended to eventually have happen . ( " " , p . 6 ) Prior to learning the events of " Star Trek : Voyager " series finalé , many of the main cast members from that series were hopeful , at the beginning of the show ' s seventh season , that the crew of the USS " Voyager " would have time back on Earth to explore the implications of their return home . Tuvok actor Tim Russ perceived both positives and negatives in featuring Earth so prominently towards the end of the series . He said , " " It will be very dramatic and exciting to return to Earth , and it has been the focus of our journey . But by the same token , the show will no longer be the " Voyager " of the series , as we will no longer be on our own in the far side of the Galaxy , making new discoveries . " " ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 33 , No . 5 , pp . 38 & 39 ) Actor Ethan Phillips was glad Earth was not the final destination of his character of Neelix , Phillips not being able to imagine Neelix on the planet nor what he would have done there . Phillips also believed that , even if Neelix had ended up on Earth , the planet ' s population would have included no other Talaxian s . Harry Kim actor Garrett Wang was highly frustrated by the fact Earth is shown from orbit in the last shot of " Endgame " , with " Voyager " approaching the planet . " " We don ' t even step foot on Earth , " " Wang pointed out . " " Hello ! After seven years , I think the fans wanted to see us actually step foot on terra firma . " " B ' Elanna Torres actress Roxann Dawson felt similarly about the depiction of Earth in " Star Trek : Voyager " , as one thing she thought would have been interesting for the series to have explored was what Torres and husband Tom Paris were like , once they were back on Earth . The series that became was originally imagined as having an Earth - bound setting . In fact , when series co - creator Rick Berman first approached fellow series co - creator Brannon Braga about the initial concept of the show , Berman referred to it as a prequel series set " in the mud , " featuring the construction of Earth ' s first warp 5 ship . ( " To Boldly Go : Launching " Enterprise " , Part I : Countdown " , ENT Season 1 Blu - ray special features ) The pair wanted at least the series ' first season to be set on Earth , proceeded by the launch of the craft . ( " " , issue 82 , p . 12 ; " To Boldly Go : Launching " Enterprise " , Part I : Countdown " , ENT Season 1 Blu - ray special features ) Braga once explained that this was their first idea for the show . ( " " , issue 89 , p . 12 ) The concept was vetoed , however , by executives at Paramount Pictures , who favored a more conventional " Star Trek " setting . ( " To Boldly Go : Launching " Enterprise " , Part I : Countdown " , ENT Season 1 Blu - ray special features ) Nonetheless , much of the series ' pilot episode , , was ultimately set on Earth . Braga remarked , " " It ' s really a fun place to be , strangely enough , because it ' s kind of a fresh setting for us . " " The series turned out to be conceived in such a way that more stories than usual were to have ramifications on Earth and references to the planet . " " In terms of how close this Earth is to Roddenberry ' s vision , I think it falls somewhere between now and Kirk ' s time . Not everything is perfect , " " Braga pointed out . ( ' , paperback ed . , pp . 256 & 250 ) He and Berman even established that Earth had an antagonistic relationship with Vulcan . ( " " , issue 55 , p . 15 ) Before it was decided whether the NX - class starship " Enterprise " would ever fly back to Earth , though , Braga announced that such visits to the planet would not be frequent . ( ' , paperback ed . , p . 256 ) " Enterprise " s opening titles sequence begins with two shots of Earth . These were initially intended to be two particular IMAX shots taken from a space shuttle . However , Paramount failed to secure the rights to use them , so they asked Eden FX to intricately reproduce the shots exactly in CGI , allowing the visual effects house only two days in which to do so . Eden ' s Robert Bonchune recollected , " " That was kind of tough , to put together Planet Earth and have it look like those IMAX shots [ . . . ] Fortunately , we have CG models of the Earth , fully mapped with clouds and everything . We had to up - res some detail on them [ . . . ] It had to look " exactly " like the IMAX shots in terms of cloud patterns and where the glint of the ocean is . That was pretty specific , so it took some work . But I don ' t think anyone would know , watching those opening shots , that they were pure CG shots of the Earth . " " ( ) In the first draft script of , this planet was mentioned when Matthew Ryan asked Captain Archer whether , if Ryan handed over a Nausicaan prisoner he was secretly holding prisoner aboard his ship , " Enterprise " would " fly all the way back to Earth " to put the Nausicaan on trial . In the final draft script of , Earth was referenced a few times in dialogue that didn ' t make it into the episode . For example , Travis Mayweather