What is your personal head canon?

LOL, already in my head canon that way, for the most part.

 

I think the events happen, but much of TOS is dramatized. Kind of like Dragnet in a way.

 

My understanding is the DTI guy is counting what would be considered violations of the rules he enforces, not thinking about regulations that were in force, if any, when Kirk was on the NCC-1701.
Since time travel was new to the Enterprise crew in "City of the Edge of Forever", there probably were no regulations yet and Kirk was free to use his own judgement. I certainly don't remember him discussing with Spock what the regulations require him to do about Miss Keeler, just about how he could keep the timeline from falling apart.

 

See, I just thought she was being cute with the “galaxy” line, like that’s what someone from the 20th Century thinks people would say in the 23rd — but maybe my brain couldn’t accept the stupidity of her flying off into space so I rejected that reality and replaced it with my own.

 

It's vague enough to not be literal.

 

To be fair, Gillian never actually says it's a spaceship, just that it's a science vessel.

And in fact earlier in the film Gillian clearly states that it's her intention to take care of her whales and continue her work.

So I don't think it's that big of a leap to assume she's assigned to an Earthbound naval vessel that's monitoring George and Gracie. She's learning about the 23rd Century while she teaches the 23rd Century scientists about humpback whales. That makes way more sense to me than her going off into space for some reason.

I agree. It's just a flirty goodbye, and no more literal than Kirk asking for her telephone number.

 

Picard faced court martial over the loss of the Stargazer. This was referred to in dialog but never depicted on screen.

Picard was found innocent just like Kirk was in the incident involving Finney.

 

You are right. I was thinking more about incidents that we’ve seen taking place.

 

And Phillipa Louvois says in "The Measure of a Man" that a court martial is standard procedure when a ship is lost.

I assume that's another rule that came into being after Kirk's time, since they say in "Court Martial" that he's the only Captain who's ever been court martialed before. (Or has that already been contradicted by some other Trek? I feel like it has to have been by this point, right?)

 

Spock was the only one who had ever mutinied on a starship before, until Michael Burnham came along. Which is the overall problem with a prequel, you end up doing the same things and treading the same ground trying to be interesting, while all the things that are "firsts" from the source material end up being overwritten.

 

And, though technically he had, officially Spock hadn't.
From the Tholian Web:

CHEKOV: Has there ever been a mutiny on a starship before?
SPOCK: Absolutely no record of such an occurrence, Ensign.​

 

Spock is well-versed in what is referred to in the crude Human vernacular as "weasel words". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weasel_word

 

Reviewed the transcript and must have missed this point.

 

[*Laughs from the late 32nd century in his adopted sister*]

 

I do wonder why people treat the Federation as this great entity, when they hide as much stuff from the public as they do.

 

That's why Section 31 existing never bothers me (though its onscreen depiction in the J.J. and streaming eras has sucked up until now). OF COURSE the Federation and United Earth before it would have a covert agency that hid things and committed moral crimes in the defense of what it saw as liberty and democracy.

 

Because, by and large, the public doesn't know about it, nor do they care. They are able to pursue their dreams, with little concern to the wider galaxy.

Kirk and Spock went on espionage missions. Picard as well. Secret weapons and cloaks being developed. Secrets are not new to Starfleet, and Section 31 comes as no surprise from a smaller organization who feels the pragmatic need to protect the Federation at all costs.

And there are multiple examples across human history as to why this should not be a surprise.

 

STONE: Admit nothing. Say nothing. Let me bury the matter here and now. No starship captain has ever stood trial before, and I don't want you to be the first.

 

Every major power in modern history does morally ambiguous or terrible things to defend its system and way of life, including democracies. Fictional organizations and states like the Federation are not any different so they make perfect sense.

 

I am talking about fans of the show.