I don't know, can you point to anything in canon that would rule it out?
Complete Star Trek Timeline (why not?)
- Thread starter Admiral Jean-Luc Picard
- Start date
I don't see anything, do you?
The main date that everything derives from is that The Neutral Zone takes place in 2364, which is stardate 41986.0.
But that doesn't mean that a star year is an exact match for an Earth year, so if the two are not aligned that explains any shifting dates, including Homestead.
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TNG S1 is 2364, Generations is 2371, so this means there's been a trend of one season = one year.
You should take the years given in the Star Trek Chronology: A History of the Future with a grain of salt. Or possibly with large bags of salt.
The indroduction lists the assumptions they made. I believe they assumed that all TOS episodes happened 300 years after they were broadcast, and so from 2266 to 2269. And they assumed that the first season of TNG happened in 2364.
So instead of trying to find the dates which best fit the evidence, they chose dates and tried to make the evidence fit the dates
Another assumption they made was that all Earth dates are dates in the Anno Domini year count, even though as far as I know only about 5 years in all Star Trek have been specified as AD, and any other years numbers might possibly be given using other calendar eras.
So back when I believed that all dates were in the Anno Domini year count, I looked at the second pilot episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before". In the sickay:
DEHNER: Page three eighty seven.
MITCHELL: My love has wings. Slender, feathered things with grace in upswept curve and tapered tip. The Nightingale Woman, written by Phineas Tarbolde on the Canopius planet back in 1996. It's funny you picked that one, Doctor.
DEHNER: Why?
MITCHELL: That's one of the most passionate love sonnets of the past couple of centuries. How do you feel, Doctor?
So a person named Tarbolde wrote that sonnet on the Canopius planet in 1996. And naturally I assumed he was an Earthman who reached a planet in another star system by faster-than-light (FTL) travel by the year 1996.
The poem wirtten in 1996 is dated to "the last couple of centuries". Since Samuel Peeples was writing what would be the first information that any viewers would have about the world of Star Trek he would probably assume that Mitchell was speaking precisesly and meant the last two centuries.
Thus it would be logical to assume that the date of "Where No Man Has Gone Before" must be sometime time between 2096 and 2196. Which puts it a lot earlier than in the Chronology.
The very first lines are:
So the Earth ship SS Valiant left Earth and later got lost in space, still more than 200 years earlier..
And thus Earth should have already had FTL by some time in the period of about 1896 to 1996.
In "Wolf in the Fold" the computer lists examples of mass murders of women:
COMPUTER: Working. 1932. Shanghai, China, Earth. Seven women knifed to death. 1974, Kiev, USSR, Earth. Five women knifed to death. 2105. Martian colonies. Eight women knifed to death. 2156. Heliopolis, Alpha Eridani Two. Ten women knifed to death. There are additional examples.
So 2156 is the latest year number mentioned in TOS. The computer later dates murders on Rigel Four to one solar year earlier. Since it doesn't mention how recent the murders in 2156 were, I assumed that the date of "Wolf in the Fold" was sometime between 2158 and 2196.
Then there was "Space Seed".
The Botany Bay was dated to the 1990s. When Khan is awakened he asks:
KHAN: How long?
KIRK: How long have you been sleeping? Two centuries we estimate. Landing party to Enterprise. Come in.
Later in the sickbay:
KHAN: I remember a voice. Did I hear it say I had been sleeping for two centuries?
MCCOY: That is correct.
And:
KIRK: What was the exact date of your lift off? We know it was sometime in the early 1990s, but
Another assumption made by the Okudas was that two centuries was usually exactly 200 years.
Exactly 200 years after 1990 to 1994 would put "Space Seed" in 2190 to 2194 and just barely fit in the period of 2158 to 2196.
Exactly 200 years before the Chronology date of AD 2266-67 for "Space Seed" would put the Eugencis Wars in about AD 2066-2067. Adn tha twould make the 1990s dates used in "Space Seed" dates in a different year count than Anno Domini.
Spock describes the 1990s:
SPOCK: A strange, violent period in your history. I find no record what so ever of an SS Botany Bay. Captain, the DY-100 class vessel was designed for interplanetary travel only. With simple nuclear-powered engines, star travel was considered impractical at that time. It was ten thousand to one against their making it to another star system. And why no record of the trip?
Earlier:
MARLA: Captain, it's a sleeper ship.
KIRK: Suspended animation.
MARLA: I've seen old photographs of this. Necessary because of the time involved in space travel until about the year 2018. It took years just to travel from one planet to another.
So Earth did not have FTL travel in 1996 or until at least about 2018 in the "Space Seed" calendar era. But Earth did have FTL travel by the period of about 1896 to 1996 in the "Where No Man Has Gone Before" calendar era.
Back when I assumed all Star Trek year numbers used the Anno Domini calendar era I resolved that contradicition by assuming that Earth invented fTL star travel twice, as in James Blish's Cities in Flight series. Some group of Earth people invented FTL spaceships, or captured them from visiting aliens, and kept them secret from other Earth people and the Valiant was one of their ships. In Khan's 1990s nobody left on Earth would have know about that, and FTL travel was not reinvented by Earth again until at least 2018 and possibly later.
