Star Trek Books and Comics Timeline-ing Discussion

[lawman]

In my mind, there is a gap of a few months between TWOK and TSFS - I have TWOK taking place in March of 2283 (March 22nd is as good a date as any for Kirk's birthday to occur, in the absence of other evidence, and it makes sense that something like the Kobayashi Maru test would be taken later in the Starfleet Academy school year, rather than earlier.)

Yep yep.

I figure a gap of anywhere from 3 to 7 months between the movies works. That leaves plenty of time for the Mike W. Barr adventures in issues #1-8 of the DC Comics series. That way the Enterprise crew has a bit of time to mourn and miss Spock before he comes back, and the trip to the Great Barrier during the Saavik "Pon Farr" storyline nicely explains the extra damage to the Enterprise at the beginning of TSFS. So TSFS takes place in late 2283 (say, October) and the three-month Vulcan exile takes us into January 2284.

Hmm. So you include time for the comics stories between movies II and III, but not the ones between III and IV?

I'm of the same school of thought on TWOK taking place in 2283, although I have it as Kirk's 49th birthday instead of his 50th. (this jibes with Nicholas Meyer's original draft, which said that Kirk was turning 49.) You don't always have your midlife crisis on the milestone birthdays. Whenever I read "2285" as a date for TWOK in a novel or a reference book, I just rewrite it in my head to "2283."

Hmm. So you don't accept the canonical date of 2233 for Kirk's birth? Doesn't this require adjusting the entire FYM (given the age information in "The Deadly Years"?)

I think that was likely because the founding of Nimbus III was a much more major event than the 2283 dating of the bottle of Romulan Ale. And logically, that meant that TFF had to be at least 20 years after contact was re-established with the Romulans in "Balance of Terror."

The more I think about it, the more I see a different possibility, especially in light of my own earlier remarks...

Why they then chose to anchor that spread with the far less popular film (STV) rather than the far more popular one (STII), I can't imagine. Maybe they flipped a coin, for all I know.
...
(Of course, something in the 2260s was pretty much inevitable after TNG set its timeframe in "Neutral Zone." I've often wondered what happened behind the scenes during TNG S1, to shift the thinking from early 24th century — per Data's reference to being "class of '78" in the pilot — to late 24th century, per his reference to "2364" at the end of the season.)

...that reminded me of something I'd forgotten. Namely, back when TNG premiered in '87, there was a lot of talk about the adventures of the new Enterprise beginning "78 years" after the adventures of the original. It was never stated in canon AFAIK, but it was in the marketing and promotional materials and was widely discussed... call it pseudo-canon. Given that, and given Data's statement that S1 ended in 2364, it would stand to reason that the Ent-D would have been commissioned a year earlier in 2363, and 78 years before that would be 2285... hence, it seems not unlikely to me that the Okudas chose that year for the end of the original Enterprise's adventures (viz., its destruction in STIII), and arranged the other movies around that date.

In retrospect, it's obviously not a big deal, and it makes not a whit of difference if the Ent-D launched 80 years after the original was destroyed instead of 78. At the time they were working on the Chronology, though, it might have loomed large.

I also think that the 79 episodes we saw of TOS were spread out over 5 years, not 3. The stardates range from the low 1000s to the high 5000s, after all. It just makes sense that way. (FYI, I only include certain parts of TAS in my headcanon.)

You can browse through my TOS timeline here.

Cool, thanks for sharing! And I guess this answers my question above about "Deadly Years." It looks like you spread out season 1 quite a lot. I'm a bit puzzled by it overall, though, as you seem to have arranged the episodes in a way that's neither production order or broadcast order (nor ever stardate order). There are no notes or annotations on your timeline, so I'm left wondering how you went about deciding on this order of events.

The text version of my chronology has a lot more references to novels and comics, but I'm trying to keep it mostly screen canon for the online version. There's also a few things I'd still like to include that I haven't found decent pictures for yet.

Shoot, I'd like to see the extra info! Does the site not let you add entries that don't have an image?

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Hmm. So you include time for the comics stories between movies II and III, but not the ones between III and IV?

Let's just say that some of them I accept and some of them I don't. There were a lot of mediocre one-shot stories between the Mike W. Barr and Peter David runs.

I take what I call a salad bar approach to continuity. I take what I like, and I leave the rest alone.

Hmm. So you don't accept the canonical date of 2233 for Kirk's birth? Doesn't this require adjusting the entire FYM (given the age information in "The Deadly Years"?)

I got the 2234 birth date for Kirk from the "I'm 34 years old" line in "The Deadly Years." I have that episode taking place in 2268 in my timeline, and 2268 - 34 = 2234.

Namely, back when TNG premiered in '87, there was a lot of talk about the adventures of the new Enterprise beginning "78 years" after the adventures of the original. It was never stated in canon AFAIK, but it was in the marketing and promotional materials and was widely discussed... call it pseudo-canon.

I remember some very early TNG publicity material or news coverage saying it had been 87 years since the adventures of Kirk's crew. It was kind of vague at first if it was supposed to be 87 years since TOS or the movie era, though.

Given that, and given Data's statement that S1 ended in 2364

It's funny how that arbitrary 2364 date ended up determining so much of the Okudachron. From what I understand, they had to shoot an early draft script for "The Neutral Zone" and they weren't allowed to rewrite it because of the 1988 writer's strike. If that strike hadn't happened and the script had undergone a few more rewrites, they very likely would have cut that line from the script.

It looks like you spread out season 1 quite a lot. I'm a bit puzzled by it overall, though, as you seem to have arranged the episodes in a way that's neither production order or broadcast order (nor ever stardate order).

The episodes are in production order. That's the episode order that makes the most sense to me. Here's my basic reasoning (remember, you asked):

First off, I go with Roddenberry's statement that stardates are only roughly sequential and depend on factors like your speed and position in the galaxy. So when it's stardate 1713.2 on one planet, it might be stardate 2763.8 on another.

I assume that TOS stardates, like 24th century stardates, are approximately 1000 stardate units per year, with them "resetting" every decade or so. That's why the TOS stardates range from around 1000 to nearly 6000, the TMP era is in the 7000 range, and the TWOK-TFF era, about 10 years later, is in the 8000 range. And TUC is about 10 years after that, so they go up to the 9000 range. (This system gets kind of screwed up if you try to incorporate TAS stardates, BTW.)

