Stargazer dedication plaque

The first draft script of "The Battle" included a line of dialogue in which the text from the Stargazer's dedication plaque was read aloud. The line stated, "U.S.S. Stargazer. Constitution Class. Starfleet Registry NCC 93 C… 'To boldly go where no one has qone before."

The Stargazer dedication plaque was illegible on screen, and according to Doug Drexler, the plaque art had been lost. However, the plaque was found and was used as set decoration in the observation lounge of the USS Stargazer (NCC-82893). A picture of this plaque can be seen in one of Star Trek: Picard production designer Dave Blass tweets ^{tweets (X)}. Michael Okuda commented, in 2009, on the class name:

"The Stargazer dedication plaque did say "Constitution class", but we had already decided to drop that designation, even during preproduction. I asked Ed Charnock, our on-set painter, to mist over the plaque with a little black spray paint, to make it a little harder to read 'Constitution'. There wasn't time (or money) to have the plaque re-made, but the type was so small that it would have been very difficult to read the text on camera, even without the smudge. Also, the set lighting was dark, so I wasn't worried." [1]^(X)

Okuda further commented on the plaque:

"The dedication plaque indicated that the ship was built by 'Federation Space Systems', and gave the ship's motto as 'To bring light into the darkness.' Herb Wright suggested that one." [2]^(X)

The motto was inspired by Flowers for Algernon, a science-fiction short story and subsequent novel written by Daniel Keyes. A section in the book states:

"They had pretended to be geniuses. But they were just ordinary men working blindly, pretending to be able to bring light into the darkness. Why is it that everyone lies? No one I know is what he appears to be."

The 1995 Star Trek - Reflections of the Future, Phase One trading card set contained a "Gold Registry Plaque" card for the Stargazer.

There was a drawing of the dedication plaque in the Star Trek Encyclopedia, 4th ed., vol. 1, p. 192. This version of the plaque had been modified, as it identified the Stargazer as a member of the Constellation-class. Furthermore, it was stated on the plaque that the Stargazer was built at the San Francisco Fleet Yards.

The dedication plaque was illegible on screen in "The Star Gazer", but Star Trek: Picard art director Liz Kloczkowski posted a photo of it on her Instagram page and production designer Dave Blass posted a photo of it on his twitter page ^{twitter page (X)}. The plaque was designed by Geoffrey Mandel. A clearly legible view of the plaque was afforded in the Star Trek: Picard - Season Two Blu-ray-special feature: "The USS Stargazer".