I note that in the TNG epsode "Haven" an unauthorized spaceship approaches the planet Haven, frightening its ruler.
DATA: On the viewer, Captain. Unidentified vessel travelling sub-warp speed, bearing two three five point seven.
PICARD: Sub-warp? It's several hours away then? Let's take a look at it. Enlarge to maximum.
LAFORGE: Increasing magnification, sir.
PICARD: Mister Data, is that the trouble I believe it is?
DATA: If you mean a Tarellian vessel, sir, it is.
So Tarellian spaces have a distinctive look. So the Tarellians should have invented FTL space travel. It is later speculated that damage to the ship could have disabled its warp drive.
CRUSHER: The Tarellians had reached Earth's late twentieth century level of knowledge. That's all you need if you're a damned fool. A deadly, infectious virus which at that modest level of knowledge is not difficult to grow.
So in "Haven" it was assumed that late 20th century Earth could have invented FTL space travel or actually did invent it.
To be continued:
The indroduction lists the assumptions they made. I believe they assumed that all TOS episodes happened 300 years after they were broadcast, and so from 2266 to 2269. And they assumed that the first season of TNG happened in 2364.
So instead of trying to find the dates which best fit the evidence, they chose dates and tried to make the evidence fit the dates
Another assumption they made was that all Earth dates are dates in the Anno Domini year count, even though as far as I know only about 5 years in all Star Trek have been specified as AD, and any other years numbers might possibly be given using other calendar eras.
So back when I believed that all dates were in the Anno Domini year count, I looked at the second pilot episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before". In the sickay:
DEHNER: Page three eighty seven.
MITCHELL: My love has wings. Slender, feathered things with grace in upswept curve and tapered tip. The Nightingale Woman, written by Phineas Tarbolde on the Canopius planet back in 1996. It's funny you picked that one, Doctor.
DEHNER: Why?
MITCHELL: That's one of the most passionate love sonnets of the past couple of centuries. How do you feel, Doctor?
So a person named Tarbolde wrote that sonnet on the Canopius planet in 1996. And naturally I assumed he was an Earthman who reached a planet in another star system by faster-than-light (FTL) travel by the year 1996.
The poem wirtten in 1996 is dated to "the last couple of centuries". Since Samuel Peeples was writing what would be the first information that any viewers would have about the world of Star Trek he would probably assume that Mitchell was speaking precisesly and meant the last two centuries.
Thus it would be logical to assume that the date of "Where No Man Has Gone Before" must be sometime time between 2096 and 2196. Which puts it a lot earlier than in the Chronology.
The very first lines are:
Captain's log, Star date 1312.4. The impossible has happened. From directly ahead, we're picking up a recorded distress signal, the call letters of a vessel which has been missing for over two centuries. Did another Earth ship once probe out of the galaxy as we intend to do? What happened to it out there? Is this some warning they've left behind? |
|
So the Earth ship SS Valiant left Earth and later got lost in space, still more than 200 years earlier..
And thus Earth should have already had FTL by some time in the period of about 1896 to 1996.
In "Wolf in the Fold" the computer lists examples of mass murders of women:
COMPUTER: Working. 1932. Shanghai, China, Earth. Seven women knifed to death. 1974, Kiev, USSR, Earth. Five women knifed to death. 2105. Martian colonies. Eight women knifed to death. 2156. Heliopolis, Alpha Eridani Two. Ten women knifed to death. There are additional examples.
So 2156 is the latest year number mentioned in TOS. The computer later dates murders on Rigel Four to one solar year earlier. Since it doesn't mention how recent the murders in 2156 were, I assumed that the date of "Wolf in the Fold" was sometime between 2158 and 2196.
Then there was "Space Seed".
The Botany Bay was dated to the 1990s. When Khan is awakened he asks:
KHAN: How long?
KIRK: How long have you been sleeping? Two centuries we estimate. Landing party to Enterprise. Come in.
Later in the sickbay:
KHAN: I remember a voice. Did I hear it say I had been sleeping for two centuries?
MCCOY: That is correct.
And:
KIRK: What was the exact date of your lift off? We know it was sometime in the early 1990s, but
Another assumption made by the Okudas was that two centuries was usually exactly 200 years.
Exactly 200 years after 1990 to 1994 would put "Space Seed" in 2190 to 2194 and just barely fit in the period of 2158 to 2196.
Exactly 200 years before the Chronology date of AD 2266-67 for "Space Seed" would put the Eugencis Wars in about AD 2066-2067. Adn tha twould make the 1990s dates used in "Space Seed" dates in a different year count than Anno Domini.
Spock describes the 1990s:
SPOCK: A strange, violent period in your history. I find no record what so ever of an SS Botany Bay. Captain, the DY-100 class vessel was designed for interplanetary travel only. With simple nuclear-powered engines, star travel was considered impractical at that time. It was ten thousand to one against their making it to another star system. And why no record of the trip?
Earlier:
MARLA: Captain, it's a sleeper ship.
KIRK: Suspended animation.
