What is your personal head canon?

[MAGolding]

I quote from my post number 1,378 on page 69:

In the VOY episode "Flashback" Janeway says:


So she claims that TNG era ships are twice as fast as as TOS era ships. And yet some long voyages seem to take many times as long in the TNG era as in the TOS era.

Some factor seems to have enabled slower TOS ships to reach destinations faster than TNG generation ships.

Sometimes in TOS travel times seemed as slow as the TOS warp formula indicated - "By Any Other Name" for example - and sometimes they seems ten, hundreds, or thousands of times faster than TOS warp formula.

One possible explanation is that there are many natural or artificial space warps - maybe wormholes, though DS9 indicates the Bajoran wormhole was the first known stable wormhole - and a starship can enter the mouth of a natural or artificial space warps and more or less instantly emerge in another star system.

(I always thought that since such a system of space warps between star systems was a very obvious way to explain many obvious Star Trek inconsistencies, claiming that there were no known stable wormholes was obviously a silly idea. Maybe the commonly used space warps are non wormhole type space warps.)

So if there is a known route between two star systems through the space warps using it can get a starship from one to the other much faster than by traveling through all the distance between them even at the highest available warp factor.

And while watching and considering "The Gailleo 7" a decade or two ago I decided that theory needed modification. Possibly the system of space warps periodically switches on and off, so it can't be used part of the time. Or possibly the system is always on, but periodically switches its line up. So part of the time a space warp from star system A might lead to Star system B, and sometimes to star system C, and maybe sometimes to star system D, etc.

And the thought occurred to me that possibly a stardate unit had some relation to the period of time that the network of space warps would have a particular configuration before changing to a different configuration. Possibly the "year" 1,000 stardate units long used in TNG era was not an Earth year, but a "stardate year" defined as being 1,000 stardate units long and with an unspecified length compared to an Earth years.

Even though TOS was officially limited to the Milky Way Galaxy there is some evidence for travel beyond the Milky Way in TOS.

There are examples of subspace conversations between Kirk and his Starfleet Command superiors in TOS. "The Alternative Factor", "Amok Time", "The Trouble with Tribbles", "For the World is Hollow and I have touched the sky", "Mark of Gideon". And those are real time conversations with no noticeable time lags due to subspace radio speed. Even if in all cases those Starfleet leaders happened to be in the next solar system to where Kirk was that would be a distance of about 4 to 6 light years. With 31,557,600 light seconds in a light year, there would be 126,230,400 light seconds between the Admiral and Kirk. Assuming it took less than 1 second for a message to travel that distance, the speed of the subspace radio would have to be at least 126,230,400 times the speed of light.

In "Balance of Terror" it took hours, but less than 12 hours for a subspace radio message from the Enterprise at the Romulan Neutral Zone to reach the nearest command base. Unless the speed of subspace radio is variable due to various factors, that should make that part of the Romulan Neutral Zone at least 3,600 times as far from the nearest command base as the Enterprise was in the episodes with real time conversations, and thus at least 14,400 light years from the nearest command base.

In "The Enterprise Incident" in a different section of the Romulan Neutral Zone:



Three weeks is about 1,814,400 times as long as 1 second, so that section of the Romulan Neutral Zone
should be at least 1,814,400 times as far away from Starfleet Command as the Enterprise was in episodes when Kirk had real time conversations with Starfleet, and thus at least 7,257,600 light years from Earth. The disc of the Milky Way Galaxy is about 100,000 light years in diameter, and even the halo of the Milky Way Galaxy is only a few hundred thousand light years in diameter. So that portion of the Romulan Neutral Zone should be in another galaxy.

In "The Alternative Factor" Commodore Barstow discuses the strange effect:



So Barstow has received reports that the strange effect extended far beyond the galaxy in less than one hour. But possibly Barstow was talking about "the local galactic region" and the writers of the episode carelessly wrote "the galaxy" instead, being unfamiliar with the technical terms used by Starfleet.


If Barstow's office was outside that 100 parsecs or 326.156 light years radius they were having a real time conversation at distance about 81 times as far as the minimum calculated above, thus making the distance to the Romulan Neutral Zone in "Balance of Terror" at least 1,174,161.6 light years, and the distance to the Romulan Neutral Zone in "The Enterprise Incident" at least 591,777,446.4 light years.