So since we have TOS stardates going from the low 1000s to the high 5000s, it seems logical to assume that the 5YM ranged from approximately stardate 1000 to stardate 6000. (In his "Final Mission" story in DC's Star Trek Annual #2, writer Mike W. Barr had the Enterprise returning to Earth on exactly stardate 6000.0, which I always thought was a pretty neat idea.) Therefore, the first year of the 5YM ranges from around 1000-2000, the second year from 2000-3000, and so on. I "shift" it from one year to the next when the majority of stardates fall within that range (there are a few outliers, IIRC). So the shape of the 5YM looks like this:

YEAR ONE (2265-2266): WNMHGB to "Balance of Terror" (stardate 1312.4 - stardate 1709.2) - 8 episodes
YEAR TWO (2266-2267): "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" to "Court Martial" (stardate 2712.4 - stardate 2947.3) - 6 episodes
YEAR THREE (2267-2268): "The Menagerie" to "The Deadly Years" (stardate 3012.4 - stardate 3478.2) - 25 episodes
YEAR FOUR (2268-2269): "I, Mudd" to "The Paradise Syndrome" (stardate 4513.3 - stardate 4842.6) - 18 episodes
YEAR FIVE (2269-2270): "The Enterprise Incident" to "Turnabout Intruder" (stardate 5027.3 - stardate 5928.5) - 21 episodes

So that divides up the 5YM pretty well, and it still leaves some gaps to fit in other adventures from the novels, comics, TAS, audio adventures, what have you. I haven't nailed down exact months for most of the TOS episodes (outside of "Charlie X," which mentions Thanksgiving), but I suppose I will someday.

So there you go. It's not perfect (no chronology is), but it works for me. As long as the major date references are reasonably intact (TWOK is 15 years after "Space Seed," Kirk is 34 in "The Deadly Years," Sulu's served with Kirk for approximately two years by that point, "Day of the Dove" is three years after the Organian Peace Treaty established after COTEOF, etc.), I'm good.

I hope that made some kind of sense. If you have any other questions, I'd be happy to answer them.

There are no notes or annotations on your timeline, so I'm left wondering how you went about deciding on this order of events.

There are a few notes. If you see some text that's highlighted, you can roll over or click and see some of my reasoning in a popup. Look at the "2018" date for the birth of the Dax symbiont and you'll see what I mean.

The problem is, Sutori got rid of the "notes" feature on their timelines, so I can't add any more than what I already have on there. I can edit the ones I have, but that's it.

At some point I'll probably just delete all the notes and add my thoughts & reasoning in italicized text below each entry, the way The Star Trek Chronology did. But that's a major revision, and I haven't had the time to do much work on the timeline lately.

Shoot, I'd like to see the extra info! Does the site not let you add entries that don't have an image?

It does, I just don't like to. I think very visually (my background is in graphic design and cartooning), so I like having an image of some kind to go with an entry wherever possible. I drive myself nuts trying to find good high-res images to use sometimes, but I love it when I can find something clever to put with an entry.

I've also Photoshopped a few of the pictures. The "wedding photo" of Sarek and Amanda is a still from June Wyatt's movie Lost Horizon that I grafted Mark Lenard's face onto, and the photo of Kirk proposing to Carol Marcus dated December 31, 2259 is a screencap of Kirk and Lenore Karidian from "The Conscience of the King." I replaced Barbara Anderson's face with a profile shot of Bibi Besch from TWOK, softened the features a bit to make her look younger, and did the same with Shatner's face to make him look the appropriate age. I also adjusted the colors of Anderson's dress to make it look different, and replaced the black collar on Kirk's uniform with an era-appropriate ribbed collar from The Cage/WNMHGB time frame.

I'd love to do more of that sort of thing, but... well, it's tough to find the time. I first put the Sutori version of my timeline together when I was either unemployed or working part time. Now I'm working full time, with freelancing on the side. But I'll get back to it some lazy weekend or another.

 

[lawman]

The episodes are in production order. That's the episode order that makes the most sense to me.

Okay, on further examination I see that they are. At first glance I thought some of them had been moved around. Mea culpa.

Here's my basic reasoning (remember, you asked):

...I assume that TOS stardates, like 24th century stardates, are approximately 1000 stardate units per year, with them "resetting" every decade or so. That's why the TOS stardates range from around 1000 to nearly 6000...

So the shape of the 5YM looks like this:

YEAR ONE (2265-2266): WNMHGB to "Balance of Terror" (stardate 1312.4 - stardate 1709.2) - 8 episodes
YEAR TWO (2266-2267): "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" to "Court Martial" (stardate 2712.4 - stardate 2947.3) - 6 episodes
YEAR THREE (2267-2268): "The Menagerie" to "The Deadly Years" (stardate 3012.4 - stardate 3478.2) - 25 episodes
YEAR FOUR (2268-2269): "I, Mudd" to "The Paradise Syndrome" (stardate 4513.3 - stardate 4842.6) - 18 episodes
YEAR FIVE (2269-2270): "The Enterprise Incident" to "Turnabout Intruder" (stardate 5027.3 - stardate 5928.5) - 21 episodes

So that divides up the 5YM pretty well, and it still leaves some gaps to fit in other adventures from the novels, comics, TAS, audio adventures, what have you. I haven't nailed down exact months for most of the TOS episodes (outside of "Charlie X," which mentions Thanksgiving), but I suppose I will someday.

I can see where you're coming from there. But it does seem a bit strange to have season 1 stretching across almost three years, with only half-a-dozen episodes in all of "year two." Personally, I've never seen any scheme for stardates (especially in the TOS era) that convinces me they make a lick of sense, so I just assume they're inscrutable and don't treat them as evidence.

As long as the major date references are reasonably intact (TWOK is 15 years after "Space Seed," Kirk is 34 in "The Deadly Years," Sulu's served with Kirk for approximately two years by that point, "Day of the Dove" is three years after the Organian Peace Treaty established after COTEOF, etc.), I'm good.

Fair enough. (I'm surprised how often current takes on the timeline neglect that "DOTD" reference, in particular!...)

There are a few notes. If you see some text that's highlighted, you can roll over or click and see some of my reasoning in a popup. Look at the "2018" date for the birth of the Dax symbiont and you'll see what I mean.

Ah. FWIW, there's no rollover effect on my browser (using Chrome on a Mac). I had assumed there was no response to clicking, either, but I see now that there is a (very) delayed pop-up if I'm patient.

The problem is, Sutori got rid of the "notes" feature on their timelines, so I can't add any more than what I already have on there. I can edit the ones I have, but that's it.

It always baffles me when a site or a program "updates" itself by taking away useful features...

It does [allow image-free entries], I just don't like to. I think very visually (my background is in graphic design and cartooning), so I like having an image of some kind to go with an entry wherever possible. I drive myself nuts trying to find good high-res images to use sometimes, but I love it when I can find something clever to put with an entry.

Heh! I'm much more text-oriented, I guess. I'd rather see the timeline without all the images; it would load faster and scroll more smoothly, and I could see more information on screen at once! FWIW, though, you have done a very nice job choosing (and editing!) some of those images.

 

[Christopher]

It always baffles me when a site or a program "updates" itself by taking away useful features...

Yeah, I hate that. Recent examples include the Internet Movie Database losing its "Episode Cast" pages and its very useful character pages that let you see every actor who's ever played a given character (as well as the "Manage your history" page and several other features), and Zap2It's TV listings dropping the feature that let you see a single channel's entire schedule for the next 2 weeks (and at least in the case of my market, doesn't correct for Daylight Savings Time).

