Version 2

After assuming the role of guest starship in a TV series and missing the fifth Star Trek film (Excelsior was on screen, but in stock footage), Excesior was needed again for the sixth film. Once again she became the USS Excelsior, NCC-2000 (no longer experimental) but this time she played a major role in the plot with one of the main cast members (George Takei as Captain Hikaru Sulu) as her new captain.

While essentially unchanged, the model received a new bridge, new crystals on top of the impulse engines (a plate was applied over the old, single crystal), and a new front to the main hanger, as well as being labeled afresh as Excelsior.

With that being the final movie for the original cast, she went back to being a guest star on The Next Generation, serving as the USS Melbourne, NCC-62043.