That's where I give Star Trek a lot of credit. There is an internal consistency of design within that universe, and it doesn't feel totally arbitrary. For examp

That's where I give Star Trek a lot of credit. There is an internal consistency of design within that universe, and it doesn't feel totally arbitrary. For example, the "warp nacelle" concept is fundamental to that universe, and at least until the newer series, it was maintained across a lot of different cultures' ships. You could tell that some thought went into the design, as opposed to just "Hey, taking a giant submarine and sticking it in space would look cool!" In fact, Star Trek uses the warp drive as a technological benchmark by which all species and cultures are measured. Are there other methods of hyperspeed travel? Eventually, yes, those are revealed. But they are still compared to the warp theory.