I can only surmise that they're more concerned with making things easier for the programmers/operators or cheaper for the business or whatever than they are with making things more useful for the public.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Okay, on further examination I see that they are. At first glance I thought some of them had been moved around. Mea culpa.

It's probably because I inserted a few things that foreshadowed later entries a bit. For example, I noted the likely date when the Klingons started providing flintlocks to Tyree's planet, one year before "A Private Little War." I just guessimated that by subtracting 1000 from the episode's stardate.

But it does seem a bit strange to have season 1 stretching across almost three years, with only half-a-dozen episodes in all of "year two."

I don't disagree with you! But if you're spreading out three years' worth of episodes to cover five years, that's likely going to happen.

Personally, I've never seen any scheme for stardates (especially in the TOS era) that convinces me they make a lick of sense, so I just assume they're inscrutable and don't treat them as evidence.

That's pretty much my philosophy, too. No system is ever going to make 100% sense, so you just go with what makes the most sense to you and make the best of it.

Ah. FWIW, there's no rollover effect on my browser (using Chrome on a Mac). I had assumed there was no response to clicking, either, but I see now that there is a (very) delayed pop-up if I'm patient.

OK, thanks for letting me know what you see. I wasn't quite sure how to describe it to you. Since I'm logged in to the Sutori site, what I see when I go to the page is a bit different.

It always baffles me when a site or a program "updates" itself by taking away useful features...

Yeah, same here. But I recognize that I'm not exactly using the site for what it was designed for (it was originally intended for teachers to organize material for students). There's a pay version that has more features, but I'm not sure if I'm going to pony up for that or not.

Heh! I'm much more text-oriented, I guess. I'd rather see the timeline without all the images; it would load faster and scroll more smoothly, and I could see more information on screen at once!

I can definitely see the advantage of that. The load time can get annoying.

Wait a minute... <glances down at your signature> "Blogging on pop culture and politics at SmartRemarks"? Are you the guy who did the Unofficial Chronology of the DC Universe and the Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Chronology at SmartMemes? Dude! I'm a fan of your work on those! I've commented on your Holmes chronology! Those timelines were big influences on my own DC Universe Timeline and Sherlock Holmes Timeline. I even bookmarked the WebArchive version of your DCU Timeline not three days ago because the site is down!

Oh, we are going to have to talk on PM...

FWIW, though, you have done a very nice job choosing (and editing!) some of those images.

Thanks very much! Fun to do!

 

[lawman]

Yes, that is me, with the DCU and Sherlock Holmes timelines! Thanks for the egoboo. I'm sorry the site is down... for some extremely frustrating reason, the domain registration failed to autorenew this year the way it had for more than ten years now, and I've been in a protracted back-and-forth with tech support people for weeks now to try to get it back again.

 

[Stevil2001]

Yes, that is me, with the DCU and Sherlock Holmes timelines! Thanks for the egoboo. I'm sorry the site is down... for some extremely frustrating reason, the domain registration failed to autorenew this year the way it had for more than ten years now, and I've been in a protracted back-and-forth with tech support people for weeks now to try to get it back again.

Whoa, hey, I too am a big fan of your DCU timeline. Nice catch,@JonnyQuest037! Good luck with tech support. (It was one of my sources for my own here.)

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Yes, that is me, with the DCU and Sherlock Holmes timelines! Thanks for the egoboo. I'm sorry the site is down... for some extremely frustrating reason, the domain registration failed to autorenew this year the way it had for more than ten years now, and I've been in a protracted back-and-forth with tech support people for weeks now to try to get it back again.

That is extremely frustrating. I hope you're able to get that resolved soon.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

(It was one of my sources for my own here.)

Wow! That's a new one to me! Bookmarking...

 

[Stevil2001]

Wow! That's a new one to me! Bookmarking...

Well, it's pretty derivative (of @lawman's site and of Collected Editions) and also pretty idiosyncratic (it's mostly for my own reference, so it's just things I own and/or have read; also I try to cram things into one timeline that probably don't belong, like Golden Age stories).

 

[lawman]

Okay, so, just for the helluvit (and to keep this discussion alive), lemme put up a quick-and-dirty summary of the 23rd century portion of my timeline. This is strictly a condensed version, just to give you a sense of the framework into which I fit other things...

James Kirk: born 2233, attends Starfleet Academy 2250-54
Spock: born 2230, attends Academy 2249-51
Leonard McCoy: born 2226, attends med school 2248-52
Montgomery Scott: born 2222, attends Academy 2240-44
(Other character ages uncertain)

2245 - Enterprise launched under Robert April
2251 - Pike takes command
2253 - Spock assigned to Ent
2253 - "The Cage" takes place
2253 - Cadet Kirk on Axanar peace mission
2254 - Ensign Kirk on Republic (reports Ben Finney)
2254 - Lt. Kirk assigned to Farragut; visits Neural on his first planetary survey mission
2256 - Farragut encounters cloud creature, Cpt. Garrovick dies
2256 - Lt. Kirk serves as instructor at Academy

... I also have entries for 18 different novels during this "backstory" period, as well as a smattering of comics, and flashback info from at least 11 additional novels. I include novels from throughout the Pocket Books run, dating back to the 1980s, although I do flag those that belong to the current "litverse" era. Piecing together Kirk's career ascent is notoriously tricky, especially when one takes licensed fiction into account, but FWIW I have him serving on no less than nine ships between 2257 and 2263 while he climbs the ladder from Lt. Cmdr and 2nd officer to Commander and XO to Captain. Then...

2264 - Kirk takes command of Enterprise (Spock served under Pike for 11 years, 4 months)
(...I prefer the version of this from DC Comics' ST Annual #1; I've never cared for McIntyre's Enterprise: The First Adventure)

2265 - (midyear) Enterprise travels to & returns from Galactic Barrier ("WNMHGB")
...I consider "WNM" (and about ten novels as well) to fall during a more-than-year-long period before the official "Five Year Mission" begins. Among those novels are the first two volumes of the Vanguard mini-series, which I place in August of '65.

2265 - (Sep) The Enterprise's famous FYM begins
...I include all episodes in production order, with two exceptions noted below.*

--TOS season 1 (27 episodes) - Oct 2265 through Sep 2266
--Notable chronological anchor points:
--- Nov 2265 - "Charlier X" (Thanksgiving)
--- Dec 2265 - "Balance of Terror" (first Romulans in over a century)
--- Mar 2266 - "The Menagerie" (13 years after Talos IV)
--- Apr 2266 - "Shore Leave" (15 years since Kirk was a freshman)
-- Aug 2266 - "Errand of Mercy" (Organian incident with Klingons)
...I also have 21 novels taking place concurrent with S1.