told a Suliban girl named Narra that he lived on Earth , whereas his backstory actually established him as meanwhile living aboard " Enterprise " . In a later scene , T ' Pol imagined Earth someday establishing " formal relations " with Tandar Prime . Earth was further discussed between Archer and Zobral in ultimately unused dialogue from the final draft script of . At one point in the conversation , Archer stated about the planet ' s ecology , " " There ' s plenty of sea life , but most people live on land . " " Archer later referenced the planet again in the script , as part of another excised comment , this time to Charles " Trip " Tucker . If things had gone according to what the ENT producers had planned , Earth in " Star Trek : Enterprise " would have been literally left behind . Although that essentially is what happens in the first two seasons of the series , the threat to the planet posed by the Xindi was written to be a significant feature in second season installment as well as the show ' s third season . " " The irony of season 3 was that even though there was a threat to Earth , we only really spend one episode on Earth " [ i . e . , ' The Expanse ' ] " and then we ' re out exploring the Xindi , " " observed writer / producer Mike Sussman . ( " " , issue 82 , p . 13 ) In a deleted scene from , Earth was mentioned by Phlox ; he pointed out to Archer that , following the Xindi incident , the crew of a particular version of " Enterprise " from a specific alternate timeline would probably be happy to return to Earth . ( ENT Season 3 DVD & Blu - ray special features ) It wasn ' t until the Xindi arc came to an end that the choice to focus on Earth was made . Commented Mike Sussman , " " It certainly seemed natural after spending an entire season in deep space saving the Earth from a threat , that we now had to deal with the repercussions of what had happened [ . . . ] How is the Earth recovering ? " " ( " " , issue 82 , p . 14 ) When Manny Coto took charge of the " Star Trek : Enterprise " writing staff for the series ' fourth season , he decided to develop stories that showed the links between Earth of " Broken Bow " and the 23rd century of the first " Star Trek " series . The planet ' s antagonistic relationship with Vulcan was of great interest to married writing couple Garfield and Judith Reeves - Stevens when they joined the series in season four . ( " " , issue 55 , p . 15 ) During the course of that season , Earth was impacted on by Coto intending to establish the specifics of how the Federation had come to be and how Humanity had evolved past xenophobia ( resulting from the Xindi threat ) , both of which resulted in the planet becoming a major setting for stories about those issues . ( " " , issue 82 , p . 17 ) When Mike Sussman was given the task of writing , setting the episode on Earth was pitched to him as the key component , as it was felt that an installment which took place on the planet needed to be done . This notion took its cue from , which is likewise set primarily on Earth . While penning " Home " , Sussman considered some aspects of the planet which had never really been answered before , ultimately deciding that Earth ' s government would be United Earth ( which had been canonically referenced beforehand , though hadn ' t been set up as the planet ' s government ) . ( " " , issue 82 , p . 14 ) Earth was briefly mentioned in an extended scene from " Home " ( included in the ENT Season 4 Blu - ray ) . In the deleted portion of the scene , Charles Tucker suggested to Koss , who had never before met a Human , that he visit the planet at some point , to " broaden [ his ] horizons . " As described in the final draft script of , Earth was to be shown in the episode ' s first establishing shot of the Orpheus Mining colony on Luna . However , the planet doesn ' t appear in the final version of that shot . If " Star Trek : Enterprise " had been renewed for a fifth season , how Earth was evolving would have been dealt with in many more stories . Because Manny Coto wanted to show the Earth - Romulan War in ENT , the planet ' s continual developments would have been portrayed , visibly leading to Earth becoming the center of the Federation and the utopia Gene Roddenberry had promised . ( " " , issue 82 , p . 17 ) In , views of Earth from orbit were derived from 20K NASA images . Though these high - resolution pictures were completely accurate illustrations of the planet surface and visually appealed to Digital Domain Supervisor Mark Forker , the producers and director of the film were initially not entirely happy with them . Recollected Forker , " " They requested some changes – England was too small , Italy was too close to Africa , and the boot [ shape of Italy ] was too big . " " Manipulating the images , Digital Domain made the appropriate changes and added digital clouds . " " Of course , by the time we added clouds and atmosphere , " " said Forker , " " the changes weren ' t that noticeable . " " ( " Cinefex " , No . 111 , p . 