MARLA: I've seen old photographs of this. Necessary because of the time involved in space travel until about the year 2018. It took years just to travel from one planet to another.
So Earth did not have FTL travel in 1996 or until at least about 2018 in the "Space Seed" calendar era. But Earth did have FTL travel by the period of about 1896 to 1996 in the "Where No Man Has Gone Before" calendar era.
Back when I assumed all Star Trek year numbers used the Anno Domini calendar era I resolved that contradicition by assuming that Earth invented fTL star travel twice, as in James Blish's Cities in Flight series. Some group of Earth people invented FTL spaceships, or captured them from visiting aliens, and kept them secret from other Earth people and the Valiant was one of their ships. In Khan's 1990s nobody left on Earth would have know about that, and FTL travel was not reinvented by Earth again until at least 2018 and possibly later.
I note that in the TNG epsode "Haven" an unauthorized spaceship approaches the planet Haven, frightening its ruler.
DATA: On the viewer, Captain. Unidentified vessel travelling sub-warp speed, bearing two three five point seven.
PICARD: Sub-warp? It's several hours away then? Let's take a look at it. Enlarge to maximum.
LAFORGE: Increasing magnification, sir.
PICARD: Mister Data, is that the trouble I believe it is?
DATA: If you mean a Tarellian vessel, sir, it is.
So Tarellian spaces have a distinctive look. So the Tarellians should have invented FTL space travel. It is later speculated that damage to the ship could have disabled its warp drive.
CRUSHER: The Tarellians had reached Earth's late twentieth century level of knowledge. That's all you need if you're a damned fool. A deadly, infectious virus which at that modest level of knowledge is not difficult to grow.
So in "Haven" it was assumed that late 20th century Earth could have invented FTL space travel or actually did invent it.
To be continued:
Chemical-powered rocket engines = too slow for any meaningful manned travel to our planets (only puts Mars in range). Good for high thrust and getting things out of gravity wells. Sleeper technology being developed (a la 2001: A Space Odyssey).
(Fission) Nuclear-powered rocket engines = faster but still too slow; aside for Mars, manned interplanetary travel to other planets can be done in sleeper ships (i.e. circa 1996 DY-100 class ships and probably the first successful Earth-Saturn probe headed by Colonel Shaun Geoffrey Christopher). Manned travel to other star systems not feasible (a thousand to one).
(Fusion Nuclear-powered) Impulse engines = very fast (some percentage of c) possibly using artificial gravity; great for manned travel to our planets and no need for sleeper ships (circa 2018). Manned exploration to neighboring star systems is feasible with sleeper ships.
(Nuclear or M/AM powered) Warp drive engines = Faster than light (multiple times c) using space-warp (discovered circa ~2060 by Zefram Cochrane 'of Alpha Centauri'); opens manned travel to neighboring star systems without the need for sleeper ships. There be aliens out there!
(Fission) Nuclear-powered rocket engines = faster but still too slow; aside for Mars, manned interplanetary travel to other planets can be done in sleeper ships (i.e. circa 1996 DY-100 class ships and probably the first successful Earth-Saturn probe headed by Colonel Shaun Geoffrey Christopher). Manned travel to other star systems not feasible (a thousand to one).
(Fusion Nuclear-powered) Impulse engines = very fast (some percentage of c) possibly using artificial gravity; great for manned travel to our planets and no need for sleeper ships (circa 2018). Manned exploration to neighboring star systems is feasible with sleeper ships.
(Nuclear or M/AM powered) Warp drive engines = Faster than light (multiple times c) using space-warp (discovered circa ~2060 by Zefram Cochrane 'of Alpha Centauri'); opens manned travel to neighboring star systems without the need for sleeper ships. There be aliens out there!
a fission powered Orion class ship (pusher plate, atomic bomb detonation) could conceivably reach about 1/10 of c. Fast enough for trips anywhere in the inner solar system, outer solar system and for long trips to the nearest stars, using 1960's technology, for the most part. The only reason, apart from cost, that it was never done apart from some very small scale tests with chemical explosives was that it apparently violates multiple international treaties.Chemical-powered rocket engines = too slow for any meaningful manned travel to our planets (only puts Mars in range). Good for high thrust and getting things out of gravity wells. Sleeper technology being developed (a la 2001: A Space Odyssey).
(Fission) Nuclear-powered rocket engines = faster but still too slow; aside for Mars, manned interplanetary travel to other planets can be done in sleeper ships (i.e. circa 1996 DY-100 class ships and probably the first successful Earth-Saturn probe headed by Colonel Shaun Geoffrey Christopher). Manned travel to other star systems not feasible (a thousand to one).
(Fusion Nuclear-powered) Impulse engines = very fast (some percentage of c) possibly using artificial gravity; great for manned travel to our planets and no need for sleeper ships (circa 2018). Manned exploration to neighboring star systems is feasible with sleeper ships.
(Nuclear or M/AM powered) Warp drive engines = Faster than light (multiple times c) using space-warp (discovered circa ~2060 by Zefram Cochrane 'of Alpha Centauri'); opens manned travel to neighboring star systems without the need for sleeper ships. There be aliens out there!
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