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when did TOS take place, 23rd century or 22nd century

What century did TOS take place


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Well he wasn't a real Commodore, he was just a mental projection. It would be hilarious if only Kirk could see the projection while on the starbase. Maybe that's why he could only get a shuttle. There goes Kirk, talking to his imaginary friend again.
no I’m pretty sure Mendez is real he just didn’t go with captain kirk
 
There's a fanfic somewhere waiting to be written* about just what the real Mendez was doing after Kirk left Starbase 11.

* - or it's already been done
 
The framing story of "The Menagerie" is a mess where Mendez is concerned. Best to just not think about it.
 
Seriously (hah!) on Starbase 11, would you fire Commodore Stone for his mishandling of the whole court martial fiasco and the embarrassment to Starfleet? I think it was career ending.

Production Order put Court Martial (#15) immediately before The Menagerie (#16), which would suggest Stone was replaced by Mendez (I thought Mendez was cool :cool: and would have liked to see him again). By airdate/episode order, CM (S1-20) took place much later than TM (S1-11). Shame.
 
Speaking of starbase so loved the fact that when ever they remastered TOS that in the Ultimate computer they designed a new starbase since Orginally it was just a reuse of the k-7 model in fact books were made that used that station design as the main location.
 
Even if they were to begin spiraling down, couldn't someone pick up a communicator and call Starbase 11 for an assist?
Well, you see, Starbase personnel all take leave at the same time - and it just so happens the Trial took place while they were all on leave... ;)
 
Yes, I agree Mendez was real. But at what point did the projection Mendez take the real Mendez's place?

They said the Talosians could make a person hit the wrong controls. Maybe they couldn't manipulate controls at a distance but they could cause illusions that allowed people to manipulate them as the Talosians wanted.

It probably went like this, "Kirk, I'll meet you at docking bay 94." "Ok Mendez, 94" and then Mendez goes to 49 and accidentally locks himself in a closet for a few hours. Kirk and Fakmendez are already on the way.
 
Yes, I agree Mendez was real. But at what point did the projection Mendez take the real Mendez's place?
Probably as Kirk entered the Shuttlecraft to pursue the Enterprise.

IE:
- The real Mendez gave him permission to take said Shuttlecraft.

- Kirk goes onto it to ready it and as he does so, the Talosians project the image of Mendez in Kirk's mind; who basically walks onto it and says: "I've decided to come along..." - Kirk objects - 'Image' of Mendez pulls rank and off they go.
 
Maybe they never found Mendez' body and had to replace him with Stone? Spock's body count is piling up!
We've secretly replaced their regular Commodore with Commodore Stone. Let's see if they notice!
Stone is no angel. Stone prejudged Kirk and convinced Starfleet to go "hard" after him; the young, rising star and Starfleet's darling. Even the prosecutor, Ariel Shaw said they were going to go hard after him:
SHAW: Jim, be serious. You're not an ordinary human. You're a Starship Captain, and you've stepped into scandal. If there's any way they can do it, they'll slap you down hard and permanently for the good of the service.
KIRK: You still haven't made any recommendation.
SHAW: Samuel T. Cogley, attorney at law. If anyone can save you, he can. He'll be paying you a visit. Jim, I've got to go.
KIRK: Areel, you still haven't told me how you know so much about what the prosecution's going to do.
SHAW: Because, Jim Kirk, my dear old love, I am the prosecution, and I have to do my very best to have you slapped down hard. Broken out of the service, in disgrace.
Conspiracy Theory: "They" are who? Obviously Stone. Also, who would Stone consult with on base on important Starfleet matters? How about that evil bastard, "Space Command Representative Lindstorm". Why do I think Lindstorm is involved? He is Starfleet's representative and then sits on the jury after Kirk refuses to resign. Shaw is ordered to go hard on Kirk, but she is Kirk's friend and tries to give him help probably in violation to her duties; she could get disbarred by secretly meeting with Kirk before the trial. As the trial progresses (remember, the initial plan was to get Kirk to just resign), Stone becomes more reluctant in his role, and as Judge, he consistently allows breach of rules to give Kirk the benefit of doubt. Stone will probably be made the fall guy for over zealous prosecution; someone alway has to be blamed. Semi-quoted from another famous trial <O.J.-cough>, "Starbase 11 is a cesspool of contamination corruption."
 
