"That doesn't count!"

[Tiberius]

And Vulcans aren't emotionless. In the first episode ever made, we see Spock laughing and smiling and shouting for the women! Man, every Vulcan ever seen is a Canon violation!

 

[Sci]

I ignore any reference to Kirk's Enterprise being a United Earth ship, or to UESPA, from the early TOS episodes before the writers came up with the idea of the Federation. I mentally replace "United Earth" with "Federation," and "UESPA" with "Starfleet."

Personally, I ignore every reference to Starfleet and The Federation, since it had been established early on that the USS Enterprise was a United Earth vessel under the operational authority of UESPA. Other contradictory references that came later are apocryphal...

Retcon:

Retroactive continuity (retcon for short)[1] is the alteration of previously established facts in a fictional work.[2] Retcons are done for many reasons, including the accommodation of sequels or further derivative works in a series, wherein newer authors or creators want to revise the in-story history to allow a course of events that would not have been possible in the story's original continuity. Other reasons might be the reintroduction of popular characters, resolution of errors in chronology, the updating of a familiar series for modern audiences, or simplification of an excessively complex continuity structure.

ETA:

This does suggest an interesting question, though:

If Kirk's ship was supposed to be a United Earth starship, why the "U.S.S.?" Why wasn't she called the U.E.S. Enterprise?

 

[TwoJakes]

^ For that to make sense Sci, wouldn't the Enterprise be the FSS Enterprise?

(Federation Star Ship)

 

[Sci]

^ For that to make sense Sci, wouldn't the Enterprise be the FSS Enterprise?

(Federation Star Ship)

It applies either way. When the writers meant for her to be a United Earth ship and hadn't yet invented the Federation, she should have been called the U.E.S. Enterprise. When the writers decided to retcon their nation into being the United Federation of Planets, she should have been called the F.S.S. Enterprise. (And later series should have had the F.S.S. Enterprise-D, and the F.S.S. Defiant, and the F.S.S. Voyager...)

 

[sbk1234]

How about Capt. Kirk's middle name starting with an R?
It really happened. They have the film to prove it.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

When the writers decided to retcon their nation into being the United Federation of Planets, she should have been called the F.S.S. Enterprise. (And later series should have had the F.S.S. Enterprise-D, and the F.S.S. Defiant, and the F.S.S. Voyager...)

I like UFS (United Federation Ship) better.

 

[Sci]

When the writers decided to retcon their nation into being the United Federation of Planets, she should have been called the F.S.S. Enterprise. (And later series should have had the F.S.S. Enterprise-D, and the F.S.S. Defiant, and the F.S.S. Voyager...)

I like UFS (United Federation Ship) better.

That would work, too. Either way, "U.S.S." is a stupid ship prefix.

 

[Tiberius]

Geez, people just want to bitch about everything.

I like bitching about bitchers...

 

[T'Girl]

Don't be a bitch hater.

 

[EliyahuQeoni]

U.S.S. = United Federation of Planets Star Ship.

Simple.

 

[F. King Daniel]

When the writers decided to retcon their nation into being the United Federation of Planets, she should have been called the F.S.S. Enterprise. (And later series should have had the F.S.S. Enterprise-D, and the F.S.S. Defiant, and the F.S.S. Voyager...)

I like UFS (United Federation Ship) better.

That sounds like an intergalactic delivery company

 

[BillJ]

U.S.S. = United Federation of Planets Star Ship.

Simple.

Agreed.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I like U.S.S. = United Space Ship, with the S.S. = Space Ship designation going to mostly to non-Starfleet vessels or retired Starfleet vessels now used by civilians.

 

[Forbin]

McCaoy actually said "United Space Ship Enterprise" out loud in Space Seed.

I know it sounds odd. But figure in that Kirk called them "a united service" (as in Army Navy and AF all in one) and it makes sense.

 

[Forbin]

How about Capt. Kirk's middle name starting with an R?
It really happened. They have the film to prove it.

That was a personal joke between him and Gary - an old, raunchy nickname from the academy.

When the writers decided to retcon their nation into being the United Federation of Planets, she should have been called the F.S.S. Enterprise. (And later series should have had the F.S.S. Enterprise-D, and the F.S.S. Defiant, and the F.S.S. Voyager...)

I like UFS (United Federation Ship) better.

That would work, too. Either way, "U.S.S." is a stupid ship prefix.

Not from where I'M sittin' it aint!

 

[Sindatur]

How about Capt. Kirk's middle name starting with an R?
It really happened. They have the film to prove it.

That was Scooby Doo being quoted, James Riberius Kirk

 

[BillJ]

How about Capt. Kirk's middle name starting with an R?
It really happened. They have the film to prove it.

That was Scooby Doo being quoted, James Riberius Kirk

Wouldn't it have read "Rames R. Rirk" then?

 

[Sindatur]

How about Capt. Kirk's middle name starting with an R?
It really happened. They have the film to prove it.

That was Scooby Doo being quoted, James Riberius Kirk

Wouldn't it have read "Rames R. Rirk" then?

Yea, but, the James Kirk was already well known, so, only the middle name, which wasn't yet known got the butchering

 

[MacLeod]

But I have to throw my "it doesn't count" vote for the Kelvin's registry. Why couldn't it have just been NCC-514? Was the zero necessary?

Several fan-produced manuals and blueprints from the 80's gave task-specific ships added registry prefixes, like NCC-S520 or NCC-G2719, stuff like that. So, an O or 0 could mean similar.

And, didn't the Enterprise NX-01 do the zero thing first (in canon), anyway?

My problem is that there have already been a few three digit registry numbers in Trek (like the Grissom in Trek III). So why did they insist on adding a zero in front of the Kelvin's regsitry to make it four digits when there is already precedent for a three digit number?

Indeed, Kelvin is the only Federation starship with a leading zero in its registry (NX-01 is pre-Federation). Abrams and his Cohorts owe us nothing less than a detailed explanation for this blatant disregard of registry number practices which have been maintained for the 42 years of Trek's canon prior to XI.

Next comes this fact:

What someone is about to say:
The Kelvin is named after Abrams's grandfather, and his birthday was May 14.

That still doesn't expain the zero.

True, perhaps if they had used the more common date format of dd-mm(-yy) rather than the uncommon mm-dd(-yy) it would have read as 1405 rather than 0514.

 

[RPJOB]

But that still doesn't explain the "0". It's not like someone would mistake the date as the 51st of April.

Everyone is subject to canon except the creators of the show. They can change whatever they like, to whatever they like, for whatever reason they like and it's valid. Canon only applies to books, comics, etc.