--TOS season 2 (26 episodes) - Oct 2266 through Dec 2267
--Notable chronological anchor points:
--- Mar 2267 - "The Deadly Years" (Kirk has just turned 34)
--- May 2267 - "Journey to Babel" (18 years since Sarek spoke to Spock, when he left for the Academy)
--- Jul 2267 - "A Private Little War" (13 years since Kirk's mission to Neural)
--- Aug 2267 - "Obsession" (11 years since the cloud creature attacked the Farragut)
...I also have 25 novels taking place concurrent with S2.

--TOS season 3 (24 episodes) - Jan 2268 through Jan 2269
--Notable chronological anchor points:
--- Late Jan - late Mar 2268 - "The Paradise Syndrome" (no other adventures for 2 months)
... I also have 20 novels taking place concurrent with S3.

*The two episodes I have adjusted from production order are these:
- "Space Seed" I have bumped into mid-2267, to keep it 15 (okay, less than 16) years from STII: TWOK
- "Day of the Dove" I have bumped into early 2269, to keep it three years later than "Errand of Mercy"
I don't think either of these disrupts anything else in the timeline. Indeed, the former has the added benefit of explaining (even strictly limited to canonical references!) why Chekov was on board.

Then! After TOS, completing the FYM...

2269 (Feb-Jun) - Five novels (Entropy Effect and Memory Prime, then most notably Prime Directive, which "suspends" the FYM for four months, then Face of the Unknown and Latter Fire)
2269 (Jun-Nov) - TAS (22 episodes, in production order)
...then the novel That Which Divides and the comic Year Four: The Enterprise Experiment, wrapping up FYM year 4.

2269 (Dec) - 2270 (Dec) - Final year of the FYM. I have 30 novels in this period. Sulu is off-ship for two months mid-year, per Allegiance In Exile. There are at least five different accounts of the end of the FYM, which are not entirely compatible with one another, although all have appealing qualities.

2271-73 - Eight novels

2273 (Oct) - ST:TMP

2273-76 - 24 novels

2277 - a year in which I have nothing chronicled

2278-83 - 19 novels

2283 (Mar) - STIi:TWOK (dating already much discussed in this thread!)
...followed by DC Comics Star Trek v1 #1-8

2283 (May) - STIII:TSFS
...followed by DC Comics Star Trek v1 #9-36

2284 (Mar) - STIV:TVH
...followed by two novels (Unspoken Truth and Timetrap), and DC Comics Star Trek v1 #37-55 [end of series]

2286 - another year in which I have nothing chronicled

2287 - STV:TFF (20 years since Nimbus III founded, c. 2267)

2287-89 - four novels, DC Comics ST v2 #1-30, and the graphic novel Debt of Honor

2289 (Dec) - Sulu promoted to Captain of Excelsior (in Excelsior: Forged in Fire)

2290-91 - three novels, and DC Comics ST v2 #31-71 [end of series]

2292 (Jun-Aug) - STVI:TUC
...I know it's conventional to put this in 2293, but that doesn't seem to me to fit. For one thing, McCoy has been CMO for 27 years (since 2265). For another, it makes sense to me to have some reasonable gap in between this and the next movie, not least to accommodate the below...

2292-93 - Nine novels (my ordering: Assignment: Eternity, Best Destiny, Sarek, Mind Meld, Shadows on the Sun, Last Roundup, Fearful Summons, Ashes of Eden, and Federation).

2293 (Nov) - ST:Gen (78.2 years before the main part of the film, in the TNG era)

2294 - Three novels (notably Engines of Destiny, in which Scotty is lost, 75 years before TNG "Relics")

...and that's how it stands for me right now. Most of the specific novels I've left unmentioned, of course, but I'm happy to discuss just about any part of this in greater detail with anyone who's interested!

 

[JonnyQuest037]

OK, here's some highlights from my TOS chronology (Concentrating on Kirk, Spock, and McCoy to keep it to a reasonable length):

Jan. 20, 2220 - Leonard H. McCoy is born in Atlanta, Georgia on the planet Earth. His father is David McCoy.

March 3, 2220 - Montgomery Scott is born in Aberdeen, Scotland, Earth.

2229 - Vulcan Ambassador Sarek marries teacher Amanda Grayson of Earth.

March 26, 2230 - Spock is born to Sarek and Amanda in the city of ShiKahr on the planet Vulcan.

2231 - George Samuel Kirk is born to George and Winona Kirk. (Conjecture. The script for Star Trek (2009) describes Kirk’s brother as being three years older than him.)

March 22, 2234 - James T. Kirk is born to Lt. Commander George Kirk and Lt. Winona Kirk in Riverside, Iowa.

2237 - Spock undergoes his kahs-wan ritual one month early, attempting to survive for ten days without food, water, or weapons on Vulcan's Forge. Spock's pet sehlat I-Chaya is mortally injured when it follows him. (“Yesteryear.”)

2237 - Spock and T'Pring are telepathically bonded in a ritual Vulcan ceremony arranged by their parents. ("Amok Time.")

2237 - Christopher Pike (age 18) enters Starfleet Academy.

2237 - Leonard McCoy (age 17) enters medical school at the University of Mississippi. (Conjecture based on DS9: “Trials and Tribble-ations.”)

2237 - Leonard McCoy meets Trill Emony Dax when she judges a gymnastics competition at Ole Miss. (DS9: “Trials and Tribble-ations.” Dax recalls that, “I met him when he was a student at Ole Miss… My host at time was Emony. She was on Earth judging a gymnastics competition. I had a feeling he’d become a doctor… he had the hands of a surgeon.”)

Jan. 2240 - Montgomery Scott (age 19) enters Starfleet Academy mid-term. (DC ST v1 Annual #3.)

2241 - Christopher Pike (age 22) graduates from Starfleet Academy at the top of his class. (Conjecture based upon Burning Dreams.)

2243 - Montgomery Scott (age 23) graduates from Starfleet Academy. In his Starfleet career he will ship out on a total of 11 vessels, including freighters, cruisers and Starships. (TNG: "Relics.")

2244 - Joanna McCoy is born to Leonard (age 24) and Jocelyn McCoy. (Conjecture. 21 years before 2265, assuming that Joanna graduated college that year, as stated in DC ST v1 Annual #1 (1985): “All Those Years Ago…”)

2244 - Dr. Richard Daystrom invents duotronic computer technology and is awarded the Nobel and Zee-Magnees prizes. Dr. Daystrom’s computer systems become the basis for the main computers of the starship Enterprise. ("The Ultimate Computer.")

2245 - The USS Enterprise, NCC-1701, is launched from the San Francisco Yards facility in orbit around Earth, under the command of Captain Robert April.

2245 - Leonard McCoy (age 25) graduates from medical school. ("The Pirates of Orion." Kirk comments that McCoy has been in medicine for 25 years.)

2245 - The Battle of Donatu V is fought near Sherman’s Planet, in a region disputed by the Klingon Empire and the United Federation of Planets. The results are inconclusive. ("The Trouble With Tribbles.")

2246 - Christopher Pike (age 28) is promoted to Commander. (Burning Dreams.)