93 ) Earth of the alternate reality . While the J . J . Abrams movies and were being conceived , Earth was considered important to establish as a major setting in the alternate reality . " " The Earth needed to play more of a role in these movies , especially in the sense of giving the audience a degree of relatability , " " commented writer / producer Damon Lindelof . " " I think that in the same way that New York City becomes this anchor point for people in ; that ’ s ’ s stomping ground , that was the stomping ground for , that was the stomping ground for , it ’ s New York . We wanted to do the same thing with Earth in the " Star Trek " movies . " " In the script for the film " Star Trek " , Earth was metaphorically likened to a gazelle , with a parallel drawn between Nero observing the planet and a lion hunting the gazelle . For visually depicting Earth in the movies " Star Trek " and " Star Trek Into Darkness " , it was felt important that futuristic cities be kept realistic as much as possible , incorporating practical elements . By way of an example , Visual Effects Supervisor Roger Guyett stated , " " It ' s not a concept art version of [ . . . ] a city , it ' s a working version . " " To represent Earth in " Star Trek Into Darkness " , location filming was used , most of which was done in Los Angeles . The locations were picked by Production Designer Scott Chambliss . ( " Cinefex " , No . 134 , p . 72 ) " Star Trek Into Darkness " visual effects team created the look of multiple cities on Earth , including London and San Francisco . " " Our philosophy about doing cities , and respecting the canon of how the [ world ] is described by Gene Roddenberry , " " explained Roger Guyett , " " is that you ' re only a few [ hundred ] years into the future . You ' re not that far away [ . . . ] We go through this process of , ' What would have happened ? What buildings would they have hung on to ? How would it have changed the nature of some of the design choices they made ? ' We like to take things that are real and try to make the architecture scalable . In other words , a scale that is not just totally ridiculous and massive . At the same time , you want a few landmarks in those shots to get the sense of what city you are in [ . . . ] But , at the same time , we want to elaborate on that and use our imagination on how that might have changed . " " ( , pp . 48 – 49 ) The futuristic cities in " Star Trek Into Darkness " took a design cue from the previous film . J . J . Abrams recalled , " " We wanted terrestrial cities to be consistent with what we had established , but at a much higher resolution . We got to live , breathe and chase within the city streets this time , but we also wanted to maintain a level of potential truth and realism [ . . . ] We didn ' t want to get so fanciful that it felt unrelatable . " " Abrams selected recognizable urban landmarks for both San Francisco and London , before Industrial Light & Magic created a model showing each of the two cities , both of which were added to with high - resolution CGI buildings . Abrams also described the challenge of imagining how cities might be changed in the future , based on their present conditions , as " fun . " ( " Cinefex " , No . 134 , pp . 72 & 74 ) Responding to viewer criticism after the release of " Star Trek Into Darkness " , J . J . Abrams acknowledged , " " I can understand that this movie might not have gone as far away from Earth for as long as some people would have liked . " " Regardless of this , actress Zoë Saldana hoped that , in , the crew of the " Enterprise " would " " go back to Earth " " and , for the first seven or eight minutes of the film , be shown there in the middle of having a day off . However , " Star Trek Beyond " actually became the second " Star Trek " film , the first having been , not to feature any scenes on or near Earth . A substitute was invented instead . " " One of the notes that J . J . always directed towards us was that the threat in the movie have a very far - reaching effect and that it always come back to Earth , " " explained " Star Trek Beyond " co - writer Simon Pegg . " " So how can we make Earth a potential victim of whatever ' s going wrong here with it being so , so , so far away ? Because what we ' re trying to get across in this movie is that they ' re not anywhere " near " Earth any more , and so we created a sort of proxy Earth , which is Yorktown . " " ( " Beyond the Darkness " , " Star Trek Beyond " ( Blu - ray ) special features ) Trivia . According to " " ( pp . 32 , 36 - 37 , 56 - 57 , & " United Federation of Planets I " ) and " " ( " Federation Historical Highlights , 2161 - 2385 " ) , fifty years after Earth became warp capable , the United Earth government was founded on Earth in 2113 . The government of Earth was divided into six major regional powers that were governed from their respective capitals . These capitals were San Francisco ( North America ) , Paris ( Europe ) , Kyoto ( Asia ) , ( South America ) , ( Africa ) , and ( Oceania ) . In 2161 , Earth was a founding member of the United Federation of Planets . The dominant species were Humans and Cetaceans . In the census of 2370 , there were counted 4 . 