Recurring Bearing

[trojansquirrel]

Hi all,

I have a question that has been bugging me for a couple of years (although I've not had that many sleepless nights!), and hopefully someone here can enlighten me.

In a number of episodes over the different incarnations of Trek there is a frequent bearing used for ships/planets etc. It is "310 Mark 215". Does anyone know if this number has any significance? I thought perhaps it might be a date until I realised that the 31st of February is going to cause issues!!!

Cheers.

Rob.

 

[Space Cowboy]

Those are directional orders relative to the ship. One number is direction based on the XY plane while the other is based on the YZ plane.

 

[Outpost4]

Subtract 215 from 310 and you have 95. Since the number 1 is the only integer repeated in these two numbers, subtract it a second time. You now have 94. "Mark" is the second book of the New Testament in the Bible. Therefore, divide 94 by two. You get

47

of course. Simple.

 

[Space Cowboy]

^Fantastic

 

[trojansquirrel]

Hi,

Thanks, I figured that they were the bearings of the ship/planet. Hence the use of the word "bearing"

My question is why this particular bearing is used so frequently across the Star Trek franchises. It would seem that a high proportion of interesting Ships/Planets/Distress Signals/Anomalys etc. is conveniently located on that particular bearing.

Why that particular "310 mark 215" bearing? Is it an "easter egg" that I should have spotted? The zip/postal code for somewhere? Gene Roddenberry's army number? Or something more sinister.............

Cheers,

Rob.

 

[trojansquirrel]

Sadness...... Are you guys not taking my pain seriously!!!

 

[erastus25]

Hi,

Thanks, I figured that they were the bearings of the ship/planet. Hence the use of the word "bearing"

My question is why this particular bearing is used so frequently across the Star Trek franchises. It would seem that a high proportion of interesting Ships/Planets/Distress Signals/Anomalys etc. is conveniently located on that particular bearing.

Why that particular "310 mark 215" bearing? Is it an "easter egg" that I should have spotted? The zip/postal code for somewhere? Gene Roddenberry's army number? Or something more sinister.............

Cheers,

Rob.

I don't remember that particular course popping up regularly. Can you give us examples from 3-4 episodes so we have a frame of reference?

 

[Colonel Midnight]

Hi,

Thanks, I figured that they were the bearings of the ship/planet. Hence the use of the word "bearing"

My question is why this particular bearing is used so frequently across the Star Trek franchises. It would seem that a high proportion of interesting Ships/Planets/Distress Signals/Anomalys etc. is conveniently located on that particular bearing.

Why that particular "310 mark 215" bearing? Is it an "easter egg" that I should have spotted? The zip/postal code for somewhere? Gene Roddenberry's army number? Or something more sinister.............

Cheers,

Rob.

I don't remember that particular course popping up regularly. Can you give us examples from 3-4 episodes so we have a frame of reference?

It's probably from the fact that such a bearing (assuming it's relative to the ship's head) would put the other vessel forward and "beneath" the bow of the ship... which is how they typically show up on the viewscreen.

Cheers,
-CM-

 

[trojansquirrel]

Hi again,

Thanks Colonel Midnight. I hadn't thought that that might be an advantageous bearing to attack from. Good call. Although I would have thought that sometimes there would have been a margin of error (ie. bearing 311 mark 215). It seems like the script writers are chucking this particular bearing in more often than not.

As for examples erastus25, I can see why you may be skeptical. It may be a case of when I buy a new car I see so many more of them on the road all of a sudden.... but perhaps not . I did (yet another!) google for that bearing and these are the episodes listed:

Voyager Season 2 "The 37's" (the truck on the planet, first voyager landing)

It is also in Star Trek Generations at the following link (line 424)

http://www.lems.brown.edu/~pas/misc/text/st.generationsAlso in DS9 S06 E02 "Rocks and Shoals"

Also:

Voyager Season 1 episode 3- Parallax

Thanks again,

Rob

 

[trojansquirrel]

Don't know what happened to that link.... Should be:

http://www.lems.brown.edu/~pas/misc/text/st.generations

Gremlins........

 

[Colonel Midnight]

Hi again,

Thanks Colonel Midnight. I hadn't thought that that might be an advantageous bearing to attack from. Good call. Although I would have thought that sometimes there would have been a margin of error (ie. bearing 311 mark 215). It seems like the script writers are chucking this particular bearing in more often than not.
<Edit for brevity>
Thanks again,

Rob

Trojan ~

Actually, I wasn't thinking as much from an "attack" point of view / advantageous. Indeed, one could argue that there really is no particularly advantageous "attack" bearing when working in a medium like space where there's no definite "up", "down", "left", or "right".

What I was referring to was, more often than not, when the ENT (any version) tends to encounter another ship, the VFX for the viewscreen tends to always place that ship on the viewscreen in the "left-lower" quadrant of the screen (give or take a bit). This aspect implies that recurring bearing of yours...

(The only real major difference you see is when the ENT encounters another Starfleet ship -- then the latter tends to take position off the ENT's port or starboard quarter, thus implying the ENT to be the "superior" ship, rank-wise... which in the story it usually is, being the "hero ship".)

So, you could chalk it up to lazy story-telling... or lazy VFX artists. Or both.

Cheers,
-CM-

 

[trojansquirrel]

Curses.... Lazy script writers.....

And there was me hoping for a conspiracy theory!

 

[T'Cal]

Subtract 215 from 310 and you have 95. Since the number 1 is the only integer repeated in these two numbers, subtract it a second time. You now have 94. "Mark" is the second book of the New Testament in the Bible. Therefore, divide 94 by two. You get

47

of course. Simple.

You, Sir, are a genious!