In "A Taste of Armageddon" the Enteprise traveled to:


And the real object designated NGC 321 is not a star cluster in our galaxy.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_321

In "All Our Yesterdays" the Enterprise is at the planet Sarpedion of star Beta Niobe. KIrk, Spock,
and McCoy are sent into the past of the planet Sarpedion by the atavachron machine.



http://www.chakoteya.net/StarTrek/78.htm

Thus it is possible that there is travel to the farthest parts of the Milky Way Galaxy tens of thousands and maybe hundreds of thousands of light years away, and to other galaxies, millions, tens of millions, and maybe hundreds of millions of light years away, in TOS.

And of course that hypothetical system of space warps between stars might have some which connect stars tens of light years apart, and some which connect stars hundreds of light years apart. And there may be rare space warps which connect stars thousands, tens of thousands, and even hundreds of thousands of light years apart.

And maybe there are some very, very, very rare space warps which connect stars millions, tens of millions, hundreds of millions, or even billions of light years apart, and thus connect different galaxies.

If so, they are so rare that in the time of TOS none were known which connected to the Andromeda Galaxy.

In "By Any Other Name":

I suspect that Starfleet knew of space warps which enabled more or less instant travel to at least one other galaxy but Spock was amazed by the idea of using warp drive to travel the entire distance to Andromeda Galaxy in only 300 years.

And I guess there could have been a great disaster to the system of space warps between the time of TOS and TNG. Maybe some of the space warps can still be used to cut down travel time between stars, and so explain various problems of inconsistent time, speed and distance which might be found in the era of TNG. But the comparatively rare long range space warps, especially the ones leading thousands, tens of thousands, and hundreds of thousands of light years within our galaxy, and even more so the even rarer ones leading millions of light years to other galaxies, are no longer available in the era of TNG.

Maybe the system of space warps (or only the long range ones) periodically shuts down for centuries to regeneration or recharge or something.

Maybe one or more of the vital links in the network of natural or artificial space warps has been destroyed somehow, and thus it is no longer possible to reach the nearer entrances of any long range space warp.

Or maybe a very powerful realm has taken over one or more of the star systems with vital links in the network of space warps, and forbidden other people to use that vital link. That might break up the network of space warps into two or more smaller disconnected networks. And maybe the space warps really good for long distance travel are cut off by that powerful space realm.

This is one possible explanation for interstellar travel seemingly becoming much slower in the era of TNG than earlier in the era of TOS.

And I have another possible explanation.

Here is another possible explanation for what happened to interstellar travel between TOS and TNG.

Possibly the warp factor of ships is a basic speed which can be modified by various factors. And perhaps the speed of warp factors can be multiplied by some sort of galaxy wide force field which interacts with warp drive to make starships travel many times faster than their rated speed at a warp factor.

And maybe the strength of this force field - and thus the amount that it multiplies warp speeds - varies over time. And possible stardates vary with the strength of the force field and the speed of warp drive. Then the numerical value of a stardate would show how fast a starship could travel at that time.

Possibly the higher the stardate number, the higher the speed of a starship at a specific warp factor and the less time it would take to make a specific voyage of a specific number of light years.

Possibly the higher the stardate number, the lower the speed of a starship at a specific warp factor and the more time it would take to make a specific voyage of a specific number of light years.

And possibly the strength of the galaxy wide warp speed multiplying force field dropped a lot between the eras of TOS and TNG, thus making starships travel at a much smaller multiple of their warp factors.

In the era of TOS stardates are given with four digits before the decimal point, and in the era of TNG stardates are given with five digits before the decimal point.

And I wonder whether those are the real numbers of digits. Possibly stardates have six, or ten, or twelve digits before the decimal point, and only the last four before the decimal point are mentioned in TOS and only the last five before the decimal point are mentioned in TNG.

Possibly the variations in the strength of that forcefield a period and described by a sine wave with a simple formula to calculate it. But possibly there is a compound sine wave superimposing several different sine waves with different amplitude and frequency and with a complex formula.

The thought has occurred to me that possibly stardates vary according to the complex formula of several superimposed sine waves. And there probably are many possible formulas which can calculate the past and future numerical value of a stardate (and thus starship speed at a specific warp factor) for each of the orders that TOS episodes are often put in - production order, airdate order, stardate order, and so on.

It may be noted that my previous suggestion for the change in interstellar travel speed between TOS and TNG involved a hypothetical system of natural or artificial space warps (somewhat like wormholes) connecting different star systems and enabling starships to instantly jump between star systems, thus taking much less time than travelling between them using warp drive.

And I suggested that possibly the lineup of the network of space warps connecting stars would periodically change, so that a space warp connecting star systems A & B might now connect system A & C, for example.

And possibly a stardate unit has some numerical relationship to the length of time that the hypothetical network of space warps keeps its configuration before periodically changing to a different configuration. And thus a stardate might show which configuration the network of space warps is set to at the moment and how long it will be until the next periodic change.

