This article is from the Star Trek Tech FAQ, by Joshua Bell inexorabletash@hotmail.com with numerous contributions by others.
"FASA says the Enterprise-D uses UltraWarp, so nyeah!"
(FASA is a game publisher that produces games loosely based on the
original and animated Star Trek series, and briefly had a license to
produce TNG-era games. See the Reading FAQ for more background
information.)
According to the TNG Tech Manual and Star Trek Chronology, the
Enterprise-D uses the same old warp technology seen in TOS... just a
much more advanced version.
The only hint that TOS, the classic films, and TNG warp drives might
be different is in their visual appearance on screen - in the classic
films the Enterprise "blurs" while in warp. We *have* seen the TNG
Enterprise do this - in "Force of Nature" [TNG], when it field-
saturated its nacelles and ran at high warp for 6 seconds. Perhaps the
film-era warp drives used this field saturation to generate higher
speeds at lower energy, an effect which was surpassed by later
developments and obsolete by TNG?
 
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