2 billion Humans and 8 . 1 million Cetaceans living on Earth . According to " Star Trek : Star Charts " ( pp . 36 – 37 & 56 - 57 ) , Earth was a hub world on the mid - 22nd century Earth trade routes . It traded with Alpha Centauri , Altair , Andoria , Denobula Triaxa , Draylax , Ophicus Colony , Tellar Prime , , Vega Colony , and . In 2378 , Earth was a hub world on the major space lanes . Points of interest on Earth included the UFP Council Chambers , Starfleet Headquarters , Starfleet Academy , Cochrane Memorial , Yosemite Valley , and Angel Falls . According to " Stellar Cartography : The Starfleet Reference Library " ( " The Dominion War : Strategy and Battles , 2373 - 75 " ) , Earth was raided by the Dominion in August 2375 . David Gerrold verbally drew a parallel between the typical circumstances found on Earth of one particular time period and those of the Federation in TOS . Regarding conditions on Earth of the 18th century , Gerrold explained , " " Then too , communications over vast distances were slow and uncertain . The arrival of a courier was always an event . Even if the news he was carrying was several weeks , months , or years old , it was still the most recent news available . When one government had to deal with another , they used diplomatic notes and couriers – and in matters of highest policy , they depended upon their ambassadors . " " Also , while criticizing the scientific accuracy of ( or lack thereof ) , Gerrold commented that " the flat - Earth theory " was slightly more advanced than the film ' s view of the workings of the universe . ( " The World of Star Trek " ) Borg - Earth info . At a very early stage of ' s development , the film ' s writers – including Brannon Braga and Ronald D . Moore ( as well as possibly Rick Berman ) – discussed the possibility of beginning the film in a Borg - assimilated city on Earth . ( audio commentary , DVD / ) In its assimilated state as shown in the movie , Earth was represented with CGI done by Alex Jaeger . ( " " , p . 335 ) He depicted the heavily polluted version of the planet by creating a series of digital matte painting s . ( " Cinefex " , No . 69 , pp . 113 & 117 ) As Jaeger had only ever worked in the model shop at Industrial Light & Magic before serving as the company ' s visual effects art director on " First Contact " , he found the challenge of creating the altered Earth slightly daunting . " " They kind of tossed me into this and said , ' Oh , yeah , we ' re going to need a Borg Earth , ' and I go , ' Oh , OK , ' so I did a few early Photoshop pieces that just showed a section of the Earth . Then they said , ' Yeah , that ' s good , but can you just make a texture for the whole planet that we ' ll just use in the movie , ' and I ' m like , ' Uhhh , OK – I ' ve never done that before , but sure ! ' So , basically what I did was , I took a texture map of the Earth – it was this gigantic Photoshop file – and started changing it around . " " ( , p . 88 ) Included in the assimilated Earth are details hardly visible in the actual film , such as industrial pipes spanning the oceans . ( " Cinefex " , No . 69 , p . 113 ) " " I saturated all the ground so it was gray and I added all these sort of factory - looking sections so it looked like the ground was completely covered by cities , " " remembered Alex Jaeger . " " Then , I painted little bridgeways across the oceans and turned the oceans brown . [ " First Contact " Director ] Jonathan Frakes kept saying , ' No , the oceans have got to be brown , like they ' re full of crap ! Just , you know , nasty ; you don ' t want to be there . " " ( , p . 88 ) Jaeger also noted that , in addition to turning the oceans brown and making the land masses " desaturated and gray , as though they have become overrun with Borg power plants and machinery , " he also turned the clouds and atmosphere yellowish - green . ( " Cinefex " , No . 69 , p . 113 ) Alex Jaeger was ultimately pleased with how he created the assimilated Earth , essentially destroying the planet visibly by doing so . He remarked , " " It turned out fairly well [ . . . ] And to have something that I actually painted end up on screen , was kind of cool . " " ( , p . 88 ) Brannon Braga agreed that the optical of the assimilated Earth was " very cool . " ( audio commentary , DVD / ) Apocrypha . According to Gene Roddenberry ' s of , there is a dam across the Straits of Gibraltar . This allowed the level of the Mediterranean Sea to be lowered , creating new farm and park land along the coast , and the world ' s largest hydro - electric project . In an alternate future in the " Deep Space Nine " book series " " , Earth was destroyed in 2388 by the violent Grigari . Among the casualties were William T . Riker , Deanna Troi , Geordi La Forge , Beverly Crusher , Tom Paris , B ' Elanna Torres , and the USS " Enterprise " NCC - 1701 - F . In the " " video game , if the player plays as the Dominion , the Founders destroy the Federation , bombard Earth , and then declare it to be a secondary homeworld from which to rule .