A request concerning the "Star Trek Chronology"...

[johnboy3434]

Hiya! I was wondering about the second edition of the Star Trek Chronology, and thought someone here could answer my questions. I've never seen the book myself (just pictures online), but I was wondering if it had a compact table with all the episodes listed in chronological order. If so, I was wondering if an owner would be so kind as to scan it for me. If not, then could someone at least describe the Okudas' methodology? Do they go by production order? Airdate? Some hybrid of the two? If it's not too much trouble, a detailed description would be nice, such as any exceptions they make to whatever rule they use, etc. P.S.: I know the book is sorely out of date, but if it's the latest published timeline, what do you do?

 

[BryanSorensen]

well, theres actually a book that has those answers. Its the last book of the Gateways series. Its a hard cover book that has the conclusion of all the 6 separate parts of the story. The back part of that book has a list of not only episodes but where each book or any written story goes into place between them too....

 

[JD]

^And there's an even more recent version of the same list in Voyages of the Imagination. I just checked and it's 60ish pages, so as you can guess it's very detailed. It even includes flashbacks, and stuff like that.

 

[johnboy3434]

Interesting. I'll look into that. Did they use airdates, production order, or did they just leave it unexplained? The only non-canon works I'm really interested in are the Animated Series, "Mosaic", and "Pathways", since their canonical status has actually been a subject of dispute in the past (as opposed to just about everything else).

 

[JD]

It's an in universe timeline, so it goes by when the story takes place. Although I just remembered that it does actually focus more on the books than the episodes.

 

[KRAD]

I believe that it's production order except when the production order is very obviously not chronological due to other circumstances. For example, "Unification Part 2" was filmed before Part 1, but obviously Part 1 is first in the chronology. Also "Through the Looking Glass" was filmed between "Improbable Cause" and "The Die is Cast" (when it was decided to make "Improbable Cause" a two-parter late in the game), but the latter two episodes are, obviously, back to back.

 

[HIj'Qa]

The timeline in Voyages of the Imagination, 1) not done by the Okudas, and 2) focusing more on printed works than filmed, is the latest published timeline.

 

[captcalhoun]

to clarify:

the chronology is a timeline from the point of view of some future time in the star trek universe, it is not a timeline merely of the episodes and when they were made. the episodes and movies are arranged in roughly production order in the order they take place in in the universe timeline. events that are mentioned taking place in the past, such as the disappearance of the Bozeman into the time-loop are mentioned in the appropriate part.

 

[Stevil2001]

According to the introduction to the second edition of the Chronology:

Star Trek episodes (especially those of the original series and early in The Next Generation) were usually produced so that they could be viewed in almost any order without significant continuity problems. This may have been a conscious financial decision designed to make it easier to syndicate the show on independent television stations. Nevertheless, for the first edition of this Chronology, we arbitrarily chose to assume that the events in the episodes happened pretty much in the order in which the episodes were produced. The original network air sequence seemed inappropriate, since it would put "Where No Man Has Gone Before" (TOS) after "The Corbomite Maneuver" (TOS). Specific exceptions were made in cases like "Unification, Parts I and II" (TNG), which were filmed in reverse order (because of Leonard Nimoy's schedule), or "Symbiosis" (TNG), in which Denise Crosby plays Tasha Yar, but which was filmed after "Skin of Evil" (TNG) in which that character is killed. We adopted a different rule after the beginning of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, when we had two Star Trek television shows on the air simultaneously. From that point, we have listed episodes in approximate air sequence (allowing for schedule variations in some local markets).

One thing I wish they'd switched around is "Court Martial" and "The Menagerie" two-parter-- there's no way in heck the former happens just before the latter.

 

[Christopher]

One thing I wish they'd switched around is "Court Martial" and "The Menagerie" two-parter-- there's no way in heck the former happens just before the latter.

I don't know... it's possible that Commodore Stone retired or got reassigned immediately after "Court-martial." There could've been a couple of weeks between the episodes, but it's possible that there were no other episodes between them.

 

[Stevil2001]

And when the Enterprise was at Starbase 11 for "Court Martial", no one thought it worth mentioning to Kirk and crew that Fleet Captain Pike was there?

"You actually don't know what's happened to Captain Pike? There's been subspace chatter about it for months."

 

[Christopher]

^^Well, Kirk was kinda busy in "Court-martial"...

 

[johnboy3434]

The timeline in Voyages of the Imagination, 1) not done by the Okudas, and 2) focusing more on printed works than filmed, is the latest published timeline.

I realize that now. When I first read about it, I thought it focused exclusively on the printed works, so I assumed that the STC2 was the most recent canon timeline. Now I realize that I was wrong, and VoI just became a late addition to my Christmas list . Amazon still has it for sale outside of the Used section, so would it still be easy to find at bookstores like Borders?

 

[Dayton Ward]

^ If they don't have a copy on the shelf, they should at least be able to order you a copy at no additional charge.