Unseen TOS....

[Warped9]

The Astral Queen is an exercise in speculation. Other than the name we know nothing about the ship. That said with a name like that I would assume the ship is not a Starfleet vessel and more likely civilian.

My recall is vague here, but what kind of planet did the Enterprise divert to? There is a mention of an orbit station so the planet could be a major colony possibly like Deneva later mentioned in “Operation—Annihilate.” So could the Astral Queen be a starliner or some other type of merchant vesseal? Kirk asked Captain Daley to forego his pickup of the Karidian troupe so (to me) that doesn’t sound like a liner which would likely be operating on a schedule with a fixed time of arrival and departure. It sounds more like a ship that has been chartered to ferry the troupe from one engagement to another.

Unless I’m missing something.

 

[Nightowl1701]

Captain Daily of the Astral Queen also mentioned that he owed Kirk about a dozen favors - presumably the Enterprise (or whatever ship he previously commanded) coming to save them from attack or for repairs.

 

[Warped9]

It would be interesting to know how Daly rationalized abandoning paying customers.

 

[tesral]

It would be interesting to know how Daly rationalized abandoning paying customers.

Simple, he knew the Enterprise was covering for him. Offered to cover for him. And he owed Kirk a dozen favors.

 

[Warped9]

Simple, he knew the Enterprise was covering for him. Offered to cover for him. And he owed Kirk a dozen favors.

Yeah, but they likely paid for Daly’s serice in advance. Do they get reimbursed?

 

[Imaus]

That's space culture, isn't it? You help me, I'll help you. Though the Enterprise is far more capable than Daily can ever do, if the Enterprise came around to ask for something that could be done, it'll be done - which is what Daily did, he left the troupe high and dry just because Kirk asked, right?

 

[tesral]

Yeah, but they likely paid for Daly’s serice in advance. Do they get reimbursed?

They don't use money!

 

[Warped9]

They don't use money!

Thats a TNG thing. In TOS we heard reference to credits so some sort of currency was in circulation.

Anyway I don’t want to stray too off topic. I am merely trying to piece together crumbs of clues as to what kind of ship the Astral Queen could be. I am kind of ruling out starliner, but I still think it is a civilian rather than Starfleet vessel.

 

[tesral]

Thats a TNG thing. In TOS we heard reference to credits so some sort of currency was in circulation.

Anyway I don’t want to stray too off topic. I am merely trying to piece together crumbs of clues as to what kind of ship the Astral Queen could be. I am kind of ruling out starliner, but I still think it is a civilian rather than Starfleet vessel.

Something that use to be common. The mixed passenger/cargo ship.

 

[BK613]

Thoughts on the Astral Queen.
The phrase is "on orbital station" which could indicate a space facility but could also refer of a holding pattern situation where she is awaiting her turn "dockside." We have indications (in universe from "Amok Time" and "Arena") that some form of traffic control near planets exist.
The troupe is sponsored by "galactic cultural exchange project" (or is it "Galactic Cultural Exchange Project") so payment maybe in the form of reimbursements rather than cash up front. If he never picks them up then there are no expenses for him to receive compensation for later. (Also the way the computer describes it makes me think of "USO show" rather than commercial operation.)
Since we saw with Mudd, and later with Jones, the Astral Queen might be Daly's own ship, in which case he only has to answer to himself (mostly).

Edit to add: I concur with other posters about the "tramp steamer." Still could owned by Daly too.

 

[Kahloke]

Thats a TNG thing. In TOS we heard reference to credits so some sort of currency was in circulation.

Anyway I don’t want to stray too off topic. I am merely trying to piece together crumbs of clues as to what kind of ship the Astral Queen could be. I am kind of ruling out starliner, but I still think it is a civilian rather than Starfleet vessel.

A tramp steamer is always what I think of in that episode. The freighter in Raiders of the Lost Ark, or the ship in Dangerous Passage (1944). That sort of conception of the shipping business would’ve been fresh in the minds of all the production team of TOS.

 

[Warped9]

One cheap route would be to take the Antares design from upthread and modify or repaint the miniature, but thats no fun. Like the Valiant earlier the Astral Queen is something we didn’t have to actually see story wise, but it’s still intriguing to visualize what MJ or WC could have come up with.

I like the tramp steamer idea and a vague concept is starting to take shape in my mind. Something that transports cargo and passengers. Hmm…

 

[Albertese]

I think the Astral Queen was a liner. BUT, I'm excited to see Warped9's take on a TOS era tramp steamer.

--Alex

 

[Kahloke]

One other thought occurred, one I’m somewhat reluctant to bring to the table, as this is Warped9’s project. The writer of the original episode may have been trying to evoke the image of something smaller than a tramp steamer, more along the lines of an interstellar ‘African Queen’. Certainly the eponymous Bogart / Hepburn film was still in the zeitgeist at that time... It might be a concept that would be more conducive to reusing Leo Walsh’s little ship.

