Or just not mentioned by the few people we've met in the 24th Century. Could be on a ship in the next quadrant, all you ever hear about is Captain April and the cool stuff he did.
Final mission of the original 5 year mission
- Thread starter Jedi Marso
- Start date
I've never even heard that as *unofficial* lol.
The "5-year mission" thing was a conceit of Roddenberry's for the series to hopefully go five seasons. But for "in universe" it's possible that not all starships get five-year missions and thus why Kirk's was so noteworthy.
There could also be 2, 3 or 4 as well as 5-year mission profiles in effect throughout Starfleet and pre Starfleet history. It's possible a 5-year mission is basically a romanticized way of referring to a predetermined mission profile scheduled to last five years.
Didn't Sulu refer to "three years studying" certain phenomena in TUC. Then couldn't that have been his 3-year mission at the time?
Pike might have had one or two 5-year missions or he might have had entirely different mission profiles.
There could also be 2, 3 or 4 as well as 5-year mission profiles in effect throughout Starfleet and pre Starfleet history. It's possible a 5-year mission is basically a romanticized way of referring to a predetermined mission profile scheduled to last five years.
Didn't Sulu refer to "three years studying" certain phenomena in TUC. Then couldn't that have been his 3-year mission at the time?
Pike might have had one or two 5-year missions or he might have had entirely different mission profiles.
Probably nothing as definite, else McCoy should have been better versed on Sulu's whereabouts. I mean, he's not ignorant enough overall to be unaware that Sulu should be away for years at an end, even when he isn't informed enough to be in constant touch with the whole old team.
In a scenario where McCoy can't be sure, Sulu would be sailing in and out of civilized space while simultaneously conducting his 3-year mission of spying gaseous anomalies, his 2-month mission of supervising the colonization of a dead rock strategically situated in an ideal listening post location, and his 12-year mission of testing the biggest goddamn ship in the quadrant right in front of the noses of the Klingons.
Timo Saloniemi
McCoy doesn't have to know everything about Sulu's activities after they stop serving together. It could have been years--maybe more than three--since he last saw Sulu.
Kirk making reference to "five years out there" in TMP does seem to indicate there is something distinct about a 5-year mission. It is an acknowledgment of the opening narration heard at the beginning of every TOS episode...except WNMHGB.
Kirk making reference to "five years out there" in TMP does seem to indicate there is something distinct about a 5-year mission. It is an acknowledgment of the opening narration heard at the beginning of every TOS episode...except WNMHGB.
Which is fine and well. The problem comes from McCoy needing to have been out of touch with all the people involved for three years or more, or the subject of Sulu's whereabouts would have arisen with them (McCoy is a people person who would know Sulu has a daughter, say). This degree of detachment doesn't sound likely.
Timo Saloniemi
It's not "detail" if these people who spend years at an end in space are in the "space" phase of their bipolar lives - because it's something that would come up within said three years unless McCoy never spoke to any of his friends, and once McCoy heard it, he would remember for the next X years not to make any surprise visits to Sulu's flat. It's quite comparable to remembering whether a friend is alive or dead!
Timo Saloniemi
Timo Saloniemi
Whatever, man. McCoy could know Sulu has been dispatched on a mission and not know the particulars of said mission.
Or McCoy might have expected Sulu back by a certain time and he wasn't or McCoy was mistaken or misremembered when Sulu was expected to return.
Well, in the teaser, Sulu was setting sail for home, and the meeting was two months later.
For all we know, Sulu had already said hello to McCoy one month prior to the meeting and delivered the obligatory bottle of contraband and all, and his hush-hush "assignment" rightfully came as a total surprise to McCoy.
OTOH, Sulu setting sail for home was predicated on Valtane declaring the mission accomplished. And he did that by saying "According to this we have completed our exploration of the entire sector" and waving the evidence in front of Sulu. Was this "this" a ticking mission clock, with the count reaching zero at a moment known three years earlier already? Or was it a list of accumulating achievements, completed at a moment nobody could predict for certain?
Timo Saloniemi
For all we know, Sulu had already said hello to McCoy one month prior to the meeting and delivered the obligatory bottle of contraband and all, and his hush-hush "assignment" rightfully came as a total surprise to McCoy.
OTOH, Sulu setting sail for home was predicated on Valtane declaring the mission accomplished. And he did that by saying "According to this we have completed our exploration of the entire sector" and waving the evidence in front of Sulu. Was this "this" a ticking mission clock, with the count reaching zero at a moment known three years earlier already? Or was it a list of accumulating achievements, completed at a moment nobody could predict for certain?
Timo Saloniemi
Sort of like Babe Ruth or Wayne Gretzky, eh?
I always figured that 1) Enterprise was one of the few ships that completed the 5 years without losing ship and/or crew (a dwindling fleet could have launched the refit) and that 2) Any other commanders that did this were not on Earth at the moment, and out on other missions. Kirk was fresh off the mission, whereas most of the Earthbound deskbound Admirals were years away from their active service. Just Kirk using whatever he had to get back out there.
I do like the idea of random ending, not a scheduled wrap up, but in my head canon, thats what had to have happened at the end of the TMP era mission - but the concept works just fine for the end of TOS. I have always entertained the notion that something big happened... something that sparked the militarization of Star Fleet, the change in uniforms, the newly amped up aggressions with the Klingons, and the benching of Kirk/retirement of Enterprise - (and I would like to think it was years into the Refit Mission, and NOT just V'ger...)
Kirk is a legend even to the Klingons. I think he's just a lot more noteworthy than April and Pike as far as history goes. April and Pike, if they are remembered, are likely just thought of as the ones before Kirk. Kirk + the Enterprise are iconic by the 24th century. It's not that April and Pike were bad captains (who knows?). They just pale in comparison to the legendary 5 year mission. Not to mention saving Earth in TMP and TVH, the Genesis stuff, Spock's resurrection, Khaaaaaaaaan and the beginning of peace with the Klingons.
Not that we can ever know any of this of course
I always figured McCoy as someone disconnected from Starfleet when he wasn't actually there. Would he really be the type to keep up on Sulu's whereabouts? He may have been on a porch in Georgia sipping a mint julep when the call came in the report to the Enterprise. It really seemed like none of them had been aboard for a while at the beginning of The Undiscovered Country. Kirk asks Scott if he remembers where the engine room is at, and has a bag he is unpacking.
It's not like Sulu and Bones were particularly tight where I would expect him to come up in any conversations he had with ex Enterprise crewmembers. On top of that, how many people that we saw on screen would you really expect McCoy to make an effort to meet with? Kirk, and maybe Spock and people he worked in sickbay with like Nurse Chapel and Dr. M'Benga. It's not like we ever saw McCoy socializing with Scotty, Uhura, Sulu, Chekov et al.
Would you mind breaking that down?
Wasn't that written on one of the old books or elsewhere that Kirk and his crew were one of the only ships to complete their mission and return home safely?
JB
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