Starfleet or the star fleet?

[C57D]

Just starting to rewatch TOS season one, after a year or so hiatus, I am just wondering if the term Starfleet was ever actually used in the original series or if it came along later. I know in the first season we has a wide range of terms from UESPA to "Space Central" for the organisation and another myriad mass of terms for that organisation's bases. But so far no Starfleet. So I just thought I would pose the questions to the learned here.

 

[F. King Daniel]

While I'm sure others can say better than I when it was first said aloud in the modern way, this bit of paper from "The Menagerie" has the one-word spelling of "Starfleet":

 

[C57D]

While I'm sure others can say better than I when it was first said aloud in the modern way, this bit of paper from "The Minagerie" has the one-word spelling of "Starfleet":

King Daniel Beyond many thanks.That will teach me to watch all the episodes and not just assume that becsuse I've seen The Cage I can miss The Menagerie!!!

 

[Methuselah Flint]

In my head, they all refer to the same thing; just perhaps different departments or levels.

 

[dahj]

Going through a rewatch now, up to Space Seed, and Starfleet has been mentioned several times, though I haven't really been paying attention when and how often.

 

[J.T.B.]

"Court Martial," the 15th episode made (counting pilots), seems to have been when they settled on "Starfleet," which makes sense as it was the first one to get in to the level of the organization above the ship. It was then used in "The Menagerie" (which has a number of connections to "Court Martial"), "Arena," "Tomorrow Is Yesterday," "The Alternative Factor" and so on, with a possible error in "The Squire of Gothos" when "spacefleet command" is used.

 

[Timo]

Then there's "Tomorrow is Yesterday" where both Starfleet and UESPA make an appearance. The former is the party Kirk wants to contact, but he claims to the 20th century barbarian that UESPA is "our authority". Difficult to see what the writers were thinking there - one of the organizations being subjugate to another? Kirk lying about UESPA? Starfleet being in charge of navigation hazards (the reason Kirk wants to contact them) and UESPA in charge of space probing (as per the name)?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Shawnster]

Starfleet is the command organization. The star fleet is a collection of ships, much like ocean fleet.

 

[Forbin]

My memory may be hazy (what day is it?), but the way I think they used the term was as two words during TOS, and as one word post-TOS.

 

[Timo]

The word starship was spelled as "star ship" in the infamous "star ship status" chart of TOS "Court Martial". The word starfleet was never spelled as "star fleet", though, AFAIK. Indeed, it was extremely rarely spelled at all, because it was not part of any pennant art or door signage, and written documents were rare in TOS.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Scotchy]

What is the "vernal galaxy" noted in the report? I guess we'll have to ask space fleet command.... or the Star Service? Surely the United Earth Space Probe Agency could explain where the vernal galaxy is.

 

[CrazyMatt]

"You say tomato, and I say....."

 

[johnnybear]

Doesn't vernal mean green or am I getting a (big) head of myself?
JB

 

[johnnybear]

Apparently it means fresh and new like the spring! So maybe that part of the galaxy was only just being explored as such?
JB

 

[F. King Daniel]

What is the "vernal galaxy" noted in the report?

I reckon the art guy thought the Enterprise was exploring other galaxies. Very Gold Key.

 

[Methuselah Flint]

with a possible error in "The Squire of Gothos" when "spacefleet command" is used.

I'm stretching it a bit, but as a retcon it's possible Kirk may have been (lazily) using a generic adjective, rather than using said proper name.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Then there's "Tomorrow is Yesterday" where both Starfleet and UESPA make an appearance. The former is the party Kirk wants to contact, but he claims to the 20th century barbarian that UESPA is "our authority". Difficult to see what the writers were thinking there - one of the organizations being subjugate to another? Kirk lying about UESPA? Starfleet being in charge of navigation hazards (the reason Kirk wants to contact them) and UESPA in charge of space probing (as per the name)?

Timo Saloniemi

"Tomorrow Is Yesterday" was originally going to be the second half of a two part story, "The Naked Time" being the first. Might be a few artifacts from the original script.

 

[johnnybear]

Indeed it was, but strange how they left it for another fifteen episodes before doing it!
JB

 

[Timo]

FWIW, "vernal" sounds like very plausible fictional astronomy jargon - astronomy used to be all about seasons and cycles, and "referring to spring" or "in the direction of spring" is a perfect continuation of that. It's just that the real eggheads didn't choose to adopt that one. But they did go with "southern part of the galaxy" - anything that spins can be defined to have a north and a south.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Nerys Myk]

Indeed it was, but strange how they left it for another fifteen episodes before doing it!
JB

Why is that strange? IIRC, Season Three used plots developed in Season One. So digging up a script from earlier in Season One does not seem so odd.