Really enjoying watching this project of yours, Warped9. Thank you for sharing it with us.

 

[Irishman]

It would be interesting to know how Daly rationalized abandoning paying customers.

Um, how 'bout no money in the Federation?

 

[Mytran]

Um, how 'bout no money in the Federation?

Them's 24th century words!

 

[tesral]

Them's 24th century words!

I think we use all of then now.

 

[Warped9]

One other thought occurred… The writer of the original episode may have been trying to evoke the image of something smaller than a tramp steamer, more along the lines of an interstellar ‘African Queen’. Certainly the eponymous Bogart / Hepburn film was still in the zeitgeist at that time... It might be a concept that would be more conducive to reusing Leo Walsh’s little ship.

Really enjoying watching this project of yours, Warped9. Thank you for sharing it with us.

Hmm… Do you have anything to base that speculation on, such as a copy or link to an original story draft or something? Any clue could be helpful.

 

[Kahloke]

Hmm… Do you have anything to base that speculation on, such as a copy or link to an original story draft or something? Any clue could be helpful.

It’s incredibly flimsy conjecture on my part. What strikes me is how the first season is heavily derivative when it comes to both naval/maritime and Old West tropes. CS Forrester novels. The production team’s shared experiences in the pacific theatre during WW2. That sort of thing. Couple that with the original pitch of the show, a ‘Wagon Train to the Stars’, and my imagination conjures up a vast final frontier, in the early boom years of human colonization. Shady operators a-la Al Swearengen like Harry Mudd trafficking in women and drugs. Pre-railroad, pre-telegraph lines of connection with the densely populated urban centres back east (Sol, Alpha Centauri, are eta). The big money hasn’t moved into the outer reaches yet, so travel has to be arranged with fly-by-night/entrepreneurial private operators. It’s the kind of gig I could see ‘Leo Walsh’ picking up between cons, ferrying a troupe of actors (with a questionable past) between colonies.

Then there’s the name. Astral Queen is too evocative of the African Queen to be a coincidence, especially when writers were latching onto 19th & 20th century concepts to ground the series in reality.

Then there’s the conversation had between Daley & Kirk. Daley greets Kirk on a scrambled channel with a friendly “Hi Jim!”, as though coded calls from the captain of the most powerful starship in the region are a run-of-the-mill thing. If the skipper of the Yorktown radioed a collier off Hawaii in 1940, somehow I doubt the conversation would be *that* informal. Which leads me to think that Daley is a one-man show, and that “captain” is more of an anachronism as it was for Bogart’s character.

So, no, no hard evidence. It’s more like looking at a Mozart score with no articulations marked in, but wanting to play it idiomatically for the period.

Whatever you come up with will be great. Thank you for opening up your project to ideas (however unsolicited) on the forum.

 

[Warped9]

It’s incredibly flimsy conjecture on my part. What strikes me is how the first season is heavily derivative when it comes to both naval/maritime and Old West tropes. CS Forrester novels. The production team’s shared experiences in the pacific theatre during WW2. That sort of thing. Couple that with the original pitch of the show, a ‘Wagon Train to the Stars’, and my imagination conjures up a vast final frontier, in the early boom years of human colonization. Shady operators a-la Al Swearengen like Harry Mudd trafficking in women and drugs. Pre-railroad, pre-telegraph lines of connection with the densely populated urban centres back east (Sol, Alpha Centauri, are eta). The big money hasn’t moved into the outer reaches yet, so travel has to be arranged with fly-by-night/entrepreneurial private operators. It’s the kind of gig I could see ‘Leo Walsh’ picking up between cons, ferrying a troupe of actors (with a questionable past) between colonies.

Then there’s the name. Astral Queen is too evocative of the African Queen to be a coincidence, especially when writers were latching onto 19th & 20th century concepts to ground the series in reality.

Then there’s the conversation had between Daley & Kirk. Daley greets Kirk on a scrambled channel with a friendly “Hi Jim!”, as though coded calls from the captain of the most powerful starship in the region are a run-of-the-mill thing. If the skipper of the Yorktown radioed a collier off Hawaii in 1940, somehow I doubt the conversation would be *that* informal. Which leads me to think that Daley is a one-man show, and that “captain” is more of an anachronism as it was for Bogart’s character.

So, no, no hard evidence. It’s more like looking at a Mozart score with no articulations marked in, but wanting to play it idiomatically for the period.

Whatever you come up with will be great. Thank you for opening up your project to ideas (however unsolicited) on the forum.

Hmm… Very interesting…

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That is something to think about as after all these years I never made the Astral Queen from African Queen connection. Mind you it’s likely I didn’t see the connection partly because I never saw The African Queen until some years after watching “The Conscience Of The King” and I would have been in my early teens or older at the time, having seen the film rerun on television during the 1970s.