Whenever you're on dangerous missions which may involve enemies who want your technical secrets or overly-curious life forms who want to subject your crew to all kinds of inhumane things, there are hard decisions to be made. This might require the ultimate ultimatum of sacrifices: destroy the Enterprise. Blow up the ship, save the day, and everyone's happy.

Well, at least everyone who's NOT on the ship.

It seems like Kirk and Picard resorted to this endgame quite often. Everyone knows there's a Big Red Button that you don't want to push except in cases of extreme emergencies, but it felt like these captains would all too frequently just scream all bloody hell's breaking loose and there's nothing they can do about it ... except, of course, for that one wild card in their back pocket.

Let's go down the line and see how frequently the Big E was subjected to potential extermination in order to save the galaxy for the week's episode...

So the Kelvans have invaded (kinda), and in "By Any Other Name" Spock and Scotty decide to give the Captain an honorable let's-go-out-with-a-bang solution to prevent the ship from being used as part of a larger scheme to take over our galaxy. Yes, Captain, suicide is mandatory when your options are dim. Do the right thing - let the positive energy from the ship mix with the negative equivalent from the great barrier and no one from Starfleet Command will blame you ... or know what happened.

"Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" was the first time we got to see the self-destruct engagement protocol that required the voice authorization of three senior officers - none of that sissy, turn-two-keys-simultaneously thing. However, it'd probably be difficult with this system to blow the ship up in a hurry.

I can't help wonder though if Bele and Lokai smirked when they heard how lamefully predictable the destruct codes were.

Then one day V'Ger comes out of nowhere. It's bigger than the doomsday machine. Three Klingon cruisers were trivially wiped out. The Enterprise has been lucky because humans are bright and we try communications first rather than go on the offensive. The pacifist strategy works wonders in the 23rd century. "The Motion Picture" was the first Star Trek theatrical release and already Captain Jimbo decided that blowing up the ship is a last desperate measure necessary to take out the enemy. Oh brother, where's that Genesis device when you need it...

So after the several times that Kirk's been daring that the last straw has been met and he's ready to go the distance, we finally see him actually doing it in "The Search For Spock." It only took out a handful of Klingons, but it got the job done. Then our brave leader steals another ship. It's the Starfleet way.

Amazingly, they kept the same destruct codes from years ago. I have a hard time believing that Starfleet regulations allows for the same destruct sequence combinations to be used for such an extended period of time without due rotation.

Now in the 24th century, Picard and Riker decide there's no other way out in "11001001" so they run down to engineering and enable the self-destruct. Geez, we're still in the first season and already the Enterprise-D is on the hot seat, but then again this is a big hint that the ship isn't going to really get blown up. I doubt Starfleet is in the habit of quickly assembling another Galaxy-class just because Picard seems like a nice guy.

In "Where Silence Has Lease" the Enterprise is trapped in a zone of darkness that feels somewhat reminiscent of "The Immunity Syndrome." Some alien entity is tinkering with the crew and the ship - killing one here, tossing another one around over there... The Captain raises his hero voice, pounds on his chest, and cries out, "Don't kill us or we'll kill ourselves instead!"

After all, if you were confronted by a scary cat-face in a void, you might consider the same thing.

The Enterprise eventually faces the Borg for the first time in "Q Who?" Towards the end of the episode, it's starting to look more and more like a no-win situation so Picard, realizing his Kobayashi Maru is near, decides to fire aft torpedoes at close range, even if it means the imminent destruction of the ship.

"The Best of Both Worlds" was the episode that really brought Starfleet and (one) Borg cube to butt heads. The Enterprise naturally is the sole surviving ship left to save the Earth. Riker's looking out the viewscreen and realizes his chances at success are grim. There's only one course at saving the day - yes, blow up the ship! But instead of the destruct sequence, ram the Enterprise straight into the big cube that looks like something from a scrapyard compactor.

"All Good Things..." ... resulted in ... three Enterprises ... blowing up. And the day was saved, along with the rest of the universe. But we all knew that was coming.

"Generations" had the Enterprise blow up (at least the secondary hull), probably because someone needed a reason to show one final saucer-separation sequence:

At last, the Enterprise became a true flying saucer ... before it crash landed.

The Borg returned again in "First Contact" and caused enough grief that Picard finally relents and flips the destruct switch. Not as if the Borg didn't have a way to get the switch flipped back a little while later. The ship was still brand-new and I'm sure the Federation dealership stickers were still on the hull somewhere ... and already Picard decides to junk it, claim the complete loss on the insurance policy, and go for the Enterprise J.

The livelihood of the entire Federation was at risk in the final Next Gen movie "Nemesis." Well, I guess the stakes are high enough this time around. The Big Red Button is justified. Picard, faced with no more torpedoes or sufficient energy reserves to throw rocks at the Scimitar, figures that if Shinzon is going to try and capture him, he might as well take away the self-declared Reman's last chance of victory by ordering an all-hands suicide.

It's gotta be a pretty rough day when you have to resort to saying the words "Computer, auto-destruct sequence" and everyone around you knew it was coming. On the other hand, if the auto-destruct is out of order, then you have to go to Plan B: use that Corbomite device excuse. The script always shows how gullible enemy alien forces are, but if you're not as creative as Kirk, well ... go for broke and get into the expected hand-to-hand with the other guy. It's a primal, last-resort tactic that we can all understand since Hollywood always puts it at the end of every movie.