2246 - James T. Kirk (age 12) is one of the survivors of the massacre on Tarsus IV. (“The Conscience of the King.”)

2246 - Spock (age 16) declines placement in the Vulcan Science Academy, enlisting in Starfleet against his father's wishes. He takes the accelerated two-year course of study for Vulcans. Sarek and Spock do not speak to each other for the next 18 years. (“Journey to Babel”, Star Trek (2009), Vulcan's Glory.)

2248 - Spock (age 18) begins one year of working cadet cruises aboard various ships. (Vulcan's Glory.)

2249 - Spock (age 19) graduates from Starfleet Academy. Amanda attends her son’s graduation ceremony on Earth. (Vulcan's Glory. Amanda states that it has been “five years” since she saw Spock at his graduation.)

2249 - Ensign Spock begins three years as an assistant science officer on a space cutter in the Sol system. (Vulcan's Glory.)

2250 - James T. Kirk (age 16) enters Starfleet Academy with the assistance of Mallory. ("The Apple.")

2250 - James Kirk meets Gary Mitchell at Starfleet Academy. (Kirk refers to Gary as "a man I've known for 15 years" in "WNM." Elizabeth Dehner says that they've been friends since Gary entered the Academy.)

2250 - Enterprise Commodore Robert April (age 55) retires from Starfleet and becomes Federation Ambassador at large. (“The Counter-Clock Incident.” Kirk states that April has been an ambassador “for the past 20 years.”)

2250 - Captain Christopher Pike (age 32) assumes command of the USS Enterprise.

2251 - Dr. Leonard McCoy (age 31) leads a mass-inoculation program on Dramia II. Shortly after McCoy's team leaves, an Auroral Plague kills almost the entire population of Dramia II. (“Albatross.” Stated to be “19 years ago.”)

2252 - Spock (age 22) is promoted to Lieutenant (Junior Grade) and serves on the USS Artemis as third officer & science officer under Captain Daniels. (Vulcan's Glory)

2252 - James T. Kirk sees Ruth for the last time before 2267. ("Shore Leave." Kirk tells the simulacrum of Ruth: “You haven’t aged. It’s been 15 years.”)

2253 - Leonard McCoy (age 33) begins a romantic relationship with the future Nancy Crater (age 25). ("The Man Trap." McCoy remarks that Nancy “looks exactly as I knew her 12 years ago… like a girl of 25,” implying that he met her and/or began a relationship with her that long ago.)

2253 - James T. Kirk (age 19) barely escapes with his life when five of his Academy classmates die attempting the Kolvoord Starburst during shuttlepod maneuvers. (The Autobiography of James T. Kirk)

Late Dec. 2253 - Spock (age 23) is promoted to Lieutenant & transfers to the USS Enterprise as second officer and science officer. (Vulcan's Glory. 11 years, 4 months & 5 days before Kirk takes command of the Enterprise (April 2265). The novel begins on a “late December day.")

2254 - James T. Kirk (age 20) graduates from Starfleet Academy.

2254 - Ensign Kirk begins serving on the USS Republic, NCC-1371, under Captain Garrovick. (“Court Martial.” Captain Garrovick commanding the Republic is my conjecture, based upon Kirk’s statement in “Obsession” that Garrovick “was my commanding officer from the day I left the Academy. One of the finest men I ever knew.”)

2254 - "The Cage"

2254 - Onboard the USS Republic, Ensign James T. Kirk logs that his friend Ben Finney left a circuit open that could have led to the destruction of the ship. Finney draws a reprimand and is moved to the bottom of the promotion list. (“Court Martial.”)

2255 - Ensign James T. Kirk transfers to the USS Farragut, NCC-1647, alongside Captain Garrovick. It is Kirk's first deep-space assignment. ("Obsession.")

2255 - Leonard McCoy’s relationship with the future Nancy Crater comes to an end. Nancy marries Professor Robert Crater shortly thereafter. (“The Man Trap.” McCoy states in 2265, “We walked out of each other's lives ten years ago.” It is my conjecture that McCoy’s relationship with Nancy was an extramarital affair. Since Kirk has not met Nancy Crater a decade later, he evidently did not know, or was not in touch with, McCoy at this time.)

2255 - Leonard McCoy (age 35) and Jocelyn McCoy divorce. Believing that there is nothing left for him on Earth after his divorce, Leonard McCoy enlists in Starfleet. (Conjecture based upon Star Trek (2009), where McCoy is recently divorced in 2255.)

2255 - James T. Kirk (age 21) is promoted to Lieutenant (Junior Grade). (Conjecture. Assumes that Kirk spent one year at the rank of Ensign after graduating from the Academy in 2254.)

2255 - Lt. J.G. James T. Kirk commands his first planetary survey on the planet Neural, a technologically unsophisticated Class-M planet. (“A Private Little War.” Kirk refers to himself as, “the brash young Lieutenant Kirk on his first planet survey,” and states that he left the planet “thirteen years ago.”)

2257 - James T. Kirk (age 23) is promoted to full Lieutenant. (Conjecture. Assumes he spent 10 months to two years at the rank of Lt. (J.G.).)

2257 - The USS Farragut is destroyed, along with half of its crew, by a mysterious cloud creature while exploring planet Tycho IV. Lt. Kirk, manning phaser control, blames himself for not firing on the creature sooner. ("Obsession.")

2257 - Lt. James T. Kirk is accepted into Starfleet Command School, also teaching courses to midshipmen. Gary Mitchell aims a “little blonde lab technician” at Jim Kirk, in the hopes of getting his friend to loosen up. Kirk and Carol Marcus soon fall in love and begin a romantic relationship that lasts for the next several years. (Conjecture based upon "WNM.")

March-April 2258 - Lt. James T. Kirk makes three attempts to successfully complete the Kobayashi Maru scenario at Starfleet Command School. He is finally beats the test when he reprograms the simulation to make it possible to rescue the ship. He is awarded a commendation for original thinking. (TWOK. Time placement is my conjecture.)

2258 - James T. Kirk graduates from Starfleet Command School.

2259 - James T. Kirk (age 25) is promoted to Lieutenant Commander. (Conjecture. Assumes he spent two years at the rank of Lieutenant.)

Dec. 31, 2259 - James Kirk proposes to Carol Marcus on New Year’s Eve. (Conjecture.)

Early 2260 - James Kirk and Carol Marcus make plans to get married. (Conjecture.)

April 2260 - Carol Marcus calls off her engagement to Jim Kirk when she discovers that she is pregnant. (Conjecture.)

Sept. 3, 2260 - David Marcus is born to Carol Marcus. He is the son of James T. Kirk, although his father will not learn of his existence for some time. (Conjecture.)

2261 - Lt. Commander James T. Kirk (age 27) begins serving as first officer on the USS El Dorado, NCC-1722. (Conjecture based upon William Rotsler’s Star Trek II Biographies.)