Stone is no angel. Stone prejudged Kirk and convinced Starfleet to go "hard" after him; the young, rising star and Starfleet's darling. Even the prosecutor, Ariel Shaw said they were going to go hard after him:
SHAW: Jim, be serious. You're not an ordinary human. You're a Starship Captain, and you've stepped into scandal. If there's any way they can do it, they'll slap you down hard and permanently for the good of the service.
KIRK: You still haven't made any recommendation.
SHAW: Samuel T. Cogley, attorney at law. If anyone can save you, he can. He'll be paying you a visit. Jim, I've got to go.
KIRK: Areel, you still haven't told me how you know so much about what the prosecution's going to do.
SHAW: Because, Jim Kirk, my dear old love, I am the prosecution, and I have to do my very best to have you slapped down hard. Broken out of the service, in disgrace.
Conspiracy Theory: "They" are who? Obviously Stone. Also, who would Stone consult with on base on important Starfleet matters? How about that evil bastard, "Space Command Representative Lindstorm". Why do I think Lindstorm is involved? He is Starfleet's representative and then sits on the jury after Kirk refuses to resign. Shaw is ordered to go hard on Kirk, but she is Kirk's friend and tries to give him help probably in violation to her duties; she could get disbarred by secretly meeting with Kirk before the trial. As the trial progresses (remember, the initial plan was to get Kirk to just resign), Stone becomes more reluctant in his role, and as Judge, he consistently allows breach of rules to give Kirk the benefit of doubt. Stone will probably be made the fall guy for over zealous prosecution; someone alway has to be blamed. Semi-quoted from another famous trial <O.J.-cough>, "Starbase 11 is a cesspool of contamination corruption."
The only reason stone went hard is because he thought Kirk ejected a man from the ship for no good reason. The have to go hard or else there public may get upset. The navy does it sometimes too.
 
No. I get exactly what you mean. I'm just saying that lack of evidence IS evidence in an of itself.

Indeed, the "absence of evidence" tirade is just Scientific Lies for Children at heart. In the real world, statistical evidence is all we will ever get. And absence is really strong statistical evidence of, well, absence.

First, impulse engines maintain velocity NOT acceleration. References to impulse are always about speed.

Huh? They are never about speed.

With warp factors, we get chase scenes where the hero ship doing Warp 5.1 means they will catch the villain ship doing Warp 5 and so forth.

With impulse engine settings, we never get that. Impulse operates in a dramatic vacuum; the CO commands "full impulse", after which the ship moves - at different speeds in different cases, depending not only on the identity of the ship (small, large) but also on her condition (jus' peachy, beaten to pulp) or the rain on the plains of Spain for all we know.

So in all likelihood, "X impulse" is nothing but a throttle setting, allowing for high speeds if your engine is powerful and you keep it running for a long time, but explicitly resulting in a crawling pace if your engine is shot to hell and you only use it for a minute or two.

Second, impulse engines can operate in reverse. There are a couple references where impulse engine are used to go backwards. This is also unlike rocket engines which produce thrust in one direction.

Not really unlike jet engines that have Newtonian reversers, though. So there are many openings for establishing the impulse engines as X, Y or perhaps Z (even though establishing them as rockets then runs into the rocket equation that basically precludes interstellar travel for ships that have fuel tanks the size of swimming pools).

Remarkably, though, impulse engines don't appear to run sideways...

So it appears that the actual series is contradicting the series bible.

Which doesn't make me lose sleep much. Don't most of the series bibles put an emphasis on avoiding technobabble references, or at least leaving it to the professionals?

