Date system?

[Crewman47]

Sorry if it's been asked or discussed but what dating system do you think they'll be using in the movie? If they use Stardates would you expect them to be numerically less than the lowest SD mentioned on TOS or could an older type system be used like what went from TOS system to the TNG system?

Any thoughts.

 

[Eric Cheung]

Well, since there was no stardate for "The Cage" and the stardates for the early episodes started with a 1 and progressed in a way that seemed to suggest roughly a thousand units a year (like the TNG system would later use), I would think either a precursor to the stardate system would be in place for the parts before the five-year mission or they'd use the Gregorian calender as in ENT.

 

[Tyberius]

Well, since there was no stardate for "The Cage" and the stardates for the early episodes started with a 1 and progressed in a way that seemed to suggest roughly a thousand units a year (like the TNG system would later use), I would think either a precursor to the stardate system would be in place for the parts before the five-year mission or they'd use the Gregorian calender as in ENT.

Hopefully not the Mayan calendar

 

[darkshadow0001]

I would think they would roughly do it like Eneterprise did, don't you think?

 

[M'Sharak]

Well, since there was no stardate for "The Cage" and the stardates for the early episodes started with a 1 and progressed in a way that seemed to suggest roughly a thousand units a year (like the TNG system would later use), I would think either a precursor to the stardate system would be in place for the parts before the five-year mission or they'd use the Gregorian calender as in ENT.

Hopefully not the Mayan calendar

If they do use the Mayan calendar, is everything after 21 December 2012 a reboot?

 

[Tyberius]

Well, since there was no stardate for "The Cage" and the stardates for the early episodes started with a 1 and progressed in a way that seemed to suggest roughly a thousand units a year (like the TNG system would later use), I would think either a precursor to the stardate system would be in place for the parts before the five-year mission or they'd use the Gregorian calender as in ENT.

Hopefully not the Mayan calendar

If they do use the Mayan calendar, is everything after 21 December 2012 a reboot?

End of the world, as far as I know, so probably a hard boot.

 

[Jon1701]

Sorry if it's been asked or discussed but what dating system do you think they'll be using in the movie? If they use Stardates would you expect them to be numerically less than the lowest SD mentioned on TOS or could an older type system be used like what went from TOS system to the TNG system?

Any thoughts.

Dammit, we don't want sensible questions.

Interesting point. I suppose if we are pleasing the canon fetishists, anything before 1312.4 (Where no man has gone before) would work ok. The Cage didn't have a stardate so we don't have to worry there.

Probably something in the four digit range. In fact in Kirk's log entry at the end (cleary that's how the movie is going to close) I'd like to hear 1312.3 or something close

 

[Rivas_Jakarta]

WHO GIVES A SHIT...

 

[USS Excelsior]

They can start from Stardate 0, and even include dialogue as to how they started using that system in the first place.

 

[Samuel T. Cogley]

Just spew some random numbers with confidence, like Kirk did in the good ol' days. We'll eat it up.

 

[GilmourD]

WHO GIVES A SHIT...

Uh, the people who hope that this movie is made with any respect to the material it's based on.

I wonder if there's trolls when they start using stardates.

 

[Rivas_Jakarta]

They same people who are 47, still living at home, and never kissed anbody of either sex, let alone been romantic.

 

[M'Sharak]

They same people who are 47, still living at home, and never kissed anbody of either sex, let alone been romantic.

And that will be enough of that, thank you.

 

[GilmourD]

They same people who are 47, still living at home, and never kissed anbody of either sex, let alone been romantic.

29, living with my fiancee, and getting married in November, thank you.

 

[Jackson_Roykirk]

They same people who are 47, still living at home, and never kissed anbody of either sex, let alone been romantic.

I'm 42, live "at home" (although it's my home -- one I had built for me) with my wife and daughter.

Anyway, back on topic (I've spent too much energy on you anyway)...

Since Roddenberry himself never gave a shit about the method for computing stardates (the progression of Stardates varied from episode to episode), I think Abrams is free to use any method of stardates that he wants -- but I think he should definitely use stardates, since they are very "Star Trek".

I know that Enterprise used the Gregorian Calendar, but then again that's taking place 100 years prior to TOS. I'm speculating that the bulk of action in this film will take place in the months prior to Kirk taking command of the Enterprise (lets say 2 to 2 1/2 years prior to TOS), so I think they could use stardates, although it will be impossible to be consistent with TOS, since TOS was never consistent with itself.

Than again, do they even need to use dates at all? Except for the Captain's log, how often did they use dates in TOS? Not using dates of any sort will definitely avoid the inevitable inconsistencies with TOS that are surely to arise.

 

[Timo]

Using at least one stardate would probably be as mandatory as saying "phaser" or "warp" at least once in the movie.

Then again, DS9 regularly managed to avoid specifying the warp factor at which the hero ships flew, saying things like "maximum warp" rather than using the sort of numbers familiar from TOS or TNG. STXI might make an effort of avoiding specific stardates, too.

For the ultimate nerdy (mid-30s, owns his flat, car and two summer cottages, big event next May) preference, I offer the idea that TOS and TNG stardates work the exact same way: thousand units per year, with the 1000-1999 range falling on a year ending with "3", the 2000-2999 range on a year ending with "4" and so forth. It's just that our heroes in TOS are in the habit of dropping the first two digits from their six-digit stardates - just like we would say "the seventies" rather than "the nineteenseventies". The TNG heroes drop just one.

Hence, a date twelve and a half years before the beginning of TOS (SD 1300) would fall on SD 8800. Or more exactly, SD (12)1300 would be twelve and a half years after SD (10)8800. The system works near-perfectly that way, matching for example Kirk's birthday in his "Where No Man" tombstone...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Lord Garth]

I think the stardates used will depend upon which era they're in at the time the stardate is given.

So far it seems like the movie takes place in the 2240s, 2250s, 2260s, and 2380s.

I think the 24th Century portion of the movie will probably be set somewhere from 2380-2385, so we're looking at stardate 57000-62999.

In the 2260s, I imagine the stardate would be somewhere in the low 1000's. Could be in the high three-digits.

Before that? Anyone's guess. They could be any combination of four numbers. Though I like the idea of shorthand stardates which stand in for a longer form.

 

[Jackson_Roykirk]

^
^^but how does that work with Kirk's given birth date of 1277.1?

I agree with you that Abrams should use 4 digit numbers lower than 1300 (WNMHGB took place in the low 1300s), but there will bound to be "fans" who will jump all over Abrams if he uses a stardate lower than 1277.1 while Kirk is alive.

Obviously, Roddenberry and the TOS writers had no plan for how to tell time with stardates, mainly because it wasn't important in 1960 TV to care about details like that.

Therefore, since there is no viable system, Abrams should just devise his own, and let those complaining fans be damned.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Just spew some random numbers with confidence, like Kirk did in the good ol' days. We'll eat it up.

This is the right answer.

 

[Samuel T. Cogley]

Just spew some random numbers with confidence, like Kirk did in the good ol' days. We'll eat it up.

This is the right answer.