2261 - During his leave time, Spock (age 31) participates in a botany project at M.I.T. requiring the services of a Class A-7 computer expert. During the project, Botanist Leila Kalomi falls in love with him, but he is unable to return her feelings. (“This Side of Paradise”, Strangers from the Sky.)

2262 - James T. Kirk has a romantic relationship with the future Janet Wallace. (“The Deadly Years.” Janet Wallace reminisces that it has been “6 years, 4 months, and an odd number of days” since she and Kirk have last seen each other.)

2262 - James T. Kirk (age 28) is promoted to Commander. (Conjecture. Assumes he spent three years at the rank of Lt. Commander.)

2263 - James T. Kirk has a romantic relationship with Starfleet attorney Areel Shaw. (“Court Martial.” Areel Shaw reminisces that it has been “4 years, 7 months and an odd number of days” since she and Kirk have last seen each other. McCoy has not met Areel Shaw prior to 2267, indicating that he and Kirk are probably not serving together at this time. I have no idea what Kirk is doing to these women that makes them count the days since they've seen him last.)

2263 - Commander James T. Kirk (age 29) assumes command of the USS Saladin, NCC-500. (Conjecture based upon William Rotsler’s Star Trek II Biographies.)

2264 - Spock (age 34) visits his home on Vulcan. (“Journey to Babel.” Amanda chides Spock, “you haven't come to see us in four years.” I’ve interpreted this visit to be an attempt by Amanda to break Sarek & Spock’s silence, since adding 4 years to their 18-year estrangement allows Spock’s service record to stretch back to 2246, which jibes with D.C. Fontana’s novel Vulcan’s Glory.)

April 2265 - James T. Kirk (age 31) is promoted to Captain. He assumes command of the USS Enterprise. (Note that Kirk makes Captain a year sooner than Pike.)

Then TOS takes place from 2265-2270, as I detailed in my earlier post.

I personally like this, because it gives Kirk and Spock fairly realistic career progressions and lets them serve on a number of ships besides the Enterprise. (Although Kirk certainly could have fit in a few more ships here & there, and perhaps even a starbase posting, just for variety's sake. This would also make his romances with Areel Shaw & Janet Wallace easier.) It also keeps Kirk from being too much of a wunderkind who makes Captain at age 29. I decided that him having a command before the Enterprise made a lot of sense, but decided to keep that while he was a Commander, so that his appointment to the Enterprise could be his first command as Captain.

I decided to shift Kirk's time as an instructor at the Academy to after the 2257 Farragut incident, as it made sense to me that such a devastating event would shake young Kirk's confidence and make him want to retreat back to Earth for a while. So I figure he split his time between Command School and teaching classes. This also made the timeline of his relationship with Carol Marcus make a LOT more sense.

After his breakup with Carol, Kirk is alone for a couple of years, until he meets Janet.

I haven't settled on a few dates in McCoy's biography yet, like his marriage to Jocelyn and the death of his father David. STV doesn't really give us any hints as to exactly when McCoy's father died. I have a vague memory of some timeline saying that McCoy's marriage was in 2243, though. If I had to guess when McCoy & Kirk first met, I'd say it was either in 2254 (McCoy says that Bailey reminds Kirk of himself "11 years ago" in "The Corbomite Maneuver" - An unusually specific figure unless they knew each other then) or in 2255, shortly after McCoy's divorce, in similar circumstances as to what we saw in Star Trek (2009).

Piecing together Kirk's career ascent is notoriously tricky, especially when one takes licensed fiction into account

Boy, ain't that the truth! I now try to draw my conclusions primarily from the show and the movies, and leave the novels and the comics to fill in gaps if they don't substantially contradict anything.

FWIW I have him serving on no less than nine ships between 2257 and 2263 while he climbs the ladder from Lt. Cmdr and 2nd officer to Commander and XO to Captain.

Wow, that's a lot! I was figuring four or five, with him assuming several positions over the years (navigator, science officer, assistant engineer, first officer, etc.) to be as well-rounded as possible before he becomes captain.

(...I prefer the version of this from DC Comics' ST Annual #1; I've never cared for McIntyre's Enterprise: The First Adventure)

Same here. I'm with the DC version of Kirk's first mission on the Enterprise all the way.

...I consider "WNM" (and about ten novels as well) to fall during a more-than-year-long period before the official "Five Year Mission" begins.

I haven't quite gotten there yet. I can see the logic in all the arguments that WNM isn't a part of the official 5YM (travel time, crew & uniform differences, no opening narration in the credits), but I still like it to be a part of the 5YM, interstellar distances be damned. Star Trek always fudged the travel time and distances involved, anyway.

"Space Seed" I have bumped into mid-2267, to keep it 15 (okay, less than 16) years from STII: TWOK

Same here. I had to fudge it a bit. But I take solace that I at least didn't change two clear references to 15 years to 18!

2292 (Jun-Aug) - STVI:TUC
...I know it's conventional to put this in 2293, but that doesn't seem to me to fit. For one thing, McCoy has been CMO for 27 years (since 2265). For another, it makes sense to me to have some reasonable gap in between this and the next movie

Same here, for the same reasoning. I never liked the idea of the Ent-B launching in the exact same year the Ent-A gets decommissioned. I figure a gap of one year makes sense. You've got to give Kirk a little time to get bored in retirement, after all. My only difference is that I put the main events of TUC in May so that Captain Sulu could be free to attend Demora's graduation from Starfleet Academy.

2292-93 - Nine novels (my ordering: Assignment: Eternity, Best Destiny, Sarek, Mind Meld, Shadows on the Sun, Last Roundup, Fearful Summons, Ashes of Eden, and Federation).

I tend to discount the "Here's the real final mission" aspects of these novels, as I personally don't think that any of them are better than the last adventure we saw in TUC. That was the last mission of Kirk's crew, full stop.

 

[lawman]

Nice! Some details in there I hadn't caught before (esp. bits of backstory from TAS, about April's tenure as Ambassador and McCoy's mission on Dramia, and from "This Side of Paradise" about the time since Spock met Leila). And it sounds like we're on the same page about a lot of stuff.

Why are you adding years to McCoy's age, though? Remember he has to be 137 during his visit to the Ent-D at the beginning of TNG. By my estimates, he was born in 2226, attended Ol' Miss for undergrad 2243-47, then attended medical school courtesy of Starfleet Academy 2247-51. Good catch about the timing of his relationship with Nancy Crater, but I'm of the opinion that it came after his divorce (or at least separation) from Jocelyn, per Shadows on the Sun. (And I figure Joanna's birth is in 2247, based on her age in Crisis on Centaurus (21 c. 2268), which also dovetails with The Better Man.)