And if both the space warp network theory and the galaxy wide variable force field theory are correct, stardates might reflect both factors.

A typical stardate might be longer than given in any episode. It might have a number relating to the hypothetical system of space warps followed by another number relating to the hypothetical varying galaxy wide force field. Or they might be in the other order. And in any era of Star Trek only one of those numbers might usually be mentioned in Captain's logs and other mentions. And possibly in different eras of Star Trek history different parts of the compound stardate are given in Captain's logs and other sources.

So here are two possible explanations of how ships can be more advanced and faster in TNG but the travel time can be much longer than in TOS.

 

[Henoch]

And perhaps the speed of warp factors can be multiplied by some sort of galaxy wide force field which interacts with warp drive to make starships travel many times faster than their rated speed at a warp factor.

I've theorized that galactic magnetic fields (in the form of ribbons) and constructed magnetic corridors are the superhighways for super fast warp travel. I have no explanation for the difference between TOS and TNG travel times except maybe during TNG, the naturally occurring magnetic ribbons have weakened/moved or are in a galactic period of less activity.

 

[BillJ]

I quote from my post number 1,378 on page 69:

Here is another possible explanation for what happened to interstellar travel between TOS and TNG.

Possibly the warp factor of ships is a basic speed which can be modified by various factors. And perhaps the speed of warp factors can be multiplied by some sort of galaxy wide force field which interacts with warp drive to make starships travel many times faster than their rated speed at a warp factor.

And maybe the strength of this force field - and thus the amount that it multiplies warp speeds - varies over time. And possible stardates vary with the strength of the force field and the speed of warp drive. Then the numerical value of a stardate would show how fast a starship could travel at that time.

Possibly the higher the stardate number, the higher the speed of a starship at a specific warp factor and the less time it would take to make a specific voyage of a specific number of light years.

Possibly the higher the stardate number, the lower the speed of a starship at a specific warp factor and the more time it would take to make a specific voyage of a specific number of light years.

And possibly the strength of the galaxy wide warp speed multiplying force field dropped a lot between the eras of TOS and TNG, thus making starships travel at a much smaller multiple of their warp factors.

In the era of TOS stardates are given with four digits before the decimal point, and in the era of TNG stardates are given with five digits before the decimal point.

And I wonder whether those are the real numbers of digits. Possibly stardates have six, or ten, or twelve digits before the decimal point, and only the last four before the decimal point are mentioned in TOS and only the last five before the decimal point are mentioned in TNG.

Possibly the variations in the strength of that forcefield a period and described by a sine wave with a simple formula to calculate it. But possibly there is a compound sine wave superimposing several different sine waves with different amplitude and frequency and with a complex formula.

The thought has occurred to me that possibly stardates vary according to the complex formula of several superimposed sine waves. And there probably are many possible formulas which can calculate the past and future numerical value of a stardate (and thus starship speed at a specific warp factor) for each of the orders that TOS episodes are often put in - production order, airdate order, stardate order, and so on.

It may be noted that my previous suggestion for the change in interstellar travel speed between TOS and TNG involved a hypothetical system of natural or artificial space warps (somewhat like wormholes) connecting different star systems and enabling starships to instantly jump between star systems, thus taking much less time than travelling between them using warp drive.

And I suggested that possibly the lineup of the network of space warps connecting stars would periodically change, so that a space warp connecting star systems A & B might now connect system A & C, for example.

And possibly a stardate unit has some numerical relationship to the length of time that the hypothetical network of space warps keeps its configuration before periodically changing to a different configuration. And thus a stardate might show which configuration the network of space warps is set to at the moment and how long it will be until the next periodic change.

And if both the space warp network theory and the galaxy wide variable force field theory are correct, stardates might reflect both factors.

A typical stardate might be longer than given in any episode. It might have a number relating to the hypothetical system of space warps followed by another number relating to the hypothetical varying galaxy wide force field. Or they might be in the other order. And in any era of Star Trek only one of those numbers might usually be mentioned in Captain's logs and other mentions. And possibly in different eras of Star Trek history different parts of the compound stardate are given in Captain's logs and other sources.

So here are two possible explanations of how ships can be more advanced and faster in TNG but the travel time can be much longer than in TOS.

Economy of words is your friend. My eyes glaze over on posts like these. I can't imagine I'm the only one.

 

[tharpdevenport]

Personal head canonballs, of course.

 

[Paul755]

As far as we know, they don't have one. They only have Imperial Intelligence.

