The Vulcan ship was loosely based on the mysterious "ring ship" that was seen only as a painting on the Rec Deck in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Since almost nothing was known about that ship, designer Rick Sternbach thought it might be fun to speculate that the ring ship had been based on Vulcan technology. Accordingly, he designed the Vulcan ship to have a modified ring drive section. Years later, designer Doug Drexler picked up on Sternbach's concept and used it for several Vulcan crafts in Star Trek: Enterprise.