It's hard to trust Vulcan's Glory for chronological info about Spock. It's a good story, but seems like D.C. Fontana forgot how to do math when she wrote it (or forgot details from her own earlier scripts for "Journey to Babel" and "Yesteryear"). JTB establishes that Spock and Sarek haven't spoken for 18 years, since he started Starfleet Academy... but VG has him attend from age 16-19, then spend five years on other ships before transferring to the Enterprise, where we know he was part of the Talos IV mission 13 years before "The Menagerie," which was itself a year before "JTB"... adding up to at least 22 years, not 18! (And the "four years" Amanda mentions in "JTB" only makes sense as included in the 18, IMHO.) VG also puts his kahs-wan ritual at age 10, vs. seven as in the original story.

I'm also inclined to think that Kirk's first post-Academy assignment under Captain Garrovick was to the Farragut, as a Lieutenant; that seems to be the clear implication in "Obsession," at least. I therefore treat any references to events while he was an Ensign (e.g., aboard the Republic) as being late in his Academy tenure. Granted, there are lots of ways to arrange Kirk's early career, none of which make perfect sense. (The reference in "WNM" to him teaching at the Academy as a Lt., which is also where he met Gary, is particularly problematic. I likewise think it fits well as an interim thing after the traumatic Farragut incident, FWIW... and your "command school" conjecture here makes as much sense as anything else, but I wish there were at least a passing remark somewhere in canon to support it.) Where do you put his "year we were together at Starfleet" with Janice Lester from "Turnabout Intruder," pray tell?

As to when the three all first met, the Starfleet Academy YA novels #2 (Spock and McCoy) and #3 (adding Kirk) cover that, if you want to credit those. McCoy's comment in "Corbomite" about Bailey resembling Kirk "eleven years ago" could just be a reference to when Kirk graduated from the Academy, no?

I place the main events of STVI:TUC in August mostly because the novel Sarek is explicitly set in September, and just a few weeks after the Khitomer Conference. Is there a story that shows Sulu attending Demora's Academy graduation, though?

 

[lawman]

Kirk's (mostly non-canonical) early career, as I currently have it, FWIW:

Cadet on unknown ship (Axanar Peace Mission, per Whom Gods Destroy and Court Martial)
Ensign on USS Republic (Court Martial)
---graduation---
Lt. on USS Farragut (Obsession)
Lt. and instructor at Starfleet Academy (WNM)
...and then...
Lt. Cmdr and Second Officer on USS Aeolus (Enemy Unseen, novel #51)
Lt. Cmdr and Second Officer on USS Constitution (My Brother's Keeper: Constitution, #86, seven years before WNM)
Lt. Cmdr and [? position] on USS Normandy (Covenant of the Crown, #4)
Lt. Cmdr and XO on USS Bonhomme Richard (Corona, #15)
Lt. Cmdr and XO on USS Alexander (Crossroad, #71)
[? rank] and XO on USS El Dorado (DC Comics STv1 Annual #1, "All Those Years Ago")
Cmdr and XO on USS Eagle (DC Comics STv2 #73; 21 months with this ship; serves w/ Carol Marcus)
(temporary assignment) XO on USS Mizuki (Inception; story also involves Carol's pregnancy and Spock's time with Leila)
(return to USS Eagle) + (relationship with Janet Wallace) (relationship with Areel Shaw)
Captain of USS Oxford (DC Comics STv2 #74; his first command)
Captain of USS Saladin (DC Comics STv1 Annual #1, "All Those Years Ago")
Captain of USS Enterprise

That last string of assignments is a lot to pack into seven years, huh?... (Needless to say, one could scratch out just about any of those depending on one's estimation of consistency or story quality...)

(And I'm still not sure where to put that "year at Starfleet" with Janice Lester!...)

 

[Garth Rockett]

2269 (Jun-Nov) - TAS (22 episodes, in production order)
...then the novel That Which Divides and the comic Year Four: The Enterprise Experiment, wrapping up FYM year 4.

Do you have the first Year Four miniseries on your timeline? I put it just before TAS on mine.

2237 - Leonard McCoy (age 17) enters medical school at the University of Mississippi. (Conjecture based on DS9: “Trials and Tribble-ations.”)

2237 - Leonard McCoy meets Trill Emony Dax when she judges a gymnastics competition at Ole Miss. (DS9: “Trials and Tribble-ations.” Dax recalls that, “I met him when he was a student at Ole Miss… My host at time was Emony. She was on Earth judging a gymnastics competition. I had a feeling he’d become a doctor… he had the hands of a surgeon.”)

I would consider that McCoy's entrance into a pre-med undergraduate program; at least, in the present that's how it would work, and it would fit with Dax's statement, "I had a feeling he'd become a doctor...", implying his choice of career may have been uncertain when she met him.

Also, as a Mississippian, I can tell you that while "Ole Miss" can be used to describe the entire University of Mississippi, in context most people don't use it for the medical school. The main campus is in Oxford, but the University of Mississippi Medical Center is located in Jackson (where I live). To distinguish between the two, people might say they went to Ole Miss for their undergraduate degree but most medical students I have known would say they went to "UMMC" for their medical training. Here in Jackson, it is pretty much universally referred to as UMMC and not Ole Miss, even though it is part of that University. Usage (and the location of the medical center) could change by the 23rd century, but that line has always sounded to me like a reference to McCoy's pre-med days in Oxford.

By my estimates, he was born in 2226, attended Ol' Miss for undergrad 2243-47, then attended medical school courtesy of Starfleet Academy 2247-51.

And even though the University of Mississippi has a medical school, saying a doctor went to Ole Miss doesn't necessarily imply he received his medical training there. It would make sense that he did spend some time at Starfleet Academy - certainly the Kelvin timeline has him attending, although whether he got his medical training there or not we can't be certain.

Also, sorry to nitpick but as the husband of an alum I do feel constrained to point out that the proper spelling is Ole Miss.

 

[Christopher]

It would make sense that he did spend some time at Starfleet Academy - certainly the Kelvin timeline has him attending, although whether he got his medical training there or not we can't be certain.

McCoy was already a doctor before he entered Starfleet. He says so in his first scene in the '09 movie, and it's part of his (unofficial) Prime backstory too, that he didn't enlist in Starfleet until after his divorce.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Nice! Some details in there I hadn't caught before (esp. bits of backstory from TAS, about April's tenure as Ambassador and McCoy's mission on Dramia, and from "This Side of Paradise" about the time since Spock met Leila). And it sounds like we're on the same page about a lot of stuff.

Thanks! I'm not necessarily trying to incorporate all episodes of TAS, but if it's a good story and the chronological data fits, why not include it?

Why are you adding years to McCoy's age, though?

I'm not. I'm correcting the Okudachon's mistake of removing years from McCoy's age so that he's only in his 30s during TOS. DeForest Kelley was in his 40s while he was shooting TOS, and he looked it. I'm not a fan of the sequel shows' habit of establishing things about TOS that contradict the original intent. I'm going with the original intent of the creators of TOS and having McCoy born in 2220, contemporary with Scotty, the way the actors were in life. I also feel that the relationship between Kirk & McCoy works much better if McCoy is 10-15 years older than Kirk.