They have one. It was mentioned in the episode of DS9 where the Romulan ships engines were making Chief O’Brien jump around in time.

 

[Farscape One]

"VISIONARY"... and they were Klingon Intelligence.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

They have one. It was mentioned in the episode of DS9 where the Romulan ships engines were making Chief O’Brien jump around in time.

That WAS I.I.

Now of course I.I. is not above engaging in very Section 31-like methods. That's a given. But still, there's just the one organization.

 

[fireproof78]

Odo called it Klingon Intelligence and they reported directly to the Chancellor.

 

[Shawnster]

My head canon warp theory that explains the differences between TOS warp and TNG warp 5 is engine efficency.

Warp is achieved by creating a subspace bubble around the ship. My head canon is each warp factor is an additional bubble or membrane thickness of said bubble. Warp 5 is 5 bubbles or thickness of 5 surrounding the ship. The higher the warp factor, the more bubbles or greater bubble thickness equals faster travel.

In the TNG era the engines were better and the sam warp factor produced faster speed as a result.

Any aberrations that make it seem like TOS era was faster is result of speed of plot.

 

[Frontis]

Even when I don't want to see more of Q or the Borg and I don't like both.
In my personal head cannon they cooperated.
Proved in TNG and Picard.

 

[Paul755]

Odo called it Klingon Intelligence and they reported directly to the Chancellor.

Hmmm coulda sworn Odo gave it a specific name. Been a while since I’ve seen the episode though.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

"Food slots" and how they work is not entirely clear, since there is a cook referenced in Charlie X making Thanksgiving Dinner, and Nurse Chapel prepares soup for Spock in "Amok Time." As well as the fact that the tribbles can get in to the machinery, including the food slots, which probably wouldn't happen with replicators, since they wouldn't replicate a coffee and chicken sandwich as tribbles.

Maybe like pneumatic tubes?

 

[Richard S. Ta]

"Food slots" and how they work is not entirely clear, since there is a cook referenced in Charlie X making Thanksgiving Dinner, and Nurse Chapel prepares soup for Spock in "Amok Time.".

The cook might be using replicated ingredients.

Chapel ‘preparing’ soup might just be a case of her saying ‘Computer, 1 Vulcan Soup, Hot’.

 

[Lord Garth]

My head-canon is that Phase II happened (in modified form) after TMP.

I know it's a boring, cut-and-dried thing to say, but there we are.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Perhaps replicators could create raw ingredients (flour, sugar, spices, vegetables, etc), or a reasonable facsimile thereof, but not recipes.

 

[Daedalus]

It's always been a fudge, but it's felt like the same mechanism with fewer bells and whistles, depending on the century.

Protein resequencers resequence finite raw materials into something edible, like an advanced form of "cup-a-soup". You'll need a cargo hold full of these ingredients to survive deep-space travel. But this was the betamax form of the later food slots.

Food synthetisizers can create meals from data using a very basic form of matter conversion, probably with a "chef" or "cook" as more of a middle-man. Perhaps more mistakes happen with this early tech. (Possibly the same with clothing synthesis seen in  Discovery, hence why Enterprise needed a tailor for total accuracy)

Replicators can create almost anything by converting energy into matter. Just ask the computer.

32nd century replication is literally shit, somehow.

 

[Weyoun 251]

Perhaps replicators could create raw ingredients (flour, sugar, spices, vegetables, etc), or a reasonable facsimile thereof, but not recipes.

I’m pretty sure Janeway implied that it does - says that the replicator with burn the roast or something when Chakotay came for dinner

Does seem like you request recipes - unless you mean specifically in TOS era

 

[FredH]

The Romulan “official line” about the strike on Mars — once it finally comes out that it was them — is that it only shows how heroic the Romulans are: they willingly gave up the salvation of much of their populace to defend the galaxy from the threat of artificial intelligence.

It’s not such a popular view on the Romulan “street”, but there are plenty who buy into it.

 

[Dukhat]

they willingly gave up the salvation of much of their populace to defend the galaxy from the threat of artificial intelligence.

Not sure how that is 'heroic,' or how sacrificing your entire race just so that they are safe from the android menace is in any way logical.

 

[JcarlA]

The Ferengis animated and agitated body language on the planet in THE LAST OUTPOST was similar to how horses act on a windy day. I believe the Ferengi are affected in a similar way. The Gorns slow movement and reactions in ARENA are due to the cold climate he and Kirk find themselves in. Reptiles on Earth move along slower when it's cold. The lipstick staying on Picards face when he leaves the holodeck is because the holodeck and repliclator systems work together. When people eat or other similar experiences, these things are actually created for real, to enhance the reality.