The one I find interesting is in "Court Martial" where they need impulse engines to maintain orbit. Because when they shut them off they say they can maintain orbit by momentum, but that the orbit will eventually decay. How low are they that the orbit will decay in a matter of minutes/hours? I guess that speaks to their handling of orbits in general which is kind of weird.

I'd say it's quite a clever thing for Starfleet to do. Transporters can't work through much rock, so they can't work over the horizon. A starship thus would do well to orbit right above the landing party that just beamed down. And a "geosynchronous" orbit would be impossible in most cases. So why not fly figure-eight orbits? The ship obviously has the required engine performance for that, thousandfold - fighting one gee is not that hard. Indeed, most orbital shots show starships making tight turns, which is consistent with figure-eights but not with freefall orbits.

Sure, we can argue otherwise as well, and say that the tight turns are just illusions, camera angles and whatnot. But powered orbits seem superior in every respect. They explain how a starship conveniently parked above a starbase risks falling on top of that starbase in the unlikely case of engine power loss. And they are a natural way for a powerful starship to operate, and a good analogy to how ships today operate, using their engines for stationkeeping where ships of old had to resort to clumsy anchors.

You know I never liked the UESPA name. It looks too much like a civilian agency name(like NASA) And no civilian agency should have ships as well armed as the enterprise. Although if the agency just operated probes then it would be fine.

Oh, a civilian agency could quite plausibly assist a military organization, and perhaps get a few starship hours in return: "In your spare time, go check on that planet close to your aggressive patrol route but far away from shipping lanes, willya?".

That UESPA is Starfleet is the thing we need to steer clear of. The closest we come to that is when Kirk acclimatizes a primitive Earthling; perhaps he is lying to the man to make him feel more at ease (but building the lie on facts, so that a UESPA does exist, and Kirk does run errands for it, and the big and scary alien UFP that is really in charge need not be brought up here).

Timo Saloniemi
 
I'd say it's quite a clever thing for Starfleet to do. Transporters can't work through much rock, so they can't work over the horizon. A starship thus would do well to orbit right above the landing party that just beamed down. And a "geosynchronous" orbit would be impossible in most cases. So why not fly figure-eight orbits? The ship obviously has the required engine performance for that, thousandfold - fighting one gee is not that hard. Indeed, most orbital shots show starships making tight turns, which is consistent with figure-eights but not with freefall orbits.

Sure, we can argue otherwise as well, and say that the tight turns are just illusions, camera angles and whatnot. But powered orbits seem superior in every respect. They explain how a starship conveniently parked above a starbase risks falling on top of that starbase in the unlikely case of engine power loss. And they are a natural way for a powerful starship to operate, and a good analogy to how ships today operate, using their engines for stationkeeping where ships of old had to resort to clumsy anchors.
Timo has a great explanation why, without impulse station keeping, you quickly drop out of orbit. They maintain an abnormal low "orbit" over a stationary position on the planet needing constant propulsion to resist atmospheric drag. Space anchor is a great term. (No need for figure eights; just maintain stationary position 2-3 hundred miles up.) A geosynchronous orbit is a high orbit that allows satellites to match the planet's rotation. For Earth, located at 22,236 miles (35,786 kilometers) above the equator. This distance just may be too high for normal safe transporter use and quick shuttlecraft access or large repair parts on transports. The higher up, the more time they have before they burn up once they lose impulse.

In A Taste of Armageddon, Scott adjusted orbit from a lower orbit (in weapon range of the planet) to a higher orbit (out of weapon range), but I assume he maintained a stationary position over the city where Kirk was being held hostage. I highly doubt Scott would orbit to the other side of the planet and not be able to help Kirk beam out if the chance presented it. Many other cases of the crew beaming up/down from the same spot anytime they wanted to do it.
 
It's worth noting that "orbit" is has long been an aviation term, meaning a 360 degree flat turn, sometimes with the additional condition of circling a point on the ground. It's not been as common since the advent of spaceflight but is making a comeback because of unmanned drones. One has to wonder if GR's aviation background influenced the use of the word, especially in any rewrites he did..
 
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