Remember he has to be 137 during his visit to the Ent-D at the beginning of TNG.

Believe me, I do my best to forget that. The "137" age given in EAF was an arbitrary number, basically used to establish that McCoy was really old. I don't see why that number has to be carved in stone when Data's comment that he's "Starfleet Class of '78" from that same episode is so casually and commonly discounted. Let's just say that Data's programming was glitching that day.

If they'd happened to say that McCoy was 147 instead, it would've worked a lot better.

Good catch about the timing of his relationship with Nancy Crater, but I'm of the opinion that it came after his divorce (or at least separation) from Jocelyn, per Shadows on the Sun.

I disliked the Shadows on the Sun backstory, as it fell into the easy characterization of Jocelyn being the bad guy in the relationship, with everything being her fault and Bones totally in the right. I find it much more intriguing if McCoy is the one who strayed, and that was what led to the end of his marriage ("My wife took the whole planet in the divorce"). That would also explain why he had no contact with Nancy for 10 years - Guilt.

(And the "four years" Amanda mentions in "JTB" only makes sense as included in the 18, IMHO.)

The "18 years" reference in JTB and "The Enterprise Incident" I find problematic, as it makes Spock's Starfleet career improbably short, and practically requires that he spend all of it on the Enterprise. I found that if I added the 4 years to the 18, though, suddenly the VG backstory could fit, and it explained why Spock was visiting his parents when he and Sarek supposedly weren't speaking - It was a failed attempt at a reconciliation.

VG also puts his kahs-wan ritual at age 10, vs. seven as in the original story.

I'd forgotten that. Well, the Okudachron put it at age 7, before his bonding to T'Pring, and I admit that makes sense to me. I wonder if that was an intentional change on Fontana's part or if she just forgot. It'd been over a decade since she wrote the TAS episode, after all.

I'm also inclined to think that Kirk's first post-Academy assignment under Captain Garrovick was to the Farragut, as a Lieutenant; that seems to be the clear implication in "Obsession," at least. I therefore treat any references to events while he was an Ensign (e.g., aboard the Republic) as being late in his Academy tenure.

I never liked the "Kirk was so good he became an ensign at the Academy!" thing, as it's more of the "Wunderkind Kirk" stuff I try to avoid. To me it makes much more sense for him to become an ensign at graduation, like most cadets and midshipmen. And since the Captain of the Republic was never named in "Court Martial", it made more sense to me if Garrovick commanded that ship as well, and Kirk transferred to the Farragut with Garrovick. (The Autobiography of James T. Kirk went with this version, too, BTW.)

(The reference in "WNM" to him teaching at the Academy as a Lt., which is also where he met Gary, is particularly problematic.

Yes, which is why I interpreted it as a later teaching assignment, like a grad student working as a teaching assistant.

Where do you put his "year we were together at Starfleet" with Janice Lester from "Turnabout Intruder," pray tell?

Ehh... I haven't really decided. Anywhere between 2252 and 2254 would work, as long as he's not two-timing Ruth.

BTW, in my headcanon, the bad end of Kirk's relationship with Janice Lester gives him another reason to not want to be romantically involved with Janice Rand. (Besides the whole "She's my subordinate and it would be wrong" thing, of course.)

As to when the three all first met, the Starfleet Academy YA novels #2 (Spock and McCoy) and #3 (adding Kirk) cover that, if you want to credit those.

I haven't gotten my hands on those, but I've read synopses of them.

McCoy's comment in "Corbomite" about Bailey resembling Kirk "eleven years ago" could just be a reference to when Kirk graduated from the Academy, no?

Seems a bit tight to me.

I place the main events of STVI:TUC in August mostly because the novel Sarek is explicitly set in September, and just a few weeks after the Khitomer Conference.

I didn't know that. I'll have to pull that novel out again some time.

Is there a story that shows Sulu attending Demora's Academy graduation, though?

No, that was my conjecture. I just thought that the devoted father we saw in The Captain's Daughter would surely arrange to be at his daughter's graduation.

I would consider that McCoy's entrance into a pre-med undergraduate program; at least, in the present that's how it would work, and it would fit with Dax's statement, "I had a feeling he'd become a doctor...", implying his choice of career may have been uncertain when she met him.

Good advice! That was how Michael Jan Friedman had it in his short story version in "The Lives of Dax" too. I'll rephrase that entry so it's clearer. I was just thinking "Medical school = eight years total" when I wrote it, without really breaking it down properly.

Also, as a Mississippian, I can tell you that while "Ole Miss" can be used to describe the entire University of Mississippi, in context most people don't use it for the medical school. The main campus is in Oxford, but the University of Mississippi Medical Center is located in Jackson (where I live). To distinguish between the two, people might say they went to Ole Miss for their undergraduate degree but most medical students I have known would say they went to "UMMC" for their medical training. Here in Jackson, it is pretty much universally referred to as UMMC and not Ole Miss, even though it is part of that University. Usage (and the location of the medical center) could change by the 23rd century, but that line has always sounded to me like a reference to McCoy's pre-med days in Oxford.

Great to know! Thanks!

Also, sorry to nitpick but as the husband of an alum I do feel constrained to point out that the proper spelling is Ole Miss.

So noted! I'll correct my spelling.

 

[Garth Rockett]

McCoy was already a doctor before he entered Starfleet. He says so in his first scene in the '09 movie, and it's part of his (unofficial) Prime backstory too, that he didn't enlist in Starfleet until after his divorce.

I've always believed that to be the case. I'm just making an allowance for another interpretation in the prime timeline, since that was never established onscreen, AFAIK.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

I've always believed that to be the case. I'm just making an allowance for another interpretation in the prime timeline, since that was never established onscreen, AFAIK.

Yeah, but TOS pretty consistently implied that McCoy didn't attend the Academy and thus was unfamiliar with certain Starfleet protocols & slang. Hence why he wasn't sure if confining Spock to quarters was sufficient punishment in Pt. 1 of "The Menagerie" and not knowing the Academy slang term "Dunsel" in "The Ultimate Computer." After all, he's a doctor, not a soldier.

I think of McCoy's service as being a bit like the drafted doctors on M*A*S*H -- They'd only gotten brief officer's training because the service needed doctors, and so they were not "regular army." It's kind of like that, except that McCoy entered the service voluntarily. And since TOS was mostly written by guys who'd seen military service, they knew how this stuff worked.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

One more thing that I should probably clarify a bit...

Part of the reason that my timeline is TOS focused, outside of the fact that it's my favorite Trek series, is that the TOS era is where I disagreed with a lot of the Okudachron's assumptions and conclusions. So I consider my timeline to be a bit of fine-tuning of the TOS section of theirs. The overall shape of the chronology isn't that different (my version of the 24th century wouldn't look appreciably different than the Okudas'), but I think my version of the 23rd century makes slightly more sense than theirs, and gives less emphasis to TNG-era retcons done by writers who had nothing to do with TOS.